FOLLOWING A TIGRESS AND CUB. 317 



I thought it was probably a tigress with cubs, as it had been so bold in, 

 facing man ; though Bommay Gouda, on whom its determined resistance to 

 intrusion had made a considerable impression, declared it was a huge male, 

 and showed by holding his arms to represent capacity that its head must be 

 about the size of a schoolroom globe ! 



We spent the interval till noon in a cool old temple overgrown by a 

 peepul-tree {Ficus religiosa), whose roots had displaced, but firmly embraced 

 and upheld, many of the huge old slabs of which it was constructed. It 

 had long been abandoned, and Bommay Gouda said bears used it as a retreat 

 in continued rains. 



At twelve o'clock we went to the thicket on the high ground where the 

 tiger had been last seen. We found it quite untenanted. One cow had 

 been eaten, the contents of its stomach and its leg-bones being all that 

 remained ; and the other had been dragged down the gentle slope covered 

 with short grass, towards the bamboo-cover. We followed the track in a 

 body, and soon got to the ravine in which we were pretty sure the tiger 

 was lying. The bamboos were in clumps, and there was plenty of room 

 to walk together amongst them ; we could see well on all sides, and entered 

 with due caution. We had no apprehension of a tiger's attacking so many 

 men (there were nine of us), who all had confidence in each other, and would 

 stand firm. 



When we got to the small sandy ravine, in which a little water was 

 flowing, Koon Sidda whispered " Cubs," and I saw a fine young cub running 

 up the opposite bank from the carcass of the cow, which lay partially eaten 

 in the water. The little glutton was feeding at noonday ! At the same 

 moment his mother, who we subsequently found had been lying under a 

 bamboo-clump, came growling threateningly towards us from the direction 

 the cub had taken. She stopped in the bamboo-cover where we coidd only 

 see her indistinctly. 



Had I only succeeded in wounding her now by firing an indecisive shot 

 we might have lost her altogether, and as I knew she would not leave the 

 cover with her cub at that hour unless much frightened, we moved along 

 the bank of the ravine, down stream, to find a better place to cross. 



The tigress, however, kept parallel with us, but hidden, just hinting now 

 and then that we were to leave the place. We soon found a crossing and 

 advanced towards the ravine bank, at which she growled more loudly. I 

 looked at my men ; their faces beamed with pleasurable excitement, whilst 

 they whispered objurgations and disparaging remarks concerning the "jackal." 

 I felt proud of them. 



When we reached the bank the tigress came forward almost to the edge 



