TIGER-HAUNTED JUNGLES 25 



eater crouched ready for the spring, and with a sudden 

 bound he struck Luckmee's head with his heavy paw, 

 fracturing the poor skull with the force of the blow, and 

 with another bound carried her off into the ravine below. 

 Some grass-cutters returning to the camp with dub 

 grass for the horses had heard a scream, and seeing the 

 red sari or head-veil left in the field where Luckmee had 

 lately been working, rushed in terror to the tent, crying 

 that the tiger had carried off a woman. Seizing guns and 

 rifles, always kept loaded, and accompanied by some 

 chaprasis and a brave Dotial gun-bearer, it did not take 

 many minutes to be on the spot. There lay the sickle 

 and a handful of com, and, alas ! a pool of blood and 

 brains ; there were the fresh marks of the great claws 

 of the tiger's hind-legs where he landed from the rock, and 

 his tracks, all stained with warm blood, led to the edge 

 of the forest and down into the ravine. Following 

 through the dense jungle over moss-grown rocks and 

 among tangled elephant-creepers, the track was easily 

 visible. The spaniels, Ruby and Flora, who had rushed 

 ahead, soon returned yelping, and skulked to their 

 master's heels. At last the dead body was found by the 

 stream, terribly mangled and partly devoured. The 

 tiger, however, was not to be seen. Tigers seem to have 

 an extraordinary power of rendering themselves invisible, 

 and hiding in thickets where other animals can easily 

 be seen. There was no chance of beating him out, as 

 there was nothing but forest, almost impenetrable, for 

 miles up the mountain-side to its summit, and no paths 

 to get there. The only thing to do was to sit still on a 

 rock and wait for him to return to his interrupted meal, 

 sending all the noisy followers back to camp. So clever 

 was this man-eating tiger from having been fired at by 

 shikaris in trees waiting over a kill, that he never came 



