MY FIRST TIGER 77 



coolies on the estate, was at the time of the 

 incident under repair. Every morning I rode 

 out to see how the work was getting on. It 

 must have been some time in November, towards 

 the end probably, as we did not repair roads until 

 after the heavy rains of the nor'-east monsoon. 

 Anyway, one morning I found the coolies — who 

 by that time were a good four to five miles off — 

 in a great state of excitement, declaring that they 

 had actually seen a tiger and that a cow had been 

 killed at Nelli Kather Hutte, where there was 

 a small Sholaga hamlet. Soon after a couple of 

 Sholagas turned up and confirmed the news. I 

 rode back to the estate to get my gun, rugs, and 

 food for a night's vigil. Dod Cara, a Sholaga, 

 volunteered to accompany me. He prided 

 himself upon being a professional shikari who 

 had taken numbers of sahibs out shooting, so 

 off we started in the afternoon. I reached the 

 hamlet, from which I took three or four men 

 to build a machan, and proceeded to the place 

 of the kill, which lay in a fine open spot ; 

 trees were very scarce, and the only available 

 one was a very pliant nelli tree, a species very 

 abundant in these parts, and from which the 

 hamlet took its name. Where there was no 

 choice, needs must, so I gave directions to build 

 the platform as quickly as possible — there not 

 being much time before darkness would overtake 

 us, except that there was a glorious moon, of 

 which I wished to take every advantage. I must 

 honestly confess that I knew nothing about tiger- 

 shooting at this period, least of all sitting up over 

 a kill, so when the work was finished I asked Dod 



