CHAPTER IX 



A SHOOT IN INDIA IN IQII-I2 



IN the cold weather of 1911-12 I visited India 

 for the second time after my retirement from 

 the Indian Civil Service, and had a very pleasant 

 shoot in the Central Provinces and in Kashmir. 

 I arrived in India shortly before Christmas, and 

 marched for some days with my friend Mr. 

 Hart, the Inspector- General of Forests, and the 

 Honourable J. W. Best, the Deputy Conservator, 

 while Mr. Hart was on tour in the Bilaspur 

 district of the Central Provinces. We had some 

 shooting in the course of the tour. I shot a 

 rather small tigress in a beat, and Best shot a 

 tiger in another beat, killing him when he was 

 at a gallop, with a fine shot. Best also wounded 

 and lost a bear, and successfully stalked and shot 

 a good swamp-deer stag. I killed one of two 

 bears which came out in a beat, and missed the 

 other, as he galloped away, with the second barrel. 

 I also shot a second bear, when I was sitting up 

 over a goat, which had been tied out as a bait 

 for a panther. The goat, which was a white one, 

 was tied on a path in the forest. The panther 

 did not come, but, when it was dark and I had 

 nearly given up hope of a shot, a bear strolled 

 along the path. His surprise and alarm when 

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