52 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



a tiger, I always found. But as everything was 

 ready I tried it, with no result. At dawn, when 

 Mahomed and the Ranger came, they said they had 

 ordered men for a beat, as they thought the tiger 

 was still lying up in that jungle. He was; but 

 during the beat a stop, to turn him, had clapped his 

 hands loudly, and waved his pugaree at him, and 

 the consequence was that he gruffled angrily several 

 times and then came galloping past me. He fell 

 head over heels like a rabbit when I fired, and I 

 made a bad shot with the second barrel as he picked 

 himself up and cantered off. We waited for a time, 

 though Mahomed wanted to start after him at once ; 

 and the Ranger sent a man to the village to try 

 and get another gun or two, but there were none to 

 be had. 



We started to track up and had a long hunt on 

 the blood trail that we found, and we worked hard 

 at it until dusk, when we saw no more blood, so 

 had to give it up, and sad to say we never found 

 our tiger or heard anything of him again. When 

 I got back I was very glad of a bath, after a night 

 in the tree and a hard day's work after the tiger, 

 although the water was so thick with brown mud 

 that it looked as if I had no feet, and I was certainly 

 dirtier after it than before. All the grass was so 

 dried up the cows gave no milk, and the patels of 

 different villages near were very good in bringing 

 in what they had of it in the mornings : tiny sup- 

 plies, at the bottom of small brass bowls, which, all 

 mixed together, would make about a cupful; and 

 they had to bring it some miles too. 



