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"Who have you here?" he asked irritably, for he had been awakened from a doze by their entry. "They are two young fellows, who are strangers here. They say they are shikarees, who have come into the village to gain a reward for killing a tiger that has been troublesome."
"The day was tremendously hot, and, after three hours' march, we gave it up for a time, and lay down in the shade, while the shikarees made a long examination of the ground all round the hillside, to be sure that he had not left the ravine. They came back with the news that no traces could be discovered, and that, beyond a doubt, he was still there.
The shikarees merely sat down on the inclined plane, and with a hatchet or a stick firmly pressed under the arm as a lever to regulate the pace, or a rudder to steer clear of rocks as occasion might require, down they went at a tremendous pace, until the slope was not sufficient to propel them further.
Half an hour later, they were again on their way, and shortly came upon a boy herding some goats. He looked doubtfully at them, but, seeing that they were not Mysorean soldiers, he did not attempt to fly. "How far is it to the next village, lad?" Surajah asked; "and which is the way? We are shikarees. Are there any tigers about?" "Plenty of them," the boy said.
"They've found the hole," he murmured coolly. "What next?" "It's very lucky for us that Mrs. Stripes is at home and on guard," said Jack. "We could hold them in the narrow stairs there with our dahs, but she'll do the job much better." "Yes, for a time, without doubt," replied his father, shaking his head. "But these chaps are splendid little shikarees, and fear nothing that stands on four legs."
Above our camp, in a ravine of the hills, is the place where an officer had been killed by the fall of an avalanche, while out on a shooting expedition. His companion, a noted sportsman, was saved, by making a tremendous jump; but he himself, and three shikarees, were swept away, their bodies not being recovered for two months afterwards.
A little crowd had, by this time, collected round them; and the women, when they heard that the strangers were shikarees, who had come up with the intention of killing tigers, brought them bowls of milk, cakes and other presents. "I suppose, now that the sultan is away at war," Dick said, "his hunters do not come here for tigers?" "We know nothing of his wars," a woman said.
Besides these, we had ten coolies to carry our baggage, consisting of two small tents, bedding, guns, and cooking utensils, &c.; and our two shikarees with their two assistants. The two former wore named Khandari Khan and Baz Khan, both bare-legged, lightly clothed, sharp-eyed, hardy-looking mountaineers, and well acquainted with the haunts of game, and passes through the snow.
Found the hut at Poshana empty, and were glad to get into its shelter again. The rain seeming quite set in, we determined to discharge our shikarees, and after paying them three rupees each for their week's work, we sent them away perfectly happy, with a few copper caps and a good character apiece. Left Poshana at five A.M., and made for the Peer Punjal pass.
"Our tale, that we are shikarees, will not do here. Had that really been our object, we should have stopped at the first place we came to, and, at any rate, we should not have come beyond the jungle.
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