740 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



the day, and had made an early start with Hebat, the pagi, and 

 a few coolies. After half an hour's ride along the Khokra track, 

 I sent my horse and tiffin cooly on to Khokra or where Khokra 

 once stood, for it is only a deserted site now, to await my arrival 

 there, while Hebat, I and the rest of the coolies entered the 

 jungle for our stalk. It is unnecessary to enter into any details of 

 this, it is sufficient to say that, although I saw a good deal of 

 game, it was difficult to get a shot, owing to the dead leaves 

 and the dryness of the jungle, and I only bagged a stag chital, 

 when I happened to chance upon a large patch of burnt jungle. 

 By the time I had done this, the sun was well up in the 

 sky, so we turned our faces in the direction of Khokra and com- 

 menced walking at our usual place without attemping to 

 preserve silence. After we had been going for about half an hour, 

 Hebat, who was leading in his capacity of guide, suddenly stopped 

 and drew my attention to a crow, which seated on the topmost 

 bough of a tree near the summit of a low wooded hill, which we 

 happened to be passing at the time, was cawing in the way in 

 which crows always caw when something out of the common has 

 attracted their attention. — " Perhaps a lion, saheb " remarked 

 Hebat — and he was right, for the words were hardly out of his mouth 

 before a fine lion sprang out of the jungle, on to a large rock 

 below the tree, and then as suddenly disappeared with a bound 

 into the jungle beyond, and was almost immediately followed by 

 two others. We at once held a council of war as to how we could 

 best circumvent them. As it was almost midday, it was unlikely 

 that the lions, whch had not seen us, would travel very far, 

 especially as it was more than, probable they had been feeding off 

 a recent " kill." To send for the coolies, which we were expecting 

 to find collected for the " drive " at Khokra, would have been waste 

 of time, so we decided to track them down with the few men that 

 were with us ; and as my breakfast and the men's food was away 

 at Khokra, we lost no time in making a start. The tracking 

 turned out to be a longer job than I had anticipated owing to 

 the ground being baked quite hard. 



There was nothing whatever to guide the men except the slight- 

 disturbance made by the lion's feet amongst the dead leaves which 



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