MY FIRST TIGER. 21 



great rocks and rolling stones down into the valleys 

 beneath, to the considerable danger of those men who 

 were below them. 



"Aie! bagh!" (oh! a tiger) came in a shrill yell 

 from the valley to my right. I sprang behind the 

 bushes to my left, expecting, however, to see nothing 

 bigger than a hyaena. Then followed the usual appalling 

 shouts as some more of the beaters caught sight of the 

 moving animal, and the rest, who from their position 

 obviously could not do so, joined in the chorus. 

 Directly afterwards there emerged from the valley in 

 question a tiger \ I had no doubt of that, though I 

 had never seen one before, except in a menagerie. 

 Startled from a well-earned slumber, he emerged, as I 

 have said, with splendid bounds. Finding, however, that 

 the cause of the alarm was only some men on the 

 hill behind, he broke into a lumbering trot, which, as 

 he approached me, lessened into that peculiar pace of 

 the cat tribe that I can best describe as a "slink." 



I don't mind saying that my heart beat quick. I 

 fully realised that I was by no means in a good place 

 to tackle a wounded tiger, and that I had only one 

 rifle. But I had had some experience of big game in 

 other lands, and I knew how rarely a wounded animal 

 charges back. So, stooping forwards, I waited till the 

 brute had passed me. Exactly opposite me was a 

 small tree. I waited till the tiger's tail had cleared 

 this. My i2-bore rifle was already at my shoulder. 

 I pressed the trigger. The report was answered by a 

 snarl ; and a patch of blood showed at once behind 

 the shoulder, but rather high up. The range was so 



