THE BANDYPORE MAN-EATER. 285 



driver in its mouth ! It held him by the neck 

 and his legs were dragging on the ground as it 

 was stealing off. I rapidly cocked my rifle, and 

 placing the stock to my shoulder took a rough 

 aim and pulled off both triggers, as I hoped 

 that even if I missed the tiger, the sudden 

 report would make him drop his victim. Snap ! 

 snap ! went both barrels, and I found I had 

 not capped the gun (this was in the days 

 before breech-loaders were in common use). By 

 this time the bullocks yoked to the transit had 

 also taken the alarm and were dashing away 

 after their companions and no amount of tugging 

 at the reins would stop them in their wild flight. 

 It was fully a mile before they could be brought 

 under control and then no amount of persuasion 

 or threats would induce either my servant or the 

 driver to go back with me to try and recover the 

 body of the poor fellow carried off by the man- 

 eater. That he was dead there could be no doubt, 

 as his neck must have been broken by the first 

 bite of those tremendous jaws. Probably the brute 

 would have begun his gruesome meal ere this, 

 but still there was a chance of recovering some 

 portion of his body. The next best thing to be 

 done was to hurry on and try and overtake Messrs. 

 Kaye and Ward and bring them back to the scene 

 of this dreadful adventure. I felt that I had 

 indirectly been the cause of the man's death, as 

 it was my representation that had induced him 

 to come with me. We hurried on till we came 

 to a small hamlet on the southern skirts of the 



