228 The Hunting Grounds 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE NEILGHERRIES CONTINUED. A NIGHT AFFAIR. 



News of a tiger. His last depredation. The ambuscade. Lying 

 in wait. A night attack. Exciting moments. The spoiler 

 vanquished. The return. News of ibex, and an expedition 



to the Koondah range. Ibex-stalking. B 's wonderful 



shooting. The game nearly lost. The ibex described. 

 Keturn to Ooty. 



passed most pleasantly on the hills, for the 

 days were spent in exploring parties and field 

 sports of every description ; the evenings in social 

 gatherings, enlivened by the presence of female 

 society; and the nights in deliciously sound repose, 

 which in itself is one of the greatest luxuries an 

 Anglo-Indian can enjoy, for in the low country 

 during the hot season the unsupportably close and 

 oppressive period between sunset and early dawn is 

 more distressing and enervating than the intense 

 heat of the day ; for during this time not a breath of 

 air agitates the branches of the highest trees, candles 

 burn in the open air without flickering, the atmos- 

 phere is suffocatingly close, and unless the punkah 



