TIGER SLAYER BY ORDER 



One of my later adventures with bison was an encounter 

 I had with a solitary bull. I was out one morning with my 

 Bhils, looking for game, when we came upon his tracks, 

 and after going some distance, saw him grazing on an open 

 glade about a hundred yards off. 



The jungle being only partially burnt, and the ground 

 covered with dry teak leaves, made stalking very difficult. 

 However, with care I managed to crawl up to within thirty 

 yards of him, and kneeling behind a fallen tree, I fired. 

 He staggered on receiving the shot, and we saw that one of 

 his forelegs was disabled. 



He made off, however, so taking up the blood tracks, 

 we presently came on him, standing behind a bamboo 

 clump. As soon as he caught sight of us he rattled his 

 horns against the bamboos, then pawing the ground for a 

 moment, charged most determinedly. A shot from the 

 8-bore I was using struck him exactly in the centre of the 

 chest, and raking him from stem to stern, dropped him 

 dead in his tracks. 



He was a splendid, old, solitary bull, the largest I had 

 then killed, with a very fine head, and had evidently been 

 engaged in many a fight, for he was very much battered 

 and scarred all over. 



These solitary bulls are, as I have already said, invariably 

 savage, because, having been driven out of the herd, they 

 are forced to lead a lonely life, which seems to make them 

 most vindictive and morose, and therefore dangerous, not 

 only to sportsmen, but to any people residing in the neigh- 

 bourhood whom they may happen to encounter. 



Unfortunately, too, this practice of expelling a turbulent 

 male member from the herd is not confined to bison, but 

 is also resorted to by wild elephants and buffalo, and with 

 worse results, for while a solitary bull elephant, or rogue 

 as he is called, is admittedly the most formidable animal 

 in existence, a solitary bull buffalo runs him very close ; 

 in fact, being possessed of greater cunning, is possibly 

 the more dangerous of the two. 



A description of these animals, and of some of the 

 adventures I have had with them, will be found in the 

 next chapter. 



86 



