292 THE EASTERN HUNTERS. 



With a tremendous roar, the tiger sprang up, 

 leapt from the bushes which had concealed him, and 

 dashed straight towards the advancing column. 

 Luckily, the men remained compact and firm, 

 waving their sticks and swords in front, and, of 

 course, redoubling their shouts. When within some 

 eight or ten yards, the brute, intimidated by the 

 determined appearance of the wedge of human 

 beings, shirked the attack, and turned aside into the 

 jungle. Had it, however, been but a small party, 

 or had any stray outsiders been separated from the 

 main body, it would probably have gone hard with 

 them. Not for a moment did the animal now loiter 

 in the cover, but, turning back, broke from it in 

 nearly the same place as the others had done on the 

 previous day. 



Catching a sight of the two hunters standing on 

 the bank, he changed his direction which was along 

 the bed of the river and charged right at them, 

 tail on end, and roaring with full tiger power. 



Perfectly steady, the wary hunters waited till he 

 had passed one or two intervening bushes, and then, 

 when he was distant from them about fifteen or 

 twenty paces, touched their triggers, and a couple of 

 bullets crashed into his body. He sprang into the 

 air, stood for a moment on his hind legs, and then 

 commenced dancing round and round. A second 



