PREFACE. 



THE following stories originally appeared in the columns of the 

 Calcutta Statesman, and are reproduced in their present form with 

 the permission of the proprietors of that journal. 



Most of the incidents narrated fell within the personal experience 

 of the writer, much of whose professional life was spent in the 

 jungle tracts of India. Where his description of the habits of wild 

 beasts differs from that of accepted authorities, he can only plead 

 that he has recorded the facts as they appeared to him at the 

 time of their occurrence, and that he does not pretend to a scientific 

 knowledge of the Indian fauna. 



A. MERVYN SMITH. 



LONDON, March, 1904. 



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