TIGERLAND 



to the remains, or dragged them into dense and impene- 

 trable places where it was impossible to follow him. 

 Hence, though the " kills " were frequent, they could not 

 be utilized as an indication of the tiger's whereabouts at 

 any particular time. 



In the meanwhile its ravages continued, and finally 

 became so alarmingly frequent, that it became necessary 

 for the authorities to adopt some special measures to 

 check these depredations. 



Two "shikaris" (professional hunters) were accordingly 

 sent out, with a couple of elephants, to scour the forest 

 thoroughly and to tie up some bullocks as baits at places 

 where any traces of a recent " kill " could be dis- 

 covered, and to report as soon as any of these baits were 

 taken. 



In the meantime the District Officer ordered all the 

 elephants at his disposal to be assembled at a certain 

 village within easy distance of the forest in readiness to 

 take the field at a moment's notice. 



A week or two went by without any further news of 

 the tiger, and the villagers began to hope that the beast, 

 satiated with the amount of beef it had consumed, had 

 moved away. But they had hoped too soon for one 

 evening a forest guard, on his way home by a " fire-line," 

 saw what he subsequently described as an eighteen-foot 

 tiger cross the path in front of him. 



That same night one of the tied-up bullocks was killed 

 and dragged off into a dense patch of undergrowth into 

 which no one dared to enter. The next morning the 

 " shikaris," when visiting their baits as usual, found one 

 of them missing, the broad track through the high grass 

 into the dense underwood beyond telling its own tale as to 

 what had taken place. 



A telegram was despatched at once announcing this 

 " good news," and by four that afternoon the District 



Officer, Colonel G , accompanied by the Forest Officer, 



arrived upon the scene, putting up for the night at a tea 

 planter's bungalow near the railway station. 



Soon after sunrise on the following^morning, the two 

 officials, accompanied by the manager of the tea garden 

 and his assistant, each mounted on a " howdah " elephant, 

 130 



