some of the officers scoffing at the whole business, others
maintaining that some of these fakirs had, in some way or another,
the power of foretelling the future, citing many well authenticated
anecdotes upon the subject.

"The older officers were the believers, we young fellows were the
scoffers. But for the well known fact that it is very seldom indeed that
these fakirs will utter any of their predictions to Europeans, some of
us would have gone to him to test his powers. As it was, none of us had
ever seen him.

"He lived in an old ruined temple, in the middle of a large patch of
jungle at the foot of the hills, some ten or twelve miles away.

"I had been at Jubbalpore about a year, when I was woke up one night
by a native, who came in to say that at about eight o'clock a tiger had
killed a man in his village, and had dragged off the body.

"Simmonds and I were constantly out after tigers, and the people in all
the villages within twenty miles knew that we were always ready to pay
for early information. This tiger had been doing great damage, and had
carried off about thirty men, women, and children. So great was the
fear of him, indeed, that the people in the neighborhood he frequented
scarcely dared stir out of doors, except in parties of five or six. We
had had several hunts after him, but, like all man eaters, he was old
and awfully crafty; and although we got several snap shots at him, he
had always managed to save his skin.

"In a quarter of an hour after the receipt of the message Charley
Simmonds and I were on the back of an elephant which was our joint
property; our shikaree, a capital fellow, was on foot beside us, and
with the native trotting on ahead as guide we went off at the best pace
of old Begaum, for that was the elephant's name. The village was fifteen
miles away, but we got there soon after daybreak, and were received with
delight by the population. In half an hour the hunt was organized; all
the male population turned out as beaters, with sticks, guns, tom-toms,
and other instruments for making a noise.

"The trail was not difficult to find. A broad path, with occasional
smears of blood, showed where he had dragged his victim through the long
grass to a cluster of trees a couple of hundred yards from the village.

"We scarcely expected to find him there, but the villagers held back,
while we went forward with cocked rifles. We found, however, nothing
but a few bones and a quantity of blo