TTIE TIGER. 315 



some food and a bottle of claret, I was not two minutes 

 in getting under way again. The edge of a low savanna, 

 covered with long grass and intersected by a nald, was 

 the scene of this last assassination ; and a broad trail of 

 crushed-down grass showed where the body had been 

 dragged down towards the naht. No tracking was re- 

 quired ; it was horribly plain. The trail did not lead 

 quite into the nald, which had steep sides, but turned 

 and went alongside of it into some very long grass 

 reaching nearly up to the howdah. Here Sarjii Parshad 

 (a large Government mukua I was then riding) kicked 

 violently at the ground and trumpeted, and immediately 

 the long grass began to wave ahead. We pushed on at 

 full speed, stepping as we went over the ghastly half- 

 eaten body of the Banjara. But the cover was dread- 

 fully thick ; and though I caught a glimpse of a yellow 

 object as it jumped down into the nala, it was not in 

 time to fire. It was some little time before we could set 

 the elephant down the bank and follow the broad j^lain 

 footprints of the monster, now evidently going at a 

 swinging trot. He kept on in the ndla for about a mile, 

 and then took to the grass again ; but it was not so long 

 here, and we could still make out the trail from the 

 howdah. Presently, however, it led into rough, stony 

 ground, and the tracking became more difficult. He 

 was evidently full of go, and w^ould carry us far ; so I 

 sent back for some more trackers, and with ordei's to 

 send a small tent across to a hamlet on the banks of the 

 Ganjal, towards which he seemed, to be making. All 

 that day we followed the trail through an exceedingly 

 difficult country, patiently working out print by print, 

 but without being gratified by a sight of his brindled 

 bide. Several of the local shikaris were admirable 

 trackers ; and we carried the line down within about a 



