204 MODERN PIG-STICKING 



When dawn came he was standing some distance off, and 

 I hoped we would be able to get ropes on him. However 

 he was still murderous, and went for any one he could see, 

 so I decided to shoot him. By an extraordinary accident 

 I found among my cartridges one loaded with a solid 

 bullet. Where I got it I can't imagine, as I had never 

 brought any. However, a lucky shot with this rolled 

 him over, the mahout taking a heavy fall. He (the mahout) 

 at once got up and limped into the jungle, and had to be 

 brought back, thawed, and fed. His name was Hiddan 

 Khan. He is still living, I had him out with me last 

 December. He was really to blame for taking out the 

 elephant which had shown signs of becoming " must," 

 but he more than made up for his fault by the splendid 

 pluck with which he stuck to the elephant. 



I must tell you one more elephant episode, though 

 not connected with any Kadir elephant. 



Three years ago, when enjoying the regal hospi- 

 tality of that greatest of all sportsmen. Sir John 

 Hewett, then Lieutenant-Governor of the United 

 Provinces, we were beating for a tiger who was in 

 the same place where he had defeated us once before. 



The tiger was in a thick patch on the edge of a 

 shallow sandy nullah which ran through a gorge 

 of trees and jungle with high cliffs on either side. 

 Below the patch where the tiger lay the nullah turned 

 sharp across the gorge to the cliffs and back, and 

 then on ; making a > -shaped promontory, across 

 the base of which any animal would make a short- 

 cut instead of following the winding nullah. The 

 promontory had a thin belt of small trees and 

 saplings on the edge opposite the tiger's cover. 

 At the tip of the > a little cleft ran up the cliff. 

 By this the tiger had escaped before. 



Sir John being anxious to give me the shot, and 

 wanting to guard the cleft put me in a tree in the 



