48 TIGER CARRYING OFF THE OFFICER. 
when beaters arc collected and the tiger, which is pretty sure 
to remain in the neighbourhood of t1ie kill, is driven out, the 
sportsmen being posted on small bamboo ladders from eight 
to ten feet high, placed against the stems of trees, as the tiger 
scarcely ever looks up, and though you may be sitting with 
your feet unpleasantly near the ground it does not appear to 
notice you. 1 certainly never heard an instance of any one 
hf^mg ptdied off a ladder by a tiger, but a curious accident 
happened to an officer I was acquainted with. He fired at a 
tiger that was coming straight up to him ; on receiving the 
shot it bounded forward^ struck the ladder and brought the 
unfortunate shooter down on to its back, very much as a 
cocoanut at a fair is brought down from the top of a stick ; 
the brute then seized him by the thigh and carried him off, 
eventually dropping him, frightened by the shouting of the 
men. My friend was fortunately only bitten through the fleshy 
part of the thigh and soon recovered, but never again, I believe, 
got back his nerve, 
A young Scotchman, who was a first rate shot, having 
had a good deal of experience in Highland deer shooting 
before he came out to India, joined a regiment in this neigh- 
bourhood, and accompanied some of his brother officers on 
a tiger shooting trip. You may be pretty sure he was not 
posted in the most likely run ; however, there are few things 
more uncertain in this life than the direction wild animals will 
take when driven. My young friend had only been a short 
time on his ladder when a tiger came ; a steady well-placed 
shot dropped him dead. He had only just reloaded when up 
came a bear, and he hit hini very hard ; the bear seeing the 
body of the tiger in front of him immediately attacked it, and 
while so occupied was easily finished off. Then before the 
