144 INDIAN BIG GAME 



his vigour and activity at the same age. He 

 sprinted up the ladders and twisted round boughs 

 Hke a veritable Malabar squirrel ; as for myself, I 

 developed a slight touch of pleurisy from a strain 

 due to perpetually clambering up and down those 

 rickety bamboo ladders, but as regards B., the 

 longer the ladder the more pleased he seemed to 

 be, and to think that after all the trouble and 

 those weary nights he should have had no luck ! 



On the 21st I left for my estate, but on the 

 24th I returned to camp at 5 p.m. to find B. 

 already sitting up over another kill which had 

 taken place the previous night ; it's a wonder wings 

 had not started to sprout from B.'s shoulders, as 

 really he seemed to spend most of his time up a 

 tree. This time the tiger had shown the acme of 

 cruelty, the trackers told me ; the unfortunate 

 tie-up must have been lying down when Stripes 

 appeared on the scene, and stealing up, literally 

 laid his weight on the unlucky bait and commenced 

 to munch the quivering meal. Of course I did not 

 attempt to join my companion, and really as I 

 had had a long walk I was glad of a night's good 

 sleep. Next morning I roused the shikaris early 

 and proceeded to the spot to find B. as cheerful 

 as ever although still no tiger, and as he could 

 not speak the native language he knew nothing 

 of the agony his unfortunate tie-up had gone 

 through. On inspection, all that the trackers 

 had told me was fully borne out, the contents of 

 the paunch were smeared flat and smooth on the 

 hide of the kill ; the throat had not been seized 

 and everything pointed to the truth of the report. 

 This tie-up, by the way, had been chained to a 



