F 



A WEEK OF DISASTER 109 



have been mauled, as the tigress was not lying 

 in the thickest part of the cover, where I expected 

 to find her. 



I returned to camp in good spirits. The 

 accident to Mihtab Khan was certainly not my 

 fault, and I did not think he was badly injured. 

 My nerves had stood the strain well, and I do 

 not think I have ever held the big rifle steadier 

 than I did when I gave the tigress the coup de 

 grace. On arrival at the camp, however, I 

 heard that one of the Gonds had also been mauled, 

 and Mihtab Khan's condition caused me 

 considerable anxiety. He was in full possession 

 of his faculties and described coherently what 

 had happened ; but he appeared to be very 

 weak and dispirited, and in the early part of the 

 night he vomited freely. 



When news of the mishap reached the camp 

 Mihndu the syce, and a local Excise officer, who 

 was there at the time, rode off to Baihar to fetch 

 the Hospital Assistant, who was in charge, and 

 he arrived in a cart during the night. He took 

 a hopeful view of the case, and said that both 

 the patients would recover ; but I had my mis- 

 givings, as Mihtab Khan was very depressed. 

 The relatives of the injured Gond wished to carry 

 him to his home, and I had some difficulty in 

 persuading them to agree to his being sent to 

 the hospital at Balaghat for treatment. 



In the morning both the injured men were 

 sent in charge of the Hospital Assistant to Baihar 

 en route for Balaghat ; and on the following 

 day they went farther along the road. Mihtab 

 Khan's condition, however, became steadily 



