VI 
THE TIGER 
209 
comrade ; but as I had to wait until it had cleared 
the line of elephants before I fired, it was about 35 
yards distant, and although it fell to the shot, it 
partially recovered, and limped slowly forward with 
one broken leg, being terribly wounded in other 
places. It only went about 40 paces, and then lay 
down to die. One of the mahouts dismounted from 
his elephant, and struck it with an axe upon the 
head. This leopard was immediately despatched to 
camp, and we proceeded to beat fresh ground, as no 
tiger had been here, but evidently the two leopards 
had killed the bullock on the preceding night, and 
nothing more remained. 
Rosamond had stood very steadily, but she was 
terribly rough to ride, and the howdah swung about 
like a boat in a choppy sea. 
A couple of hours were passed in marching 
through every place that seemed likely to invite a 
tiger, but we moved nothing except a great number 
of wild pigs; a few of these I shot for the Garo natives 
who accompanied us. At length we observed in 
the distance the waving, green, feathery appearance 
of tamarisk, and as the sun was intensely hot, we 
considered that a tiger would assuredly select such 
cool shade in preference to the glaring yellow of 
withered grass. At all times during the hot season 
a dense bed of young tamarisk is a certain find for a 
tiger, should such an animal exist in the neighbour¬ 
hood. The density of the foliage keeps the ground 
cool, as the sun s rays never penetrate. The tiger, 
being a nocturnal animal, dislikes extreme heat. 
VOL. I 
p 
