206 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



former finny resident may have been removed, this Barhdn- 

 pur valley, if not overshot, seldom failed to attract fresh 

 denizens to take the place of those we killed. 



I remember one bitterly chill misty morning, in the 

 early part of the cold weather, rising at 5 a.m., lighting the 

 lamp, and, getting on my bike, a twenty minutes' exhilara- 

 ting spin along the capital road brought me to the lower 

 foot-hills, and shortly later to the " village " about half-a- 

 dozen wattle-and-daub huts of Barhanpur, where my 

 orderly met me with a few Korkus ; the rest had already 

 proceeded up the valley to scout. 



A sharp walk for about a mile up the dank and chilly 

 bed of the yet misty valley, which was already waking 

 to the shrill cries of the grey jungle-cocks and the mewing 

 of peafowl, landed us at the mouth of one of the side glens 

 the Am khora near which a good stag sdmbar had been 

 seen the previous day. On a little peak, silhouetted 

 against the flush of coming dawn, I made out the forms of 

 two of the scouts. They had seen nothing, however, and 

 we held on up the glen in silence, spreading out through 

 the long, dewy spear-grass that clothed the level ground 

 bordering the stony watercourse. From a thicket there 

 suddenly rose the beating of heavy wings, and a loud 

 " Kok-kok-kok-kok I " as a peacock, scattering the dew in 

 glittering drops, burst forth clamorously, and, rising 

 clear of the trees, sailed ponderously away down the khora, 

 his grand tail streaming behind him, brilliant in the beams 

 of the newly risen sun. 



Here and there up the valley rang the loud "Kuck-kaa- 

 kiya-kuck'm /" of a jungle-cock, and as we reached the spot 

 where he had been shouting his soul out, the wary bird 

 might be seen running swiftly off through the leafless 

 underwood. Further on we surprised a couple of barking 

 deer. Leaping over the dripping grass, heads low, and 

 round, fat, white-scutted rumps high in air at each bound, 

 they popped into the ndla, and, hopping up the far bank, 



