by two great iron or copper skewers. On that particular
day they meant to kill, whatever the cost.
Soon after the search began, a bone of the deceased was
found, all that was left of the old man, about the size of
a man’s hand. Cautiously and stealthily the pursuit
was continued, and fortune favoured the brave, for
the tiger was found asleep under a rock. At once each
man dropped silently into the cover of the brushwood,
and piled a heap of stones near to his hand, while 'one
of the most trusted of the party was commissioned to
stalk to the top of the rock and drop a huge stone on the
sleeping brute. So well was the work done that the
stone fell true on the back, and immediately with a roar
the wounded tiger sprang up, and, seeing the attackers,
who leaped from their cover, charged the line. But a
hundred men, desperate as to consequences, throwing
stones with might and main, are not to be awed, or
turned from their purpose, lightly. The stones broke
the tiger’s teeth, and went into his mouth, and his body
was a mass of wounds. Turning he tried to escape,
and took his pursuers up hill for a mile, but wherever
he turned, and whatever he did, he could not escape
the pitiless rain of missiles. The blow on his back, first
^given, effectually checked his speed, and finally, worn
out, he came to bay under a great cliff. The rest was
easy. He was immediately hemmed in, and the stones
were showered on him thicker than ever, hurled with redoubled
energy. As he sank down the villagers rushed
in and despatched him with axes. I was fortunate
enough to be in the neighbourhood a day or so later,
and saw the skin and the skull. The mangy skin had
not been pulled out, and so had dried into creases, but
measured close on nine feet, while there were great
. cuts in it where the axes had done their work. Almost
all the teeth in the skull were broken, an eloquent
testimony to the accuracy of the stone-throwers.
Evidently, the tiger was a very old one, and had
become, a man-eater when unable to catch other prey.
NATIVES OF THE U P P E R HILLS
A crowd of the villagers who had taken part in the
fray carefully and with the greatest detail explained
the whole episode, and by means of rocks and boulders
fought the good fight once again.
Longstaff was kept busy dispensing medicines and
prescribing for thé sick, who flocked in from all sides.
One of the commonest complaints was the following :
A man, otherwise hale and hearty, would stagger up