THE POWER 01 SCENT IX WILD ANIMALS. 115 



crest of the hill just outside my garden fence, the tracks showing that he 

 had come in the early night and returned in the very early morning, I 

 accordingly determined to sit up and see whether he would not come 

 again a third time but as there were no trees suitable for mychauns I 

 arranged to squat under the shadow of a very big, very dense orange tree 

 where there was just room to sit uprii;ht and move one's rifle round in a 

 circle. Unfortunately it was a pitch dark night and though the tiger 

 came and remained within easy shooting distance of me for at least an 

 hour I never saw anything to shoot at. The one gap in the fence in front 

 of me had a big white post against which anything passing must have 

 shewn up but this was carefully avoided. On one side of me and about 

 fifteen yards to the right was a very massive hedge of bougainvillea and 

 most of the hour the tiger entertained me with an endless walk backwards 

 and forwards behind this. He knew something was wrong somewhere but 

 what he could not decide ; every now and then I could hear him put his 

 nose to the ground and draw deep breaths in the attempt to get my scent, 

 then he would once more resume his walk, the soft pad, pad of his feet 

 hardly audible in the intense stillness unless a dried leaf or brittle twig 

 betrayed his movements. Every now and then he would make a little 

 whimper a sound I have sometimes heard tigers make when hungry, and 

 less often, he would give vent to his impatience in a long drawn, 

 " a-a-a-ough. " 



He could not possibly have seen me and I made no sound so in this 

 instance it must either have been his sense of smell which warned or else 

 that uncanny extra sense which so many animals seem to possess of the 

 vicinity of danger. 



Eventually he cleared ofl' the way he came, and I went ofl:' to bed to be 

 awoke the next morning just after day light by two sweating frightened 

 men who came to tell me that this tiger had killed their companion about 

 two miles from my bungalow. I went out at once but failed to get him 

 and after this he killed wath the greatest regularity, disposing of 52 people 

 in eight months before I finally shot him. 



This tiger, all through his career, as far as we could ascertain, killed by 

 sound alone or by sight and sound ; his boldness was extraordinary and he 

 would enter huts and villages in broad daylight and pull people out, but 

 his usual habit was to lie up beside a village path in some patch of grass or 

 jungle, much too dense to see through, and leap out on any one he heard 

 passing. His caution, however, was just as great as his boldness and he 

 would never face any risk he could avoid or run any danger he did not 

 understand. He had no objection to charging out upon a crowd of men 

 whose advent, as they approached his hiding place, had been heralded by 

 the patter of their feet and the sound of their voices, but if some of them 

 turned and faced him he never tried conclusions with them. 



On the morning following the night I sat up for him in my garden, he 

 attacked two men who, as is usual with hill-men, carried spears and daos 

 They saw him as he charged up a steep hill at them and when be had got 

 within a couple of paces of them dashed their spears in his face upon 

 which he immediately turned tail and bolted. The next three men who 

 passed that way a few minutes later ran when they caught sight of him 

 and the slowest was promptly caught and completely eaten within the next 

 three hours. 



Three or four times I saw this man-eater when 1 was unprepared for 

 him and each time he seemed to be depending mainly on sound for his 

 preliminary charge and it was only at the last moment, on catching sight of 

 something unusual, he repented and cleared off. My large white, or khaki- 

 coloured sola-topee always seemed to scare him terribly and I have 



