34 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



fall a roaring torrent, and the track we should have 

 to follow impassable. They dared not venture on 

 it, especially with a load on their backs; and this, 

 although they had finished the last mouthful of food 

 they had brought with them. So we decided to wait. 



The first night Rum John had given us roast leg 

 of ibex for dinner. Will thought it tasted something 

 like pheasant ; I thought it was like veal. The next 

 night we had rchauffed leg; on the third, a hash 

 was made; and on the fourth, what little remains 

 there were went into a potato pie. The bit of soap 

 we had brought with us had melted away and the 

 cigarettes had run out. There was nothing for it 

 but starvation. 



Next morning the cook and the shikaris settled 

 that, come what might, we must get out of our present 

 quarters, and they decided that we must leave the 

 tents standing and take only a little of our bedding, 

 and perhaps a toothbrush. When the poor, starved, 

 wet coolies heard this, they cheered up a little and 

 each offered to take some light thing. Rum John 

 packed up the most necessary of his cooking pots 

 and the men were willing to take his tiny tent, soaked 

 though it was. 



The wooden hut belonging to the forest officer 

 was below us on the far side of the river, and we 

 intended to stay there for the night. We waited 

 until midday in hopes of finer weather, but the rain 

 was as heavy as ever ; so we made a start, walking 

 on a very slippery ledge, over long rank grass and 

 undergrowth, which made the falling soft and 

 pleasant; and we all slipped and fell many times. 



