38 SHIKAR SKETCHES. 



so paralyzing him ; and hit the second (who must 

 have been standing directly behind him) through 

 the shoulder and into the lungs. 



In my haste in brushing through the under- 

 wood, a twig had sprung back, and hit me in 

 the eye, causing for the moment intense pain ; 

 and, as the G6nd* who was acting as my guide 

 intimated that there was a spring of water close 

 by, I determined to go and bathe the injured 

 optic. 



Covering up the dead stags with branches, to 

 keep off the vultures. I proceeded on my w r ay, 

 and soon came to a lovely glade in the forest, 

 carpetted with emerald-green grass (rather an 

 unusual sight in the hot weather, for it was the 

 middle of April), through which meandered a tiny 

 rivulet, whose clear waters danced and sparkled 

 in the sunlight. The jungle on each side, some 

 thirty yards from the stream, w r as composed of 

 bamboo and c sal 'f trees, with here and there a 

 gigantic teak,f and interspersed among these were 

 ebony || and bastard teak, or palas, of lesser 

 growth. I had bathed my inflamed eye, and 

 was walking along carelessly, when suddenly my 



* For an interesting account of Gonds, see * The Highlands of 

 Central India,' by the late Captain J. Forsyth, B.S.C. Chapman 

 & Hall. 



f Shorea robusta. J Tectona grandis. || Diospyros melanoxylon. 

 Butea frondosa. 



