214 COLONEL NIGHTINGALES LETTER. 



man was only wounded behind by the claws, and had not 

 a single bite. I doctored him with arnica, gave him some 

 dibs and sent him off ' whoost.' It turned out he was deaf 

 and was moving about in the jungle. Well, I went after 

 the tiger, and as I got to the edge of the ravine he came at 

 me most furiously ; I put a ball right through his neck and 

 he rolled over and ran down the ravine. I cut him off, 

 and the huge beast frantically rushed at me again up the 

 slope ; as he came close I gave him my double Kennedy ; 

 the first ball in the neck staggered him, the second in the 

 chest slew him on the spot, and he fell with his enormous 

 head over his forearm. He was, indeed, a stunner, with a 

 beard and whiskers like his slayer. Height at shoulder four 

 feet three inches. Length of skin twelve feet eight inches. 



"On the following clay a report came in that at Lakara 

 there was a noted man-eater, an enormous beast who lived in 

 a den on the hills and could only be got at on foot ; he had 

 committed great ravages, taking cattle out of the villages and 

 killing people who went into the jungle, so that no one dare 

 cut grass or wood in his domain. I agreed to have a shy 

 at him on foot, but first I determined to try an 'artful 

 dodge.' Now as my chieftain went out to feed at night I 

 calculated he would not be in his den much before sunrise, 

 so I sent and tied up a buffalo in his jungle and then, 

 starting about 4 a.m. for the hills, got there at dawn, and 

 immediately posted some thirty markers on the peaks of the 

 hills and on trees at each nullah ; my plan succeeded, for 

 in less than ten minutes a coolie came rushing up, saying he 

 had seen a 'bagh,' and as I was proceeding to the spot I 

 saw flags waving in every direction all round me. This 

 bothered me a little. I put down my rifle and was making 



