248 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



Just then I was informed that one of the men whom I 

 had sent to beat had been wounded by another tiger, and on 

 returning to the covert I found a man slightly bitten in the 

 shoulder. Neglecting my strict injunctions that all should 

 keep together, this man had wandered away by himself, and 

 was coming down the bank by a footpath, close to where I had 

 been posted, when a second tiger, which had come forward to 

 the end of the covert, rushed out on him, biting him as 

 described. His wounds were not serious, and he had only 

 himself to thank for his troubles. 



Not wishing to disturb these tigers that evening, I re- 

 turned to camp, and arranged for another attempt on them a 

 few days later. This time I placed men on trees on both sides 

 of the ravine, directing them to throw stones and drive 

 the tiger back, should he attempt to break up the side. 



I soon heard a troop of monkeys swearing in the thicket 

 above me. Some of the men on the banks also telegraphed 

 that a tiger was on foot. My position was unpleasantly near 

 the ground, but it was the best that could be got, and I 

 quietly waited for the beast to show. In a few minutes he 

 walked out and stood on the path close to the spot on which 

 the man had been wounded on the previous occasion. I fired, 

 and he spun round and disappeared in the bushes. A few 

 seconds later he broke cover near the top of the bank above 

 me, and was going off at a good pace. I had a fine view of 

 him as he passed along the sky-line, some seventy paces above 

 me, and firing quickly, I saw him swerve over, and observed 

 his hind leg dangling from the stifle. He then turned down 

 the bank, and threw himself into a thick corinda bush, where 

 he lay quiet. Calling out to the beaters to give me time 

 to take up a fresh position, I descended, and making a circuit, 

 climbed another tree lower down the ravine. 



