r five hundred yards
across, and the exclamations of the people at once told us that it was
the one in which stood the ruined temple of the fakir of whom I have
been telling you. I forgot to say that as the tiger broke out one of the
village shikarees had fired at and, he declared, wounded him.

"It was already getting late in the afternoon, and it was hopeless to
attempt to beat the jungle that night. We therefore sent off a runner
with a note to the colonel, asking him to send the work elephants, and
to allow a party of volunteers to march over at night, to help surround
the jungle when we commenced beating it in the morning.

"We based our request upon the fact that the tiger was a notorious man
eater, and had been doing immense damage. We then had a talk with our
shikaree, sent a man off to bring provisions for the people out with us,
and then set them to work cutting dry sticks and grass to make a circle
of fires.

"We both felt much uneasiness respecting the fakir, who might be seized
at any moment by the enraged tiger. The natives would not allow that
there was any cause for fear, as the tiger would not dare to touch so
holy a man. Our belief in the respect of the tiger for sanctity was by
no means strong, and we determined to go in and warn him of the presence
of the brute in the wood. It was a mission which we could not intrust
to anyone else, for no native would have entered the jungle for untold
gold; so we mounted the Begaum again, and started. The path leading
towards the temple was pretty wide, and as we went along almost
noiselessly, for the elephant was too well trained to tread upon fallen
sticks, it was just possible we might come upon the tiger suddenly, so
we kept our rifles in readiness in our hands.

"Presently we came in sight of the ruins. No one was at first visible;
but at that very moment the fakir came out from the temple. He could not
see or hear us, for we were rather behind him and still among the trees,
but at once proceeded in a high voice to break into a singsong prayer.
He had not said two words before his voice was drowned in a terrific
roar, and in an instant the tiger had sprung upon him, struck him to the
ground, seized him as a cat would a mouse, and started off with him at
a trot. The brute evidently had not detected our presence, for he came
right towards us. We halted the Begaum, and, with our fingers on the
triggers, awaited the favorable moment. He was a hundred yards from