152 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



moment that, as we were told afterwards, lie actually did 

 so on this occasion, armed with a rifle, when, lo and behold ! 

 a few yards from the bottom step lay the gasping, half- 

 choked, but unhurt Dido, her collar beside her ! It was 

 evident that the panther must have caught her up by it, 

 and, what with the weight and the leather being probably 

 worn thin, it gave way at the buckle, so setting the dog 

 free, for she had not so much as a tooth-mark on her ! The 

 only pity was that the scene could not be snapshotted. 



It was no rare occurrence, however, for dogs to be carried 

 off, without hope of a miracle, if loose after four o'clock, 

 or farther away than beside one's chair. Invasion of the 

 kennel was even attempted, and after one such fright, when 

 it had a reasonably strong thatched roof, we had this re- 

 placed by tiles, and we, and the dogs too, slept in peace ; 

 till one night when a very bold, hungry panther clambered 

 on to it and began clawing his way inside. Needless to 

 say, the inmates raised such a bedlam as woke every one 

 about the place, and he was glad to take himself off as 

 quickly as possible, leaving a claw or two behind. Lucky 

 for him that F. was away ! 



It was at Manantavadi that we once had a whole after- 

 noon's amusement and interest watching the gambols of 

 a couple of panther cubs, sitting the while in our verandah 

 and looking across to the opposite hillside, no great distance 

 away. The hills being scarcely more than eminences, only 

 a few hundred yards lay between their playground and our 

 bungalow. These little creatures played with each other's 

 tails, and rolled over and over, exactly like kittens, without 

 a touch of malice or savagery — all was pure mischief and 

 fun. Very young, they were just fat round things, with 

 fuzzy, yellowish-grey coats ; not sleek as yet, nor had the 

 tawny colour and distinct black rosettes even begun to 

 appear. There was nothing as yet of the lithe, cruel grace 

 of the panther-form — only rounded baby limbs. Their 



