THE SAL FORESTS 315 



Waiting a little, I got on tlie elephant, and proceeded to 

 beat tlie long grass; and, after going about a quarter of 

 a mile, started tlie herd, which must have contained fuUy 

 thirty individuals. They dived into a deepish hollow, 

 filled with low brushwood, in front of me, and I waited 

 on the edge for their appearance on the far side. Presently 

 they clattered up in single file, stags and does intermixed, 

 the last of all being a very large dark red stag, with beauti- 

 ful antlers that seemed almost to overpower him as he 

 slowly trotted up the rise. I had the sight of the double 

 rifle then full on his broad back, and was just touching the 

 trigger when the man behind me seized and detained my 

 arm in a vice-like grasp. The moment was lost, and I 

 turned viciously on the culprit, who, however, pointed 

 silently to an object in a tree close to our heads. It was 

 a huge colony of bees — ^the terrible Bonhrd, whose swarms 

 had, a march or two before, routed our whole following, 

 leaving a good-sized baggage pony dead upon the ground. 

 Lucky it was I had not fired, and I thought little of the 

 lost stag in the hurry to get out of so dangerous a vicinity. 

 About half a mile farther on, near the river, a spotted 

 doe leaped out of a patch of grass, and scoured across the 

 plain. It was too tempting, she looked so round and 

 fat; and a snap shot rolled her over, shot through the 

 loins. We were now not far from camp, and I was beating 

 through some longish grass, when a fuU, round countenance 

 was seen peering over the top of it at the advancing 

 elephant. I did not make it out for a while, and presently 

 it disappeared, the motion of the grass showing the progress 

 of a large body towards the river, A little further on it 

 stopped, and the round face again glared at me over the 

 grass. Surely it must be a tiger ? A glimpse of a striped 

 red hide settled the question, and I moved a little down 

 to cut her ofi from the river bed. AH was motionless for 

 a few minutes, and then again the slowly waving grass 

 showed the stealthy progress towards the deep gully in 

 which ran the river. A shallow ravine was a little ahead, 

 down which she could steal unobserved, except in one 

 place, where a little jungle pathway crossed it, and I took 

 up a place commanding this at about sixty yards, waiting 



