xn MARRIED AND A RUN OF LUCK 149 



detail, and is less likely to miss anything unusual. 

 Always put your best tracker ahead. Do not 

 go in front yourself, no, not even if you are 

 following a wounded tiger. It is up to you to 

 prevent any accident ; your eyes should be 

 anywhere but on the ground. 



You naturally shoot to kill, but if you have 

 wounded a tiger, leave well alone ; curb your 

 impatience to follow up ; an hour's delay may 

 save a mauling. This may sound cruel, but 

 the old stager who reads this should remember 

 that the tiger wounded off a machan late in the 

 evening may have the whole night in which to 

 suffer. 



Have two, and in long grass even three, good 

 trackers to go with you after a wounded tiger — 

 one ahead to track and the other two behind to 

 search out the surrounding cover. Where the 

 grass is long, send them up trees every few yards 

 to look down into the undergrowth. 



When sitting over a kill be as silent as you can, 

 and motionless ; a hand or foot moving might 

 just catch the eye of a watching tiger. If I 

 simply have to move from cramp or pins and 

 needles, I do so as imperceptibly as possible. This 

 equally applies when sighting tiger or panther. 

 Unless the quarry is on the bolt for some reason 

 or other, don't fling round your rifle ; wait till 

 the head is concealed by a bush or tree before 

 bringing your weapon to bear on the spot at which 

 you intend to shoot. If you keep perfectly still, 

 a tiger seldom sees you, although he appears to 

 be staring straight into your face. 



