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Wild Beasts and Their Ways

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be seated. This plan was carried out, but the plucky policeman insisted upon descending into the nullah and walking up the bottom, while the natives upon either side bombarded the banks with stones. There was absolutely nothing alive in that inviting nullah. I had walked Moolah Bux slowly along, looking down from the margin of the ravine, and upon arrival at Berry's perch I took him up behind me in the rear compartment of the howdah. I felt almost sure that, although we had drawn a blank up to the present time, the tigress would be lying somewhere among the numerous deep but narrow nullahs which drained into the main channel that we had just examined. We therefore determined to leave all the men seated upon a knoll on the highest ground, while we should try the various nullahs upon Moolah Bux; as he could walk slowly along the margin so close to the edge that we should be able to look down into the bottom of each ravine, and in the parched state of vegetation nothing could escape our view. The natives were well satisfied with this arrangement, and they took their seats upon a grassy hill, which afforded a position from which they could watch our movements. Moolah Bux commenced his stately march, walking so close to the hard edge of the deep nullahs that I was rather anxious lest the bank should suddenly give way. The instinct of an elephant is extraordinary in the selection of firm ground. Although it appeared dangerous to me, Moolah Bux was perfectly satisfied that the ground would bear his weight, and he continued his risky march, both up and down a number of those monotonous ravines which scored the slopes in all directions, but without success. The sun was like fire, and it was difficult to grasp the barrel of the rifle. It was past noon, and we had been working unceasingly since 6 a.m. The bottoms of the ravines were filled some feet in depth with dry leaves, which had fallen from the trees (now naked) which fringed the banks, therefore we could have seen a cat had she been lying either in the nullah or upon the barren sides. "There is no tigress here," said Berry; "this is one of those sly brutes, that kills and eats, but does not remain near her kill; she is probably a couple of miles away while we are looking for her in these coverless nullahs." These words were hardly uttered, when we suddenly heard a rushing sound like a strong wind, which seemed to disturb the dried leaves in the deep bottom somewhere in our front. At first I could hardly understand the cause, but in a few seconds a large tigress sprang up the bank, and appeared about 20 paces in our front. Without a moment's hesitation she uttered several short roars, and upon the beautifully clean ground she bounded forward in full charge straight for Moolah Bux. I never saw a more grand but unprovoked attack. The elephant was startled by the unexpected apparition, and I could not fire, as he swung his mighty head upon one side, but almost immediately he received the tigress upon his long tusks, and with a swing to the right he sent her flying into the deep nullah from which she had just emerged. Although the trees and shrubs were utterly devoid of leaves, there was unfortunately a large and dense evergreen bush exactly opposite, called karoonda; the tigress sprang up the bank, and disappeared behind this opaque screen before we had time to fire. The mahout, who was a splendid fellow, perceived this in an instant, and driving his elephant a few paces forward, he turned his head to the right, giving me a beautiful clear sight of the tigress, bounding at full speed about 80 paces distant along the clean surface of parched herbage, up a slight incline. I heard the crack of Berry's rifle close to my ear, but no effect was produced. The tigress was going directly away from us, and Moolah Bux stood as firm as a rock, without the least vibration. As I touched the trigger, the tigress performed a most perfect somersault, and lay extended on the bare soil with her head turned towards us, and her tail stretched in a straight line exactly in the opposite direction. A great cheer from our men, who had witnessed the flying shot from their position on the knoll, was highly satisfactory. We now turned back, and at length discovered a spot where the elephant could descend and cross the deep nullah. We then measured the distance--82 yards, as nearly as we could step it. My .577 solid bullet of pure lead had struck the tigress in the back of the neck; it had reduced to pulp several of the vertebrae, and entering the brain, it had divided itself into two portions by cutting its substance upon the hard bones of the broken skull, which was literally smashed to pieces. I found a sharp-pointed jagged piece of lead, representing about one-third of the bullet, protruding through the right eye-ball; the remaining two-thirds I discovered in the bones of the face by the back teeth, where it was fixed in a misshapen but compact mass among splinters of broken jaw. Berry's bullet had also struck the tigress, but precisely in the same place, close to the root of the tail, where he had wounded the tiger a short time before. Upon arrival at the camp we skinned the animal, and took special pains to prove the effect of the unfortunate hollow bullet. This was conclusive, and a serious warning. The penetration was only an inch in depth. We washed the flesh in cold water, and searched most carefully throughout the lacerated wound, which occupied a very small area of about 1 inch. In this we found two pieces of the copper plug which stopped the hole in front of the bullet, together with a number of very minute fragments or flakes of lead; these proved that the extremely hollow projectile had broken up, and was rendered abortive almost immediately upon impact. The danger of such a bullet was manifest; it was almost as hollow as a hat, and almost as harmless as a hat would be, if thrown at a charging tiger. This was an interesting exception to the rule that is generally accepted, that a tiger will not attack if left undisturbed. If any person had been walking along the margin of that nullah, he would have been seized and destroyed without doubt by that ferocious beast. There was a case in point last year (1888) in the Reipore district, when Mr. Lawes,

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