296 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



thicket of bamboos. I hoped he would have come straight 

 on, but he suddenly turned sharp up the hill. Seeing that I 

 should not get another chance, I fired, but my view was inter- 

 cepted by boughs of trees, and though the ball struck the 

 tiger behind the shoulder, the wound was too far back to take 

 immediate effect. He growled and rushed to the front, where 

 he disappeared behind a spur of the hill, after which he 

 turned and went back through the beaters, one of whom shot 

 an arrow into him as he went by. 



We determined to follow him up on the elephant, but the 

 hill was so steep that we feared we should never get him up 

 the face. But the mahout said he thought it could be managed, 

 and at length, after great difficulty, the huge brute reached 

 the summit. It was wonderful to see the sagacity with which 

 he moved, supporting himself at some of the steeper parts on 

 his tusks and knees, but steadily working upwards. On gain- 

 ing the summit, we found ourselves in a tolerably level tree- 

 jungle which had been recently burnt, and the footprints of 

 the tiger were plainly visible on the white ashes of the grass. 

 Blood too was plentiful, and in several places we could see 

 where the wounded tiger had lain down. Dhokul with several 

 of his men had hitherto moved in front of the elephant, 

 following up the track, while we kept a sharp look-out in the 

 open ground ahead. But as, from certain well-known signs, 

 we now knew that the tiger could not be far off, we directed 

 them to fall back, while we went slowly forward on the 

 elephant. Presently we heard a low rumbling sound, which 

 at first we thought was made by the elephant, but the mahout, 

 halting, declared it was the tiger. On all sides the ground 

 was clear of grass, but we could see nothing. 



About twenty-five paces to our front was a small teak- tree 

 which had been bent over along the ground, and which still 



