Bran's wound
was four inches wide and seven inches long.
My brother had a pretty run with the doe with the other half of the
pack, and we returned home by eight A.M., having killed two elk.
Daybreak is the proper time to be upon the ground for elk-hunting. At
this hour they have only just retired to the jungle after their night's
wandering on the patinas, and the hounds take up a fresh scent, and save
the huntsman the trouble of entering the jungle. At a later hour the elk
have retired so far into the jungle that much time is lost in finding
them, and they are not so likely to break cover as when they are just on
the edge of the forest. I had overslept myself one morning when I ought
to have been particularly early, as we intended to hunt at the
Matturatta Plains, a distance of six miles. The scent was bad, and the
sun was excessively hot; the dogs were tired and languid. It was two
o'clock P.M., and we had not found, and we were returning through the
forest homewards, having made up our minds for a blank day.
Suddenly I thought I heard a deep voice at a great distance; it might
have been fancy, but I listened again. I counted the dogs, and old Smut
was missing.
