148 AUGUST 



who came running with sticks, to secure him. No 

 use; the faster they ran after him, the faster he 

 went after the jack, till the place was full of flying 

 creatures, all wildly excited. At last, when the 

 jack found an escape possible into the road, they 

 were all fain to lie prone on the grass together, 

 gasping. The jackals slink in somewhere, before 

 the gate is shut at night, and lie hidden in the old 

 pond jungle, waiting for an opportunity to get at 

 my Chittagong fowls. Once they carried off three 

 fine hens, and another time four ducks, by scratch- 

 ing a hole under the wire-netting placed all round 

 the run by the Professor, who was then here. I 

 was at that time smitten with the idea of giving the 

 Burra Sahib two beautiful brown eggs every day, 

 with his breakfast ; such eggs as can never be 

 bought ; and the Professor aided and abetted me 

 in arranging a palatial abode for some Chittagong 

 cocks and hens, that had just been made a present 

 to me. 



"Now," said the Professor, "you want an incu- 

 bator ; I will make one." 



So an empty kerosene-oil box was requisitioned, 

 and the interior fitted up in some mysterious way, 



