12 HOW I KILLED THE TIGER. 



called Gooteah, the bearers asked me if I would 

 shoot them some boglahs (paddy birds about a 

 foot and a half in height), which were on a large 

 bund of water (a bund is an immense bank of 

 earth put up to collect water, which is used for 

 irrigation and various other purposes). I walked 

 down to the bund, and took a raking shot, and the 

 bearers picked up eighteen boglahs. This evidently 

 struck my friend as being a remarkable feat, 

 for on arriving at the station, he related to every- 

 body the story of the wonderful shot he had made. 

 Just a year afterwards we chanced to meet at pre- 

 cisely the same spot. "The last time I was here," 

 he said, " I made a most remarkable shot." "Ah," 

 I said, " I think I remember the circumstance." 

 For a second he seemed to be struck all of a heap. 

 " By the bye," he said, " I believe it was you." 



The humour of the situation was so irresistible 

 that we roared with laughter till the tears rolled 

 down our cheeks. 



I quite forgot the mauling I had received, when 

 I heard the sound of the people rejoicing, and 

 caught sight of my foe. When he was deposited 

 at my feet, and laid out for measurement, I had the 

 pleasure of looking at one of the most magnificent 

 specimens of the Royal Bengal Tiger (Plate 17). 

 He measured ten and a half feet from the tip 

 of the nose to the tip of the tail. My friend 



