90 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
hard-earned victory. At the next camp a pathetic 
tragedy had once occurred, involving the death of 
two men who were sleeping for the night in a grass 
shanty by the side of the path. A tiger seized one 
of the men as they were sitting at their camp-fire, 
but the brute was driven off, and the wounded man 
was carried by his companion into the hut. But 
here the tiger returned later on, and dragged away 
the brave man who had already risked his life for 
his dying friend. One hardly likes to think of the 
anguish of terror and of despair that must have been 
suffered during that night in the lonely forest. 
Proceeding to the east of Dhikdla, the valley 
narrows considerably, and at Sarapduli there is a 
grassy swamp below the road which has an evil 
reputation among the travellers who pass along this 
path on their way to the hill-villages higher up. 
Farther on, where a road strikes off to Mohan, there 
is a forest bungalow whence good fishing can be 
obtained, for, continuing up the river, the hills close 
in rapidly on either side, there are frequent rapids, 
and the water is less disturbed by the passage of 
bamboo rafts. 
Here one day while | was fishing a native ran to 
inform me that two large snakes were fighting in 
the road, and, hurrying up, I found what I thought 
to be two pythons in deadly combat. After watch- 
ing them for a while I proceeded to interfere, when 
one rapidly glided away, and the other threaten- 
ingly erected his head, displaying the well-known 
hood of the cobra. I then knew that this was the 
dreaded hamadryad, and regretted that I had not 
left the combatants alone, as I might then have seen 
