156 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
the increasing heat was drawing up the water from 
the surface of the soil, so that a soft mist enveloped 
the silent forest-trees, now heavy with their spring 
foliage. From a distance of a few score yards, un- 
known to the hunter, I watched his proceedings: 
saw him strip off the brown cotton cloth and throw 
his turban aside ; then noted how, almost naked, he 
crept cautiously along to intercept the stag in his 
leisurely retreat to the jungle. It was good to see 
the old man stop and fire, and the smoke eddying 
gently, as if in rhythm with the echoes that rolled 
back from the high wall of vegetation in the back- 
ground ; to see the stag, startled but unhurt, stand- 
ing an instant as if to locate the danger, and then 
falling to a second shot before he could spring into 
his gallop; but best of all was Premgir’s almost 
terrified astonishment at my intervention, which I 
firmly believe he attributed to a “ bhut,” or jungle 
spirit, before he recognized me coming slowly 
towards him. As we strolled together into camp, I 
had to soothe his feelings by pointing out that it 
was only to his inferior weapons that he owed his 
defeat, and that the distance was too far for the old 
gun he carried. We could afford to laugh now at 
the many occasions when we had been bested by the 
jungle animals, and to realize that it is not always 
victory that is the most interesting, and that being 
hunted often affords even more memorable sensations 
than does hunting. Poor old Premgir never reached 
his home from his last visit to me. He died on the 
way from cholera, which is perhaps sometimes a 
synonym for poison administered in the heat of a 
domestic feud. He had himself wives young and 
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