136 INDIAN BIG GAME 



but I observed that they had taken to the trees 

 Uke monkeys, clambering along the boughs. I 

 did not see any movement, yet that tiger must 

 have come to the very edge of some long grass 

 quite close to my rock. Finding as he supposed 

 a clear road, he came bounding past me at a 

 gallop. I was using a D.B. -375 H.V. ; my right 

 bowled him over, and as he was recovering my 

 left landed him in the hips. This gave me the 

 biggest head that I have in my bungalow. A 

 bulldog I had with me was not a bit abashed by 

 the size or smell of the vanquished, and started 

 to worry the carcase. 



In April 1913 I got a fine thick-set tiger over a 

 kill. I merely mention this, as it proved that in 

 a head-shot the bullet is deflected more often 

 than it penetrates. 



I had wounded him late in the evening, so had 

 to follow him up the next morning. As I was 

 crossing an open glade, on the blood spoor with a 

 couple of jungle men, we heard some squirrels, a 

 tiny species found all through India on the plains, 

 making a great noise from a thicket just ahead of 

 us, and the trackers assured me the tiger was 

 there ; as I walked towards the cover I saw 

 his huge head slowly rising, facing me. I had 

 no other shot, so let him have it on the pate. 

 Down it dropped and I rushed into close quarters, 

 when I found the tiger to be quietly breathing, 

 only stunned by the bullet, so I finished him off 

 with another behind the left shoulder. My first 

 bullet had ricochetted off, only chipping away a 

 circular piece of the skull the size and thickness 

 of a rupee, which lay loose inside the skin. 



