PALIATA IN TROUBLE. 295 



" After this we had another beat, but nothing broke except 

 some sambhur hinds, at which, much to Apji's disgust, I 

 would not fire. And shortly afterwards the head shikari 

 told us that the stags I wanted to get had broken back 

 through the beaters, and crossed to a large jungle a couple 

 of miles away ; so, very unwillingly, we returned to the 

 tent." 



"A" "7t" "JF <*P *Jt* "ft" 



There is a good deal of spear grass in these jungles, and 

 I am glad to find that we are not the only sufferers. Alan 

 went to see if Paliata was ready to go on, and found him 

 seated in the shut-up landau with nothing on but a 

 blanket, whilst the servants were engaged pulling the 

 prickly points out of his clothes. 



We found Colonel and Mrs. Wyllie camped in a clearing 

 in the forest, and a very comfortable tent ready for us. 

 The Maharaja's camp is a few miles away. The Maharaja is 

 a young man of about seventeen, and the adopted son of feu 

 le roi. A short time back he was nobody — the younger son 

 of a peasant — now he is the head of the State. There were 

 two brothers, sons of a poor and distant relation of the late 

 Maharaja, who was childless. It was known that the latter 

 would exercise his right of adoption, and generally believed 

 that the elder brother would be chosen. The English 

 authorities therefore sent him to the college at Ajmere, and 

 he was educated and brought up like other }"ourig Rajas. 



