When sure that all were in, father closed the gate, and turned to another corral in which were the horses tied to posts. At first I thought that he intended to drive them into the corral with the cows, but soon saw, to my great surprise, that he had not only untied them but let them go freely out of the gates. He even went to a shed reserved for a highly valued stallion and let him loose.
"Why did you do that?" I ventured to ask him.
"I never heard yet of a loose horse being caught by a tiger," he replied briefly.
"But the cattle—" I began.
"They're different," he said, "they haven't the sense to know how to protect themselves. Besides, they couldn't run fast enough, anyhow."
As we moved about with our lanterns, our dogs and those of our neighbors kept up a continuous barking. At last we turned toward the house, my father remarking as if to himself, "The tiger is a good way off yet."
"How can you tell?" I asked timidly.
"Why," he answered rather impatiently, "don't you hear how the dogs are barking?"
"Yes," I said. "Much more than usual."