myself down by the worthy doctor. Between us
were four double barrels and ammunition.
When we were fairly in our post, our escort
silently withdrew to a hovel on the skirts of the
village, just within hail.

The moon, near its full, was rising, and the
night calm. A deep shadow rested under the
trees, save where, through gaps in the foliage,
the silver rays stole in. A solemn silence
reigned around, scarce broken by the whispering
rustle of the leaves as at intervals the night
air sighed fitfully. Those who have sat motionless
and patient, far into the night, with such an
object in view, can understand the oppressive
feeling that steals over one in the stony stillness,
with ear and eye stretched to catch every
sound, or detect the slightest movement.
Immovable as statues we sat, without a whisper.
Creature-comforts we had none; for checroots
and brandy-and-water were

      Banned and barred, forbidden fare,

it being supposed that a tiger cannot abide
tobacco. Loins, and backbones, and necks, and
legs, grew stiffer and stiffer, and ached wearily;
but still we sat. The night passed slowly on,
the moon climbed higher and higher over our
heads, and at last shone upon the dead cow
below; but not a sound fell on the ear. Tired
nature began to murmur against the penance;
first a few remarks were whisperingly ventured:
"I don't think he's coming." "I think he
heard those fellows and is off." "He can't be
here, or we should have heard him," &c. &c.
Gradually such feeble suggestions gave way to
positive assertions, delivered in a tolerably
audible tone, and at last I openly declared I
would wait no longer, and descended to the
ground. My first act was to get my shoes, and
while putting them on and chatting without
further constraint, I remarked that it would be
as well to call our guides. Forthwith, uplifting
my voice, I shouted out the name ot the
Moonda. Hardly had the word passed my lips,
when an abrupt startling roar from a thicket
within a few paces of me petrified us with
amazement. Never had I felt so wretchedly
helpless. Standing unarmed at the foot of the
tree, I had one shoe on, and was about to put on
the other. While expecting every instant to
be my last, I felt sure that an attempt to climb
back to my perch would be the signal for the
tiger to seize me. To remain standing there,
was equally disagreeable. My pistols came to
my recollection. They were lying in my hat,
but the hat lay somewhat in the direction of
the thicket. It was a trying moment; but in
another moment I found myself striding towards
the hat, one shoe on and the other off, and hardly
conscious of what I did. I remember grasping
the pistols, cocking them, and with the barrels
levelled towards the bush, which I steadily faced,
shuffling sideways to the tree. The feel of the
trusty weapons in my hands was comforting, as
was the sight of the doctor, who, with both
barrels of his gun cocked, and pointing at the
bush, leant eagerly forward on the charpaïe,
covering my retreat. At length I reached the
tree on the side furthest from the thicket, and
went up it like a lamplighter, pistol in hand,
although, on our first arrival, I had required
the assistance of other people's arms and
shoulders. "Thank God!" exclaimed the
doctor, as soon as I was seated by him. "You
are up. I thought you were a dead man."
And so saying, he fired into the bush, just as
our escort came up with lighted torches; and
we returned to our tent in the village

Scarcely had the sun risen on the morrow,
when a Kôle ran in to tell us that the cow had
been removed. The doctor was obliged to
return to the station, but I repaired at once to
the spot of our night's vigil. The cow was
gone, and a broad trail showed which way she
had been dragged. At about a hundred yards
from our mango-tree, and near the foot of the
rocks before described, lay the stomach and
entrails, and a pool of blood. Further on, was a
spot where the tiger had been rolling. The
marks were plain, with some of his hair lying
where the ground had been pressed down. And
on a ledge on the summit of a perpendicular
scarped rock about four feet high lay the
carcase of the cow, partly eaten away. The tiger
must have jumped on the ledge with the cow in
his mouth; there were no other means of ascent.
The prodigious power of the animal may be
conceived from such a feat. After gazing for a
while on the spectacle, some of the most
experienced Kôles present assured me that the
tiger, after gorging on so much beef, could not
possibly be far off, and they volunteered at once
to beat him up and drive him towards me. I
accordingly selected a commanding spot, and
sent the men a detour of some three hundred
yards in front of me, whence they commenced
beating in my direction. In a few minutes the
tiger was roused, and passed my station at a
distance of about sixty yards, in a lumping
heavy canter, with his tail in the air. I took
deliberate aim a little in front of his chest, and
fired. The ball cut a twig, and must have
deflected from its first direction, for the tiger
passed on without taking the slightest notice of
my salute, and in another instant was lost in
the jungle, leaving me to return to camp
intensely mortified.

Bears (Prochilus labiatus) swarm in the
Kolehân and all the rocky and jungly parts of
Orissa; and the Kôles assured me that at times
they became the prey of tigers. The tiger, they
said, did not care to face an old dog bear, but
would lie in wait on the top of a rock where
bears were wont to pass and repass below, and
drop on the back of the first one that came
beneath. Poor old "bhaloo," taken so unfairly
at disadvantage, generally falls an easy prey,
but on equal terms the bear, it appears, does
not fear a tiger. Near Keyra, in Singbhoom,
I once saw both animals driven out of the .same
patch of jungle, and they must have been lying
there near each other for a considerable time.

There has been much controversy about the
tiger's power of jumping; some are of opinion