Tiger Shooting. 5 



" But gurreeh pumvah" replied he, " it won't take 

 us long to get there the spot is a secluded one, and 

 more than likely, if we get there early, and make no 

 noise, the borbutcha (leopard) will come before dark. 

 Our nusseeb (luck) has been so bad, it must change 



soon." 



" Well," said I, " I am too lazy to change my 

 clothes I'll put on a pair of shoes and be with you 

 directly. Take down two guns and the ammunition, 

 and if we don't get a shot to-night, I'll be hanged if 

 I go again." My night suit, in which I was robed, 

 was a dark gray. I soon drew on a pair of socks, and 

 a stout pair of shoes, and then the shikarie and I 

 commenced the ascent of the hill a fatiguing thing 

 at the best of times, but particularly so then, as 

 every bone in my body ached from my previous 

 exertions. It took us half an hour to get to the 

 ruins of the palace, and three-quarters of an hour 

 more to reach the " kill," where we were met by a 

 herdsman who had been left behind to act as our 

 guide. He pointed out the heifer, and as there was 

 no tree suitable for a machan, Mogul Beg, and the 

 givala collected brushwood and formed a circular 

 enclosure within about four yards of the dead beast. 

 By the time our cache was completed, the sun 

 had set, and as there is little or no twilight in the 

 East, the herdsman hurried off home, as the jungles 

 were not over safe, for a lone man to wander in after 

 dark. 



The fence thrown up was about three feet high 

 excepting opposite the dead heifer, where it was 

 about four feet and loop-holed for us to fire through. 

 Mogul Beg was a strongly made man, cool, plucky 



