60 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



sonal safety and faithful sentinels they were. They seemed 

 to relieve each other with the precision of sentries, and clever 

 indeed would be the stalker who could approach within many 

 hundred paces ere the warning hiss of the watchful doe 

 aroused the grand signior from his siesta. It was then grand 

 to see the majestic air of the buck, as, after stretching his 

 graceful limbs, he slowly paced towards the object of his sus- 

 picion, still too far distant to cause him any alarm. Now he 

 stops, and, tossing his nostrils in the air, snuffs the breeze 

 that might convey to his delicate sense the human taint. Now 

 he lazily crops a blade or two of grass, or scientifically whisks 

 a fly from his glossy haunch with the tip of his horn ; anon 

 he saunters up to one of his partners, and seems to take 

 counsel regarding the state of affairs. Again, as some move- 

 ment of the distant figure catches his eye, his sudden wheel 

 and prolonged gaze show that, despite his careless mien, not 

 for a moment has he lost sight of his well-known foe. But 

 soon the does begin to take real alarm ; and after fidgeting 

 round their lord, as if to apprise him of the full extent of the 

 danger, trot off together towards some other haunt. Now 

 they halt a moment, and look round appealingly to the buck, 

 and again with feigned consternation start off at a gallop, 

 every now and then taking imaginary ten-barred gates in 

 their stride. At last the buck, after remaining behind a 

 decent time to maintain his character for superior courage, 

 follows them at a pace that mocks the efforts of every animal 

 on the face of the earth but one the hunting leopard. 



" Such was the invariable result of my best efforts for up- 

 wards of a week. I would not risk a long shot, as it might 

 drive him for ever from that part of the country. His 

 favourite haunt was a wide grassy plain, intersected here and 

 there by dry watercourses, up which I had many a weary 



