ig8 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



night and I went down in the morning to look at 

 the state of the river. I put an upright stick in 

 the sand near the bank and was interested to see 

 the water rising at the rate of an inch a minute. 

 Fanny's bathing place was flooded and she had to 

 find a new one, and mine too I had a beautiful 

 place where a side stream rippled along under 

 bamboos, very shallow but away from any chance 

 mugger, but I had to wait till the flood subsided. 



All this wet and cloudy weather had made it very 

 cool though it was the hot season; it seemed to be 

 very unhealthy, as, from this or some other cause, 

 illness broke out in the village ; many of the people 

 were suffering from a rash or pox of some description, 

 all over their bodies. The cows had the disease too, 

 breaking out under the stomach and the insides of 

 the legs ; goats had it and I think pigs as well ; and 

 even some bears that I shot looked pink and mangy 

 underneath. The cook stopped taking any milk, 

 as he said it was not safe to drink it, and our Indian 

 supplies from the village we could not have. Clearly 

 it was time to move, and the only thing to be done 

 under the circumstances was to end the shoot and 

 make for the railway. 



The Ranger ordered some carts for me which were 

 sent to my camp loaded with logs, and the cartmen 

 had orders to unload the wood, and start back at 

 once by night with the servants and luggage. There 

 was a slight shower of rain and the cartmen went off 

 to the village to wait till that was over and eat their 

 food. I was called about one o'clock at night by 

 Govind, who said they could not start as the men 



