54 A SPLENDID STAG. 



revisit his haunt ; and the same evening saw my little tent 

 pitched near some huts situated a mile or two below the 

 place where we had watched the kar. 



Next morning we were up with the dawn, and, after a 

 stiff pull, reached the upper edge of the forest, a short dis- 

 tance above which the kar-hole was situated. Our intention 

 was to inspect this, in order to ascertain whether the stag 

 had resumed his nightly visits. Thinking it was now 

 much too late in the morning to expect him to be there, 

 we took no care in approaching the kar } when suddenly from 

 behind the bushes close by it, out walked a lordly stag, 

 followed by a hind, and presented himself to our astonished 

 gaze at little over a hundred yards, neither of the animals, 

 apparently, having as yet seen or heard us. Another second 

 and the sight of my rifle was on the stag's shoulder, the 

 report being followed by a " thud," and before the echoes of 

 the shot had died away in the forest below, he had sub- 

 sided in the long grass, leaving only his splendid horns and 

 the tips of his ears above it. Thinking him secured, I 

 commenced deliberately reloading the rifle, being at that 

 moment in as happy a frame of mind as a mortal can ever 

 hope for in this world. But alas ! I was doomed to bitter 

 disappointment. 



Perhaps it was the slight rattle of the ramrod in reload- 

 ing that attracted his attention, for his horns began to sway 

 to and fro, and almost immediately he jumped up and went 

 off at a lumbering gallop. I had just finished recapping, 

 so, taking a hasty aim, let drive, and in my hurry, with 

 sorrow be it told, clean missed the great animal ; but, being 

 very sick, he soon pulled up in a small strip of wood that 

 extended for a short distance down the hill. 



I now took Jeetoo's advice, contrary to my own opinion, 

 with respect to taking up a position whilst he proceeded to 

 drive out the wounded deer. My idea was to post myself 

 at the lower end of the bit of wood, thinking that, as the 

 stag was badly wounded, he would most probably take 



