.^^ 



JWMlJ 



CHAPTER XVI 



AN ADVENTURE WITH A LEOPARD 



An afternoon tryst in the Siwaliks — Proceed to the savannah — A herd of 

 chital leaving the forest — Deer plentiful in the United Provinces in 

 old days — Not so plentiful now — Sit and watch the deer — Sambhar 

 appear — Youngsters engage in sparring match — A big stag appears 

 — Night coming on — A dilemma — A new actor appears on the 

 scene — Leopard stalks a hind — Kills her — The havildah misses a 

 stag — I lire at leopard and wound it — Leopard bolts into forest — 

 An anxious journey back to camp — Search for the leopard next 

 morning. 



I CANNOT count the occasions when I have had the 

 opportunity of watching a leopard on "his own " in 

 the jungle on both hands. In fact they are limited to 

 three, and one of them I have already described 

 elsewhere. One of the others was certainly not the least 

 interesting of the encounters however, and I propose to 

 narrate it here. 



I was out in the jungles in the south of the Siwaliks early 

 in April, and the weather, though commencing to get a 

 trifle hot perhaps in the daytime, was still ideal for my 

 purposes. 



Before leaving the camp one morning early on some 

 work, I gave the havildah orders to meet me 

 at four o'clock in the afternoon near a big 

 banyan tree at the edge of the forest, about 

 a mile away. 



" The cook wants some meat and we'll 

 see if we can stalk something before sun- 

 down, so bring the rifle and shot-gun." 



" Very good, huzur," 



I was up to time and found the havildah 

 duly awaiting me, squatted under the banyan t 

 tree. I took the rifle and we set off down " 

 a narrow path through the forest, which led 

 to an open savannah-like grassy tract of considerable 

 extent and completely encircled by green forest, tongues 



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