II 
THE ELEPHANT 
73 
out of the water. This would have quickly ended 
in a war-dance upon the prostrate body, that would 
have crushed it and destroyed the skin, had not the 
mahout, with the iron driving-hook, bestowed some 
warning taps upon the crown of Moota Gutches 
head that recalled him to a calmer frame of mind. 
A rope was soon made fast to the tiger s neck, and 
Moota Gutche hauled it upon dry ground, where it 
was washed as well as possible, and well scrutinized 
for a bullet-hole. 
There was no hole whatever in that tiger. The 
bullet having entered the nostril, broken the neck, 
and run along the body, the animal consequently 
had never moved. The first shot, when obscured 
in thick jungle, had probably deflected from the 
interposing reeds—at all events it missed. This 
tiger, when laid out straight, but without being 
pulled to increase its length, measured exactly 9 
feet 8 inches from nose to tail. 
