THE MAHADEO KILLS. 133 



I have heard stories of panthers and even tigers being 

 met with, and turning the tables on the fire-hunters in 

 an unexpected fashion. I once took a gun out with one 

 of these parties ; but found that it spoiled the whole 

 affair, all the hares in the neighbourhood retreating to 

 the cover at the first shot. 



I have already said that tigers rarely come on to the 

 plateau. Bears are equally scarce ; in fact, I don't 

 think I ever saw the track of one above the passes, and 

 very few below. The opposite range of Motiir, however, 

 as well as the Mahadeo hills further west, are full of 

 them. The panther, on the other hand, is pretty 

 common in Puchmurree. The first night my camp 

 came up, one of a small flock of sheep I had brought, in 

 case of provisions running short, was killed by a panther 

 close to my tent. He dropped from an overhanging 

 branch into an enclosure of prickly bushes that had been 

 put up round the sheep ; and his attempts to drag it 

 through the fence created such a disturbance among the 

 people that he left it and leaped out in the confusion. 

 The next night he seized one of my Clumber spaniels at 

 the door of my tent; but a big greyhound named " Jack " 

 flew to the rescue, and little " Nell " escaped with a few 

 scratches and a great fright. The same panther became 

 afterwards very troublesome on the hill when the work- 

 men at the bungalow had left, attacking my dogs, sheep, 

 and goats nearly every night, and coming boldly through 

 the very rooms of the house. He was a toothless old 

 brute, however, to which circumstance the dogs owed 

 several escapes out of his very jaws ; and though so 

 daring at night in attacking our animals he would never 

 face the men. Several times my horsekeepers and dog- 

 boys sent him skulking oS" sideways, like a crab, from 



