One night when the servants were as usual having
their dinner in their quarters just outside our hut the last
remaining dog but two of the neighbourhood was lying
outside the door waiting for scraps ; the servants heard a
squeal and saw the panther picking up the dog, which was
the size of a collie. He just chucked it across his back
and jumped over the fence with it and was off.
The following night the last dog but one was lying
beside the dhobi as he, with a hurricane lantern by
his side, was eating his dinner under a tree close to the
kitchen, when the panther made her appearance and
repeated her trick of the night before to her entire
satisfaction.
The next night we were prepared for her visit with our
fire-arms, and as no dog visited our quarters that evening
we put a kid in a basket and hung it from the branch of

47




Beautiful Secluded Valleys

a tree out of the reach of the panther. We were aware
of the presence of Spots by the occasional slight crackling
of leaves, but she never showed herself.
