Rujub, the Juggler

r companies were going to relieve those at Deennugghur. Well, I am going with them. It seems that the General is of opinion that in the present unsettled state of affairs there

gayeties, but of course the move will be a trouble. We have everything so n

going with us, at any rate for the present; you are a favorite of his, you know, and I think that is the principal reason for his going. At any rate, when he heard I was in orders, he told the Colonel that, as there was no illness in the regiment, he thought, if he did not object, he would change places for a bit with M'Alaster, the

range place if we have him with us, and the Hunters there, and I

e Major laughed, "an

o we go

e servants to Deennugghur, so that they will be there by Monday morning. I will write to Hunter to pick us out the best of the empty bungalows, and see that our

all we sleep

s smoothly as if you were here. Tent life in India is very pleasant. Next year, in the cool season, we will do an excursi

t all I have got to do is to make a rou

those pigeon holes; you may as well drop one wherever yo

o our own bungalows first, and hear what M

st in tears, and the two young lieutenants had dropped in with Captain Doolan,

the latter said,

ind that we are expected to wear sad cou

ms to me that it won't make

n Doolan said. "Why, Deennugghur is one of the

ean by dull, C

course, as four companies are going instead of one, it will make a differe

day to make calls, which seem to me terrible afflictions, and I think with a small party it ought to be very sociable and pleasant. As for excitement, I hear that there is much better shooting there than there is here. Mrs. Hunter was t

to be lots of tiger shooting, and I bought a rifle on purpose, but I have never had a chance yet. Yes, we w

d; "and if I wanted to, I am not su

said promptly. "Married men have no r

o put you in the way, Mr

d. "You don't mean to say, Miss H

that he had applied to go with the detachment, and that the s

we should be under Mr. M'Alaster, who is very pleasant, and quite understands my case, while D

s a gene

n out here I would rather trust myself to if I were ill. He is an awfully good f

d give up eating meat at tiffin, and confine myself to two or three dishes at dinner, I should be perfectly well in the course of a month; just as if I was in the habit of overe

Rintoul drew herself up indignantly. "I shall never forget how attentive he was to the children when they were down with fever just before he went to England. He missed his ship and lost a month of his leave because he would not go away till they were out of danger, and

e same there, and I am sure I don't know what we shall find to talk about when we come to have to mess together. Of co

reading or something of that so

ek, you know; and there is no billiard table, and no racquet court, or anyth

we can," Mrs. Doolan said. "I must say that, lik

well for you, Mrs. Doo

take them out for a walk sometimes of a morning instead of

hould like to take, anyhow, the two eldest out sometimes. I don't think I should make much hand with the other two,

rry them about on my back, and pretend to be a horse," he said

. Well, I don't think we shall find it so bad, after all, and I don't suppose it will be for very long; I do not believe in all

ther three officers took possession of the only three bungalows that were vacant at the station, the Doctor having a tent to himself. The Major and Isobel had stayed for the first three days with the Hunters, at the end of which time the bun

s and formality of a large cantonment like Cawnpore, and Isobel was free to run in as she chose to spend the morning c

d moved off to a different part of the country, principally because the natives of the village near the jungle ha

ay the three rode off together to Narkeet, to which village the two herdsmen had belonged. Both had been killed

hikaris had taken their posts in trees close by, and had watched all night; but in vain. Spring traps and deadfalls had also been tried, but the tiger seemed absolutely in

. No doubt, if he were very hungry he would take a cow or a goat, but we might wait a

you do tha

me in the cage a woman or girl from the village. From time to time she shall cry out as if in pain, and as

ulating on killing to a certainty with the first shot, and it is just as well to be on the safe side. In daylight it would b

nd roofed in with strong bars. There was a considerable difficulty in getting anyone to consent to sit by the Doctor, but at last the widow o

for the sake of the money that she consented to keep watch. There was but one tree suitable for the watchers; it stood

nce from the cage. If you get excited and blaze away anyhow, you are quite as likely to hit me as you are the tiger. Now, I object to take any risk whatever on that score. You will have a native shikari in the tree with you to point

close to you, but in no case fire. You can't make sure of killing it, and if it were only wounded it would make off into the jungle, and all our trouble would be thrown away

o our taking up our flasks; we shall want

sleep, for if you did you might fall off your bough and break your neck, to sa

ilson and Richards were helped up into the tree, and took their places upon two boughs which sprang from the trunk close to each other at a height of some twelve feet from the ground. The shikari who was to wait with them crawled out, and with a hatchet chopped off some of the small boughs and foliage so as to give them a c

ting as dark as pitch; I can scarcely make out the clump where the cage is. I s

e make quite sure of the direction in which the cage is in; it is bett

n which the cage was clearly, but could make out the outline of the bush all round the open space in whic

unded quite awful, and she must have pinched that poor litt

ed Wilson that he was speaking too loudly. Hours

mps, Richards; each time she yel

ing, then it wo

y ears begin to sing, and I feel stupid and sleepy, and then she goes off again

he shikari again indu

later. "If it wasn't for this bough being so hard I should

ut nothing. Then they saw a dim gray mass in front of the bushes, directly on the opposite side of the open space; then from the cage, lying almost in a direct line between it and them, rose the cry of the child. They were ne

could see that it was making a circuit of the spot from whence the sounds proceeded, to reconnoiter before advancing towards its prey. It kept close to the line of bushes, and sometimes passed behind some of them. Th

t. At last it reached the spot at which they had first seen it. The child's cry, but this time low and querulous, again rose. With quicker steps than before it moved on, but still not directly towards the center, to the great

ark, though it was but some thirty yards away. Almost breathlessly they listened for the Doctor's rifle, but both started when the flash and

e shikari exclaimed. "

mly seen creature were so swift that they felt by no means sure that they had hit it. Then came, almost simultaneously, a loud shrie

dly, as he and Wilson hastened to ram another cartridge d

rt of a rifle, and then all was sile

t, lads; I think he is dead, but

llowed by the shout "All right; he is as dead as a

when you have just killed a tiger! I hav

ain. Here, old man, you get down first, and we

ty they scrambled

fles," Richards said; "the bru

hed the bush

e sure he is

think I don't know w

in readiness to fire, t

h torches," the Doctor said; "the tiger is dead

answered by shouts from the distance. In a few minutes lights were seen through the

e caution they approached it and flashed a torch in its eyes. There was no doubt that it was dead. The body was quickly rolled off the c

said; "six hours in a cage with a

erns eagerly examined the tiger, upon which t

ed the Doctor, who repeated the questi

est-it would have been mortal-two

isgust, as the answer was translated to th

make him out, and can't see the barrel of your rifle. I ought to have told you to rub a little phosphorus off the head of a match onto the sight. I am so accustomed to do

lthough its skin doesn't look much," Wil

o take, when they get past their strength, to killing men. I don't know wh

ng to break into your cage; we heard him clawing away at the timber,

gave a yell that fairly made me jump. I had to push her off by main force, and then lie down on my back, so as to get the rifle up to fire. I was sure the first shot was fatal, for I knew just where his heart would be, but I dropped a second c

ld have said I helped to kill him, I should have liked the head to get it preserved and se

back for the village, where, upon their arrival, they were greeted with cr

r weeks. They must feel as if they had woke from a nightmare. Now, lads, we

per, Doctor?-why, it must be

an to begin to warm up the food as soon as he heard a gun fired,

de back to Deennugghur, the two subalterns rather crestfallen at their failure to have t

y; I wanted to have had the claws mounted as

. If the tiger hadn't been a man eater I should not have minded, but I should never h

wouldn't have been pleasant, now one thinks of

animal in the dark when you are not accustomed to that sort of shooting. He says he was in a great fright all the time he wa

n laughed; "we were not such duffers as all

had been daylight, but that in the dark people really can't see which way the rifles ar

a timber of the cage and given him a start; I should like to have seen the Doctor struggling in the da

obel laughed; "though he said he had a wom

d it gave me a feeling of cold water running down my back. As to the child, I don't know whether she pinched it or the doctor stuck pins into it, but the poor little brute howled in the most frightful way. I don't think I shal

rly went off to s

ave smoked, but to sit there hour after hour and not be able to smoke, and not allowed to speak, and staring all the time

ning, for Wilson and Richards generally came in to smoke a cigar in the veranda; the Doctor was a re

while the two girls were practicing duets on a piano in the next room. "We used to call him the hermit, he was

up," Isobel said calmly; "he is

; anyhow, I am glad he has come out, and I hope he won

s a good deal upon h

to all sorts of things that they ought to attend to, but the same women can find plenty of time to go to every pleasure gathering that comes off. There is no doubt that Mr. Bathurst is really fond of work, and that he is an indefatigable civil servant of the Company, but that would not prevent him making an ho

, Mrs.

ined a civil appointment. He has very good interest; his father was General Bathurst, who was, you know, a very distinguished officer. So he had no difficulty in getting into our service, where he is entirely in his element. His father died tw

est man a life of usefulness here must be vastly preferable t

rty. By the way, you must come in here this evening. There is a juggler in the station, and Mr. Hunter has told him to come round. The servants say the man is a very celebrated juggler, one of the best in India, and as the girls have never seen anythi

one of the things I read about at school, and thought I should like to see, more than anything in India. When I was at school we went in a body, two or three times, to see conjurers when they came to Cheltenham. Of course I did not understand the thing

ious things myself, but the very fact that I did not understand how they were done was no proof they could not be explained; certainly two of their commonest tricks, the basket trick and the mango, have never been explained. Our conjurers at home can do something like them

t is nearly time for uncle to be back, a