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The NitroExpress.com Nickudu Files presents:

An extract:

"THE MANEATER OF SEVEN STREAMS
AN ADVENTURE WITH A TIGER"
By CAPTAIN K. G. BURTON. INDIAN ARMY

TIHE seven streams flow down from the seven hills to the valley, where their combined waters merge into the main river at the foot ot the mountains. That is—they flow at certain times of the year, when the moisture brought down by the monsoon rains has not yet all evaporated beneath the rays of the summer sun. But in the hot season they are mere dry nullahs, with here and there a pool of tepid water collected in umbrageous spots among the wild plum bushes and tall grass, which form a cool retreat for the shade loving tiger. At the meeting of the waters a deep pool lies in a basin among the black basaltic rocks. This basin has been hollowed out by the action of the water, which, during many monsoons through countless ages, has worn a cavity deep in the living rock. All around lie huge boulders brought down from the mountain sides by the action of air and water. One stream drops from the rocks above and has worn a deep fissure in the face of the hill. From the crag above the basin hang huge stalactites, deposited by this stream, which must have taken aeons of time to form. All around, owing to perennial water, the grass is green and the rocks are covered with brown moss, where the little lizards lie basking in the heat of the sun.

The hills are clad with tall ebony and teak trees, whilst the pool itself is overshadowed by a mighty banyan (the giant fig tree), which has spread its arms over the face of the water, dropping columns here and there to form a shady nook where even the noonday sun does not penetrate. On the far side of the pool a great clump of bamboo stands in the soft cart beyond the rocks, and more clumps mingled with green tamarisk clothe the banks of the ravine, It is an ideal cover for a tiger, and formed the favorite haunt of the maneater of Seven Streams.

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