WATCHING FOR A LEOPARD. 51 



clean ; and I began to think that there was very little chance 

 of our feline friend taking the trouble to come for so poor 

 a supper. But as Jeetoo seemed confident that the beast 

 would come and he was seldom wrong in his conjectures 

 regarding game I determined to wait there, at any rate 

 until dark. So, having mounted the tree, we dismissed our 

 followers, who departed exerting their lungs to the fullest 

 extent. 



The bones were at the foot of a rock in a small wooded 

 ravine on a steep hillside, and our position in a tree which 

 grew a little below was almost on a level with them, and 

 about twelve yards distant. 



We had been watching for barely a quarter of an hour, 

 and every minute darkness was growing apace, when I heard 

 a slight rustle among the dead leaves, and felt Jeetoo gently 

 pressing my arm. In a few more seconds I saw the leopard 

 slink noiselessly up below our tree and look stealthily around. 

 I might have fired at him then, but I waited until he reached 

 the bones, making sure that I should get a more certain shot. 

 On finding so little to eat, he commenced glowering about as 

 if at a loss to know what had become of his leavings. Care- 

 fully I now began raising the rifle, but in doing so it touched 

 an unlucky twig that chanced to be in the way. Slight as 

 the noise was, it caused the leopard to start and look up ward; 

 and before I could close the stock to my shoulder, with one 

 bound he reached the top of the rock above him and was out 

 of sight. I sent a random shot after the brute, but never saw 

 a sign of him again. I had " counted my chickens before 

 they were hatched." My delay in shooting had lost me my 

 chance. This little incident with the leopard, which may 

 have served to illustrate one of the many hunting stratagems 

 used in these mountains, has caused me almost to forget the 

 7:tfr-eating stag we had come out to look for. 



After making an unsuccessful search for any traces of 

 the leopard, I started on the following afternoon with Jeetoo 

 for the place where he had reported the stag was to be 



