48 CAMP-FIRE YARNS. 



The men who had gone after the wounded gooral returned 

 with it at dark. They had had considerable trouble in secur- 

 ing it in the difficult ground where it had betaken itself to. 

 As the night was bitterly cold and logs were plentiful, we lit 

 a huge camp-fire. This was always done whenever wood was 

 procurable. And many a pleasant hour have I passed beside 

 it before turning in for the night, smoking my pipe, and 

 listening to the marvellous tales and adventures related by 

 the mountaineers, some of which were as amusing as they 

 were incredible. One I remember, as having been told by 

 Kurbeer, will serve as a fair example. From his account it 

 appeared that a comrade of his had fired at and wounded a 

 huge wild boar, when it at once turned and came at him. To 

 avoid the enraged brute he dropped his gun and climbed up 

 the nearest tree. But the boar rushed at the stem, making a 

 deep cut in it with one of his tusks, and passed on. Again 

 it returned to the charge, cutting the opposite side of the 

 stem in like manner. The man now finding the tree begin to 

 totter, descended from it, and, unperceived by the boar, got 

 up another. On came the brute once more, and down came 

 the empty tree. What became of this "mighty boar," I regret 

 to say I never heard, for an outburst of the laughter I could 

 no longer suppress brought this wonderful yarn to a prema- 

 ture close. 



Next day we tried other ground, on which I made a clean 

 miss at a gooral and lost one wounded. We came upon a 

 sounder of wild pigs, but did not manage to circumvent 

 them. The " bunneyl," as the hill-men call it, is frequently 

 met with in these mountains, where " pig-sticking " being im- 

 practicable, it may be considered fair game for the rifle, and 

 native shikarees think a solitary old hill-boar quite as ugly 

 a customer to deal with as a tiger. The only game bagged 

 was a " cheer " pheasant, a handsome bird something resemb- 

 ling our own hen-pheasant, but lighter in plumage and larger. 

 It is generally found on the higher hill-tops of the middle 



