TIGER-HAUNTED JUNGLES 31 



had knocked over many a kakur and brought the big 

 jerow or red deer to the ground, clean shot behind the 

 shoulder, at 200 yards, and had won rifle contest prizes 

 at Naini Tal shooting matches against all the North-West 

 Provinces. Jussoo was a marvellous tracker, and could 

 follow the khoj (track) over every ground and tell how 

 long ago the beast had passed. He knew well the ' pug ' 

 of the Juli tiger, which had a peculiar twist of one claw. 

 By his assistance many a head of big game had been 

 brought to bay, and much jungle lore had been picked 

 up by conversing with him and watching his silent, 

 stealthy ways. He never failed to bring information 

 when his enemy the manswag came into the valleys 

 above Juli village ; and saw to the tying out of a buffalo 

 calf in a likely place. 



Work for the year having ended before the rains set 

 in, and the sahib having taken up his residence at Naini 

 Tal, Jussoo appeared one day at the bungalow door with 

 a face of excitement, requesting an interview. The result 

 was a hurried discarding of the smart society get-up which 

 the gay season made necessary, and a rapid start in the 

 hghtest marching order and jungle costume into camp. 

 A smart dun-coloured hill pony, that could go downhill 

 like a goat, shambling along in a sort of rapid run — not a 

 trot or a walk — of the breed called Bhotia, or gunt, soon 

 brought the eager tiger-hunter down the nine miles of 

 almost precipitous descent by the winding pag dandi 

 (footpath) to Juli. Every thousand feet of lower elevation 

 meant degrees of higher temperature, the rise being from 

 about 70° to 120°. 



Next morning a buffalo calf was procured from the 

 village and tied out in a secluded valley right up in the 

 heart of the most jungly recesses of the forest under the 

 Juli range. Jussoo, whose intimate knowledge of the 



