errified beast stole slowly and cautiously through the tall
grasses, his lithe, silken side gliding in and out snakewise, and only
his fierce eyes burning bright with gleaming flashes between the gloom
of the jungle. Once I had seen him, I could follow with ease his sinuous
path among the tangled bamboos, a waving line of beauty in perpetual
motion. The Maharajah followed him too, with his keen eyes, and pointed
his rifle hastily. But, quick as he was, Lord Southminster was before
him. I had half expected to find the pea-green young man turn coward at
the last moment; but in that I was mistaken: I will do him the justice
to say, whatever else he was, he was a born sportsman. The gleam of joy
in his leaden eye when he caught sight of the tiger, the flush of
excitement on his pasty face, the eagerness of his alert attitude, were
things to see and remember. That moment almost ennobled him. In sight of
danger, the best instincts of the savage seemed to revive within him. In
civilised life he was a poor creature; face to face with a wild beast he
became a mighty shikari. Perhaps that was why he was so fond of big-game
shooting. He may have felt it raised him in the scale of being.

He lifted his rifle and fired. He was a cool shot, and he wounded the
beast upon its left shoulder. I could see the great crimson stream gush
out all at once across the shapely sides, staining the flame-coloured
stripes and reddening the black shadows. The tiger drew back, gave a
low, fierce growl, and then crouched among the jungle. I saw he was
going to leap; he bent his huge backbone into a strong downward curve,
took in a deep breath, and stood at bay, glaring at us. Which elephant
would he attack? That was what he was now debating. Next moment, with a
frightful R'-r'-r'-r', he had straightened out his muscles, and, like a
bolt from a bow, had launched his huge bulk forward.

I never saw his charge. I never knew he had leapt upon me. I only felt
my elephant rock from side to side like a ship in a storm. He was
trumpeting, shaking, roaring with rage and pain, for the tiger was on
his flanks, its claws buried deep in the skin of his forehead. I could
not keep my seat; I felt myself tossed about in the frail howdah like a
pill in a pill-box. The elephant, in a death grapple, was trying to
shake off his ghastly enemy. For a minute or two, I was conscious of
nothing save this swinging movement. Then, opening my eyes for a second,
I saw the tiger, i