OF TIIK OLD WOKLD. 191 



and one or two of tlie gang who were with rae asked 

 me to shoot a peacock for tlieui tliat was screaming 

 in a thicket close by, I bid them remain perfectly 

 quiet where they were, whilst I followed it up, guided 

 by the cry, and at last I got so near that I could 

 hear the old birds scratching up the ground, and the 

 young ones chirping or rather whistling ; but the 

 underwood was so dense that I could not get sight 

 of them, although they must have been within a few 

 paces from me. I clambered down the dry sandy 

 bed of a nullah, and was peering between the trees 

 in the expectation of getting a glimpse of the brood, 

 when, turning stealthily round a large jummona- 

 bush, (a kind of willow,) I suddenly came face to 

 face upon an immense tiger, who had evidently been 

 taking his " siesta " under the cool shade of the 

 shelving bank, for when I first caught sight of him 

 he was stretching himself and yawning as if only 

 just awake. Doubtless it was a mutual surprise, 

 but I was the first to recover my self-possession, for 

 without a moment's hesitation I swung round, and 

 notwithstanding we were barely six feet apart, and 

 my gun (a double eight-guage by Westley Eichards) 

 was only loaded with No. 4 shot, I let drive right 

 and left full into his face. Before the smoke cleared 

 away, the tiger, uttering an appalling shriek of rage, 

 sprang clear over my head, and fell with a crash 

 against the opposite bank: whilst I, without waiting 

 to watch his further movements, jjave "leff bail," and 

 ran in a contrary direction down the nullah. Find- 



