My companion on the rock was very relieved to see me. My long absence, and the growling he had heard, had convinced him that the tigress had secured another kill, and his difficulty, as he quite frankly admitted, was how he was going to get back to the village alone.
I thought when we were climbing down the watercourse that I knew of no more dangerous proceeding than walking in front of a nervous man carrying a loaded gun, but I changed my opinion when on walking behind him he slipped and fell, and I saw where the muzzle of his gun--a converted .450 without a safety catch--was pointing. Since that day--except when accompanied by Ibbotson--I have made it a hard-and-fast rule to go alone when hunting man-eater, for if one's companion is unarmed it is difficult to protect him; and if he is armed, it is even more difficult to protect oneself.
Arrived at the crest of the hill, where the man had hidden his boots, I sat down to have a smoke and think out my plans for the morrow.
The tigress would finish what was left of the kill during the night, and would to a certainty lie up among the rocks next day.
On the ground she was on. There was very little hope of my being able to stalk her, and if I disturbed her without getting a shot, she would probably leave the locality and I should lose touch with her. A beat therefore was the only thing to do, provided I could raise sufficient men.
I was sitting on the south edge of a great amphitheatre of hills, without a habitation of any kind in sight. A stream entering from the west had fretted its way down, cutting a deep valley right across the amphitheatre. To the east the stream had struck solid rock, and turning north had left the amphitheatre by a narrow gorge.
Choose a suitable option to complete the sentence:
From the passage it appears that the narrator _________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → is very practical and clever.
The narrator thinks like an experienced hunter. He has a "hard-and-fast rule" to hunt man-eaters alone, because an armed companion is a danger. He works out that the tigress will finish her kill and lie up among the rocks. And since stalking is hopeless on such ground, he decides on a beat, provided he can raise enough men. Each step shows a practical and clever mind.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: is not a brave man. — Incorrect. Contradicted: a man who makes it a rule to hunt man-eaters alone must be a brave man.
Option 2: has given up the hunt for the tigress. — Incorrect. Contradicted: he sits down to think out his plans for the morrow. He is preparing the next stage of the hunt, not giving it up.
Option 4: does not have a gun. — Incorrect. Contradicted: he speaks of disturbing the tigress "without getting a shot", which shows that he is armed.
Note: In the original NTA paper, Option 2 read "is not prepared for the attack". NTA accepted this option as a correct answer as well. To leave only one correct answer and avoid confusion for students, it has been changed here to "has given up the hunt for the tigress".
Advice for the exam: In the real exam, mark the answer that is grammatically or factually correct. If NTA’s provisional answer key marks a different option, challenge it during the answer-key challenge window and give the reason in one or two lines.