INDIAN SHOOTING 251 



kyang, which would keep running on in front of me till I could 

 get across the river at the bottom of the valley. When I got up 

 to where I expected to find the dhong, I found they had moved a 

 good bit higher up the nullah, and I could not possibly get nearer 

 than some three hundred yards from them. Leaving my gun-carrier 

 and a Tartar behind with strict orders not to stir till I fired, I tried 

 to crawl on with my shikari, but had to return before getting any 

 distance, the dhong meanwhile feeding farther away and going 

 up the hillside, thus making the stalk more and more difficult. I 

 had seen no signs of my big- friend, and began to think I had been 

 mistaken ; but there was a fair-sized bull with the herd. I now 

 had to retrace my way for some distance, and get down to the 

 river again, so as to creep up under cover of the bank till I got a 

 hill between the dhong and myself On reaching this hill, I found 

 I could not possibly get within shot, and could do nothing but 

 hide behind a large stone and wait. 



I suppose I must have waited at least a couple of hours, when 

 there was a bit of a commotion among the herd, the babies all 

 running to the big ones, and I heard a funny noise which I could 

 not account for. In a few minutes I saw the big bull appear from 

 round the side of the hill, walk leisurely towards the herd, and 

 lie down. Just then three chankos came past me, and I came to 

 the conclusion that they had occasioned the scare, had been driven 

 off by the big bull, and had made the noise I heard. 



I waited for another good half-hour, and had almost made up 

 my mind to crawl towards the bull in the hope that he would mis- 

 take me for one of the chankos coming back, and so give me a 

 shot, when up he got, but only to walk a few yards, and then go 

 down again and roll. 



After a bit of this sort of play he got up again, and taking no 

 notice of the rest of the herd, began walking towards me. 



There was a little stream at the foot of the hill I was on, and 

 the bull was walking quietly down the opposite bank, coming on 

 slowly, looking like a young elephant with his hair nearly touching 

 the ground on each side of him. 



I waited and waited for him, till he got almost past me, and 

 within about sixty or seventy yards, and then he stopped, looking 

 down the nullah, and broadside on to me. I tried to get steady on 

 him and fired ; but he stood still, and my shikari said I had missed. 

 The ground beyond him was softish, and I began to be afraid I 

 id, and had not seen the bullet strike, so I fired again, and the bull 



