SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 38 



fired at it and killed it. Overjoyed at ^is good 

 fortune, he chaffed his friend about his bad shot, 

 and the other accepted the chaff. The forest 

 officer, from curiosity, went along the route by 

 which the tiger had approached the second 

 machan, and found blood all along the track. 

 But, where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise ; 

 both the sportsmen were satisfied, and he left 

 them in blissful ignorance of his discovery. 



Major Lumsden shot two of the small cubs. 

 The third must also have died, as they were much 

 too young to hunt for themselves. 



Our next hunt was an exciting one. A tiger 

 was marked down in a thick bed of reeds in a 

 swampy clearing in the middle of sal forest. 



I We posted ourselves round the reeds, and the 

 tiger broke out near the place where Channer 

 was posted ; but, as well as I remember, he did 



I I not, owing to some difficulty with his elephant, 

 ^1 get a shot. As the tiger was disappearing into 



the forest Lumsden fired and put a bullet into 

 him. There was very little blood, and it was 

 uncertain how far the tiger had gone; but we 

 formed a long line in the forest, with the elephants 

 about 50 yards apart, and drove forward in the 

 hope of rounding him up. I was on the extreme 

 right of the line, and before we had gone far the 

 mahout said that he heard the tiger growling. I 

 heard him also and ought, perhaps, to have called 

 a halt and sent for the others. I was afraid, 

 however, that the tiger might escape, as he did 

 not appear to be badly wounded, and was also, 

 it must be admitted, very anxious to see a fine 

 charge. The prospect of an encounter, therefore, 

 3 



