120 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



might have been the result. I accordingly sent 

 the men away, and we lay on the machan and 

 kept ourselves as warm as we could until the 

 dawn. 



At daylight the men returned and helped me 

 down, and I was very glad to find myself safe 

 upon the ground with my rifle in my hand. The 

 place was a most uncomfortable one for an 

 encounter with a wounded tiger. The men, 

 however, climbed trees on the edge of the reeds 

 to reconnoitre. I indicated the direction from 

 which the moans we had heard appeared to come ; 

 and the shikari, after some difficulty, made out 

 the body of the tiger lying in the reeds about 

 thirty yards from the machan. Sticks and stones 

 thrown at the body produced no response, so I 

 advanced cautiously through the reeds and 

 found that he was quite dead. The body was 

 accordingly dragged out of the reeds and carried 

 to the camp in triumph. 



After skinning the tiger we moved camp to a 

 place about ten miles distant, where there was 

 said to be a bull-buffalo. The information was, 

 I think, given to the shikari by a Gond named 

 Dhokuri, a capital fellow, brave and intelligent 

 and a fair tracker, who joined our party sponta- 

 neously in the hope of a reward. 



On the following day we were out before dawn 

 and picked up the track of the bull in one of 

 the sandy nullahs, which were numerous in the 

 country, and which were of great assistance 

 to the sportsman, as all tracks made in the sand 

 were clearly visible. The tracks led from the 

 nullah on to some rising ground, and I followed 



