EARLY DAYS IN OUDH 35 
while beating with coolies can also be resorted to by 
those who find pleasure in assassinating a noble stag 
when his attention is diverted by an imaginary foe. 
But the pleasure of being awake before the dawn, 
and of wandering cautiously in the dewy grass 
before the fallen leaves are dry, of sighting, perhaps, 
at a distance a shadowy form stealing towards the 
broken ground in the north, of hurrying to intercept 
it, and then the careful shot and the slow return to 
camp, gaining as you go some new knowledge of the 
jungle—these are the joys of the wanderer who has 
worked with mind and body to overcome the skill 
and strength of the wild animal, and has succeeded 
without outside aid. 
The sdmbhar stag browses during the night on 
leaves and fruits, and does not ordinarily graze, but 
at dawn he resorts to a favourite spot, where he sits 
chewing the cud until the sun warns him to retreat 
to cover ; and thus it is that one may notice small 
heaps of the rejected stones of jungle fruits, such as 
‘bahera ” and “ber,” which are foolishly left to fix 
a location that may be occupied for several days. 
On misty and frosty nights in the winter the stags 
visit muddy pools, where they wallow in the icy 
water, standing afterwards in the moonlight and 
shaking showers from their shaggy hides; then, 
rubbing their horns on the neighbouring trees, they 
depart, with fierce grunts, to adventures of love and 
war. It is a pernicious taste which leads men, 
chiefly natives, to lie in wait for the lives of these 
noble beasts at these wallows ; yet in the daytime 
one may visit them with profit to measure the foot- 
prints and the distance above your head that the 
