Chapter XVII: The Burra Bagh

Luchman waited until several hours had passed, and would have waited longer, had not Mr. Hildreth awakened from sleep, his slight movement causing his wife and daughter to open their eyes. Despite their weariness, the excessive heat would not allow any one to slumber long. Avery himself secured a half hour's nap, though the native remained wide awake all the time.

The guide now said that some miles of open country had to be passed before they could reach a stretch of jungle where they would find the most secure of all hiding places. He proposed, therefore, that they should move on while they had the opportunity, and his suggestion was gladly followed by the others.

The jungles of India are not among its least wonders. Being a tropical country, its vegetation is exuberant beyond description. There are found the most gigantic trees, enormous flowers, expansive leaves, delicious fruits, overpowering perfumes, spreading creepers, nutritious vegetables, and herbs of inestimable medicinal value.

You have heard of the banyan trees, some of which, with their down growing limbs, each forming a new trunk, measure a fourth of a mile in circumference, one tree thus constituting an entire grove. There, too, is the peepul, delicately beautiful, forcing itself through the mortar and cement of buildings, disintegrating them, and regarded as a sacred growth by the natives; the sisso, fine grained and handsomely veined; the sygwam or teak, the best timber for building; the cocoanut; the bamboo, talipot and mango.

It would be useless to try to classify the fruits, the most common of which are mangoes, pineapples, plantains, pomegranates, pumplenoses, jacks, custard apples, guavas, lemons, melons, oranges, sour sops, almonds, tamarinds, plums, figs, dates, citrons, yams, nolcolls and so on to the end of the chapter.

The bright moonlight, which had been so dangerous at times, now became a great help to the fugitives, who were no more than fairly started when they saw a singular sight.

First came a few mounted soldiers, followed by an immense elephant, covered with spangled cloth and a towering howdah. The great beast had the ends of his tusks sawed off, covered with gold, and tied with streaming ribbons of gaudily colored silk. The howdah was lined with crimson morocco, and the figure of a man could be discerned within, with a voluminous shawl gathered about him, as though it were midwinter.

Next came a smaller elephant, in whose howdah or saddle two men were seated, their gesticulations showing that they were talking earnestly about something. After these were a large number on horseback, the steeds brightly caparisoned and dancing, and finally a long procession of natives on foot, armed with any and all kinds of weapons on which they could lay hands.

Our friends were a little startled when they encountered this curious array, but Luchman assured them they had nothing to fear. The man on the large elephant most likely was a rajah or some native of authority. Luchman made a low salaam to the dignitaries, but they did not consider it their duty to respond, and swung along as though they saw him not.

It struck Dr. Avery that they ran no little risk in meeting this motley crowd, but their guide did not seem to think so. Despite the lateness of the hour, the temperature continued frightfully high. Indeed such a thing as coolness is unknown in that section of India in the month of May. The difference between midday and midnight is often but a few degrees. Night after night, the thermometer never sinks below 90°, and there are times in Madras and Bombay, during the hot season, when men are stricken with apoplexy while lying in their beds, because of the intolerable heat.

Under such circumstances, it will be understood that our friends advanced at a leisurely pace, so that when the growing light in the east drove them to the shelter of another grove, they were yet a number of miles from the extensive jungle of which their guide had spoken. As before, he found them food with little trouble, for they were never far from the hut of some native who was glad enough to sell to those who paid so liberally.

This day's rest proved strengthening, so that when night came again, with its bright moon and clear, hot sky, all were eager to be on the move. From their hiding place among the trees, they saw quite a number of people passing back and forth along the road and across the fields. Most of these were armed, so that the fugitives took particular care to avoid being seen. It looked as though the news of the revolt had reached this section ahead of the little party, and though the rajah and his retinue had deemed them beneath notice, it was unreasonable to hope that all others would do so.

Luchman as usual took the lead when they entered the jungle, which was so dense that it could be penetrated only where there were well marked paths; the missionary and his wife came next, followed by Marian, Dr. Avery bringing up the rear. He had been instructed by Luchman to keep careful watch there, for there was a possibility of some of the treacherous natives stealing upon them from that direction.

The guide was only a short distance in advance, walking with the noiseless tread of an American Indian with all his senses on the alert. The shadows at times were so dense that it seemed necessary to feel the way, but the native was never at fault, and the bright moonlight penetrating through the branches gave great help.

About a mile had been passed, when Luchman stopped in his abrupt fashion and waited until his friends gathered around him. When asked whether there was anything amiss, he pointed to the left deeper into the jungle.

That which all saw was the twinkle of a camp fire, while sounds of voices were plainly heard through the stillness of the wood. The guide wished to learn the truth about this gathering, though there was perhaps no need of doing so. Telling the missionary and his family, therefore, to stay where they were, he invited Avery to go with him on what might be called a reconnaissance.

The camp was found to be further off than was supposed, and the care required in picking their way through the dense jungle delayed the arrival of the two within sight of the strangers.

There were four of the latter, who had been engaged upon some plundering expedition, for they had a large quantity of spoil, and were drinking bhang, a peculiarly intoxicating beverage made from hemp, there being two large bottles of this fiery stuff that were continually passed from mouth to mouth.

The scamps had shawls, clothing, jewelry, ladies' dresses and trinkets that had probably been obtained by slaying some of the poor fugitives in the jungle or on the road from Delhi.

The sight of these budmashes or villains so exasperated Dr. Avery that he proposed to Luchman that they should open fire on them. But the guide would not consent.

"We could master them, sahib, easily enough, but there are more who would hear our guns."

So the miscreants were left to their carousings, while the two continued to pick their way to the missionary and his family. They had not yet reached them when the native stopped with a soft "_Sh!_" His companion listened but heard nothing.

"What is it?" asked Avery in a whisper.

"Something is following us, sahib."

"Man or beast?"

"I cannot yet tell, sahib."

They stood motionless several minutes, but, hearing nothing more, pushed on again.

Just before reaching the path, where they had left their friends, Avery caught the rustling of the vegetation so near him that he started with a shudder of terror.

"I believe it is a tiger," he said in the same guarded tone to the guide.

"Wait where you are, sahib, until I learn."

The native was gone but a few minutes when he came back disappointed: he had not been able to ascertain anything more definite of the danger.

A few minutes later they rejoined the missionary and his family, who were growing nervous over the absence of their friends. The journey was resumed in the same order as before.

The guide believed that the rustling which had startled him and Avery was caused by the stealthy wild beast. The jungle through which they were passing was but a small stretch compared to the vast expanse of wild forest at the foot of the Himalayas. He had not feared meeting a tiger, though he kept a sharp lookout for other wild animals.

Luchman was carefully scrutinizing the path ahead, all his senses at the highest tension, when the very peril he dreaded appeared. Something flashed in the moonlight, as if a bright object had passed quickly across the path. As it had vanished, he stopped and waited for it to reappear, too wise to venture into the ambush that promised to be. He uttered his low whistle as a warning for his friends to come no closer, so that it happened that all five became as motionless as bronze figures.

Luchman had to wait less than a minute when he discerned a body moving along the ground directly toward him. Its belly was close to the earth, its long tail swaying from side to side, while its round, greenish eyes emitted the phosphorescent gleam peculiar to the cat family. Its cavernous growl was not needed to tell Luchman that it was the most dreaded denizen of the East Indian jungle.

No doubt the tiger was an immense "man eater," who, having tasted human flesh, preferred it now to all others. Such beasts possess irrestrainable ferocity and daring, and may well be feared by the most experienced hunters. He had detected the proximity of the fugitives, and was stealing upon them. Had he remained quietly in ambush, the party must have walked into the trap. His over eagerness, and possibly his confidence, led him to "uncover."

Luchman had no wish to encounter such a whirlwind of fury. He would have preferred a scrimmage with half a dozen Ghoojurs or budmashes, for he might have used strategy and personal bravery, but the tiger, whose strength has been found by scientific test to be one fifth greater than the lion's, and whose courage is often resistless, is always avoided by the wise sportsman, unless he has the advantage strongly on his side.

Luchman had only his knife and pistol, and these were insufficient. He began slowly retreating, hoping the beast would stop and wait for him to advance closer. At the moment he reached the right point, the tiger would make a leap that would land him upon the shoulders of the native, and tear him to shreds in the twinkling of an eye.

Without turning his head--for a second's inattention was likely to prove fatal--Luchman called to Mr. Hildreth to retreat, because a tiger was approaching. The old gentleman warned his friends, who were some rods behind him, to do the same, as he hastened toward them; but he quickly checked himself, when he recalled that he was the only one in the party who had a gun, which was never so sorely needed as then.

Before he could catch sight of the brute, the guide was in front of him. Without turning his head, he almost shoved the missionary off his feet.

"Back, back, sahib!" he commanded, excitedly.

"But, Luchman, I will not desert you."

The native snatched the rifle from the grasp of the good man, and pushed him back more violently than before.

"Back, back, sahib, or we are both lost!"

Mr. Hildreth now hurried to his friends, leaving the guide with his loaded gun in his hands.

All this took place in a few seconds. The animal stealing along the ground saw that his victim was retreating. With a growl, he rose on his legs, quickly trotted a few paces, and stopped on the "death line." Then he crouched, and, gathering his mighty muscles in one prodigious effort, rose in the air and shot toward the native.

This sight was the more terrible because of the gloom of the jungle. For one moment the fearful beast seemed suspended in mid air, and then he descended.

The parabola was mathematically exact, and, had the native stood still, the beast would have crushed him to the ground; but Luchman, with amazing agility, leaped backward nearly ten feet, firing the gun while the tiger was at the highest point. Such a beast, however, is rarely killed by a single shot; and, though the tiger was struck, he was not slain nor even disabled.

Luchman could have leaped among his panic stricken friends and diverted the assault from himself. No one knew this better than he, and yet no inducement in the world would have led him to do so. The gold was once more tried in the fire and found pure.

"Back, back! further back!" he fairly shouted, and, still facing the beast, drew his long knife for the desperate struggle. No man has ever met an enraged tiger and fought him with but a single knife and lived to tell of it. Luchman was well aware of that, but for the sake of those whom he loved he was ready to add another to the list of victims.

The ferocity of the beast was intensified by his failure to seize his prey at the first leap. His growl was sharper, probably caused by his wound, and drawing his feet under him with incredible quickness, he repeated the bound, when the native was no more than three yards away.

Luchman was not reckless enough to stand still, but he, too, made a leap to one side as well as backward. As he did it, he knew that his terrible foe could be baffled no longer.

But as the beast struck the earth, another gun was discharged directly over the shoulder of Luchman, so that the smoke from the muzzle dimmed his vision. He supposed it was a pistol fired by Dr. Avery; but it could not have been that, for it killed the tiger.

The beast essayed a third leap, but it was more of a convulsion of his entire body. He threw himself to one side and then rolled among the undergrowth of the jungle, where he clawed and tore the vegetation during his brief but furious death struggle.

Luchman was quick to observe that the danger was ended, and he glanced around to see who had befriended him.

A stranger stood at his elbow, a large brawny man, dressed like an English sportsman. He wore a short cutaway coat, helmet hat and high cavalry boots; he had a full beard, yellow of color like his hair, and evidently was the possessor of great coolness, presence of mind and activity.

He held his rifle, which he had just discharged, in his hand, and his whole appearance was prepossessing. Had he looked one tenth as pleasing he would have been beautiful in the eyes of those whom he had befriended.

"My gracious!" he exclaimed in his hearty, off hand way, "it appears that I have dropped down at the right time. I hope," he added, turning toward Luchman, "that the beast didn't harm you."

"No, sahib," was the reply of the guide, who surveyed him with no little curiosity; "I give you my thanks for killing him before he killed me."

"That's the proper order, otherwise if the tiger gets in his work first the second part of the programme may miscarry. He's a splendid fellow, the biggest I have shot since I was in India. I beg pardon, I observe ladies."

Standing where the bright moonlight fell upon his fine figure, he doffed his hat and bowed, adding: "My name is George Harkins, lately from London; I left Calcutta last March for a little shooting up country, and have found considerably more than I expected. I trust you are all well."

There was no resisting the magnetic good nature of the man who had so commended himself to their favor, and there was a general hand shaking all round. He laughed and made light of the service he had rendered, saying he was fond of tiger hunting and was especially pleased when he was able to pick off a _burra bagh_ (man eater), which no doubt the tiger was, judging from his size and ferocity.

While the conversation was going on, Dr. Avery was impressed that this was not the first time he had seen the man. A little closer scrutiny by aid of the moonlight left no doubt that he was the gentleman who was assailed some nights before in Delhi while on the streets, and whose clever escape was witnessed by Avery.