A BELGAUM TIGER 47 



There was a tiger kill : one of our buffaloes was 

 taken and dragged away, and it happened to be 

 on the Belgaum side, a few miles off. Laximan 

 collected a hundred beaters and we started off. My 

 shooting ladder was put up on rising ground that 

 ran down to a nullah, and stood against a tree in 

 the forest line a clearing cut straight through the 

 jungle, eight or ten yards wide so that I could see 

 right or left for a good distance. This cutting, 

 funnily enough, was the boundary line of the two 

 districts, and the ladder stood at a slant on it, 

 though it was leaning against and tied to a Kanara 

 tree. But I think I was within my rights by about 

 a yard and a half ! 



The local shikari, Krishna, asked to have my gun 

 to let off occasionally in the beat which was a 

 long one there were awkward rocky places in it 

 and patches of thick jungle, where a tiger might lie 

 up, and he wanted to make sure of driving him out 

 and forward. I gave it to him with some blank 

 cartridges, and he and Laximan went off to start the 

 beat. 



I must have sat on my ladder and waited for two 

 hours before I heard anything, and then there was 

 a double report from the gun, and it was a long 

 time again before there were sounds of shouting 

 beaters. They were still a good distance away when 

 I heard one or two soft crackles among the dry 

 leaves; and things began to grow interesting when 

 one of the stops tapped a tree gently on my left, 

 and soon after there was more discreet tapping on 

 the right. Another crackle, and I saw a glimmer 



