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A water-bottle full a few yards distant and he must die for want of a drop ... What a complete circle the vultures made on the rocks and stunted trees of the sloping hill-side. Oh, for a revolver! A man ought to carry one on shikar expeditions. One would give him a chance of life when under a tiger or panther and a chance of decent death in a position such as this.
There may be many a brave Indian ready to die for his country, but there are but few, I am sure, who even for the good of the nation would face the public streets in such pan-Indian garb. Every Sunday my brother would get up a Shikar party. Many of those who joined in it, uninvited, we did not even know. There was a carpenter, a smith and others from all ranks of society.
You never get a laugh out of a tiger shikar, but you sometimes do in connection with bears, and the following is at once an instance in point, and will besides illustrate the danger of approaching a cave which is perhaps rarely inhabited by bears, as also the surprising promptness of the bear in action.
It is a place of some importance in Kashmir, being the starting-point for the Astor country and Gilgit and here the sahib on shikar bent, obtains coolies and ponies to take him over the Tragbal Pass into Gurais.
Bloodshed was the only thing lacking in this shikar, at least I cannot recall any. Its other appendages were so abundant and satisfying that we felt the absence of dead or wounded game to be a trifling circumstance of no account.
As a result of their long stay here, the men became very familiar with the whole area, and their experiences in the communication trenches, Foster Avenue, Shikar Lane, Kestrel Avenue, Avenue Trench and others were talked of for long after. Neither did they forget Lone Sap, from which the enemy captured two of their comrades, Cable Trench, which was raided by a party under 2nd Lieut.
The Leh scheme thus having come to naught, and our friends being still wholly intent on "shikar" to the exclusion of all other pursuits, we decided to be independent, so we hired a nice-looking boarded dounga, whose fresh and clean appearance pleased us, for a term of three months.
We accordingly made our way back to camp with our trophies, all of us, with perhaps the exception of Roshan Khan, well satisfied with the day's outing. Whenever afterwards I wanted to chaff this "boy", I had only to ask whether he would like to come and see some more shikar.
"We spread out, R. and I and his merry men, and waded; his butler and cook apparently as keen about shikar as cooking, and promptly three snipe got up, jolly slow flyers, in front of me, and I let off and hit one of the palm tree trunks and the snipe disappeared in the gloom of their shade.
A judicious blending of the dry teal with bits of succulent apple overcame the drought, and the half-hour for refreshment passed all too quickly. The men considered it now time to get up some "shikar," so they invented a bear. This was exciting! A consultation took place in frenzied whispers.
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