Pelts 



within fifteen paces of him. He fired without 

 hesitation, and as the animal rose in its spring at 

 him he dropped it with the second barrel, which 

 went into him with all the force of a bullet. 



Perhaps the most dangerous weapon to use 

 against a leopard is one of the small-bore cordite 

 rifles, dangerous to the owner I mean, not to the 

 animal. More so-called tiger and leopard acci- 

 dents have probably happened in recent times 

 from the use of the small-bore rifles on dangerous 

 game than from any other cause. The small-bore 

 has no power to ' stop ' a charge of a tiger, leopard, 

 or bear, and though the animal may be mortally 

 wounded, he will get home and maul you before 

 he dies if you are pinning your faith to one of 

 these weapons and are out on foot. 



This is a well-known fact amongst shikari men. 

 Most own up to its truth, and yet most startling 

 are the incidents one personally comes across, 

 hears of, or reads of in the papers. The most ex- 

 perienced and oldest of shikaris, men who have 

 shot India's jungles for thirty years or more, will 

 fire at a leopard in a beat, wound him, and then 

 get mauled, or get some one else mauled, which is 

 worse, just because they could not resist the hope 

 and off-chance of putting their bullet through the 

 brain. 



And it should be ever borne in mind that the 

 wounds made by the tiger and leopard are most 

 dangerous ones, owing to the animals being 



269 



