152 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. 



silent chase ; the tracks became fainter, and the bleed- 

 ing appeared to have almost ceased ; so few and far be- 

 tween were the red drops upon the ground that I was 

 constantly obliged to leave the gun-bearer upon the last 

 trace while I made a cast to discover the next track. 

 I was at length in despair of finding him, and I was 

 attentively scrutinizing the ground for a trace of blood, 

 which would distinguish his track from those of other 

 deer with which the ground was covered, when 1 sud- 

 denly heard a rush in the underwood, and away 

 bounded the buck at about fifty yards' distance, ap- 

 parently as fresh as ever. The next instant he was 

 gasping on the ground, the rifle-ball having passed ex- 

 actly through his heart. I never could have believed 

 that a spotted buck would have attained so large a size ; 

 he was as large as a doe elk, and his antlers were the 

 finest that I have ever seen of that species. It required 

 eight men with two cross poles to bring him home. 



I reached the tent to breakfast at eight o'clock, hav- 

 ing bagged three fine bucks and two buffaloes that 

 morning ; and being, for the time, satiated with sport, I 

 quitted Ceylon. 



