TIGERLAND 



conduct till the " shikari," who was with us, explained in 

 a low whisper that it must have been some animal they 

 had been following, and, seeing it pass or stop underneath 

 their tree, they had suddenly taken fright. His con- 

 jecture proved correct, for a minute or two later we 

 heard a loud splash in the river, followed by the sound 

 of some large animal lapping up the water, and, being now 

 sure it was the tiger, we were naturally much excited. 

 However, another hour of silent waiting passed, with 

 not a sound to relieve the monotony of it now, for the 

 birds had settled down on their respective trees, and were 

 apparently all asleep or, perhaps awed by a sense of the 

 tiger's presence, had ceased their noisy chatter. 



The sun, already behind the trees, was now fast 

 approaching the horizon, and we knew that another hour 

 of daylight was all we could expect, when suddenly a 

 peculiar sound, as of a cat purring, was heard seemingly 

 quite near us. Soon it seemed so near that we imagined 

 the animal producing it must be underneath our platform, 

 yet we did not dare to look over for the slightest move- 

 ment on our part at so critical a moment would have been 

 fatal. 



Presently the sound ceased, as suddenly as it had 

 started, but was followed immediately by a low, snarling 

 growl, accompanied by a quick movement in the jungle 



on M 's side of the " machan," and the next moment 



the head and shoulders of a huge tiger protruded from the 

 cover, its head turned in the direction of the " ham." 



By this time M had cautiously brought up his 



577 to his shoulder, and while the tiger was still fastening 

 its eyes on the tempting morsel before it, the sharp crack 

 of the rifle woke up the silent forest. The tiger, with a 

 roar of agony and rage which might have been heard a 

 mile off, fell heavily forward, shot through the shoulder, 

 then raised its head a moment, and seeing us, evidently 

 for the first time, struggled to its feet. With another 

 appalling roar, most terrifying in the intensity of its ferocity, 

 it tried to charge our platform, and, falling again in the 

 attempt, lay growling savagely till a merciful bullet through 



the brain from M 's second barrel, put an end to its 



career. 

 214 



