310 THE BARA SING. 



returned after my dinner, the moonshi Suleiman with 

 him, who had taken a fancy to accompany him on foot. 

 The shepherd declared he had heard the bellowing of a 

 stag for the last four or five nights, and had seen several 

 hinds with one enormous stag in their midst a few days 

 since ; and that there was a pool with a well-trodden 

 track to it, where these animals passed constantly. 

 Coming back Suleiman, having started before Subhan, 

 encountered a bear midway. It was now dusk, and, 

 being unarmed, he had fled amain. Subhan, just seeing 

 him from an eminence going at top speed, and disappear- 

 ing in the distance, could not imagine what possessed 

 him. Poor Suleiman had evidently exerted himself. He 

 was streaming with perspiration his long locks in great 

 disorder. He is too short and stout for continued speed 

 without disagreeable consequences. I had a little fun 

 with him, which he enjoyed too. The shepherd had 

 promised to come to camp early in the morning, and 

 bring further intelligence of the voices of the night. 



7th October. Sunday. The morning very cold, a 

 sharp frost as usual. The sun was well up, and the 

 depths of the valley even smiling under his genial beams 

 ere I set out for a stroll towards the place indicated as 

 the shepherd's encampment. All around me replete with 

 picturesque charms a perfect landscape and the at- 

 mosphere clear and deliciously invigorating, my mind 

 could not divest itself of the thoughts and speculations 

 conjured up by the previous day's reports of the game 

 hereabouts, which the aspect of the surrounding scene 

 was well calculated to encourage. It seemed the very 

 ' beau ideal ' of a sporting locality. I strolled on to the 

 top of a hill overlooking a deep valley covered with rich 

 vegetation, and the woods standing thick around it. 

 This must be the haunt of the deer, I thought. An old 



