e failed to dislodge
him. On the whole, for every reason, I am much against sitting on the
ground. You are liable to be run into sometimes, as we have seen, and at
others you are not high enough up to command the ground, and there is a
greater chance of driving a tiger back on the beaters. There are, however,
occasions when one must sit on the ground, and if you have occasion to do
so, it is of course advisable always to try and get about twenty or
thirty yards on one side of the course the tiger is likely to take, and
always let him pass your line of fire before firing. It is also of great
importance to have as your second man one who can remain absolutely
motionless when a tiger is advancing towards him. To illustrate the
importance of this I may mention the following incident:

I was posted one day in a tree, when the tiger charged back through the
beaters with a roar, and I had at once to get down and run to another
point of the jungle to cut him off. I then tried to get up a tree on the
grass land near the edge of the jungle, and next tried another a little
further off, but could not got up into it, and when the beat recommenced
there was nothing for it but to sit down beside a bush about one hundred
yards from the jungle, and on ground on almost exactly the same level as
the tiger would have to traverse. But this bush was so small that it only
partially concealed me, and the entire body of my native second gun-bearer
was exposed to view. This man fortunately had a most remarkable power of
sitting absolutely motionless under any circumstances which required
stillness. I also was fully prepared to remain quite still, and arranged
myself so as to fire at the tiger when he was exactly in front of me. It
was interesting to observe what followed. The tiger was evidently an old
hand. He had anticipated our plan, and charged back through the beaters,
as we have seen. He had also evidently anticipated the alterations we
should probably make, and when the beat recommenced he cautiously emerged
from the jungle and looked up (it is a rare thing for a tiger to do this)
into the tree near the edge of the jungle into which I had tried to climb.
He seemed then to be quite satisfied that all danger was at an end, and
strolled leisurely towards us. As he was passing the point which put the
whole bush between me and him, I cautiously levelled my rifle, which I
already had in almost exact position to fire, so that when he came into my