66 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
found the man with five distinct claw marks on the 
scalp, and others on the chest ; he had bandaged his 
wounds, and sat over the fire in his bloody clothes. 
The woman took the affair with an air as if she had 
done nothing remarkable ; it was the second occasion 
on which I had known a woman of the people in 
India show a calm front in the presence of almost 
inevitable death. .Shortly afterwards the village 
grocer was carried off when nearing my camp with 
-supplies ; his pony galloped into safety, with its load 
trailing on the ground, leaving a track of various 
comestibles leading up to the scene of the onslaught. 
Then the approach of the hot weather, when I was 
to leave the forest, and an incident which brought 
home to me the futility of further efforts, forced me 
at last to apply for outside help. 
I was sitting in my tent one afternoon, when a 
hillman burst rudely upon me, almost speechless 
with emotion, yet stuttering that his brother had 
been killed by the tiger. In answer to hurried 
questions, he had not seen the beast, his brother was 
cutting bamboos about twenty yards away, he had 
heard a blow and a groan and a dragging through 
the leaves; the forest was extremely dense, and the 
affair was not five minutes old: he could lead us to 
the spot. In less than that time we two, with an 
orderly carrying a spare gun, had set out, and ten’ 
minutes later had reached the scene. On the sway- 
ing bamboos there was blood as far as a man might 
reach; on the ground was a billhook and torn 
pieces of cotton cloth; a sinister-looking trail led 
towards the higher ground above. It was easy to 
follow, with its fresh blood and fresh footmarks, and 
