Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



"kali wallah " (black fellow), with a large fol- 

 lowing of wives ; the number of the latter made 

 the stalk a long and difficult one, but it proved 

 successful, and I was rewarded with the best 

 buck of the day 19 inches. 



It was now 2 p.m., and, as we had two bucks 

 each, we had lunch and returned to Meerut. The 

 heat was so great that two of the buck were bad 

 and unfit for food when they got in. 



Towards the end of the month I got up to 

 Mussoorie again to have another try in my 

 favourite haunts. I toiled over the hills very 

 fruitlessly this time, but had one bit of luck to 

 keep me going. I saw a gural feeding far above 

 me, and sent my shikara and coolie to try and 

 drive him down. I was sitting on the side of a 

 nullah, and made sure he would come down it. 

 They got above him very skilfully, and sure 

 enough down he came, but leaping down the 

 opposite slope at a fearful pace. When he was 

 just opposite me I whistled, and he pulled up 

 dead to listen, giving me a broadside shot at about 

 150 yards rather far for me with such a small 

 object to aim at ; but rather to my amazement I 

 dropped him dead in his tracks. He was a fine 

 and very old buck, his teeth were nearly worn 

 away, and one horn had been broken, either fight- 

 ing or by a fall, I suppose. I took a skin-curer 

 with me on this trip to save time, and I suppose 



72 



