88 A Sportswoman in India 



but that moment never came : " one loving dark- 

 ness rather than light " knew the signs of dawn. 



All was silent. By-and-by, when the trees and 

 rocks began to grow faintly visible, conceive the 

 astonishment and joy with which S. made out one 

 leopard lying dead beside what was left of the goat's 

 body ! He was shot with the slugs in the head a 

 lucky fluke indeed in the dark, and one which one 

 would probably not repeat once in twenty times. 

 Whether there were only two leopards altogether, 

 or three or four, or whether they were all leopards 

 at all, it is impossible to say. Anyhow, on a night 

 without a moon, such luck was indeed unexpected 

 and proportionately acceptable ! 



No wonder that the southern slopes of the Hima- 

 layas are fertile : go through the rains once, you 

 will not forget them. They begin in June, and they 

 last through August and September. We had a fore- 

 taste, the chota bar sat, before we left Dalhousie. When 

 it was not actually deluging with rain, we lived in 

 an atmosphere of perpetual cloud ; open the window 

 and the room filled at once with white mist, every- 

 thing in it becoming damp and clammy. 



Log fires kept us fairly warm : then an interval 

 came ; the sun broke through the clouds, and every- 

 thing out of doors vegetation lush and verdant 

 sprang up in rank, heavy luxuriance, as though in a 

 hothouse. Out we went, every leaf wet and shining, 

 the dripping deodar trunks stained darker than ever, 

 covered with lichen and sodden with moisture ; the 



