172 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST 



any other for fifty miles round, and we were to be married 

 very soon. 



" The sun shone very brightly for me on that morning, 

 sahib, and I laughingly replied to a remark made by a 

 friend, to the effect that we would bring back the skin of a 

 noted man-eater of those parts if he dared to come across our 

 tracks. 



" To speak true words, I, in common with most in the 

 village, stood in considerable awe of this beast. Not that any 

 of we youngsters would have minded so much a fair stand-up 

 fight with our kukris in hand. But that was not the way of 

 this skulking brute. Although he had already taken a 

 number of lives, his victories had all been won on old men, 

 women, or boys, and he had invariably lain in wait for them, 

 crouched in some low piece of jungle, and sprung on to them 

 without warning from behind. At least, this is what the 

 tracks and marks showed, for no one attacked by this devil 

 had up to then escaped to tell the tale. Portions of their 

 bodies, a hand or arm or part of a leg or bits of clothing were 

 all that had ever been regained of his numerous victims. 

 A reward had now been placed upon this tiger by the Sirkar 

 (Government), and several sahibs had been out after him. 

 In fact, though the reward could not be claimed, as no real 

 evidence was brought forth, it was thought that the beast 

 must have been killed or died somehow, as nothing had been 

 heard of him for six months at the time I speak of. His 

 pugs were easily traceable, as he limped on his off hind leg, 

 from an old bullet wound, it was thought inflicted either 

 by a native shikari or by some sahib during one of the big 

 tiger beats which took place every hot weather in the great 

 jungles below. 



"So I answered my friend that morning with small 

 thought that we were all so soon to renew acquaintance 

 with this dreaded scourge. 



" We were away five days. It was scorching hot in the 

 great grass jungles, so hot and heavy was the moist steamy 

 air, that we both had a touch of fever before we had bagged 

 all the animals we required. In this latter we had little 

 difficulty, as the jungles positively teemed with deer, and 

 we secured some good chital horns and picked up, I remem- 

 ber, four very large shed sambhar horns, besides some smaller 

 ones. They were heavy loads each man had to carry back, 

 but our hearts were light at the success of the outing, as we 



