iv THE ELEPHANT 83 



Our party consisted of Colonel Lugard, the Hon. D. Leigh, myself, 

 and two experienced shikaris. Tiger-shooting is always an 

 engrossing sport, but the lively excitement is increased when you 

 follow a wounded tiger upon foot. We now slowly advanced upon 

 the track, which faintly showed the sharp claws where the tiger 

 had alighted in every bound. The jungle was fairly open, as the 

 surface was stony, and the trees for want of moisture in a rocky 

 soil had lost their leaves ; we could thus see a considerable distance 

 upon all sides. In this manner we advanced about 100 yards 

 without finding a trace of blood, and I could see that some of my 

 people doubted the fact of the tiger being wounded. I felt certain 

 that he was mortally hit, and I explained to my men that the hard 

 bullet would make so clean a hole through his body that he would 

 not bleed externally until his inside should be nearly full of blood. 

 Suddenly a man cried "koon" (blood), and he held up a large 

 dried leaf of the teak-tree upon which was a considerable red 

 splash : almost immediately after this we not only came upon a 

 continuous line of blood, but we halted at a place where the 

 animal had lain down ; this was a pool of blood, proving that the 

 tiger would not be far distant. 



I now sent for the elephants, as I would not permit the shikaris 

 to advance farther upon foot. The big tusker Bisgaum arrived, 

 and giving my Paradox gun to my trustworthy shikari Kerim Bux, 

 he mounted the pad of that excitable beast to cany out my orders, 

 " to follow the blood until he should find the tiger, after which he 

 was to return to us." We were now on the top of a small hill 

 within an extensive forest range, and directly in front the ground 

 suddenly dipped, forming a Y-shaped dell, which in the wet season 

 was the bed of a considerable torrent. It struck me that if the 

 tiger were still alive he would steal away along the bottom of the 

 rocky watercourse ; therefore, before the elephant should advance, 

 and perhaps disturb him, we should take up a position on the right 

 to protect the nullah or torrent-bed ; this plan was accordingly 

 carried out. 



We had not been long in our respective positions when a shot 

 from the direction taken by the elephant, followed instantly by a 

 short roar, proved that the tiger had been discovered, and that he 

 was still alive. My female elephant Demoiselle, upon hearing the 

 sound, trembled beneath me with intense excitement, while the 

 other female would have bolted had she not been sharply reminded 

 by the heavy driving-hook. Several shots were now tired in 

 succession, and after vainly endeavouring to discover the where- 

 abouts of the tiger, I sent Demoiselle to obtain ihc news while we 



