LOSE A TIGER 421 



rising to his feet with a toss of his head and a low growl, 

 trotted off into a clump of bushes on a hillock which was quite 

 isolated from any of the surrounding jungle. The thugyi 

 immediately ran round to the other side with the intention of 

 cutting off the animal's retreat, calling me at the same time to 

 accompany him, as the beaters would drive the tiger towards 

 us if he was still in the clump. Unfortunately, there were no 

 large trees up which I could ensconce myself, so I had to 

 remain standing on the ground. The thugyi quickly placed 

 himself on my left, whilst the constable who had accompanied 

 us climbed into the branches of the only available tree some 

 1 20 yards to my right. Being the only "Thakin" or Euro- 

 pean present, I was given the best position in the centre, the 

 one by which the tiger was expected to pass. As the ground 

 in the immediate rear of the constable and the thugyi was 

 open paddy field, the tiger was not expected to pass near 

 them. A short grassy glade some 30 yards broad separated 

 the small clump in which the tiger had taken up his quarters 

 from denser cover beyond, and it was across this strip, in the 

 centre of which I had been posted, that he was expected to 

 break. It was not long before the men began to make them- 

 selves heard, and we were soon to know whether the tiger was 

 still in the cover. 



The beaters had not travelled 50 yards before I heard a 

 slow heavy tread on the dry leaves and undergrowth. The 

 jungle in my immediate front for some 50 or 60 yards was 

 fairly open and devoid of all thick undergrowth. In the 

 innocence of my unfledged experience, I had imagined that 

 the tiger would come flying past, and that I should then be 

 able to put in a right and left at close quarters, which would 

 be sure to take effect somewhere. Instead of that, however, 

 here he was walking along quite unconcernedly in my direction. 

 On perceiving me he stopped dead for a few seconds, and 

 then, after sniffing audibly, looked first towards the tree which 

 contained the constable, and then in the direction of the 

 thugyi, being all the time apparently perfectly well aware of 

 their presence. My heart all this time was thumping like a 

 sledge-hammer, and I must admit that I should like to have 

 been somewhere else at that moment. The tiger stood long 



