254 
A NATURALIST ON THE PROWL 
into the tower. A moment’s pause, then bang, bang, bang 
went the cracker, and in an instant, without a sound, an 
enormous panther cleared the parapet and landed in our 
midst from a height of twenty feet. We all, without 
exception, fell flat on our backs. It was the most ludicrous 
sight I ever saw. There we were, lying on the ground, 
looking at this great tom cat, with its back arched, its tail 
erect, its ears thrown back, and its whiskers standing out 
fiercely. It stood so for a moment, then, with a snarl, 
bounded away through the thicket. We were up and after 
it in a moment, laughing outright in our excitement. The 
incident had changed all our feelings and banished thoughts 
of danger. We traced it to a dense patch of cactus, and 
taking our stand at one end, sent the beaters to the other. 
Out it came like greased lightning, as they say in America. 
H. fired both barrels, but missed it. I could not fire for 
fear of hitting the beaters. The sport now became more 
like rabbit shooting than anything else. From bush to 
bush the brute rushed, and the pop of my friend’s gun was 
heard every minute. Tajoob Khan did not like this sort 
of thing and tried to restrain him, but he knocked down 
Tajoob Khan. I tried what I could do, but it was useless. 
He was too excited to listen to reason. Dreading the risk 
