IV 
THE ELEPHANT 
143 
the jungle. Our party consisted of Colonel Lugard, 
the Hon. D. Leigh, myself, and two experienced 
shikaris. Tiger-shooting is always an engrossing 
sport, but the lively excitement is increased when 
you follow a wounded tiger upon foot. We now 
slowly advanced upon the track, which faintly showed 
the sharp claws where the tiger had alighted in 
every bound. The jungle was fairly open, as the 
surface was stony, and the trees for want of 
moisture in a rocky soil had lost their leaves; we 
could thus see a considerable distance upon all sides. 
In this manner we advanced about 100 yards 
without finding a trace of blood, and I could see 
that some of my people doubted the fact of the 
tiger being wounded. I felt certain that he was 
mortally hit, and I explained to my men that the 
hard bullet would make so clean a hole through 
his body that he would not bleed externally until 
his inside should be nearly full of blood. Suddenly 
a man cried “koon” (blood), and he held up a 
large dried leaf of the teak-tree upon which was a 
considerable red splash : almost immediately after 
this we not only came upon a continuous line of 
blood, but we halted at a place where the animal 
had lain down ; this was a pool of blood, proving 
that the tiger would not be far distant. 
I now sent for the elephants, as I would not 
permit the shikaris to advance farther upon foot. 
The big tusker Bisgaum arrived, and giving my 
Paradox gun to my trustworthy shikari Kerim Bux, 
he mounted the pad of that excitable beast to carry 
