ey sat quietly watching their lines. The
afternoon hours passed swiftly and the sun was nearing the horizon
when their attention was simultaneously drawn to a sound above their
heads. Looking up, to their horror, they saw an immense tiger just
above them. One of them shivered with terror and, clutching his
companion, said in a hoarse whisper: "Our hour has come." The other
whispered back: "Keep perfectly still and quiet." Breathless, the two
watched the huge tiger descend the bank and pass majestically to the
edge of the water where he stopped to quench his thirst. It seemed to
the two trembling men that it took the Lord of the Jungle fully half
an hour to drink his fill. Then, as slowly and impressively, the tiger
turned from the stream and ascended the bank. When he reached the top
he stood there, gazing before him either as if admiring the scenery
or contemplating a meal off one of the men. The pair scarcely dared to
breathe and wild schemes of taking to their heels to gain the centre of
the stream and swim down the river shot through their brains. At last
the tiger slowly turned away from the river and disappeared into the
forest. Then, after some time, the frightened servants hurried across
the stream back to camp, and told the Maharajah of their terrible
experience. The footprints of the animal corroborated their story
and their asseveration that they had seen a very very big tiger.

During one of the shoots, the shikaris (native sportsmen) brought news
that a rhino had been seen in a certain jungle. The guests were much
excited and a beat was organised for the next day. The morning dawned
and all set out and were soon posted to their various positions. The
front "stop" guns were on the bank of a river. The Maharajah was in
the beating line. When about half way through the piece of jungle
he noticed that one of his brother guns looked disappointed. He
accordingly asked "What's up?" The guest answered that he thought that
a large animal had broken back. However nothing was discovered and as
it was mid-day a halt for lunch was considered desirable. A spot was
soon selected and the signal given and the lines broke up. Just as
the foremost elephants were about to kneel to permit their riders to
dismount, there arose from the "stop" elephants a cry of "Tiger". In
the jungle, quite close to one of the "stop" guns, a tiger was enjoying
a feed of a wild pig; and as the elephant turned to join the others,
he almost trod on