V A SHOOT IN AN INDIAN STATE 45 



The tigress' cave looked like a big rabbit hole 

 under some rocks, and she was probably in view 

 from the mouth of it, but it did not seem a 

 suitable occasion to " bell the cat." So Iseri Singh 

 and I crossed the gully, swung up hill behind the 

 rocks of the cave, crept to the top of it and sat like 

 little mice. Ram Huruk withdrew the beaters, 

 and they went off shouting. Within an hour of 

 dead silence there was a roar from underneath 

 us. The tigress sprang out, crossed the gully in 

 a bound, and took a track leading along the foot 

 of the cliff. On reaching some bushes she paused 

 for a second to have a look and gave me a clear 

 shot, which sent her spinning like a catherine-wheel 

 down the hill with a bullet through her heart. 



This was rather a professional show. Every 

 one knew his job, and practically no orders were 

 given. 



Our next camp was in a village, and really 

 hot. There were no suitable trees for miles. We 

 stayed there a week, and at the insistence of some 

 of the men I gave two rupees for '' Poo j ah " to 

 produce tiger. That night a tiger killed two of 

 our tie-ups, and I spent the night keeping up a 

 fire and holding on to my little dog in bed to 

 protect him from a panther who made the night 

 hideous with his "sawing" in and round the 

 village. So we all felt we had had our two 

 rupees' worth. 



We never got the tiger : there were large and 

 unexpected caves in the beat (bad reconnaissance). 

 I deserved to lose this beast. The previous 

 evening. Ram Huruk, who had been detached for 

 some days, reported that he had come across the 



