316 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA 



vdth cocked rifle and beating heart. -Now she is close to 

 the opening, the grass rustling gently above her. Now 

 she sneaks rapidly across, crawling low, but halts for a 

 moment to look again before entering the further cover. 

 Fatal pause ! A ball speeds through her shoulder, and, 

 turning with a roar, she gallops back again up the hollow. 

 I thought she meant a charge, and hastily reloaded the 

 discharged barrel of my breech-loader, as I had only one 

 gun out, being on a pad. But she left the nala, when 

 nearly opposite me, on the wrong side. I think she must 

 have forgotten, for she evidently looked out for her assailant, 

 jumping high above the grass at every bound — a really 

 beautiful sight, with her very bright-coloured skin, hair 

 erect, and tail streaming behind her. About the third 

 bound I caught her with another bullet, and she fell, 

 crumpled up in mid-air, for all the world just like a par- 

 tridge struck full by a charge of shot. She was lying stone- 

 dead when I came up, and no wonder, for the ball had 

 entered near her tail, traversed the whole length of her 

 body, and was resting under the skin of her forehead. 

 The rifle was a twelve-bore breech-loader, on my own 

 spherical ball principle, the penetration of which may be 

 judged of by this performance. The first shot was a little 

 high on the shoulder, but would soon have killed her, and 

 fully accounted for her confusion of ideas. She had 

 evidently been lying on the watch for spotted deer coming 

 to drink. A large herd of them broke out of the grass 

 while our interview was in progress. Coming to camp, 

 I found that F. had shot a black buck antelope on the 

 road; while D. returned with a young bdrd-singhd stag 

 and a spotted deer. In the evening F. went out, and kQled 

 a large bear, which came down to the river to drink beside 

 him. Next day we were almost equally fortunate, though 

 no tiger was met with; and we spent a Christmas of 

 considerable joviality in that remote wilderness, the dinner 

 consisting, as far as I recollect, of a (peacock) turkey and 

 sambar tongue, supported by roast haunch of red-deer 

 venison, as pieces de resistance, with cheetul cutlets and 

 fillet of nilgai veal as entrees, followed up by boiled quails 

 and roasted teal, and concluded by the orthodox plum- 



