OUR EARS DECEIVE US. 361 



never charge out of the darkness to attack a person outside their retreats. 

 I have even known a leopard in a cave to be poked with bamboos for a 

 length of time. It could not be shot, and it refused to come out, though 

 the titillation amongst its ribs must have been, one would think, not less 

 hurting to its dignity than distressing to its bodily feelings. 



On the present occasion, to make sure I peered in again. There could 

 be no mistake ; it was evidently a suppressed growL The villager with me 

 said it could not be the panthers, as the cave was not so extensive as others 

 in the hill, and was never frequented by them. He walked up to the 

 entrance and looked boldly in. His mien changed, however, in a moment. 

 He evidently heard what T had heard, and he drew back with a gesture of 

 astonishment and apprehension. I laughed at his change of countenance, 

 and sent him to call the others, and when they came we proceeded to ex- 

 amine the vicinity of the cave, but could find no footprints. We approached 

 the entrance, when the same sound was again audible. One of the men, 

 after listening intently, laughed, and saying, " I'll show you the panthers 

 that made that noise," crept into the cave, from which large numbers of 

 bats began to issue. It was the tremulous sound produced by the move- 

 ments of these creatures within, which, resounding in the hollow cavern, 

 closely resembled a low growl. When the entrance had been darkened by 

 our looking in the bats were disturbed, and fluttered their wings as they 

 hung from the roof, and some of them flew about. 



I have related at the commencement of the last chapter how the panther 

 was the first wild animal of the audacious class that I made the acquaint- 

 ance of in India. It strangely enough happened that it was also the last 

 I encountered before leaving India. I am obliged to say I did not acquit 

 myself in the leave-taking interview with as much address as I ought to 

 have displayed. To have failed with my first panther through inexperi- 

 ence was natural enough; but the same excuse cannot be made for the 

 loss of the last by a combination of indifferent shooting, and what was 

 worse, want of strategy. The occurrence happened as follows : — 



I was to leave Morlay, so long my jungle-home, for Madras next day, 

 en route to England, so, wishful for a last evening stroU I took a rifle and 

 drove in my pony-trap along the jungle-road which I had had cleared so 

 as to be feasible for driving from Morlay Hall to the Koombappan Goody 

 temple. Shooting was not my object so much as a quiet saunter through 

 the scenes to which I had become so much attached, so leaving my trap 

 at the temple, Murga (a tracker) and I wandered silently along the river- 

 bank. The jungle was imusuaUy thin and leafless even for the season of 

 the year (the hot weather), owing to the lack of proper rain for many 



