"Perhaps you may smile at our putting a couple of balls into a tiger that appeared to be dead, but you wouldn't if you knew the brute and his treacherous ways. Many a tiger has lain as if dead till somebody walked up to him; then he sprung to his feet, and in several instances he has torn the hunter to pieces. A friend of mine was terribly wounded in this way by a tiger that had already received four balls; he was lying on his side on the ground exactly as though he had breathed his last, and my friend walked quite around him and threw a piece of turf against his side without causing the least motion. Then he considered it safe to apply his tape-line to take the measurement of his game, and as he did so the tiger reared and seized him. Another gentleman was close by, and he settled the tiger with a bullet in his side, but not till my friend's arm was nearly torn from its socket. [Illustration: PROCESSION OF TIGER-HUNTERS ON FOOT.] "The favorite mode with all true sportsmen is to hunt on foot, and, for those whose means will not allow the expense of hunting with elephants, it is to be preferred, on account of its cheapness. Two or more gentlemen organize the party, or a man may have no partner, if he chooses, and keep all the game to himself. Any number of natives, from twenty upward, are required, and the more you have the better. There is a _shikarry_, or chief huntsman, who leads the party; he watches the tracks of the tiger, or the drops of blood, if the animal is wounded, and is constantly stooping on the ground to discover the desired traces. "Behind the shikarry come the hunters, usually two of them, and they keep their rifles ready cocked, so as to shoot on the instant. Then follow two of the steadiest natives with the spare guns to hand to their employers the moment they are wanted, and behind the gun-bearers is the band armed with half a dozen drums, a dinner-bell, horns, tom-toms, pistols, and other things for getting up a noise, and the greater the noise is, the better. Then there are men who throw stones in front of the party, and stir up a tiger who may be lying concealed in the bushes, and there are spearmen on the right and left of the line, to keep the beaters together when passing through tall grass. There are two or three men whose duty is to climb trees and watch for any movements of the game. The procession moves very slowly, as it is necessary to be cautious, to prevent the escape of the tiger, and also to save the members of the party from injury if possible. [Illustration: A GRAPPLE WITH A TIGER.]