102 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



The beaters came on well under the direction of 

 the shikari and the forest guard, an intelligent and 

 very plucky Gond, and the tigress soon showed 

 herself among the clumps of bamboos on the 

 opposite side of the nullah. I was in high hopes 

 of getting a favourable shot at her on the bank, 

 but she hid herself behind one of the bamboo 

 clumps and remained there so long that I was 

 afraid she had given me the slip and broken 

 away across the forest road to my left. When 

 the beaters drew near, however, she emerged and 

 descended rapidly into the dry nullah. She was 

 on my left, and I had to fire in a somewhat awkward 

 position. The bullet struck her on the near 

 foreleg low down, breaking the fetlock, but not 

 crippling her very seriously. She dashed up 

 the bank, but soon slowed down, and by the time 

 I had turned in the machan she was going away 

 at a fast walk. She was about loo yards from 

 the machan when I fired my second barrel, and 

 the bullet struck her high up on the same foreleg, 

 completely shattering the shoulder and knocking 

 her over. She tried to rise, and rolled over again, 

 but then recovered herself and made off. I was 

 using on this occasion a double-barrelled "450 cordite 

 rifle by Rigby with soft-nosed bullets. Between 

 the place where she was knocked over behind 

 the machan and the thick jungle there was 

 some open ground, and, when the beaters came 

 up, we tracked her across this, and, while follow- 

 ing the track, we picked up a large piece of 

 the shattered shoulder-bone. She successfully 

 reached the thick cover, however, and halted 

 near the edge of it ; and, as we approached, 



