I 



FOUR DAYS 119 



but a nudge from me kept him quiet, and he 

 behaved well. With his keen eyesight, he made 

 out the tiger crouching in the reeds at the edge of 

 the small clearing we had made ; and there, as 

 Shama said, he lay for a considerable time looking 

 at the carcase of the bullock. I was unable to 

 see him, but Shama very wisely did not attempt 

 to draw my attention to him, and sat perfectly 

 still. 



At last, reassured by his inspection, the tiger 

 emerged into the circular clearing we had made 

 in the reeds and stood by the carcase, looking 

 strangely small by the faint light of the moon. 



Our tree was, however, near the kill, and I had 

 a luminous sight on my "450 cordite rifle. Catching 

 the moonlight on this, I lowered the muzzle of 

 the rifle until I covered his shoulder and fired. 

 With the gasping " Wouf " which almost invariably 

 follows a deadly shot, he sprang into the reeds 

 and disappeared, and, after a moan or two, all 

 was still. Shama wanted me to fire again ; but 

 this would have been quite useless, so we sat 

 still and waited. 



At 10 o'clock the shikari came with some 

 Gonds to fetch me, and, as we had no wraps and 

 the nights were still chilly, I was much tempted 

 to risk the descent. Shama, with the usual 

 recklessness of the Indian when the danger is 

 not present and tangible, urged me to go home, 

 and the sounds we had heard were encouraging, 

 but poor Mihtab Khan's death had only recently 

 occurred and I would not risk it. The tree was 

 in the middle of the reeds, and, if the tiger had 

 charged while I was descending, several casualties 



