PANTHERS. 57 



saw a shadowy form vanish in the darkness. On striking a 

 light, two of the dogs were found to be badly mauled, one 

 dying shortly afterwards. The miscreant was a panther, 

 whose large pugs were visible in the sand next morning, 

 and which had the cheek to come inside the tent for 

 the dog, which he would certainly have carried off but for 

 the chain. Man-eating panthers are rare, but they do 

 exist, and are just as bad as tigers. All panthers, great 

 and small, are, however, very much given to carrying off 

 children. When at Chickinoogloor, in Mysore, news 

 arrived one day that a panther had attacked and killed 

 a native who was working on a road. His brother, only a 

 short distance off, hearing the shrieks, ran up and killed 

 the brute with an axe, but received such severe wounds 

 that he too died shortly afterwards. His next of kin 

 brought the skin to the Deputy Commissioner's office, and 

 got the reward of fifteen rupees given by the Maharajah's 

 government. The most exciting encounter I ever had with 

 a panther was at Loashera, in the Neermul district, in 

 1871. We had been skirmishing with a bear in the fore- 

 noon, which my friends Poulton and Manley had pursued 

 on horseback, with intent to spear, as detailed in 

 Chapter II., I remaining to watch a panther which had 

 been dislodged by the bear, and was slightly wounded by a 

 ricochet bullet in the ball of the foot. Manley having 

 returned after the lapse of an hour, it fell to my lot to 

 tackle the panther, which had meanwhile been spotted by 

 the shikaries crouching under a rock in an adjacent cave. 

 On entering it, there was the panther sure enough, with 

 great luminous eyes, crouching within a few feet, and 

 apparently ready to spring. The entrance was very narrow 

 and cramped, a projecting rock preventing the rifle from 

 being brought to the right shoulder ; indeed, it was neces- 



