40 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



fired, although the elephant was so unsteady that I could not be 

 sure of the shot ; also the object was so indistinct, being concealed 

 in the high reeds, that I should not have observed it upon any 

 other occasion than our rigid search. Immediately afterwards, a 

 shout from one of the mahouts upon a scouting elephant informed 

 us that the tiger had crossed the path and had gone forward, 

 having thus escaped from the beat ! 



Here was fresh work cut out ! Up to this moment we had 

 managed to keep him within an area of a quarter of a mile in 

 length, by half a mile in width ; he had now got into new ground, 

 and was in about a three-quarter mile length of the same unbeaten 

 jungle. 



There was nothing else to do but to pursue the same tactics, 

 and we patiently continued to beat forward and backward, again 

 and again, but without once sighting our lost game. It was half- 

 past twelve, and the sun was burning hot, the sky being cloudless. 

 The elephants once more emerged from the sultry jungle ; they 

 were blowing spray with their trunks upon their flanks, from 

 water sucked up from their stomachs ; and the mahouts were all 

 down-hearted and in despair. " It's of no use," they said, " he's 

 gone straight away, who can tell where 1 When you fired, perhaps 

 you wounded him, or you missed him ; at any rate, he's frightened 

 and gone clean off, we shall never see him again ; the elephants 

 are all tired with the extreme heat, and we had better go to the 

 river for a bath." 



I held a council of war, with the elephants in a circle around 

 me. It is of no use to oppose men when they are disgusted, you 

 must always start a new idea. I agreed with my men, but I sug- 

 gested that as we were all hot, and the elephants fatigued, the 

 tiger must be in much the same state, as we had kept him on the 

 run since eight o'clock in the morning, I having actually timed the 

 hour " half-past eight " when he charged out of the last corner. 

 " Now," said I, "do you remember that yesterday evening I killed 

 a buck near some water in a narrow depression in the middle of 

 tamarisk jungle'? I believe that is only a continuation of tliis 

 horrible thicket, and if the tiger is nearly played out, he would 

 naturally make for the water and the cool tamarisk. You form in 

 line in the jungle here, and give me a quarter of an hour's start, 

 while I go ahead and take up my position by that piece of water. 

 You then come on, and if the tiger is in the jungle, he will come 

 forward towards the water, where I shall meet him ; if he's not 

 there, we shall anyhow be on our direct route, and close to our 

 camp by the river." 



