It is fortunate that in sudden danger one has not time to think; for if, in the nerve-trying moment when a man stands facing the onrush of a charging elephant, a vivid imagination painted to his eyes the awful fate in store for him should the bullet fail to strike home, the rifle would drop from his shaking fingers. But though in anticipation the heart beats quickly and the breath comes fast, yet when the instant of danger comes the nerves turn to steel and the hand never falters. A tiger is not always a formidable foe; and one generally meets him on advantageous terms. But the wild elephant's charge must be met on ground of his own choosing; and the odds are perhaps in his favour. Yet the man who has once stopped him in his headlong rush will long to do battle with his kind again; and the recollections of the peril escaped acts only as a spur. FOOTNOTES: [5] Footprints. CHAPTER VIII IN TIGER LAND The tiger in India--His reputation--Wounded tigers--Man-eaters--Game killers and cattle thieves--A tiger's residence--Chance meetings--Methods of tiger hunting--Beating with elephants--Sitting up--A sportsman's patience--The charm of a night watch--A cautious beast--A night over a kill--An unexpected visitor--A tantalising tiger--A tiger at Asirgarh--A chance shot--Buffaloes as trackers--Panthers--The wrong prey--A beat for tiger--The Colonel wounds a tiger--A night march--An elusive quarry--A successful beat--A watery grave--Skinning a tiger. Would any book on India be complete without a tiger in it? Although he is found in many other Asiatic countries--in China they shoot him in caves, in Corea there is a whole militia raised to deal with him--yet in the popular mind the tiger is particularly associated with Hindustan. No distinguished visitor would consider himself properly entertained if one were not provided for him to shoot. The young subaltern in England pines for the day to come when he will be ordered to India and have his chance to face the striped beast in his native jungle.