by Ruskin Bond
When it saw the light of the lamps dancing between the trees, the animal turned, snarling hate and defiance, and without another look at the boy in the tree, disappeared into the shadows.
5
The man-eater did not lose much time in finding another victim.
One morning Beenu came running down the path, babbling excitedly about the postman.
Beenu had been grazing his cattle on the hillside when he stumbled across the postman’s mailbag lying on the ground. But of the postman there was no sign. He had been dragged away through the bushes.
A week after the postman’s disappearance, an old woman who was out gathering dry sticks for firewood was taken by the leopard.
It seemed that there was little that anyone could do about the man-eater. The villagers had no guns, and it would take days, even weeks, for experienced hunters to reach the valley.
Raki was unhappy because he could not go to school. Many boys would be only too happy to miss school; but for a boy living in a remote mountain village, getting through school is the only way of seeing the world some day. And Raki liked going to school, even though it was five miles from home.
‘Cheer up, brother,’ said Puja, bringing him a glass of hot sweet tea. ‘The leopard may go elsewhere once the rains break.’
‘Even the monsoon is late this year,’ said Raki. ‘It’s so hot and dry. Can’t we open the door?’
‘And have the leopard walk in?’ asked their mother. ‘It isn’t safe to have the window open, let alone the door.’ She went to the tiny window and bolted it firmly. But the skylight remained open. Through it Raki was just able to see the crescent moon.
Complaining of the heat, Raki threw off most of his clothes and stretched himself out on the earthen floor.
‘We will be rid of the beast before long,’ said his mother. ‘I know it in my heart. Our prayers will be heard, and you shall go to school and pass your exams.’
In the middle of the night, Raki woke up. He could hear his sister’s easy breathing and the ticking of the clock. Far away, an owl hooted. He wondered what could have woken him.
And then he heard something scratching at the door.
It was like a cat scratching, only louder. The door creaked a little under the impact of a heavy paw.
‘It’s the leopard,’ he said under his breath, sitting up on the floor.
Suddenly Raki was angry, angrier than he had ever been before, and all his fear was gone.
‘Just who does he think he is, coming right up to my door?’ he said aloud.
Across the room, resting against the wall, was his father’s old spear-pole—a long bamboo stick with a sharp knife tied to one end, which Raki sometimes used for spearing fish. He moved toward it quietly, so as not to wake his mother and sister. Grasping the home-made spear, he scrambled on to a small cupboard and drew level with the skylight. He could just get his head and shoulders through the narrow opening.
‘What are you doing up there?’ whispered Puja, who had woken up.
‘Be quiet,’ said Raki. ‘Don’t wake mother.’
But their mother was already awake. ‘Come down from there, Raki. I can hear a noise outside.’
‘It’s nothing,’ said Raki, looking down at the leopard still trying to get its paw under the door. He had managed to get the spear through the skylight, and was pointing it at the leopard’s head.
‘I’ll teach you a lesson,’ said Raki, and he flung the spear as hard as he could.
Just at that moment the leopard turned, and the spear missed the head. Instead it landed just above the tail. The leopard let out a roar of pain and rage, and leapt down the steps and into the bushes, not pausing to see what had struck it.
Three days passed and nobody heard or saw the man-eater. Raki had retrieved his spear from the bottom of the steps where it had fallen.
‘I knew it was a coward,’ he said. ‘Just like any bully, brave enough until he gets hurt! I think I’ll go to school tomorrow.’
‘Wait a few more days,’ said Puja.
‘No more waiting,’ said Raki. ‘I’ll be waiting all my life if I let that leopard bother me. It’s school tomorrow, Puja! And this time I won’t forget your bangles.’
That evening Puja was hoeing the last field above the house. Raki, at the other end of the same field, was chopping wood. The slanting sun glinted in patches on the stream below.
Pausing for a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow, Raki glanced up at the hillside. His eye fell on a round rock on the brow of the hill which seemed unfamiliar to him. Just as he was about to look away, the rock began to grow and then alter its shape. Watching in fascination, Raki was at last able to make out the head and forequarters of some animal. It looked very big from the angle at which he saw it, and for a moment he thought it was a tiger.
But Raki knew instinctively that it was the man-eating leopard.
Slowly the cunning beast got to its feet and began to walk around the side of the great rock. For a second it disappeared and Raki wondered if it had gone away. Then it reappeared, moving swiftly across the face of the rock until it was in a direct line with the corner of the field where Puja was working.
Raki realised that the leopard was stalking his sister.
He ran forward, shouting, ‘Run, Puja, run!’
Puja turned to see what Raki was shouting about. She saw him gesture at the hill behind her, and looked up just in time to see the leopard crouching for its spring.
Puja leapt down the banking of the field and tumbled into an irrigation ditch.
The springing leopard tried to change direction, lost its foothold on the slippery banking, and slithered into the ditch a few feet away from Puja. At the same time Raki came dashing down the slope, swinging his axe.
Others in the fields had seen what was happening, and three men came running across the field with axes. They thrust Raki aside and made a half-circle around the snarling man-eater. Puja wriggled along the ditch on her stomach.
The leopard turned at bay and plunged at the men, but received several blows before it broke through the cordon and crashed into the bushes. The men followed it, shouting to each other to be careful. Raki was close behind them.
The wounded leopard had made for the bed of the stream, and here they were able to follow it quite easily, along the rocks which were spotted with blood. After some time they found the leopard lying very still on its side at the edge of the water.
‘It is dead,’ said Raki. ‘It will not trouble us again.’
As the sun set, a big fire was lit in the middle of the village, and everyone gathered round it, singing and laughing. Sanjay’s father killed a fat goat, and there was a feast for all the Village.
6
Raki was on his way home. He had just done his first exam paper, without much difficulty. Mr Joshi and the entire class were happy that he had been able to take his exams. He was a heroto them for his part in ridding the valley of the man-eater.
He walked past the hospital, whistling cheerfully. Dr Taylor waved to him from the verandah steps.
‘How is Sanjay now?’ she asked.
‘He is well,’ said Raki.
‘And your mother and sister?’
‘They are well.’
He started down the path to the village. Dark clouds had gathered and there was a rumble of thunder.
‘Wait for me!’ shouted Beenu, his milk cans clanging, as he ran after Raki.
‘We must hurry,’ said Raki. ‘It’s going to rain heavily.’
‘I feel like getting wet,’ said Beenu. ‘The monsoon has arrived, I’m sure.’
Big drops were falling when they reached the parting of the paths and waved goodbye to each other.
Raki entered the forest alone and at that moment the rain came down in heavy sheets. The trees shook in the Wind. The monkeys chattered with excitement.
Raki was drenched to the skin. But just as the village of Koli came into view, the rain stopped suddenly. The sun appeared through a rift in
the clouds. The leaves and the grass gave out a fresh sweet smell.
Raki could see his mother and sister in their field, transplanting the rice seedlings. In other fields, men were driving their yoked oxen through the thin mud, while small children hung on to the animals’ tails, standing on the plain wooden harrows, and with wild shouts sending the animals at a gallop along the narrow terraces.
Raki ran down the path, his feet falling softly on the wet earth. Puja saw him coming and waved to him. She met him at the edge of the field.
‘How did you find your exam paper today?’ she asked.
‘Oh, it was easy.’ Raki slipped his hand into hers and together they walked across the field.
Puja felt something smooth and round against her fingers and looked down to see a pair of bangles in her hand.
‘I remembered,’ said Raki triumphantly.
Puja looked at the bangles and burst out: ‘But these are blue, brother, and I wanted red and gold bangles!’ And then, when she saw him looking crestfallen, she added: ‘But they are very pretty, and you did remember… Come, I have made something special for you today.’
