76 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



express my rising feelings. Well, this biped, this black, 

 two-legged animal whom I had placed as sentry away 

 off on a hill behind me, to mark the tiger should I only 

 wound him, got so excited that he crept down, and 

 first of all making his own position good by climbing a 

 rock, fired past my head (and mighty close too) at the 

 tiger, though the beast knew he must most likely bring 

 the tiger on me. He missed him, but, already angry, 

 the enraged brute boiled over at this fresh insult, and 

 sprang with an awful roar close past me like an over- 

 grown arrow. Had the culprit fired one iota sooner 

 that is, before the tiger's head was slightly turned from 

 me I pity my unlucky star. Often in looking back to 

 this exciting adventure I feel deeply thankful to One 

 who takes care of us when we don't take care of our- 

 selves, for my certainly most narrow go (' escape,' you 

 ought to call it, * go ' is only for schoolboys like me). 

 I daresay you are tired of tigers, so I must conclude 

 my lecture on the noble animal, simply adding that 

 had I hit him matters might have been worse, as tigers 

 are hardly ever killed with one ball, and the smoke of 

 my gun would have brought him on me ; considering 

 this affair in all its lights, and adding to it since, 

 experiences too long to relate here, you need never 

 fear for me again. I understand the noble brutes now 

 and respect them accordingly, so consequently shall in 

 future keep a respectable distance." 



I do not gather from his Journal or letters that he 

 ever again succeeded in coming .across the man-eater, 

 though he spent many weeks and spared himself no 

 trouble or fatigue. With other game similar ill-luck 

 pursued him, notably in the case of a very fine panther, 

 for which he had watched night after night over bait. 

 The panther at last came, but passed under the tree in 



