THE HIGHEE NARBADA 281 



roar, over she rolls into the nala. Is it she ? or the devil, 

 or what ? Certainly she fell ; but, from the very spot she 

 stood on, bounds forth the image of herself, with blood 

 pouring in torrents from a gaping wound in the neck ! 

 More still ; a third leaps the nala just in front of my ele- 

 phant, and the jungle seems ahve with tigers. I had in- 

 stantly exchanged the single for the double rifle, and as 

 this one passed me at full speed, I rolled her over with a 

 broken back and a bullet through the shoulder. Meantime 

 the wounded one had disappeared behind me, and I pro- 

 ceeded to inspect the field, and count the killed and 

 wounded. The last shot was a cub ; so was the one that 

 had rolled into the nala to the first shot ; and it was the 

 old tigress that had escaped behind me. This was all a 

 mystery, till I found that the first one was shot through 

 the heart, the ball entering through the ribs, whereas, the 

 first tiger I had fired at was standing almost facing me 

 when I pulled ; and then it was explained. One ball, the 

 crashing two-ounce one, had passed through the tigress, 

 and killed cub No. 1 on the other side. 



My little elephant, a female called Kali, quite untried, 

 which I had borrowed from the Jubbulpiir commissariat, 

 had behaved nobly. Curhng her trunk out of harm's way, 

 and placing her sturdy fore-legs firmly before her, she 

 stood like a rock in the midst of all the noise (for the trio 

 roared Hke very bulls of Bashan). I had therefore perfect 

 confidence in proceeding to follow up the wounded tigress. 

 We soon found blood in plenty leading along the nala 

 towards the hills. I had taken the precaution of placing 

 scouts on all the principal trees, some of whom had seen 

 her cross an open space and enter the nala where it de- 

 bouched from a cleft in the hill-side ; she was going quite 

 strong, they said, although bleeding freely from the neck. 

 On inquiry I found that the gorge in the hill was a mere 

 cul-de-sac, having no exit at the other side, except on to 

 an'elevated plateau, as bare as my hand, which a wotmded 

 tiger would never dare to face. There was no doubt, 

 therefore, that she had stopped in this gully and would 

 fight, so I proceeded to make arrangements for the attack. 

 The fiist thing done was to send men up the hill, by a 



