igS WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



declared he had got close enough to hear it breathing, but the 

 thicket he was in was so dense that he had prepared a light 

 bamboo ladder to enable me to climb a tree close by and to 

 shoot the gaur from that coign of vantage. When we got to 

 the place, the shikarie was up the tree in a moment, but, after 

 staring about and listening, he shook his head and descended, 

 and said the bull was no longer there. 



After searching about we got on his trail ; this led fortun- 

 ately towards Lepangoung. There was very little wind, and 

 that in our favour. We walked along quickly, for we had not 

 much daylight left ; on turning an abrupt corner, close to a 

 banyan tree with numerous drooping roots, before we knew 

 anything about his being near us, the bull charged down upon 

 us from such a short distance ofif that I had no time to put the 

 rifle up to the shoulder, but fired into his face with both barrels 

 from the hip, and then sprang aside amidst the pendant roots ; 

 the bull went but a few yards; Shoay Boh gave him the 

 contents of my smooth-bore. I did not take many seconds to 

 reload, and I gave him again the contents of both barrels ; on 

 receiving them, he retired very groggily into the jungle. We 

 followed very cautiously, the Burman most unwillingly, until we 

 ascertained that he was going away from our camp and no 

 longer towards it. So we left him for that evening, and 

 trudged home, where we did not get till after nine. At four 

 next morning we were up, and in for another hard day's 

 trudge. We went by short cuts, and got to where we had 

 parted company soon after daybreak. We had followed the 

 trail about a mile when we heard growling and snarling, so 

 guessed the gaur was dead, and the bone of contention between 

 two felines. We crept upon all-fours, inch by inch ; it was 

 still gloomy and dark, and although I could hear I could not 

 distinguish the disputants, but the dead body of the gaur 

 loomed immense in the distance, and after a while I made out 

 two leopards snarling at one another. Raising my body till I 

 was on my knees, I took a shot at the nearest, but just as I 

 fired he sprang at his antagonist, and I made a clean miss, but 

 I fired again, and strongly suspect that the solid conical 

 passed through them both. They separated, and there was 

 blood, but very little, on each trail. I left them for the time 



