Part 5 (1/2)

We pitched our cao-trees, which at the tireen fruit I was told that before the farove comprised over two thousand trees; but at present there are about half that nuirdar, a Mahratta, and an exceedingly courteous and dignified man We asked for and received per possible was done for our co So tenacious were the people of the villages in their devotion to their chief that not a hand would have been raised to help us nor a blade of grass given without an order from the head of this tiny State

Then we coress, of a very large panther, of bear, sambar, and blue bull abounded in a wooded valley so buffalo-calves, to attract the large Felidae, and ulti breakfast early when in trotted one of our Sikhs who had gone before the peep of dawn to look at the ”kills” He reported that one of the calves had been killed at five thata hasty conclusion to our breakfast, we called for horses, saw to our rifles and cartridges, and rode away to the scene of the early e called Sirpali, we left our horses and proceeded on foot up a lovely wooded valley filled with the bastard teak, the strong-s moha-tree (from which the bears of these parts receive their chief sustenance), the giant o, pipal and banyan

The awesoned supreme in the noonday heat The whispered consultations and the occasional footfall of some one of the party on a dry teak-leaf seeh appalling quiet of the jungle Here and there, so our path, were the fresh footprints of deer and of antelope, of pig and the lordly saht to drink at a time when the presence of man does not disturb the domain of the beasts of the forest Here was a tree with deep, clean marks all the way up its trunk, fro us that for so, though e could not tell, as there was neither fruit nor leaf on its bare branches

And then a turn in the path brought us to the kill, to the tragedy of a few hours ago Surely this is the work of a tiger--the broken neck, the tail bitten off and flung aside, the hind-quarters partly consumed? No, for there are only the er

They lead away into sole in front, and fro the beaters here, ent by a circuitous way until we arrived two or three hundred yards ahead of the direction the beat would take

Here ere nonplussed, for the jungle was so dense and the configuration of the ground such that there were ht be before the beat being able tothe eneood as any, and, as both of us seely well, we drew lots, and, contrary to rass and decided to remain, while Blake took up his position about fifty yards to le, it is the practice of most to shoot from a tree, not so much from a sense of added security--as both bears and panthers think little of running up a tree and et Accordingly, as there was a s was precarious and the position unfavourable for a good shot, I buckled h by means of one of my stirrup-leathers This is a device, by the hich I can ives you free use of your arht round to score a shot at a running object

I had not long disposedinto life with a suddenness and intensity which made me pretty sure that they had disturbed so increased in violence, when all at once I heard a quick and rather hurried tread, tread, tread over the dry teak-leaves, and, looking that way, out of the dense jungle into the sunlit glade before e panther

I put up rass It was a difficult shot, but I hazarded it

The beast turned and went up the bank to ht I, and let it have ht, and growled inwardly

I caught another glimpse of the brute as it went behind ht side I howled to the beaters, who had now approached, to be careful, as a wounded panther was in front of the me, we made them all sit down to keep them out of haran to stalk the wounded anile in front, apparently So we began to cast around a foote spot of frothy blood, showing the anis

”Put a man up that tree,” I said; ”the anione far” But nored

Then from a spot over which I had walked not around, I saw ten paces off Blake raise his rifle and fire two barrels, but, alas! apparently without result Down he went before the savage rush of the beast, which began to worry him

Blake had fallen back on his elbows, and in the curve of his neck and right shoulder I could just see, though so near, the dark-spotted body of the panther There was no tiht in an agony of uncertainty, but the hazard followed quick upon the thought, and bang, bang, went h, with all the characteristic bravery of this nificent race, ran in and beat the aniun, which he was carrying at the time

All this was too much for the panther, who then left Blake and shambled away I thren my own rifle and ran to Blake's assistance, when the panther stopped and half turned towards us

”He's coain,” Blake cried, and covered his face with his hands We were all unarmed; like a fool I had left un was smashed to splinters, and Blake's rifle had fallen nobody knehere during the _melee_ But, fortunately for us, and more especially for me, as then nearest her, the panther seele, as far as I could see very badly knocked about

Then we attended to Blake's injuries, which consisted of a large piece torn froh, and claw-h bleeding a lot, and walked with our assistance towards the village until one of the orderlies galloped up with the ”charpai,” or native bed, I had sent for immediately the accident had occurred Then on to ca them with boracic acid, which was, foolishly, all we had provided in the way of antiseptics

Then a ”palki” or palankin arrived, lent by the jargirdar, who had also sent his ten private carriers, and, accompanied by the dafadar, we started for the railway, the nearest point of which was fortyexperienced thirteen hours of anxiety, dead weariness, exhausted palankin men, bad and in some places non-existent roads, and, to crown all, one river to ford

Blake has happily survived his injuries--always severe when inflicted by panthers, as these ani their prey and leaving it exposed for a day to the Indian sun, seldo, which few, if any, have been known to survive

The panther was found next day, quite dead, with three bullet-wounds in her--one in the chest, one through the ribs, and one through the body from the front left ribs to the left haunch; and that she was able to do all the dae she did testifies to the proverbial tenacity of life and ferocity of these anier is a janwar (animal), but the panther he is a shaitan (devil)”

Mr dickson Price, who had a narrow escape from a panther in 1905, thus described the occurrence--