116 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



escorted them along the road to the camping- 

 ground as they marched during the night. 

 According to their account the tiger repeatedly 

 appeared on the road in front of them ; but a 

 villager, who was showing the way, beat a kerosene 

 oil-tin, and a peon, who was in one of the carts, 

 fired off a gun at intervals, so that they were 

 not actually molested. This tiger was certainly 

 very bold and persistent, as in the morning, 

 when I was making the march on horseback, 

 I met some cartmen coming from the direction 

 of Taurenga, who were afraid to proceed, as the 

 tiger was said to have been seen by the side of 

 the road in broad daylight. As the Gonds said, 

 this tiger, if he had not been shot, would probably 

 have caused serious trouble. 



My ambition was to shoot a buffalo, which on 

 several occasions, in the Bustar and Patna States, 

 I had tried unsuccessfully to do. We arranged, 

 therefore, that Tweedie was to have the first 

 shot at a tiger, and that I was to have the first 

 shot at any buffalo we might come across. The 

 shikari was very confident that the tigers in the 

 nullah would kill any animal which might be tied 

 out as a bait, but was disposed to disregard the 

 knight of the road, whom he apparently considered 

 to be a wanderer. We decided, however, to have 

 a try for him also, and tied out two bullocks, 

 one in the nullah, and one on the high-road, about 

 three miles from our tents. In the morning we 

 visited the nullah before sunrise, and found that 

 the bullock had been killed and dragged up the 

 bank into the jungle. The drag turned to the 

 left from the top of the bank ; and, as we were 



