42 \VILI) HEASTS AND TIIKIR WAYS CHAP. 



without the slightest sound, and we found ourselves outside the 

 jungle. We could breathe freely. 



"Go on now, quite gently, till I press your head ; then turn to 

 the right, descending through the tamarisk, till I again touch 

 your puggery " (turban). 



I counted the elephant's paces as she moved softly parallel with 

 the jungle, until I felt sure of my distance. A slight pressure 

 upon the mahout's head, and Nielmonnd turned to the right. The 

 waving plumes of the dark-green tamarisk divided as we gently 

 moved forward, and in another moment we stopped. There was 

 the tiger in the same position, exactly facing me, but now about 

 75 paces distant. 



" Keep the elephant quite steady," I whispered ; and, sitting 

 down upon the howdah seat, I took a rest with the rifle upon the 

 front bar of the gun-rack. A piece of tamarisk kept waving in the 

 wind just in front of the rifle, beyond my reach. The mahout 

 leaned forward and gently bent it down. Now, all was clear. The 

 tiger's eyes were like green glass. The elephant for a moment 

 stood like stone. I touched the trigger. 



There was no response to the loud report of 6 drams of powder 

 from the 'f>77 rifle, no splash in the unbroken surface of the water. 

 The tiger's head was still there, but in a different attitude, one- 

 half below the surface, and only one cheek, and one large eye still 

 glittering like an emerald, above. 



"Run in quick," and the order was instantly obeyed, as 

 Nielmonne splashed through the pool towards the silent body of 

 the tiger. There was not a movement of a muscle. I whistled 

 loud, then looked at my watch on the stroke of 1 P.M. From 

 8.30 till that hour we had worked up that tiger, and although 

 there was no stirring incident connected with him, I felt very 

 satisfied with the result. 



In a short time the elephants arrived, having heard the shot, 

 followed by my well-known whistle. Moota Giitchd was the first 

 to approach ; and upon observing the large bright eye of the tiger 

 above water, he concluded that it was still alive ; he accordingly 

 made a desperate charge, and taking the body on his tusks, he sent 

 it flying some yards ahead ; not content with this display of 

 triumph, he followed it up, and gave it a football-kick that lifted 

 it clean out of the water. This would have quickly ended in a 

 war-dance upon the prostrate body, that would have crushed it and 

 destroyed the skin, had not the mahout, with the iron driving-hook, 

 bestowed some warning taps upon the crown of Moota Gutche'a 

 head that recalled him to a calmer frame of mind. A rope was 



