t rest,
started to descend through a very thick pine forest, hastening to gain
the village of Haiena, at the foot of the defile, fearing the attacks of
beasts of prey in the darkness.

A level and good road leads from Srinagar to Haiena, going straight
northward over Ganderbal, where I repaired by a more direct route across
a pass three thousand feet high, which shortened for me both time and
distance.

My first step in the unknown was marked by an incident which made all of
us pass an ugly quarter of an hour. The defile of the Sind, sixty miles
long, is especially noteworthy for the inhospitable hosts it contains.
Among others it abounds in panthers, tigers, leopards, black bears,
wolves and jackals. As though by a special misfortune, the snow had
covered with its white carpet the heights of the chain, compelling those
formidable, carnivorous beasts to descend a little lower for shelter in
their dens. We descended in silence, amid the darkness, a narrow path
that wound through the centennary firs and birches, and the calm of the
night was only broken by the crackling sound of our steps. Suddenly,
quite near to us, a terrible howling awoke the echoes of the woods. Our
small troop stopped. "A panther!" exclaimed, in a low and frightened
voice, my servant. The small caravan of a dozen men stood motionless, as
though riveted to the spot. Then it occurred to me that at the moment of
starting on our ascent, when already feeling fatigued, I had entrusted
my revolver to one of the carriers, and my Winchester rifle to another.
Now I felt bitter regret for having parted with my arms, and asked in a
low voice where the man was to whom I had given the rifle. The howls
became more and more violent, and filled the echoes of the woods, when
suddenly a dull sound was heard, like the fall of some body. A minute
later we heard the noise of a struggle and a cry of agony which mingled
with the fierce roars of the starved animal.

"Saaib, take the gun," I heard some one near by. I seized feverishly the
rifle, but, vain trouble, one could not see two steps before oneself. A
new cry, followed by a smothered howling, indicated to me vaguely the
place of the struggle, toward which I crawled, divided between the
ardent desire to "kill a panther" and a horrible fear of being eaten
alive. No one dared to move; only after five minutes it occurred to one
of the carriers to light a match. I then remembered the fear which
feline animals exhibit at