may be a little late. Don’t worry.’ Then going back to his room, he wrapped a shawl
around him, hid the cub under it and left for the tea garden with Suman.
When the grandfather grandson duo reached that leopard encroached tea garden,
it was already dark and the foxes were howling in the forest. Suman switched on the
torch and showed his grandfather the thicket of tea plants under which he found the
cubs. Gourkanta searched the plants thoroughly for the two cubs, focussing the torch
from all sides, but did not find any of them. He asked Suman, ‘Are you sure this is
exactly the place where you spotted the cubs?’
‘Absolutely,’ said Suman. ‘That was the tree I climbed and from there I could see it,’
The fact of the two cubs missing from the thicket raised hopes of Gourkanta. The
mother leopard must have moved them to the safety of the jungle and would return to
look for the third one. Gourkanta gently put down the cub from his lap and whispered to
Suman’s ears, ‘The leopard must be somewhere around. Don’t make any noise. Come
along with me quietly.’
He took Suman behind the stump of a tree and asked his grandson to wait patiently for
the mother to come and pick its cub. A cool breeze was blowing from the side of the
forest. It was caressing their supple faces and reinvigorating the spirit of the old man.
Then as night fell, there was some movement in a bush near the jungle. In the
moonlight, they saw a big cow-like animal grazing by the edge of the forest.
‘A bison!’ whispered the old man.
‘But where is the leopard?’ Suman was getting restless.
Suddenly they saw two glowing objects approaching the corner of tea garden where
Suman found the cubs. Gourkanta told his grandson, ‘Look, she is coming. Look at her
bright eyes.’ Suman could see the animal with glowing eyes reach the cub. On finding
the cub, the leopard snarled. Then she picked up the cub in her mouth, padded past the
tea garden and with a spring, entered the jungle.
Suman’s mind was filled with wistfulness. Within a short time, he developed a
fondness for the wild cub and wanted to possess it. But alas, the wild belonged only to
nature and its gift was only to be seen and appreciated from a distance.
‘Will we happen to see the cub again?’ Suman asked his grandfather.
‘The cub will grow up in the care of mother nature. After a few years, he will be the king
of the jungle. And you will definitely see him roam by the edge of forest in broad
daylight,’ said the old man to his grandson.
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