30 THE EASTERN HUNTERS. 



but at the same time cast, ever and anon, a glance 

 over the intervening jungle. Again the sounds were 

 heard ; and Norman thought he caught a glimpse of 

 a shadowy form passing amongst the brushwood. 



The stillness now remained for some time un- 

 broken, save by the whispering of the leaves as they 

 rustled in the hot and dry wind, or the occasional 

 note of some forest bird awakened into life as the 

 cooler hours advanced. All at once a prolonged 

 noise among the fallen leaves, seemingly not more 

 than twenty or thirty yards distant, distracted the 

 hunter's attention from the path ; and even the 

 native raised his head, and looked earnestly through 

 the bush which sheltered him. But Norman soon 

 satisfied himself that it proceeded from the scratch- 

 ing of jungle or spur-fowl, and not from the tread 

 of a heavy animal. He turned once more to w T atch 

 the open glade, and there standing broadside on, at 

 about eighty yards' distance, was a doe cheetul. It 

 seemed as if the creature must have risen out of the 

 ground, so sudden was the apparition, and so brief 

 the space of time during which his attention had 

 wandered. Carefully he brought up his rifle, but 

 paused with Ins finger on the trigger, as he became 

 aware of a movement in the cover just behind the 

 doe, and the horns of a buck appeared above a bush. 

 The doe, quite unconscious of its narrow escape, 



