110 INDIAN BIG GAME chap. 



and the path to and through it was still quite 

 good. Jungle sheep are very fond of places of 

 this sort, so on the evening of the 9th of April 

 I took a Sholaga with me and my '303 and 

 Ubique — the latter with only three rounds of 

 ball on principle, as I was only going with the 

 idea of possibly seeing a jungle sheep. I told the 

 syce to bring my pony to a given spot on the 

 bridle-track, which was very steep, the last part 

 needing zigzags to reach the top. Off the Sholaga 

 and I sallied down this bridle - track until we 

 reached the path leading away to the nursery. 

 As we reached the clearing, we went very slowly 

 and cautiously, hoping to see the red form of a 

 jungle sheep feeding. On and on we went, our 

 hopes rapidly diminishing as we neared the end 

 of the open. We had just left the nursery with 

 our faces turned homewards, intending to strike 

 the main road a little below where my pony was 

 to be and not half a mile off, when the Sholaga 

 and I both noticed perfectly fresh tracks of a 

 solitary bison, so fresh in fact that the Sholaga 

 whispered that he must be just ahead of us. The 

 sun had set, and in another quarter of an hour it 

 would be too dark to shoot, so my anxiety to make 

 full use of the daylight left can be imagined. We 

 followed the tracks easily and quickly, as the 

 mango showers had fallen and the earth was soft. 

 After following a bit, we paused to look ahead ; 

 immediately on my right I noticed a shelf of 

 rock below which the ground sloped to a hollow. 

 Instinct or something drew me to this shelf, and 

 I walked up to it very cautiously so that only my 

 head would show as the view below enlarged and 



