even younger than she really was. I, on the
contrary, was rather taller and stouter than most boys of my age. My
excellent guardian had taken great pains, not only to cultivate my mind,
but also to give me a variety of manly accomplishments; and I could
ride, shoot, and fence, sufficiently well to elicit a considerable
amount of applause from all who saw me. At a very early age, mounted on
an elephant, I used to accompany parties of officers on their
expeditions against the tigers and wild boars of the jungle. One day I
was thus engaged, when the elephant I was on, being some way from the
rest, a tiger flew out and fastened on his trunk. In vain the mighty
beast tried to shake off his savage assailant. He then endeavoured to
kneel upon him and so to crush him; and I fully expected to be thrown
over his head. My gun was, however, ready. I caught a sight of the
tiger's eye; and, firing, sent a ball directly into it. In an instant
his claws relaxed, and he fell to the ground dead. I gained great
applause for the deed, and for the coolness I displayed; but I don't see
how, having a gun in my hand, I could have acted otherwise than I did.

CHAPTER SIX.

I must pass rapidly over the next few years of my life, though they were
not uneventful. One day Sir Charles called me to him, and, taking my
hand, he said kindly, "I have been considering, Mark, that it will be
necessary to send you home in order to complete your education, which
cannot be done out here to my satisfaction."

"Home!" I asked. "Where is that, papa? This is the only home I know."

"In England, my boy; that is my home, where I hope to return to end my
days; and it should be your home also. I wish you to be brought up to
think, and feel, and act as an Englishman, and that you can only do by
mixing on equal terms with other English boys of your own age. In fact,
you are too much of a man already; and I wish you to be rubbed back into
boyhood again."

In reply, I tried to persuade him that I would endeavour to become in
every respect what he wished, if he would allow me to remain with him;
for I sincerely grieved at the thought of being separated from so kind a
guardian; at the same time, I own that I could not help looking with
very great satisfaction at the prospect of a visit to a land so full of
wonders as I expected to find England. People are apt to think the
country they have not seen much more wonderful than the one where they
are