

126 BISON. 



tracks led into a patch of tangled creepers,* about four feet 

 high and fifty yards across; we here proceeded with great 

 caution, expecting to come on the brute every moment, 

 as the tracks of blood were plentiful, but it had passed 

 through and gone on. 



On emerging into more open forest Atlay pointed out a 

 bison standing about eighty yards off end on tail 

 towards us. Believing this to be the wounded animal, 

 I foolishly fired at it in this position, but the bullet only 

 acted as an incentive to further flight. We then followed 

 the tracks for nearly a mile, but, seeing no traces of blood, I 

 inquired of Atlay if it was the wounded bison first fired at. 

 He replied in the negative, so, retracing our steps to the 

 patch of creepers, we soon recovered the lost trail, which 

 we followed for several miles, only once hearing the bison 

 stampede on our approach. The shikaries expected that 

 it would have laid down from weakness within a mile 

 or two of the spot it had first stopped at, but here it 

 was, going away as fresh as paint, although still losing 

 blood. At this juncture down came the rain in torrents, 

 and soon obliterated the tracks. Further pursuit was 

 hopeless, so we struck for the camp, shooting a muntjack 

 deer on the way, which was lying under a fallen branch 

 some sixty yards off. Although unsuccessful, it was a 

 new phase of sport, and the day was enjoyable, the 

 surroundings being so completely different to anything 

 before experienced. Sometimes half an hour would be 

 spent in comparative darkness, owing to the dense 

 canopy of foliage, through which the light penetrated 

 with difficulty, then we would suddenly emerge into a 

 pretty glade bathed in sunshine, with, perhaps, a burn 

 trickling down the centre, fringed with feathery bamboos 

 * Bauhiiiia very common in these jungles. 



