"Why?"

"In case of need, sahib. That tiger killed a woman yesterday at dawn
and was driven off his kill; he was not likely to be an easy mark for
an untried hunter."

"Why did you enter without knocking?"

The ex-risaldar said nothing.

"I see that you have shoes on."

"The scorpions, sahib--"

"Would you be pleased, Mahommed Gunga, if I entered your house with my
hat on and without knocking or without permission?"

"Sahib, I--"

"Be good enough to have that brute's carcass dragged out and skinned,
and--ah--leave me to sleep, will you?"

Mahommed Gunga bowed, and growled an order; another man passed the
order on, and the tom-tom thundering began again as a dozen villagers
pattered in to take away the tiger.

"Tell them, please," commanded Cunningham, "that that racket is to
cease. I want to sleep."