224 Wild Beasts 



had evidently been trampled by the pursuing herd of buf- 

 faloes. 



" ' There may be others,' said the gomasta, and peering 

 into every bush, we went slowly on. My elephant then 

 showed decided symptoms of dislike and reluctance to 

 approach a particular dense clump of grass. 



"A sounding whack on the head, however, made her 

 quicken her steps, and thrusting the long stalks aside, she 

 discovered for us three blinking little cubs, brothers of the 

 defunct, and doubtless part of the same litter. Their eyes 

 were scarcely open, and they lay huddled together like 

 three enormous striped kittens, and spat at us, and bristled 

 their little mustaches much as an angry cat would do. All 

 four were males. 



" It was not long before I had them wrapped up carefully 

 in the mahout's blanket. Overjoyed at our good fortune, 

 we left the excited herd still executing their singular war- 

 dance, and the enraged tigress, robbed of her whelps, con- 

 suming her soul in baffled fury. 



" We heard her roaring through the night close to camp, 

 and on my friends' arrival, we beat her up next morning, 

 and she fell, pierced by three balls, in a fierce and deter- 

 mined charge. We came upon her across the nullah, and 

 her mind was evidently made up to fight." 



A tiger may fail in front of a herd, but with stragglers, 

 and there are always such, the case is not the same. He 

 can kill individual buffaloes, or he would not be there, and 

 this is done so quietly and expeditiously that very often 

 the act remains for a time undiscovered. His "fore-paw," 

 observes Inglis, "is a most formidable weapon of attack. 



