Tiger Shooting. 9 



quantities of blood, and the broad trail where the 

 tiger had rolled down the bank into the bottom of 

 the hollow. Moreover the undergrowth was trampled 

 down, but no marks except of blood, were visible, 

 for the ground was parched and as hard as if com- 

 posed of granite. Like fools we spent a couple of 

 hours searching far and near, but were no wiser at the 

 end of that^ time, than we were at the commence- 

 ment. 



"I am afraid," said I, "it has got away." 

 "Impossible, Sahib," said the shikarie, "I heard 

 its death-rattle." "Then where can he be?" 

 " That is what puzzles me," said the Mussulman. 

 Then, turning round to the coolies, as if suddenly 

 struck with an idea, he asked if any of them had 

 heard any one leave the village early. " Well," said 

 one of them, " I saw Peecheemootoo go out at five 

 with some of our people to bring in, as he said, a 

 sambur he had shot over night." " Why," said Mogul 

 Beg, " the fellow was standing close to my house at 

 ten last night and heard me tell my brother that the 

 sahib and I had killed a tiger on the hill. He 

 must have stolen it before daybreak, but we will soon 

 find him, and the sahib will teach him not to play 

 such pranks." 



Now Peecheemootoo was a rival low caste Hindoo 

 shikarie, very good for marking down small game, 

 for which purpose I often employed him, and there 

 was no love between him and Mogul Beg. We 

 hurried back and lost another hour or two in searching 

 for the suspect and his prey, but in vain ; no one had 

 seen him, since he went to fetch his sambur. Some 

 one suggested that as the Tahsildar was holding 



