286 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA 



home to his dinner, just as he reached the door forth 

 sprang the terrible scourge of the village, and, racing ofE 

 to the hills with the Aheer in his horrid jaws, disappeared 

 in an instant ! 



" It was about the hour of sunset, and most of the 

 villagers returned from their work were collected by the 

 image of Mahadeo, under the village pepul tree, discussing 

 the events of the day. Amongst them was a Gond Thakur, 

 named Padam Singh, who had killed his tiger, and was 

 consequently considered the village authority on sporting 

 matters. He was a man of determination, as his after- 

 conduct will show, and at once proposed that they should 

 proceed in a body and rescue the remains of their fellow- 

 villager from the maw of the spoiler. Arming themselves 

 as best they could, and taking all the drums and other 

 noisy instruments in the village, they sallied forth and 

 approached the spot where the man-eater had retired to 

 devour the Aheer. Bold and undaimted as the tiger is 

 when himself the aggressor, the most terrible man-eater 

 wants the courage to stand the approach of a body of men 

 like this ; so he retreated (as, indeed, the villagers very well 

 knew he would). They found the corpse half eaten, the 

 upper half remaining untouched. Padam' Singh, the 

 possessor of the only matchlock in the place, proposed 

 that the remains should be left untouched, that he might 

 sit up in a tree, and, awaiting the return of the tiger, rid 

 the village for ever of the pest. To this the dead man's 

 relations yielded an unwilling assent, and Padam Singh 

 was left to the ghastly company of the corpse, perched high 

 on a neighbouring tree. Ere long the man-eater returned, 

 and the Thakur watched his approach with immense satis- 

 faction from his lofty position. The tiger approached 

 within eighty yards or so — ^thirty too far for a sure aim with 

 the rude matchlock. Then he paused, and to his horror 

 the Thakur saw the mutilated corpse slowly raise its right 

 arm, and point with a warning gesture at himself ! On 

 the signal, the man-eater instantly disappeared in the 

 jungle. Transfixed with horror, the Thakiir remained 

 glued to the tree. Shortly the tiger again returned, and 

 again was the same mute warning given by the dead man, 



