Tiger Shooting. 45 



am ashamed to say I missed with both barrels. 

 Before I could get to the fallen elephant, a huge 

 "mucknah" (a tuskless male), he, after moving his legs 

 up and down like a pendulum, recovered his feet, and 

 immediately commenced to play football with the tiger, 

 kicking it forward with a hind foot, and throwing 

 it back with a fore ; if the brute had not been 

 dead, he could not have long survived such treat- 

 ment. We had to take two female elephants, one 

 on either side of him, before we could pacify him 

 and get him away. The only wounds he had on 

 him, were the claw marks of the tiger's hind legs, by 

 which he had clung to the elephant's belly. The 

 howdah was smashed to bits, one of C.'s guns had 

 a broken stock, so, considering all things, the elephant, 

 and the two men escaped wonderfully well. On 

 examining the tiger we found almost every bone in 

 his body broken ; for he was literally kicked into a 

 jelly. C.'s last shot had caught the foe fairly in the 

 chest, passed through the lungs and stomach, and 

 made its exit close to the rump. If the elephant, who 

 was standing on a declivity which gave way, and 

 caused him to fall, had not squashed him, the 

 tiger must have died of his wounds. My comrade 

 was terribly shaken, but no bones were broken. 

 Leaving the mahouts to pad the slain, C. got 

 on to a pad elephant, and we went back to camp, 

 whence we sent in to Burpettah for a howdah. 

 Next morning my comrade was too poorly to go 

 out, so taking all the elephants, I went alone. We 

 beat about all day, getting only a small deer or 

 two, and then a cry of " Bayh ! " arose, and from a 

 detached clump of long grass out rushed a tigress, 



