XII MARRIED AND A RUN OF LUCK 141 



ing strain of my stock. I was very sick about 

 it and vowed vengeance. I sat up, but though 

 the heifer had not been touched or dragged, 

 Stripes did not put in an appearance till sunset. 

 In spite of a long shot and the glare of the setting 

 sun in my eyes, I got in a bullet and he charged 

 off. Next morning I sent word to a friend, Capt. 

 F., asking if he would like to follow up with me. 

 We tracked the whole of that day, putting him up 

 once, when we each fired and missed. Just a 

 flash of yellow through the grass. The tiger was 

 evidently very very sick, lying down frequently, 

 never going far in one direction, just circling 

 round. The grass was so thick and high we 

 could see no distance. In the evening we left 

 the tiger almost in the same spot where he had 

 lain in the morning after our shots. 



F. left me, convinced I would find the brute 

 dead in the morning, but should this not prove to 

 be the case I was to send for him. The next day, 

 hearing me coming, the tiger got up and moved 

 on, so I sent back for F. and our tiffin, which we 

 consumed before again taking up the tracks ; 

 these led us into long grass, so I made my favourite 

 shikari Kerta climb a tree every few yards, and 

 within a very short distance I noticed him crouch 

 and then gesticulate towards us. The tree was 

 fairly climbable, but I had leather-soled boots 

 with no grip, whereas F. had on a pair of rubber- 

 soled shoes. As the tiger was not fifteen yards 

 from us there was no use delaying till I got into 

 socks ; the pause might give the tiger time to 

 think of a rush towards us, so F., who had just 

 returned from home and added to his waist 



