By Riaz Sharrif
EPILOGUE
“ My client was fortunate enough to remain largely unscathed by the attack of the wounded Hunting Leopard . He had suffered a few fairly deep scratches on his chest and arms . However , other than that... he was perfectly alright . His wife was crying out of joy to see her husband , safe and sound. Loha opened a first aid kit ( which he was carrying in his bag pack ) and proceeded to clean out our client’s injuries with the contents of an ethanol bottle . Our female client and Loha then proceeded bandage our male client’s injuries .
I supervised the coolies as they flayed the carcasses of the two Chital Stags ( Shot by our female client and myself ) and the Hunting Leopard . The Hunting Leopard had been shot five times - Once by a 10.75x68 mm Mauser caliber 347 grain RWS soft nosed bullet and four times by Eley Alphamax LG cartridges. He was certainly rather tenacious of life . The 347 grain soft nosed bullet had penetrated one lung of the Hunting Leopard , prior to shedding it’s jacket and failing to penetrate into the second lung . 11 LG slugs went found , lodged in the rock hard muscles of the Hunting Leopard’s shoulder ... virtually all of them flattened against the muscles . Seven LG slugs were found lodged against the facial muscles of the Hunting Leopard... also flattened .Three LG slugs had managed to punch through the skull of the Hunting Leopard ( in the region... right above the two eyes ) and reach the animal’s brain . This was what had finally downed the resilient animal , permanently.
I was extremely terrified of what might happen to me ... if my injured client had decided to complain about me to Mr. Shukla , for failing to protect him . Losing my job at Allwyn Cooper Limited would be the least of my worries . Professional Shikaris could get hung to death by the police for letting their clients get killed during Shikars , back in those days . Professional Shikaris could also get sent to prison for up to five years for letting their clients get injured during Shikars , back in those days . Perhaps if fortune smiled upon me ... I could walk away from the entire mess by merely having to pay a fine . Miraculously , none of those eventualities had occurred .
On the contrary ... neither of our clients could stop singing praises about both Loha and me , to Mr. Shukla . My male client tipped me handsomely for saving his life and the female client tipped Loha handsomely for his services , as well . Needless to say , Mr. Shukla was extremely pleased with the way both Loha and I had carried out our duties .
Thus , not only were our clients perfectly safe... but Loha and I had both received our payment , a generous amount of tips and a delicious Chital Deer ( The venison of which , we shared with Loha’s wives and children ) at the end of this Shikar .
I will conclude by sharing one thought , however . Had my male client been armed with his wife’s Combination Gun instead of his 10.75x68 mm Mauser caliber bolt action rifle , while he and I were spooring the wounded Hunting Leopard ... then the Hunting Leopard would have never gotten the opportunity to pounce upon him at all . In fact, had my male client taken the initial shot at the male Hunting Leopard with the rifle barrel of his wife’s Combination Gun... then, it is my humble belief that the male Hunting Leopard would have died on the spot without necessitating a spooring task , in the first place . The penetration capabilities of those 9.3x74 mm R caliber 286 grain soft nosed bullets were immense . I have no doubts that a well placed double lung shot from this weapon ... would have cleanly punctured both the lungs of the male Hunting Leopard without any shortcomings , whatsoever . “
THE END
