THE SAL FOBESTS. 385 



and hastily reloaded the discharged barrel of my breech- 

 loader, as I had only one gun out, being on a pad. But she 

 left the nald,, when nearly opposite me, on the wrong side. 

 I think she must have forgotten, for she evidently looked 

 out for her assailant, jumping high above the grass at every 

 bound a really beautiful sight, with her very bright-coloured 

 skin, hair erect, and tail streaming behind her. About the 

 third bound I caught her with another bullet, and she fell, 

 crumpled up in mid-air, for all the world just like a partridge 

 struck full by a charge of shot. She was lying stone-dead 

 when I came up, and no wonder, for the ball had entered 

 near her tail, traversed the whole length of her body, and was 

 resting under the skin of her forehead. The rifle was a 

 twelve-bore breech-loader, on my own spherical ball prin- 

 ciple, the penetration of which may be judged of by this 

 performance. The first shot was a little .high on the shoulder, 

 but would soon have killed her, and fully accounted for her 

 confusion of ideas. She had evidently been lying on the 

 watch for spotted deer coming to drink. A large herd of 

 them broke out of the grass while our interview was in 

 progress. Coming to camp, I found that F. had shot a black 

 buck antelope on the road ; while D. returned with a young 

 bdrd-singhd stag and a spotted deer. In the evening F, 

 went out, and killed a large bear, which came down to the 

 river to drink beside him. Next day we were almost equally 

 fortunate, though no tiger was met with ; and we spent a 

 Christmas of considerable joviality in that remote wilderness, 

 the dinner consisting, as far as I recollect, of a (peacock) 

 turkey and sambar tongue, supported by roast haunch of 

 red-deer venison, as pieces de resistance, with cheetul cutlets 

 and fillet of nilgai veal as entrees, followed up by boiled 

 quails and roasted teal, and concluded by the orthodox plum- 



