THE MAHADEO HILLS. 121 



of no avail to point out the superior strength of our 

 powder. They will have six fingers of Hall's No. '2, 

 whatever the consequence. As they put generally two 

 bullets, a leaden and an iron one, on the top of this 

 charge, and wad with a handful of dry leaves, the result 

 often is the bursting of the barrel, and always consider- 

 able contusion of the user's shoulder. 



This was to be a silent beat ; that is, the people were 

 to advance without noise, beyond the rapping of their 

 axes aofainst the trees, as there was another dense cover 

 lower down which usually held bison, and sometimes a 

 tiger, and which was to be beaten also in the afternoon. 

 I had sat an hour at least behind the screen of leaves 

 that had been put up for me when the first sign of the 

 beat appeared, and for another half-hour nothing was 

 heard but the occasional knock of an axe-handle on a 

 tree. Presently a shot rang from the extreme flank of 

 the line of guns, then another, and a clatter of hoofs 

 inside showed that a herd of something had been 

 repulsed in an attempt to escape. As the beat advanced 

 more shots were heard on either side, and the galloping 

 about of the imprisoned animals, now and then met by 

 a shout from behind when they attempted to break back, 

 became productive of considerable excitement on my 

 part. At last a rush of animals advanced down the 

 side of the stream where I was posted, and eight or ten 

 sambar clattered past within half a stone's throw. I had 

 just fired both barrels of my rifle at a couple of the stags, 

 dropping one of them in his tracks, and had advanced a 

 few paces towards it, when I heard a shot on my im- 

 mediate right, and a fine bull bison, with two cows and 

 a small calf, trotted past almost in the same line as the 

 sambar had taken. Those were not the days of breech- 



