A SPORTING ADVENTURE IN INDIA. [Extract of a Letter from Lieut. Clarke, of the 26th Native Infantry, Bombay.] IN June, 1833, I set out from Cutch to join my regiment, then lying at Deesa. On the night of the 22nd, my tent was pitched about twenty miles from a village called Ghousnard, on the banks of the river Burnasse. I travelled with a double set of servants, camels, &c., and by keeping one set constantly in advance, I had nothing to do but ride from tent to tent, every thing being prepared for my reception. Devotedly fond of field-sports, I had pursued them with the utmost avidity since my first arrival in India. I had enjoyed peculiar facilities for so doing, from having been almost constantly on detachment. The country I was now travelling through abounded in game, particularly hog and black buck, and I anticipated, with the delight a sportsman alone can feel, the havock I should make amongst them. Early on the morning of the 23rd I traversed the distance from where I had slept to my tent near Ghousnard, on a Hirkara camel, and having partaken of a capital breakfast, I eagerly interrogated my shikaree as to what prospect of sport. He told me " there was plenty of hog." I gave immediate directions to get out the horses, and was soon mounted on a favourite Arab, that had been at the death of as many hogs as any horse in India, my chaluck sewar riding my second horse with a spare spear; a syce leading a third; and another with my rifle: these, with fourteen coolies or beaters, completed the party. It was an undulating country, and interspersed over it were numerous small covers of tamarisk, &c. At this time of year there were no signs of cultivation. We had beat a considerable quantity of ground without success, moving only a few pigs that were too small to ride after; and my patience and good humour were rapidly evaporating, when my shikaree pointed out the pug or track of a large boar; it appeared quite fresh, and I determined to follow it. We proceeded for above a mile, every moment in the hope of rousing him when turning the angle of a small cover, we suddenly came upon a dead bullock; about twenty yards to the right of it was another; and not a hundred in advance was the hog we were pugging. The coolies collected round it, and I heard them repeating the word "Lions! lions!" Enraged at being baffled of my expected sport, and my blood up, I dismounted, and my shikaree showed me the lions' track. We could make out distinctly that there were six; and as it is their habit to return at night and devour their prey, I made no doubt that they were still in the immediate neighbourhood. I seized my rifle, and after considerable remonstrance, and with some difficulty, I persuaded my coolies to follow them up, and taking the lead we tracked them into a tamarisk nullah or ravine, running at right angles, and into the bed of the river. The tamarisk resembles the cypress, and is about the height of a man's head, forming a very thick cover, extending over four or five acres. short pause we entered, not knowing but that the next step might throw us into the lions' jaws. We, however, beat through without any adventure, and then we discovered they had stolen away, five taking down the bed of the river, the other, which by the track appeared a After a very large one, had doubled back into cover, broke higher, and made up the bed of the Burnasse. This last I determined upon following. We soon tracked it into a small jungle on the edge of the river. I had just entered when I heard a shout, and running round a bush that intercepted my view, I saw an enormous lioness making off with tremendous bounds ; I fired and missed her. I shouted to my sewar to keep her in sight. He put his horse to speed, and in a short time returned and told me she had taken refuge in a large vellew break. He guided me to the spot, and I got within thirty yards: she was crouched, glaring on us as we approached. I raised my rifle and fired,-she uttered a tremendous roar and rushed out,-I had wounded her in the shoulder; for as she crossed the bed of the river she went on three legs. My sewar again followed, but she turned on and pursued him, roaring terribly. He, however, found no difficulty in getting away; and she retreated and took her stand under a single tree, much resembling our thorn, but larger, and called here a bauble-tree. There she stood in full view, appearing almost as large as a bullock, with her tongue out, lashing her sides with her tail, and roaring most appallingly. I now sent back all my followers, and cocking my rifle steadily approached till within thirty yards, when I gave her my fire. I struck her, I believe, in the belly. When she received my shot, she lowered her head and rushed towards me as if mortally wounded; but suddenly, when within ten paces, turned off and again made down the bed of the river for a short distance, then crossed to the opposite bank, and entered a large jungle. The natives crowded round me and assured me she had received her death-blow. I was greatly elated,-thought her a cowardly skulking beast, and imagined I had nothing to do but take possession of my prize. I quickly reloaded, and though the sun was at its meridian and the heat intense, I still pursued on foot. We now entered the jungle into which we had marked her; it was so thick I could hardly see a yard before me. I walked for some time without success, at length one of the coolies exclaimed, "Sahib! Sahib! hush, hush, do you not hear anything?" There was a dead silence for a moment, and then I distinctly heard the panting of some huge beast near me. I looked earnestly in the direction, but still I could not see anything. By this time all the coolies had decamped, leaving me alone with my shikaree. There, Sahib! there in that bush." I now caught sight of her sitting up like a dog, with her tongue out and glaring on us. I raised my rifle, but my hand shook so from the excitement and extreme heat and exertion, that I felt certain I should miss. I lowered it, and turning to my shikaree told him he must shoot her. He was a capital shot: I have seen him break a bottle at a hundred yards with a ball. "No, no, Sahib, me not shoot, me afraid me not hit him." I threatened to shoot him if he hesitated, putting the rifle into his hands, and in order to give him confidence I advanced forward a little to his left. He fired and missed, threw down the rifle and fled. The moment the enraged beast heard the report she rushed out. For a second I paused-then turned and ran for life. It was a heavy sand, and I had on spurs and gaiters; I could not have ran far before I heard her roaring tremendously, close behind. I cast a look back-she was within a few yards. I attempted to dodge: my courage died away-my legs failed me. She sprang and dashed me to the earth. The first blow must have been certain death, but her leg being broken she could not strike. She seized me by the lower part of the back, shaking me as a cat would a mouse, lacerating and tearing me dreadfully; then threw me to the ground on my face. She now caught me by the left arm, mumbling and biting it: the agony was so intense that I threw up my right arm and caught her by the ear. She quitted her hold and seized my wrist. I inwardly prayed for death to relieve me. Apparently exhausted, she now crouched at full length, one leg resting on my right thigh, the other a little drawn back between my legs; her tongue out, panting like a tired hound, glaring on me full in the face. I had some indistinct feeling at the time that my eye might awe her; and thus with my head a little raised, (for she had thrown me on a bank,) we lay looking on each other. My native servant, a sewar, who had been in my service ten years, had now approached to within twelve paces of me; I heard him exclaim, "Oh God! oh God! Sahib, what shall I do; the horse will not approach nearer ?" "Turn it loose and assist me;" but he came not. I dared not move my head or turn my eye. "Great God! Chard Cawn! you will not let your master die this dog's death, and not help him?"-but still he came not. I reproached him with every term I could call to mind, but could only hear in reply his exclamations of horror and fear. At length, when sight began to fail and death appeared inevitable, the monster sprang from me-ran about twenty paces-and fell dead. The whole party now crowded round, they placed me in a cummerbund, and bore me to the nearest village. I was almost naked-my clothes were torn to ribands. I fainted two or three times before I arrived there. They washed my wounds with warm water, bound them with linen rag, put me on a bed, and carried me to my tent. Chard Cawn went off express on one of my camels, to a brother officer, Lieutenant Green, who was on a march with a detachment for Deesa : he travelled forty miles before he found him. Green quitted his detachment, and was with me by seven that evening: to his unremitting kindness and care, of which I can never show myself sufficiently grateful, I am indebted for my life. I was a hundred miles from medical assistance: it was three days before my wounds were dressed, the rags being merely moistened to prevent them from sticking. During that time he constantly rode by my bed, which was borne by natives, never quitting me night or day. It was the middle of the fourth day before I arrived in camp; and seven weeks before I quitted my bed. I retain the skull of my formidable opponent-the trophy of my hardearned victory. My general health is so much impaired, that you may soon expect me in England to recruit. AN INCIDENT IN NAVAL LIFE. THE ship was hove-short in Plymouth Sound, the "Blue Peter" at the mast-head, and all ready for weighing and making sail, when a shore boat brought alongside a candidate for joining the crew, which was then minus some dozens. "Let him come on board," said the First Lieutenant; and accordingly the stranger came aft. "Your last ship, and rating ?-Can you hand, reef, and steer?" were the hurried interrogatories of the Lieutenant; at the same time feeling his hand, while evidently it was ocular inquiries he most practised. "I have never been to sea," answered the young man frankly; "but am willing to become a sailor: take me on your own terms, and you will not hereafter complain of my not endeavouring to do my duty." "We'll try you," was the officer's laconic reply, accompanied by a characteristic nod, while his eye closed the examination with a fixed, four-second, right-ahead look,-signifying, I suppose, Remember where you now are, my lad. This, however, seemed understood by the new comer. new hand as landsman, and see to him." enter this Mr. touched his hat, the stranger bowed, his duds were handed on board, and they together dived below to seek the Doctor and Captain's Clerk. Such was the entrée of the individual whose fate and exit I am about to relate. He called himself Charles Summers, of London, aged 22. No more was required of him; but, to the observer, it was obvious much more might have been added. He came sailor-rigged completely, and with every necessary accompaniment, even to the very knife and lanyard. Yet he lacked nearly all that constitutes the character he assumed, all that speaks of the grade from which that class of men generally come. His delicate, though manly face, had certainly not often been rinsed by the salt spray and dried by the south-wester : those hands were as surely not inured to labour and tar, for he could expand them like an undaunted schoolboy before the first stroke: the narrowness of his feet plainly proved they had never known freedom, nor yielded to the galling rattlings: his very hair disclaimed the ship's barber. Yet all this might be attributed to many a London shopman,not such was Summers! His "outward man" argued much, but I was not long in discovering wherewithal to warrant the conclusion of his having been an educated man—a gentleman. Our cruise was a long one. Summers commenced his duty in the afterguard, and being an active and willing fellow, at his own solicitation was soon after placed in the foretop, where Charlie, as the topmen designated him, quickly evinced both disposition and ability to become worthy his exaltation, under the tuition of Bill Grapple, captain of the top. My duty, as a reefer, occasionally called me there, too, and consequently, in immediate contact with Summers. At one time I saved him, no matter how, from harsh treatment-perhaps disgrace. This brought us afterwards as much together as our relative capacities would permit; and this induced him to become, if not altogether communica tive, more so to me than to others. He anxiously avoided the officers. His sole intent appeared in obeying orders, and living at peace with his messmates, in which he somehow entirely succeeded. With the latter he associated, from necessity; yet "genteel Charlie" managed to make his own conduct and disposition harmonize with theirs, notwithstanding the contrast; and so he escaped the usual epithets of landlubber, greenhorn, &c., and was rarely blessed by the crew. On the whole, but few words were exchanged by him and me. Once he addressed me in most feeling, elegant, and eloquent terms-but they breathed thanks, and I forget them. The impression lingers yet: 'twas then I thought much of the "inward man." We were again in port-a foreign port; the hands had long turned in, and it was my watch on deck. I strolled to the forecastle and observed a man gazing intently on the land, made visible by a bright moon, and audible by the surge lashing its shore: it was Summers! I repeated his name before he heeded me. "Why are you not in your hammock, Summers ?" said I. "I prefer being here, Mr. M," he seriously answered; "'tis a glorious 'tis a heart-stirring, and yet a beautifully mild and tranquillizing night! I can now uninterruptedly indulge myself, if I might so consider it." "And which of these effects do you most acknowledge?" "I sought the latter," he replied; "but even such a scene as this conveys but little comfort to my harassed feelings;" he then paused, and we together vacantly looked on the calm sea. "That's a melancholy strain," I at length observed; "but how can you expect happiness here?" ," 6 "I do not, Mr. M- -" he mournfully exclaimed; " 'tis occupation, obscurity,-'tis forgetfulness I seek,--happiness under my circumstances!-No, no. Look ye, Sir; for I am convinced of having excited your interest; you see in me nothing worse than what is termed a gay young man,' and driven here by the severity of a father-treatment more hard to bear than the lot of a common sailor-that may he never know! He lives in affluence, but I was more dependent-made more so than the servants who earn their pittance; he likewise made me a gentleman, and then—but I'll not detail his neglect, his bitter words, and worse than these, which I struggled to endure, and did endure, because, Mr. M -, I have a mother and a sister, heaven bless them! But at last his disposition worked upon mine and made me what I am; he could have saved me; he should have valued more a son who loves him even now." Summers had never previously said thus much, and now I almost regretted the ebullition, for his voice seemed choked with the emotions of his heart, a fond and feeling one, though his words savoured of a spirit not easily controlled. A word or two followed, in which he expressed intense anxiety for the distress occasioned to his mother and sister. I could not but advise him to anticipate a happy termination, even a reconciliation with his father. "Ah, you don't know him," he remarked; "but, Mr. Mmay depend on your silence?" I assured him so, and we parted. I We were at sea, homeward bound, and dashing along with a stiff gale; the hands were turned up to reef topsails. Way aloft," cried ་་ |