"I got one glimpse of him."
"That shot was home, doctor, I think," said Brace.
"Not a doubt about it. Steady; keep on."
The elephants advanced slowly, with their trunks thrown up in the air,
and as, in the midst of intense excitement, we neared the spot where the
tiger had been seen slinking from one stone to the other, one of the men
uttered an exclamation and pointed down at a spot of blood upon the hot
stone at our feet; and then at another and another at intervals, on dry
grass and leaf.
"Take care," said the rajah; "he will be very savage now."
The warning was hardly needed, for every one was on the alert, expecting
at any moment to find the tiger lying dead, or to see it bound out
defiantly and ready to spring at the nearest elephant.
"Mind how you shoot, Vincent," said the doctor, meaningly. "I came out
for a day's sport, and don't want it spoiled by professional pursuits."
"I don't understand you," I said.
"Well, if I must put it plainly, don't shoot a beater instead of a
tiger."
"_Bagh! bagh_!" came from one of the men on foot; and this time the
rajah led off with a shot, but it seemed that he had only obtained a
glimpse of the great cat-like beast sneaking round a tuft of bushes, as
it made its way onward.
The brute was evidently severely wounded, for blood-stains were found
again and again, several together, showing where the tiger had halted to
watch or listen for his enemies; but still we could not get close enough
for a decisive shot, and over and over again the line of elephants was
halted in the belief that we must have passed the beast crouching down
among the grass.
At the last of these halts, when, in spite of careful search, no more
traces of the fierce man-eater could be seen, a council of war was held,
and the question was raised whether we should go back, when the distant
sound of shouts and the beating of tom-toms came faintly toward us, and
this decided the line of action, for the rajah at once proposed that we
should go and meet the beaters, for there was another tiger in the
valley, and then we could beat out the one wounded on our return.
This was decided on, and the word was given to advance again; but hardly
had the elephants moved, when there was a terrific roar, and a monstrous
tiger bounded out toward us, lashing his tail from side to side, baring
his white teeth, and laying down his ears as his eyes literally blazed
at us in the sun.
Brace's rifle rang out on the instant, and, with a snarling roar, the
beautifully striped beast swung his head round, made a snap at his
shoulder, then turned and charged straight at the rajah's elephant,
which uttered a shriek of dread, spun round, and dashed back at a mad
pace.
The tiger did not pursue, but, evidently untouched by a couple more
shots fired at it, came bounding toward us.
The doctor fired, but it did not check the onslaught, and the brute
bounded right on to the elephant's shoulder and tried to claw its way
into our howdah, as the mahout yelled with horror.
But the savage brute did not get quite up to us, for the doctor snatched
my rifle from my hand, held it with the barrel resting on the edge of
the howdah just as one would a pistol, fired, and the tiger dropped
quite dead upon the scorched earth.
An eager shout arose, and there was a round of congratulations as a pad
elephant was brought up from the rear, and the monster hauled across the
creature's back, and securely fastened with ropes.
But we did not stop to finish this, for the shouting and tomtoming was
growing plainer, and already a deer had trotted out of the tender growth
a hundred yards ahead, stood listening to the sounds behind, and then,
catching sight of us, darted down the valley at a tremendous pace.
A minute or two later, as we advanced, another deer appeared, turned,
and trotted back; while soon after, a huge boar dashed out, charged
through us, and was followed by a mother pig and her progeny, all of
which dashed downward for their liberty.
And as we pushed on, with the valley still narrowing, and the noise made
by the beaters increasing, animal after animal dashed past us, or,
seeing the line of elephants, crept back, but only to appear again, and
find that it could escape unmolested.
"No sign of another tiger, rajah," I heard Brace say.
"Yes, yes. There is another," he cried. "My people have seen him
twice."
"Perhaps so," said the doctor to me, in a low voice; "but he would have
shown before now, with all that noise in front."
He was wrong, though; for five minutes later, and when the beaters could
not have been above a couple of hundred yards away, another magnificent
beast dashed out of the cover with a roar, and charged down upon us,
putting the line of elephants into such confusion that the aims of those
who had a chance were disarranged. Then there came a wild scream from
somewhere to our right, and we knew directly after that the tiger had
broken through the line, striking down one of the rajah's men as he
passed, and the poor fellow had to be bandaged by the doctor before he
was lifted on to one of the elephants, fainting from loss of blood.
"Will it kill him?" I said huskily, as we returned to our own howdah.
"Oh no," replied the doctor. "A nasty clawing; but these men get over
far worse wounds than that. There, keep your eyes open; we must try and
take revenge. I never feel any compunction in shooting a tiger. There
isn't room for them in a civilised land."
We were returning over the same ground now, with the beaters far behind,
and every bush, and tuft, and patch of dry grass was carefully searched
as hour after hour went by, and there was talk about a halt for lunch;
but with such a monster known to be somewhere in the gorge no one felt
disposed for anything but a refreshing cup of water, and downward we
went again.
The feeling was fast growing upon us that the tiger had gone right on
and out of the valley into the open country, when once more an elephant
trumpeted, and told of our being near the object of our search.
Heat and fatigue were forgotten directly, the elephants were urged on by
the mahouts, and cane-brake and reed-flat were searched, long grass was
ridden through, and for a couple of hours more we were on the tiptoe of
expectation, but found no tiger, till just as we were growing thoroughly
dispirited, and felt that we must be driving it lower and lower, and
helping it to escape, the monster bounded out from a cluster of loose
rocks, faced us, and rolled over at a shot from the doctor's rifle.
It sprang up again with a tremendous roar, and stood open-jawed, glaring
at us as if considering which it should attack, when the rajah and Brace
fired at the same time, and the monster rolled over again to struggle
feebly, and then stretched itself out--dead.
"Never mind, Vincent," said the doctor, clapping me on the shoulder; and
then addressing the others with us: "Your turn next; and you have been
in at the death."
"Look! look!" I cried suddenly.
"What is it?"
"On that little elephant coming up the valley; isn't it one of our men?"
Brace heard me, and took out the little glass slung from his shoulder.
"Yes," he said. "It must be a message from the major. Good Heavens! I
hope there is nothing wrong."
A word or two in Hindustani from the doctor to the mahout, and our
elephant began to shuffle toward the one coming, for Brace had gone on
at once.
Our elephant made a good circuit to avoid the dead tiger, holding his
trunk high, and evidently in doubt as to whether the beast was feigning
death; and directly after we were close up to the messenger, whom I saw
to be Denny, the man who had come over in the _Jumna_, and whose
sweetheart I had jumped overboard to save.
"What is it, Denny? Anything wrong?" cried Brace.
The man gave him a wild look, and nodded his head, as he held on by one
hand to the rope which secured the elephant's pad.
"Well, well!" cried Brace, excitedly; "what is it? Speak."
The man's lips parted, and one hand went up towards his head, while the
mahout who had brought him looked back with his face full of horror.
Then, as our elephant was urged up on the other side, the doctor reached
over from the howdah, and by a quick movement caught the poor fellow's
arm just as his hold had given way, and he was about to pitch off the
pad to the ground.
"I thought so," cried the doctor, helping to lower him down. "He was
fainting. The poor fellow has been wounded--badly, too!"
"What is this? How did he get hurt?" cried Brace to the mahout in
Hindustani.
"My lord, I don't know. He came on a poor horse, and ordered me to come
to you. My lord, he is very bad."
Just then the rajah came up, and I fancied there was a peculiar look in
his face. He had changed colour, and seemed wild and strange, and when
Brace fixed his eyes upon him he averted his gaze.