An answer, however, was not immediately
forthcoming. For the moment was a grave one. It was admitted that
Come-Back Stumper could play a game with credit and success, even an
active game like hide-and-seek; but it was not known yet that he could
tell a story. The fate of the evening, therefore, hung upon the
decision.
"A tiger!" said Tim, doubtfully, weighing probabilities. "A tiger you
shot, was it, or just--a tiger?" A sign, half shadow and half pout,
was in his face. Maria and Judy waited upon their brother's decision
with absolute confidence, meanwhile.
Colonel Stumper moved artfully backwards towards a big horsehair sofa,
beneath the deer heads and assegais from Zululand. He did it on
tiptoe, aware that this mysterious and suggestive way of walking has a
marked effect on children in the dark. "I did not shoot it," he said,
"because I lived with it. It was the most extraordinary tiger that was
ever known--"
"In India?"
"In the world. And I ought to know, because, as I say, I lived with it
for days--"
"Inside it?"
"Nearly, but not quite. I lived in its cave with the cubs and other
things, half-eaten deer and cows and the bones of Hindus--"
"Were the bones black? However did you escape? Why didn't the tiger
eat you?"
He drew the children closely round him on the sofa.
Pages:
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66