INDIAN REMINISCENCES 63 



As they came near the pool either I or my man 

 made some shght movement — so sHght that I was 

 not aware of it — and in a flash the pigs swung 

 round on their tracks and disappeared. 



Following the pigs, there came a small gazelle. 

 That, like the peacocks, struck on the vision as if 

 a fairy hand had placed it there. As it approached 

 the water with steps both timid and dainty, a most 

 pathetic expression in its eye, it seemed to me 

 that Nature is cruel in her scheme of life. A fight 

 or struororle for existence is a law so stern and 

 unflinching that the slightest slacking of eternal 

 vigilance may cost an animal its life. As the little 

 thing was about to drink, a swirl of sand rose with 

 astonishing quickness, and caused a pillar of dust 

 and sand to rise several feet in height, obscuring 

 for the moment the presence of the gazelle. When 

 the swirl subsided the animal was still there, but 

 I fancied I could see it tremble. Its nerve was 

 gone, and in three or four graceful bounds it was 

 out of sight. 



So far very few of the thirsty folk of the jungle 

 had been able to satisfy their thirst, and I won- 

 dered whether the animals that came to drink were 

 rendered more cautious than usual by the fact of 

 my man and self being there. I think this is more 

 than probable. However, as we waited, a half- 

 grown porcupine passed behind us, apparently 



