nce."

"Of course." And the rifle was handed out of the howdah by Tim, loaded,
and shouldered by Frank as they once more went on, getting now on to
higher ground, where the rugged incline of the gully down which the
stream whose course they followed ran, induced Murray to begin examining
the stones that lay loose on one side of the little river's rocky bed.

Then there was another tramp onward, and a couple more specimens fell to
the naturalist's gun.

"That's as many as we shall care to skin to-night, Ned," he said.
"Let's see now if we can't discover some metal."

"Whoo-hoo!" shouted Tim, from up in the howdah. "Look sor, look! shoot!
There he is!"

They followed Tim's pointing hand, to see, about a couple of hundred
yards away, in an open spot where a gully ran up into a patch of forest,
a full-grown tiger, whose stripes showed out clearly in the sunshine,
as, with head erect and tail lashing his sides, he watched the
approaching party; but before Murray could seize the rifle, the lithe
animal gave a couple of leaps and had disappeared.

"Gone!" ejaculated Murray. "It would be no use to try to hunt him up,
without beaters."

So the search for minerals was commenced again, with no further result
than the discovery of a little tin, specimens of which were thrown up to
Tim, and another halt was made.

By this time the sun was beginning to descend, and after a little
hesitation, for the place was full of attractions, Murray said
unwillingly, "I suppose we must go back now."

"Too soon yet, uncle," said Ned. "I should like to have a shot at
something."

"Another time, my lad," said Murray. "We have been longer than I
thought, and we have all that dreary ride back through the jungle. It
will be dark before we get back. Yes; let's turn now at once," he
continued, displaying a little anxiety as he thought of his conversation
with Mr Braine that morning, and wondered that he could have so
forgotten himself in his favourite pursuit as to have ignored the
position of those at the village.

The lads acquiesced at once, and they mounted the elephant to look
wonderingly from one to the other now, as they noted how anxious Murray
had become, and impatient in his orders to Hamet to tell the driver to
hurry the elephant along.

"What's the matter with your uncle?" whispered Frank at last. "Does he
want something to eat?"

"I don't know," replied Ned. "I can't quite make him out. He was all
right coming, an