PANTHERS. 49 



pardons, who did not improve matters by assuring me that it 

 was such a pretty sight to see the charge, the puff of 

 smoke, and final collapse. About a week afterwards we 

 were beating for a panther which had been committing 

 depredations at a village further to the north ; he was a 

 crafty brute, and had twice evaded us by quitting the 

 jungle before reaching the guns, and making off across the 

 open country ; but on this occasion we put more stops 

 with rattles on the flanks, and took up a different line 

 nearer the kill, which was one of our buffaloes, and had 

 been intended for tigers. I was on the extreme right, at 

 the edge of a broad stretch of open ground, and soon- saw 

 a lot of crows mobbing something out in the grassy plain, 

 about forty yards to my right, which turned out to be our 

 friend ; the bullet broke his off fore leg, as he crawled 

 along, close to the ground, whereupon he crouched, and 

 began to look up into the trees for his enemy ; but the left 

 barrel caught him in the right spot at the same moment 

 as he saw me ; up went his tail in the air, a few frantic 

 bounds towards me, and over he rolled stone-dead. He 

 was a very old panther, with hardly a sound tooth in his 

 head, and had been living for several years on the village 

 products, from children down to dogs. The natives were 

 delighted, and I told them that they might thank their 

 crows for the result. A few days later a village shikari 

 brought news of two cheetahs in a " guvvey " (cave) near 

 the camp, so we sallied forth, but only to find that they 

 were too small to shoot ; we then decided to catch them 

 alive, but this was no easy job, for they were regular little 

 demons, and made short charges at us. Eventually we 

 had to spear one in self-defence (although he was not 

 much bigger than a cat), and with infinite trouble secured 

 the other by snaring, and then, rolling him up in a cumbley 



