147 



CHAPTEE XL 



After a Sunday rest in camp, the following morning we 

 made an early start, our intention being to ford the Ganges 

 and beat up some swampy cane-brakes on the farther side 

 of it. As we moved leisurely on the elephants towards the 

 -ford, which was a mile or so distant, I diverged into a " null " 

 jungle, along the edge of which we were skirting, in the 

 hope of getting a shot at some jungle-fowl I heard crow- 

 ing there. " Null " or " nurkul " is a long reed-like grass, 

 common in the Terai and Doon jungles. It is generally a 

 sure harbour for game of all sorts and sizes. I have fre- 

 quently seen these reeds growing so tall, that, when standing 

 in the howdah, I was unable to reach their tops with my gun 

 held up at arm's-length. Even an elephant looks compara- 

 tively small in a null jungle. 



Well, my elephant had not got far into the null when I 

 heard a deep angry growl, which was immediately followed 

 by the shouting of men, evidently in a state of alarm. 

 Pushing on to the place from whence the sounds came, I 

 found two natives " treed," and hallooing away at the top of 

 their voices. They said they were collecting wild honey, 

 when they had suddenly come on a tigress and two cubs, 

 and had at once climbed up the nearest tree. This informa- 

 tion was not easily elicited from them, for they seemed to be 

 as much frightened at the sudden appearance of the elephant 

 as of the tigress. 



I lost no time in ojettinff back to inform the rest of the 



