XVI SITTING UP 193 



a noise as they go away ; and (though this does 

 not really come under the heading of tying up) 

 you may take a man up your machan and send 

 him away with some noise after a time. I got 

 a cunning panther, near the Musketry School, 

 Pachmarhi, to come out in this way, and then 

 missed him. 



With this exception, a companion in the 

 machan means failure, unless you have made 

 your selection of one very wisely. 



7. Distance of Machan from Kill. — The 

 further away you are, within the effective range 

 of your light, the better ; the less the chance of 

 being seen or heard. But always reckon that 

 your shot may be at night. If you rely on moon- 

 light alone, you cannot get too close. You will 

 then hit the animals that, disregarding your 

 proximity, do come. 



Over live goats, sitting on the ground, a 

 distance of ten to twenty feet from the tie-up 

 gives a good view. Even at this distance one 

 may fail. During a Meerut week I was sitting 

 up at Hastinapur in thick cover on the edge 

 of the jheel. A panther appeared at this short 

 range and stared at me. I fired, but found no 

 blood. I bicycled back to Meerut that night 

 in pelting rain and returned with an elephant 

 at dawn. We never found any trace of the 

 panther, and I believe now that I made then the 

 worst of all my many bad shots. 



Roughly speaking, I look on twenty-five to 

 thirty yards as an ideal distance when using a 

 good lamp. 



8. Choice of Tree or Ground for Machan. 



o 



