"I represent," said he, "that, tail or no tail, it holds the accursed soul of that wretch Yacoob, may his grave be defiled! and I will have nothing to do with it; it is useless to try to kill the Shitan; if he chose, you know, he could blow us all into hell with a breath." "Namurd! Namurd! coward! coward!" cried some of us; "you were brave in the village; how are you now?" "Who calls me Namurd?" roared the Khan; "follow me, and see if I am one or not," and he rushed forward, but not in the direction the tigress had gone. "That is not the way," cried some, and at last he turned. "This is child's play," said my father; "come, if we are to do anything, we had better set about it in good earnest." And we went on in the direction the beast had taken. It led to an open glade, at one side of which there was a large rock, with some very thick bushes about it. "She is there, depend upon it," said an old hunter; "I never saw a more likely place in my life." We were all about thirty steps from the rock and bushes, and Dildar Khan did not at all relish his proximity to them. "I beg to represent," said he in a low voice to us all, "that having killed so many of these brutes, I know best how to manage them; and as I am the best armed of the party, I shall take up my position near yonder bush, by which runs the pathway; she will take to it when she is driven out, and then you will see the reception she will meet with from Dildar Khan. Inshalla! I shall present the point of my sword to her, and she will run on it, then I shall finish her with one blow of my tegha." We all looked in the direction he pointed, and sure enough there was a bush, about two hundred paces off, on the pathway to the village. "Not that one surely," said my father; "why, man, you will never see the beast from thence." "Trust me," said the Khan, and off he went. "I told you how it would be," continued my father; "directly he sees the animal, he will be off down the road as fast as he can. But come," said he to the men, "since the Khan thinks he will be of more use down yonder, I will lead you on, and we will see whether this eater of men cannot be got out."