142 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



rush such a bold charge down the bank. His 

 rush was stopped by his falling head over heels into 

 the nullah. 



I realized in a flash, and rather late in the day, 

 my precarious position in the small swaying tree, 

 clinging on by my legs. He was up again, but not 

 before I had time to reload. I got in another right 

 and left. Down he fell again and lay there, but this 

 time only raised his grand head, and we looked each 

 other in the face. 



I managed to get a steady shot into his head. He 

 was down and out. 



What rejoicings there were, and salaamings and 

 noise and yellings ! The men came scrambling down 

 from their trees, so did Nur Singh, and he had to be 

 patted on the back and congratulated. He was 

 grinning then, and I laughed to see the heights from 

 which the men were climbing down. Our following 

 had dwindled away to about forty. We made a 

 hasty measurement with my tape, nose to tip of 

 tail, stretched taut 9 ft. 6 in. There was no time 

 for any peg-to-peg arrangement ; and it was well into 

 moonlight before we got him packed and tied on to 

 a ladder. He was a heavy massive tiger, and the 

 bearers found him a big load as they stumbled down 

 the stony path under black shadows. I found that 

 I had shot away eleven cartridges, and on skinning, 

 we found six bullet holes behind the shoulders, 

 three on each side (several rather too low), one in the 

 thigh, one in the fleshy part of his neck, another had 

 grazed his foot, and there was a slight wound on the 



