Tiger Shooting. 57 



gun with ball so as to be ready for any contingencies, 

 and silently cocked both weapons. For the space 

 of half a minute nothing moved and nothing was 

 visible ; and the girls continued splashing one another 

 and enjoying their douche amidst fits of laughter. 

 Then there was another slight rustle, yet I could 

 see no living thing. I surmised it might be a snake, 

 or a yit, so thought of replacing the shot cartridges, 

 when another movement riveted my attention. I 

 forgot the girls, my eyes protruding out of my head in 

 a vain attempt to penetrate the mystery, but although 

 the whole time was not more than a couple of minutes, 

 it appeared an hour, before I obtained a view of a 

 brindled mass which, crouching with belly touch- 

 ing the ground, was creeping slowly but surely 

 towards its unconscious victims in the water ! Why, 

 thought I, it is a tiger, and probably the man-eater 

 we have heard of. It is stalking the girls, but by G d 

 I'll spoil its little game. I could distinctly trace the 

 murderous brute drawing its hind legs under its body 

 preparatory to springing forward, so I thought it time 

 for me to interfere. I could see the two white marks 

 which are so conspicuous on the backs of a tiger's ears, 

 and knew therefore that if I fired exactly between 

 them, that I should hit the back of the head at its 

 junction with the spine a fatal spot if struck, no 

 matter whether the animal be an elephant, a rhino- 

 ceros, a buffalo, or any other living thing. Moreover 

 my position for that shot was most advantageous, for 

 I was shooting downwards. The rifle 1 and I were 

 old comrades. I had killed much game with it and 

 won many a match, so provided my nerve did not 



1 It was a two-groove No. 10 rifle, by Joseph Lang. 



