LOOK-OUT FOE THE TIGEB. 29 



end, and entrust the fireworks to the charge of 

 reliable men. 



In a short time a prolonged yell broke on the 

 previous stillness. This was accompanied by the 

 beating of tom-toms or, as they are called in those 

 parts, tim-tims and the banging of other discordant 

 instruments. A dropping fire too was kept up from 

 several old matchlocks, to the carriers of which, 

 coarse-grained native powder had been distributed 

 beforehand for blank firing. Altogether, it would 

 be a very sound-sleeping tiger whose repose could 

 continue with so much noise abroad ; and the 

 hunters, with straining senses, watched anxiously 

 for some intimation of his presence. Peafowl and 

 partridges every now and then came whirring past, 

 as the beaters advanced ; but yet there were no 

 signs to show that the animal sought had been 

 aroused from his mid-day rest. Still the line came 

 nearer and nearer, and could be discerned moving in 



' O 



little knots of four or five ; both for the sake of 

 mutual protection, and also to take advantage of the 

 open ways which intersected the tangled labyrinth 

 of jungle. They beat up to the level of the position 

 occupied by Hawkes, passed it, and reached a par- 

 ticularly thick patch, nearly opposite Norman's 

 station. This, too, was beaten round without suc- 

 cess ; but whether old Rugonauth smelt tiger, or 



