152 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



Bheeka was in attendance he had been busy, and told us 

 of about eighteen beasts, which he had either seen or tracked, 

 within the range of our operations. In one place were five 

 tigers ; in another two ; in another a panther, and so on. It 

 was arranged that we should first move on the five tigers ; 

 beating " on spec " some likely places on the road ; but we 

 found nothing, and by the time we reached our camp at Mug- 

 goree it was about 3 P.M. 



The tigers were said to live in the bed of the Watruck 

 river, about a mile from the village. On reaching the tents 

 Bheeka and his men were brought up for consultation, and it 

 was settled that nothing should be done till next morning, as 

 it would be well not to disturb the covert : Bheeka then retired. 

 Before long a man came running in and said that there was a 

 tiger close by, and that the monkeys in the trees were swearing 

 in their peculiar manner. "We jumped up at once, and sent 

 for Bheeka, but that worthy, on receiving his orders at 3 P.M., 

 had departed to his own quarters in the village, where he 

 forthwith proceeded to get drunk. He came up, wild and in- 

 coherent, and we saw at once that no work was to be got from 

 either him or his men. We went out, however, and I saw the 

 tiger, a male of' the largest size, moving along the face of the 

 hill. Some of us ran on and tried to head him, but he slipped 

 away, and not seeing him again we returned to camp. 



At nine next morning we moved out and went towards the 

 river. We had only one elephant, and as it had never been 

 tried, it was not much sought after by any of the party. 



After examining the ground, we found that the tigers had 

 taken up their quarters in a piece of very rough scrub by the 

 river-side, covered with large stones, long grass, and thick 

 green willow bushes, many of which were bent over and 

 weighed down by large masses of driftwood carried down by 

 floods during the monsoons. 



