292 RIFLE AND SPEAR WITH THE RAJPOOTS. 



sambkur deer in the neighbouring jungles ; but the cover 

 is so dense they can only be shot by driving with a long 

 line of beaters. I did not go, but Alan says : " The 

 undergrowth was very thick, and when standing on the 

 ground it was impossible to see an animal a yard off, 

 even were he as big as a sambhur. A charpoy [Indian 

 bedstead] had however been tied across the branches of a 

 tree ; and, seated on this, one could see over the lower 

 bushes, and command some eighty yards around. To a 

 native, used to squatting with his legs under him like a 

 tailor, it was a comfortable-enough seat, and allowed him 

 to turn and shoot quickly on either side ; but seated 

 European fashiou, it was almost impossible to shoot to 

 the right, or get one's gun round quickly for a snap-shot 

 on that side. Apji Sahib looked so comfortable cross- 

 legged beside me that I attempted to imitate his position, 

 but my legs soon got cramped, and a few minutes' trial 

 was enough. 



" Presently the beat commenced, and very soon we 

 heard the crashing through the jungle of some heavy 

 animal coming towards us. Several good sambhur stags 

 had been marked down in these covers, and I looked 

 eagerly through the bushes for the first glimpse of a big- 

 pair of horns. The footsteps grew closer, but, alas ! only 

 four or five neilghai appeared. They were all hinds, and, 

 unconscious of their danger, trotted quietly past us, not 



