CHAPTER V 



A description of my shikaris — A reliable quartette — ^The wild man of the 

 woods — A true Aborigine — My first introduction to him — The palaver 

 — Brother Shikaris — Become the best of friends — His progress in life 

 — The tiger, and how to get him — The best season for tiger-shooting 

 — Baiting the jungles — Looking up the baits — Tracking by foot- 

 prints — Stops on trees — The drive — Monkeys and peacocks as guides 

 — Random shooting to be avoided — Following up a wounded tiger — 

 Dangerous but necessary — Precautions to be taken — The art of track- 

 ing — How to be acquired — Difficult at first — Hyena or panther — How 

 a tiger can be distinguished from a tigress — An adventure on the 

 Satpuda hills — A tigress and her cubs — Arranging the beat — The 

 tigress viewed — A beater charged — Seelis refuge in a tree — Seized by 

 the leg — I go to the rescue — The wounded man sent into camp — 

 Tigress takes cover — Refuses to come out — ^We attack her in her 

 stronghold — A furious charge and subsequent retreat — Darkness sets 

 in — We leave her for the night. 



The names of the four shikaris referred to were Etoo, 

 Gungdya, Bapu and Sabha, and a pluckier or more 

 reliable quartette would be difficult to find. Etoo was a 

 Havildar, or Sergeant, in the Bhil Corps. He belonged to 

 a family of shikaris, and his father before him had been 

 Probyn's favourite gun-carrier in the days of muzzle 

 loaders. His son, Gungdya, a chip of the old block, was 

 also a private in the corps, a quiet unassuming man, but 

 cool and self-possessed withal. He was also an excellent 

 shot. 



Bapu, a real wild man of the woods, I picked up one 

 day in rather a curious fashion when shooting in the 

 Barwanee jungles of H.H. the Holkar. A true aborigine, 

 he had literally lived all his life amongst wild beasts, and 

 possessed the most extraordinary knowledge of their habits. 

 As a tracker he was unequalled. It was about Christmas 

 time in 1888 that I first met him. I was out one evening 

 in the hills looking for sambar, when I saw in the dense 

 jungle below me what at first appeared to be a bear. 

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