TIGER SLAYER BY ORDER 



to the Sahib and when we drive it past his post he will 

 not shoot it." 



We never got this tigress, for after the fiasco I have 



described, it was too late to track her further that evening, 



and though our men, despite their disappointment, worked 



loyally for some days, they failed to mark her down again. 



****** 



In my remark about panthers, made in a previous chap- 

 ter, I mentioned that they sometimes come into a camp 

 at night, and have since quoted an adventure of this kind 

 experienced by a friend. I now remember one which 

 happened to myself when encamped at Chap-Pani, a 

 desolate village situated in the heart of the Satpudas. 



It was a wild lonely spot, and being just the kind of 

 place where a wild animal might be likely to visit the 

 camp, I always slept with my gun under the mattress, and 

 my two dogs. Snap and a Persian greyhound named Rover, 

 chained to the foot of my bed. 



One night, a particularly dark one, I remember, I was 

 sleeping in my tent, near which were the servants, all also 

 asleep, round their smouldering fire, when I was awakened 

 by the loud barking of the dogs, which were plunging and 

 tugging at their chains, in their frantic struggles to get 

 free. At least, so I suppose, for I could see nothing, the 

 tent being dark as pitch. 



I guessed at once — or as soon as I had had time to 

 collect my thoughts — that one of them had been seized 

 by a panther, and springing out of bed, I shouted loudly 

 for help, at the same time firing my gun in the direction 

 whence the sounds proceeded, risking the chance of killing 

 the dogs. 



The scuffle ceased at once, there was a sudden crash, 

 then an ominous silence, and I knew, or rather felt instinc- 

 tively, that one at least of the two dogs had gone. By 

 this time the servants were aroused and came in with a 

 lantern, when we found that, as I had guessed, one of the 

 dogs was missing. It was the greyhound Rover, which 

 had been dragged or carried off, and, undoubtedly, by a 

 panther. 



There was a deep ravine just below the camp along 

 which the beast had gone. We followed this up rapidly, 

 140 



