ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 211 



off, the two hailing each other every now and then, in case 

 Mr. T. should go astray. After two or three such calls 

 had been unanswered the syce became uneasy, and while 

 keeping an eye on his horse, moved round, shouting loudly ; 

 but never a sound came back. He waited, and as people 

 passed up and down the path he got them to help in the 

 search, which they did willingly, till crowds of them gathered, 

 one running as a messenger to the nearest village to give the 

 alarm. The place echoed and re-echoed with the hue and 

 cry, but all in vain. Nothing more was ever heard or seen 

 of the young man, except that his watch and chain were 

 picked up quite close to the spot where he had left the 

 syce. Not a shred of clothing or a trace of blood was found, 

 nor any marks as of crushed grass made by a forced passage 

 through the scrub ; moreover, it was very open just where 

 master and man parted company. No suspicion of foul 

 play ever attached to the syce, who was devoted to his 

 master ; and the tiger theory was the only one to fall back 

 upon, though there was no talk at the time, either before 

 or after Mr. T.'s vanishing, of a man-eater being about. 

 No other, however, would account for the total disappear- 

 ance of the body. If it was a man-eater, then, after dealing 

 that one numbing blow from behind — as with the villager 

 in the case related above, who was never heard to cry out — 

 he must have caught up his insensible victim, and raced off 

 with him, getting plenty of start while the syce was calling 

 and wondering at the silence. 



Riding through the same place it was impossible not 

 to recall the mystery — uncomfortable, too, as unexplained 

 happenings always are — and it was a relief to get into the 

 open country ; for, despite the shady avenues of over- 

 arching bamboos and the general pleasantness of the forest, 

 the air seemed as though heavy with tragedy. The ground 

 we rode over was spiky with young bamboos springing up 

 everywhere ; so numerous were they that we could not 



