308 THE TRAIL OF THE TIGER 



ming, the beaters altogether made quite a noise 

 and as after an hour or more it neared me I 

 thought I caught a glimpse of the tiger skulking 

 along down low on the side of the backbone, 

 where the growth was thick— making towards my 

 hill. It could in this way pass my position unseen, 

 and fearful that it might escape from the un- 

 guarded side of the small hill, I made my way to 

 Uda Prang who forthwith ordered the men over 

 to the far side of the smaller hill which the tiger 

 had entered and which I had just left— to beat back 

 and thus turn and drive it again across the ridge 

 and on to the larger hill from which it had origi- 

 nally started. 



As the beaters began their yelling and smashing, 

 Jin Abu and I started to climb to an abrupt shelf- 

 like bench on the larger hill, which overlooked the 

 backbone. The hill was fairly steep and the close 

 cover made moving laborious with frequent check- 

 ing. Several times we were distressed with im- 

 patience at being delayed by clinging thorn-cov- 

 ered growths. A bit winded we neared the site we 

 had chosen from which to shoot the tiger as it 

 came back over the ridge. Thoughts of what I 

 would do with the pelt ran in my head— and then 

 we were startled by a growl followed by a mut- 

 tered edition of the coughing roar I knew well by 



