We all looked in the direction he pointed, and sure enough there was a bush, about two hundred paces off, on the pathway to the village.
"Not that one surely," said my father; "why, man, you will never see the beast from thence."
"Trust me," said the Khan, and off he went.
"I told you how it would be," continued my father; "directly he sees the animal, he will be off down the road as fast as he can. But come," said he to the men, "since the Khan thinks he will be of more use down yonder, I will lead you on, and we will see whether this eater of men cannot be got out."
We were immediately divided into three parties, one to go on either side of the bushes, the other by a circuit to get behind the rock and if possible upon it, in order to shoot her from above if she was to be seen; if not, at any rate to dislodge her by throwing stones. The arrangements were quickly completed, and though we were all within only a few yards of the bushes, there was no sign of the tigress. She expressed no displeasure at our near approach or preparations, as she had been disturbed before, and of course could not easily be driven out of her place of refuge. I was with one of the parties on the side, and had no arms but a sword and a light shield; indeed I had gone more as a spectator than aught else. We waited a few minutes, and one of the party who had been sent round, appeared on the top of the rock; he was soon followed by three others.
"Are you all ready?" cried one of them: "I shall heave down this stone."
"Bismilla! Away with it!" cried my father.
Three of them applied their strength to it, and at last it rolled over the face of the rock, and thundering down, split into a thousand fragments. There was a moment of intense anxiety and suspense, but no tigress followed.
"Try whether you cannot see her," cried my father; "if you do, fire; we are all prepared."
The men looked down in every direction, but said nothing. At last one of them was observed to be pointing to a particular spot, as though he showed the others something.
"By Alla!" said my father, "he sees her; look out; she will rush forth before you are thinking of her." Every man blew his match, and planted his feet firmly. At last one of the men on the rock raised his matchlock and fired; it was answered by a tremendous roar which rent the skies, and out rushed the cub, apparently badly wounded, for before he had come a few yards he lay down and roared horribly; he was fully half-grown, and made a dreadful noise. One of the men of our party fired at him, and he did not move after the shot struck him.
"Now we shall have tough work," said my father; "she will be savage and infuriated beyond description; it is hardly safe to be here; but mind your aim, my lads, and she will never reach us; I never yet missed mine, but the shot may not be fatal; so look out for yourselves."
Again my father called to the men on the rock to heave over another fragment. There was one very large one just on the brink. After a good many pushes it gave way, and as the former had done, shivered into atoms with a great noise. It was successful, the tigress rushed out towards our side, and stood for a moment. I had never seen a tiger before, and could not help admiring her noble appearance. There she stood, her tail erect, the end of it only waving from side to side, glaring on us with her fearfully bright eyes, apparently irresolute as to what she would do, and not noticing the body of the cub, which was close to her. We were all as silent as death, each man with his matchlock to his shoulder. My father fired, and then the others; I could see the whole distinctly, for I had no gun. She staggered when my father fired, he had evidently hit her; but the rest had missed, and she charged with another tremendous roar, right at our party; but the shout we set up, and the waving of our weapons turned her, and she set off at a slow canter towards the bush where Dildar Khan had stationed himself.
"Ya Alla!" cried my father, "coward as he is, he will be killed! she will spare nothing now! what can be done?" By this time the other party caught a glimpse of her, and every matchlock was discharged; she must have been hit again, for she stopped, turned round, growled, and showed her teeth, but again sprang forward. I imagine Dildar Khan had no idea that she was approaching him, as he had hid himself behind the bush and could have seen nothing of what had passed. "He may escape," said my father; "it is possible, yet scarcely; what can be done?" No one made a reply; but an instant afterwards I had drawn my sword, and set off at full speed after the enraged brute.
"Ameer Ali, my son! come back, come back instantly! Ya Alla, he too will perish!" cried my father in an agony of apprehension.
But I heeded not, and who of that company had my fleet foot? yet some of them followed me. As I ran, I saw the tigress was weak, and was badly wounded, but still she ran fast. I saw her approach the bush, and the miserable man Dildar Khan rush from behind it, and stand in her very path, with his arms stretched out, apparently paralyzed with fear. Another instant she had crouched as she ran, and sprang upon him; he was under her, and she fiercely tearing his body. It did not stop me; I heard the cries of those behind me to turn off, but I did not. I do not think I gave the danger a thought; if I did, the excitement overpowered it. Another bound had brought me close to the brute, whose head was down, gnawing the body beneath her. I made but one stroke at her, which, praise be to God! was successful; the blade buried itself deep in the back of her neck, and she seemed to me to drop dead; I bounded off to one side, and watched for a moment. She was indeed dead, and lay, her limbs only quivering, upon the body of the man beneath her. Unfortunate coward! wounded as she was, she would not have turned after him, had he even had the presence of mind to avoid her; but he had thought to fly, and the sight of the animal had paralyzed his faculties. Though all passed in a moment, methinks now, Sahib, I see him, his eyes starting from his head, and his arms raised and expanded, as though wooing the animal's fatal embrace. Coward! had he remained behind the bush, he was safe, and might have shot her as she passed; but there he lay, a fearful spectacle, his face all bitten and lacerated, and the blood pouring from wounds in his stomach! He was quite dead. My father came up immediately; he embraced me, and burst into tears.
"How could you risk your life, my boy?" said he; "how could you be so rashly venturous of your life for so poor a wretch as he?" pointing to the body; "did I not tell you he was a coward? Yet I am proud of you now, my son, and you have shamed us all. See!" continued he to the whole assembly, "our faces are blackened this day by a boy; who among you could have planted so well-aimed and deep a cut? See! the blade has buried itself, and is half through the bone. Mashalla! it is a brave boy!" and again my father hugged me to his breast.
"I beg to represent," said old Benee Singh, my instructor in my athletic exercises, "that some of the praise is due to me for my good teaching. I always told you, Ismail Sahib, that the Sahib Zadah would be worthy of his father: may his riches increase, and may he live a thousand years! Yes, sir," said he to me, "often have I taught you that cut; you see you were running along, and cut over your left hand; it is few that can do that with any certainty, but you have caught the knack, and you want but a little practice to become as good a swordsman as myself. Perhaps, too," continued he to me, laughing, "the heart of your teacher may be made glad to-day; under such an auspicious commencement, the Sahib Zadah will remember the old Rajpoot."
"That reminds me," said my father, "that I owe you a present; come to me this afternoon. Inshalla! we know how to be grateful for kindness, and it shall have its reward." And he received when he came a handsome gift.
I must say, however, that under his tuition I had become highly expert at all manly exercises; I could use a gun, throw a spear, wrestle, knew the exact use of every description of sword, straight or crooked, single or double-edged, long or short, and in all these exercises there was not a lad of the village, and I may say of the country round, who could in any way compete with me.
That night my father said to me, "Ameer, my son, to-morrow, you accompany me to Sheopoor. I need not tell you how to-day's exploit will raise you in the eyes of your future companions. Already have I despatched intelligence of our purposed departure to-morrow, and some account of to-day's affair, enough only to make them curious to see the hero of it; and I have mentioned no particulars, which will make them