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A WEEK OF DISASTER 108 



she roared loudly. The beaters up to this had 

 been full of confidence, and I had had some 

 difficulty in keeping them behind me; but the 

 roar, as poor Mihtab Khan said, was very full of 

 life ("bara jandar awaz"), and they became more 

 cautious. We halted on the edge of the forest, 

 and after a time she shifted her position and 

 retreated to some thick bushes farther in the 

 forest, and there lay up. Shama, who was with 

 me, said that she was breathing heavily, but I 

 could not hear this. I sent for the ladder, and, 

 putting it against a tree, posted myself on it, and 

 then, having sent the other men away, I made 

 Mihtab Khan get up a tree with a shot-gun 

 and fire into the bushes. This caused her to 

 bolt, but I did not get a shot. By this time it 

 was getting dusk, and an adjournment until 

 the following day was necessary. 



By the time we returned to camp the men in 

 charge of the young buffaloes had tied them 

 out in the forest ; and, as luck would have it, 

 there was another kill that night. I had sent 

 for some grazier's buffaloes over-night to help 

 in the hunt for the tigress, and in the morning 

 ten or twelve buffaloes with two herdsmen duly 

 appeared at my camp. I was in favour of starting 

 at once to hunt the tigress, but the forest guard 

 and Mihtab Khan strongly urged me to have a 

 beat first for the tiger which had killed over- 

 night, and to follow up the tigress afterwards. 

 The beaters were in attendance and, having been 

 well paid by me in person for the previous day's 

 work, were anxious to beat, so somewhat re- 

 luctantly I consented. The beat occupied more 



