304 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE. 



efforts for some time, which emboldened the Kol 

 to peer over the edge of the platform, when the 

 tiger rushed forward with a fierce snarl and re- 

 doubled his efforts to climb the poles. Reared on 

 end, the tiger's head was within a few feet of the 

 trembling pair, and they could feel and smell his 

 hot foetid breath as he snarled at the Kols above. 

 Fearing that the structure would give way under the 

 renewed efforts of the tiger, the man set about devis- 

 ing some means of getting rid of their dangerous 

 assailant. His wife suggested that they should 

 heat the piece of iron which forms the cutting part 

 of a ploughshare which they had luckily taken up 

 with them, and throw it on to the tiger's face when 

 next he reared himself. The suggestion was good, 

 and the fire was replenished with extra wood and 

 blown to a brisk flame. Soon the iron was red hot, 

 and when the tiger with open jaws again tried to 

 claw them off their perch the Kol dropped the 

 fuming metal straight into the gaping mouth of the 

 tiger. With a fierce howl of rage and pain the 

 tiger rushed away, and crouching down among some 

 bushes, he kept groaning in pain and tried with his 

 paws to soothe the burnt portion. This he kept up 

 till late in the morning, and it was only when other 

 cultivators arrived in a body to reap the corn that 

 he went off into the forest. None of the native 

 shikarees would venture into the forest to hunt this 

 brute so great was their dread of his prowess. Even 

 the few European sportsmen from Calcutta who 

 tried to bag him failed in their efforts. The land- 

 lords were losing heavily, as not only was the 



