124 
A Hawking Episode. 
me. Th(^ last time they imsserl over head the Bustard v/as 
nearly done — its mouth wide open, its flight moiT' lal)Oured, 
Some rough ground delayed my headlong career and 
the birds disappeared from ken behind some tree.j — I passed 
through and I could see no trace of Bustard or Falcon. 
Close ahead was a large and deep ravine, and ncai' it a man 
herding camels, who told me he had seen both birds rlasJi 
headlong into the ravine and that was all. Tlien ensued a 
weary searcli. I searched every nullah and ravine near fiop- 
irig to find the Perecidne piuming the dead Honbara. but 
there was not a sign of life, or death! and wlien the .search 
proved fruitless I took out my lure and called from every 
high coin of vantage. But all that was brought to the lure 
was the Shikaris, who had been outpaced entirely in the 
flight: they come up and made confusion worse confounded 
by declaring they had seen both birds stoop into a different 
group of ravines. So we searched there also: but climbing 
and descending, calling and swinging tlie hire pi'oduced no- 
thing save a derisive croak from a passing Kaven. 
At last, weary in body and soul, mindi'ul of a long ride 
home before me, I sorrowfully mounted and turned my horse's 
head homewards, regretting tlie loss of a good and promis- 
ing Falcon. For such a flight on the first occasion that it had 
been slipped at wild quarry had fully proved the value of 
my Peregrine. Even so all would have been well and m\ 
Hawk recovered had it not been for the native character. 
This is what happened — I reconstruct the story as it after- 
wards came to light. 
The stooj) into tlie nnllali that had been seen was the 
final one and the Honbara had been killed: but standing to 
plume the body the Falcon had been frightene 1 away, piob- 
ably by an Eagle. She had then flown along to a neignfiour- 
ing hamlet and killed a chicken, on which she was breaking 
her fast, when an aged man took her up. The sliai'pness of 
her talons quenched his ardour, and he made his find over 
to another man, who shut her up in his hut. The hamlet was 
a secluded one and the inhabitants did not know whose the 
bird was, not having heard of my presence; but the bells 
and jessei, showed them that the captive was a trained Falcon, 
and so presumably worth money. Next day a Shikari, whom I 
had deputed to search reached the hamlet and soon heard of 
