THE GOOJURS BLACK STAG. 285 



bit of paper, and had then ordered these stones to be piled up. 

 But what surprised him most was, that the Sahib before de- 

 scending the hill had torn up the paper he had written so 

 much upon into small pieces, which he threw on the ground. 

 In fact he (the shikaree) considered the whole thing was 

 some sort of " jadoo " (magic). The sportsman, thinking this 

 a grand opportunity for practising upon the superstitious 

 credulity of his companions, suddenly sprang to his feet, and 

 with feigned terror exclaimed "He strewed those bits of 

 paper on this spot, did he ? then we had better be off ! " And 

 away he ran down the hill, his terrified companions coming 

 helter-skelter after him, as if Old Nick were behind them. 



We hunted hereabouts unsuccessfully for two days, my 

 only chance being at an old black bear, into which I one 

 evening put a bullet, as he stood up on his hind-legs eating 

 berries off a bush. He dropped quantities of blood, but as his 

 trail led up through thick cover, and darkness was growing 

 apace, we did not think it either prudent or worth our while 

 to follow him far. The fresh -fallen snow, which now lay 

 several inches deep on the open slopes above the forest, had 

 evidently driven the deer lower down; so we left our cold 

 gloomy quarter for the warmer and more cheerful one where 

 I had shot my first hangul, and for which I had a lingering 

 fancy. If the reader is not already quite tired of following 

 me so often through the forest after stags, perhaps he will 

 accompany me, just once more, in pursuit of one of the 

 grandest of them all. 



As we were setting up our camp, an old goojur (herds- 

 man), who was grazing his beasts in the neighbouring woods, 

 volunteered us the information that a very black -looking 

 and big- horned hangul, which for several years had been 

 known to visit this locality late in the rutting season, had, 

 during the last few days, been several times seen about the 

 head of the wooded glen in which he was then ln-nling his 

 cattle. As it was still early in the day, we decided upon at 



