Chapter XIII: The Man-Eater

During the orchid hunter's stay in this village, the whole party had improved their skill as marksmen. The difficulty of procuring any animal food except by their own exertions, and the excellence of the wild pea-fowl, jungle-fowl, and deer, made Ralph, in particular, very keen after them; and, with the delight of a boy who had never before had the command of firearms, he missed no chance of familiarising himself with their use.

Mr. Gilchrist could give him no instruction in the art, but old Wills knew more, and was persuaded that it was necessary for some among the party to be fair shots, as otherwise their lives might be in terrible danger one day upon these wild adventurous journeys.

He therefore encouraged Ralph to seek sport upon every occasion, and the lad was fast becoming practised in the art, which pleased him much.

Although the village people would not kill for their own food, they entertained no objection whatever to profit by the peril into which, in their estimation, these strangers brought their own salvation; and fresh meat was much nicer than the half-rotten flesh, and that of animals which had died of disease, upon which they would greedily feed, and which entail upon them leprosy and other dreadful disorders. They gratefully accepted all the Englishmen's benefactions therefore, and Denham went out shooting nearly every day.

The fame of the liberal-handed Englishmen, and their absurd fancy for out-of-the-way plants from the jungle, had spread during their stay in this village, and on the day before Mr. Gilchrist had determined to start upon his return to Moulmein, a man arrived from a remote hamlet, bringing with him an orchid of such beauty and rarity as to throw him into a state of the greatest excitement.

"Denham," he said, "we must secure a good supply of this at any cost; it is a perfectly new one. To send this home will be to secure my fame, and be the ground-work of my fortunes. It is worth all that we have got before put together, but the fellow has mangled it terribly in bringing it as he has done. I must find the place where it grows, and take the specimens properly myself, or they would never reach England alive."

"All right, sir," said Ralph; "I'm game."

They made their preparations with all possible speed, retaining the Karen who had brought the plant for the purpose of conducting them to the spot where it grew.

This man declared that it would be impossible to take the bullock-gharrie with them under any circumstances; the jungle tracks were too much overgrown and tangled to admit of so large a vehicle making its way through them. Ponies were therefore hired for the purpose, little vicious creatures, which were used to scrambling and to the hilly country for which they were bound. One of these carried such equipments as Mr. Gilchrist considered necessary.

"I wish," said he sighing, as he added a couple of guns to the other preparations,--"I wish that I could have foreseen, in my youth, that I should ever be likely to find myself wandering about in places so wild as these in which we are now. I would have made myself a good shot in time. As it is, I fear, Denham, that we must trust Providence not to let our lives depend upon the accuracy of our aim at any time."

"We are improving, sir," said Denham. "We cannot call ourselves crack sportsmen, I suppose, but I don't feel as much at sea as I used to do, and we have managed to bring in a good deal of game lately."

"You and Wills have, not I," replied Mr. Gilchrist.

"We've got it, at anyrate," said the boy.

Osborn was to remain behind with the driver of the bullock-gharrie. He did not mind being left alone among the natives now, for he felt as if he knew them all, and was among friends.

The others were soon ready to start, and pursued their way among giant trees and matted underwood, through marshy spots, ankle deep in water, and over stony ground where little rivulets of water streamed among broken rocks. The damp hollows steamed with moisture, heavy clouds hung low over the jagged hilltops. Now they had to cleave their way through walls of climbing plants that cast out great tendrils, or branches; taking root in crevices and crannies, to start afresh into luxuriant life. Then they emerged upon some long defile where exquisite trees were budding out into every shade of green among dark cliffs and boulders; or upon some forest glade where flowers of gorgeous hue clung to the trunks of palm and peepul tree, clothing them in purple majesty, or hanging curtains of crimson, orange, golden yellow or snowy white, across the misty vista.

Birds of radiant hues flitted from bough to bough, chattering and screaming; occasionally a deer might be seen, or a small sambhur, standing to gaze at the intruders, then bounding away into shady solitudes where he felt secure.

Once a creature of the wild cat species was observed slinking along among the undergrowth; and many lizards were feeding upon white ants and other insects in the coarse grass.

They were approaching the hamlet, when, in some soft ground near to a pool of water, their guide uttered a horrified exclamation as he stooped to examine the pug of some animal very freshly made in the mud.

"What beast's footmarks are those?" asked Ralph.

"Big tiger, paya," replied the man. "He has been here last night."

"Do you consider that there is any danger of our meeting it in the jungle?"

"Well, paya, they wander very far sometimes in the night, but these marks are fresh. It is not long since he was here."

"I suppose," said Denham, "that if we do not disturb him, either in eating or sleeping, he would take no notice of us? If we 'nothing say to him, he'll nothing say to me,' eh?"

"Perhaps not, paya," said the man, "but there is no knowing. He may be hungry, we must be very careful."

"Pleasant," murmured Mr. Gilchrist.

"All in the day's work, sir," said Ralph cheerfully. "Hi, there!--orchids, orchids!"

"And the very ones we want!" cried Mr. Gilchrist, so delighted that he forgot the tiger forthwith.

It was not a particularly good specimen of the orchid, but the native said that there was plenty of it, as well as of other varieties, in the jungle around; they would not have to go far for them.

"There is a lot of what they call tiger-grass here, zur," said Wills; "will it be safe when we know that there is one of those gentry near at hand?"

"It may be miles away now," replied Mr. Gilchrist. "We may have passed near to him, or to another, as we have come through the jungle already. Don't let us die several deaths in fearing one."

"Just as you please, zur," said the old man.

"Are the guns loaded?"

"Ay, zur, all right."

"Keep a wary lookout then; but if we were to come across the creature, ten to one it would rather slink away than attack us."

"It won't do that," said the Karen; "this is a man-eater."

"What do you mean?" asked Mr. Gilchrist quickly, turning upon the native.

"Man-eater tiger, paya,--tiger that roams about alone, and eats nothing but human flesh. There was one about the village a little while ago, but we thought it had gone, for we have not seen it lately. It has eaten five or six men that I know of. It is an old beast, very large, very fierce, and very cunning. Nobody can kill it."

This description fired Denham's ambition at once--he longed to kill that tiger. What a feather in his cap could he but contrive to do so! He was just about to exclaim in his eagerness, when Mr. Gilchrist expressed an opposite desire, so he thought it best to hold his tongue.

"I hope we shall not come across it," said the more pacific elder man. "Do your best to keep us out of its way. How shall you know whether it is the man-eater if we should be so unlucky as to fall across it?"

"Man-eater dark coloured, paya. Mangy about its head, fur worn off in patches,--man flesh bad for him, not agree, you know."

"I have heard something about that before," said Mr. Gilchrist. "I believe that it is a question as to whether the creature is diseased from improper food, or whether it be too old to chase its natural prey as nimbly as would be necessary to secure enough, so is driven to entrap men, who are more unwary. But, see, there is a very choice clump of the orchids, let us set to work."

They were busily engaged in selecting orchids, when a rare and beautiful butterfly came sailing along on widespread painted wings, and Denham, who collected these insects with ardour, gave chase. He followed it somewhat deeper into the jungle, unheeding of the distance from his party to which it was leading him; but Wills cast an uneasy eye in the direction which he had taken, and presently moved to follow him.

Just as he had done so, he saw the boy's light figure come tearing back at headlong speed.

"The tiger! the tiger!" he cried. "It is there, it was asleep, but lifted its head and looked towards where I was, as I stepped among some branches. It could not see me, for there was a big tree between us; I saw part of its back and tail first, then hid myself and peeped. Give me a gun, Wills, quick! Come along."

"Massa paya will be breakfast for tiger if he go along like that," said the Karen. "He must climb a tree, and watch till it pass him. Keep quiet, no get excited, keep steady hand."

The man knew what he was about, it was not the first time that he had assisted upon a similar occasion. He selected a tree, up which Mr. Gilchrist climbed; then posted Ralph in another at a short distance, commanding a somewhat open glade, into which a track from the jungle led, and passed out of it again towards a large pool of water.

Wills joined the Karen and the coolies, who proposed, in two parties, to move from opposite directions round by a detour, and try to drive the animal down this path, where each gentleman might have a chance of shooting it from the safe elevation of his tree.

They had pistols, and moved off to right and left as quietly as possible at first, but as soon as they had attained to suitable positions, they began to fire into the jungle, to utter loud cries, to throw stones among the bushes, and do all in their power to disturb the animal, and to perplex him as to whence the assault proceeded.

They did not succeed in catching any glimpse of the beast, however; and but for Ralph's certainty that he had seen it, would have doubted whether there had not been some mistake. The Karen climbed a tree, which gave him a sort of bird's-eye view of the surrounding jungle, but if the tiger were there it was well concealed. He descended the tree, and recommenced beating round the circle agreed upon.

Hardly had he done so, when one of the two coolies with him suddenly caught hold of him, and pointed with his long skinny arm in silent excitement.

A crackling of twigs might be heard, a long line of tawny yellow colour seen gliding among the scrub, and, as an open place intervened, a magnificent creature appeared, half concealed as it slunk along, its head depressed till it was in one line with its body, and its tail drooping at the other end.

It walked a little lame, and presently lay down and licked one of its paws, which seemed to be sore.

The beaters held their breath, and it did not seem to be aware of their vicinity; the air, such as there was of it, leading their scent away from them; but the other party was drawing nearer, and the tiger evidently was more alive to danger approaching from that side, for it lifted its head, pricked up its ears, and listened. Then it resumed its trot in the direction of the pool; and the beaters, allowing it to gain a little way ahead, recommenced to drive it forwards by every means in their power.

The other party was drawing near to them, also acting on the offensive, and the tiger increased its pace, though evidently inconvenienced by the injury to its paw.

Both parties now coalesced; and, forming a wedge-shaped cohort, followed upon the animal's track, driving it forward by all sorts of annoyance.

The distance was not great, it soon reached the tree in which Ralph was perched, eagerly looking out for it, with his gun commanding the path upon which it was heard crashing heavily along. The fierce, striped face, and angry eyes, emerged from the jungle; one cruel, strong paw protruded, the beast looked warily round, then emerged wholly, and proceeded on its way.

Ralph waited till he considered his aim secure,--he covered the creature's head, nerved his arm--fired!--and nearly fell out of the tree from the terror induced by the awe-inspiring, wrathful howl of pain which resounded through the air. He had hit the tiger, certainly wounded it, but by no means had he administered its death-blow. It paused, staggered, and bounded forwards.

Mr. Gilchrist fired hastily and injudiciously, missed his aim, and the tiger abandoned its former intention of making for the water, and, hurriedly turning to the right, was lost sight of once more among the scrub.

Ralph and Mr. Gilchrist set themselves to reload their guns with all speed; and as they did so, the beaters came up.

"This is unlucky," said the Karen. "It has gone off to the bed of a stream among the rocks, in a defile there. It will have a den or lair among the caves there, from which we should find it almost impossible to dislodge it; but it is wounded certainly, and was lame before; it may stop to drink at the stream before seeking its hiding-place. See, here is blood, it is hard hit, let us make haste."

Only pausing to complete the reloading of their weapons, the whole party proceeded _en masse_ upon the trail. The path was difficult, for a stream carried off the rains from a height at a short distance, and brought stones of a considerable size with it after a heavy downpour, emptying itself into the large pool or lake before mentioned.

There was not much water in the bed of the stream yet, but sufficient to make the stones slippery, and fill many hollows between them with half-liquid mud. It was not easy to proceed with caution, yet never had caution been more desirable. Silently, slipping, scrambling, holding their guns aloft, reaching a helping hand from one to another, they proceeded for a couple of hundred yards; then caught sight of the magnificent brute, extended at full length upon its stomach beside a basin-shaped pool, lapping eagerly, yet crimsoning the limpid water with its blood the while.

Ralph sprang upon a rock which commanded his prey, fired again, hit the tiger in the neck, behind the ear, and it rolled over, faintly kicking for a minute, then becoming still in death.

They could hardly believe, at first, that the danger was over,--Ralph himself least of all. Mr. Gilchrist fired again at the animal as it lay, to make its death quite certain; and, after all, approached it cautiously. It then appeared that Ralph's first shot had taken effect in its shoulder, the bone of which was splintered, and from the wound a quantity of blood had flowed. But the poor creature had previously injured its foot, in the cushion beneath which a large thorn had become embedded, and caused a gathering, or abscess, to form. This was the reason why it had been lame, for it must have been very painful to tread upon it. Without this accident it might not have been so easy a prey, for it was a huge fellow, measuring nine feet from tip to tail.

Wills set himself to skin it immediately, and they camped out for the night, as it was far too late to return to the village then, but the ovation with which they were greeted next morning was very great.

The villagers had become superstitious with regard to this tiger, and could not sufficiently praise their deliverers.