"No, no!" The patwari shook his head. "The bars are to keep the tiger out, so the living bait will be safe inside the cage."
"But don't you just stake out some animal?" asked Biff. "So the tiger will think it is loose?"
"Usually we do that with a pig or buffalo," replied Chandra's uncle, "but this tiger has tasted human blood. So tonight we will try human bait. That is the purpose of the cage."
"And the bait," put in Chandra proudly, "will be Kamuka and myself. We are going in with Thakur, the head watchman and chief hunter of the village."
"We are sorry to leave you out, Biff," added Kamuka in explanation. "You were still asleep when they asked us, and it was only after we said, 'Yes,' that we found they only had room for two."
Biff thought at first that his friends were joking, but it turned out they were quite in earnest. The cage had been specially designed for Thakur and two lookouts, preferably boys. But the village youths had become so tiger-conscious that they were seeing jungle cats every time a leaf stirred in the underbrush. So Chandra and Kamuka had been recruited for the job instead.
Biff put on a show of disappointment, if only to impress Chandra's uncle and the other villagers.
"Maybe Barma Shah, the man with the jeep, will want me to help him,"
Biff said. "I'll ask him when I see him."
Late in the afternoon, the barred frames were ready, and they were hauled by ox-cart to a shola, or patch of jungle not far from the town. That was where the tiger had attacked and slain its victims, so the villagers had shunned the place for the past few days.
During that period, Matapar, the head Shikari from Keewal, had put up platforms in surrounding trees, covering the open area where the tiger liked to prowl. By now, he hoped the tiger would be used to it, but the cage idea did not appeal to Matapar. That had been thought up by Thakur, the village huntsman.