350 A RAID IN CAMP. 



Before turning in I tooR care that my only dogs, Boxer and Rosie, should 

 be chained close by in a small tent in which two servants slept, near to 

 our own. 



I happened to be partly awake about midnight when I heard a sudden 

 rush past my bed-head outside the canvas wall of the tent, a momentary 

 scuffle in the small tent, and then the despairing yells of one of the dogs as 

 it was being carried off towards the jungle. I sprang out of bed and dashed 

 out, wholly unarmed, just in time to see the white form of old Eosie in the 

 jaws of some marauder. With a shout I gave chase, hoping to force the 

 animal — I did not know at the moment what it was — to drop its prey. 

 E., startled by my cries, and missing me, feared I had been carried off by a 

 tiger, and being an old campaigner, proceeded to puU on his trousers pre- 

 paratory to heading a relieving force ! 



The panther gained the jungle, closely followed by me. The worrying 

 sound here gave place to choking sobs from the bitch. I thought she had 

 been dropped, and ran in to pick her up ; her white form was just visible 

 among the bushes by the dim starlight. Just as I stooped I became aware 

 that the panther was lying on its back hugging the bitch, which was upper- 

 most, in its paws. Feeling my position to be an awkward one, I huiTied 

 back to camp, which was by this time in an uproar. To seize the rifle 

 that Jaffer held ready, and call for a torch, was, as our novelists say, the 

 work of a moment ; but to find a torch under the circumstances was another 

 matter, and the only light forthcoming was an inch of tallow candle. 

 Jaffer, shading this with his cloth, accompanied me back to the scene of 

 action ; but the Fates were against us, for before I could get a shot we found 

 ourselves in the position popularly ascribed to an ancient patriarch — the 

 candle having gone out ! The panther growled in unpleasant proximity, 

 when E., with a blazing bush, lit by some one in camp, advanced to our 

 assistance, and the panther, seeing the approaching numbers, made its 

 exodus. With rifles on full-cock we hunted about — I being all this time 

 in my night-shirt — but could find neither bitch nor panther. Eeturning to 

 camp we saw, to our great surprise and joy, the old bitch sitting under the 

 table, licking her wounds. I picked her up in my arms where she shivered 

 and growled by turns at the recollection of what she had gone through. 

 Her collar had saved her from serious injury. 



The panther, possibly feeling sheepish after its night's disappointment, 

 turned its attention next day to mutton. As we were sitting at breakfast a 

 villager ran in to say that one of his flock had been seized and dragged into 

 a piece of jungle by the panther. The cover being too extensive to be 

 driven with beaters, we tossed up for places for watching. E. won, and took 



