Antlers 



shikari rose at the same moment. Being lower 

 down than I was, he had not seen the animal drop 

 or heard anything, and was of opinion that I 

 had missed. We most of us know how ready these 

 men are to consider the sahib must have done so if 

 the animal is not dropped in its tracks. No doubt 

 they see a good deal of missing in their time, and 

 also have to undertake weary tramps after animals 

 thought to be wounded but which are never 

 regained. In this instance the khud face down 

 which we looked was not only very sheer and 

 rocky but went down a long way too, and abso- 

 lutely nothing was visible. I was too certain 

 that the beast was dead, however, to allow any 

 hesitation, and we climbed down, the shikari 

 searching the ground and grumbling, and I 

 making straight down to where I believed the 

 beast had rolled. It was a difficult drop, as in 

 places the hill-side was simply a bare sheet of rock. 

 We had got down two-thirds of the slope, finding 

 a rough, rocky watercourse to help us, and it was 

 in a little dry rock pool that we came upon the 

 sambhar, which had rolled and bumped down 

 some 250 feet or more. 



The first glance at his head resulted in dis- 

 appointment. It was quite small, though thick. 

 A second glance, however, showed that there were 

 no upper tines, only the big beam and the brow 

 tine being present on each side, the one horn being 

 much shorter than the other. 



73 



