52 SHIKAR SKETCHES. 



' Sahib, the dantwdllali is in the jungle. Your slave 

 has seen him this very morning not two miles 

 from your lordship's tent, and his " nusseeb " 

 (destiny) ' has brought him here, that he may eat 

 your lordship's bullets.' 



This piece of news effectually roused me up, 

 and revived my drooping spirits, and on further 

 inquiry I discovered that Ramiah had really seen 

 the redoubtable tusker, and had actually come 

 across him while engaged in his old pursuits of 

 gorging himself on some poor c ryot's ' (peasant's) 

 scanty patch of rice ; and, moreover, that en route 

 to his feast he had amused himself by destroying 

 the huts of some charcoal-burners. This latter 

 episode sufficiently established his identity. 



Giving Ramiah a good ' tot ' of whisky, to which 

 he was by no means averse, after assuring himself 

 that none of his fellow-natives were looking on, I 

 dismissed him, having previously arranged that we 

 should start at daylight the following morning, 

 and try to circumvent the c dantwallah.' 



The night seemed interminably long; but at 

 last day broke, and I was soon up, and ready for 

 a start after snatching a hasty meal as I dressed. 

 As the sun rose over the distant snow-clad 

 peaks of the Himalayas, we made a start. Our 

 way lay for some little distance along the valley, 

 now shrouded in a gradually rising mist ; the low 



