84 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



kept guard over the ravine. No tiger having appeared, I stationed 

 natives in trees to watch the nullah while we ascended the hill on 

 foot, directing our course through the forest to the place from 

 whence the shots had been fired. We had hardly advanced 80 

 yards before we found l>oth the elephants on the top of the steep 

 shoulder of the hill, where several of our men were upon the 

 boughs of surrounding trees. Bisgaum was in a state of wild 

 excitement, and Kerim Bux explained that it was impossible to 

 shoot from his back, as he could not be kept quiet. Where was 

 the tiger 1 that was the question. "Close to us, Sahib !" was the 

 reply ; but on foot we could see nothing, owing to high withered 

 grass and bush. I clambered upon the back of the refractory 

 Bisgaum, momentarily expecting him to bolt away like a locomotive 

 engine, and from that elevated position I was supposed to see the 

 tiger, which was lying in the bottom of the ravine about 100 yards 

 distant. There were so many small bushes and tufts of yellow 

 grass that I could not distinguish the form for some minutes ; at 

 length my eyes caught the object. I had been looking for orange 

 and black stripes, therefore I had not noticed black and white, the 

 belly being uppermost, as the animal was lying upon its back, 

 evidently dying. 



The side of the rocky hill was so steep and slippery that the 

 elephants could not descend ; I therefore changed my steed and 

 mounted Demoiselle, from the back of which I fired several shots 

 at the tiger until life appeared to be extinct. The ground was so 

 unfavourable that I would not permit any native to approach near 

 enough to prove that the animal was quite dead. I therefore 

 instructed Bisgaum's mahout to make a detour to the right until 

 he could descend with his elephant into the fiat bottom of the 

 watercourse, he was then to advance cautiously until near enough 

 to see whether the tiger breathed. At the same time I rode 

 Demoiselle carefully as near as we could safely descend among the 

 rocks to a distance of about 40 yards ; it was so steep that the 

 elephant was impossible to turn. From this point of vantage I 

 soon jK'rceived Bisgaum's bulky form advancing up the dry torrent- 

 bed. The rocks were a perfectly flat red sandstone, which in 

 many places resembled artificial pavement ; this was throughout 

 the district a peculiar geological feature, the surface of the stone 

 being covered with ripple-marks, and upon this easy path Bisgaum 

 now approached the body of the tiger, which lay apparently dead 

 exactly in his front. 



Suddenly the elephant halted when about 15 yards from the 

 object, which had never moved. I have seen wild savages frenzied 



