ike a huge boa. When
at last he was set free he darted forward and, after crouching behind
a hillock waiting his opportunity, made a tremendous spring right on
to the back of a buck, striking the poor animal such a blow on the
side of the head that it must have been paralysed before the cruel
teeth of the cheetah seized its throat. It was a splendid exhibition
of brute strength and agility; but I carefully kept far enough away
not to see any of the painful details which are inseparable from such
sport, and which must, to me, always mar the pleasures of the chase.

[Illustration: Cheetah-cart]

[Illustration: EN ROUTE TO HUNT BLACK-BUCK WITH CHEETAH]

Proceeding in another direction, we soon came across a large herd of
black-buck; but the elephants had by this time caught us up, and the
moment the deer perceived the huge creatures they bounded away. The
elephants were therefore left behind with the horses, and we all
seated ourselves on the tongas, creeping in this way quite near a herd
of forty or fifty does, with six or eight fine bucks feeding with
them. At one of these bucks the second and smaller cheetah was let
go; but he could not make up his mind which buck to try for, whereby
he lost both his opportunity and his temper, and went off sulkily into
the jungle, from which his keeper had considerable difficulty in
recapturing him.

[Illustration: Death of the Buck]

We had in the meantime gone on with the first cheetah till we came to
a herd of about eighty black-buck, and they allowed us to approach
pretty close to them before starting off at a good round trot. The
largest buck took alarm, and was out of sight in a moment; but by
making a _detour_ we managed to get near the others, and the cheetah
was once more set free. After a moment's hesitation he fixed his
attention upon the finest of the bucks in sight, and after a short
gallop in pursuit made a tremendous spring upon his prey. This time,
however, the cheetah missed his mark, and, falling short, rolled over
ignominiously in the dust. Recovering himself in an instant, he made
another and more successful spring, and despatched the poor buck with
the usual quick, lightning-like stroke of the paw. The force with
which the cheetah strikes his victim is marvellous. I have heard that
a tiger can in the same way crush the head of a water-buffalo like an
egg-shell; and the power of the cheetah's paw must be little less in
proportion. It is, of course, well known