THE HIGHER NAEBADA. 337 



and went round till we were right above her. Here, however, 

 the bank was too steep to admit of a descent ; so, getting a 

 supply of stones into the howdah, I commenced bombarding 

 the bamboo clumps, and at the third shot the tigress charged 

 out. On she came within twenty paces, when her heart 

 failed her ; she turned sharp off to the left, .and I got two 

 pretty fair shots at her, which told loudly, but still she went 

 on as strong as ever. This time she crossed quite over to 

 the opposite side of the ravine, and ascended the bank, as if 

 with the intention of bolting across the open ground. The 

 scouts kept shouting out to me to come round, which I did, 

 and found them in a terrible panic, for the tigress, seeing 

 them on the trees, kept walking about and eyeing them in a 

 cat-and-mouse sort of manner, growling fearfully and lashing 

 her tail about. The first of them I came to told me she was 

 then lying down at the foot of a tree further on, watching 

 two Gonds in the branches. I soon reached the place : the 

 wretched Gonds were too much frightened to speak, but 

 pointed to the ground below the tree, and sat jabbering like 

 monkeys as I approached. I now made out the tail of the 

 tigress impatiently switching up and down ; she herself being 

 crouched in the long grass, I could not see her body. On 

 perceiving the elephant, she jumped up, and, making a short 

 run forwards, crouched again. We steadily advanced, and, 

 finding she could not put us to flight, she took to it herself, 

 and suddenly bounded again towards the ravine. I had 

 another shot as she was disappearing over the bank. This 

 time it was the large rifle, and she caught it unmistakably ; 

 for, on coming to the place where she had vanished, we could 

 hear her down below, growling and struggling on the ground. 

 The descent here was more gradual, though the bamboo cover 

 was dreadfully thick. The elephant was sliding down on her 



