270 A TWINGE OF REMORSE. 



assistance and advice of a native stalker. But in doing so 

 I think they are mistaken ; for with their limited know- 

 ledge of the ground it stands to reason that they cannot work 

 it with the same advantage as the native shikaree who has 

 known all its features and peculiarities since his youth. I 

 have known others who imagine they can walk down the 

 paharee in his native mountains. With his oriental polite- 

 ness he may flatter them into such a belief ; but given any 

 distance from five miles to a hundred over a rough mountain- 

 ous country, with a good reward for the hill- villager at the 

 end of it, and then see who will win the race the bare-footed, 

 agile mountaineer, or his white competitor, however athletic, 

 in his boots ? the paharee, and even a very ordinary one, " I 

 guess." Few shikarees are, however, of much use to an 

 experienced hand except in their native neighbourhood. 



My satisfaction, as I stood admiring the grand proportions 

 of the fallen stag, was slightly mingled with remorse when 

 I thought of the rather mean advantage we had taken of the 

 unsuspecting animal in our method of circumventing him. 

 The beam of his horns was only 5J inches in girth, but 

 this was compensated for by a span of 33 inches within 

 the bend. We bled and gralloched him then and there ; but 

 as darkness was fast setting in, we left two men to guard him 

 at night from those hirsute thieves the bears. 



During the night I was awakened by the hoarse bellowing 

 of a stag in the direction of a " trag " on an open spot within 

 a quarter of a mile of where I lay. This time it must have 

 been more of a challenge than a serenade, for it soon called 

 forth a loud response in the echoing wood from a rival forest 

 king, who seemed to draw nearer the challenger until their 

 voices suddenly ceased. From this I divined that the rivals 

 were fighting it out on the grassy arena beside the pool. 

 Darkness, however, prevented my interference with their 

 quarrel. 



Early next morning one of the watchers came and reported 



