Jungle By- Ways in India 



corner occupied by the luckless griffin. There 

 sat the newly joined, still in his machan and ap- 

 parently wrapped and wreathed in a huge smile 

 of utter content. As each angry man came up, 

 a storm of vituperation was poured upon his 

 devoted head, increasing in volume as each 

 excited shikari got within hearing. 



The smile gradually faded, and the youth stared 

 in amazement at the angry sportsmen gesticu- 

 lating below, and then showed signs of evident 

 confusion at this unexpected universal condemna- 

 tion. 



As soon as he could make himself heard above 

 the wrathful babel and in reply to a more direct 

 question from a senior officer of, ' What the 

 d 1 do you mean, sir, spoiling the whole shoot 

 by your blank, blank fusillade ? ' he blurted out, 

 ' I only got three. How many did you get ? ' 



' Three what, sir/ yelled the peppery old senior. 



' Tigers of course, sir/ meekly answered the 

 youngster, now seriously alarmed at the de- 

 meanour of his superior officer. ' You said I was 

 to only fire at tigers. They are down there in the 

 grass/ 



A silence of consternation followed this astound- 

 ing statement, and a general edging off towards the 

 shelter of neighbouring trees took place amongst 

 the overheated sportsmen. When safer positions 

 had been taken up, a short parley ensued. As a 

 result, a couple of elephants put into the grass soon 



258 



