with her head on her paws, her fierce, yellow eyes fixed on some
moving objects in front of her, and her lips and whiskers moving
excitedly, Tera told them to look.

They had come to the end of the jungle now, and facing them was an
open field. In the field were seven or eight young calves--the very
things on which to teach young tigers how to kill. Telling her little
ones to watch her, Tera, with one mighty bound, sprang at the nearest
calf, bringing him to the ground with the force of the blow. She
alighted full on the back of the calf, and her long teeth fastened
themselves in its poor, quivering throat.

It was soon over, and, almost before the calf was dead, the four cubs,
fired by the sight of blood and their mother's example, sprang, with
cruel ferocity on the carcass, and tore and dragged it to pieces.

[Illustration: "TERA SPRANG AT THE NEAREST CALF, BRINGING HIM TO THE
GROUND."]

But Tera had not brought them there simply to eat. Her part was to
teach them to kill, so, administering a sharp pat to each, she made
them leave the body of the calf and attempt a little killing for
themselves.

At first the cubs grumbled and growled, and even scolded their mother
in their anger, but, in a very short time, they grew just as excited
over the killing process as they had been over the eating, and,
although one calf would have been enough to last them for days, they
never rested until every one of the little animals was dead, for the
killing had aroused all their savage instincts.