52 GUN, RIFLE, AND HOUND. 



I had to be up early next morning, so did not 

 devote too much of the evening to the view. We 

 made for our beds, but not to sleep much, for some 

 wandering member of the local fauna, a hyaena I 

 think, disturbed us twice by entering one of the bed- 

 rooms before morning. 



After despatching my morning tea, I handed my 

 two i2-bore rifles to my shikari and a villager he 

 had brought with him, and started. First of all we 

 crossed the embankment, and, following a little bay of 

 the lake just opposite the bungalow, we plunged into 

 the hills. Half an hour's walk took us into the Forest 

 Reserve, a jungle consisting principally of thorny 

 bushes. Here the shikari had some more men 

 waiting. A hurried consultation took place, result- 

 ing in a further move across the broad vale we 

 were in. 



At last the man who had accompanied us pointed 

 to a swell of the ground just in front, and the shikari 

 whispered that the herd was just beyond that. I 

 crept silently to the edge and peered over. Yes, 

 there they were, feeding dispersed among the bushes 

 some seventy yards away. Quietly I took my second 

 rifle from the shikari, cocked it, and laid it beside me. 

 About in the centre of the herd were two bulls, 

 conspicuous by their light colour. I aimed behind the 

 shoulder of the nearer one, and, seeing him fall to the 

 shot, I dropped the other with my left barrel. Then 

 I caught up my second rifle. 



"Shoot, sahib, shoot," cried the shikari, as a large 

 nylghau crossed an opening in some bushes nearly 



