Tiger Shooting. 43 



away from the mahouts, spun round on their own 

 axis, and made a strategic movement to the rear ! 

 One tiger which followed my mount to the very edge 

 of the cover I got a glimpse of, for I had turned 

 round and stood in the howdah, ]ooking back, expect- 

 ing what had occurred. At it I took a snap shot 

 and hit it somewhere, for it gave a roar ; this was a 

 bit of luck, of course, as no one can be sure of 

 killing an object even the size of a tiger when 

 carried along at racing speed. But " Lutchmee " 

 was a very smooth goer, and so used was I to living, 

 as it were, on an elephant's back, that I was tolerably 

 at my ease whether it was standing still, walking, or 

 at full gallop, which is by the way an amble, for 

 elephants move both legs on one side at the same 

 time. From constant practice I could shoot snipe 

 off their backs nearly as well as I could on foot, and 

 this knack has stood me in good stead when being 

 chased either by a buffalo, rhinoceros or tiger, as I 

 think the reader will acknowledge when he has read 

 more of this volume. We could not stop the 

 elephants until we had got as far as the " kills," 

 which, by the bye, were being devoured by thousands 

 of vultures who pounced down upon them from 

 every quarter of the heavens. After pitching 

 into the mahouts, we told them, if they did not 

 keep their beasts together and in line, with 

 their heads to the foe, they would get no backsheesh 

 but instead a taste of the stick. 



If the elephants were in a funk before, they were 

 now doubly so, literally trembling with fear, and it 

 was only by a free use of the " ankus," or driving 

 hook, they could be induced to advance. Again the 



