Said the Keeper: "It is not right to kill the animals as men do, for sport, but when Bagh, or any other Jungle Dweller, turns Man-eater, he should die."
"And Sher Abi, too," squeaked Magh; "his tribe are all Man-eaters—they should be all killed."
"At any rate," continued the Keeper, "I was after this Man-eater. I had a machan built in a Pipal tree, and a Buffalo calf tied up near it——"
"One of your young, Arna," said Bagh, vindictively.
"And early in the evening I climbed into my machan and prepared for Mister Stripes."
"That's Man's way," sneered Raj Bagh. "What chance have we against them up in a machan? No chance; and they call that sport."
"And what chance has a village woman against a big-fanged Tiger?" grunted Boar. "No chance. It seems to me there are few in the Jungle as decent as Hathi and myself; we meddle not with the Men."
"Just before dark," continued Sa'-zada, "I heard a noise coming through the Khir bushes. 'Bagh comes early,' I thought to myself."
"He must have been hungry to scent a kill before dark," muttered Raj Bagh.