58 TEE ROTAL TIGEJB. OF BENGAL. 



large for him. Of coiirse in this predicament he 

 ■was utterly unable to use his rifle to rid the ele- 

 phant of the unwelcome head-dress she was per- 

 force wearing ; the attempt to fire, in all that shaking, 

 would probably have resulted in his blowing out the 

 mahout's brains instead of the tiger's, or in his 

 shooting himself. Meanwhile the mahout, with the 

 courage of despair, slipped out the gaddela or cushion 

 on which he sat, and, roUing it round his left arm, 

 and taking the iron giybdg in his right, assailed 

 the tiger manfully about the ears. But, being 

 thickheaded, he did not seem to mind the gujbdg 

 at all ; for, after taking a bite at the elephant's 

 forehead, he calmly continued his struggles for 

 a footing on the reluctant and ever-dodging 

 trunk, heedless of the rain of blows on his thick 

 skull, and no doubt promising himself to square 

 accounts presently by swallowing the mahout, 

 gujbdg, and all. But the elephant was begin- 

 ning to see that she couldn't shake the tiger off, 

 so she tried another plan ; and, making an extem- 

 pore battering-ram of herself, with the tiger as a 

 buffer, she charged straight at a sal tree, think- 

 ing to make a tiger-pancake on the spot. But the 

 sal tree, alas ! was a small one, and gave way under 

 the shock, and away went tree, tiger, and elephant 

 into an old and half filled up obi, or elephant-pit, 

 which happened to be conveniently placed to receive 

 them just on the other side of the fallen tree. The 

 tiger and the mahout were both knocked off by the 



