BAPU TRIUMPHANT 



where I was then acting as Railway — as well as District — 

 Superintendent of Police, and while shooting towards the 



end of that hot season with two friends, W and B , 



we received news of a tiger having killed and eaten the 

 greater part of a buffalo we had tied up the night before. 



The kill was in a deep ravine filled with high grass and 

 bushes and flanked on both sides by huge masses of rocky 

 boulders. 



We had taken up our positions on trees, after sending 

 men round to drive towards us, when we heard loud shouts, 

 followed by roars from the tiger. Presently one of the 

 stops to my right called out that the tiger had broken back. 

 Scarcely had the man spoken, when there was another 

 uproar among the beaters, and the next moment I saw the 

 tifrer coming along the bed of the ravine at a brisk trot 

 id roaring loudly all the time. 



When about sixty yards from my tree, he suddenly 



,)rang up the bank. I had now only occasional views of 



Iiim among the boulders, but noting an open space across 



which he was bound to pass, I watched it closely with my 



rille ready, and as he was crossing it, I fired. 



He swerved distinctly at the shot and disappeared over 



le ridge. Meanwhile the beaters having come up, we 



followed on the tracks, but finding no blood my friends 



^nd their shikaris naturally concluded I had missed. I 



;is very confident, however, I had hit him somewhere, 



and while W and B were condoling with me on 



my miss, Bapu my own shikari, who had great faith in his 



I aster's shooting, and had followed on alone on the track 



mn back to us, and with a broad grin illuminating his 



nigged features, held up a leaf on wliich there was a few 



Mccks of blood. 



To follow the tiger up now was a task attended with 



'■ 'me danger, for the cover was very dense and high, being 



•mposed mastly of thick bamboo jungle. 



Keeping well together, however, with the guns in front 



we proceeded cautiously, halting frequently to allow of 



the men climbing into trees and examining the ground 



'fore us, in hopes of obtaining a view of the beast. 



Suddenly Bapu, who was leading, dropped on all fours, 



pointing in front of him, and at the same moment 1 caught 



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