AFTER A WOUNDED TIGER. 197 



had been dipped in dakara (aconite) some months 

 previously, and the poison was not strong enough 

 to kill the tiger. My jemadar had seen the tiger from 

 some ten or twelve paces off, and had fired, but the 

 first shot missed. The tiger was then bolting, and 

 he fired a second time, and hit it (we found after- 

 wards that this shot struck it in the stomach near 

 the arrow wound). He pointed to fresh drops of 

 blood on the grass, and said he was following 

 these up to find the spot where the tiger had 

 taken shelter, and then he meant to come and 

 tell me. He held the empty gun in his hand, and 

 two other natives had battle-axes with them ; yet 

 here they were following up the trail of a wounded 

 tiger ! These people really seemed to know no 

 fear. Owing partly to the fever, I myself was a 

 little excited, and taking possession of the gun, and 

 carefully loading and full-cocking it, I directed 

 the men to get behind me while I took up the 

 search myself. The blood marks were faint and 

 the jungle very dense, so I had soon to allow the 

 men to approach and track for me. The whole 

 party was now at my heels assisting in the search. 

 We had gone about two hundred yards or so, the 

 underwood becoming denser every step, and the 

 men had spread out a little, when suddenly, just in 

 front of me, I heard " crunk ! crunk ! crunk ! " and 

 there, only ten paces ahead, and directly facing me, 

 was the tiger, with its mouth agape and emitting 

 the peculiar rasping sound of this animal when irri- 

 tated. I levelled my gun at its open mouth, and 

 was just about to fire when it sank down behind 



