HUNTING THE JAGUAR 83 



one seems to be the most mysterious and elusive 

 of them all." 



Taking a long pull on his cigarette, he went on 

 again: "My foreman tells me this tiger mauled 

 a cow this morning, just cut her all to ribbons, 

 but he must have missed his spring by a little and 

 landed too far back. The cow managed to get 

 clear of him, and the man put her in the corral, 

 but they say she may not pull through. This is 

 the first miscalculation I have even known him 

 to make. He has always planned his attacks so 

 well that his execution has been quick and clean. 

 He works his game something like this," Haley 

 went on. "About six or seven miles from here 

 there is a long strip of jungle running through 

 the savannah and from this strip extend several 

 long arms of thick woods, which are, perhaps, 

 from one to two miles apart. It is down these 

 strips this marauder, lurking under their cover, 

 waits for the cattle to feed near enough to single 

 out his victim. It will take two or three days to 

 hunt these strips of jungle properly, and if old 

 Spots is still up to his tricks we are almost sure 

 to pick him up." 



Haley rose and went to his hammock for the 

 night. For a few moments I sat in a sort of 

 dreamy thought. The place was so decidedly 



