340 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



attack his pursuers or those who follow him up than if he 

 had been quietly manoeuvred and then received an un- 

 expected and mysterious wound. As for a tiger (not 

 previously worried, be it noted) being more difficult to 

 move during the heat of the day, that is partly true ; that 

 is to say, he will not be likely to move so far at a time as 

 when it is cool ; but, understood that he is being guided 

 in a natural direction, the writer's experience is that this 

 naturally timid creature will shift his quarters readily 

 enough, even on the hottest days of the Indian summer. 

 Unless his approach to his post would be thereby dis- 

 closed, there seems to be no use in fact there is harm 

 in the shooter taking up a very distant position. So long 

 as the tiger is located, and does not know his enemy is 

 there, it is an advantage to be so placed on the line of the 

 tiger's retreat that his first leisurely move will bring him 

 nicely within shot. 



The best time for the quiet beat is in the morning, 

 before it has become hot, and, to a lesser extent, the late 

 afternoon and evening. The latter time, however, is short, 

 and the approach of night often enables a wounded beast 

 to travel too far for a successful finding later on. 



The advantages of working during the cool hours of the 

 Indian day are that the sportsman himself is then far more 

 capable of making satisfactory arrangements doing things 

 himself and of shooting straighten Even should he com- 

 mand the services of an exceptionally good native shikari 

 who is capable of running the whole " show " and rubbing 

 off a lot of the gilt from the ginger-bread thereby and 

 only have to ride close up to his tree, with a shady machdn 

 ready for him, the shooter will find himself in all respects 

 handicapped by the fierce heat of noontide ; and should 

 trouble of any kind ensue, he may find himself physically 

 incapable of carrying out all he may be anxious to perform. 

 The white man's energy is at its lowest ebb during those 

 terrible months of the hot weather, his appetite poor, his 



