238 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



the caves by exploring them was clearly inadvisable, 

 so we returned to wait in patience till nightfall. The 

 anticipation of sport near at hand made that day 

 seem endless : the morning blazed wearily till tiffin- 

 time, and the afternoon hours dragged till evening. 

 Then, finally, the sun sank, and by seven o'clock I 

 had the five remaining goats at their posts, and, as 

 nothing more could be done, prepared to sit up over 

 the fifth, which was the loudest bleater, in the hope 

 that the tiger would pick him out for his night's 

 kill. 



We found, some five yards from the goat, a suit- 

 able rock, which shaded us from the moonlight, and 

 waited, the animal crying lustily and being an- 

 swered continually by one of the others which was 

 within call. The first hour or two of this sitting up 

 was not bad, but eventually one's eyes became 

 strained from peering through the moonlight, and, 

 with the help of a sharpened imagination, pictured 

 a moving form in every rock and shadow. The goat 

 had by this time quieted down, the moon had 

 waned, the hunter-men were fidgeting ; so it seemed 

 better to give it up, and silently and in single file we 

 covered the three miles to the village. 



But the discouragement of the evening was not to 

 last. The men had gone out to the goats at sunrise, 

 and I was awakened on their return by a tremendous 



