THE CHEETUL OR SPOTTED DEER. 485 



passed unscathed within a few yards of me. It is an invariable rule not 

 to fire at anything except tiger when one is thought to be in the beat, 

 the only good reason for which is that the tiger may be turned by the 

 shot in front of him back on to the beaters and do some damage, and as 

 there is some risk of this, of course it would not be right to run it. My 

 own opinion is, though in this I know I differ from many whose ex- 

 perience commands respect, that in nine cases out of ten a tiger when a 

 a shot is fired in front of him does not know where it comes from, and 

 does not turn back. I once saw three tigers (not cubs) go by the same 

 gun at short intervals. All were fired at and two of them were killed. 

 Twice I have shot two tigers that followed each other, the second one not 

 being deterred by the previous shots from coming on, and I could men- 

 tion other instances, but I must remember that my subject is Cheetul, 

 and not tigers. I once got a shot at a Cheetul in a curious way. I 

 had been for some days trying in some flat grass jungle to track two 

 tigers, and had come up to them on two different days without however 

 getting a shot. There was a shallow nullah with no cover in it, up the 

 sandy bed of which I found their tracks almost every day ; indeed one 

 morning they were sitting in it, but just before rounding a corner on 

 the other side of which they were, I unfortunately left the nullah to 

 walk in some long grass by the side of it, and though they bolted close 

 to me, I could not see them. One night I sat over a gara at this nulla 

 and intended to stop till 9 a.m. on the chance of the tigers coming up 

 the nullah in the morning. I was perched in a tree over the nullah, and 

 long after the sun was up a stag and one doe Cheetul walked past me 40 

 yards off. At first I did not intend to fire and they walked slowly along 

 till they were 100 yards off and stood in an open glade. This was too 

 much for me, and I fired ; neither Cheetul moved. I was reloading 

 a single barrel I had fired with when the stag staggered two or three 

 paces and fell dead. The doe started off a few yards and stood looking 

 for a few moments at the dead one, and then bolted. There were very 

 few Cheetul in this jungle, so it was rather lucky. My luck for the day, 

 however, was not over, as I bagged two tigers the same afternoon, not 

 the same ones I had been previously looking for, but at another place 

 some miles off. If there are Cheetul about you are certain to hear 

 them calling during the night, As one lies in bed under a tree 

 smoking the pipe of peace, listening to the deer, the conclusion is 

 forced on one that there are many worse places than India. 



