SUSPICION 191 



Act I. Next day I had a solitary walk, and owing 

 to the fickleness of the wind jumped another buck, 

 carrying quite a nice head, which galloped off in 

 disgust at the unpleasant odour assailing his 

 nostrils and never stopped until hidden by an 

 intervening knoll. 



On the morrow, faint but pursuing, I toiled up 

 the hill shortly after midday, and for several hours 

 lay awaiting the arrival of my prospective victim. 

 Sure enough, about 4.30 Lao- Wei developed an 

 enormous smile and dug me gently with his elbow, 

 ejaculating " Pao-loo." From the edge of the 

 wood below us appeared the buck. He skirted its 

 fringe, fed for a few seconds, then raised his head. 

 Next, a doe cautiously emerged from the bushes, 

 and they quietly fell to feeding. At every other 

 mouthful the buck would sharply raise his head ; 

 indeed, nowhere have I seen the little deer so much 

 on the alert. I was all for going down at once 

 under cover of the fir-wood on our right, but my 

 companion negatived this, intimating that they 

 would see us. Whether he was right or wrong I 

 shall never know, though I like to console myself 

 with the thought that my plan might have been 

 successful. As it was, we waited for half an hour, 

 then, the roe never having advanced more than a 

 few yards from the fringe of the cover, made our 

 descent. All went well at first, though the dead 

 leaves and fallen branches with which the wood- 

 cutters had plentifully bestrewn the ground made 

 the most hideous crackling at every step we took. 

 My heart was in my mouth, but at length we 

 gained a knoll a few hundred yards from our 

 quarry and saw their white sterns showing palely 

 14 



