A LONELY PLANTER 



home, when a " chokidar," or village watchman of another 

 village, came to the outpost with the report that a tiger of 

 gigantic proportions had killed a bullock during the night, 

 and was lying up in an adjoining jungle. Mindful of my 

 late experience of these people, I questioned the man 

 closely, and after much cross-examination came to the 

 conclusion that his story was true except as to the size of 

 the tiger, which had evidently been increased for the special 

 benefit of the " sahib," and probably with a view to extra 

 " bukshish " in proportion. 



The village was some distance off, but as there was a 

 planter's bungalow near it, belonging to a man named 



W , whom I knew, where I could put up for the night, 



I decided to go. The journey occupied some hours, and 

 it was nearly dark before I reached the bungalow, to find 

 its lonely occupant seated, smoking on the verandah after 

 his hard day's work. His delight at the sudden appearance 

 of a white man and a friend may be easily imagined, since 

 it was the first white face he had seen for many a long day. 

 He too had heard of the " kill," of which he said there 

 had been several lately, adding that although he had 

 " sat up " for the tiger often at night, the beast had not 

 hitherto returned to its " kills." 



This was not encouraging, in that it indicated an amount 

 of cunning on the tiger's part likely to cause trouble, hence 

 it was resolved to try and counteract this by posting the 

 " guns " on trees, at places where their presence was un- 

 likely to be suspected. Early next morning accordingly, 

 mounting the elephants, we started for the jungle, which 

 turned out to be a very large one, but divided into two 

 portions by a cart track leading from the factory to the 

 village on the other side of it. 



The bullock had evidently been killed while in this track, 

 and its carcass dragged into the southern portion, where the 

 tiger was now probably lying up. Selecting two convenient 

 trees on the fringe of the opposite cover and about two 

 hundred yards apart, I now posted my friend on one, and 

 climbing on to the other, sent the elephants round with 

 orders to beat up towards them. An hour or so later they 

 were heard in the distance, crashing through the jungle, 

 and presently a terrific roar, followed by two shots from the 



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