On reflection it might have been a better decision if he had called a halt to the Tour. In December they left Europe for South Africa where he narrowly survived a close encounter with a family of rogue elephants near Lake Victoria. A month later he had an even more dangerous meeting with a German U-Boat in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Refusing to join Kirkwood on a plane journey from Ceylon to India, Hagen chose to go by tramp steamer instead. Manned by a fervently pro-Nazi German crew, he spent most of the next month onboard the Ochenfeller forced to salute a portrait of Chancellor Adolf Hitler each morning and losing a small fortune in a card game he barely understood. Indeed he lost so much cash, that when the captain was asked if he had any “Westerners” onboard by the submarine commander, they hid him away because they feared having their ill gotten gains taken from them!
The trip to India proved equally tasking after Kirkwood broke his shoulder while attempting a new trick-shot routine in Madras. Forced to take on the all playing duties, Hagen then found himself face-to- face with a man-eating Tiger! Accepting an invitation from the Rajah of Calcutta to go hunting, he spent a memorable night waiting by a watering hole where the animal had been spotted. Armed with just a double barrel rifle for protection the reality of what he was attempting to do suddenly hit him:
"This was a lonesome spot for a crowd loving fellow like me ... Frankly I was scared! I sat there in the front seat of the car for perhaps two hours. Suddenly I heard the roaring of a tiger ... a tremendous roar, echoing and re echoing in the darkness ... I shook and quivered after each reverberation ... I had the uneasy feeling that the tiger was much nearer than I cared to think ... I waited again and another roar. It was impossible for me to turn around. I had the overwhelming fear that he was actually in the back seat of the car with me ...”
Native helpers sitting in the other car had exactly the same idea and roared off in the opposite direction. Thankfully, the noise of their engine scared the animal away and after taking a few minutes to gather his composure, Hagen headed back to civilisation with very little desire to ever go hunting again.
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