OFFICERS SHOULD ALWAYS TAKE THE LEAD. 
97 
smelt a goat, and another sprang violently from the 
jungle. We heard a rushing sound, too, like that made 
by a large animal bursting through the bushes, and the 
man w’ho had sprung hack said, in a faltering voice, that 
he had seen a tiger. I remembered once hearing Squires 
say that a tiger smelt like a goat, and felt hope die within 
me. The captain cast an anxious glance into the dark 
forest ahead of us, and slowly stepped back to the water’s 
edge. ‘Come!’ he said; ‘there is no use going farther; 
we will do what we can for them to-mori'ow.’ So we 
returned on board, and after five hours’ sleep were again 
on the tramp. 
“ The party was still composed of seven men, and as 
we struck boldly into the jungle the morning sun gave 
us but a subdued light, — no ray. We entered in single 
file, the captain leading and I bringing up the roar, — a 
most unpleasant station, after I had recalled to mind the 
fact that a crouching tiger always ivaits for the last man. I 
began to feel very brave, and to remark, in a careless 
manner, that ‘ officers should always take the lead.’ Th^ 
captain only laughed: he imagined very well what I was 
thinking about. 
“We w'alked all that day, fired volley after volley, and 
made ourselves hoarse with shouting: still no answer, 
save an occasional howl similar to the one we had heard 
the preceding evening. We killed several ugly, flat- 
headed snakes, a huge, poisonous-looking lizard, and a 
small deer: the latter we cooked for dinner. We found 
the jungle getting thicker and becoming broken by 
swampy flats as we progressed, and had discovered a 
leaden-coloured snake that seemed to live coiled round 
7 
