is dead?"

Still holding their guns in readiness to fire, they approached the
bushes.

"You can do no good until the villagers come with torches," the
Doctor said; "the tiger is dead enough, but it is always as well to be
prudent."

The shikari had uttered a loud cry as he sprang down from the tree, and
this had been answered by shouts from the distance. In a few minutes
lights were seen through the trees, and a score of men with torches and
lanterns ran up with shouts of satisfaction.

As soon as they arrived the two young officers advanced to the cage.
On the top a tiger was lying stretched out as if in sleep; with some
caution they approached it and flashed a torch in its eyes. There was
no doubt that it was dead. The body was quickly rolled off the cage, and
then a dozen hands cut the lashing and lifted the top bars, which was
deeply scored by the tiger's claws, and the Doctor emerged.

"I am glad to be out of that," he said; "six hours in a cage with a
woman and a crying brat is no joke."

As soon as the Doctor had got out, the subalterns eagerly examined the
tiger, upon which the natives were heaping curses and execrations.

"How many wounds has it got?" they asked the Doctor, who repeated the
question to the shikari in his own language.

"Three, sahib. One full in the chest--it would have been mortal--two
others in the ribs by the heart."

"No others?" the subalterns exclaimed in disgust, as the answer was
translated to them. The Doctor himself examined the tiger.

"No; you both missed, lads, but you need not be ashamed of that; it is
no easy matter to hit a tiger even at a short distance on a dark night
like this, when you can scarce make him out, and can't see the barrel of
your rifle. I ought to have told you to rub a little phosphorus off the
head of a match onto the sight. I am so accustomed to do it myself as
a matter of course that I did not think of telling you. Well, I am
heartily glad we have killed it, for by all accounts it has done an
immense deal of damage."

"It has been a fine tiger in its time, although its skin doesn't look
much," Wilson said; "there are patches of fur off."

"That is generally the case with man eaters. They are mostly old tigers
who take, when they get past their strength, to killing men. I don't
know whether the flesh doesn't agree with them, but they are almost
always mangy."

"We were afraid for a moment," Richards said, "that the tiger was going
to break i