THE TIGRESS AND HER CUBS 



to devour, may appear, at first sight, to be a somewhat 

 cruel proceeding, but it must be remembered that neither 

 of these animals will touch a dead bait, therefore the only 

 chance of locating them is to place some live animal in 

 their way, and thus by sacrificing the life of one buffalo 

 or goat, accomplish the destruction of a beast that has 

 already killed many of both, and if not destroyed himself, 

 will kill many more, and possibly some human beings as 

 well. 



But to go on with my story. 



My men had as usual arranged the beat admirably, 

 and I had not been long posted when the tigress came 

 out about fifty yards to my left front. I had a very fair 

 shot at her, but though I emptied both my barrels, she was 

 evidently untouched, and charging through the beaters 

 with a succession of loud roars, disappeared into some 

 thick jungle beyond. 



FeeUng very much ashamed of myself, I went back 

 with the men to the spot from which she had started, where 

 we found three cubs lying asleep at the bottom of a nullah ; 

 they were handsome little beasts, and about the size of a 

 domestic cat. 



The beat had been a long one, and darkness was coming 

 on apace. Nevertheless, I decided to sit up for the tigress 

 over her cubs, for that she would return to them there was 

 not the slightest doubt. 



Selecting a convenient tree, we hastily constructed a 

 machan on which Eloo and myself, with the aid of some 

 native blankets, were soon as comfortably installed as 

 circumstances would admit of. The rest of the men 

 ro turned to camp, their services being no longer required. 



The moon was at its full ; the night therefore was 

 ihiiost as bijn'ht as day, which was " ite, for otherwise 



uc laiuht J... >sii)ly have both gone* •! ^ p. Itmusthave 



been somewhere between twelve and one when I heard 

 <))c cubs making a peculiar gruntling kind of noise which 

 ts immediately followed by the appearanoe of the tigress 

 11 tiie scene. 



So quietly had she approached that neither of us was 

 aware that she was coming. She stood over the cubs for a 

 wliilo. lIuMi. to our astonishment* we heard her unmistakably 



185 



