Reminiscences of Jungly pur. 157 



now seen that, when so suddenly stopped, I had arrived 

 within about twenty-five yards of the family tree, from 

 which the tigress had charged out for about ten yards. It 

 is probably fortunate that instinct warned me not to 

 fire on that occasion. As it was, the tigress gained her 

 point, and was content with having covered the retire- 

 ment of her cubs. As is usual in such very sudden 

 encounters, I carried away only a fleeting glimpse of a 

 tawny stretched-out form, and a memory of a peculiarly 

 dark-red flank. 



The experience of another occasion, on which almost the 

 same tactics had been pursued by another family tigress, 

 leads me to believe that it was unlikely that the brute 

 would have followed me up or made good her charge. 

 Had she done so, I should have been forced to turn and 

 shoot her or try to do so and it is difficult to say what 

 would have then ensued. My orderlies, who were also 

 armed, retired straight across the river-bed, and from 

 their position could have aided me had the beast come 

 on ; but as a most trustworthy man of this class once very 

 nearly shot me when following up a wounded tiger, it is pos- 

 sible that I should have had more to fear from this 

 direction than from the wild beast. 



It remains to note that the four Korkus, though of 

 course they deny it, came on the tigress after we left 

 them, and were driven off just as I was. The thoughtful 

 look on my orderly's face was due to the roaring which she 

 had then indulged in ; only it was too distant and indistinct, 

 he says, to distinguish at the time; and so he had said 

 nothing about it ! 



The behaviour of the jungle men in not letting us know 

 of the presence of the tigress was quite in keeping with 

 their character, but it might have resulted in a melancholy 



