PROCESSION OF TIGER-HUNTERS ON FOOT.
"The favorite mode with all true sportsmen is to hunt on foot, and, for those whose means will not allow the expense of hunting with elephants, it is to be preferred, on account of its cheapness. Two or more gentlemen organize the party, or a man may have no partner, if he chooses, and keep all the game to himself. Any number of natives, from twenty upward, are required, and the more you have the better. There is a shikarry, or chief huntsman, who leads the party; he watches the tracks of the tiger, or the drops of blood, if the animal is wounded, and is constantly stooping on the ground to discover the desired traces.
"Behind the shikarry come the hunters, usually two of them, and they keep their rifles ready cocked, so as to shoot on the instant. Then follow two of the steadiest natives with the spare guns to hand to their employers the moment they are wanted, and behind the gun-bearers is the band armed with half a dozen drums, a dinner-bell, horns, tom-toms, pistols, and other things for getting up a noise, and the greater the noise is, the better. Then there are men who throw stones in front of the party, and stir up a tiger who may be lying concealed in the bushes, and there are spearmen on the right and left of the line, to keep the beaters together when passing through tall grass. There are two or three men whose duty is to climb trees and watch for any movements of the game. The procession moves very slowly, as it is necessary to be cautious, to prevent the escape of the tiger, and also to save the members of the party from injury if possible.
A GRAPPLE WITH A TIGER.
"The greatest danger of hunting on foot is in following up a tiger that has been wounded. It is never safe to venture alone into the jungle where such an animal has fled, even if there is good reason to believe he is dead; he may spring out at any moment, and his wound makes him desperately courageous. Once a party of us was advancing in this way, and came to a little clearing, where all traces of the tiger suddenly ceased; we had followed him by his blood, and the trail was so evident that we all thought he must have bled to death. While we were standing in the clearing, and wondering which way to go, there came a roar as though from beneath our feet, and the next instant the tiger rose from a little ditch not three yards from where I was standing. He sprung on my friend Major Rice, and threw him to the ground, and we all thought the major was killed. I fired as best I could, but did not succeed in killing the tiger, as I was fearful of hitting the major; then the shikarry handed me my loaded gun, and I fired again, with no better success. At the second shot the tiger seized Rice by the shoulder, and began dragging him away; I followed closely, and finally brought the brute down with a bullet through his skull. I gave him another, to make certain, and then we ran forward and pulled the major from under the tiger's body. He was not severely hurt beyond his arm, which was badly bitten, but the wounds healed in a few weeks, and he was as well as ever. The tiger measured eleven feet and one inch from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, and I sent the skin to a friend in England.