Alive in the Jungle: A Story for the Young

s. Darkness and shadow covered the sleeping world around. But the stilly quiet which marked "the darkest hour of all the night" was broken by

king, wailing, howling in their haste to be in time to pounce upon the tiger's leavings; an ever-increasing wave of sound that startled the weary factory-workers, sleepi

ooned the columns which supported the veranda, and flung their long trailing arms across the pointed gables. A whole colony of wild birds nestle in the reedy thatch, and find out quiet corners in the cool shadow of that wide veranda. A pair of owls are wheeling round and round. Kites, hoopoes, and blue jays find suc

e is neither peace nor rest. Every door and window in t

is ill with fever

t were taken from them makes them watch over the dear ones that are left with nervous anxiety. Mr. Desborough had put up a tent on the law

. They were quite safe in their tent; for a mat was tied across the door, and no

d it into the air, hoping the sound of a shot would scare the jackals away. He was right: the pack swept past with a

and pomegranate flowers caught the twining honeysuckle, and taught its trailing branches to kiss the ground. Amidst this luxuriant profusion, in the glamour of a darkened heaven, it was no wonder Mr. Desborough did not distinguish the flick of a tawny tail, creeping stealthily behind a giant rhododendron. At the sound of the s

Kathleen was their only sister-a soft-eyed, fragile girl, about nine years old. She had wept with her father and mother over an empty bassinet; an

y he was banished from his mother's lap and parted from Racy. He strutted about in his indign

ewed. Her last great success was the manufacture of a bridle of red ribbo

. She heard her father's step in the veranda, and listen

ing the matter; she was sure of it now. A small dusky hand put back the thin curtains; a gentle, smiling black face peeped at her; and cold water was sprinkled over the flushed forehead and burning pillow, until Kathleen felt refre

and lofty. It was at the corner of the house, with doors opening into the veranda on two sides. This helped to keep it bearable in a usual way, with the help of a great white calico fan fixed to the ceiling. This was called the punkah. Two of the native servants were kept in the veranda all nigh

to look over the purdah, and slipped softly into the bathroom adjoining. All the doors had been set wide open, so she made no noise to waken her little brother. There was no glass in the w

all carriage-horses were cropping the tender buds from the hedge of roses which divided the garden from their paddock. She could see the gleam of the lilied pool beneath the farthest trees, with the fire-

arden, paddock, and stable-yard, with only one gate for the carriage, and that was locked. How had the wolf got in-that grim, gaunt creature, which still sat washing its torn shoulder

ape the wolf's observation. She saw the child's white face, and thought of her half-grown cubs. She dashed through the window, under the loosened blind, leaped clear over the row of tall earthenware water-jars which stood before it, and followed the child int

riek of terror cal

ith her, and rested on Kathleen's long fair hair, but

Kathleen, and fainted

eping in the veranda, the frantic cries of "Sahib! s

at the ill-timed noise, when he had enjoined silence on every one whilst h

ation among his servants, he was on the po

hoot! a booraba

ing his gun into the air with the rapidit

wers, which marked the track of the wolf. He knew very well that not one of his Hindu servants would dare to kill it, even if they had the chance. It was

They scented the wolf to the edge of the pool, and then paused at fault, poking with the

the scent was lost. Mr. Desborough saw something moving o

chuprassie, the Hindu servant who carried messages in the day and watched the p

k him off angrily,

ho had just overtaken him. The poor fellow was trembling like a l

olf had already entered his nursery. He rushed

eir mistress)-"the mem-sahib knows not

g, parting the chintz curtains of the nursery purdah. The

gnified everything. It is the way in the East, and a bad way it is. Having had two or three false alarms, he ne

she sobbed out her piteous story. "A dog, papa-a huge, horrid, le