TIGER SLAYER BY ORDER 



Meanwhile, as Assistant Superintendent of Police and 

 Adjutant of the Bhil Corps, my life was enjoyable enough. 

 We were but a small community it is true, but frequently 

 visited the neighbouring stations for race meetings, in 

 fact on any plausible excuse — besides we had many pleasant 

 shooting camps ourselves and especially at Christmas time 

 when, as is the case all over India, such camps are regular 

 institutions and usually of a very festive order ; except at 

 large stations where instead of shooting camps these 

 Christmas gatherings usually take the form of race 

 meetings or gymkhanas at headquarters. 



The quasi-military portion of my duties was on the 

 whole fairly monotonous, but on one occasion we had an 

 exceedingly exciting experience with a Naik or corporal of 

 the Bhil Corps. 



This enterprising individual, electing to run amok one 

 morning when Probyn and I were on parade, shot his 

 Havildar dead, then loosed off into a squad of recruits at 

 drill, wounding one severely. 



Happening to be quite close to him at the time, I ran 

 up and disarmed him, narrowly escaping a shot he fired 

 at me, the bullet hitting the ground at my feet. The fact 

 of my being in rapid motion at the time probably saved 

 my life, for the man was evidently a good shot, as proved 

 by his practice on the Havildar. 



With the exception of this exciting little incident, the 

 only other shooting adventure worth recording that I 

 experienced during these early years of my service while 

 stationed in Khandesh, was one which no true sportsman 

 would be likely to forget, since it was no less important an 

 event than the bagging of my first tiger. 



Although it is now nearly thirty years since this red-letter 

 day in my life, I can still recall quite vividly those few 

 exciting moments of that day when, perched on the branches 

 of a tree — my rifle ready for instant use — I waited with 

 bated breath for the animal to appear, and when it came 

 out at last, the first tiger I had ever seen in its wild state, 

 how anxiously I watched its every movement, wondering 

 at its enormous muscular developments, extraordinary 

 girth of limbs, especially noticeable in the forearm and 

 wrist, its beautiful white beard and bristling whiskers, all 

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