ADVENTURES IN CAMP AND JUNGLE. 307 



This night-work always had a kind of charm for me, 

 though I seldom brought anything to bag. 



I liked to hear the cries of the night-birds, varied now and 

 then by the peculiar chattering of hysenas, or the distant 

 growl of a tiger, while the panther would indicate his vicinity 

 by a series of short grunts, whence, from the similarity of 

 the sound to the rending of wood, he was known among us as 

 " the sawyer." 



I was in my place at sunset, but, owing to some wedding 

 festival in the village close by, an incessant tom-tomiug and 

 drumming was kept up till midnight, when I fell asleep, 

 having seen nothing. Towards morning I heard some beast 

 tearing at the carcass, and looking over, I saw what I sup- 

 posed to be a panther ; but the moon was obscured by 

 clouds, and objects were indistinct. At length I fired, the 

 beast rushed off, and we heard him struggling among some 

 high poppies. At daybreak we descended, and, as I had 

 feared, found the track of a hysena, which we followed to the 

 spot where he lay dead. As a rule, I think animals of the 

 dog tribe tear their food, while cats cut it more noiselessly 

 with their side teeth. This hysena evidently had resided in 

 some iron-pit, and the ore had changed the usual dirty-white 

 of his coat to a deep yellow. 



That afternoon a three-parts-grown tiger was marked by 

 my men near the spot where I had shot the tigress two days 

 before. Only one small tree stood in the sea of thorny scrub, 

 and in it I found an insecure footing at a few feet from 

 the ground. As usual, my men arranged the beat admirably, 

 and this tiger's jacket was pegged out that night by the side 

 of those of his relatives. We had good reason to congratu- 

 late ourselves on the death of these two last tigers, for the 

 country was close and extensive, and the amount of ground 



