3 
THE TIGER. 65 
« 
been well oiled, and every precaution taken to avoid attracting 
attention, the slight creaking, or the mere exposing a gap in 
the wall, was enough to send the Tiger off his coign of vantage 
down the £/ud, amid the brushwood, in which it would have 
_béen impossible to detect him, even could one have followed 
him up quick enough. At length, as he seemed attached to 
these rocks, we took out one of the panes from the bath-room 
window, and three mornings after I was roused a little after 
dawn, and hurried to the scene of action. The rain was 
coming down heavily, but the animal did not seem to mind it; 
he certainly presented an unique picture, standing to full 
height, lashing his sides with his tail, and gazing towards the 
road down which the cattle from the lines usually came to 
their grazing-grounds. As he presented his broadside to us, 
and was certainly not more than thirty yards off, the selection 
of the vital part was easy enough; the Major fired, while I 
went to the bedroom window to note the shot. The aim 
proved true, the ball entering behind the shoulder and lodg- 
ing in the right shoulder-blade. With a tremendous bound 
into mid-air, but without any sound so far as we could hear, 
the Tiger appeared to turn a complete summersault, falling 
over out of sight. Allowing half an hour to pass, we went 
down and found him quite dead. Mr. Inglis, a resident in the 
station, had a pet Sambhar Stag, which was chased all round 
the house in the most audacious manner in broad daylight by 
a half-grown male Tiger, and though Mr. Inglis and two guests 
quickly snatched up guns, it was impossible to fire, as the 
chased and chaser ran in and out among the outbuildings. 
Eventually the Deer dashed into the main entrance, when the 
Tiger made off, still keeping among the buildings until he had 
secured a good ‘ offing,’ then turning round to look at his would- 
be destroyers. 
“‘T do not know whether the story has ever been related be- 
a F 
