OP THE OLD WORLD. 193 



through the heart immediately put him out of his 

 misery, for he sprang high into the air and dropped 

 stone dead. On examination I found the whole of 

 the upper part of the face was blown to pieces, and 

 both eyes destroyed with the effect of my first shots ; 

 indeed, the head was a mass of congealed blood, 

 none of the features being distinguishable ; however, 

 such is the tenacity of life in tlie feline race, that he 

 managed even in this condition to make his way for 

 upwards of half a mile, although totally blind. 



A whistle brought up my followers, and we imme- 

 diately commenced denuding the tiger of his spoils, 

 in which operation we were overtaken by darkness, 

 but by lighting a huge fire we managed to accom- 

 plish our purpose, and afterwards made the best of 



our way to the tents, where I found B and 



D deeply interested in exploring the interior of 



a huge marrow-pie, the former having that mornini,' 

 killed a fine nilghau within a few hundred paces of 

 our encampment. After dinner we superintended 

 the pegging down of the skins, and retired early to 

 rest, as the Mulchers had tracked up the herd of 

 nilghau, and we determined if possible to drive them 

 into the more open country on the morrow, and ride 

 them down with our boar-spcars. 



I sounded the "reveille" through the camp an 

 hour before dawn, and after having fortified the 

 " inner man " and partaken of a " stirrup cup," we 

 lighted our cheerots, mounted our nags, and under 

 the guidance of the Mulchers set out for the cover in 



N 



