The guide believed that the rustling which had startled him and Avery was caused by the stealthy wild beast. The jungle through which they were passing was but a small stretch compared to the vast expanse of wild forest at the foot of the Himalayas. He had not feared meeting a tiger, though he kept a sharp lookout for other wild animals.
Luchman was carefully scrutinizing the path ahead, all his senses at the highest tension, when the very peril he dreaded appeared. Something flashed in the moonlight, as if a bright object had passed quickly across the path. As it had vanished, he stopped and waited for it to reappear, too wise to venture into the ambush that promised to be. He uttered his low whistle as a warning for his friends to come no closer, so that it happened that all five became as motionless as bronze figures.
Luchman had to wait less than a minute when he discerned a body moving along the ground directly toward him. Its belly was close to the earth, its long tail swaying from side to side, while its round, greenish eyes emitted the phosphorescent gleam peculiar to the cat family. Its cavernous growl was not needed to tell Luchman that it was the most dreaded denizen of the East Indian jungle.
No doubt the tiger was an immense "man eater," who, having tasted human flesh, preferred it now to all others. Such beasts possess irrestrainable ferocity and daring, and may well be feared by the most experienced hunters. He had detected the proximity of the fugitives, and was stealing upon them. Had he remained quietly in ambush, the party must have walked into the trap. His over eagerness, and possibly his confidence, led him to "uncover."
Luchman had no wish to encounter such a whirlwind of fury. He would have preferred a scrimmage with half a dozen Ghoojurs or budmashes, for he might have used strategy and personal bravery, but the tiger, whose strength has been found by scientific test to be one fifth greater than the lion's, and whose courage is often resistless, is always avoided by the wise sportsman, unless he has the advantage strongly on his side.
Luchman had only his knife and pistol, and these were insufficient. He began slowly retreating, hoping the beast would stop and wait for him to advance closer. At the moment he reached the right point, the tiger would make a leap that would land him upon the shoulders of the native, and tear him to shreds in the twinkling of an eye.
Without turning his head—for a second's inattention was likely to prove fatal—Luchman called to Mr. Hildreth to retreat, because a tiger was approaching. The old gentleman warned his friends, who were some rods behind him, to do the same, as he hastened toward them; but he quickly checked himself, when he recalled that he was the only one in the party who had a gun, which was never so sorely needed as then.
Before he could catch sight of the brute, the guide was in front of him. Without turning his head, he almost shoved the missionary off his feet.
"Back, back, sahib!" he commanded, excitedly.
"But, Luchman, I will not desert you."