252 SPORTING AND 



square face and his cruel ears peeping out 

 from under a bush ; he was evidently 

 taking a good look in all directions before 

 he showed more of himself, so my hopes 

 about the yawning and stretching were all 

 fallacies, for I could see with half an eye 

 that he was quite as wide awake as I was. 

 I should think he lay ten minutes in this 

 position, his head resting on his paws as 

 he had appeared to my mother on that 

 fatal night. When she told her melan- 

 choly story she laid more stress on the 

 dreadful eyes always fixed upon her, than 

 on anything else the tiger's gaze had 

 paralysed her energies ; I am glad to say 

 it had not the same effect on me, for the 

 sight of his ugly face only maddened me 

 with revenge, and I was now thirsting for 

 his blood with an intensity that frightened 

 myself. 



