196 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



was lying close to, within a few yards of us, and 

 hiding, and they made no bones about it, they were 

 afraid and would not go with me. 



I went out on Fretful Fanny in broad daylight 

 the next morning, to see what she and I could do 

 together. We rode all round the big patch of long 

 grass, and I could trust her to bolt if she saw or 

 smelt a tiger ; then we rode through it and came on 

 the remains of a large pig of ancient date. We went 

 to the spot where the last blood had been found and 

 to where we had tracked before, and I got off and 

 tried to track up. I could find no more blood and 

 the grass had been trampled by the cattle so that it 

 was difficult to make a fair start. I thought I 

 would make a wide cast in the open jungle in front, 

 so put my foot in the stirrup and jumped on to 

 Fanny, who had got tired of standing still. She did 

 wait till I was just on her back, but then started off 

 under a bamboo, and a low, horizontal branch 

 caught me across the chest and swept me off flat 

 on my back. I had hold of the reins still, however, 

 and she was kind to me and did not drag away, 

 and we continued our search, but with no luck. I 

 had another try or two after that, but never found 

 him and could never even find a trace of him. 



There were in this district the most violent 

 storms that I have ever seen, and they were unex- 

 pected, it being the hot weather. The first one 

 we had came on when I was dining outside the hut. 

 I heard a noise like an enormous express train 

 roaring up the valley, then came a tremendous wind 

 bringing with it dust, leaves and bits of stick. 



