HUNTING WILD DOGS IN A DUG-OUT. 161 



this one, as I made quite sure we could come up 

 with it going down stream. By the time we had 

 turned it had got forty yards' start of us, and it 

 kept that distance for nearly half a mile. I never 

 saw such swimming in all my life. It was simply 

 racing speed. We must have been going eight 

 miles an hour (the current being four and a half 

 to five), and yet we had not gained ten yards in 

 that half-mile race ! The excitement was intense, 

 the crowds shouting and running along the banks, 

 while I was using very unparliamentary language 

 to urge the boatmen on, and the poor brute doing 

 its best to get away. The river Karo joins the 

 Koel on its left bank, about half a mile below my 

 bungalow, and as the cartmen on the left bank 

 could not cross the Karo, the animal would find 

 the bank free, if it managed to clear the Karo. 

 The creature saw this at a glance, and put forth all 

 its efforts to gain this point. We in the dug-out 

 also saw that if not overtaken before it crossed 

 the junction of the rivers it would escape. Now 

 then for the final struggle. The dug-out seemed 

 to fly through the water, yet the dog kept its dis- 

 tance and crossed the Karo. In making for the 

 shore however it got into slack water, and here 

 we gained perceptibly. A last chance offered when 

 the animal got within ten yards of the long grass 

 edging the river. I fired and again missed, and 

 the dog disappeared in the dense undergrowth. 

 I must say that I was scarcely sorry I had 

 missed. The chase had lasted nearly an hour, up 

 stream and down, and the animal had beaten 



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