CAMPING OUT UNDER A TREE 



some difficulty in finding it ; the so-called " camp " being 

 merely a big tree beneath whose sheltering branches I had 

 passed the previous night, and where I had left my servant 

 and a coolie to guard my few belongings. 



But even in India, that land of luxury and ease, a 

 sportsman must be prepared to rough it now and then, 

 especially when in pursuit of game so wary as the ibex ! 

 And after all, to sleep beneath a starlit sky is no very 

 great hardship to a man who has been tramping about 

 all day, nor is a bundle of dry leaves a bad substitute for a 

 bed under similar conditions. Hence, no sooner had I 

 dined, which I did most ravenously off cold fowl and 

 potatoes, than I sought my rustic couch, and, wrapping a 

 blanket round me, was soon enjoying the sleep I had fairly 

 earned. 



The next morning, despite my previous day's exertion, 

 I was up again at two, and after a hurried " chota hazri," 

 eaten in the dark, started for our ground, accompanied by 

 the "shikari" and a coolie as before. 



We took up the position we had held the previous day, 

 and again, as the dawn appeared, we saw a herd of ibex on 

 the same hill across the valley to our right. It was evidently 

 the herd I had pursued the day before, but my glasses soon 

 revealed to me a vacancy amongst the bucks. Four 

 now were all that I could see, while yesterday there had 

 been five. Where then was the fifth the big saddle-back 

 I had wounded, and which had limped off with the others ? 



This was the question that now puzzled me, for the 

 wound was not a serious one, and unlikely to have proved 

 fatal ; hence, he was probably alive, and, if so, should be 

 with the herd. 



I appealed to the " shikari," thinking that his knowledge 

 of wild beasts and their ways might enable him to suggest 

 some plan to trace the wounded buck. 



" Hims lie down somewhere, I think. Never mind, 

 soon find him," replied the man, and with such convincing 

 confidence that I at once decided to postpone the stalk 

 until we had searched the valley, which we did most 

 diligently for some time, but without any success. 



Finally, after searching every likely spot, we abandoned 

 the attempt, and mounting the ridge on which we had seen 



171 



