ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 269 



playing to himself on a sort of pipe, but was none the less 

 mindful of his duty for that, suddenly sprang to his feet 

 and tumbled almost headlong down the hill, waving his tiny 

 arms and yelling at the top of his voice, not for help, he 

 being equal to any such contingency, but at the object 

 he had seen ; we were in time to see, too, but hardly more 

 than a whisk of a tiger's tail as he was chased off. That 

 done, the urchin threw after the prowling enemy and his 

 ancestors every bad name he knew — and he knew many — 

 then squatted himself down at the edge of the bit of wood, 

 the better to protect his charges on the hill above him, 

 not with any idea of sacrificing himself on duty's shrine, 

 but that, there being no man-eater about, he knew he was 

 in no danger. 



How soon these children learn their lesson I don't know, 

 but they begin to be herd-boys in very early life, many not 

 being above five or six years old. Their independence and 

 almost impudent bravery, with their sublime unconscious- 

 ness of anything of the kind, had a special appeal for us, 

 and the stock of metais for them was kept up as carefully 

 as that of the luxuries of chewing tobacco, etc., for our 

 regular camp retinue. 



It was during this tour that a curious incident occurred 

 one evening when everything was enveloped in rolling mist, 

 the fire itself appearing but a red spark except to those 

 close round it. A sambur stag was heard to ' bell,' then again 

 nearer, and a third time close by ; for almost at the same 

 instant he galloped through the very midst of the encamp- 

 ment, a tiger full pelt after him. Both loomed huge through 

 the fog, but were very indistinctly seen — as might be astral 

 forms veiled in grey — just cleaving a passage, though we 

 caught a glimpse of branching antlers as the gallant stag 

 sped past. Both were come and gone in a flash, taking 

 everybody's breath away. Examination by lantern light 

 showed their footprints towards the camp, through it, and 



