62 SIR VICTOR BROOKE 



CHAP. 



be done. We found the venison of the antelope un- 

 commonly good. Like most game, it must be either 

 used at once or kept some time. Men have been sent 

 out to look for the tigers, so that if they see them 

 they can bring me back word, or kubber, as it is 

 called here. 



This morning Gough and I started at 5.30 to 

 examine the place where the tigers are supposed to 

 be. We found it to be a mass of rocks, with bits of 

 jungle dispersed here and there. It was a very ugly- 

 looking place to shoot a tiger, as to get at him it was 

 necessary to either walk clean up to the mouth of 

 the cave they were supposed to be in while rockets 

 were let down to drive them out and shoot him as 

 he charged, the chances of which were greatly in 

 favour of the tiger ; or else to sit in a mechaun at 

 night, and tying up a bullock, wait until he came 

 and killed the poor brute. For some time I could 

 find no tracks ; at last, however, in the dry sandy bed 

 of a small stream, a young Mussulman, a peon of 

 Cough's, stopped suddenly and pointed to a great 

 roundish mark in the sand. It did not require much 

 woodcraft to say what kind of animal made that track. 

 It was the first tiger's pug (as it is called) I had 

 ever seen, but I knew it immediately. For some time 

 I was puzzled by not being able to find the same track 

 again anywhere. What bothered me more were the 

 smaller tracks, exactly the same shape as the big 

 ones, marking the sand in all directions. I called 

 Gough, who was trying to get a shot at a partridge, 

 and after a little time the first report struck me 

 namely, three tigers ; putting one and two together, 

 I came to the very reasonable conclusion that it was 

 an old tigress and two young ones. Not having a 

 shikaree, I did not think I would venture my first tiger 



