xi A COUPLE OF TIGERS 125 



tiger looked round and jumped to his feet, and 

 simultaneously I fired, a mere snap-shot, but he 

 seemed to lurch and went off growling. I was 

 terribly upset, as, if the Sholaga had seen him in 

 the first instance, I ought to have bagged him on 

 the spot. The Sholaga only saw the tiger as he 

 rose to his feet, and at the same time the crack of 

 my rifle sounded behind him, and he at once 

 exclaimed, " You have hit him." 



We crossed over to where Stripes had jumped 

 up, and found only the head and neck of a cow, 

 so that practically the whole of a cow had been 

 gorged in the night, and there was the warm lair 

 of the tiger right beside the kill. We followed 

 in the direction in which the tiger had charged off, 

 and within a few yards found large splashes of 

 blood on a green strobilanthus leaf that had 

 evidently been broken off in the first rush ; further 

 on we found stuck to the stalks of the undergrowth 

 what Kerta termed " whottay banju," which 

 being interpreted means blood from the stomach, 

 so it was evident he had been badly wounded. 



As the sun had not yet lightened the gloom, 

 although it was 6.45, I decided to follow my 

 invariable plan of waiting to give the tiger time 

 to sicken of his wound. The tracks led to the 

 right, and fortunately a newly made forest road 

 spanned the whole area in a comparatively small 

 circle, so that we could either locate him within 

 this or see by his footmarks that he had crossed 

 into more distant regions. We had stopped within 

 a few yards of the road, and keeping to the left 

 in fairly open ground we soon reached it. There 

 I sat down to indulge in " chota hazri " and a 



