THE "RUNNING SEASON. 255 



In the autumn of 1866, our regimental ^Esculapius, after 

 carefully attending me through a severe bout of illness, 

 succeeded in persuading the ruling military powers that my 

 return to the sunny plains of India from sick-leave to " the 

 hills north of Dehra" as the mightiest of mountain-ranges 

 was then styled in official parlance would be unadvisable 

 before the end of November. Thus an opportunity was afford- 

 ed me of hunting the Cashmere stag at the best season for 

 finding him the month of October and early in November. 



Here I can quite imagine the fortunate holder of a Scottish 

 deer-forest exclaiming " Shoot stags so late in the season ! 

 What a poacher ! " But I would crave his patience whilst I 

 further explain to him that I once hunted indefatigably after 

 hangul from about the middle of August until towards the 

 end of September, over what was considered to be excellent 

 ground, but, owing to the denseness of the undergrowth, 

 without so much as seeing a single stag, even in velvet ; and 

 the constant rain and mists at that season were very detri- 

 mental to this kind of work. A circumstance over which I 

 had no control namely, the termination of my leave obliged 

 me then to quit Cashmere, just as the. deer were beginning 

 to rut, which is the only time that there is any certainty 

 of finding stags, except when the winter snow drives them 

 down almost into the valleys. During the rutting season 

 they betray their whereabouts in the dense tracts of forest 

 they affect, by their intermittent roarings 1 strangely wild 

 sounds which, when once heard echoing through those grand 

 pine- woods, continue to haunt the ear for many a day. At 

 that season, too, the gallantry of the stags in escorting the 

 hinds from out the thick forest on to the open green slopes 

 and glades, where they are wont to feed morning ami even- 

 ing, and their inclination, at that season, for a roll in their 



1 Whistling is the term applied to much the aroe noiae made by the 

 wapiti stag of North America ; but nometliiiig between a prolonged roar 

 and a whiatle perhaps give* a better idea of the sound. 



