ADVENTURES IN CAMP AND JUNGLE. 267 



in the dark. The prints, however, led in the direction in 

 which we were going, and we quickened our pace, keeping 

 them in view. 



After proceeding about a mile, we came up with our men, 

 who, on the day breaking, had at once perceived the tracks, 

 and had sent off the horseman to bring back the elephant, 

 which had outpaced them. We then dismounted and pro- 

 ceeded to load, and on the elephant coming up we again 

 followed the track of the tiger. It continued for some dis- 

 tance farther along the same road, and then turned north, by 

 a cross-path, for about a quarter of a mile, after which it 

 struck into the jungle ; and, the ground being hard, we were 

 at fault. Leaving our men, we rode forward, and carefully 

 reconnoitred the country in the direction which the beast had 

 taken. It looked very hopeless, stretching for miles in flat 

 thorny scrub, with small open spaces here and there, and 

 occasional thickets 20 or 30 yards in breadth. Half-a-mile in 

 advance was a solitary tree, and it was agreed that I should 

 make a detour, and climb this tree, on the chance of seeing 

 the tiger, should it be started by Ward, who was to mount 

 the elephant, and beat up the ground in my direction. We 

 accordingly returned to the men, and, taking my two gun- 

 bearers with me, I set off for the tree, which I climbed, and 

 soon after saw Ward advancing on the elephant, and moving 

 about among the thickets. 



Presently I heard a couple of shots. The report was so 

 small that I concluded Ward had only fired his revolver into 

 some covert too dense for the elephant to penetrate ; but soon 

 after our horseman came up at a gallop, legs and arms flying 

 in all directions, and informed me that the tiger was slain. I 

 was not a little astonished, having been deceived by the re- 

 port of the rifle ; and, descending from my perch, I rejoined 



