Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1904-12-24
-- HAD been fishing for a

,vucreu my attention. They We're
crouchlng at the bottom OF steep
bank, gazing at Il spot some twenty
feet higher up. 1t was evident from
their gestures and their cautious move
ments that something unusual was tax
ing place, and, disguised with the lack
of sport, l seized gladly upon the
chance Of something more exciting.
Throwing down my rod. | crossed the
stream at n shallow spot and Joined
them. ! recognized two or them, half
naked villagers whom ! had seen the
day before, leading little leopard cub
by a chain. l had asked them what
they were going to do with the little
clumsy. furry creature. no larger than
IN ordinary cat, for wished to pnr'
chase it and keep II AS II pet. But my
highest offer failed to tempt them and
[ could not discover what they wanted
with the cub.
With these men were four others, all
sturdy fellows of the cultivatOr class.
lad only in waist cloth and puggaree,
and each of them was armed with n
iathi.- IA heavy bam noo staf- about five
feet long. tipped with massive brass
knob. On the ground was great heap
| IF the dried COW dung cakes used for
| fuel. As looked Mt these l began 10
| have an inkling of what was to hap
| pen.
| The surrounding country was OF q
| kind never seen in England. On either
side of the stream was a belt, hair a
| nile wide, of barren land, Scared and
scanned in every direction by the heavy
| aims of the wet season; a desOlate
belt, the haunt of the little chinkara
antelope, the gray partridge ana the
sand grouse. The stream itself, half
empty now, but fOaming torrent in
the rains. ran in a channel carved deep
N the friable soil. The bank where we
were standing was thirty or forty feet
high, and ran steeply down TO the wa
ter's edge. A number of whitened
bones and a few chinkara horns were
strewn about the ground, and from n
mole half way up the bank. Mt which
he natives were staring intently, came
IN overpowering stencil. like that of
he lion house In the Geological Gar
lens, but many times worse.
One of the men, in answer to my
question, told me that the hole was the
entrance to Il cave, in which leopard,
which haG for long haunted the neigh
norhood. had her lair. Recently pair
If cubs had been born, and these men,
having watched the mother leave he
ave in search of prey, had carried of
the cubs, to be used as bait to lure
her to destruction. They kept the cubs
for three days, and then. when the
mother must have been desperate at
the loss of her offspring. they had
watched her go out again, and in hcl
absence had tied up one of the cubs
1t the back Of the cave. 1t was neces
sary to do this in order that th"y might
proceed undsturbed with their opera
lions. for they knew that the leopard
would never leave the cave while hol
cub remained bound within It, A!
soon as the man whom they left tt
'-~tah-t the entrance to the cave report
ed that the leopard had returned, the!
set out, armed as l have described
with the intention of smoking her out
1t was an unsportsmanlike way o
destroying the creature. but / did no
interfere, for l was anxious to watcl
their proceedings, and l had, moreove
no rife with me. The natives began b!
collecting large number of heav!
stones. which they hauled up to tn
mouth of the cave and began to blOcl
it up. Before they began peered int
the hole but it was pitch dark insid
and / could see nothing. They pro
ceeted to build up the entrance meth
odically. paying no heed to the con
tnuous low growing from within. II
n short time they had quite closed |
up with the exception of one hole
few inches across, and the stones wer
so firmly wedged as to be quite i'm
movable. They next brought stiff we
clay from tn, bed of the stream. witt
which they proceeded to stop up tn
chinks and crannies between tn
stones.
After this had been done, the coy
dung cakes were brought up. The
set fire to them one by one, and, afte
blowing upon them lntil they wer
well alight, they threw them into til
cave through the small hole they ha
left. These cakes of fuel will 60 o
smOuldering for hours, and they Civ
out great deal of pungent smoke
ever a hundred of them were lighte
J and thrown into the cave, and tinall
the natives stopped up the remainin
hole with a lump Of wet clay, and the
sat down to wait.
After half an hour or so I suggeste
that the smoke must have done II
work. But the natives would not hea
of opening the cave so quickly; thei
sporting instincts were not sufficien
ly developed to allow them to give tn
Leopard the smallest chance to escape
With true Oriental patience the
squatted Oh their hams, passing arOnn
an earthenware pipe, from the SINE
of which judged that their Tobacco
was largely composed of that same m:
terial which they were using to smok
out the leopard. IT. was fully tire
hours before they could make up the
minds that it would be safe to Ope
: the cave, and even then I think the
3 only did so in Difference to me.
e When they pulled down the stone
: with which they had filed up the hol
. great volumes of smoke came pOurin
out, rank and acrid. ann It was SON
time before the air wlthf1 vas su
ticiently clear to breathe. If aaey"
/. quite certain that nothing could h"'
q lived for more than few minutes
such an atmosphere. None of the NJ
/. tives seemed very anxious to go in,
q the cave. so | volunteered to gO.n IN.
self. crawled with difficulty thrOus
a the narrow entrance. carrying a roI
!. to haul out the leopard and her Gu
The stencil within was OverpOwerln
and attached the rope to the two lin