Part 36 (1/2)
”Before we had done breakfast the great man of the neighbourhood, Rajah somebody or other, made his -237--appearance on his elephant, attended by a train of tawnies, who were to undertake the agreeable duty of beating. Not being considered fit to take care of myself--a melancholy fact of which I was only too conscious--it was decreed that Slingsby and I should occupy the same howdah. Accordingly, at the time appointed, we mounted our elephant; and having a formidable array of guns handed up to us, we started.
”As my companion, and, indeed, every one else concerned in the matter, evidently considered it completely as a party of pleasure, and seemed prepared to enjoy themselves to the utmost, I endeavoured to persuade myself that I did so too; and, consoled by the reflection that if the tiger had positively eaten half a bullock yesterday afternoon, it never could be worth his while to scale our elephant, and run the risk of being shot, for the sake of devouring me, I felt rather bold than otherwise. After proceeding for some distance through the jungle, and rousing, as it seemed to me, every beast that had come out of Noah's Ark, except a tiger, our elephant, who had hitherto conducted himself in a very quiet and gentlemanly manner, suddenly raised his trunk and trumpeted several times--a sure sign, as the mahout informed us, that a tiger was somewhere close at hand.
”'Now then, Frampton,' cried my companion, c.o.c.king his double-barrel, 'look out!'
”'For squalls,' returned I, finis.h.i.+ng the sentence for him.--'Pray, is there any particular part they like to be shot in? whereabouts shall I aim?'
”'Wherever you can,' replied Slingsby; 'be ready--there he is, by Jupiter!' and, as he spoke, the long gra.s.s about a hundred yards in front of us was gently agitated, and I caught a glimpse of what appeared a yellow and black streak, moving swiftly away in an opposite direction.
--'Tally ho!' shouted Slingsby, saluting the tiger with both barrels. An angry roar proved that the shots had taken effect, and in another moment a large tiger, las.h.i.+ng his sides with his tail and his eyes glaring with rage, came bounding towards us.
”'Now what's to be done?' exclaimed I--'if you had but left him alone, he was going away as quietly as possible.'
”Slingsby's only reply was a smile, and seizing another gun, he fired again. On receiving this shot the tiger stopped for a moment, and then, with a tremendous bound, sprang towards us, alighting at the foot of a small tree not a yard from the elephant's head.
-238--”'That last shot crippled him,' said my companion, 'or we should have had the pleasure of his nearer acquaintance--now for the _coup de grace_--fire away!' and as he spoke he leaned forward to take a deliberate aim, when suddenly the front of the howdah gave way, and to my horror Slingsby was precipitated over the elephant's head, into, as it seemed to me, the very jaws of the tiger. A fierce growl and a suppressed cry of agony proved that the monster had seized his prey; and I had completely given up my friend for lost, when the elephant, although greatly alarmed, being urged on by the mahout, took a step forward, and, twisting his trunk round the top of the young tree, bent it down across the loins of the tiger, thus forcing the tortured animal to quit his hold, and affording Slingsby an opportunity of crawling beyond the reach of its teeth and claws. Forgetting my own fears in the imminence of my friend's danger, I only waited till I could get a shot at the tiger without running the risk of hurting Slingsby, and then fired both barrels at his head, and was lucky enough to wound it mortally. The other sportsmen coming up at the moment, the brute received its quietus, but poor Slingsby's arm was broken where the tiger had seized it with its teeth, and his shoulders and chest were severely lacerated by its claws, nor did he entirely recover the shock for many months.{1} And this was my first introduction to a royal tiger, sir.
I saw many of 'em afterwards, during the time I spent in India, but I can't say I ever had much liking for their society--umph!”
This anecdote brought others in its train--minutes flew by apace, the wine grew low in the decanters, and it became apparent to me that if I would not lose the whole evening, and go home with my brains muddled beyond all possibility of reading, I must take my departure.
Accordingly, pulling out my watch, I reminded Mr. Frampton of my previous stipulation to be allowed to run away as soon as dinner was concluded, adding that I had already stayed longer than was altogether prudent. The reply to this announcement was, ”Umph! sit still, sir, sit still; I'm going to ring for another bottle of port”.
1 The main facts of the foregoing anecdote are taken from Capt. Mundy's very interesting _Pen and Pencil Sketches_.
Finding, however, that I was determined, he gave up the point, adding: ”Umph! well, if you must go, you must, I suppose--though you might refuse a worse offer;--but, if you really are anxious about your studies and -239--wish to distinguish yourself, I won't be the man to hinder you--it's few enough of 'em are like you here, I expect”; then, _sotto voce_, ”wish t'other young monkey might be”. ”You hinted before dinner at some information I might be able to give you?” said I interrogatively.
”Umph! did I?--aye, so I did--you see, Mr. Lee, there's a young fellow at Trinity, about your age I should fancy, whom I used to know as a boy,--and--he was a very good boy--and--and--his mother's a widow; poor thing--a very nice boy, I may say, he was--and as I feel a sort of interest about him I thought that you might, perhaps, give one an idea of how he's going on--just a notion--you understand--umph!”
”Exactly, sir,” returned I, ”and what may be the name of your friend?”
”Frank Fairlegh,” was the answer.
”You could not have applied to a better person,” replied I. ”Frank Fairlegh!--why, he was one of my most intimate friends.”
”_Was_--umph!”
”Why, yes, it's more was than is, certainly--for since I've been reading hard, it's a positive fact that I've scarcely seen his face.”
”That looks as if he wasn't over fond of reading, then, eh?--umph!”
”You may put that interpretation upon it, certainly,” replied I, ”but mind, I don't say it's the true one. I consider it would not be right in me to tell tales out of school; besides there's nothing to tell--everybody knows Frank Fairlegh's a good fellow--ask Lawless--ask Curtis.”
”Umph! Lawless? what? that wild young scamp who goes tearing about the country in a tandem, as if a gig with one horse wasn't dangerous enough, without putting on a second to make the thing positively terrific?
he must be badly off for something to do, if he can find no better amus.e.m.e.nt than trying how nearly he can break a fool's neck, without doing it quite;--umph! Curtis--why, that's the name of the young gentleman--very gentle--who, the landlord tells me, has just been rusticated for insulting Dr. Doublechin, and fastening a muzzle and chain on one of the men they call 'bull-dogs,' saying, forsooth, that it wasn't safe to let such ferocious animals go about loose--nice acquaintance Mr. Frank Fairlegh seems to choose, and you know the quotation, '_Noscitur a sociis_'.”
”Oh,” replied I, ”but he has others; I have seen him in company with Mr.
Wilford.”
-240--”Wilford? the noted duellist, that scoundrel who has lately shot the son of Sir John Oaklands, as fine a young man as ever I set eyes upon?--for I have often seen him when I was living at Helmstone; if I thought, sir, that Fairlegh was a friend of that man--I'd--I'd--well, sir,” he exclaimed, seeing my eyes fixed upon him with a degree of interest I could not conceal, ”it's nothing to you, I suppose, what I may intend to do by Mr. Frank Fairlegh! I may be his grandfather for anything you can tell to the contrary; and I may choose to cut him off with a s.h.i.+lling, I imagine, without its affecting you in any way--umph?”