An Unaccountable Incident
There is a village road that runs from Amarpura to Amala Mazzu, which was much frequented by the man eater. This is a broad dusty track down the side of which there is a line of lantana bushes running along like a verge, for quite a distance. The pug marks of the wolf were often seen on the soft dust of this track. This track is a sort of rural thoroughfare and was much used by bullock carts during the hours of daylight. But as soon as darkness fell it became deserted and one could look down the road for quite a distance in both the directions with an uninterrupted view. My reasoning was that if the wolf was using this track, as he evidently was, then we should be able to get a clear shot at it, whenever it came walking down the track, if we concealed ourselves in the bushes that grew down the side of the road.
Close to the spot we selected for sitting up was a ruined hut that had belonged to a shepherd boy. This boy was an orphan who lived in the hut with his cows and buffaloes as his only companions. One day, the villagers found the animals wandering about the hut without the boy who was always to be found with them. This was most unusual, because every one knew that the boy was extremely fond of his animals and it was totally out of character for him to leave his animals untended, unfed and unwatered. A search was started. The hut was found to empty, the bed not slept in. Nor was there any sign of the boy in the neighbourhood. He had apparently disappeared without a trace. As there were no relatives to grieve over the matter or to pursue it further, the incident was soon forgotten and the animals that were found on the spot were simply taken away by the villagers a divided up among themselves. This incident, I gathered, had occurred just before the first human kill of the man eater of Ashta was recorded.
Although only two months had passed since this incident, the hut was already a desolate ruin. The only door had been removed by vandals and now the open portals formed a gaping hole. The walls were crumbling and the rooftree about to fall. The rough country tiles which covered the rafters had been blown off, here and there, by the wind. The cattle pen adjacent to the house had been all but demolished by the same forces of nature and what was left had been taken away by thieves. A rank growth of grass and weeds grew copiously, both without and within this forsaken dwelling. The utter dilapidation of this hut, which had once been home to a human being and a score of animals, and the sad story connected with it was enough to produce the most melancholy train of thoughts. These sombre thoughts must have been in mind when, we took up our station.
As we sat down in our hide, a large gibbous moon was rising. Our hide had been prepared by hollowing out the middle of a cluster of lantana bushes. We, that is Dr Haidar and I, had hoped for a comfortable evening sitting in this enclosure, but we had reckoned without the innumerable little insects that started crawling into our clothes, and biting us in all over the exposed parts of our bodies, as soon as it was dark. A light wind arose, as the night advanced, and the dust rose from the road in small swirls and eddies, before falling back. Waiting for crafty animal to show itself, in such a situation, is a gam of patience, but this night proved to be a sore trial, even for my usually monumental patience. For a while I watched the great concourse of stars, wheeling in the inverted bowl of the sky. The constellation Orion, was directly overhead, and the red star that makes up the warrior's eye seemed to be burning with peculiar fire. The moonlight on this occasion seemed faint and wan. As the hours dragged by Dr. Haidar fell into a doze. I sat on, enduring the insects and the growing monotony of the interninable vigil.
But suddenly, I think it must have been a little past three in the morning, l felt my senses tingle. A blast of cold air seemed to come from the direction of the hut, and I felt completely awake. I had a premonition of something about to happen, but what, I could not say. The road stretched ahead as before, empty and deserted. Then with an unexpectedness that was shocking the silence was shattered, by a scream, a human scream, that seemed to come from somewhere in front of the hut. The scream, had a high pitched quaver, like the voice of an adolescent. It was not repeated, but there was no doubt in my mind that I heard a human being, possibly a young lad, screaming for dear life. However Dr Haidar, continued to doze as before, it was clear that he bad heard nothing.
I left my hide to investigate, feeling a little foolish, become from where I sat I could see the entire road, for nearly half a kilometers, as well as the ruined hut, and no human being could have come within earshot without showing himself. I walked around the hut as well as the surrounding area, but of course there was nothing no footmarks, or any other signs of presence of any other being man or beast, anywhere I could find no rational explanation for what. I had heard, yet I could not discount the evidence of my senses. I had clearly heard, the unmistakable; piteous, and most melancholy sound of a human being screaming at the extremity of his life. I consider myself a sensible, pragmatic person, but the explanation of this event that I have worked out, and which I will put before the reader at the end of this book, calls for a simple acceptance of "things that are not dreamt of in your philosophy".
The rest of the night, after this incident passed quickly. I awakened Dr Haidar and asked him, if he had heard anything. He had heard nothing. He told me, that when I woke him up he was dreaming of shooting the wolf, which had just walked into his carefully laid trap. He was about to take aim and fire, when I had disturbed him so unnecessarily. But Dr Haidar, being a diehard optimist, interpreted this as a good omen. He had a theory that in real life events often followed the opposite course from dreams. So by his reckoning we were now slated for a successful encounter with the wolf. When I told him about the scream that I had heard, he thought it must have been my overwrought imagination. For the time being I had no option but to agree with him.
Realising that our vigil would not now be fruitful, we enjoyed a quiet smoke, and just as dawn was breaking, set off in our jeep for Ashta Rest House, to rest, and be ready again to pit our wits against the man eater.
