XXV 
THE SAM BUR 
325 
cry of the hounds became fainter and fainter, 
until at length the sound died away entirely in 
the far distance. . . . It was a painful silence. 
“ The water in the river, still muddy from the 
recent bay, and the crushed underwood of the 
jungle, were the only visible signs that the stag 
and hounds had so recently been near us. The 
game had gone off so suddenly and rapidly that 
we could hardly believe our senses. 
“It was impossible to say what direction the 
stag would take; he might go to ‘ Rest and be 
thankful,’ or to the Barrack Plain; or he might 
go right off towards Perewelli (8 miles distant 
in the low country); one place was as likely as 
another. Certain it was, that this stag was a 
devil to run, and we now seemed to be as far 
away from the end of the hunt as ever. My 
only hope lay in Lena ; she was fresh, and was 
so near him when they had entered the jungle, 
that I thought she would hold her position in 
such an open forest; although she did not follow 
by scent, she would rarely lose her game with 
so good a start. 
“ Disappointment possessed me, and my patience 
had nearly oozed away with sundry anathemas 
upon the sinewy legged stag, who seemed to 
laugh at the speediest dogs, when suddenly I 
heard a distant sound. Was it a dog?—Yes;— 
No;—but hark!—then it most certainly sounded! 
—now again! There was no mistake; nearer 
and nearer the cry rapidly approached, swelling 
