INDIAN SHOOTING 207 



As soon as the beaters came up we [Major Mansel and himself] 

 had awful trouble to prevent them scattering about in the jungle. 

 We waited about twenty minutes, and then started to follow the 

 tiger up. We took twenty men and formed them four deep, close 

 up and shoulder to shoulder, M. and I going in front. We im- 

 pressed upon the men that they were on no account to leave the 

 square, and sent two men on each flank up trees to examine the 

 ground in front. W 7 e could easily track the tiger by his blood, and 

 in one place found what looked like a piece of his liver. We knew 

 he could not go far, especially as he was full of cow. Some of the 

 men began to wander a little, and we had to abuse them to make 

 them keep their places. The trail led us through dry grass up to 

 our knees, but not very thick, and growing under scattered young 

 trees. After going about two hundred yards we heard the tiger 

 growling, but he must have moved on. We could still follow him by 

 his blood. Another hundred yards, and we could hear him dis- 

 tinctly. The square began to break, and several men started shin- 

 ning up treeSi M. shouted ' Look out,' and the words were not out 

 of his mouth when the tiger came, his tail up, his mane on end, at a 

 gallop, roaring and making straight for us. He was about twenty 

 yards off when he first came out, and looked an awful devil, being 

 almost black from rolling in the ashes where the jungle had been 

 burnt. M. fired at him when he was about ten yards off, and he 

 swerved a little to his right, passing M. within five yards. I was on 

 M.'s right and could not fire before, but as the tiger passed I turned 

 and fired behind M.'s back ; there was a cloud of dust, and at first 

 we only heard a thud, and could not see whether the tiger had gone 

 on or not ; as the dust cleared, we saw him lying stone-dead. It 

 was a very lucky shot through the neck, as by this time the 

 square was in full retreat, the men scattering all about and falling 

 over each other. The front rank and part of the second alone 

 stood firm, so if the tiger had gone on he would certainly have 

 mauled one or two of the natives. He measured 9 ft. 9 ins. as he 

 lay. 



The worst part of getting a native hurt is, that though it 

 almost invariably happens through his own wilful disobedience 

 of orders, the news spreads like wildfire through the district, 

 and makes it very hard for the party to procure beaters. 

 Rustum Ali, the villagers argue, was a brave man ; he didn't fear 

 tigers, we have seen him throw stones at tigers, and he went 



