28 THE TIGER. 



It was about four miles off, and on reaching it we found that we had beaten close past it the 

 day before. 



The village consisted of about half a dozen thatched huts with the cowsheds belonging 

 to them ; there were two or three small fields of maize ; and for several hundred yards on 

 every side there was a level and tolerably open expanse of grass, with a few clumps of carda- 

 mums, high reeds, and bushes scattered here and there. On approaching the village we saw 

 the inhabitants clustering on the roofs, and at the doors of their houses, and we were assured 

 that the Tigers were still somewhere quite close, though it was not known exactly in what 

 part of the cover they then were. The guide, who had brought us, pointed exultingly to the 

 marks in the grass, which showed unmistakably where the Tigers had been fighting or play- 

 ing together in the morning, within a hundred and fifty yards of some of the houses. 



I enjoined the strictest silence on all the Mahouts and other attendants, and proceeded 

 to lay plans to cut off the retreat of the Tigers from the dense forest on either side of the 

 small valley in which the village was situated, and from the impracticable grass jungle which 

 was to be found both higher up and lower down the small stream, which flowed past the 

 village. 



Forming the Elephants in a semicircle between the nearest forest and the village, with S. 

 on the right of the line, L. in the centre (which I thought the best place) and myself on the 

 left, we proceeded to draw the first clump of cardamums, which was not above twenty-five 

 yards square. The Elephants were hardly in motion, and had not yet reached the edge of the 

 cover, when a Tiger walked out of it on my side and made off to the left. L. could not see 

 him from where he was, and there was no use in standing on ceremony and letting the Ti°-er 

 escape ; so I had to fire, and knocked him over. His roar, in response to the shot, was the 

 signal for a general stampede among the pad Elephants, and mine followed suit. It was 

 some minutes before I could get my brute round, but I at length succeeded, and managed to 

 get another shot at the Tiger, which had only been able to drag itself a few yards. L., whose 

 Elephant, though very slow, was tolerably staunch, now brought him up and gave the Tio-er 

 the coup de grdce. 



I had only seen the one Tiger at which I fired, the precipitate retreat of my Elephant 

 having prevented me from seeing much of what was going on, but I now learned that on my 

 firing the first shot, another Tiger had been seen to bound away in the direction of the forest. 

 We much feared that he had altogether escaped us, but being determined not to lose a chance 

 we hurried off to the margin of the forest, and proceeded to beat each likely piece of cover 

 in the direction of the village. It was too late, however, the second Tiger had evidently 

 gained some stronghold ; and we saw no more of him. During our beat we had to explore 

 one particularly thick piece of long grass, which actually extended to the margin of the 

 village, and in this we found indications showing that the Tigers went up to the very doors 

 of the houses ! Habit is second nature, and people accustomed to the vicinity of Timers 

 soon cease to be afraid of them. We now padded my Tiger and returned to the house but 

 on arrival there I found that the skin had been too long exposed to the rays of the sun and 

 was now utterly useless, the hair coming off in large patches at the slightest touch. 



