nimal, which, just as the car was upon it, gathered
itself and sprang. It landed on the hood with all four feet, its
snarling face so close to the men that they could feel its breath. The
American, thrusting the muzzle of his weapon into the furry neck of the
great cat, let go with both barrels, blowing away the beast's throat
and jugular vein and killing it instantly. With the aid of his badly
frightened driver, he bundled the great striped carcass into the
tonneau of the car and imperturbably continued on his bird-shooting
expedition. Some people seem to have a monopoly of luck.

Though Saigon and Pnom-Penh do not possess the facilities for equipping
shooting expeditions afforded by Mombasa or Nairobi, and though in
Indo-China there are no professional European guides, such as the late
Major Cunninghame; the elaborate and costly outfits customary in East
Africa, with their mile-long trains of bearers, are as unnecessary as
they are unknown. The arrangements for a tiger hunt in Indo-China are
scarcely more elaborate and certainly no more expensive, than for a
moose hunt in Maine. A dependable native _shikari_ who knows the
country, a cook, half-a-dozen coolies, a sturdy riding-pony, two or
three pack-animals, a tent and food, that is all you need. With such an
outfit, particularly in a region so thick with game as, say, the Dalat
Plateau, in Annam, the hunter should get a shot at a tiger before he
has been forty-eight hours in the bush. In a clearing in a jungle known
to be frequented by tigers, the carcass of a bullock, or, if that is
unavailable, of a pig, is fastened securely to a stake and left there
until it smells to high heaven. When its odor is of sufficient potency
to reach the nostrils of the tiger, the hunter takes up his position in
the edge of the clearing, or on a platform built in a tree if he
believes in Safety First. For investigating the kill the tiger usually
chooses the dimness of the early dawn or the semi-darkness which
precedes nightfall. With no warning save a faint rustle in the
undergrowth a lean and tawny form slithers on padded feet across the
open--and the man behind the rifle has his chance. I have found,
however, that even in tiger lands, tigers are by no means as plentiful
as one's imagination paints them at home. It is easy to be a big-game
hunter on the hearth-rug.

Pnom-Penh, the capital of Cambodia, stands on the west bank of the
mighty Mekong, one hundred and seventy miles from the