254 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



passionately fond of sport in any shape or form, and it was 

 not long before the fascination of big game shikar over- 

 took me to such an extent that I applied for and obtained 

 an extra-regimental appointment in the Survey branch, 

 joining a party that had been assigned the task of sur- 

 veying a large portion of the then utterly savage and 

 unknown jungly country that lies about the headwaters of 

 the Tapti and Narbada rivers. 



" In the course of our wanderings over those wild tracts 

 all my leisure was devoted to the pursuit of game, with 

 which that country then swarmed, and so great were my 

 opportunities that ere long though still a very young 

 man I had established a firm friendship and under- 

 standing with the aboriginal inhabitants, whose usual habits 

 of secretive shyness were so relaxed in my favour that I 

 had scarcely arrived in any of their villages before all the 

 local news of wild beasts was being eagerly imparted 

 to me. 



" It was one scorching morning in the hot weather when, 

 having completed the day's outdoor work, I was riding 

 slowly through the jungle towards camp, that I overtook 

 on the narrow path a jungle man and woman. In front, 

 axe hitched on shoulder and bow and arrows in hand, 

 stalked the husband ; behind, patiently following in her 

 lord and master's tracks, came the wife a strapping G6nd 

 girl, lithe as a pantheress, with bare limbs and deep bosom. 

 On her head was poised a heavy bundle. As I drew near 

 I noted with surprise that it was the freshly removed skin 

 of a large tiger, neatly folded up, with the tail hanging and 

 swinging free to one side. 



"At the sound of my pony's hoofs the pair had turned 

 and faced me. As I returned the Gond hunter's salutation 

 I perceived him to be a man of middle age and small, 

 sturdy build, with piercing eyes and a free, athletic carriage. 

 The G6ndni, his companion, was much younger. She 

 stood aside shyly, her naked brown breast heaving with 



