THIRTEENTH DAY. 211 



sturdy fellows, with long white cloaks, knives in their belts, 

 and faces tanned by exposure, sat down close to me on the 

 little meadow, leisurely smoking their pipes, and now and then 

 yelling out as if they wished to strike terror into the wolves. 



If the whole proceedings connected with this drive had not 

 been so utterly comic, one would have been intensely annoyed, 

 for the great beat was really not driven at all, and we had 

 been steadily standing at our posts all this time quite need- 

 lessly exposed to the burning sun, and with our attention kept 

 on the constant stretch by the possible proximity of such 

 interesting game. 



As there was no regular signal to give notice that the 

 beat was over, we left our posts one by one, and following the 

 example of the beaters lay down on the little meadow. A 

 frugal lunch of bread, cheese, and wine was produced from 

 the game-bags, and we here rested for an hour, heartily 

 laughing at this charmingly conducted wolf-drive, and espe- 

 cially amused by the excellent forester, who, in spite of its 

 total failure, went about with his face beaming with satisfaction 

 and telling of the many wolves which ought to have shown 

 in the beat. 



The other guests had meanwhile gone back to Kovil, and 

 the beaters were also returning, only one remaining a very 

 long fellow with a very red nose, who, in order to fortify 

 himself in case of an encounter with a wolf, had been appa- 

 rently imbibing before the beat, and now lay motionless in 

 the shade of a bush, sunk in a drunken torpor, and taking 

 not the slightest notice of what was going on around him. 



Having eaten our lunch we busied ourselves with inter- 

 changing ornithological notes and studying the brisk life 

 round about us ; for it was a splendid warm day, and after 

 the beneficial rain of yesterday everything was flourishing 

 with renewed vigour and luxuriance. 



High in the blue ether a huge Griffon Vulture was 



P2 



