Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 64 LYING IN WAIT. This description of a Man-eater crouched in ambush on a jungle- path was furnished to The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News in explanation of an engaving. Your drawing is admirably spirited, and?a rarer quality?correct. The artist has made a careful study of feline attitude and expression. The head down-pressed below straining shoulders, the lips pendent with excitement at the jowl, rigidly curled over the front teeth, the eyes shining round and clear as lamps, the hind-quarters gathered for the spring, are true as beautiful. I feel sure that, if the tail were not hidden, we should see it gently waving at the tip. As a general rule, of course, the man-eater is old, faded of colour, mangy. So much had been observed even in Pliny's day; but there are exceptions, of which an artist has the right to avail himself. The one criticism which I diffidently put forward has reference to the stripes upon the belly. Are they quite accurate? I do not raise objection, nevertheless, for every one who has tried to draw a tiger without model has learned how unfaithful is memory or preconceived idea to recall its graceful marking. '' No less happy is the delineation of the dak-runner. One would not pronounce what type or nationality is intended, but the expression of a man of low caste, such as are these runners, is truthfully caught. Trotting and shuffling through the jungle, this poor fellow sees before his path the white rag upon a pole, which warns him that a burra bagh sahib has lately made a victim close at hand. Not manfully by our ideas, but steadily and honestly he will push on?the tears and sweat running down his pallid face, eyes rolling, mouth agape and dry. He makes an inarticulate moaning as he goes, yelling now and again, propitiating the demon...