122 INDIAN BIG GAME 



of the leaves, which are very dry at this season, 

 had alarmed the beast. We emerged into the 

 open, consisting of a small strip of grass-land. 

 On the other side of this lay a similar piece of 

 jungle, through which our path led. Again the 

 sambhur belled, and almost simultaneously with 

 the " belling " we heard the deep mutterings of 

 a tiger ; it did not need the Mulcher's whisper 

 to tell me what was on foot. I was at the time 

 standing out in the open on a long slab of sheet- 

 rock, over which the path wound, and the tiger 

 could not have been a hundred yards off, inside 

 the cover and in the direction where the path 

 entered. I felt sure Stripes was making his way 

 towards us. I had just cast my eyes down to 

 see where to place my feet, so as to advance as 

 noiselessly as possible, when a touch on my arm 

 made me look up, and, seeing my man pointing 

 ahead, I followed with my eyes in that direction, 

 and was amazed to see a tiger walking straight 

 towards me. His whole form was exposed, but 

 coming end on, his great round head seemed to 

 take up the whole view. It was the work of a 

 second to have my rifle up, but I knew how risky 

 the head shot was. In the few moments, as I 

 puzzled where to place my shot, I wondered 

 why the tiger had not discovered my presence, 

 and I believed afterwards that it was the sun, 

 which, having just risen, was catching him 

 full in the eyes, obscuring his vision ; whereas 

 I was standing in the shade of a small bushy 

 hillock, through which the sun had not penetrated. 

 Certainly it was a sight to be remembered for 

 many a long day. The peculiar facial markings 



