10 INDIAN BIG GAME 



followed up into thick grass and bushes. We 

 had just decided to put in buffaloes first, and I 

 was disentangling my hat from a bough when we 

 were charged from a few paces ; I fired one barrel 

 from the hip and missed. The others had no 

 chance of firing. The panther took my left 

 shoulder in his mouth and with his hind claws 

 he held my thighs. One hand was damaged. 

 The charge knocked me over and we had a 

 scrimmage on the ground. I tried to kick him, 

 and never thought of my hunting knife : my rifle 

 had fallen wide. The others rushed in and the 

 panther dropped me and bolted, fired at by them 

 and I think missed, as he went. I hope he lived. 



The shoulder wounds were fairly deep and did 

 not do well at first. Our syringe was broken 

 but F. made one out of a peacock's quill, and 

 with the aid of this, strong carbolic acid, and 

 running cold water, I was able to shoot in a 

 fortnight. The railway was, luckily, too far off. 



Few of our tiger gave us any trouble. We 

 followed up three or four times. I used an 8 -bore 

 Paradox for this work. We never found our 

 first tiger ; there was no blood, and I doubt if he 

 was hit. This was as well, for on opening the 

 breech of the Paradox I found I had never loaded. 

 I did not tell my companions although their fire 

 should have been sufficient without mine. Three 

 reliable guns ought not to have any trouble 

 following up, whereas a single gun may be 

 temporarily put out of action through no fault 

 of his own. 



We had three tiger in one beat. F. killed the 

 two males, and I knocked the tigress over, giving 



