304 THE TRAIL OF THE TIGER 



tied-up bullock nearby, as bait, does not commend 

 itself to me as sport ; it is too much like bear bait- 

 ing, in which no sportsman should engage. Such 

 methods are only excusable when an animal's pred- 

 atory nature has put it in the vermin class, to be 

 exterminated one way or another. And sitting 

 up does not assure tiger by any means, even 

 though it be over the beast's own kill. My at- 

 tempts were all failures. Three times I was 

 winded, the direction of the breeze changing at sun- 

 down, and my platform being only eight feet above 

 ground; another time I fired in the dim uncer- 

 tain light of a cloud-covered moon, and missed; 

 twice my servant's cough warned the tiger. On 

 another occasion the tiger came directly under my 

 platform from the rear. I could hear it sniffing 

 and the firm tread on the rustling leaves, which 

 once heard is always remembered. For minutes it 

 stood silent and I dared not move to try for a look 

 lest it take alarm. I even feared it might hear my 

 heart thumping above its head. Then, a twig 

 cracked in the stillness ; and again and for eternity, 

 it seemed— dead silence. So long I sat cramped 

 that one foot went to sleep, and my discomfort was 

 extreme. At last daylight— but no tiger. It had 

 vanished, perhaps at the cracking of the twig, as 

 suddenly as it had come. 

 None the less sitting up has compensations, even 



