where we camped. I'm gambling that
we're a lot nearer than that to the Nerbudda."

Nels' jubilation was stayed by the unfolding of fresh plans that were
not slow to dawn upon his eager mind. They hastened along the river
bed, continuing in the direction they had come. Skag was in a queer
elation, dropping a sentence from time to time. Suddenly he halted.
It had occurred to him to recall something his mind had merely noted
during the work in the cave. There was fresh meat there. He had not
looked close, but at least two partly devoured carcasses had lain in
the shadows.

"They were mighty thirsty, Nels," he muttered. "The mother dying of
thirst, but the little ones were only sultry compared. Yes, they're
old enough to tear at fresh meat. They weren't so bad off and there
was plenty of meat there. Only thirsty," he added thoughtfully.

It was clear to his mind that the tigress had been helpless at least
three days, possibly four. She could not have brought the game. There
was one conclusive reason--that the meat was in an altogether too fresh
condition to have been brought by the mother before she gave up. Skag
walked rapidly. They did not reach the Nerbudda, but sighted a village
back Horn the river bed after nearly two hours' walk.

They refilled the canteens and procured two water skins besides; also a
broad deep gourd which Skag carried empty. The man's difficulty was to
escape without assistance. A white man in his position was not
supposed to carry goatskin water bags over his shoulders. The boys of
the village followed him after the elders had given up, and Skag halted
at last to explain that this was an affair that would interest them
very much--when a teller came back to tell the story; but that this was
the doing part of the story and must be carried to its conclusion alone.

A little later in the nullah bed he fastened the canteen and the gourd
to Nels' collar, but continued to pack the two skins himself--a rather
arduous journey in full Indian daylight with between forty and fifty
pounds of water on his shoulders. It was four in the afternoon when
they neared the mouth of the lair and Nels was drooping again.

"Buck up, old man!" Skag said. "I'll go in for a while with the
thirsty ones. Then we'll make a camp and have some supper together."

Skag heard the hiss again as he entered the darkness, and the kittens
were not so still as before. Only a trifle less leisurely he
approached