e plains bordering the river, an
enraged tiger, passing through a herd of buffaloes, broke the backs of
two of the herd, giving each a stroke right and left as he went along.
One blow is generally sufficient to kill the largest bullock or
buffalo. Our captain, Joe, had once received _khubber_, that is, news
or information, of a kill by a tiger. He went straight to the
_baithan_, the herd's head-quarters, and on making enquiries, was told
that the tiger was a veritable monster.

'Did you see it?' asked Joe.

'I did not,' responded the _goala_ or cowherd.

'Then how do you know it was so large?'

'Because,' said the man, 'it killed the biggest buffalo in my herd,
and the poor brute only gave one groan.'

George once tracked a tiger, following up the drag of a bullock that
he had carried off. At one place the brute came to a ditch, which was
measured and found to be five feet in width. Through this there was no
drag, but the traces continued on the further side. The inference is,
that the powerful thief had cleared the ditch, taking the bullock
bodily with him at a bound. Others have been known to jump clear out
of a cattle pen, over a fence some six feet high, taking on one
occasion a large-sized calf, and another time a sheep.

Another wounded tiger, with two bullets in his flanks, the wound being
near the root of the tail, cleared a _nullah_, or dry watercourse, at
one bound. The nullah was stepped by George, and found to be
twenty-three paces wide. It is fortunate, with such tremendous powers
for attack, that the tiger will try as a rule to slink out of the way
if he can. He almost always avoids an encounter with man. His first
instinct is flight. Only the exciting incidents of the chase are as a
rule put upon record. A narrative of tiger shooting therefore is apt
in this respect to be a little misleading. The victims who meet their
death tamely and quietly (and they form the majority in every
hunt),--those that are shot as they are tamely trying to escape--are
simply enumerated, but the charging tiger, the old vixen that breaks
the line, and scatters the beaters to right and left, that rouses the
blood of the sportsmen to a fierce excitement, these are made the most
of. Every incident is detailed and dwelt upon, and thus the idea has
gained ground, that ALL tigers are courageous, and wait not for
attack, but in most instances take the initiative. It is not the case.
Most of the tigers I have seen killed would h