XII MARRIED AND A RUN OF LUCK 137 



In April 1914 we went to live at Garstead, 

 where we had been granted a bungalow site on 

 Gunguru Kanawe, and the following May left for 

 home on seven months' leave. 



After my return, in May 1915, Mrs. S., a friend 

 of ours, and a very keen sportswoman, came to 

 stay with us. My wife and I had had a very 

 pleasant camp with her and her husband in May 

 1913. She was anxious to bag a tiger. The first 

 chance was lost ; I had tied up a goat, and a tiger 

 came and passed under our machan, jumping on 

 the goat without any warning. The suddenness of 

 the onslaught must have flurried Mrs. S., as she 

 missed. Strange to say, the goat was none the 

 worse except for a few scratches. Some days 

 later another kill was reported and we again sat 

 up : the tiger came quite early, and as he was 

 approaching Mrs. S. got her shot in ; instead 

 of dashing off the tiger came blundering on, 

 and I put in a couple more bullets, rolling him 

 over quite close to the kill : — another instance 

 of how impossible it is to know what a tiger will 

 do. I have fired at a tiger, certainly on a pitch 

 dark night, not once but two or three times in 

 the same night, with the only result that it has 

 shown its displeasure by raging round my tree. 

 Over one kill I wounded a tiger twice, right 

 and left, and yet it returned to the kill, leaving 

 splashes of blood, and having evidently circled 

 all round the carcase. Hardly anticipating this 

 I had not sat up again, and only discovered its 

 return when going next morning to follow up the 

 tracks. 



I recollect my brother wounding a tiger which 



