'I wonder,' said Archie, later on, and just as they were preparing for hammock, 'I wonder, Dugald, if that tiger has a wife. I hope she won't come prowling round after her dead lord in the middle of the night.'
'Well, anyhow, Archie, we'll have our rifles ready, and Dash will give us ample warning, you know. So good-night.'
'Good-night. Don't be astonished if you hear me scream in my sleep. I feel sure I'll dream I'm up in that dark ombu-tree, and perhaps in the clutches of that fearsome tiger.'
About a month after the above related adventure the young men had another at that very ruin, which, if not quite so stirring, was at all events far more mysterious.
It happened soon after a wild storm, a kind of semi-pampero, had swept over the glen with much thunder and lightning and heavy rains. It had cleared the atmosphere, however, which previously had been hazy and close. It had cooled it as well, so that one afternoon, Dugald, addressing Archie, said,
'What do you say to an early morning among the birds to-morrow, cousin?'
'Oh, I'm ready, Dugald, if you are,' was the reply.
'Well, then, off you trot to the kitchen, and get food ready, and I'll see to the shooting tackle and the mules.' 239
When Dugald ran over to say good-night to Moncrieff and Aileen before they started, he met old Jenny in the door.