A FINE SHOT 



started for the jungle, where the beating elephants, some 

 twenty in number, were already assembled. 



The howdahs being placed in position, so that each 

 should command a portion of the comparatively open 

 ground between the jungle to be beaten and the one 

 beyond, the beat commenced. The beating elephants had 

 advanced about halfway through the dense cover, when a 

 loud trumpeting and squealing, together with the shouts 

 of the drivers, announced the glad news of the tiger's 

 presence. 



A few minutes later, a quick sinuous movement in the 

 grass was observed some twenty yards in front of the 

 left howdah, and presently the head and shoulders of a 

 huge tiger showed for an instant. The next instant, with 

 a roar of defiance and rage at seeing his retreat cut off, 

 he had turned sharp to the left and was galloping through 

 the grass parallel to the howdahs, roaring as he went. ' 



The pace he was travelling at and the close assimilation 

 of his black and yellow markings to the lights and shades 

 of the surrounding jungle, made him anything but an easy 

 target. 



He was fired at from each of the three howdahs as he 

 passed them, but held on, evidently untouched, and would 

 have gained the shelter he was seeking, but to do so he 

 was forced to cross a small patch of open, about eighty 

 yards in front of the last howdah. As he reached this 



spot, G , who occupied it, and who was probably the 



safest rifle shot in Bengal, aiming a full length ahead and 

 on the ground line, fired, rolling him over in his tracks. 

 It was a beautiful shot, yet so fast was the tiger going 

 that even with the allowance made, the bullet, as they 

 subsequently discovered, struck well behind the ribs. 



Picking himself up at once the tiger stumbled on and, 

 gaining a thick bit of wild plum jungle, disappeared into 

 it. The howdahs were now quickly posted on the further 

 side of this cover, the beating elephants being directed to 

 drive the tiger out to them. 



Slowly and cautiously the line advanced, each elephant 

 seeming to scent danger in every clump that lay before 

 him. Shoulder to shoulder, like a moving wall, they gradu- 

 ally made their way, leaving the jungle flat behind them 



131 



