The Star of India
Copyright© 2026 by Edward S. Ellis
Chapter 18: George Harkins.
Few realize the annual destruction of life in India from serpents and wild beasts. About twenty thousand people are annually destroyed by animals, and of these nineteen in twenty are probably bitten by snakes. The number of human victims tends to increase, in spite of the fact that the number of wild beasts and snakes destroyed has doubled in the last ten years, and that the Government reward paid for their extermination has risen proportionately. Nearly two and a half lacs of rupees (about $125,000) were thus paid in 1884. Next to venomous reptiles, tigers claim most victims. Ten years ago wolves, mostly in the Northwest provinces and Oude, killed five times as many people as of late years; but the extermination of wolves seems to be going on rapidly. Leopards are the alleged cause of death to about two hundred human beings annually. Apart from the loss of human life, the returns show an annual destruction of fifty thousand head of cattle.
The tigers, beyond question, are the most fearful beasts of prey in the world. Their strength, daring, activity and ferocity make them the terror of a neighborhood. One tiger has been known to keep an entire village in a panic for weeks.
But for the timely arrival of George Harkins, the crack shot, the tiger would have killed the five persons, for he was an animal of unusual size, and the single gun in the company having been discharged no real means of defense was left.
Dr. Avery, speaking for the rest, told the main facts respecting themselves, while Harkins added that he was a professional sportsman on a hunt through that section of India. He had no relatives in the country, but a number of friends among the officers of the army, and he was in Delhi when the revolt broke out some nights before.
“Did you have any trouble before you left?” asked the doctor.
“Nothing of any account; a lot of rascals set upon me and the result was I departed in somewhat of a hurry.”
“I saw that little affair.”
“You? Where were you?”
“In the street near by; I tried to get out to you, but the crowd was too plentiful, and before I could do so, you showed that you needed no help.”
“Matters were rather lively, and I had no weapon then but my revolver, which I was rather tardy in using,” laughed Harkins.
Addressing the others, Avery gave a graphic account of the doughty style in which their new friend knocked the enthusiastic natives right and left, winding up with a fusillade from his revolver and a hasty withdrawal down the street.
While this chatting was going on, Luchman made a reconnaissance, fearful that the sound of their firearms might have brought some of their enemies to the spot. He reported the path clear. Harkins was urged to join in the journey to Kurnal, but he preferred to stay in that vicinity. When the ladies joined in the request, however, he gallantly consented.
“I suppose it is good hunting almost everywhere in this part of Hindostan, and I’ll go with you.”
Accordingly Luchman took the lead and the party resumed their journey northward.
There lay the huge body or the tiger in the path where he had fallen, and the ladies shuddered as they carefully stepped around it. The two guns were reloaded, Harkins remarking that the mate of the tiger was likely to be in the neighborhood.
Dropping to the rear with Avery, Harkins told him that he had been in a couple of bad fights since leaving Delhi.
“There was no need of referring to it before the ladies,” said he, “for it might have alarmed them. You can make up your mind that we shall have hot work before we reach Kurnal. These Ghoojurs, as they call them, are all over the country, and are looking for plunder. I had a brush with them before I was out of sight of the city, but the most curious difficulty came this evening. I caught sight of three persons just ahead of me dressed like our countrymen, and I hailed them. They stopped and looked around, and then, before I knew it, all three blazed away at me. They were natives clothed in the dress of some poor unfortunates whom they had murdered.
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