CONSERVATORS’ WORK 141 
crime in a few words: “I took my bamboo and 
went up to the guard-house; my wife was there, 
and when I told her to come out the Nepalese 
attacked me with his knife. I struck him over the 
head with my bamboo, and he lay still; then I 
brought my wife to her father’s house. The village 
headmen said that this would cause trouble in the 
village, so I came to say that I alone am respon- 
sible.” His story on investigation proved to be 
correct, and it is satisfactory to think that the 
verdict was “justifiable homicide,” for the community 
would otherwise have been much disheartened. 
“How,” they would have said, ‘‘can we live here 
if we are not allowed to protect ourselves against 
these robbers 2” 
The forester is often safer from theft and other 
dangers when dwelling with the jungle tribes than 
when amongst a more settled population. There 
such happenings as robbery, and even murder, are 
not infrequent, and almost every Forest Officer will 
have some instances to relate. The following, which 
took place at Amangarh, in the Garhwal District, is 
a characteristic case of civilized but sordid murder. 
It was the custom at that time to send the forest 
revenue collected during the day to sub-treasuries 
at a distance, and on this occasion the Forest Guard 
was late in arriving, and doubts were freely ex- 
pressed as to his honesty. Next morning inquiry 
showed that the man had left his quarters with a 
heavy bag of copper coins; he was traced as far as a 
broad drive running through dense forest, and thence- 
forward nothing more was known till the trackers 
supplied further information. The victim had been 
