A CENTRAL PROVINCE TIGER 137 



with us a short ladder and a khatiya, or small string- 

 laced bedstead, to be tied up in a tree for me to sit 

 in. 



At the top of the hill we dived silently into the 

 forest some hundreds of yards, and arrived at a big 

 tree which the head Ranta man said was the best 

 place for my purpose. A more unlikely looking spot 

 I never saw. In front, stretching for about a mile, 

 was a wide rocky ravine running down towards me, 

 thickly covered with trees and undergrowth. Then, 

 below us, this nullah was cut at right angles by 

 another running straight across our front. If the 

 tiger was beaten down the long ravine, he would 

 have to cross nullah number two and climb a long 

 hundred yards up a steep, fairly open slope to my 

 tree. 



" No good, useless/' I said; " go lower down and 

 111 sit where the nullahs join/' 



" No, this is the best place; where else could the 

 sahib go ? " 



We compromised, and I found a tree more or less 

 suitable, rather lower down, but still too far from the 

 nullah to make certain of a shot. 



Time was getting on, so up went the khattya, and 

 it was firmly fixed with ropes some twelve feet up. 



We settled where stops were to be placed, taking 

 great care to have extra men to guard the exit by 

 either end of the cross nullah. Then we hurried back 

 to the village to collect the beaters and found that 

 by that time a hundred and forty men had assembled. 

 That was cheering, and they went off in parties under 

 Lai Singh and the kotwal, while I returned and 



