54 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA 



even the prettiest somersault follow the striking of the 

 ball. 



" In the present instance I watched the antelope almost 

 to the verge of the horizon. Now and then he slackened 

 his pace for a few seconds, and looked round at his 

 wounded flanks, and then, as if remembering that he had 

 not yet put sufficient distance between him and the fatal 

 spot, he would again start forward with renewed energy. 

 The two does, as is generally the case when the buck is 

 wounded, had gone off in a different direction ; and were 

 now standing on the plain, a few hundred paces from 

 where I stood, gazing wistfully from me to their wounded 

 lord. Such are the scenes that touch the heart of even 

 the hardest deer-stalker, and for a moment I almost 

 wished my right hand had been cut off ere I pulled trigger 

 on this the loveliest of God's creatures. 



" When he dwindled before the naked eye till he seemed 

 as a black speck on the far horizon, I still continued to 

 watch him through my glass, in the hope that he might 

 lie down when he thought himself concealed, in which 

 case I might steal in and end his troubles by another 

 shot. Suddenly I saw him swerve from his course, and 

 start off in another direction at full speed. Almost at 

 the same instant a puff of smoke issued from a small 

 bush on the plain — the buck staggered and fell, and, many 

 seconds afterwards, the faint report of a gun-shot reached 

 my ears." 



The person who came to my aid in so timely a fashion 

 was a native sportsman, whom I then saw for the first 

 time. He was more like the professional hunter of the 

 American backwoods than any other native of India I 

 have ever met. His short trousers and hunting-shirt of 

 Mhowa green displayed sinewy Hmbs and throat of a clear 

 red brown, little darker than the colour of a sun-burnt 

 European. An upright carriage and light springy step 

 marked him out as a roamer of the forests from youth 

 upwards; and the EngUsh double-barrelled gun, and 

 workmanlike appointments of yellow sambar leather, 

 looked like the genuine sportsman I soon found him to 



