BEATING THE BUSH. 239 



and the sounds of their drums could be heard in the distance 

 as the hill was surmounted, and half an hour more before 

 the first of them climbed the crest and from it hurled stones 

 down the slopes, while others crept along the sides where the 

 covert was densest. The first animal viewed was a fine boar, 

 which roused out of the bushes growing upon the very 

 summit, dashed down headlong at a terrific pace, and gain- 

 ing the valley, slipped out of it beyond the " machan," 

 tenanted by the native police officer, who fired a random shot 

 or two without effect. Certain shouts and exclamations of 

 the beaters now gave warning of bears being afoot, and I 

 caught a glimpse at the same time of some black objects 

 passing into the trees and thickets on my right front, but 

 what they were, pigs or bears, could not be made out, even 

 with the binocular. When the drive had reached the base 

 of the high hill, loud cries informed us that a panther was 

 creeping on ahead, and immediately afterwards the native 

 policemen on the platform were seen to be in some sort of a 

 flutter, but no shots were fired, and all remained in perfect 

 stillness in our vicinity, while the beaters approached us very 

 slowly, threshing the jungle down the valley, and exhibiting 

 by their cautious movements unmistakable signs of some 

 animals being seen of which they had a wholesome dread. 



It has been stated that from our elevated seats a perfect 

 view of the dell could be commanded, and no animals passing 

 along it towards us could avoid detection if they but shook 

 the bushes, so long as they kept out of the rivulet ; but its 

 deep winding bed afforded them a concealed passage close up 

 to our positions, and down it the panther and the bears must 

 have descended, since nothing of them could be seen. The 

 sustained rolling of drums, and the shrill cries and excite- 

 ment of the beaters, warned us to be on the alert, although 

 a complete silence and stillness reigned around our position. 

 It is in such moments that a pleasurable feeling of uncer- 

 tainty and excitement is experienced in this kind of sport, 

 which otherwise would be somewhat tame and tedious. 



My companion, a wary old " Shikaree," was now seen to 



