198 LIFE WITH THE FIAMRAN ARABS. 



Indian sportsmen that the tiger also will always retreat 

 before man if not driven to desperation, and that the man- 

 eater is not a tiger in its normal state, but one that has by 

 some unlucky accident tasted human blood, or that has 

 through age become unable to obtain its natural food 

 by killing wild animals, and therefore has been driven to 

 attack human beings. 



Whilst waiting for dinner, an Arab rushed to our 

 tent in great excitement, crying out ' feel ! feel ! ' (ele- 

 phant), and, seizing our rifles, we followed him through 

 some very close covert behind our camp, with the rest 

 of our party in rear making such a row that the prospect 

 of a shot would have been hopeless. The supposed 

 elephant proved to be only one of a herd of buffaloes, 

 and they of course took advantage of our noisy approach 

 to make good their escape. Hardly had we settled 

 down to dinner, when the roar of a lion close to us 

 caused another call to arms, and again, much to our 

 annoyance, everyone turned out. After getting our 

 evening clothes, not quite ' de rigueur] half torn off our 

 backs by the everlasting thorns, as we struggled through 

 the narrow paths between the bushes, we were kindly in- 

 formed by another roar that our friend was only sepa- 

 rated from us by one or two bushes at most. Halting 

 here for a time to watch the spot from whence the sound 

 came was without result, for he managed to escape, and 

 well he might in the darkness, without being seen. 



