Till': inrjiER xAur.Aixi. 310 



image of herself, with blood pouring in torrents from a 

 gaping wound in the neck ! Move still ; a third leaps 

 the ndla just in front of my elephant, and the jungle 

 seems alive with tigers. I had instantly exchanged tlie 

 single for the double rifle, and as this one passed me at 

 full speed, I rolled her over with a broken back and a 

 bullet through the shoulder. Meantime the wounded 

 one had disappeared behind me, and I proceeded to 

 inspect the field, and count the killed and wounded. 

 The last shot was a cub ; so was the one that had rolled 

 into the nala to the first shot : and it was the old tii^ress 

 that had escaped behind me. This was all a mystery, 

 till I found that the first one was shot through the 

 heart, the ball entering through the ribs, whereas, the 

 first tig^er I had fired at was standino- almost facinor me 

 when I pulled ; and then it was explained. One ball, 

 the crashing two-ounce one, had passed through the 

 tisfress, and killed cub No. 1 on the other side. 



My little elephant, a female called Kali, quite 

 untried, which I had borrowed from the Jubbulpiir 

 commissariat, had behaved nobly. Curling her trunk 

 out of harm's way, and placing her sturdy fore-legs 

 firmly before her, she stood like a rock in the midst of 

 all the noise (for the trio roared like very bulls of 

 Bashan). I had therefore perfect confidence in proceed- 

 m<y to follow up the wounded tigress. We soon found 

 blood in plenty leading along the nala towards the hills. 

 I had taken the precaution of placing scouts on all the 

 principal trees, some of whom had seen her cross an 

 open space and enter the nahi where it debouched from 

 a cleft in the hill-side ; she was going quite strong, they 

 said, although bleeding freely from the neck. On 

 inquiry I found that the gorge in the hill was a mere 

 cul-de-sac, having no exit at the other side, except on to 



