272 SHIKAR SKETCHES. 



light, so, not waiting till they arrived, I jumped 

 into the nullah, and advanced with my spear at 

 the charge towards, as I imagined, the trapped 

 panther. There was a great scuffle, and a good 

 deal of growling as I drove my spear into the 

 struggling form. Suddenly the torches carried 

 by our servants were thrown down, and with 

 loud cries of ' Bagh, bagh,' (' Tiger, tiger,') they 

 fled. My quarry selected this moment to seize 

 the shaft of the spear in his teeth, and I at the 

 same time, catching my foot in the chain by which 

 the trap was attached to a log of wood, tumbled 

 over right on top of, as I fancied, the infuriated 

 panther, losing hold of my spear in the fall. 



Clay said my agonised cry of ' Good God, 

 man, get a light,' was most piteous, and he really 

 thought for the moment I must be hurt. How- 

 ever, he soon ran back, and fetched a torch, 

 when its light revealed me squatting under one 

 bank of the nullah with my nightshirt all torn 

 and covered with mud, whilst some ten yards 

 further lay a huge hyaena, fast in the trap, with 

 my spear sticking in him ! Needless to say we 

 had a good laugh over the absurdity of the situa- 

 tion, but I must confess that for the time being 

 I was in what is commonly called a c blue funk !' 



Hyaenas are, however, sometimes tamed, and 

 are then as gentle as a dog. I think I cannot 



