X LUCK AT LAST WITH TIGER 103 



and got quite chirpy when a Sholaga of a neigh- 

 bouring village came to say that in the afternoon, 

 as he was coming home, he heard a strange noise, 

 like wild cats quarrelling, and on going towards 

 the sound he was nearly frightened out of his 

 life by a tiger springing out on him, and that the 

 noise, he was sure, was from tiger cubs, and he 

 would take me to the place in the morning. That 

 night I got very little sleep from thinking about 

 it, and was up at 3.30 a.m., and before 5 a.m. had 

 roused my tracker and the man who was to show 

 the tigress. On our way I heard a noise in the 

 grass, and the Sholagas said it was a bear, so I 

 went close up to it, but owing to the long grass 

 could only discern a small patch of black, so I 

 judged a shot, and, as is the rule in such cases, 

 missed, much to my disgust, as it was a fine big 

 fellow. The Sholagas wanted me to have a 

 stalk after chital first, but I insisted upon being 

 taken to the haunts of the tigress. 



Certainly on arriving at the place there were 

 evident signs of the truth of the man's statement, 

 but having been disturbed the evening before, of 

 course she had departed with her young ones ; 

 however, her night tracks were quite discernible 

 on the soft ground after the rain, so we followed 

 up for about a mile — I, like a fool, with no weapon 

 in my hand, having given my rifles to the Sholagas 

 to carry. Suddenly I was startled by a loud 

 roar, and out jumped a big tigress from some 

 longish grass, but before I could collar my rifle 

 she had disappeared behind some cover ; but she 

 would not leave the vicinity, as I could tell by 

 her growls, so I tried to get a shot at her by 



