CHAPTER IX 



A SHOOT IN INDIA IN I9II-I2 



In the cold weather of 1911-12 I visited India 



for the second time after my retirement from 



^^e Indian Civil Service, and had a very pleasant 



^■loot in the Central Provinces and in Kashmir. 



^B arrived in India shortly before Christmas, and 



inarched 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 



^^Kiooting in the course of the tour. I shot a 



I^Pather 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 



Ij 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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