260 A Sportswoman in India 



And as for danger ! I have heard it compared with 

 shooting a mad dog from the top of an omnibus. 

 Read the rest of the chapter. 



On the morning of which I speak we crept up to 

 the first bullock and found it still unharmed ; but we 

 could track plainly where one of the tiger cubs (they 

 were nearly full-grown) had walked up to it, and 

 right round it, but had not seen fit to kill. We sent 

 the reprieved bullock to water and back to camp, and 

 crept on about a mile and a half to the next. 



It was gone ! We stole up to the stake. The 

 rope was broken off short, and in the dust, close to 

 the stake, was an enormous scratch-mark, with all the 

 marks of the nails imprinted sharply, exactly like a 

 gigantic cat at home might make. There was a broad 

 trail where the body had been dragged off. 



As the tiger might be lying down close to the body, 

 it is better never to follow this up. No one who 

 values his life should walk up to a tiger. Every one 

 has heard how tigers which have been mortally 

 wounded have struck down men even in their dying 

 agonies, and almost every year some fatal accident 

 occurs to add to the warnings, but they are still un- 

 heeded. Other animals may be dodged and avoided ; 

 but if a tiger does charge home, death is nearly 

 inevitable. 



Leaving two shikaris to arrange the general idea of 

 the beat, we went back to camp, four miles off. While 

 we had breakfast, and coolies were collected for the 

 beat, a concentrated excitement seemed in the very air. 



