138 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



clambered up my tree, taking the D.B. 500 Express 

 rifle and 20-bore gun with ball. 



There was absolutely no sound for a long time. 

 The beat must have started a mile away, and I sat 

 and listened to the silence, as it were ! It was not 

 until four o'clock, when the sun was getting very 

 low, that I heard distant shouts. The yelling and 

 shouting gradually became louder. The men got 

 fairly near and I began to think the beat was blank 

 till a stop tapping his tree on the right made my heart 

 beat. I think the heart-beating time is the mystery 

 of knowing or hearing something is afoot, before 

 seeing, perhaps, a harmless peafowl. But the 

 moment anything comes into sight, I forget myself 

 and do not even remember that I have a heart. 



The shouting of the beaters continued, growing 

 louder each minute ; then there was another tapping 

 at the junction of the nullahs, and I heard a voice, 

 very low and gentle, saying, " Jao, jao, chale jao ! " 

 " Go, go, get along ! ' J It was the forester telling the 

 bagh to come my way. 



Another long pause and certain indications that 

 the tiger was sulking in the hollow, and very angry 

 that both his intended roads were cut off. But the 

 beat still came on. Then suddenly there was a 

 loud, furious, snarling growl and a great striped thing 

 charged out of the bushes below, straight up towards 

 me. He came bounding along, sixteen annas to the 

 rupee, with back first arched up and then extended 

 at each stride. There was no time for a steady aim. 

 The rifle was at my shoulder, and as he passed to 



