86 TSE ROTAL TIGER OF BENGAL. 



interspersed at intervals. The elephants formed 

 line again across the swamp, and within ten minutes 

 we put up another large tiger. He hroke cover 

 into an opening in the swamp, and it was magnifi- 

 cent to see him look round as if astonished at the 

 noise and confusion in this usually quiet and 

 secluded spot. As he saw us he received our bullets, 

 which wounded and infuriated him, for up he came 

 right at D. and H.'s elephants, who were a little in 

 advance of mine. The next shots turned him, and 

 he made off in a direction ahead of us up the 

 swamp (amongst the trees), which here takes a 

 bend. We followed as quickly as possible, for the 

 trees on the bank were here thickly clustered 

 together ; by going higher up on the bank I 

 managed to get ahead, and in a few minutes I 

 knew from the agitation of my elephant that I was 

 near him. On looking down into the swamp there 

 he was lying completely exposed under a tree at 

 about forty yards from me, and how magnificent he 

 looked with his ears well back, his eyes glaring, and 

 back arched up ready for a charge ! I took as 

 steady an aim as I could, for my elephant was much 

 excited, kicking the ground and shaking the howdah 

 dreadfully, and fired; to my horror the gun ex- 

 ploded with a report little louder than that of a 

 common percussion cap. I tried the second barrel — 

 it did the same ; the tiger was now charging up the 

 hill at my elephant. I seized a second gun, abus- 

 ing the chuprassey in the khawas for having for- 



