106 BAY OF BENGAL TIGER-DRIVING 



saying he was cooking his dinner. I dived into 

 the middle of them, and the effect was very much 

 that which follows the entry of a ferret into a 

 rabbit-burrow. I had the lot on shore in five 

 minutes. In India, as in other places, resistance 

 to a distinct order must be checked at once, and 

 firmly, or it will spread like wildfire and soon 

 become uncontrollable. Not another cow was 

 " lost " during the trip. 



On Friday morning (December 23rd) we got 

 khubber of a kill. I was overjoyed and much 

 surprised. We landed at 9 o'clock, my stock- 

 in-trade consisting of a box of bombs and twenty- 

 four boxes of lucifer matches ; also a short bamboo 

 ladder from off the launch. 



At the risk of wearying you I shall now describe 

 my modus operandi. Having carefully considered 

 the line taken by the tiger as evidenced by the 

 " drag " and it is curious what little trace a 

 tiger leaves when dragging even a heavy cow or 

 buffalo and studied the likely places, we came 

 to the conclusion that he had taken the kill into 

 a dense shrubbery of kola bush on the khal side 

 of the maidan. The tiger-grass was intact, as 

 was the other long grass, and I could find no tracks 

 round other kola bushes. So we located him as I 

 have described, and as it turned out we located 

 him correctly. Next, very silently and with 

 great circumspection, for we might be charged by 

 or blunder on to the tiger at any moment, we crept 

 through the jungle which headed the maidan and 

 selected three trees for our occupation. 



I put young Lewis in a large tree on the sea- 

 front side, whilst the Deputy-Conservator climbed 



