26 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



position in front of the beat, and Faunthorpe 

 was beyond me. The tigress was soon on the 

 move, and we could hear her splashing in the 

 reeds as she moved along the edge of the lagoon. 

 When the line was half-way through the patch of 

 reeds she charged the elephants with a roar and 

 threw the line into confusion. With a little more 

 courage she could have broken through and 

 escaped, but her heart failed her and she retreated 

 until she was pushed up into the very apex of 

 the triangle. She might have escaped across 

 the water, as this side of the beat was unprotected ; 

 but she would not face the open. At last, when 

 driven into the extreme corner of the reeds, 

 she rushed out on the side where we were all 

 standing. Wood had a shot at her but missed, 

 and she came straight for my elephant. Seeing 

 the elephant, she declined the encounter, and 

 swung round, and as she swung round I fired. 

 A second later Faunthorpe's shot rang out. 

 Our shots were so nearly simultaneous that he 

 did not hear my shot, but I heard his. Two 

 more shots were fired by Wood and myself at 

 the tigress, as she was struggling in the grass ; 

 but these were misses. My shot struck the 

 tigress in the heart, and Faunthorpe's shot 

 struck her in the back near the shoulder as she was 

 end on to him. I was using an express and firing 

 shell, and the others fired solid bullets; there 

 was, therefore, no difficulty in identifying the 

 different shots on this occasion. Our two shots 

 were fired almost simultaneously, but Faunthorpe, 

 seeing that my shot had killed the tigress, did 

 not make any claim. I rode an elephant belonging 



