XI A COUPLE OF TIGERS 131 



At last Madha found his tongue and said the 

 tiger was moving off, so learning that I could get 

 a shot from the first-mentioned rocks, and Kerta 

 volunteering to cross the space with my rifle, I 

 took the spare one from Kurrama and essayed to 

 get down the tree. By no amount of agility 

 could I get back on to the rock I had sprung from, 

 so I had to ignominiously scramble to the foot of 

 the tree and then I scurried through the long 

 grass to behind the first rock, up which I could 

 scramble by the aid of the fig-tree. Here Kerta 

 was already awaiting me. I handed him my gun, 

 but the thought of the tiger perhaps coming to 

 chew chunks out from behind is not an aid to 

 unpractised climbing. With the help of rubber- 

 knobbed boots, however, and Kerta hauling me 

 from above, I got to the top of number one rock, 

 but could only hear, without locating. Stripes, and 

 was then told I would have to cross a gap to an 

 even more imposing rock. When I did so my 

 ears were saluted with most horrible roarings, but 

 the sunlight, the colour of the grass and the tiger 

 were so well blended, that I could not make him 

 out at first. The spot where the growl came 

 from was, however, so evident that gradually 

 my eyes disentangled the one from the other and 

 I distinguished the tiger, crouched facing me, 

 snarling with bared fangs ; but although my 

 position was within an easy rushing spring I 

 knew I was safe from the way he kept turning his 

 head towards his hindquarters, showing that the 

 effects of my first, or second, or both shots com- 

 bined, had crippled his propelling powers badly. 

 Watching for an opportunity to avoid his head, 



