176 REMINISCENCES OF SONEPOEE. 



It is only fair to say that the skits against Mr. Clay un- 

 earthed from a correspondent of the I.P.G^ the following 

 story which shows that the hero of it had plenty of pluck. 

 His apologist wrote : 



" Anent the verses on ' The Man for Chupra,' let us look 

 on the scenes which happened when several of us were still at 

 school. 



" Scene I. A paddy field in Chota Nagpore, around 

 which are gathered three sportsmen from the neighbouring 

 station awaiting the turning out of a leopard or tiger (beast 

 uncertain), which the villagers have reported to have taken 

 refuge therein. The beaters refusing to beat him out, assigning 

 private reasons, one of the sportsmen enters the paddy and 

 looks up the brute. He is promptly charged by a full grown 

 tiger, fires without stopping him, and the next moment is hurled 

 to the ground with his left shoulder well inside the brute's 

 mouth. A small dog ' yaps ' at the animal and draws him off, 

 when the wounded man with the assistance of his two compan- 

 ions finishes him off. Several weeks of an unhealing wound, 

 burrowing deep and breaking out afresh, for the four holes 

 left by a tiger's teeth do not heal up in a hurry, mind you. 

 A trip to sea and a game shoulder left vivid recollections in 

 the mind of ( the Man for Chupra' of his first adventure with a 

 tiger on foot. 



" Scene II. Yet another tiger, a year or so later, reported 

 in the vicinity of a village. Three sportsmen go for him on 

 foot, no elephants available. He charges out of his lair, 

 knocks one of them down and stands on him. ' The Man for 

 Chupra ' stands his ground and fires at the brute on his 

 comrade's body, thereby drawing his wrath on himself, and 

 is promptly charged and again hurled to the ground with 

 a nasty bite in his hand, which, however, was partially saved 

 by his rifle butt, which the tiger chewed. This brute was 

 likewise killed, and 'The Man for Chupra' is, I suppose, 



