340 IN A BUSH WITH TWO PANTHERS. 



in the absence of trees or other vantage-ground, I sat in a thick bush some 

 little distance behind the nets. I was fenced in on three sides so as to 

 be invisible, whilst the fourth was only screened breast-high as I knelt, to 

 permit of my shooting. The bushes in front of me were cleared so that I 

 might see the panthers as they crossed the open space. The line of nets 

 was intended to check them if going fast, and thus afford me a better shot. 



Having sent the beaters to commence with the less likely half of tlie 

 cover, I took up my position with my three guns and a trustworthy man 

 who knew the locality well. We scarcely expected to find the panthers in 

 this beat, as their chief strongholds were in the other portion ; but it is 

 often necessary to beat out the thinnest parts of a cover first, as if the 

 animals sought happen to be in them they may be scared away by the 

 noise required for beating the thicker portions before the thinner, whereas 

 if in the dense cover they will not leave it for the slight disturbance 

 necessary to drive the more open parts. Our conjectures were correct ; the 

 first drive proved blank. We were now certain of the panthers being in 

 the other half of the cover, and the men began the drive with a will. The 

 excitement of waiting for such brutes as panthers, seated on the ground, 

 must be experienced to be understood. They usually come so quietly as 

 scarcely to be heard, whilst there is a certain amount of danger in the 

 sportsman's position that makes it interesting. He is kept almost painfully 

 on the alert from the beginning to the end of the beat. 



On tliis occasion the beaters had not been at work very long when I 

 heard them calling, " There they go ! there they go ! look out, sir, they're 

 coming towards you ! " The panthers had been thoroughly frightened, and 

 as the cover was thin, they had given up their usual sneaking dodges, and 

 now came galloping along like two large dogs. I could not see them, but 

 presently we heard them as they made their way rapidly through the buslios 

 towards the narrow waist of the cover where we were ensconced. It unfor- 

 tunately liappened, however, that the beaters were some distance behind, so 

 the panthers decided to take breath, and instead of crossing the open space 

 in front of me, they bounded from behind our position into the very thicket 

 in which we sat hidden ! I was somewliat of a novice at tliis time, and I 

 must say I was startled by the suddenness of tlie occurrence. The two 

 beasts panted and growled from the combined effects of their run and llioir 

 ire at being tlius rudely roused, and sat themselves down in tlie middle of 

 the thicket witliin a couple of yards of us, behind ! I of course thought 

 they would attack us, and the fact of having my back to them added a great 

 deal to the unpleasantness of the position. It was fortunate we were 

 screened in, as had the panthers come thus suddenly to close quarters they 



