Buck and Boar round Meerut 



this was the reason I got so little. A case of 

 counting one's chickens before they are hatched. 



Strangely enough, my next buck also had one 

 horn missing. He was a black buck I got from 

 Meerut. I saw him grazing with some does a 

 long way off, and didn't notice anything wrong ; 

 eventually he lay down to one side of the herd, 

 and crawling up on that side I got a shot at 

 200 yards. They all galloped off; but, pursuing 

 with the hog-spear, I came on my quarry very 

 sick in some long grass, and finished him. He 

 was a very heavy and very black buck; one 

 horn, particularly thick, measured 19^ inches ; 

 but the other was a stump 3 or 4 inches 

 long only. 



One more buck incident in October. Two of 

 us were out as usual, and my companion was 

 stalking a buck. I hid my horse and syce in 

 some trees, and, strolling on a bit, lay down in 

 some high grass to watch proceedings. The stalk 

 failed, and the buck came galloping in my direc- 

 tion, slowed down to a trot, and then stood staring 

 at my sun-hat, which was about all he could see 

 of me over the grass. Apparently it annoyed 

 him. It was a very old and dilapidated affair, I 

 freely own. He stamped his foot impatiently as 

 if to say, " Take that beast of a thing away." 

 But the sun-hat never moved. He came on a 

 pace or two, shaking his head in a threatening 



73 



