And now I received a lesson that I shall never forget.  We had taken our early toast and tea, and had intended returning to breakfast, but we had been decoyed by the sport so far from home, and the weather was so hot, that we could not face the task of toiling back in the heat of the sun, and besides, we had our wounded bull to look up.  The prospect of remaining all day without food was not pleasant, but luckily I had a few small biscuits in my pocket.  Then we were afraid to drink the water, as at that season it is not considered to be wholesome.  “Ah,” said my friend, after fumbling in his pocket, “we are all right.  I have got one peppermint lozenge.  We will divide it into four parts, and it will last the day.”  This was my first introduction to the great practical value of the peppermint lozenge in taking away the sensation of thirst, and in hot climates I now never go without them.  But they should be made at a good chemist’s, as the peppermint then has none of that nauseous, or, at any rate, very disagreeable, smell which accompanies ordinary peppermint lozenges.  They are also very useful in travelling, and in India I always carry them, as, if kept out longer in the morning than usual, they at once banish hunger and thirst, and are, besides, very refreshing, and I feel sure would be invaluable in the case of troops marching in hot weather, and where good water is not to be had.  They are also very useful when going out after a tiger, and when news of one is brought in my first order is to put up two peppermint lozenges.  Another point of value I may here mention.  Always, if there is a chance of your being kept out late, take a lantern and matches.  We experienced the evil of the neglect of this precaution when returning home.  You may have starlight outside the forest, but darkness within, and a lantern is, of course, a great aid, and it is so even when there is moonlight, as you may be either on the wrong side of a ridge or have to pass through dark bottoms.  But now as to the pursuit of the bull.

After resting for several hours we took our way up the ravine in the direction of the point at which the bull entered it.  And here we made a cardinal mistake, for we went together, whereas had one of us remained on the grass land outside, we should almost certainly have got the bull.  We, however, omitted to take this precaution, and proceeded up the ravine to within about fifty yards of the spot where the bull entered, when up he got close to us, but without our being able to see him, and went out of the ravine on to the grass land and down into the main forest beyond, into which we had neither time, strength, nor inclination to follow him.  The preceding will be a good lesson to any young sportsman, firstly, as to the value of not following up a wounded animal at once, and, secondly, as to taking every kind of precaution when you do.  How often is sport spoiled from the want of appreciating the truism that a wall is no stronger than its weakest point.  The importance of carefully guarding and refusing to be decoyed away from the pass into the main forest is of such consequence that I proceed to enforce it with another illustration.