76 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
to feel helpless in the presence of wild animals even 
if they have no evil intentions. 
I had not much success with tigers in these 
forests. They seemed shy of returning to their 
kills, and caused much annoyance by slaughtering 
my baits and leaving them uneaten. There was a 
tigress at Chila who was proficient at this form of 
teasing, and in evading my efforts for her destruc- 
tion. I was then building the house at that place, 
and removing for material the great stones from the 
ruins of a Buddhist temple discovered in the jungle, 
and this tigress was continually around the camp, 
frequenting the stream which lies to the east of the 
plain. She killed five buffaloes in succession with- 
out feeding on any, not even breaking the tethering 
ropes or dragging them away ; in fact, she would 
neither leave the neighbourhood nor take any risks. 
One evening, hearing the alarm cry of the spotted- 
deer telling of panther or tiger, I took my rifle, and, 
followed by my orderly, went out to investigate ; but 
on reaching the herd I for some time could detect 
no reason for alarm, till, following the direction of 
their startled gaze, I discovered my tigress crouching 
in the grass. She rose and strolled away through 
the forest, but I had learnt the lesson not to fire at 
the hind-quarters of dangerous game, and followed, 
hoping for a favourable opportunity. After a time 
she stopped, and, turning, drew up her lips with a 
snarl, to intimate, perhaps, that further pursuit 
would be resented. Immediately I had fired we lay 
still in the undergrowth listening to struggles, roars, 
and groans, close at hand, and not till these had 
subsided, and silence once more reigned, did we 
