Chamba into Kashmir 125 



in the moonlight ; the ground crackled crisp under 

 our feet. 



The chota shikari carried M.'s rifle, a 500- 

 Express, and the shikari walked behind S. Not a 

 word was spoken. At last we came to a steep cliff 

 in the middle of the jungle ; deodars grew on its 

 almost perpendicular face wherever there was the least 

 crevice and lodgment of soil for the roots to find 

 foothold. Here and there were patches of thick 

 bushes, and again smooth walls of rock. It was in 

 one of these last that an immense fissure had opened, 

 forming an entrance apparently to dark recesses 

 beyond, which wound into the heart of the mountain- 

 side. Bushes hung down from above and partially 

 concealed the opening, while in front of it for a few 

 yards the ground was comparatively level. 



By signs the shikari intimated that this was actually 

 the spot ; he motioned M., myself, and the chota 

 shikari to hide ourselves behind a couple of huge 

 deodar trunks, while he himself and S. crouched in 

 a rhododendron bush. It was an eerie spot, and as 

 the wind moaned and the branches rustled, the 

 imagination conjured up all sorts of sights and sounds 

 in the impenetrable shadows. 



Day broke before very long, and henceforward our 

 eyes were glued upon the entrance to the cave ; it 

 was growing quite light when the shikari gripped my 

 arm : a large and tawny body emerged from the ramifi- 

 cations of the rock and came out of the shadow on 

 to the patch of grass outside the cave. He was 



