XI A COUPLE OF TIGERS 121 



In January 1909, on returning from Rhodesia, 



I went to stay with my old friend M on the 



Nelhampathy Hills, for the express purpose of 

 bagging a Nilgiri ibex, a species of goat that I 

 had not previously shot. As a trophy it is 

 not much to look at, and I should say the chief 

 excitement lies in the rough ground one has to 

 negotiate, perhaps specially precipitous where I 

 was. I bagged two, one of which was dashed 

 to pieces by a fall of 300 feet. 



In response to another invitation from the 

 ever-hospitable planter, I proceeded on the 5th of 

 February to spend a couple of nights at Mr. and 



Mrs. H 's bungalow, with the hope of securing 



an old saddle-back (ibex) on their side of the 

 cliffs. Although I had done a good twelve-mile 

 walk that morning to reach their bungalow, I 

 nevertheless went for a stalk in the afternoon, 

 on the chance of seeing a sambhur, or possibly 

 a bison, but I returned in the dark without 

 having seen anything. After dinner it was 

 arranged that I should make a very early start 

 next morning for the ibex ground. I was called 

 soon after 4 a.m., and was ready to move by 

 5 o'clock, but the Mulcher guide turned up so 

 late that the plans had to be altered, and I again 

 took the slope that I had climbed the previous 

 evening. About twenty minutes' steady climb- 

 ing brought me to a summer lodge, where Mr. 



H spends the hot weather. We reached 



this bungalow soon after 7 a.m., and as we were 

 wending our way through a narrow strip of 

 jungle, we heard a sambhur " bell " some distance 

 ahead, and I thought it might be that the rustling 



