158 STALKS ABROAD 



and very angry, for his luck had not changed, and 

 he had had a poor chance again. However, one 

 of the shikaris came up to Pertap Singh and 

 announced that he had seen more antelope close 

 by, and on we went. 



After some little delay we found the herd of 

 some fifty antelope feeding about a small rise. 

 They looked very smart and dapper in the early 

 light. 



Burton gave chase, but they saw him coming 

 and moved off down a nullah. He always seemed 

 to strike them in this sort of ground. While they 

 were yet a great way off, he had a shot at an 

 extraordinarily light - coloured beast with a very 

 wide spread, but they still went on. Kobert and I 

 sat in our tonga and had to watch the whole herd 

 jumping and springing past within a hundred and 

 fifty yards. There they were, offering a most 

 sporting shot, and we had to watch them out of 

 sight without getting our rifles out of their covers. 

 Still we couldn't complain, for we were very lucky 

 to have got into this splendid preserve at all. The 

 last comer had been a Frenchman, who had got 

 nothing. This news did not much surprise us, as 

 we had seen something of the gentleman in question 

 at another place. Attired in a white duck suit and 

 snowy helmet, we had watched him sally forth in 

 quest of partridges. Failing in this, he had devoted 

 the morning to slaughtering doves and pigeons, which, 

 by the way, were sacred and as tame as barn-door 



