CHAPTER XL 



SPORT IN AN INDIAN FOREST RESERVE. 



IN my rambles in the hills, some seven or eight miles 

 round my station, I came upon an antique gateway of 

 Hindoo architecture forming the centre of a battle- 

 mented wall. I pushed my Arab up the much-broken 

 paved roadway which led to it. The gates which had 

 closed it were long since gone, and the walls were 

 broken and undermined in a dozen places by the 

 numerous trees, now in all their greenness under the 

 influence of the summer rains. On the gateway itself, 

 and the wall adjoining, half-a-score of pea-fowl were 

 sunning themselves. On my left as I entered was a 

 peaked rock, which was connected at each side with 

 the masonry enceinte. As I proceeded through the 

 grove, which pointed to the existence of water higher 

 up the valley, I became aware that the place I had 

 entered must in other days have been a fortress of 

 great strength. The gorge was, or rather had been, 

 completely closed by the wall through which I had 

 entered, and the steep hills each side were also crowned 

 with masonry. Presently a bend in the road revealed 

 one of those Indian views which are so effective in 

 the distance, and so disappointing when approached 



