260 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



softly somewhere downstream. A greyish shadow was 

 emerging from the obscurity of the opposite bank with 

 an expectant stealthiness. Slowly its whole length was 

 outlined in the moonlight ; and as the head turned inch 

 by inch in my direction there shone out pale but clear the 

 magnificent black and white cheek-tufts of an immense 

 tiger! The brute was peering intently ahead, up the stony 

 watercourse, slowly moving his great head up and down, 

 and then sidewise, as he gazed out into the moonlight. 

 The shot was a perfect one, at about twenty-five paces; 

 but the strange behaviour of the animal before me caused 

 me to stay the half-raised weapon in my hand. It was 

 deathly still, but I could smell the tiger distinctly, and 

 argued thereby that the air was setting gently in our 

 direction. 



" It seemed utterly absurd, but it was plain that the 

 tiger's attention was riveted on something in the centre of 

 the nullah ; he was creeping forward at a snail's pace, and 

 was actually passing us by ! 



" What bosh it all was ! Yet yes, it was the boulder he 

 was watching ; within a few paces of it the brute came to 

 a standstill ! Unseen under my bank, Jhapoo was cluck- 

 ing his tongue in a frenzy of impatience ; but although my 

 heart was thumping heavily against my ribs, I withheld 

 my fire, every fibre tingling with curiosity of the great 

 cat's behaviour. His tail stuck up in the air, and the ridge 

 of his back caught the moon's rays on its bristling hairs. 

 What would be his next move? 



A At this moment and I am certain he did it purposely 

 Jhapoo gave a slight cough. Instantly the man-eater's 

 tail dropped ; he crouched swiftly, and gazed intently up 

 into the shadows surrounding us ; next moment he would 

 have sprung away, but I had thrown up my rifle and fired 

 into him point-blank at a distance of a few paces. As the 

 smoke cleared off, he lay gasping spasmodically on his 

 side. 



