Buck and Boar round Meerut 



his position by these and again dismounted, but 

 again had a fruitless search. Finally, it came 

 on to rain, and I retreated into a wood for 

 lunch. About 3 p.m. it cleared up, and I started 

 two coolies to drag a rope through some high 

 sugar-cane, hoping to put a buck out. While 

 this was going on, I spotted my light-coloured 

 fellow again. I had much difficulty in getting 

 near him, as he was surrounded by very alert 

 does, but at last got a shot at rather over 

 200 yards, and bowled him over. His horns 

 measured 19J inches straight, which is good for 

 those districts. 



In the middle of the month, E and I drove 



out twenty-one miles to a place called Harpur. 



E fired first shot at a good buck, and though 



he showed little sign of being hit, my confidence 



in E 's rifle was such that I immediately 



started with my spear. I bustled him along as 

 fast as I could, and he gradually began to come 

 back to me. When I was within ten or fifteen 

 yards, however, I realized that my pony was beat, 

 equally so was the buck, and we both gradually 

 declined to a slow canter, all my efforts to get 

 within spearing distance being futile. At this 



stage I heard E coming up behind, so riding a 



little wide I managed to edge the buck round to 

 him, and he, taking up the running, speared in a 

 wood. The bullet, a -303, had passed through 



69 



