348 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



delivered in tlie loudest key of native Billingsgate, and 

 you have a faint idea of the row ! 



As they approached, it of course got more and more 

 exciting, and soon the various inhabitants of the dewur 

 began to make their appearance. First came a peacock 

 and two hens, pattering over the fallen leaves. Sharper 

 in eyesight than any other denizen of the forest, they 

 soon observed me, and, rising in a panic, sailed off with 

 their beautifully steady flight towards the river, the 

 gorgeous plumage of the cock flashing in the sun — six 

 feet of living gold and purple ! 



Another rustle, and a herd of spotted deer came 

 trotting over a little eminence ahead, led by a well- 

 antlered buck, with two more good ones bringing up the 

 rear. Entirely taken up by the noise of the beaters, 

 they never observed me, and, passing within fifteen 

 paces of my elephant, disappeared in the jungle. I 

 could have shot any one, or perhaps two, of the bucks, 

 but seeing what was more interesting at the time, held 

 my hand. This was a troop of baboons — hoary-bearded 

 old fellows, and matrons with their young ones in their 

 arms — who were j)erched on the trees ahead, and had 

 already commenced their angry warnings that the tigers 

 were there. 



Then came the glorious moment of excitement — 

 ample reward for days of bootless toil. The tigress 

 came sneakino^ alonsj amone^st the bushes thatfrinsjed the 

 nala, and, halting about sixty paces off, turned round 

 her head for a moment towards the beaters. Steady 

 now ! the bottom of the neck is exposed, and the sight 

 of the big rifle bears full upon the proper spot. Bang ! 

 and with a gurgling roar, over she rolls into the ndld. 

 Is it she ? or the devil, or what ? Certainly she fell ; 

 but, from the very spot she stood on, bounds forth the 



