“But do you never make any effort to destroy such a clumsy enemy? Man ought not to allow a beast to get the better of him. Reason should be a more successful weapon than simple animal strength, and he who fails to use his own with advantage against mere instinctive ferocity, is hardly a gradation above the brute.”
“This is all very well when you are out of sight of tigers and those clawed or horned foes, which make no more of dieting upon a horse or knocking down a buffalo, than I should do of setting my heel upon the head of a little fish; but it is quite a different thing when these inhabitants of the woods walk out of some thicket, and bid you an unexpected good morrow. It is a maxim with us fishermen to keep as much as possible out of the way of all surly quadrupeds; we leave the glory of vanquishing them to wiser heads and abler bodies. We seek no victory over the tenants of the forest, but are satisfied with a conquest over the more gentle occupants of the water.”
“Can you say where the rhinoceros you spoke of was last seen?”
“He is said to be generally found near a dell not far from the entrance of the jungle.”
“There are two gold mohurs, if you will come and point out the spot.” Saying this, the Mogul flung down two golden pieces at the fisherman’s feet.
“I am ready,” said the man, “even to risk my life for such a boon as this; it is more than a month’s fishing would produce; I am your servant for as long a time as you may need my services to-day; to-morrow I must be again my own master, unless the forest savage should impale me alive, or trample me to death for my good-will in showing you his haunt.”
The horsemen proceeded towards the cover, accompanied by the Hindoo, who trotted along by the side of their chief’s charger. He was a small but amazingly active man, something past the middle age, and a shrewd, wary person. As they passed through a piece of ground in which the grass was up to their horses’ haunches, a hog started from a thick tuft, and scampered over the field with the speed of a stag. Baba Shirzad, who happened to be nearest, strung his bow in a moment, and winging an arrow at the poor beast, buried the shaft in its body. The hog rolled over upon its back, and died after a few violent struggles.
“A good hit, Baba,” cried the chief; “that arrow was pulled home, and although lodged under a pig’s hide, does no discredit to a soldier’s aim. I long to try my reed at a mark, or my arm against a foe. Let your shafts fly as truly against yonder besiegers when we next meet them, and they will have good cause to repent that they ever pitched their tents before Gualior.”
“I shall try my best,” said Baba Shirzad, with a smile, that showed he was not a little flattered at the observation of his comrade, who was known never to praise upon slight grounds: “I would fain draw blood from something better worth an arrow’s point than a filthy swine.”
“Nay, a chine is no bad thing in the jungle, where even berries are sometimes scarce, and when the appetite is at a climax; for though the Koran inhibits pork, yet hunger is a most religious apology for violating the interdiction. The Prophet never intended that a starving man should lick his thumbs for a meal, when hog’s flesh was to be had at the expense of a barbed reed. The hog is fat; come, Baba, take a slice or two from its haunches that we may break a too long fast.”