SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 43 



off two big molar teeth, one in the upper and one 

 in the lower jaw. The tiger probably would 

 have died, but for the time being he was in no 

 way crippled. For some seconds, however, he 

 was knocked out of time ; and, as nothing was 

 visible, I hoped that I had killed him. He then 

 got up and dashed out of the jungle at a gallop, 

 mad with pain and rage. I failed to stop him ; 

 but, after galloping aimlessly about for some 

 seconds, he passed near Bird, who knocked him 

 over and then finished him, with two well-directed 

 shots. As already said, a shot in the head or 

 face often gives very unsatisfactory results. 



On the 26th of April Bird got his chance and shot 

 a fine tiger, killing it with a single shot. He was 

 using a double-barrelled '360 bore high- velocity 

 rifle, and the tiger, with a bullet through his 

 heart, galloped, apparently uninjured, for at least 

 one hundred yards. Thinking he had missed, 

 Karim urged Chainchal to speed to cut him off, 

 and, just as an encounter was imminent, the tiger 

 collapsed in his gallop, and fell stone dead in a 

 small ditch. He lay in this ditch all limp and 

 crumpled up, like a well-shot rabbit, as may be 

 seen from the illustration. 



On the 28th Bird shot a bear, which was 

 marked down by the shikaris in a clump of bushes ; 

 and on the 30th of April he shot a second tiger. 



This tiger had apparently had a fight with 

 another tiger, or with a bear, and had come off 

 second best. He had lost one eye and was badly 

 clawed about the body. When beaten out of 

 the cover, in which he was lying, he broke at a 

 gallop ; but his blind eye prevented him from 



