CATS— GREAT AND SMALL 143 



"He exposed his full broadside towards me, and looked very- 

 large in the moonlight. I knew if he lay down he would offer a 

 more difficult mark, so I lost no time in firing. With a loud 

 ' wough, wough,' the stricken brute galloped heavily away, but I 

 felt sure I heard him fall when about sixty yards distant. I listened 

 — there was a low groan. Again the sound was repeated — the 

 peculiar sobbing groan of a dying animal. 



"I waited for twenty minutes and then signalled to the trackers, 

 who were in a tree at some distance, in a direction in which we 

 previously knew their presence would not interfere with the Tiger's 

 approach. I had been amused by their answering some Spotted 

 Deer which began to bark soon after my shot, and not far from me, 

 and which they mistook for my signal. The five naked and odorifer- 

 ous, but simple and attached fellows, were soon safe with me in 

 the tree. We agreed to wait for half-an-hour and then to look the 

 Tiger up. We considered that there was no necessity to wait till 

 morning, as the moonlight was very bright and there were only a 

 few trees dotted about in the otherwise open ground, and we were 

 sure of one point — namely, that if the Tiger had any strength 

 remaining he would have used it ere this to put as great a distance 

 as possible between himself and us. We decided only to look as far 

 as the spot where I was of opinion he had fallen. 



"If he were not there we would defer, further search till morning. 

 On getting down the tree we found the trail' was very distinct. The 

 grass was about eighteen inches high, quite dry, and almost white, 

 as it had seeded and withered. The bent blades, upon which the 

 moonlight glinted brightly, showed a glistening path where the 

 Tiger had passed. When we had got to about the spot where I 

 supposed the Tiger to be, one tracker pointed silently to a dark 

 object lying where the silvery path ended abruptly, and beyond 

 which the grass stood undisturbed. ' It looks like a log,' whispered 

 one. ' A log with stripes and a tail, then,' said the quicker-sighted 

 Murga. It was the Tiger, quite dead." 



LEOPARD. — It is as well to point out here that the range of the 

 Tiger is often misunderstood, and many people seem of opinion that 

 it is found also in Africa and America. This, however, is not so, as 

 it is the Leopard (Fig. 109) which is found in Africa and the Jaguar 

 that inhabits America. The Leopard, of course, is a citizen of other 

 parts of the world besides Africa, being a resident also of a large 

 portion of Asia, including Ceylon and the Himalayas. 



