234 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST 



trunk as soon as the tiger disappeared, or may have rolled 

 it up before, as he was probably aware that a tiger was 

 afoot long before it actually appeared. I had time to feel 

 annoyed at being taken by surprise in such a manner 

 though anyway I should have had no more than a snap 

 shot at the brute. We kept a close watch on the grass, 

 but not a sound or movement betrayed the direction or 

 position of the tiger. Suddenly a rifle snapped out on the 

 right. I muttered something below my breath, in vexation, 

 and at the same moment we heard the grass swishing 

 violently. Something was approaching in our direction. 

 Instinctively I brought my rifle to the shoulder, and at 

 the same moment a tiger appeared bounding towards us. 

 He did not see us at first, and made straight for the off- 

 shoot nullah, which we blocked. As he headed towards it, 

 on the instant he caught sight of the elephant, bared his 

 fangs in a snarl and then charged with a roar. I fired. He 

 came on unharmed with a second savage roar, and leapt 

 for the elephant's head, and dropped backwards with a 

 heavy bullet through the brain. So close was he, that as 

 he fell the tusker lifted one of his forelegs, and the tiger, 

 falling against the knee, shot off it and rolled over and over 

 into the ravine, where he lay still. Silence reigned and I 

 reloaded. The encounter had roused us all, and from the 

 quiet movements of the mahout I understood that the 

 tusker was in a royal rage and wished to go in and have 

 another turn with the tiger. He pacified him by degrees 

 and we waited. The beating elephants were now out in 

 the big river-bed, advancing through the patches of long 

 grass and sissu copses. The shots had driven the mahouts 

 and elephant boys crazy with excitement, and we could 

 hear the voices raised in curses, objurgations and endear- 

 ments to their respective elephants ; the most frightened, 

 both man and elephant, making most noise, the latter 

 trumpeting shrilly in alarm or indignation or pain, as they 

 felt the goad battered down on their heads, giving off a 

 dull, drum-like sound, or as its sharp point pierced through 

 the skin behind the ear. The infernal pandemonium which 

 always arises near the end of a beat, especially if it is known 

 that one or more tigers are afoot, sets the blood dancing 

 through one's veins, and makes it hard to keep the muscles 

 tensely braced and the nerves quiet. I could see one of the 

 howdah elephants on the wing coming through the tall 



