TIGERLAND 



tree, and with the stealth and cunning of its kind, sneaked 

 noiselessly away. 



A shrill note now on M 's whistle the signal we 



had arranged soon brought up our elephant, and, climbing 

 down from our perch on to the pad, we rode back to the 

 village, where we ordered the other elephants to encamp, 

 as we had decided to try for the tiger again next day. 



Continuing our homeward journey, we had a somewhat 

 alarming experience in the forest, for as we retraced our 

 steps through the dense jungle, in the fast approaching 

 darkness, we could hear a herd of wild elephants, quite 

 close to us, tearing down the branches and crashing through 

 the jungle all around us. Had we come face to face with 

 any tusker, of which there are generally several in the 

 herd, the consequences might have been most serious. 

 Fortunately we got through without any such encounters, 

 and eventually arrived safely at the dogcart. 



The drive home, however, was an experience quite as 

 perilous as the other, for although we had our lamps, they 

 only accentuated the darkness, and how we avoided the 

 holes we had seen by daylight is quite beyond my com- 

 prehension, but was probably due to the instinct of the 

 horse. 



The next morning we made an even earlier start, 

 reaching the jungle village shortly after nine o'clock, to 

 find that the " shikari " had already investigated the 

 jungle on an elephant, and was now awaiting us with his 

 report. It appeared that the tiger had evidently had a good 

 feed during the night, or had removed a portion of the kill, 

 for at least half the bullock had entirely disappeared. 

 Thinking, therefore, that the beast, being gorged and con- 

 sequently sluggish, would be likely to be lying up quite 

 close, we decided to beat through the grass at once. 



We had only six elephants in all, so, forming these in 

 line with a " howdah " on each flank, we commenced 

 " quartering " the grass for with such a small number of 

 elephants it was useless to attempt beating it all at once. 

 We had done a little more than half, having been some 

 four hours about it, when the elephant I was on, a staunch, 

 reliable animal, suddenly stopped dead and commenced 

 kicking at something in the grass, making at the same time 

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