284 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



my camp there was a tableland, pretty open, with 

 short grass on which the cheetal fed morning and 

 evening. In the heat of the day they retreated to 

 the slopes on this table, which were covered with 

 thick jungle. Up betimes, as usual, with .500 in 

 my hand, I walked off to my hunting ground. We 

 were now getting into March, which in this part of 

 the world means a very hot sun. The deer, there- 

 fore, do not stop long in the open, and you must be 

 up very early to catch them out. I was somehow 

 unlucky, for although I saw a few stags, they were 

 restless, and I could not get a decent shot. The 

 reason for this I found out later on. We had got 

 to the end of the tableland farthest from the camp, 

 and 1 remarked to Puddoo that my chance was over 

 for the morning. " Oh, no," he said ; " I and 

 Yelloo " (a man I had brought out from the village) 

 "will walk along the jungle slope" (which led down 

 to the river), " and if you walk along the top a little 

 ahead we are sure to send a stag up to you, for they 

 generally go up-hill." This soon happened, and I 

 obtained a nice shot at a stag as he came up over 

 the edge on to the flat. I knocked him over just 

 on the edge, where he lay kicking, but in his 

 struggles he went over the side out of my sight 

 through the cane jungle ; so I shouted to Puddoo, 

 " Stag down in front of you, wounded ; look out 

 and I will go on in case you don't catch him, so give 

 me time." I went on a bit. The canes were a little 

 thinner here, so I watched ; presently I heard some- 

 thing coming. My cheetal ? No, the unmistakable 



