ugh not evidently--between its legs!

Heaving a deep, long-drawn sigh, the professor stood up and wiped his
forehead. Then he listened intently.

"A shote, if mine ears deceive me not!" he said, and listened again.

He was right. Another shot, much nearer, was heard, and he replied with
a shout to which joy as much as strength of lung gave fervour. Hurrying
along the track--not without occasional side-glances at the jungle--the
hero was soon again in the midst of his friends; and it was not until
his eyes refused to remain open any longer that he ceased to entertain
an admiring circle that night with the details of his face-to-face
meeting with a tiger.

But Verkimier's anticipations in regard to that paradise were not to be
realised. The evil passions of a wicked man, with whom he had personally
nothing whatever to do, interfered with his plans. In the middle of the
night a native Malay youth named Babu arrived at the village and
demanded an interview with the chief. That worthy, after the interview,
conducted the youth to the hut where his visitors lived, and, rousing
Van der Kemp without disturbing the others, bade him listen to what the
young man had to say. An expression of great anxiety overspread the
hermit's usually placid countenance while Babu was speaking.

"It is fate!" he murmured, as if communing with himself--then, after a
pause--"no, there is no such thing as fate. It is, it must be, the will
of God. Go, young man, mention this to no one. I thank you for the
kindness which made you take so long a journey for my sake."

"It is not kindness, it is love that makes me serve you," returned the
lad earnestly. "Every one loves you, Van der Kemp, because that curse of
mankind, _revenge_, has no place in your breast."

"Strange! how little man does know or guess the secret thoughts of his
fellow!" said the hermit with one of his pitiful smiles. "_Revenge_ no
place in me!--but I thank you, boy, for the kind thought as well as the
effort to save me. My life is not worth much to any one. It will not
matter, I think, if my enemy should succeed. Go now, Babu, and God be
with you!"

"He will surely succeed if you do not leave this place at once,"
rejoined the youth, in a tone of decision. "Baderoon is furious at all
times. He is worse than ever just now, because you have thwarted his
plans--so it is said--very often. If he knew that _I_ am now thwarting
them also, he would hunt me to death. I will not leave you