TIGERS. 85 



Our march, on leaving Kowlass, lay through a maidan (flat 

 country) for several days, where we had some sport with 

 small game and antelope, and a day's rather unsuccessful 

 pig sticking near a village named Eampoor, where a tribe 

 of Brinjarries (gipsies*) brought their dogs to beat a thick 

 send-bund, in which a sounder had taken refuge, but we 

 could not induce them to face the open country, and only 

 had a few short gallops, which were ended by the pigs 

 regaining the covert. On reaching Bokur we had good 

 sport with panthers and bears, some of the episodes of 

 which have been already related. One morning news 

 arrived of a gara in the Soamtannah valley. Beaters 

 having been sent for, we duly proceeded there, and were 

 posted across a shady nullah, Manley on the left, Poulton 

 on the bank of the nullah in the centre, and I on the right 

 on some rising ground. In the first beat two tigers 

 appeared ; one went down the nullah towards Poulton, the 

 other kept towards the left flank, heading straight for 

 Manley's post. He, however, could not resist firing when 

 the brute was some forty yards off, moving through some 

 fairly open jungle, and missed him. The tiger then dashed 

 towards the nullah, and passed under Poulton' s tree, who 

 fired both barrels, with similar result. Almost at the same 

 instant the other tiger which had approached unseen 

 down the nullah also passed under Poulton, who used his 

 second rifle, but again without effect. 



The first tiger then emerged from the nullah, about 

 fifty yards behind Poulton, and I fired at him when he 

 was some 120 yards off, and also missed him. Poulton 

 saw this bullet strike the bank of the nullah, just over the 

 back of tiger No. 2, within a few inches of it, and thought, 

 of course, I had fired at him, but he was invisible from my 



* Itinerant grain vendors. 



