MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 296 
highest pitch of expectancy and excitement, one hears and feels the beatings 
of one’s own heart, just as a steamer quivers to the pulsations of its screw. 
But the feeling passes away in a second, as the expected quarry comes into 
view. In our case the view was five full-grown tigers “ mooning ” along close 
together almost in line, unconscious that their way was barred by man. 
“ Mooning ” is the only suitable expression, for they came along quite slowly, 
heads down, with a bored expression of countenance, as if they felt the heat, 
and thought the hustling of them by the beat behind most inconsiderate and 
unkind, 
When they first broke into view, about 30 to 35 yards separated us. It was 
a beautiful and never-to-be-forgotten sight, but the position was in a way 
critical, There was no time for counsel, but the General, without a moment’s 
hesitation, whispered “ Take the big fellow,” expressing the necessity we each 
had instinctively felt of concentrating, not scattering, our fire. “ Let them come 
on” was Watson’s immediate reply. He probably felt that we required a 
brief moment for selection. As a matter of fact, when the General spoke, the 
tigers seemed much of a size, and it required some fineness of discrimination 
to say on the spur of the moment which was the biggest. But the matter was 
settled for us. Watson’s voice evidently reached foe as well as friend, for one 
of the tigers stopped dead and looked up at us in a startled and surprised 
fashion, Instinctively we all banged at her (her sex, of course, we only subse- 
quently discovered), and then there was a sight for the gods. It is really 
impossible accurately to describe, and it was all over in a second or two, 
But as the sound of our rifles and the roar of the wounded tigress woke the 
other four tigers up—so to speak—they just raised their heads, looked at us, 
jumped on one side, and roared in concert. The untouched tigers were 
evidently momentarily quite undecided what to do—whether to try and get 
past us, or to face the din and row behind them, which had very appreciably 
increased as the sound of our shots reached the beaters. While these tigers 
were thus seemingly debating what to do, the female we had fired at made 
a bound towards us as if to charge home ; but her heart failed her, and she 
turned sharp to her left and to our right, making for the shelter of the jungle. 
As she went across us, we gave her the contents of our second barrels, and she 
fell out of sight into a small nallah. As she did so, the rest turned back in the 
direction of the beaters. We reloaded rapidly, knowing they would soon be 
headed and return, but this time prepared for us. Presently I saw a tiger 
trying to sneak past to our left, and called out “ there goes one.” I raised my 
rifle at the same time to indicate the direction to my companions, “ Fire if 
you see him” shouted the General. Our voices had the effect of making this 
tiger stop and take a good look at us; as she was doing so,I fired. She 
instantly responded with a roar and charged straight down on tous, [I call 
her “ she,” as subsequently we discovered that she too was a female, and a very 
lively and determined female. I failed to stop her with my second barrel, and 
it seemed to me that my three companions had emptied both theirs equally 
