Part 16 (1/2)
”I am thinking what a difference there is between your standpoint and that of the hunters of wild animals I know. But tell me--have you ever been afraid?”
”Yes, once.”
”Really afraid?”
”Yes.”
”I want to hear about it some day, if you will be so good; but first I want to tell you a story of fear; two kinds of fear. There has been no one I could speak to--and I am in need of help.”
”I would like to help you. Tell on.”
”Do you know much about hyenas?”
”I know they are the most unclean of all beasts. I have never heard that they are dangerous to men.”
”Sometimes they are. Only a little way from where we sit in this jungle, a woman was killed and eaten last year, by a hyena. But I am not afraid for myself. I have said my fear is of two kinds. First, I am seriously concerned for the children; especially the baby. She is frail at her best and if it were not for her long afternoon naps, I am unwilling to think what would come to her just from the sort of thing which has been happening. She is highly organised; and one has heard that any kind of nerve-shock is most dangerous to such children. Then, there is a different kind of fear, _quite_ different; it is for her Great Dane dog.”
”Won't he charge them?”
”That is the most awful part of it. Of all creatures I have ever known, I may as well say of all people I have ever known, he has the most splendid courage. One night in every week he is taken to Bhanah's own quarters, so that his master shall not be disturbed. The change seemed to relieve him, at first. But--one who had not seen could never conceive how gradually, through the long, long nights--I have watched his almost super-human courage--breaking.”
Skag opened his lips to speak, but she put up her hand.
”This is hard to tell because I have never known that I could be afraid. I have always supposed that I had perfect courage. But while Nels' courage has been in the wrecking, my own has been wrecked--quite!”
Her voice was very low and very bitter.
”I don't believe it's as bad as that.”
She glanced up and smiled the slow smile of extreme age upon extreme youth.
”My husband, the police commissioner, has hunted in India more than twenty years; some of his friends longer than that. I suppose they are as familiar with the natures and doings of most animals in this country as foreign hunters can become. But of course the natives know jungle creatures even better. We have two servants, born in these hills, my ayah and Bhanah the old cook; I have much from both of them. But my experience here in this tent, has--as the natives would say--established it all in me. You will have heard that hyenas are almost always the scouts for tigers.”
”Yes, Mr. Cadman told me that.”
”Jackals run with them. The hunters say that between the hyena, whose stench is beyond description awful, and the jackal, whose stench is strong dog, they obliterate the tiger smell and so prevent the desperate panic coming in time to the hunted creatures, who fear the tiger more than anything.”
”Hyenas in captivity do not smell so exceptionally bad.”
”One has heard that all flesh-eating animals in captivity are fed clean meat, reasonably fresh--”
”They are; and for the moment I forgot their reputation--that would make a difference.”
”It is claimed here, that they eat only two kinds of flesh, at once--human and dog. They say that the hyena entices and betrays to the killing, the tiger kills and eats his fill, then the jackals come in and leave only bones and tendon-stuff for the hyena. This is what he devours as soon as it is old enough to suit his taste.”
”Are all these animals here in this jungle?”
”Plenty of jackals; but the tigers have been killed out of all this part of these Ghats by the European sportsmen of Bombay and Poona. The hunters disregard hyenas; so there are many left, with no killer to kill for them.”
”That might make them dangerous.”