IN THE SAL FORESTS 381 



At night alone the buffalo approaches the river bank. 

 Moonlight on a silent and deserted shore discloses some 

 great black rocks, so it would seem, that stand in the 

 shallows with the ripples glistening away from their feet. 

 Hush ! Was not that a splashing in the warm water ? 

 Look at that promontory of yellow sand jutting into the 

 dark waters from darker woods ! An enormous shadow, 

 clear-cut in the brilliance of a tropic moon, is creeping 

 across it. There is the sound of profound breathings. 

 Now, gently push the dug-out along the black shadow of 

 this high bank, and wait. Slowly, ponderously, one 

 two five seven enormous creatures emerge from the 

 gloom of the sal trees into the sandy shallows and, one 

 by one, splash their leisurely way across them to a reedy 

 islet. The shining ripples widen and slap tiny wavelets 

 against our side. There is a distant crunching of gravel, 

 and some low trees amid long grass on the island are 

 being crushed through by heavy bodies. The buffaloes 

 are moving slowly up-stream, feeding as they go among 

 the rank herbage of the riverside. 



At length the rustlings die away, and not a sound can be 

 heard but the feeble chirping of crickets, an occasional low 

 moan from an owl in the trees across the water, and the 

 remotely-faint rushing of some distant rapid. 



If we have the patience to haunt the sleeping river until 

 the moon shall have crossed the sky to decline towards 

 those wooded hills, those slow-moving monsters will at 

 length return and seek the shore, and the woods that 

 disgorged them earlier in the night will again close mys- 

 teriously over their huge forms. 



Perhaps the skirt of that distant thunderstorm may 

 extend and give the slumbering forest a slight shower. 

 That would be well indeed, for by early dawn we should 

 rejoice to find the fresh tracks so patent to our eager gaze. 

 Here is the spot where the herd finally left the riverside ; 

 and, farther on, the immense indentations left by the feet 



