186 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



a better opportunity to kill a few more bison and prepare their 

 skins ; so at them we went. 



During the whole month of November we had simply perfect 

 weather, clear, sunny, and rather dry, just warm enough to be 

 comfortable in the shady forest. Then we enjoyed the very poetry 

 of forest life. Every morning we rose early, ate a good hearty 

 breakfast, packed away a bottle of ale and a substantial luncheon 

 of bread and meat into one side of m}' cartridge-bag, and called up 

 the men. In a few words I informed Doraysawmy what I wanted 

 him to do during the day, and what I myself wanted to do, which 

 last he would interpret to the men, with many injunctions to take 

 good care of the sahib. I always carried either my rifle or a larger 

 gun. Channa always came behind me with another weapon and 

 my large shot-bag ; another man canied my rubber blanket and a 

 sharp hatchet, another carried a bundle containing six skinning 

 knives, a whetstone, and a coil of half-inch rope, while very often 

 the fifth man carried another gun. Vera nearly always led the 

 party, but sometimes Channa, while I followed at his heels. 



It was Vera's special business to sight the game, but at the 

 same time eveiy other man, save myself, was always on the lookout, 

 and the hindmost men often took pride in calling us back to point 

 out an animal the leading trackers had not noticed. I did not try 

 to keep a sharp lookout, but reserved all my powers for the game 

 when found. I take a little pride in the fact that I always carried 

 a gun, no matter how many miles we tramped in a day. In going 

 thi'ough the forest we always went slowly and in perfect silence, 

 no talking save an occasional word in a very low tone, no stick- 

 breaking, every sense keenly on the alert. "Whenever any one 

 saw an animal he would instantly utter a hiss or a low, rapid, " tut^ 

 tut-tut-tut," made by pressing the tongue against the roof of the 

 mouth, and suddenly ■^^•ithdrawing it with a sucking noise, a signal 

 which was never made under any other circumstances, and at which 

 every one would instantly stop and look sharply about him. ^ Often 

 we would get so near our game that no one dared make even that 

 low signal, and then Vera or Channa would quickly grasp me by one 

 arm and point at the animal 



What a romantic life it was to hunt with such men, through 

 those noble teak and bamboo forests, in such fine weather as we 

 had most of the time, knowing that we were hable at any moment 

 to fall in with some large animal, though, whether it would be 

 axis deer, muntjac, bear, boar, sambur, bison, tiger, or elephant, 



