KURUKWAHI 215 



happen to be let off the noise might drive the bees 

 out, and as they would probably come for me what 

 fun I should have with them ! But as some one 

 once said, " I have lived to be an old man, and have 

 had many troubles, most of which never happened ! " 



The beat soon began, a short, easy one, and I 

 caught sight of some animal through thick cover, 

 that I thought was a grey monkey, moving very 

 slowly well ahead of the beaters. Then it stopped, 

 with a little grunt, that sounded more like a tiger 

 after a good feed than a monkey, and angry at being 

 disturbed. The next thing I saw was a tiger's head 

 appearing from behind a large tree, about fifteen 

 yards off. He waited there. I fired and he dropped 

 dead. I kept the rifle up to my shoulder, ready to 

 shoot if he stirred, when a second one came from 

 behind the same tree, following close and at once in 

 the tracks of the first, and it was he who fell to the 

 second barrel. He opened his eyes once, and looked 

 up at me we looked at each other and I felt 

 quite sorry quite sorry, only in one way, and in a 

 way that is always unaccountable to myself as 

 they lay there close together, looking like the babes 

 in the wood. 



The first was a tigress and the other her cub, about 

 as big as herself; neither was a big one. Abdulla 

 said he had disobeyed my orders, as he felt sure that 

 by far the best place to tie up the calf was in that 

 same nullah that I so much disliked, in fact it was the 

 only good spot about there ; and it was also near to 

 camp and easy for me to get to. It was quite time 

 then to make my apologies to him, and tell him that he 



