210 
COLONEL NIGHTINGALE*^ LETTEU. 
gentleman in stripes was as much astonished as the gentleman 
in tweeds, to find his stalk interrupted. On the tiger turning 
to bolt> Drury let drive at him, and the beast fell dead at the 
edge of the shola. 
The following extract from a letter of the late Colonel 
Geoffrey Nightingale, a well-known Indian sportsman, will 
give some idea of the dangers and excitement of shooting 
tigers from an elephant : — 
"In the last year or two I have improved greatly in 
shooting, especially in steadiness and coolness, which is, after 
all, more than half the battle, and I find no charge however 
rapid impairs the accuracy of my aim ; I have consequently 
become, perhaps, foolhardy in allowing tigers to charge up 
quite close to the hut tie ere I fire, and you will see further on 
how I have (through no fault of my own) reaped the con- 
sequence of that over-confidence and very nearly got my dose 
at last. * Alps well that ends well/ however ; and now I 
doubt anything having the power to make me 'turn a hair.' 
I can assure you, taking dogs with you when after bison is not 
such spooney work as you may think ; they soon bring a 
wounded beast to bay and you are certain to be furiously 
charged directly you come up, so the fun is increased. I don't 
mean to say I shall make a practice of taking terriers out 
for bison, but on the occasion I tried it, it answered. I invari- 
ably have one or two terriers loose with the line of beaters 
when after tigers ; it makes it much safer for the poor coolies, 
as my order is, if a dog barks to look out and get up trees, 
etc., so that I do not run the risk of having my men boned. 
The other day my line would have come right on a tiger in 
a thicket had not my dog Crib given warning, when I in- 
stantly sent the fellows out of the bushes. Now as to my 
