TigeivShootin 275 



hundred of them. We drove them into the place 

 where the tiger had disappeared, and very soon they 

 began making a fearful bellowing and uproar. We 

 watched, and could see no signs of him ; we left our 

 machdns, and running down, drove the buffaloes off. 

 They were snorting near his dead body. 



He was only about a hundred yards from the place 

 where he had charged us last night, and he must 

 have died soon afterwards. He was a very heavy 

 old male, measuring exactly nine feet nine inches in 

 length. And so the poor native's death was avenged ! 

 We found out then, of course, where our bullets had 

 hit him ; his first wound was through him, behind 

 the shoulder, but too low. 



We looked at his massive paws : a tiger can with 

 one blow of his paw stun an ordinary-sized bullock, 

 or crush its skull. Those long white teeth, too ! 

 Like a cat he springs upon a man, seizing the 

 shoulder in his mouth, while his teeth penetrate 

 right through chest and back to the lungs, at the 

 same time tearing the man's head with his claws. 

 We had had no ordinary escape. 



Captain F. superintended his skinning ; we had 

 some lunch, paid the coolies, and then about four 

 o'clock J. and I went out alone for a stroll with one 

 village shikari. We climbed a steep, rocky hill about 

 a mile behind Cherla ; it was a " tigerish " spot, and 

 of course we carried guns. Tigers are met with so 

 unexpectedly that it is wise never to walk in jungles 

 frequented by them without a loaded gun or a rifle 



