248 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA 



and Prussians, for both sides seemed to claim the victory, 

 and eacli was busily engaged in carrying ofE the fallen of 

 tbe other side, perhaps with a view to provender in case of a 

 siege ! There were far more of the black ones, however, 

 killed than of the red. The latter are most unflinching 

 and venomous little devils, and prefer to leave their heads 

 and shoulders sticking where they have bitten rather than 

 loose their hold. I shall never forget disturbing a nest of 

 these red ants in an overhanging tree when hot on the fresh 

 footprints of a tiger. In an instant the elephant, howdah, 

 and myself were covered with a multitude of the creatures 

 rearing themselves on end and watching for a tender place 

 in which to plunge their nippers. No philosophy — ^not 

 even in the hot pursuit of a tiger — could stand this ; and 

 everything was forgotten in a wild rush to the nearest 

 water, where half an hour was lost in clearing ourselves 

 and the half-maddened elephant of the tormentors, and in 

 picking out the fangs they had left behind. 



A few days of a lazy existence in this microcosm of a 

 grove passed not unpleasantly after a spell of hard work 

 in the pitiless hot blasts outside; but when the Lalla 

 brought in news of families of tigers waiting to be hunted 

 in the surrounding river-beds I began to chafe ; and when 

 I heard from a neighbouring police post that the man-eater 

 had again appeared, and had killed a man and a boy on 

 the high road about ten miles from my camp, I could stand 

 it no longer. I had been douching my leg with cold water, 

 but now resorted to stronger measures, giving it a coating 

 of James's horse-blister, which caused of course severe 

 pain for a few days, but at the end of them resulted, to 

 my great delight, in a complete and permanent cure. 

 In the meantime, while I was stiU raw and sore, I was 

 regaled with stories of the man-eater — of his fearful size 

 and appearance, with belly pendent to the ground, and 

 white moon on the top of his forehead ; his pork-butcher- 

 like method of detaining a party of travellers while he 

 rolled himself in the sand, and at last came up and inspected 

 them all round, selecting the fattest ; his power of trans- 

 forming himself into an innocent-looking woodcutter, and 

 calUng or whistHng through the woods till an unsuspecting 



