It was a Thursday , when we were driving the jeep into Buxa tiger reserve. This was a massive area where there were a hundred or so Royal Bengal tigers dispersed all over the area. I had my Ishapore Arms Factory 12 bore shot-gun , loaded with a Kynoch lethal ball in each barrel . Rongon had his Ishapore Arms Factory .315 bore bolt operation rifle. Rishi carried the client's magnum .375 Brevexe bolt operation rifle. Our loyal tracker , Jeddiah was with us too .
Rishi was looking through his binoculars to spot a tiger and far off , in the distance , he was able to spot a large male Royal Bengal tiger , a heavy fellow weighing at least 450 pounds , it seemed. We decided to drive the jeep a little forward , before getting down . Rishi handed the Brevexe rifle to our client and we began slowly creeping towards our quarry. When , we were at 100 yards , our client removed the safety catch from the rifle and operated the bolt to load a magnum .375 Winchester silver tip cartridge. The client looked carefully through the telescope sight , as he raised the rifle to his shoulder. His aim was correct , and when he fired , the bullet struck true , right behind the shoulder . The beast was hit in the heart and after going fifty yards , he dropped after breathing his last. Rongon once again began singing praises about the client , while l ordered the coolies to get to work on moving the tiger's corpse. My estimation of his weight was inaccurate. He weighed a good 506 pounds . However , there was one more tiger to secure. It was here that our client made a strange request. He did not think of merely shooting a tiger to be a challenge. He wanted to shoot a charging Royal Bengal tiger. I immediately began to protest , saying " Shahib , it is extremely dangerous " ( I would be very untruthful to my fellow forum members if l were to say that l protested due to ethical reasons , as l had not yet developed such morals ).
However , Rongon jovially told our client that , it would be done and that he was confident that the client could stop the charging tiger. Rongon ordered me not to terrify the client with false fears. Since Rongon was my senior Shikari and client was King , l decided to go along with it. We drove the jeep through the massive reserve , looking for another suitable male Royal Bengal tiger . Even though the place was eerily quiet , we knew that there were Royal Bengal tigers lurking about in the dense vegetation.
It would not be less than 45 minutes that we were able to spot a large Royal Bengal tiger again . He had just killed a barking deer and was feeding . Rishi handed the client his magnum .375 Brevexe rifle , while Rishi kept five spare Winchester silver tip cartridges on hand , in case the client needed to reload his rifle's magazine. But how were we going to make the beast charge at us ? The client went to within fifty yards of the animal and began to shout and wave his rifle. The Royal Bengal tiger merely lifted it's head to stare at him and then went back to enjoying his meal. Despite the best efforts of our client , the animal was simply ignoring him . It was , at that point that Rongon Daas came up with the magnificent ( ?) idea that he would shoot the Royal Bengal tiger and injure it , to provoke it , into charging . I stared with my jaws wide open , as Rongon very casually took aim at the Royal Bengal tiger with his .315 bore bolt operation rifle . He fired and the 244 grain soft nose bullet struck the poor animal in the stomach . The animal instead of charging , began running the other way , away from us. In the last fifty years , l have not been able to explain to myself or to anyone else , why the client did what he did next. He took off behind the tiger , wildly shooting at it and operating the bolt. This was extremely dangerous . The client was running behind the tiger , firing repeatedly at it , after short intervals. Panic had broken out . I began running after my client , tightly gripping my shot-gun . However , it was a task not to be envied. I do not know who was running faster . Was it the tiger or the client ? The client must have fired 3 or 4 shots at the fleeing tiger. But it never turned around and charged . Eventually , it dropped dead on the ground . It had been shot four times ( if you do not count the stomach injury inflicted by Rongon ) . However , only one of the bullets had been well placed. It was a shot which had pierced a lung and most likely , that is what had killed the tiger. I finally caught up to my client , and we were both panting heavily. We had gone a great distance away from the jeep , where Rongon , Rishi and Jeddiah were . But that was not the most disconcerting part of the experience.
Among the foliage , staring at me and my client was yet another Royal Bengal tiger . It was uncomfortably close , about less than 20 feet away from me , my respected client and the corpse of the fallen tiger. It must have been carefully stalking me and my client while my client was attempting to chase and shoot the fleeing tiger.
It was just staring at us and getting closer . From it's movements , l knew that it was about to charge at us.
I would like to add to my dear readers a small note here . Unlike a leopard , which is unpredictable , it is fairly easy to tell when a Royal Bengal tiger is about to lunge at you. What cruel trick of fate was this ? Our respected client had wanted a charging Royal Bengal tiger and he had shot the wrong tiger. The Royal Bengal tiger pounced. I fired the left barrel of my shot-gun at it's chest , at a distance of thirteen feet. Those old ounce and a half Kynoch lethal ball cartridges were the greatest shot-gun cartridges ever made by man . Not only did it stop the charge , but the creature simply staggered to one side and dropped dead after a few painful twists and turns. While it was still moving , l cautiously kept my other barrel aimed at it , in case the creature was not really dying. It was a 481 pound tigress . My client was , by the grace of God , alright . He showed me the magazine of his Brevexe rifle . It was empty. He had expended all his cartridges after the fleeing tiger. When he had rushed after the fleeing tiger , he had also overlooked taking the spare cartridges from Rishi.
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The three Royal Bengal tigers which fell to our guns in Buxa Reserve .
As we were walking back , we saw Rongon driving the jeep towards us with Rishi and Jeddiah following on feet.
The epilogue will follow.
