THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
his legs as we were passing through a village. Their intelligence in breaking 
off boughs at the word of command from the mahout is wonderful, and 
they will even return a fallen cartridge. Once I lost an orange, which was 
carefully picked up, but on the way upward it was dropped into the ele- 
phant’s mouth, and the end of his trunk held up empty, as if the sage beast 
had been performing a conjuring trick. 
The second method — driving with beaters to one or more sportsmen 
posted in machans — is that generally practised in the Central Provinces. 
Young male buffaloes, called helas, are tied up as bait for several miles 
round the permanent camp; these are visited by the shikaris in the 
morning; and as soon as khubber, or news of a kill, arrives, a beat is 
organized, as the tiger, if undisturbed, usually lies up pretty near the 
remains, off which he intends to make a second meal. In addition to the 
main line of beaters a considerable number of men are posted in trees to 
act as stops, and it is wonderful how slight a noise, if made at the right 
moment, will turn the tiger in the requisite direction. Men must also be 
placed in trees behind the machans to mark which way the tiger goes if 
wounded. Great care must be taken not to fire at the tiger before he gets 
level with the machan, however tempting the shot, as if wounded he will 
probably double back and kill some unfortunate beater. The finest tiger I 
ever secured was in a beat of this nature in the United Provinces, where 
my host, who, by the way, has the reputation of being the finest driver of 
tigers in India, was so confident of the skill of the men whom he had trained 
for several years that he said he felt pretty sure his head shikari would 
undertake to drive the tiger over a rupee if I placed one on the ground. 
I told him that I did not require such accurate manipulation as this, but if 
he would indicate to me roughly which way the tiger would probably come 
I would do my best to hit it; whereupon he pointed out the further bank of 
a small nullah about thirty yards distant, and, sure enough, the beast 
passed within an hour at a slow trot within three yards of the spot pro- 
phesied, and this though the piece of jungle they had to drive was about 
half the size of Hyde Park. On this occasion my bullet struck a little above 
the heart and passed clean through the beast; the weapon was a black - 
powder *577 and though the bullet was soft lead the hole was not quite big 
enough to cause expansion. Though knocked completely over, he recovered 
himself and galloped about fifty yards, where he halted; the jungle, how- 
ever, was so thick that although his tail was visible moving from side to 
side a body shot was impossible. After looking round for several seconds 
78 
