240 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



known to F., though his was not a case of climbing a tree 

 as a last desperate and futile effort, nor of dropping ex- 

 hausted from a place of safety. Nevertheless, he was waited 

 for long and perseveringly. The man was a native of 

 Kurnool, a huge district, to which my husband was gazetted 

 later on as Forest Officer, in which the villages are widely 

 scattered, vegetation sparse owing to a scanty rainfall, and 

 game scarce. A water famine was the rule rather than the 

 exception, and to alleviate the consequent distress a rich 

 and benevolent Brahmin had had an Artesian well sunk, 

 and a drinking fountain put up for the refreshment of way- 

 farers, as the most lasting thank-offering he could make for 

 a daughter's restoration to health. This fountain was a 

 landmark for miles, and was placed just where many inter- 

 secting tracks crossed the main road, the boon being much 

 appreciated. But it happened once, during a season of 

 special drought, that the refreshing water attracted one 

 wayfarer who barred the road to all others, namely, a man- 

 eating tiger. This creature, after having terrorised the 

 country round in all directions, settled down here as his 

 headquarters, the forest through which the road was cut 

 affording him shelter enough, though he was not particular 

 about hiding himself, for he had been seen to cross the open 

 and lap his fill at the trough in broad daylight. The trough 

 was of no use now to any one but him, for no one dared pass 

 near it by day, far less by night. Thus, with all to his advan- 

 tage, the tiger became so bold as to actually seize children 

 and race off with them before people's eyes. Grown-up 

 persons were also taken. He would show his dreadful face 

 at the open doorways of village houses. Traps set ever so 

 cunningly never deceived him, for no bait they could place 

 in them was of a kind to tempt him, and dead bait would 

 not do, even if of the right sort ; he preferred to do his own 

 hunting, travelling miles in a night. When it is remembered 

 that a tiger's beat is anything from fifty to seventy miles, 



