nd if it were only wounded
it would make off into the jungle, and all our trouble would be thrown
away. Also remember you must not smoke; the tiger would smell it half
a mile away, and, besides, the sound of a match striking would be quite
sufficient to set him on his guard."

"There is no objection, I hope, Doctor, to our taking up our flasks; we
shall want something to keep us from going to sleep."

"No, there is no objection to that," the Doctor said; "but mind you
don't go to sleep, for if you did you might fall off your bough and
break your neck, to say nothing of the chance of the tiger happening to
be close at hand at the time."

Late in the afternoon the Doctor went down to inspect the cage, and
pronounced it sufficiently strong. Half an hour before nightfall he and
the woman and child took their places in it, and the two beams in the
roof that had been left unfastened to allow of their entry were securely
lashed in their places by the villagers. Wilson and Richards were helped
up into the tree, and took their places upon two boughs which sprang
from the trunk close to each other at a height of some twelve feet from
the ground. The shikari who was to wait with them crawled out, and with
a hatchet chopped off some of the small boughs and foliage so as to give
them a clear view of the ground for some distance round the cage, which
was erected in the center of a patch of brushwood, the lower portion
of which had been cleared out so that the Doctor should have an
uninterrupted view round. The boughs and leaves were gathered up by the
villagers, and carried away by them, and the watch began.

"Confound it," Richards whispered to his companion after night fell, "it
is getting as dark as pitch; I can scarcely make out the clump where the
cage is. I should hardly see an elephant if it were to come, much less a
brute like a tiger."

"We shall get accustomed to it presently," Wilson replied; "at any rate
make quite sure of the direction in which the cage is in; it is better
to let twenty tigers go than to run the risk of hitting the Doctor."

In another hour their eyes had become accustomed to the darkness, and
they could not only see the clump in which the cage was clearly, but
could make out the outline of the bush all round the open space in which
it stood. Both started as a loud and dismal wail rose suddenly in the
air, followed by a violent crying.

"By Jove, how that woman made me jump!" Wilson said; "it soun