170 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



accustomed to such sights. After some talk, it was settled 

 that one of the cheetahs should be taken up to the nearest 

 herd ; so the Nawaub, leaving the main body, requested us 

 to join him. The deer seemed to mistake us for harmless 

 wayfarers, for they fed quietly, while we passed at a distance 

 of about eighty yards. 



A cheetah was now unhooded, and on seeing the deer he 

 at once glided from the cart, and taking advantage of every 

 tuft of grass and inequality in the ground, he crept towards 

 his prey. The deer were meanwhile lazily watching us as 

 we went on without halting, and the poor beasts were only 

 aware of their danger when the leopard made his rush. There 

 was a wild scurry, but the cheetah was among them, and as 

 the herd cleared off we saw him lying with his teeth in the 

 throat of a goodly buck. His keeper now came up with a 

 wooden ladle and a knife, and cutting the deer's throat he 

 caught the blood in the spoon, into which in a few minutes 

 the cheetah thrust his nose, and while he was lapping the 

 blood the hood was slipped over his eyes, and he was secured 

 and replaced in the cart. 



As we moved on we saw several bucks feeding singly 

 about the plain, and the Nawaub suggested that I should take 

 my rifle and move on them with a shooting- cart. I advanced 

 on a very black fellow with long horns. He was lying near 

 a small bit of cultivated land, and as the ground was favour- 

 able I made sure of getting within easy shot ; but when I was 

 within about two hundred yards of him the buck rose, looked 

 hard at us, shook his head, and trotted off to some distance, 

 when he again lay down. We followed on slowly with the 

 cart, and I was about to fire at him as he lay, but he again 

 jumped up, and was shaking his head as before when I fired 

 and dropped him. Some of the attendants ran in and cut his 



