TEB ROYAL TIGER OF BENGAL. 59 



sliook and fall; but the latter, luckily for Hmself, 

 fell out of the pit, the former into it under the 

 elephant. The elephant now had her share of the 

 sport, and gave the tiger such a kicking while he 

 lay under her, making a kind of shuttlecock of him 

 between her fore and hind legs, that the breath must 

 have been almost kicked out of him : then deeming 

 she had done enough for honour and glory, and that 

 she couldn't eat the tiger if she did kiU him, she com- 

 menced climbing out of the pit, whose crumbled and 

 sloping sides luckily made the scramble out practic- 

 able. The mahout, who had by this time picked 

 himself and his scattered mts up, rushed round and 

 caught her by the ear just as she reached the level, 

 and was preparing for a bolt, and, scrambling rapidly 

 up to his perch on her neck, succeeded in stopping 

 her and turning her face to the foe once more. The 

 elephant being now under command, our sports- 

 man at length resumed his proper share in the 

 proceedings, and the tiger being still at the bottom 

 of the pit, breathless, if not senseless, from the 

 kicking he had undergone, by a well-directed 

 shot put him finally hors-de-eomhat, and had the 

 satisfaction of carrying him into the station in 

 triumph, where his skin is preserved as a witness of 

 this strange tiger hunt. The elephant, though it 

 got one nasty bite, and was badly scratched about 

 the trunk and forelegs, is now none the worse for its 

 single combat with the monarch of the Indian 

 forests." 



