atter of the tiger's ears, for which she could not
forgive herself--though in truth she had been innocent enough. And they
were really lovers, those two. Any one might have seen it, and but for
the wondrous fascination Isaacs exercised over every one who came near
him, and the circumstances of his spotless name and reputation for
integrity in the large transactions in which he was frequently known to
be engaged, it is certain that Mr. Ghyrkins would have looked askance at
the whole affair, and very likely would have broken up the party.

In the course of time we became a little _blase_ about tigers, till on
the eighth day from the beginning of the hunt, which was a Thursday, I
remember, an incident occurred which left a lasting impression on the
mind of every one who witnessed it. It was a very hot morning, the
hottest day we had had, and we had just crossed a _nullah_ in the
forest, full from the recent rains, wherein the elephants lingered
lovingly to splash the water over their heated sides, drowning the
swarms of mosquitoes from which they suffer such torments, in spite of
their thick skins. The collector called a halt on the opposite side; our
line of march had become somewhat disordered by the passage, and
numerous tracks in the pasty black mud showed that the _nullah_ was a
favourite resort of tigers--though at this time of day they might be a
long distance off. I had come next to the collector after we emerged
from the stream, the pad elephants having lingered longer in the water,
and Mr. Ghyrkins with Miss Westonhaugh was three or four places beyond
me. It was shady and cool under the thick trees, and the light was not
good. The collector bent over his howdah, looking at some tracks.

"Those tracks look suspiciously fresh, Mr. Griggs," said the collector,
scrutinising the holes, not yet filled by the oozing back water of the
_nullah_. "Don't you think so?"

"Indeed, yes. I do not understand it at all," I replied. At the
collector's call a couple of beaters came forward and stooped down to
examine the trail. One of them, a good-looking young _gowala_, or
cowherd, followed along the footprints, examining each to be sure he was
not going on a false spoor; he moved slowly, scrutinising each hole, as
the traces grew shallower on the rising ground, approaching a bit of
small jungle. My sight followed the probable course of the track ahead
of him and something caught my eyes, which are remarkably good, even at
a gre