ADVENTUKES IN CAMP AND JUNGLE. 243 



tion well, made no sign. The fire soon died away, and as it 

 was now near sunset I feared that we should go home empty- 

 handed. Just then, the horseman who had marked down the 

 tigress came running up to my tree, and implored me to go in 

 with him on my own elephant, leaving all the rest of the party 

 outside. He was greatly excited, and having taken off his long 

 riding-boots and drawn his sword, stood ready to guide me to 

 the bush in which the tiger lay concealed. 



I called up the elephant and went forward, my guide 

 leading ; presently he lay down on the ground, and peering 

 under the bushes assured me that he could see the tiger. I 

 directed him to mount a tree, and as soon as I saw he was 

 in safety, I ordered the mahout to drive the elephant forward. 

 This he at once did, and at that instant the tigress charged. 

 The elephant stepped back till it was clear of the bushes. The 

 tigress burst out, I fired down, striking her through the loins, 

 and as she fell over, the elephant turned and fled. It was 

 soon, however, brought up by the mahout, and we again ad- 

 vanced at the thicket into which the tigress had disappeared. 



But she was now very savage, and as we approached, she 

 came charging out into the open ground. Again the elephant 

 spun round and went off, and as I looked over her stern, I saw 

 the tigress, in spite of her wound, fast gaining on us. Two 

 more strides, and she would have seized the elephant by the 

 hind leg, but at that moment I grasped the front rail of the 

 howdah in my left hand, and firing my rifle pistol-fashion, I 

 dropped her in the middle of an open field. The flight of the 

 elephant was soon checked, and finding that the tigress did not 

 come on, she permitted herself to be driven up close enough to 

 allow me to put an end to the scrimmage by a final shot. 



The whole affair had been witnessed by the chiefs, who, 

 with their followers, were standing together about two hundred 



