124 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



by the cavalry sowars. Smoke soon began to 

 issue through the crevices and the cave was 

 soon full of it. A tiger's nose now rubbed 

 against the blanket held by Athman Sing, 

 and, thinking it must be a full-grown one, he 

 quietly lowered a corner of the blanket to 

 enable the officer, who was standing ready, 

 to shoot it dead. On seeing, however, that 

 it was only a cub, the shikaris fell on it with 

 their blankets and, after a short struggle, suc- 

 ceeded in securing it and in tying up its feet 

 and jaws. A second cub now came to the 

 mouth of the cave, but turned again and fell, 

 stupefied, by the smoke. It was pulled out by 

 the tail, tied up, and revived by fanning and 

 sprinkling its face with water. This was the 

 fourth occasion, by the way, on which the 

 shikaris of Gordon's Horse had robbed a 

 tiger's den. 



In a subsequent chapter will be found one 

 or two stories in which tigers took terrible 

 vengeance on those who molested them. Few 

 wild animals, indeed, are more dangerous 

 when wounded, in good covert, such as long 

 grass, and when a man has shot thirty-six 

 of them on foot, and in no other way, he 

 needs to have had occasional luck even if 

 he was one of the best rifle shots in India 

 in his day. Colonel Williamson had one 

 or two lucky chances of this kind, and one 



