410 THE EASTERN HUNTEBS. 



send back at once for the others, who in the mean- 

 time were to continue pugging. 



This was done ; and Bugonauth, on reaching the 

 " Ban Peeplee," distant about a couple of miles, had 

 the satisfaction of finding the peculiar pug, and, 

 after making his cast, ascertaining that the tiger 

 was at home. 



Eoopur received the news with a grim smile of 

 satisfaction as he muttered, " I dreamt it ! I was 

 not mistaken yesterday ! His day has come ! " 



Unusual care was taken in placing the markers, 

 so that all the approaches to the cover should be 

 well watched ; and some men were collected from a 

 village about a mile distant. They had run the 

 trail to a place at least six miles from the camp ; 

 so arrangements were made for obtaining as many 

 beaters as could be collected in the neighbour- 

 hood. 



Acting on the strict injunctions of the shikarees, 

 the markers preserved a death-like stillness. Under 

 the fierce rays of the mid-day sun, animated crea- 

 tion, too, had slunk to the shelter of the trees and 

 thickets, so that unbroken silence seemed to pervade 

 the hot haze which rested on the entire scene, and 

 to be its most obvious attribute. The crisp dried 

 grass bent and crackled, and the leaves of the trees 

 rustled in the parching wind, but hardly a living 



