FAIL IN TRACKING AND RETURN TO CAMP 373 



made off. We had not gone a mile and a half before we 

 came upon unmistakable signs of the animal's presence. His 

 tracks were, in fact, only an hour or two old, and two places 

 where he had lain down appeared to have been only recently 

 vacated, as the flies were still buzzing around, and there was 

 an unmistakable odour of bison. 1 At numerous other places, 

 old tracks, and the remains of bamboo shoots upon which the 

 bison had been feeding, showed us that the animal had been 

 in the neighbourhood for some days. A few yards further on 

 the track suddenly widened, with great gaps between each 

 footprint, and the slots or divisions of the hoofs now showed 

 very deep and distinctly in the soft earth. I now saw at a 

 glance from the tracks that the gaur had become alarmed at 

 my shots and made off at a great pace. After taking them on 

 for about 300 yards, we noticed that the animal had stopped, 

 turned round, and halted for a short time to listen, after 

 which it had continued its flight with long leaps. It was very 

 aggravating, to say the least of it, and as I knew the animal 

 would travel a long distance before halting, we did not think 

 it worth while following him up any further. After taking on 

 the tracks for about a mile and a half along a low ridge, during 

 which time the bison had not once slackened its pace, we relin- 

 quished the tracks and returned to camp. 



I made particular note of the fact that there were several old 

 tracks going and coming along the route by the gaur in its 

 flight which were exactly similar in shape and size to that of 

 the animal we were following; I concluded from this that 

 the beast we had just alarmed always used this particular 

 track along the top of the ridge when bound for its favourite 

 cover and feeding-ground. I made up my mind, therefore, to 

 go back to the ridge two or three days later on, with the hope 

 of being able to see his return tracks. Three days later, in 

 spite of protests from my men, who did not believe the gaur 

 would come back to the cover, I left for the ridge, distant 

 from our camp some eight miles. 



During the interval of two days I stayed in camp and 

 amused myself by writing up my diary and cleaning my 

 trophies. My men were not, however, idle ; I made them go 

 1 Very like the smell of a cattle-pen. F. T. P 



