bathed him, bound him up, and sent him off at once in a dhoolie with twenty-four men to carry him in relays, to a hospital about forty miles off, at Yellandu station. He died just before reaching it-of bloodpoisoning probably. It was the one sad accident which spoilt our expedition. Tigers' bites are often very poisonous, and even a mere scratch-wound has been known to result in lockjaw. After this experience the shikaris, not, alas! "wise in time," collected a herd of bullocks and drove them into the tiger's stronghold. J. was not far from me, in his machan. I saw him put up his gun; we were about eighty yards apart, and half-way between us ran a very shallow nullah, with some evergreens over it. J. must have seen the tiger. Would he come out on his side or on mine? No one who has not been in a similar situation could understand the excitement of those moments, or how I hoped against hope. For another fifteen minutes there was a great clamour amongst the beaters. Again J. put up his gun; the tiger was moving down our little nullah, but still some distance off. I saw him! He disappeared from us both under the evergreens, and then, to my joy, he emerged from cover and came out upon my side, having crossed over at the bottom. He walked slowly up the edge of the nullah; and when he was abreast of me and about forty yards off, I took a long, steady aim, and pulled the trigger. He gave a huge leap into the air, and I fired again, and at the same time J. fired too. He squirmed round on one side and glared up at my tree, seeing me distinctly, and then rolled over dead. My first shot, which of course had been a very easy one, was just right-straight through his heart; my second had hit him behind; J. did not hit him. As we generally fired from different sides, it was not hard to tell to whom a shot belonged. This was the finest of my three, only exceeded in size by one of Captain F.'s, which had a longer tail. Enormous beasts they look, as they lie dead; their muscle, especially in the forearm, is colossal. This skin was beautifully marked; a lovely head with a great, sprouting moustache; he had a large yellow ruff all round his neck; the joint at his wrist measured twenty-six inches round. These three tigers were all which fell to my own bag in the Deccan. J. shot five and Captain F. four in our two months. We returned to civilisation, two of us bearded like the pard, all burnt mahogany colour, much lighter in weight, and quite fit. Alas! to be back in "the man-stifled town" again, after that life in the jungle which defies all description. There is so much connected with it which one never forgets, and yet which is hardly worth describing, which sinks into one's being and becomes part of oneself— a precious part. Do not set out on a tiger shoot without being prepared for a great deal of discomfort. Your temper, your personal comforts, will all be trodden under foot, and every annoyance must be borne under circumstances which amount sometimes almost to purgatory. Unless a woman is physically strong, it would be foolhardiness to spend eight weeks under such conditions. But, after all, it is worth it, and a high price has to be paid because it is worth it. |