Tiger Shooting. 35 



the left, with the sepoys equally divided between 

 us. We moved along quickly, hoping to find the 

 marauder lying out in the open, the only sound to 

 be heard besides our footsteps being an occasional 

 tap on the ground given by the men every now and 

 then with the long laities or sticks with which they 

 were armed. The dew had been very heavy, the grass 

 was saturated, and so were we before long. It was 

 easy to trace the trail of a large animal through this 

 savannah. Within half a mile the track we had been 

 following bifurcated ; but the two led towards a nasty 

 ravine, which had before now proved a stronghold of 

 not only tigers, but also of leopards and bears. The 

 plain we were on was almost treeless excepting a 

 sapling here and there, intermixed with a few dwarf 

 scattered pines. Seeing the ravine so close at hand we 

 despaired of finding our game out of cover and were 

 carelessly strolling along with our rifles on our 

 shoulders, when one of the Ghoorkhas called out, 

 " Dekho, Sahib ! baghjata hi" (Look, sirs, there is a 

 tiger), and sure enough, between H. and me, a tiger 

 was making the best of its way over the plain. We 

 could only see him now and then as he cantered along, 

 yet we both saluted him. He responded with a deep 

 growl as much as to say " Curse you ! " but continued 

 his course. No sooner had we fired than a cry of 

 " Bagh ! bagh ! " arose all along the line. Three 

 other tigers were scampering along ; two appeared full 

 grown, the other a cub. We opened a fusillade, all 

 three firing three or four shots, for the orderlies 

 promptly handed us the spare rifles, reloading those we 

 had discharged they were breechloaders, of course. 

 One, a tigress, rolled over, but regaining her feet, 



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