244 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



The hunter-men were in a frenzy of excitement 

 behind and were calling me loudly to come out, 

 though, as I was firmly wedged in the passage, this 

 for the moment was a physical impossibility. I then 

 fired two more shots, the tiger lay panting, and 

 was still. 



Once in the open, it was evident for the first time 

 at what high tension my nerves had been kept dur- 

 ing the four hours of watching. In another hour 

 we had dragged the tiger up to the mouth of the 

 cave, which, owing to the big rocks which had to be 

 replaced before we could get at his cavern, was no 

 easy matter, photographed him, and then carried 

 him suspended from a pole to the village, while the 

 peasants ran alongside, laughing, shouting, and gen- 

 erally showing their delight. 



I skinned the body on a flat rock in the village, 

 found to my satisfaction that the pelt measured ten 

 feet six inches from nose to tip of tail, which the 

 hunter-men said was a record, though I have no 

 means of verifying this assertion, and then adjourned 

 to the temple, where a feast of triumph and tiger- 

 meat was held throughout the evening. Indeed, 

 within two hours of the shooting the meat was be- 

 ing sold in the village streets and voraciously eaten 

 by the peasants. 



This ended my tiger-shooting. With the prospect 



