The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1886-10-29
A LEOPARD HUNT.
= Thrilling Story Of the Indian
Jungles-


many years ago, to he cautioned at
Julbarri. / say "good fortune" for
80 considered it; but l am afraid. il
you had asked at our mess for votes as
to whether ought to qualify the word
fortune with the adjective "good " or
bad" ! should have got very few to
vote for my word. Good fortune
considered it. nevertheless; for | was
an ardent sportsman; Julbarri was al
most untried ground; AMI the neigh
boring jungles aboundcd in game OF
many kinds, among which the rhi-
noccros, the tiger and the leopard
were by no means few and far be-
tween. And yet l can not deny that
for any one who was not sportsman,
Julbarri was about IS slow station as
could be picked out in all the length
and breadth Of our vast Indian empire.
It was situated in an out-of-the- way
corner Of Bengal; and there was no
large station within a couple OF hun
drcd miles of Us where q man with So
cial and gregarious tastes could 90 for 4
Few days to get rid of the oft-told tales
and well thrashcd-out politics OF the
limited circle Of our small mess-tabIe.
Julbarri was. alas, singlc-corps sta
ton. and except civil officer or two
the whole society consisted Of the gal
liant British officers Of the distinguished
Scventy-sixth native infantry: nice
set Of fellows enough. allow; but
still the best of listeners must in time
grow inattcntivc to Smiths ideas on
the comparative merits OF Arab and
English horses; and il is difficult 10
wage any real warfare with Jones As
ne challenges you for the hundrcth
time to defend Lord Coughs tactics at
Chilianwalla.
At the time Of which write our So
ciety was at peculiarly low ebb. The
drill season was over, the hot weather
was coming on and the leave season
mad begun. There was 50 little work
TO be done that our Colonel had
taken pity on our isolation. and
had been unusually. perhaps almost
unanthorizedly, liberal in the m az
ter Of leave; and our mess, small
enough at its best, had dwindlcd and
dwindled, until now not more than
half : dozen unfortunatcs daily
stretched their legs beneath its we'll
spread mahogany. For me. the an
preaching heat had no terrors, the
smallness Of our society no ennui. and
tne prospect Of escape from Julbarri
no charms; for the beginning OF the
not weather Il the very time when the
pest shooting can be obtained. and 1 |
had long been watching the drying M |
o. the grass in the jungles, and had |
ocen looking forward TO the time
when We might start tiger with some
chance Of bagging him. There wac
one thing In which We were particu-
larry fortunate; We had attached Il |
our regiment nine elephants a. 4 mart |
Of our regimental transport / need |
scarcely say that Il was not long ~.
fore we had the elephants and their
mahouts (drivers) thoroughly trained
Tor shooting. The largest elephants
We trained to carry our howdahs. ana
the smaller we used to form q line 10
beat the junglcs and drive out the
game: With these elephants we had
lots OF FUN, and there were few weeks
after the shooting season began IN
which some Of rs did not 20 out two
o. three times. We generally took Il
N turns; four Of US went out and two
remained behind to look after the rcci-
ment and the station.
We kept three or four shikarces
'native huntcrs). who were constantly
gong about the villages and junglcs
within radius Of six or seven miles ~
Ssan.onments; and as soon as thew
,nn q tiger having killed but
.ocn q any other animal, or a. soon
g q tney discovered The fresh footmarks
Y any animal worth going after. thew
would come In and give The khrbbsr
lnews); and then those whose turn II
Vas would send tho elephants ana
lne'r arms on towards where the zane
naa ocen seen, and would follow thcm-
~, on horseback as quickly ~ noe
.lplc. The best kind 81 khnbbrr w. w.
Wnen bullock or any other lorcc Ant
nal had been killed. The TIGER ,smai.
Y Prowls around some village or some
pace where cattle Il pasturcd and kent
~ ne night; and when he secs ia or
will spring ON some unfort.
y ate animal which has cot separsied