THE TIGER. 



19 



M. fired at him and sent him my way. He cantered out of the jungle and stood still, 

 offering a splendid shot within twenty-five yards, but before I could fire, my Shikari had the 

 impertinence to fire my small rifle at him. As he sprang forward I fired, and heard the shell 

 burst, but could not see whether it struck the Tiger or not. We found blood, and followed up 

 the track, but it soon became dark, and we had to give it up. I was much disappointed with 

 my bad luck. 



Next day we hunted all forenoon without seeing a Tiger. After breakfast a man came in 

 with news of a cow having been killed a short distance off. On proceeding to the place in 

 the afternoon we found a Tiger, C. M. had a shot, and I followed the beast up. I came on 

 him once, but had to turn round to fire, and only had a snap shot at his tail as it disappeared 

 in a bush. We then lost him. 



May 7th. The Tigers carried off the dead cow last night, so this morning we went to 

 look for them. As we approached the bushes in which the carcase was, there was a roar, 

 and three Tigers came charging out, tail on end ! I was outside the jungle, and only got a 

 long snap shot. C. M. dropped one of the smaller ones, and I followed the other into some 

 very long grass. I came right on him, and he jumped up under my Elephant's trunk. I 

 blazed at him, but as I did so the Elephant backed, and my Shikari took a 'header' right 

 under the Tiger's nose, carrying my second rifle with him ! This alarmed the Elephant so 

 much that she turned and bolted, followed by the Tiger, who was so close under my 

 Elephant's tail that I could not get a shot at him. At last I fired off a barrel without any 

 aim, and the Tiger went back into the grass, where C. M. and the Shikari finished him. 

 The Shikari only got a very slight scratch, and his jacket torn ; but the stock of my rifle 

 was broken. Meanwhile M. and B. had killed the old Tiger and Tigress, which had gone 

 to the other side of the covert. The former had an old shell wound on his shoulder, from 

 the edges of which the hair had been licked away, so he was without doubt the one I fired 

 at on the first day : the shell must have burst • too soon, or it must have killed him. The 

 young Tigers were about three parts grown. All four were polished off in less than ten 

 minutes. 



On the 9th we had a long day, and were beating homewards across a level grassy plain, 

 when some of the Mahouts who had lagged behind luckily saw a Tiger, which we had passed 

 by. We went back after him, but he lay very close, and B. and I were nearly on the top of 

 him before he would show. We both blazed at him as he went off, but both missed. 

 We now chased him in view for about a mile across the open, he keeping just in front of us. 

 B. fired several shots, and M. joining in, did the same without effect. I kept my Elephant 

 going as hard as she could until I got a good chance, when I fired, and sent a shell into the 

 Tiger, which completely paralysed him, and M. gave him a finishing bullet. He was very 

 lean, and bore the scars of fights, though he never made the slightest attempt to attack us. 



On the 1 2th we beat two Tigers out of a regular network of ravines. C. M. had all the 

 fun, and shot them down in capital style. 



While shooting on foot in the Sewaliks, after M. had left, I on one occasion came close 

 upon a Tiger, but did not get a shot. I was walking across an angle of the Undera Kohl, 



