76 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



machan^ but admits that, in the case of hardened 

 man-eaters or cattle-slayers, it is the one and 

 only method offering any reasonable prospect 

 of success. 



The redoubtable shikari Dafadar Taman 

 Sing, of Gordon's Horse, had installed him 

 at an early hour in his machan^ and for two 

 hours he had kept silent vigil. Nothing was 

 moving in the vicinity of the unsuspecting 

 boda until about seven in the evening. Then, 

 just as the sun was going down under the 

 horizon, a big, solitary old boar came into 

 view a quarter of a mile away, feeding quietly 

 as he moved from point to point, and little by 

 little approaching the watercourse, which at 

 that point would have been some two hundred 

 yards wide. Finally the boar came within 

 twenty yards on the leeward side of the calf. 

 Then something quite unexpected happened. 

 To the horror of the watcher overhead, the 

 boar faced towards the calf and, with a series 

 of defiant grunts, showed every sign of charg- 

 ing across the intervening boulders. It looked 

 as if a tragedy was about to be enacted, and 

 my correspondent, supposing that the boar had 

 scented the calf and mistaken it for an enemy, 

 looked round in the direction of the bait. Then 

 he saw the meaning of the boar's hitherto 

 puzzling behaviour. There lay a large panther, 

 which had so far contrived to keep out of sight 



