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In a tea planter's bungalow in As."ain three raen sat smoking and talking. The oppres-sive beat of an Indiau night made conversation somethiug of a trouble, aatí. in tho intervals of silence each reíreshed himself from the rapidly emptying glass wbich stood within easy reach. One was a man of 30, alert, active, with feeën blue eyes, the type of the hardy Scot, who makes the best planter. The man pon bis right hand was a planter also, bnt thongh still young it was evident that the enervating climate had&wrought dire havoc with his nerves and constitution. Opposite sat a keen eyed doctor, whose wiry frame and resolute face inspired a eonfidenee that was not misplaced. Here was a man ready with nerve and hand to face auy emergency. "When do you expect the brute to come out, Gordon?" inquired Dr. Bryant. "Well, I hope 1! does not appear until the moon is well up. I fancy the kid will bring him when we tie it up. He is sure to bp prowling near. " "Hard on thekid," murmuredSt. Clair, the young plantel-. ';lt's a scapegoat sacrificed for the good of otliers. It is high time the tiger was disposed of. JThe servants are so frightoned that I really get no proper service at all." ' "When are you starting, St. Clair?',' inqnired Dr. Bryant. "You don't look fit to sta y much louger here. " "I go in about six weeks. I do feel a bit down, but a summer at home wil] set me up all right." The guns were got ready, and by 10 oclock all was silence in the bungalow. Three men keeping vigil were seated in ihe shadow at the back of the low veranda. Gordon sat somewhat farther out than the others; St. Clair was nearest to him, the doctor behind. The time went by with tardy steps. Kothing broke thestülness save the pitiful bieating of the bound kid, anïl once the hateful yell of the jackal disturbed the night. The languor of the heavy air feil upon the senses and brought pleasant visions of happy bygone days to the exiles. Gordon saw again a breezy moor covered with purple heather. St. Clair dreamed of the roses in an English garden, and looked once more into loving eyes, blue as the sky above. if Dr. Bryant dreamed at all, his dreams were of "cases." His busy life had killed any taste for day dreaming he had ever possessed. Suddenly, without sound or warning, before the hapless men could realize vvhat awful thing was upon them, a huge, dark maas hurlod itself on the veranda. With horrid growls, the creature seized Gordon ie its powerful jaws, and leaping down, carrying him as it might a dog, made for thp hnsheR. With a wild shriek St. Clair flung down his loaded gun and flew iuto tlie recesses of the bungalow. Though startled bevond measure, Dr. Bryaut kept his presence of inind, and ealling out to arouse the servants leaped iown the steps, and gun in hand ran after the tiger and its prey. ïhe moonlight enubled him tomakeont that the tiger lay half across Gordon's body, with one great paw upon his breast, as if to hold him down. Bryant crept nearer and then stood ir resolute. He knew the tremendous risk in attempting to shoot the tiger while it 3;iy over the man, but there was 110 help for it; his friend might now be dying be:re liis eyes. With an invoiuntary cry to hcaven for lid, he raised his gnu and fired, sick with dread as to the result. The aim was true. The fiuge beast, with a roar of pain, rolled over and lay still. Bryant rusbed to the side of the prostrate man and gazed anxionsly into the white,, still uu-e. Thp scared servants cuies hurrying out with lamps and torches, bnt were wary to keep at some distancfl f rom the dead monster as if they feared it still. Gordon was uneonscious, and when the flow of blood had been stanched he was gently lifted and carried into the bungalow. His wounds were seen to be most serions - one side was terribly mangled - the arm ripped by the cruel clavvs and the shoulder torn by tho teeth. Bryant had spent several hours in unremitting attention to the injured man when, with a sudden flash of recollection, he missed St. Clair. He now recalled that the young fellow had not been seen since the tiger leaped upon them in the veranda. Where could he be in themidst of thecomnaotion? Now that his surgical skill had done all that was possi ble for Gordon, Bryant turnt-d to seek his other friend. They had not tur to go. They found him stretched on the floor in the farthest corner of the bungalow, lying prone upon his face, his hands covering his eyes as if to keep out some horrid sight, and from his lips came strange sounds of pain and terror. The poor young man 's nerveshad given way. The doctor saw at once what had happened, and for tha time be was mad. With Iwo snel', patients Bryant had his hands full. Both were very near the fatal verge, but in the end it was the man that had been physically hurt who recovered. The one mentally tnjurad sank lower every day, until a week after the tiger's leap he died, the victim of sheer fright. As soon as he was fit for the journey Gordon went home, and after many ïnonths regained health and strength, though his left arm hung powerless. He carnes a elaw of the tiger always with him vherever he is, and sometimes looking at it he can see again the moon lit compound and feel the hidden horror of the brute 's liot breath upon his face. -