238 STAG AND BEAR SHOOTING IN KASHMIR 



and evening, and perhaps lived in another valley. I was 

 unable to waste many days over them, as the stag-forest 

 was yet some distance down, and I was anxious to begin 

 business there. 



I took my camp down to the village of Basmin, seven 



miles below Siiknis, and thence took twenty-five coolies for 



a beat on the slopes overlooking the right bank of the 



Wardwan river. We first went down a couple of miles, 



and then worked up a wooded spur for three hours, and 



an awful grind it was. Just as I got placed, and the men 



were moving to their several points, a stag called in the 



forest opposite, about four hundred yards away — the first 



call I had heard that season (date, 25th September). I 



had taken a few mouthfuls of breakfast, but stopped in a 



hurry as the welcome sound reached my ear, and went 



up hill to get above the stag. He called about four times. 



We had not been gone long when there was a tremendous 



shout from the coolies, a short distance below the animal : 



they had come upon some hinds ! We returned crestfallen 



to our former position — but I did not resume my breakfast. 



Nothing came of this beat, nor of the next one, so I gave 



up in disgust, and was coming down hill when a coolie 



started a stag that was lying at the foot of a pine-tree. 



This is nearly always the result of driving in Kashmir 



when a single sportsman tries to circumvent these deer. 



Against my better judgment, I was induced to try this one 



by the Kashmiri shikari I had hired from the village ; he 



knew where the stags were, and went straight to the place 



with this body of men to turn them out before the muzzle 



of my rifie. He wished to save me trouble, he said ! He 



had, however, increased my troubles by, at anyrate, two 



days' extra toil up and down the steep hillsides to find he 



disturbed the game by still-hunting. I gave up the 



beating business on the spot, and vowed never to have 



