CHAPTER X 



My dutiee as tiger slayer — Panthers included — Some deecription of them 

 — Variety of the species — Size, weight, and markings — What they 

 prey on — Climbing powers — ^Their courage and ferocity in attack 

 — ^How they feed on their kills — ^Man-eating leopards—The black 

 panther rare — The cheetah — Panthers difficult to locat« — Returning 

 to their kills — Dangerous to follow up — An experiment with buck- 

 shot — S.S.G. best for close quarters — Panther unexpectedly en- 

 countered — My shikari attacked and mauled — A huge beast — 

 Another panther hunt — Attacks and mauls beater — Its final charge 

 — Finished with S.8.A. — The uncertainty of sport — Killed with a 

 single shot — Handsomely marked skins — An unusual sight^ — Tiger 

 and panther seen together — Abject terror of the latter — Slinking off 

 into the jungle — A tiger's sovereignty of the jungles — ^The wild boar 

 excepted — Uncertainty the fascination of Indian sport — An un- 

 expected meeting with a bear — Bagged — Capture the cub — Becomes 

 quite tame in time — Walking out with the dogs — A leopard adventure 

 in Bengal — Shooting for the pot — A partridge shot — Retrieving the 

 bird — Sudden appearance of a leopard—Changing cartridges — 

 Leopard dropped but still alive — Attempts to charge — No mote ball 

 cartridge — On the honw of a dilemma — My ordwly'B ingeonity — 

 An extemporised projectile — Complete suooess. 



Although the main object of my appointment as tiger 

 slayer was, naturally, the destruction of these particular 

 animals, yet, though not ofTicially stated, the office was 

 intended to include the reduction of all other beasts of prey 

 dangerous to human life or cattle, especially leopards or 

 panthers, as they arc equally often termed. 



As these animals are actually far more destructive to 

 cattle and goats, and more numerous, too, than tigers, I 

 was as assiduous in my efforts to destroy them and experi- 

 enced many an exciting adventure while in their pursuit. 

 Before relating some of these, however, it would perhaps 

 be as well to give a short description of these animals and 

 their ways, for although nuich of what I have said regarding 

 tigers applies also to the leopard, yet there are many 

 points on which the two animals differ ver>' materially. 



The great variety in their species render classification 



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