262 THE EVENING RETURN TO CAMP. 



of diversion was going on : the bull, unable to escape, and seeing his pur- 

 suers, had turned upon the trackers, and, snorting and plunging in a way 

 which we thought would land him on his head at every bound, was lumber- 

 ing after them through the forest about a hundred yards off. The men did 

 not even take to trees, which they would have done if hard pressed, but the 

 bull was much used up by his wounds, and had no chance of catching them. 

 This only lasted for a minute or so, when the buU came to a stand under 

 a tree about sixty yards from us, looking very bad. It would have been 

 easy enough to drop him now, but as the place was a good one for a pitched 

 battle, we advanced towards him, keeping several paces apart, so that only 

 one of us could be charged, whilst the other would have a flanking-shot. 

 Taken m front, and by a cross-fire between such weapons as we had, there 

 was not much probability of the bull making good his charge. 



The poor beast, sweating with the pain of his wounds and his run, 

 snorted as we approached. "We walked up to about thirty yards, when 

 we thought it was the bull's turn to make a move ; but just as we expected 

 him to come on he turned to the left, and P. killed him with the neck-shot. 

 Little blame to the poor beast for not courting battle ; he was too badly 

 wounded to think of anything after his unsuccessful chase of the trackers 

 but to lie down and die peaceably ; had he been less sick he would doubt- 

 less have given us some work. 



The trackers were now despatched for the elephant and luncheon-basket, 

 and whilst we smoked the pipe of peace, the men cut off both bulls' heads 

 for stuffing, got out the marrow-bones, and with all hands laden with meat, 

 we set off in the cool of the afternoon for the pass by which we had 

 ascended in the morning, and commenced the descent just as the sun was 

 setting. On the way down P. made a pretty shot with his express at a 

 sambur, about two hundred yards away across a ravine. Though the stag 

 dashed into the nearest cover, the " phut " of the bullet came back clear 

 and sharp — that " dull, soft thud " which the " Old Forest Eanger " so truly 

 says is " as grateful to the sportsman's ear as the voice of her he loves." 

 Bah ! the sensations of a young lady on receiving her first proposal can be 

 nothing to it ! The place where the stag disappeared was difficult to get 

 to, and we had no time to spare. As he had been fairly hit with the 

 express, we felt sure he would not go far (this proved to be the case, as 

 he was found dead by our people just inside the wood in the morning), so 

 we pushed on down the pass, and reached camp soon after dark. The well- 

 lighted tent and neatly -laid dinner- table, with glasses filled with pretty 

 scarlet and white jungle-flowers, looked vastly comfortable after our day's 

 tramp ; and after a good dinner, assisted by the coolest and brightest of 



