204 SHIKAR SKETCHES. 



of rifles ; and yet, although hit all over the head, 

 chest, and neck, as subsequent examination proved, 

 he still came on, and very nearly made good his 

 charge. Anyhow, he died as a tiger ought to die 

 tracked, met face to face, and fought on his 

 own ground by four sportsmen, and not done to 

 death by that low, villainous system of poisoning, 

 which, alas ! I heard subsequently was the means 

 of destroying many another tiger in India, and 

 which poaching system of shikar was (proh ! puder) 

 I believe, invented and practised by an officer of 

 Her Majesty's service, who dubbed himself 4 Tiger 

 slayer to the Government of India.' Let him be 

 nameless, and let his cognomen sink into that 

 oblivion amongst true sportsmen which is the 

 only fitting resting-place for the name of one who 

 could practise such vile arts, looked at from a 

 sporting point of view. 



With reference to the allusion made in a pre- 

 ceding page of how apparently dead animals will 

 sometimes recover, 1 may perhaps here be par- 

 doned for quoting one or two instances of the 

 fact that came under my notice, and, though the 

 game in these instances was more ignoble, I think 

 they are none the less interesting. 



A friend of mine once, after a successful stalk, 

 knocked over a fine black buck, and walking up 

 to him, as he was lying kicking convulsively on 



