tiger.

"Suddenly something huge shot like an arrow from the darkness opposite
me. I bowed my head, O'Donnell, and muttered a prayer, for I thought my
end had come.

"A terrible scream rang out in the clear night air. I was saved.

"'Allah curse you and yours, sahib.'

"I opened my eyes; an enormous tiger was bending over the leper,
searching for the most convenient spot in his body to afford a tight
grip.

"The man's sightless eyes were turned towards the moon, his teeth shone
white and even; with the striped horror purring in his face, he thought
of vengeance on me.

"I dared not move. I could not pass, O'Donnell. I had no gun. The big
brute found a nice place to catch hold. It opened its mouth so that I
could see its glistening teeth. It looked down at its paws, where the
cruel claws glittered, and they seemed to afford it keen
satisfaction--it was a tigress and vain--then it lowered its head, and
the leper shrieked. I watched it pick him up as if he were one of its
cubs; saw the blood trickle down its soft white throat into the dusty
road, and then it trotted gracefully away, and was lost in the darkness
of the jungle. There was a deathlike silence after this. I waited a few
minutes, and then I got up.

"I had only a short distance to go, and I no longer feared the presence
of man-eaters--there was not likely to be another. Hours afterwards,
O'Donnell, when I lay in my hammock as safe as a fortress, I fancied I
heard the dead man's cry, fancied I heard his curse. No one was more
devoted to a wife than I was to mine. Ours had been purely a love match,
and it was against my wish that she had accompanied me to such an
out-of-the-way place as Seconee. I told her about my adventure,
suppressing the leper's curse; and I was glad I did so, as she was
greatly distressed.

"'Thank goodness you escaped, Charlie,' she said. 'I am so sorry for the
poor leper. I suppose you couldn't have helped him.'

"'I might have fetched my rifle,' I replied, 'and tried to rescue him,
of course. But I fear it wouldn't have been of much avail, as he would
have been badly mauled by then.'

"My wife sighed. 'Ah, well,' she said, 'love is selfish! It makes one
forget others. Still, I wouldn't have it otherwise.'

"'I wish this railway job here was over,' I murmured, sitting with my
elbows on my knees and looking over the flat ground, sun-baked and
barren, away towards the dark jungles and the still darker mountains
towering above