SOME PRE-WAR TIGER SHOOTS 7 



out of curiosity, but did not like it. I shot two 

 panther, both good males, and one of them was a 

 particularly fine specimen. 



I was on the edge of a nullah lined with 

 korindah bushes. The panther passed down the 

 bank below me unseen. A man ran up to me 

 and said the panther had halted in a bush in the 

 nullah a hundred yards further on. I ran there 

 and saw my friend, a dim shape in the bush 

 below me. Full of enthusiasm, I fired my rifle 

 without any aim into the brown of him. The 

 bullet went in at his ear. " That was a good 

 shot of yours," said H., " but I don't think you 

 are wise to fire at so small a mark as the head." 



" Ah, well, the head shot is so deadly." 



" H'm," said H. 



Towards the end of our shoot, we had a tiger 

 kill in a valley in which were a pool of water and 

 many low bushes, but no trees. We had settled 

 to draw lots on each tiger kill. I won and accord- 

 ingly sat up. I recall this with regret. There is 

 no selfishness to equal the thoughtless selfishness 

 of youth. Poor H. sat up over the pool, in case 

 the tiger should go there. I sat in a bush on the 

 ground and could see H. round the corner, some 

 way off. 



Before it was dusk I saw a panther come and 

 sit like a dog behind H., who, in his turn, was 

 industriously watching the water. 



The tiger came after dark on to the kill, which 

 was close to my front. I hit him, and he made 

 a great noise rolling and roaring until the low 

 sides of the valley rang with the echoes ; then 

 he went off. We took the blood - tracks, next 



