26 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
there. The stream meandered through an open 
plain, and a few score yards below there was a 
track which crossed at a shallow ford. Here some 
cartmen had halted to eat their midday meal, and 
were sitting over their little fires cooking their 
‘cakes of meal and water, while their bullocks grazed 
around in the vicinity, so that it was but natural 
to remark that no’tiger would lie in such a spot 
during the day; but the Gujar, still furious, replied 
that if desired he would go in and turn the beast 
out with his staff; so, leaving him standing, we 
drove the elephant onwards. 
The tiger, when we suddenly became aware of his 
presence, was crouching directly to the side of the 
elephant, and the bullet intended for his brain passed 
through a fore-paw. In an instant he stood erect and 
. struck at the side of the howdah, ripping the cane- 
work next my leg; then, turning, leapt the stream 
and trotted down the opposite bank, his departure 
hastened by a shot from the second barrel. The 
cartmen and their bullocks scattered, the men with 
most sense jumping into their empty carts; but the 
tiger took no notice, and disappeared round a bend 
in the stream, and here we found him ensconced in 
a patch of heavy reeds, and growling ferociously. He 
could not be seen, and, after trying vainly to force 
him into the open by firing charges of shot into the 
cover, we retraced our steps, crossed the ford, and 
approached him from the other side. This, appar- 
ently, was what the tiger was waiting for, for he 
suddenly bounded towards us, undeterred by two 
shots fired at close quarters, and the next instant 
the elephant was careering across the plain, hotly 
