48 TIGER CARRYING OFF THE OFFICER. 



when beaters are collected and the tiger, which is pretty sure 

 to remain in the neighbourhood of the kill, is driven out, the 

 sportsmen being posted on small bamboo ladders from eight 

 to ten feet high, placed against the stems of trees, as the tiger 

 scarcely ever looks up, and though you may be sitting with 

 your feet unpleasantly near the ground it does not appear to 

 notice you. I certainly never heard an instance of any one 

 being pul 'led off a ladder by a tiger, but a curious accident 

 happened to an officer I was acquainted with. He fired at a 

 tiger that was coming straight up to him ; on receiving the 

 shot it bounded forward, struck the ladder and brought the 

 unfortunate shooter down on to its back, very much as a 

 cocoanut at a fair is brought down from the top of a stick ; 

 the brute then seized him by the thigh and carried him off, 

 eventually dropping him, frightened by the shouting of the 

 men. My friend was fortunately only bitten through the fleshy 

 part of the thigh and soon recovered, but never again, I believe, 

 got back his nerve. 



A young Scotchman, who was a first rate shot, having 

 had a good deal of experience in Highland deer shooting 

 before he came out to India, joined a regiment in this neigh- 

 bourhood, and accompanied some of his brother officers on 

 a tiger shooting trip. You may be pretty sure he was not 

 posted in the most likely run ; however, there are few things 

 more uncertain in this life than the direction wild animals will 

 take when driven. My young friend had only been a short 

 time on his ladder when a tiger came ; a steady well-placed 

 shot dropped him dead. He had only just reloaded when up 

 came a bear, and he hit him very hard ; the bear seeing the 

 body of the tiger in front of him immediately attacked it, and 

 while so occupied was easily finished off. Then before the 



