"Now, if our advice has been of any assistance to you in this matter, you, in turn, can render us aid in our business of killing tigers. We want you to find out, for us, when a tiger was last seen near the village; where its lair is supposed to be; and whether, according to its situation, we should have the best chance of killing it by digging a pitfall, on the path by which it usually comes from the jungle; or by getting a kid and tying it up, to attract the tiger to a spot where we shall be stationed in a tree." "I will assuredly do that, and every one here will be glad to assist, when I tell them the advice I have received from you--and would, indeed, do so in any case, for it will be a blessing to the village, if you can kill the tiger that so often carries off some of our sheep and goats." At this moment, there was a loud knocking at the door. On the peasant opening it, a group of soldiers demanded to see the men who had entered. "We are here," Surajah said, coming forward. "What do you want?" "We want to know who you are, and where you come from." "Any one in the village could have told you that," Surajah said. "We are shikarees, and have come here to destroy tigers. We were arranging, with this old man, to find us guides who can point out the tracks of the one which has, for some time, been preying on their animals." "Yes, and our children," the old man put in; "for three of them were carried off, from the street here, within the last month." The soldiers looked doubtful, but one of them said: "This is for our officer to inquire about. The men are strangers to the village, and he will want to question them." "We are quite ready to be questioned," Surajah said. "Our host, here, will bear me out in what I say, and there are others in the village who will tell you that we have been arranging, with them, to kill tigers in this neighbourhood; though as yet we have not settled what they will pay us for each beast we destroy." Accompanied by the peasant, they went with the soldiers to the guard house, with which each of the frontier villages was provided. It consisted of a group of huts, surrounded by a thick wall of sunburnt bricks. They were taken into the largest hut, where the officer of the party was seated on a rough divan. "Who have you here?" he asked irritably, for he had been awakened from a doze by their entry. "They are two young fellows, who are strangers here. They say they are shikarees, who have come into the village to gain a reward for killing a tiger that has been troublesome." "They were here three days ago, Sahib," the villager said, "and asked us many questions about the tigers, and were, when the soldiers came to the door, questioning me as to the tiger's place of retreat, and whether a pitfall, or a kid as a decoy, would be most suitable." "Where do you come from?" the officer asked Surajah.