196 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



beast hurriedly crashed into the sheltering jungle. Far 

 down the slopes in front a large dark object had just 

 halted. It had its head turned back over its shoulder and 

 gazed up at us, its huge broad ears held intently still. 

 A sambar hind ! Then " Whee-onk ! Dhdnk ! " rings from 

 the grass closer to us, and a young stag, his budding horns 

 just beginning to sprout, sticks his yellow-lined tail up 

 into the air and rushes downhill with those wonderful long, 

 sure-footed bounds so peculiar to his kind. Quite a family- 

 party it was, then, that we had disturbed under the gtilar 

 tree's shade ; and one of the highest-lying on the hills no 

 doubt. 



Far below us the valley of the Si'pna was to be seen, 

 pent in between its encircling basalt bluffs. Along the foot 

 of these silent, guardian-like precipices lay a succession of 

 strips of heavy green jungle. In the centre of the broad 

 glen the whitened and boulder-strewn dry bed of the river 

 peeped out here and there. It was there that I had 

 arranged to meet a dozen of the hill men, who, intent on 

 securing the sambar venison that they coveted, had given 

 me information of this secluded spot where, said they, 

 the deer were congregated like sheep in a fold. " Pay us 

 nothing, sahib!" they had insisted, patting their stomachs 

 by way of illustration, "but shoot us a sambar, and we 

 will work for you all day ! " 



So it was here that a halt was called, and under the deep 

 shade cast by a heavy clump of bamboos the tiffin basket 

 displayed its cheering contents. Down by a neighbouring 

 pool my orderly was dispensing a light repast among the 

 appreciative beaters : to each a handful of parched gram, 

 and a piece of raw brown sugar or gur a little attention 

 to their inner men that goes far in ensuring a successful 

 beat 



As for the sportsman, his sense of contentment was 

 complete. To recline in the shade, one's hunger appeased, 

 and, with a good cheroot as a digestive, to gaze through 



