52 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 
locality to protect me. He would do all the stealing 
he could, they told me, but he would prevent the 
others from stealing. 
The trip was made with a retinue of servants, 
cooks, bearers and runners, each with his own 
little task. It was my first experience with the caste 
system, and I was amazed at the number of people 
I had to take with me. We traveled by the main 
road for two hundred miles; then by a branch road 
.toa place called Pachamba. The remainder of the 
trip was made by ox-teams and bearers, along the 
line of the government rest-houses erected for the 
use of officials visiting the country. 
We stopped at a rest-house about three miles 
from the village, and I sent the boy on ahead to 
buy food for us and to get information about the 
tigers. Then we engaged one of the local natives 
to act as guide and guard. I was exhausted by the 
trip and soon after supper I went to sleep. 
A few hours after dark, I was awakened by the 
most unearthly yell I have ever heard. I jumped up 
and called the boy I had brought from Calcutta. He 
was trembling with fright and he said that he didn’t 
know what the noise meant. Remembering all the 
tales I had heard about the people of this district, 
I ordered the boy to bar the doors and windows and 
to lay out my guns. I was well armed with auto-. 
matics and revolvers and I prepared for a battle. 
Presently there came another yell, answered on all 
sides of us. With my guns loaded and ready, I sat 
