258 A Sportswoman in India 



Our marches were all through jungle, sometimes 

 really thick with fine trees, occasionally rough scrub 

 and steep, rocky hills. The track was always rough 

 and very stony, a mere path, and in many places would 

 have been quite impossible for the roughest bullock- 

 cart. We rode all of it at a walk, and the syces 

 followed on foot. 



At last we had khubr (news) of a tigress and two 

 large cubs ; and, full of elation, having reached the 

 camp, six bullocks were tied up that same evening. 



Next morning we started about half-past six and 

 went out to see what had happened. We rode, two 

 shikaris walking with us, till we were about half a mile 

 from the tie-up ; then, dismounting, we left the ponies 

 with the syces, and crept with infinite caution up to 

 the spot, for if the tiger has killed the bullock, he 

 generally only drags the body a few hundred yards, 

 and having hidden it, lies down somewhere within reach. 

 Of course, it seems cruel to the unfortunate bullock ; 

 but, as a matter of fact, if you kill the tiger in this way, 

 you save the lives of a number of other bullocks, for a 

 cattle-killing tiger devours an enormous number in a year, 

 and, in occasional cases, may take to killing men too. 



Besides, how else is a tiger to be found at all ? 

 Roaming the country-side and hunting all night, they 

 cover an enormous range of ground, and in a wild, 

 rough scrub and jungle country, extending for 

 hundreds of miles, without any clue to the tiger's 

 sleeping-place during the day, one might beat perhaps 

 for weeks and weeks, and see nothing at all. 



