228 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS 
CHAP. 
Standing ready in the howdah prepared for a careful 
shot. We arrived at the place. This was cleared 
of grass by the recent struggle, but instead of 
finding the man’s body, we merely discovered his 
waist-cloth lying upon the ground a few yards 
distant. About 15 yards from this bloody witness 
we saw the unfortunate mahout lying apparently 
lifeless in the grass. 
We immediately carried him to the river and 
bathed him in cool water. He had been seized by 
the shoulder, and was terribly torn and clawed about 
the head and neck, but fortunately there were no 
deep wounds about the cavity of the chest. We 
bandaged him up by tearing a turban into long strips, 
and having made a good surgical job, I had him 
laid upon a pad elephant and sent straight into 
camp. We then loaded an elephant with the tiger, 
which we proved to be the same and only animal 
(a tigress) which had charged the elephant after my 
first shot. The bullet had struck the thigh bone, 
causing a compound fracture, and that accounted for 
the escape of Thompson without being boarded 
from the rear, as she could not spring so great a 
height upon only three legs. The furious beast had 
then attacked the elephant named Hogg, which, 
falling upon its knees, had thrown the unready 
driver. We subsequently discovered that he had a 
boil upon his right foot, which had prevented him 
from using the rope stirrup ; this accounted for the 
fall from his usually secure seat. 
The tigress, having mauled her victim and left 
