Jungle By- Ways in India 



Once I had the luck to see a leopard on his own 

 in the jungle. I was on an elephant in a sal forest 

 in the Terai, and had no rifle or gun with me. 

 I was on my way back to Dehra, my head-quar- 

 ters, from a long tour in Burma, and had taken a 

 part of Philibhit and Kumaun on my way back. 

 Commissariat and rifle and cartridge arrangements 

 had gone wrong, which accounted for my weapon- 

 less condition. Although I probably lost, owing to 

 this state of affairs, a fine skin, I cannot regret it, 

 since I enjoyed an experience I should never have 

 had had a rifle been in my hand, and my sole 

 thought been where to place a bullet. 



The elephant was moving slowly along through 

 a fine piece of high tree forest with but a scanty 

 low undergrowth below it. Suddenly he halted 

 at a touch from the mahout's knee, and the 

 latter looked fixedly at an object ahead. 



I followed the direction of his eye, but could 

 see nothing. Again I glanced at him, and had 

 another try. But carefully as I searched the 

 chequered, sunlit floor of the forest in front of 

 me, I could see nothing worthy of the mahout's 

 suppressed excitement. Suddenly I felt a move- 

 ment behind me. The Gurkha orderly had seen 

 something, and was obviously muttering and 

 breathing almost audible curses. The mahout 

 silently raised his arm close to his body and 

 pointed with one finger, the hand held close to 

 his breast. I leant cautiously down and followed 



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