.AN EXULTING SHIKAREE. 365 



other gesticulating wildly towards Kugonauth, he 

 shouted, in tones of exultation, " I knew well ! I 

 knew well ! There he goes ! Who said that he 

 wasn't here, and that Roopur was a deceiver ? Ha ! 

 ha ! " And he laughed a laugh, disdainful yet 

 triumphant. 



His paean was echoed from some threescore dusky 

 throats, as the tiger broke in view of those assem- 

 bled above. It did not require old Rugonauth's 

 yell of warning to announce to the hunters the fact 

 of the animal being on foot. 



Hawkes, from his position opposite, at once caught 

 sight of it, and had only time to fire one ineffectual 

 shot before the beast became lost to view. It made 

 no attempt to ascend in his direction, but turned 

 down the gorge, and made direct for the positions 

 of the two lower sportsmen. From out of some 

 bushes it emerged, like a flash, in front of Norman, 

 and bounded into the nullah at full speed. Catching 

 a glimpse, between the stems of two trees, of the 

 meteor-like mass of stripes and yellow shooting by, 

 he fired, but without checking the beast ; and in 

 another moment it had passed. 



He had just time to shout, " Look out, Mac I " 

 when that individual, seated on a stump, not more 

 than six feet above the ground, viewed the tiger 

 dash out of the nullah, and take a path which led 



