and, indeed, of sport of
all kinds. But I am not going to tell you of that now. The people in
these hills are called Gonds, a true hill tribe--that is to say,
aborigines, somewhat of the negro type. The chiefs are of mixed blood,
but the people are almost black. They are supposed to accept the
religion of the Hindus, but are in reality deplorably ignorant and
superstitious. Their priests are a sort of compound of a Brahmin priest
and a negro fetish man, and among their principal duties is that of
charming away tigers from the villages by means of incantations. There,
as in other parts of India, were a few wandering fakirs, who enjoyed an
immense reputation for holiness and wisdom. The people would go to them
from great distances for charms or predictions, and believed in their
power with implicit faith.

"At the time when we were at Jubbalpore there was one of these fellows
whose reputation altogether eclipsed that of his rivals, and nothing
could be done until his permission had been asked and his blessing
obtained. All sorts of marvelous stories were constantly coming to our
ears of the unerring foresight with which he predicted the termination
of diseases, both in men and animals; and so generally was he believed
in that the colonel ordered that no one connected with the regiment
should consult him, for these predictions very frequently brought about
their own fulfillment; for those who were told that an illness would
terminate fatally, lost all hope, and literally lay down to die.

"However, many of the stories that we heard could not be explained on
these grounds, and the fakir and his doings were often talked over at
mess, some of the officers scoffing at the whole business, others
maintaining that some of these fakirs had, in some way or another, the
power of foretelling the future, citing many well-authenticated
anecdotes upon the subject.

"The older officers were the believers, we young fellows were the
scoffers. But for the well-known fact that it is very seldom indeed that
these fakirs will utter any of their predictions to Europeans, some of
us would have gone to him to test his powers. As it was, none of us had
ever seen him.

"He lived in an old ruined temple, in the middle of a large patch of
jungle at the foot of the hills, some ten or twelve miles away.

"I had been at Jubbalpore about a year, when I was woke up one night by
a native, who came in to say that at about eight o'clock a tiger had
ki