AN INQUISITIVE LEOPARD. 115 



in the mountains, they generally sicken and die. These 

 Taroos, as they are called, from their knowledge of the 

 ground and the haunts and habits of tigers and other game, 

 are most useful to the sportsman hunting in these heavy 

 jungles. 



By dint of much ploughing with the elephant through this 

 sea of long grass and dense jungle, I managed to slay some 

 deer and wild pig ; and shooting the latter there, where pig- 

 sticking is impracticable, I did not consider poaching. I also 

 bagged a fine leopard rather unexpectedly, in this wise : One 

 evening I was on my way back to camp, jogging along a forest- 

 road on the elephant, and was in the act of lighting my pipe, 

 when I saw the animal creep stealthily across the road some 

 distance ahead, and before I could dispose of the pipe and 

 take up the rifle, disappear into the jungle. I naturally 

 thought this was all I should see of him, and so resumed my 

 pipe, when suddenly the elephant came to a dead stop. On 

 looking over the howdah rail to ascertain the cause from the 

 mahout, without a word he pointed to a patch of grass a few 

 yards off the road. On following the direction of his hand, I 

 could just see a small patch of spotted skin, but was unable 

 to determine what part of the beast's body it covered. Losing 

 no time, I banged straight at it, and at once had the satisfac- 

 tion of knowing, from the savage growls of the brute, and his 

 writhings among the grass, that I had inflicted a mortal 

 wound. The elephant was driven close up to where he lay 

 snarling at us, but quite incapable of doing anything else, 

 when another bullet finished him. His curiosity had been 

 fatal to him, for he had evidently stopped in the grass by the 

 roadside to look at us as we passed. 



As we jogged on campwards through the dusky forest, I 

 once more lit my pipe, and this time finished it with a zest 

 that was considerably added to by the satisfaction of knowing 

 that I had the beast, which had twice interrupted my smoke, 

 dangling behind the howdah. 



