74 THE HUNTING GE0T7NDS , 



had provided my troopers with two hundred rockets 

 in order to drive the game into the more open 

 junoie. 



In an hour I received intelUgence that the line 

 was formed ready to advance, and, it being now 

 broad daylight, I gave the signal to move on by a 

 ferocious flourish of cholera-horns, which sound was 

 immediately taken uj) by all the tomtoms, horns, and 

 dubties ; and this discordant music was only sur- 

 passed by the unearthly howling and shouting of 

 the beaters, who seemed to outvie with each other 

 as to who could utter the most fiendish yells. 



The doctor, who kept near me, was armed With a 

 heavy single four-ounce rifle which he had taken 

 from one of the gang ; and as he marched along he 

 shouted at the top of his voice, in a most ferocious 

 and threatening manner, something that appeared 

 to me to be some very ancient Gallic war-cry, until 

 his breath failed him. His route was perfectly well 

 marked by strips of his old blue regimental frock- 

 coat, which were left hanging on the thorns of the 

 bushes as he passed. 



As we advanced, sudden crashes every now and 

 again in the jungle let us know that the game was 

 a-foot. Now a herd of deer, or a sounder of hog 

 were visible for a moment, as they bounded through 

 the thicket in front of us. Sometimes a flock of 

 peafowl passed over our heads, or a swarm of mon- 

 keys went jabbering away in the trees above us, 

 shrieking and making faces at us as we passed, and, 



