Tiger, Tiger

‘Afraid not. Some of us have to work around here, you know. See you in a bit.’

He went out of the room.

‘Poor Daddy,’ observed Melissa thoughtfully. ‘He’s had rather a lot on his plate lately. I expect he’ll be glad to get back to England for a rest.’

Harry motioned to Trimani, who came hurrying over from the bar.

‘One Tiger beer. One … gin fizz, please.’

‘Right away, Tuan!’ And he was gone.

Melissa shook her head.

‘Look at the way they run around for you, Uncle Harry. But if anybody else tried to get that kind of service, they’d just be ignored. Why is that?’

‘Because I’m a relic, I suppose.’ He shrugged. ‘In my day, that’s how it was always done, nobody thought anything of it. Trimani there, he’s served at this Mess a long time. I expect he remembers the old ways too, but lately he’s been told by a lot of people that he doesn’t have to bow and scrape to the white sahibs anymore, that he’s equal to them, and should they require a drink well, let them jolly well come and ask for one. I don’t suppose any of them bothered to ask him what he’d like to do, but that’s neither here nor there. Still, for all his new freedom, he chooses to keep one memory of the old days alive and that memory is me. Oh, you’re absolutely right, Melissa. Nobody else here gets the same treatment I do; but then, nobody else here goes as far back as me and Trimani. We’re the only two dinosaurs left in this particular patch of swamp.’

‘You’re not a dinosaur,’ cried Melissa emphatically. ‘And neither is Trimani.’

‘Pardon, Missy?’ inquired the barman, who had just arrived with the drinks.

She stared at him, flustered.

‘Oh … ah … I was just saying, Trimani … you’re not a … dinosaur.’

Trimani shook his head gravely.

‘No, Missy, that is right. I am a Buddhist.’ He set down the drinks, smiled proudly, and walked away. Harry and Melissa managed to hold back their laughter until he was out of earshot.

‘You see, I told you,’ giggled Melissa. ‘He’s not a dinosaur.’

She sipped at her gin fizz. It was deliciously cold and she found herself musing that she was rarely happier than when she was in Uncle Harry’s company. She had really meant what she said about missing him. There was nothing strange about it either; it was simply that Harry Sullivan had always represented a kind of reassuring steadfastness that she had come to rely on. Even when she was a little girl, she had relished the visits to Uncle Harry’s house. She would sit on his lap, inhaling the familiar cigar-smoke smell of him, while she listened enthralled to his wonderful stories of adventure in far away places.

Even then he’d been alone, of course. The Tremaynes had not come to live in Malaya until 1956, when Melissa was eight years old. Harry had already been a widower for six years and he was then, what he was now, an extremely nice, but very lonely old man. As far as Melissa knew, he had not had a relationship with another woman since his wife died; at least, not one that was anything more than platonic, though lord knows, he must have had some opportunities along the way.

‘Do you remember much of England?’ he asked her now.

‘Not really. Little things.’ She smiled. ‘I remember building a snowman one Christmas and I remember a field, I think, that must have been outside our back garden … There’s nothing definite, you know, just very abstract images. Oh, I remember a dog too, a big black thing. Must have been ours I suppose, goodness knows what must have happened to him.’ She shook her head. ‘Not much to go on, is it? Everyone keeps telling me how very cold it is over there and …’

Her voice trailed away as her attention was distracted by the entrance of a stranger, a tall, blond-haired man, wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. He was walking slowly, rather dejectedly, she thought, his hands in his pockets and a rather glum expression on his handsome, tanned face. He moved over to the bar and began chatting to Trimani.

‘Is something wrong?’ enquired Harry, who had not noticed the focus of her attention.

‘I was just wondering who the dish was.’

‘The what?’

She smiled apologetically.

‘It’s just an expression I picked up from a magazine. It means good-looking, that’s all … and I wondered who he was. I haven’t seen him before.’

‘Who?’ cried Harry in exasperation.

Melissa leaned closer in order to whisper. ‘I’m talking about the chap by the bar. There … wearing blue jeans …’

Harry looked in the direction she was indicating.

‘Him?’ he cried.

‘Shush! Yes, him. Why, what’s wrong?’

‘That’s Beresford!’

‘Oh. Well, he’s very handsome.’

‘But … he’s Australian!’

Melissa giggled. ‘Well alright then. He’s a handsome Australian. I say … why is Trimani pointing at us like that?’

‘I can’t imagine!’ muttered Harry. He was somewhat taken aback. He had always thought that Melissa had some degree of discernment.

‘He is though, Uncle Harry. Look.’

Harry looked. Sure enough, Beresford was chatting to Trimani, and Trimani did seem to be pointing at the table where Harry and Melissa were sitting.

‘Do you know him very well?’ asked Melissa.

‘Hardly at all. Never even passed the time of day with him.’

‘Well, he seems to think he knows you. He’s coming over.’

‘What?’ Harry glanced up in alarm. The Australian was sailing towards him with a disarming grin on his face. A few steps brought him right to the side of the table.

‘Hello there. Hope you don’t mind me introducing myself. I’m Bob Beresford. You must be Harry Sullivan.’ He thrust out a hand that was doubtless intended as a shaking device, but Harry just sat there staring at him; so he swivelled slightly to the left and offered the hand to Melissa, who took it more readily. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know your name, miss.’

‘Melissa. Melissa Tremayne. Pleased to meet you Mr Beresford.’

‘Tremayne. That wouldn’t be anything to do with Captain Tremayne, by any chance?’

‘His daughter.’

‘Well now … fancy that!’ There was a brief, rather uncomfortable silence. Bob turned back to Harry. ‘Well, I hope you don’t mind me coming forward like this, but I had to come over and offer to buy you a drink, the moment I learned it was you what bagged the big stripey over there.’

‘Bagged the …?’ Harry was beginning to suspect that the rest of the local population had decided to switch to new language overnight, without informing him. He glanced at Melissa for some support.

‘I think he means the tiger,’ she said cautiously.

‘Yeah, sure, the big old bugger stuck on the wall there …’

Harry raised his eyebrows.

‘May I remind you that there is a lady present?’ he asked icily.

‘Oh, that’s alright, Uncle Harry. I’ve heard worse at school! Won’t you sit down with us, Mr Beresford?’

‘Ah, thanks very much, Miss Tremayne.’

‘Melissa.’

‘Right, Melissa.’ Bob pulled up a chair and sat himself down at the table. ‘And you must both call me Bob. Now, I took the liberty of asking Trim to bring over another round of drinks; you see, Mr Sullivan, we’re birds of the same feather. I do a bit of hunting meself and I was thinking …’

Harry took a deep breath.

‘Mr Beresford …’

‘Bob. My friends call me Bob.’

‘Mr Beresford. I can assure you that …’

‘’Course, I’ve never actually gone after tigers before. That’s where you come in. See, I’ve heard that a bloody big tiger killed a cow last night, on the coast road just outside of Kampong Panjang … and I was thinkin’ that you and me, the two of us together, so to speak, could team up and have a crack at him …’

‘Mister Beresford!’ Harry’s voice was harsh. Even the impetuous Australian stopped to listen this time.

‘First, let me assure you that I have not gone hunting tiger, nor anything else for that matter, for something like eight years. I am a retired man, Mr Beresford, I am sixty-seven years old and, frankly, I do not feel in the least bit interested in renewing the hobby. I hope I have made myself clear.’

It became very quiet again. Trimani arrived with the tray of drinks, sensed the uncomfortable atmosphere, set down his load and departed as rapidly as possible. Bob took a packet of cigarettes from his back pocket, extracted one, offered the pack to Melissa who shook her head dumbly. He lit his own smoke and then tried another angle.

‘Of course, Mr Sullivan, you wouldn’t actually have to join in the hunt. See, what I’m really lookin’ for is a good guide, a tracker, someone who knows the ropes. I’d be willin’ to pay …” He saw from the outraged expression on Harry’s face that he had put his foot in it again and he glanced wildly at Melissa, hoping that she might bail him out.

‘What er … part of Australia are you from … ah … Bob?’ she ventured.

‘From New South Wales. Do you know it at all?’

‘I’m afraid not.’

‘Oh, well you must go there sometime, it’s very beautiful.’

‘Anywhere near Botany Bay?’ enquired Harry unexpectedly.

‘Why do you ask that Mr Sullivan?’ asked Bob, brightening a little.

‘That’s where all the convicts landed, isn’t it?’

The two men glowered at each other across the table for a moment.

‘You know,’ exclaimed Melissa, with exaggerated jollity. ‘I was only saying to Daddy the other day. I wouldn’t mind learning to shoot, myself.’

‘Oh well, Miss Tremayne … Melissa … I’d be only too glad to give you some lessons, anytime you like …’

‘If Miss Tremayne decides she wants shooting lessons, I think she knows only too well that I can provide them,’ said Harry tonelessly. He turned to gaze at Melissa. ‘Strange you’ve never mentioned it before.’

‘Oh, well I …’

‘You can still shoot then?’ murmured Bob.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘You can still shoot, Mr Sullivan. Only, I thought perhaps the reason you didn’t hunt anymore was because your eyes had gone … something like that.’

‘My eyesight is perfect, thank you.’

‘Well, it’s interesting this, but me and some of the junior officers have got together and organized a little target-shooting event for Saturday. They’ve got permission to use the rifle range at the barracks. Officially, the prize is just a crate of beer … but we’re going to put up a little money between ourselves, just to make it more fun. Everybody puts in fifty dollars and the winner takes the lot …’

‘Gambling.’ Harry said the one word in a measured, icy tone that seemed to transform it into something quite filthy.

‘Yeah … well, I appreciate not everybody approves of it … but you’ve got to do something to pass the hours away, haven’t you?’

‘Oh, Uncle Harry! It sounds like terrific fun,’ enthused Melissa. ‘Why don’t you go in for it? Then I could come along and cheer you on.’ She turned back to Bob. ‘Are members of the public allowed to come?’

‘Sure. The more the merrier, that’s what I reckon. But maybe Mr Sullivan doesn’t feel up to it …’ He glanced slyly at Harry. ‘After all, some of those young officers are crack shots; could be he doesn’t want to risk his fifty dollars.’

‘What time is this competition?’ snapped Harry defensively.

‘We’re starting off at ten in the morning before the sun gets too strong.’

‘I’ll be there,’ announced Harry calmly.

‘Fantastic!’ Melissa clapped her hands in anticipation. ‘I can hardly wait. I’ve always wanted to see you in action, Uncle Harry!’ She lifted her gin fizz and took a generous swallow of it. ‘Here’s to Saturday,’ she said.

‘Cheers.’ Bob raised his glass of beer and drank. Then the two of them glanced at Harry, but he remained motionless, his face impassive. The awkward silence returned.

‘About this tiger, Mr Sullivan,’ ventured Bob warily. ‘Couldn’t you give me some advice, at least? I don’t know the first thing about tiger hunting. I’ve been asking around the kampongs for guides, but nobody seems to have much idea. I suppose the obvious thing to do is to find the carcass of the cow he killed and then try tracking him into the jungle from there …’

Harry let out an exclamation of contempt.

‘Mr Beresford, that is the last thing you do! I only once ever resorted to trailing a tiger through its home ground and that time I was lucky to escape with my life. The tiger was wounded. The only possible reason for following a cat into the jungle is to put it out of its misery after your first shot has failed to finish it off.’

Bob shrugged.

‘Fair enough. But … how do you get the shot in, in the first place?’

Harry gazed at Bob contemptuously, almost wearily, like an aged schoolmaster regarding a particularly troublesome pupil.

‘You build a machan, Mr Beresford.’

‘A what?’

‘A tree platform. You place it in a tree overlooking the half-eaten kill. A tiger will return every night to feed on it. You fix a flashlight to the barrel of your gun and when you hear the cat eating, you aim, switch on the light, and shoot.’ He spread his hands in a gesture of finality. ‘One dead tiger,’ he said calmly. ‘Or possibly, one wounded tiger, which is when you come down the tree and follow him up.’

‘Ah. That sound a bit more sporting!’

Harry stared at Bob for a moment in silence.

‘Excuse me,’ he said at last. ‘I didn’t realize we were discussing sport. I thought we were talking about killing tigers.’

Bob frowned. ‘Is there a difference?’ he enquired.

‘Oh yes. I wasn’t aware of it myself for a very long time. But now I can tell you with authority, that there is a difference; and one day, you’ll learn that for yourself.’ He picked up his drink and sipped at it thoughtfully.

‘So … er … how do I go about making this … machan?’

‘There will be someone in the kampongs who remembers. Ask the older men to help you. It’s a long time since I heard of a tiger venturing out of the jungle. It may just kill once and go back, in which case there’s no reason to try and shoot it.’

‘Reason?’ Bob chuckled. ‘’Course there’s a reason!’ He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the tiger’s head trophy on the wall. ‘I want to put another head on the wall beside that one.’ He leaned forward as though confiding a secret. ‘I don’t want to worry you, Harry, but from what I’ve heard, this new tiger is a lot bigger than the one you’ve got there …’

‘Oh, I don’t doubt it! It was one of the villagers who told you about it, was it?’

‘Well, yes …’

‘The Malays have a marvellous capacity for exaggeration.’ Harry pointed to the trophy. ‘That fellow there now. On several occasions, he was described to me as being over twelve feet long. A beast as big as a horse, with jaws like a crocodile, and as tall as a grown man. I measured him when I’d finished him off. He went exactly eight feet, six inches, between pegs. Not small by Malayan standards, but not exactly a monster either.’

Bob looked puzzled. ‘Between pegs?’ he echoed.

‘There are two ways of measuring tigers, Mr Beresford. The honest way is to drive a wooden peg into the ground by the tip of his nose and at the tip of his tail, then measure a straight line between. Some hunters prefer to measure over curves … laying the tape along all the contours of the body. That can add on another four or five inches. Very good for the ego, no doubt. Of course, it was the rajas in India who had the most ingenious method. They had special tape measures constructed that had a couple of inches taken out of every foot. Hence all those records of eleven- and twelve-foot cats, shot from the backs of elephants. It’s true that the Indian tiger does tend to be a little larger than its Malayan counterpart, but even so …’ He went into a silent muse for a few moments, his eyes narrowing as though he were squinting into some misty world that his companions could not see. Then he said, ‘I really wish you would leave that tiger alone, Mr Beresford.’

‘Why?’ The other man stared back at him defiantly.

‘How many tigers do you suppose are out in that jungle now, Mr Beresford? Do you think you could put a figure on it?’

Bob shrugged. ‘Wouldn’t have a clue,’ he admitted. ‘Hey, but look here. You’re a fine one to talk, I must say! You’ve hunted them before, what makes it right for you and wrong for me?’

‘I didn’t say that it was right for me.’

‘Yeah … well, anyway, this one’s a cattle-killer.’

Harry smiled sardonically but he kept gazing intently into the other man’s eyes.

‘Ah, yes,’ he murmured. ‘Of course he is. I’d forgotten about that.’

Melissa had been listening quietly to the two men’s conversation for some time but now she saw the need to move in and referee again. The atmosphere of antagonism between the two of them was extraordinary, though it did seem to stem more from Harry than from the young Australian.

Harry said nothing further, but simply sat regarding the two of them with an expression of open resentment on his face. For Melissa’s part, she was quite happy to chat with Bob Beresford, who was the most interesting proposition that had come her way in a long time. Not only was he strikingly handsome, but he was cheerful and easy to talk to. Still, Harry’s presence made the whole thing rather uncomfortable and Melissa was relieved when she saw her father returning with a bundle of papers under his arm. The relief was short-lived, though, for Harry immediately excused himself, mumbling something about some work he had to do.

‘What on earth’s wrong with Harry?’ asked Dennis, as the old man swept out of the room. ‘He’s got a face like thunder.’

There was a brief silence.

‘Anybody fancy a drink?’ asked Bob awkwardly.

Haji was just about at his wits’ end with Timah. His repeated cuffings and bites served only to discipline her for a very short time. Then her spirits would rise again and she would resume her childish antics, hiding among the bushes, pouncing out at him unexpectedly, pursuing him along the cattle trails like some overgrown cub. It was more than his dignity could bear, and in the end he was moved to indicate to her, by a series of movements and growls, that if she did not curb her frivolity, he would refuse to take her to the kill. This did the trick, for she was every bit as hungry as he was and now she trotted obediently along in his wake.

After some time, they neared the place where Haji had made the kill and they could smell quite clearly the stink of rotten meat that had lain in the hot sun all day. This was tantalizing and Timah would have gone straight to the feast, but Haji directed a low growl of warning at her and she flopped down in the grass to wait with quiet reluctance. Haji did likewise, listening intently and peering into the darkness. He could see the mound of vegetation where the carcass lay and the rustling sounds of movement that reached him from the spot were quickly identified. A pair of large monitor lizards had found the kill and were snapping eagerly at the exposed viscera. Always suspicious, Haji took a long, slow stroll around the area, viewing it from every angle until he was sure that everything was as he had left it. Then, circling back to Timah, he indicated that all was well. The lizards skittered madly away as the big cats approached.

Haji flopped down again, waiting politely while Timah ate her fill. This she did quite eagerly, throwing herself upon the carcass and tearing at the putrefying flesh in a frenzy. She consumed over half the meat that was left on the carcass and at last, satisfied, she moved off to the river to quench her thirst. Now it was Haji’s turn. His appetite was less keen, for he had dined well the previous night. Even so, he had little trouble in stripping the cow down to a poor collection of bare bones. Then he too moved to the river to drink. They lay stretched out beside the kill for a while, listening to the steady vibrant hum of the insects in the night. But Haji was always restless in the vicinity of an eating place and after a short while he got up and led the way along a familiar cattle trail. Timah followed him for a distance of several miles but then they came to a place where the trail forked left and right. Haji started along the right fork, but after he had gone a little way, he realized that Timah was no longer following him. He turned to gaze back at her. She was standing, looking at him, and everything about her stance and expression told him that she wished to take the lefthand path. He growled once, a half-hearted command for her to follow him, but he knew before he had uttered the sound that she would not heed him. In many ways, after the wild behaviour she had exhibited earlier, he was relieved. Without further comment, he continued on his way and when he glanced back a second time the trail behind him was quite empty. He was not surprised to see this. The solitary life was the way of the tiger.

He moved on along the path and vanished into darkness.

The car sped recklessly along the jungle road. Melissa glanced at her father’s face. In the green glow of the dashboard it looked alien, unfamiliar. The two of them had just been discussing Uncle Harry’s mysterious mood earlier that evening.

‘The long and the short of it,’ concluded Dennis, ‘is that he just doesn’t like Bob Beresford.’

‘Why ever not?’

‘Oh, search me. But it’s a fact. Harry always says it’s because the poor fellow’s Australian, but somehow that isn’t reason enough. Do you sense an … antagonism between them? Almost a rivalry?’

‘Yes, but from Uncle Harry more than from Bob.’

Dennis glanced at her slyly. ‘Oh, so it’s Bob already, is it?’

She smiled. ‘Yes, why not? I’m eighteen now, Daddy, you must bear that in mind!’

‘Melissa, I stopped trying to keep you in order years ago. I’ve got nothing against the Aussies, anyway.’

‘He’s not like most Aussies.’

‘Hmm.’ Dennis frowned. ‘Just the same, I’d watch what you say to Harry. He might get jealous.’

Melissa chuckled. ‘Oh really, you have to laugh. Anyone would think Harry and I are engaged, the way you’re going on.’

‘Yes, but you know how fond he is of you, Melissa. God knows what he’ll do when we shove off back to England. Poor old fellow …’

‘We’ve done everything we can to get him to go with us.’

‘Yes …’ Dennis sighed. ‘But let’s face it, he wouldn’t be happy anyplace but here. He belongs.’

The car sped onwards in the comforting direction of home.

Chapter 7

It was early morning and Haji was prowling amongst familiar mangrove swamps, where the silted yellow sluggishness of a river collapsed into a misery of pools and muddy sandbanks. A couple of fat frogs leapt away from his approach and slapped into water. He was, as yet, not hungry enough to bother with them, but when times were particularly hard, there was very little that he considered beneath his dignity. Before now he had eaten many frogs, also snakes, crabs, turtles, and even fish when the opportunity had presented itself. Wild pigs were generally the mainstay of his diet, but lately there seemed to be a bewildering shortage of the creatures and the only signs of them he had encountered all day had been months old.

He came to a place now where a great outcrop of rock jutted up from the surrounding trees and undergrowth and he recalled that here was an old favourite sleeping place of his, a small cave at the base of the rock. But as he neared it, he was perturbed by a powerful smell that seemed to be issuing from within. It was in a strange way familiar and at the same time it incorporated another smell that did not belong with the first odour. He came to a halt for a moment, sniffing and grimacing, unsure of what to do. At last, he ventured a little nearer and issued a loud roar of enquiry; whereupon several large black shapes came squawking and flapping out of the darkness, almost blundering right into him. Haji was so startled, he almost turned tail and ran. But then he realized that the creatures had been just a flock of scavenging magpies who had clearly not noticed his approach. Still, the shock had unnerved him a little and he paced backwards and forwards for several minutes, his head down, while he made low rumbling growls deep in his throat. He began to move away from the cave, but the smell antagonized him with its nagging familiarity and at the back of his mind was the thought that the cave must hold some kind of food if the magpies had been there. So he approached again, slowly, cautiously, craning his head forward to peer into the dark interior. The smell became more powerful by the moment.