But Garratt, composure returned after his rude waking, needed no cautioning. A man whose soldiering had hitherto been on his feet rather than in the saddle was all too alert to the threat of ambush. ‘And from all I’ve read, too, wise words, Colonel,’ he said tactfully.

They set off just after four. There were two hours to sunset, about the best time of day, said the major, tigers disliking the heat of the fore- and afternoon as much as did he. Their smaller prey was anyway nocturnal, but the tiger also favoured dusk, he supposed, so that it could carry off or devour its kill under cover of darkness.

Between them they carried a good weight of shot, though the major’s pair of capping rifles seemed to Hervey to be somewhat undue. Service pistols and carbines would be more than enough, though admittedly a volley of lead would not make for the prettiest of trophies. Georgiana wanted a pistol too, but Hervey said he thought it better to wait till she’d had more practice. Annie was relieved, for then she would have felt obliged to carry one as well, and she was not yet confident that pistols behaved exactly as bidden. Besides, in the company of men it was scarcely necessary. Not, at least, in the company of Colonel Hervey.

They trotted fast for most of the way. The village lay at the lower end of the Long Tank, south of the Audeaur River, five miles or so distant, and Hervey’s design was to find a place a few hundred yards short of the objective – the merest mound would do – from which to observe the approaches. Had there been time he would have skirted the village on its northern side so as not to lay any scent across the path of the tiger – it came, said Sammy’s informants, from the Vandalur Hills to the south – and then to observe with the sun behind them. Instead they might have to shade their eyes.

Finding any elevation proved difficult, however, especially as the lemon grass stood high. They’d closed to a furlong of the village before they could see anything of it – so close indeed that the evening breeze, slight that it was, brought them its scent, more than usually rank. They would have to stay in the saddle to have any chance of spotting a crouching tiger, but the horses had had only light exercise earlier and could bear the weight. In any case, dismounting, even in company, was perhaps not the most prudent thing when the shadows lengthened.

They waited silently but for the odd equine grunt and sniffle – sounds natural enough not to dismay a tiger. Annie felt the need of a shawl as the sun neared the horizon, but she’d not brought one, and nor had Georgiana. She hoped she’d not have to bear it long, for what with the sun in her eyes and the lemon grass she could see next to nothing, and felt sure that when the tiger appeared it would be so fleeting that she’d not be rewarded with so much as a glimpse to write home about. But she was where she ought to be – where Georgiana was – and where, in truth, she’d have wished to be. For she’d never seen Georgiana’s father in the field – or any soldier; a mystery she supposed would intrigue any woman.