Part 34 (2/2)

The boat continued on its course for half an hour longer, and then came up to a sort of stockade, extending out into the water, and near it were a couple of bamboo huts. This wild region is spa.r.s.ely peopled with Hindus, who are obliged to keep guard over themselves and their families all the time, and are occasionally the victims of the ferocious monsters of the jungle and of the water.

”What is that stockade for?” asked the commander, as soon as the steamer was moored to the sh.o.r.e.

”The Hindus are a cleanly people, as required by their religion,” replied Captain O'Flaherty in the hearing of all the party. ”That stockade contains a big trough for was.h.i.+ng their scanty clothing. It reaches into the water, so that they can fill their washtub without going out of it.”

”I don't see why?” asked Mrs. Woolridge.

”If they went to the border of the stream to dip up water the crocodiles would pick them up as fast as they did so,” added the captain; and all the ladies shuddered, and wanted to get out of such a horrible place.

”But the hunters are to land here; and they will find all the heavy game they can dispose of, for there have been no hunters here yet this season to scare them off. You will find the biggest tigers of India here, gentlemen.”

The hunters went on sh.o.r.e, and as they pa.s.sed down the gangway they saw a couple of the crocodiles in the water. Louis put a bullet into the eye of one, and Mr. Woolridge served the other in the same way; but all of them thought saurians were mean game. Near the huts they found two men, and Sir Modava had a talk with them, which no one else could understand; but he employed them to guide the party and show them their traps.

”The wife of one of these men was devoured by a crocodile a year ago, and the daughter of the other, a child of six, had been borne off by a tiger,”

he explained, as they proceeded after the two men.

They soon came to the traps. The tigers were exceedingly numerous on all the islands formed by the cut-offs, and swam without difficulty from one to another. The first trap they saw was a broad trench, the bottom and sides armed with stakes of the hardest wood, sharpened to a wicked point. A roaring sound attracted the visitors to another of the same kind, in which a monstrous tiger was floundering about, trying to escape the points that pierced him. He was suffering fearfully; and Captain Ringgold shot him at once, though the Hindus were delighted by his torture.

Another kind of trap was more ingenious. It was on the plan of the twitch-up snare, common in New England. A young tree, very strong and flexible, is bent down till the upper end touches the ground. To this extremity is attached a stout cord, and fastened to a stake in the ground.

A slip-noose is so arranged that the tiger thrusts his head through it in order to reach the meat with which the cord holding the tree is baited. As the animal pulls the cord he casts off the line holding the tree in its bent position. The slip-noose is tightened around his neck, the tree flies up into the air, carrying the tiger with it. Everything about the trap is made very strong, and there the savage marauder hangs till he chokes to death.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Captain Ringgold brought down another--Page 349]

The party moved on, and they had not gone ten rods before a cobra elevated his head. Felix claimed the right to fire first, and he killed him with one ball. A large python was Scott's first prize; and, after a long walk, they came to a nest of tigers, as it seemed, for there were not less than five of them drinking at a brook. It appeared to be the only place in the vicinity where fresh water could be obtained. The first of the tigers was killed by Louis with a single shot, for he put the ball through the eye of the beast.

Captain Ringgold brought down another with three shots from his repeating rifle. Felix did not care for tigers; he was looking for snakes, and they came to the brook to drink. In a couple of hours he had half a dozen of his favorite game. He declared that he was following the blessed example of St.

Patrick, and if he did not die too soon he would rid the world of all the snakes in it.

The five tigers lay dead by the brook; and, taking the advice of the coolies, the hunters returned into a thicket, where Felix killed another python. The party could see the brook. A pair of timid deer came next to drink; but they fled at the approach of what seemed to be a family of leopards, for two of them were evidently cubs. They were all shot; but the repeated reports of the rifles had probably scared off others, and no more beasts of any kind came.

”These men say you have killed more tigers and leopards than any party of hunters who ever came here,” said Sir Modava, who carried a rifle, but had not fired it once; and Lord Tremlyn's weapon had not been discharged; for both preferred to leave the game for their friends.

It was a great hunt, and the Americans were correspondingly proud of their success. Louis and Felix had been trained in a shooting-gallery, and neither of them missed his aim; but the shooting had all been at short range. With the help of two coolies, all the game was carried to the steamer, where it was exhibited to the rest of the company. The tigers were all skinned by the coolies and the crew of the steamer, as were the leopards; but after Mrs. Blossom and the others had seen the snakes, they were fed out to the crocodiles. The coolies were abundantly rewarded, and seemed to wors.h.i.+p their visitors. They presented to them four mango fish, golden-yellow in color, and exquisite in flavor.

The steamer cast off her fasts, and headed for Calcutta; but it was late, and the fish presented, which abound in the markets of the city, were the burden of a fine supper they ate on the way.

CHAPTER x.x.xVI

THE PARTING FESTIVITIES ON THE HOOGLY

While the hunters were so successfully bagging the big game of the jungle, Captain O'Flaherty had taken the party who had remained on board the steamer on an excursion through some of the waterways of the Sunderbunds, so that they were not wearied by waiting for those more actively employed.

The united party had thoroughly enjoyed the day, even into the evening. The skins of the tigers and leopards were sent to an expert, to be prepared for future preservation when the time should admit.

At the hotel the wonderful success of the hunters was the theme of the other guests; but the place was regarded as a dangerous one, though that would not deter Englishmen from visiting it if it were not so difficult of access, for a government steam-yacht was not available for many parties.

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