With Clive in India; Or, The Beginnings of an Empire

"What on arth are they up to, Mr. Charles?"

"They are driving the tiger this way, Tim. Now, sit quiet and keep a sharp lookout, and be ready to hand me a rifle, the instant I have fired."

The noise increased, and was plainly approaching. The elephant fidgeted uneasily.

"That baste has more sinse than we have," said Tim; "and would be off, if that little black chap, astraddle of his neck, didn't keep on patting his head."

Presently, the mahout pointed silently to the bushes ahead, and Charlie caught sight, for a moment, of some yellow fur. Apparently the tiger had heard or scented the elephants, for it again turned and made up the valley. Presently a redoubled yelling, with the firing of guns, showed that it had been seen by the beaters. Ramajee Punt held up his hand to Charlie, as a signal that next time the tiger might be expected.

Suddenly there was a movement among the bushes. A tiger sprang out, about halfway between Charlie's elephant and that of Ramajee Punt. It paused for a moment, on seeing them; and then, as it was about to spring forward, two balls struck it. It sprang a short distance, however, and then fell, rolling over and over. One ball had broken a foreleg, the other had struck it on the head. Another ball from Ramajee Punt struck it, as it rolled over and over, and it lay immovable.

"Why didn't you hand me the next rifle, Tim?" Charlie said sharply.

"It went clane out of my head, altogether. To think now, and you kilt it in a moment. The tiger is a poor baste, anyhow. I've seen a cat make ten times as strong a fight for its life.

"Holy Moses!"

The last exclamation was called from Tim's lips by a sudden jerk. A huge tiger, far larger than that which had fallen, had sprung up from the brushwood and leaped upon the elephant. With one forepaw he grasped the howdah, with the other clung to the elephant's shoulder, an inch or two only behind the leg of the mahout.

Charlie snatched the rifle from Tim's hand, and thrust the muzzle into the tiger's mouth, just as the elephant swerved round with sudden fright and pain. At the same moment the weight of the tiger on the howdah caused the girths to give way; and Charlie, Tim and the tiger fell together on the ground. Charlie had pulled his trigger, just as he felt himself going; and at the same moment he heard the crack of Ramajee Punt's rifle.

The instant they touched the ground, Tim and Charlie cast themselves over and over, two or three times; and then leaped to their feet, Charlie grasping his rifle, to make the best defence he could if the tiger sprang upon him. The creature lay, however, immovable.

"It is dead, Tim," Charlie exclaimed. "You needn't be afraid."

"And no wonder, yer honor, when I pitched, head first, smack onto his stomach. It would have killed a horse."

"It might have done, Tim, but I don't think it would have killed a tiger. Look there."

Charlie's gun had gone off at the moment when the howdah turned round, and had nearly blown off a portion of the tiger's head; while, almost at the same instant, the ball of Ramajee Punt had struck it in the back, breaking the spine. Death had, fortunately for Tim, been instantaneous.

The tiger last killed was the great male which had done so much damage; the first, a female. The natives tied the legs together, placed long bamboos between them, and carried the animals off, in triumph, to the camp. The elephant on which Charlie had ridden ran some distance, before the mahout could stop him. He was, indeed, so terrified by the onslaught of the tiger, that it was not considered advisable to endeavour to get him to face another, that day. Ramajee Punt, therefore, invited Charlie to take his seat with him, on his elephant, an arrangement which greatly satisfied Tim, whose services were soon dispensed with.

"I'd rather walk on my own feet, Mister Charles, than ride any more on those great bastes. They're uncomfortable, anyhow. It's a long way to fall, if the saddle goes round; and next time one might not find a tiger handy, to light on."

Two more tigers were killed that afternoon and, well pleased with his day's sport, Charlie returned to the hunting camp.

The next day, Hossein begged that he might be allowed to accompany Charlie in Tim's place; and as the Irishman was perfectly willing to surrender it, the change was agreed upon. The march was a longer one than it had been, on the previous morning. A notorious man-eating tiger was known to have taken up his abode, in a large patch of jungle, at the foot of an almost perpendicular wall of rock, about ten miles from the place where the camp was pitched. The patch of jungle stood upon a steep terrace, whose slopes were formed of boulders, the patch being some fifty or sixty yards long and thirty deep.

"It is a nasty place," Ramajee Punt said, "to get him from. The beaters cannot get behind to drive him out, and the jungle is too thick to penetrate."

"How do you intend to proceed?" Charlie asked.

"We will send a party to the top of the hill, and they will throw down crackers. We have brought some rockets, too, which we will send in from the other side. We will take our places, on our elephants, at the foot of the terrace."

The three elephants took their posts, at the foot of the boulder covered rise. As soon as they had done so, the men at the top of the rock began to throw down numbers of lighted crackers; while, from either side, parties sent rockets whizzing into the jungle.

For some time the tiger showed no signs of his presence, and Charlie began to doubt whether he could be really there. The shikaris, however, declared that he was certainly in the jungle. He had, on the day before, carried off a woman from a neighbouring village; and had been traced to the jungle, round which a watch had been kept all night.

Suddenly, uttering a mighty roar, the tiger bounded from the jungle, and stood at the edge of the terrace. Startled at his sudden appearance, the elephants recoiled, shaking the aim of their riders. Three shots were, however, fired almost at the same moment; and the tiger, with another roar, bounded back into the jungle.

"I think," the rajah said, "that he is badly hit. Listen to his roarings."

The tiger, for a time, roared loudly at intervals. Then the sounds became lower and less frequent, and at last ceased altogether. In vain did the natives above shower down crackers. In vain were the rockets discharged into the jungle. An hour passed, since he had last been heard.

"I expect that he's dead," Charlie said.

"I think so, too," Ramajee Punt replied; "but one can never be certain. Let us draw off a little, and take our luncheon. After that, we can try the fireworks again. If he will not move, then we must leave him."

"But surely," Charlie said, "we might go in and see whether he's dead or not."

"A wounded tiger is a terrible foe," the Ramajee answered. "Better leave him alone."

Charlie, however, was anxious to get the skin to send home, with those of the others he had shot, to his mother and sisters. It might be very long before he had an opportunity of joining in another tiger hunt; and he resolved that, if the tiger gave no signs of life when the bombardment of the jungle with fireworks recommenced, he would go in and look for his body.

Chapter 17: The Capture Of Gheriah

After having sat for an hour under the shade of some trees, and partaken of luncheon, the party again moved forward on their elephants to the jungle. The watchers declared that no sound, whatever, had been heard during their absence; nor did the discharge of fireworks, which at once recommenced, elicit the slightest response.

After this had gone on for half an hour, Charlie, convinced that the animal was dead, dismounted from his elephant. He had with him a heavy, double-barrelled rifle of the rajah's; and Hossein, carrying a similar weapon, and a curved tulwar which was sharpened almost to a razor edge, prepared to follow immediately behind him. Three or four of the most courageous shikaris, with cocked guns, followed in Hossein's steps.

Holding his gun advanced before him, in readiness to fire instantly, Charlie entered the jungle at the point where the tiger had retreated into it. Drops of blood spotted the grass, and the bent and twisted brushwood showed the path that the tiger had taken. Charlie moved as noiselessly as possible. The path led straight forward, towards the rocks behind, but it was not until within four or five yards of this that any sign of the tiger could be seen.

Then the bushes were burst asunder, and the great yellow body hurled itself forward upon Charlie. The attack was so sudden and instantaneous that the latter had not even time to raise his rifle to his shoulder. Almost instinctively, however, he discharged both of the barrels; but was, at the same moment, hurled to the ground, where he lay crushed down by the weight of the tiger, whose hot breath he could feel on his face. He closed his eyes, only to open them again at the sound of a heavy blow, while a deluge of hot blood flowed over him. He heard Hossein's voice, and then became insensible. When he recovered, he found himself lying with his head supported by Hossein, outside the jungle.

"Is he dead?" he asked faintly.

"He is dead, Sahib," Hossein replied. "Let the Sahib drink some brandy, and he will be strong again."

Charlie drank some brandy and water, which Hossein held to his lips. Then the latter raised him to his feet.

Charlie felt his limbs and his ribs. He was bruised all over, but otherwise unhurt, the blood which covered him having flowed from the tiger. One of the balls which he had fired had entered the tiger's neck, the other had broken one of its forelegs, and Charlie had been knocked down by the weight of the animal, not by the blow of its formidable paw.

Hossein had sprung forward on the instant, and with one blow of his sharp tulwar, had shorn clear through skin and muscle and bone, and had almost severed the tiger's head from its body. It was the weight upon him which had crushed Charlie into a state of insensibility. Here he had lain, for four or five minutes, before Hossein could get the frightened natives to return, and assist him to lift the great carcass from his master's body.

Upon examination, it was found that two of the three bullets first fired had taken effect. One had broken the tiger's shoulder, and lodged in his body. The other had struck him fairly on the chest, and had passed within an inch or two of his heart.

"I thought," Ramajee Punt said, as he viewed the body, "that one of his legs must have been rendered useless. That was why he lay quiet so long, in spite of our efforts to turn him out."

Charlie was too much hurt to walk, and a litter was speedily formed, and he was carried back to the camp, where his arrival in that state excited the most lively lamentations on the part of Tim. The next morning he was much recovered; and was able, in the cool of the evening, to take his place in a howdah, and to return to the camp before Gheriah.

A few days later the fleet made its appearance off the town, and the same evening Tulagi Angria rode up to Ramajee Punt's camp. Charlie was present at the interview, at which Angria endeavoured to prevail on Ramajee Punt, and Charlie, to accept a large ransom for his fort; offering them each great presents, if they would do their utmost to prevail on Admiral Watson, and Colonel Clive, to agree to accept it.

Charlie said at once that he was sure it was useless, that the English had now made a great effort to put a stop to the ravages which he, and his father before him, had for so many years inflicted upon their commerce; and that he was sure that nothing, short of the total destruction of the fort and fleet, would satisfy them. The meeting then broke up; and Charlie, supposing that Angria would return immediately, went back to his tent; where he directed Hossein at once to mingle with the men who had accompanied Angria, and to find out anything that he could concerning the state of things in the fort.

Hossein returned an hour later.

"Sahib," he said, "Ramajee Punt is thinking of cheating the English. He is keeping Angria a prisoner. He says that he came into his camp without asking for a safe conduct; and that, therefore, he shall detain him.