he poor sahib--the bad tiger. Alas! how terrible
are the misfortunes that happen in the world!'

'Which sahib? is it Sahib Eccles you speak of? What has happened? Stop
blubbering, fool, and tell me plainly!'

'He is eaten, sahib--killed and eaten; here comes the chief shikari with
the sahib's own rifle--let him tell you.'

The shikari came flying down the road; he saw me and stopped, salaaming
very low. 'Benefactor of the people!' he exclaimed. 'Protector of the
poor! there has been a calamity, sahib; though you have come too late, I
thank the gods that you are here--you can at least find and slay the
accursed beast. Oh, miserable man that I am! My good master, Sahib
Eccles! so young and so brave, and to die in the teeth of such a beast!
oh, woe! woe!'

My heart stood still. Did I dream, or were these men really telling me
the dreadful news that poor Charlie had been killed by a tiger?

I could scarcely speak, but I contrived to return to the verandah of the
bungalow and to sink upon a chair. The shikari had followed me to the
house, lamenting aloud.

'Stop!' I said, angrily. 'Now tell me plainly what has happened.'

The man began his tale. It was to have been a battue, he explained.
Natives had come overnight, hearing that a sahib had arrived. They
reported that a bad tiger had lived for a month in the jungle, close to
the village. It had already killed and eaten three persons, besides
destroying many bullocks belonging to the people. 'Unless the sahib
comes to our assistance and kills the beast, we are lost--we and our
children!' they told him. The Sahib Eccles had been delighted to hear of
the tiger; it was just what he most wanted. 'Are there beaters to be
had?' he asked. Fifty beaters were found in the surrounding district,
but the reputation of the tiger was so bad that all the men and women
were very nervous, and the sahib had laughed when told about them, and
had said that he did not think they would be of much use if they were so
frightened before they went into the jungle.

Nevertheless, the Sahib Eccles chose a tree for himself in a place where
he could see well in many directions, and climbed up into the branches,
and the beaters were placed at a distance around the place where the
tiger was supposed to be lying. The beat began; that is, the natives
shouted and banged their drums, and smote the trees with sticks, and
produced horrible sounds from many different kinds of instruments; but,
almost as s