204 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



accompanied by his gun-carrier, and is provided with a leather 

 bottle of water and a stout leather cushion two feet square, 

 with eyelet-holes at the corners and ropes to sling it. 



The cushion is lashed up in the tree so that the sportsman's 

 left shoulder is towards the beat ; loops of rope are arranged 

 as stirrups to prevent an attack of pins and needles in his legs, 

 and another loop should be passed loosely round his body 

 and fastened to the trunk or to a strong bough, so that he 

 can lean well over without fear of falling ; the small boughs that 

 would interfere with his shooting are cut away as noiselessly 

 as possible with a green-wood saw. The gun-carrier is sent to 

 another tree, about a hundred yards in rear ; the sportsman ] 

 takes a good pull at his water-bottle and sits, slowly frying in | 

 the sun, till the beat strikes up. He will now appreciate the ? 

 precautions he has taken of wearing a good big hat, a thick 

 cummerbund round his waist, and a cotton quilt down his back. ] 

 In the meantime men have been posted as stops along the 

 flanks of the beat and in places where the tiger may break out ; 

 these are of course either up trees or on high rocks, and their \ 

 orders are merely to clap their hands if the tiger tries to break • 

 out. The slightest noise ahead will suffice to turn a tiger. 

 As a rule the guns are not allowed to smoke, and this, not so ^ 

 much from fear lest he should wind the tobacco, as because, if 

 he hears a match struck, he will perhaps crouch till the beaters 

 come up to him, and then dash back through them. The 

 beaters form line under the direction of all the available 

 shikaris (the four or five elephants that may be out being 

 distributed along the line), and advance towards the guns 

 making all the noise they can with tomtoms, horns, rattles 

 and their own sweet voices. If matters go smoothly the tiger 

 will walk with long swinging strides close past one of the 

 guns, and be either dropped on the spot, the point of the 

 shoulder being the place to aim at, or will dash on with a 

 loud ' wough ' towards the gun-carrier in rear, who should be able 

 to mark him down. He may, however, particularly if he has 

 been driven before, creep on just ahead of the beaters, hide 



