ENCOUNTER WITH TIGRESS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12364, 1 December 1905, Page 2

ENCOUNTER WITH TIGRESS.

Major 7. S. Edve, R.A.M.C., in " The GMrmc."

An old man emerged from the jungle, aud oame hurrying towards my camp, which was some half-mile from the village. His story was soon told. Early tliat morning ho had started off. in charge of a herd of cow_ to graze them for the day, and tlio sun becoming hot, they liad trespassed into this first-class reserve forest, when almost immediately he saw a tiger pull down a white cow, and ho and tho herd stampeded. It -did not take tho mahout and myself very long to get the • howdah on my elephant, and, togother with tho old man to act as guide, wo wero off. In a quarter of an hour or less we found the cow rfght enough, but the tiger had not oaten anyvportion of h«?r. For sonic two hours in tho midday heat of an Indian day at tho end of May did we suarch every patch of grass and scrub and nullah (dry watercourse) in tho neighbourhood, but no sign of life did wo see. I then returned to tho cow, and, tying my hammock tip in a tree that commanded a good view of her, I bade my mahout return to canip and como back for fne when it was too dark for mc to see to shoot, unless he heard a shot earlier, whjen ho was to come at once. , i It was about 2 p.m., and sweltering hot. when a magnificent stag cheetah came stalking by find I with difficulty refrained from shooting, but I was rewarded. Somo fifteen minute*, later I saw a tigre*a coming along at a trot, uomo two hundred yards off, and pausing for a moment in evciy thick patch of undergrowth she passed through. Then I saw a second animal, following the first ono.

They entered n thick patch of brushwood just beyond tho cow, and for a moment were hidden from view, when almost simultaneously they both thrust hoad and shoulders out of the bushe*. and turned to look at the cow, and trotted forward immediately. I emptied both barrels, giving each of them a shot. Number Ono rushed about with apparently littlo or no rose in her hindquarters, and ended*in tumbling over and over in a bash, growling and snarling, and apparently in "a diabolical rage, when all of a sudden she lay sti'l. Tignw* Number Two fell over' where she was shot, quite dead. Both wero hit in tho same spot, viz., close behind the shoulder. Had I been on foot, tho first one would have ki'led mc, but the other was knocked down dead at once. It toachea one a grrat deal. I suppoaa before the first tigress ceased rushing about she covered fully

mc hundred. yards of ground. for sh»* irst rushed nvrayipme thirty yards, ond then came chargf% right back, though mortally wounded. I was using a .577 double rifle and sir drachms of, powder, with the copper tube express bullet, so it is difficult to account for such vital.ty. ,