Pelts 



on trigger. Suddenly, when about 20 yards 

 from the top edge of the grass patch, there was 

 a rustle and a rush — always back. I saw the 

 occupant of this howdah suddenly lean over the 

 side fronting me, point his rifle vertically down- 

 wards, and fire both barrels in quick succession. 



' Habet ! ' he shouted. 



True to his nature, the skulker had endeavoured 

 to lie low in the grass, hoping to be passed over 

 by the line, and he came very near to success 

 when he received his quietus and died the death of 

 a cur. Not once had he shown any real fight ; 

 his three charges, when decided upon, each resulted 

 in retreat, when, had he pushed them home, he 

 might have reached safety on the hill behind us. 



An examination showed that one of the bullets 

 of the girl had hit the beast in the head, probably 



one of the first two fired. F , who had finished 



the beast off, had also hit him in the head, brain- 

 ing him on the spot, his other bullet going wide. 



So ended a beat which contained a number 

 of lessons to be learnt by those who would — a 

 beat full of the most intense excitement, and 

 yet a beat in which the tiger had died the death 

 of a cur. 



A pad elephant was now called up, the tiger's 

 body was enveloped in a net made of stout fibre 

 ropes and the whole then hauled on to the 

 elephant and securely bound to the pad to be 

 taken back to camp. 



235 



