"It is not considered wise to spend time in firing at everything one
meets, when bound to beat up tiger."
He addressed a word or two in Hindustanee to the mahouts, and the
elephants, freed now from apprehension, shuffled onward till we came
upon an open park-like space, at the end of which, on a slope, was the
rajah's shooting-box. Here half a dozen more elephants were standing,
with a number of well-mounted men armed with spears, shields, and
tulwars, and quite a host of lightly clad Hindoos were lying about,
waiting to commence their task--that of beating for game, and driving it
toward where the sportsmen were stationed.
Upon our appearance, the rajah came out of the large verandah in front
of the house, and saluted us cordially.
He was a young, active-looking man, dressed like an ordinary English
sportsman bound for a day's shooting on the moors; and, after pressing
us to enter the house and partake of refreshment, which we declined, he
at once called up a couple of hard, muscular-looking men, gave them an
order or two, and the result was that these two shouldered their long,
clumsy-looking old matchlocks. They signed to the crowd of beaters, who
had all sprung to their feet as the rajah came out, and marched them all
off, so that they could make for the head of a valley where a tiger had
had a kill, and up which valley we were to slowly progress, after taking
a circuit, so as to reach its mouth about the same time as the beaters
reached the head.
We had a much greater distance to go than the men on foot, and after a
few preliminaries, the rajah mounted to the howdah of one of the waiting
elephants, followed by his chief huntsman, well provided with quite a
battery of English rifles. Two or three of his officers took their
places on other elephants, and the mounted men and a party of foot
marched at our side, as the imposing little procession started.
The rajah spoke very good English, and there were moments when I forgot
his smooth oily manner and dark countenance, and could almost feel that
he was some swarthy sportsman who had invited us to his place for a
day's shooting.
He was as eager as any of us, and, as we marched off, he told us that
his shikaree had marked down two tigers of exceptional size--beasts that
had done a great deal of mischief in the district; and he was confident
that we should have an excellent day's sport.
The sun was now tremendously powerful, but the motion of the huge beasts
we rode produced a certain amount of air, and the excitement made us
forget everything but the object of our visit.
Our course was toward a spur of a range of hills, and on rounding this,
we found ourselves at the entrance of a narrow valley, across which we
were formed up, the rajah's huntsman giving us a few words of
instruction as to keeping as nearly as possible in a line, and warning
us to have a watchful eye upon every patch of bushes and tall, sun-dried
grass.
A move was made as soon as we were in line, and with the valley
gradually contracting in width, and the hills over our side growing
higher and more steep, our prospects of seeing game grew brighter each
moment; in fact, it was almost a certainty, as the head of the valley
was occupied by the beaters, who would soon begin to move down in our
direction.
Certain enough, but very tantalising, for every now and then there was a
sharp rustle or breaking of twigs and something bounded from its lair to
dash up the valley without giving us a chance of seeing its flank.
"Never mind," said the doctor. "Not what we want; and we shall have a
chance at them, perhaps, by-and-by, when they are turned back."
As we went on, from my elevated position I began to have better fortune,
seeing now a deer dart up the valley, and directly after, from some
yellow dried-up grass, there was a loud rush and a scramble.
"Pig," said the doctor unconcernedly; and as I watched the grass I could
see it undulate and wave where the little herd of wild swine was making
its way onward.
"No sign of a tiger," I said aloud; and, to my surprise, a reply came
from Brace, whose elephant was shuffling along not many yards away, and
I could, as he spoke, just see his face through the tops of the tall
reedy grass.
"No," he said; "but very likely one of them is creeping and gliding
along just ahead of us, so keep a sharp look-out."
Just then I began thinking of Brace instead of the tigers, for it seemed
so painful to be at odds with him, and to go on in the distant way we
had kept up lately, because I looked upon him as a coward. I cannot
explain my feelings. All I know is that I felt that I did not like him
a bit, and all the time I was drawn towards him and was hurt when I
spoke coldly to him, and more hurt when he gave me one of his half-sad,
penetrating looks, and then spoke distantly.
"I think I could like him," I said to myself, "if he had not proved such
a coward." And then I thought that under the circumstances I should
have had no hesitation in going out and fighting Barton. As I arrived
at this pitch, I felt uncomfortable, for something within me seemed to
ask the question--
"Wouldn't you?"
Just then an elephant again uttered his harsh grunting squeal known as
"trumpeting," and an electric thrill ran through me, for I had learned
enough of tiger-shooting to know that the great animal had scented his
enemy, and the strange cry was taken up by another of the elephants.
Orders were passed along to right and left for us to keep in a steady
line, and the men between the elephants grew every moment more excited.
For the action of the animals proved that it was no false alarm, and in
the momentary glances I had from right to left, I saw that the rajah and
Brace were waiting, with finger on trigger, for a shot at the striped
monster creeping on up the valley.
"Keep cool," said the doctor to me in a whisper; "and if you get a good
chance at him, fire at the shoulder, but don't throw away a shot. A
slight wound may do more harm than good--make the brute break back
through the line, perhaps, and we should lose him."
"I'll be careful," I said huskily.
"That's right. I want for us to get one tiger, and not the rajah. He
has plenty of chances."
"Keep a sharp look out, doctor," came from Brace, in a loud voice, which
told that he was evidently excited.
In a few minutes we were through the dense thicket of grass, and in a
rocky bottom, dotted sparely with tufts of bush and loose stones; and,
as I ran my eye over this, I turned to the doctor despairingly.
"There is nothing to hide him here," I said. "We must have passed him
in the thick grass."
"Nothing to hide him!" cried the doctor; "why, the gorge is full of
hiding-places. I call this good cover."
"Is that something moving?" I said suddenly; and I pointed to some thin
yellowish-brown grass, about fifty yards ahead.
"Eh, where? By George!"
His rifle was to his shoulder in a moment, there was a flash, a sharp
echoing report, and the mahout shouted "_Bagh! Bagh_!" while, as the
smoke rose, I had a faint glimpse of a great striped animal bounding out
of sight, a hundred and fifty yards ahead.
"Clever miss," said the doctor, reloading, as inquiries came from right
and left. "No doubt about the tigers now, Vincent," he added to me.
"I thought I saw something moving, but I could hardly tell it from the
stems of the dry grass."
"I suppose not Nature has been pretty kind to tigers that way. It is
almost impossible to see them amongst grass or reeds, so long as they
keep still. Bah! that was a wretched shot. But it's easier to miss
than hit, Vincent."
"I wish I had seen him," I said, in a disappointed tone.
"Why, you did see him, lad, and missed a good chance. Your rifle ought
to have been up to your shoulder the moment he moved."
"But I thought it was grass," I said.
"Ah, you will not think it was grass again. Capital practice this in
decision, my lad. You've had a splendid lesson."
We pressed on as fast as the roughness of the ground would allow, for it
was so open now that, in all probability, the tiger would have gone on
some distance, and with the elephants plainly in view and the mounted
and dismounted men between them, we made quite a goodly show. But the
heat was terrific. It seemed as if the rocks were glowing and
reflecting the sun's rays, so that at any other time we should have
declared it unbearable, but now excitement kept us going.
As we passed the spot where we had seen the tiger disappear, our ranks
were closed up, and we went on watchfully. In my eagerness now, I was
ready to turn tufts of grass and blocks of stone into tigers; and had
taken aim at one with my ears singing with excitement, when the doctor
laid his hand on mine.
"What are you doing?" he said.
I pointed, for I could not speak, and he laughed, and then raised his
own piece to his shoulder, as a shot rang out from Brace's howdah,
followed by one from the rajah's.
"A hit," cried the doctor. "Did you see him?"