TIGERLAND 



we remounted, and, hastily making our arrangements, 

 took up our positions, namely, one howdah at the head of 

 the jungle in which the kill lay, and the other on the 

 opposite bank of the river. I won the toss this time, and 

 naturally selected the former place as the most likely for 

 the tiger to make for, being a small clearing about 30 feet 

 square with heavy covers beyond. It took some time for 



H to reach his position, as the river was deep and the 



only practicable crossing some half a mile down. In the mean- 

 time, I made a careful examination of my position and saw 

 that the open space where I was posted was the end of a 

 narrow strip of grass and scrub, about 500 yards in length, 

 growing along the bank of the stream, which was deep but 

 not broad. The opposite bank was fairly steep, with a 

 pass here and there leading up into the forest, which extended 



to its edges. H 's howdah was to command one of these 



passes. The " kill " lay near the entrance of this strip 

 and about twenty yards inside it. The beater elephants had 

 been instructed to form up into a close line and beat up 



towards us as soon as they saw H in position. After 



making my observations I placed my elephant behind a 

 thick clump of tall grass near the edge of the river and just 

 inside the heavier cover, from which I could command the 

 whole of the clearing to my front as well as a portion of 

 the river and the open to my right ; then rilling up the 

 magazine of my -303 with the Jeffery bullet cartridges, 

 placed it ready for use on the rack in front, and waited with 

 as much patience as I could command for H -'s arrival. 

 I soon had the satisfaction of hearing his elephant crashing 

 through the forest, and shortly afterwards of seeing him 

 posted at one of the passes nearly opposite to where I was. 

 At the same moment the shouts from the mahouts of the 

 beater elephants warned us that the beat had commenced. 

 I knew now that the tiger might show at any moment so, 

 grasping my little rifle, I stood up ready for him. The 

 beat had been going on for about ten minutes, when some 

 forty or fifty yards to my front I noticed a sinuous movement 

 in a patch of grass, caused by some large animal gliding 

 stealthily across the jungle towards the river. This was, 

 of course, the tiger, and I was wondering whether he 

 really intended taking to the water, when suddenly there 

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