SLADANG. 97 



Far away in the corner of the plain to our right I 

 could see, in the still uncertain light, a brown mass 

 like an ant-hill : then it moved a few paces, and we 

 knew that it was a sladang. The first thing to be 

 done was to test the wind. The direction taken by 

 the mist showed that the little wind that moved was 

 in our favour, but to make doubly sure I pulled out 

 my Malay knife from the wooden sheath in which it 

 hung at my belt, and peeling off a shaving or two 

 from my thumb-nail watched the particles flutter to 

 the ground. In a hurried consultation we decided 

 that our best chance was to cross the open plain at 

 the point where we were, and then to skirt along the 

 forest on the farther side. Crouching low in the tall 

 lalang grass, we made our way with little difficulty 

 through the plain, and noiselessly crept through the 

 forest undergrowth to make for a point whence I 

 wished to get another view of the sladang. 



We reached the spot in safety, and saw, some 

 300 yards away, two magnificent animals grazing 

 in the open plain. Now that it was daylight, they 

 were seeking the cover of the forest, but, as it was 

 yet early dawn, they walked quite leisurely, browsing 

 as they went, moving forward a step or two at a time 

 and stopping again to feed. Towards our left, some 

 quarter of a mile away, the plain ran into the forest 

 in a little secluded bay, and the sladang had their 

 heads turned in this direction. I again tested the 

 direction of the wind with a shaving from my thumb- 

 nail, and then we crept back into the forest to inter- 

 cept the sladang. We had no time to lose, for the 

 animals would certainly not remain in the open much 



G 



