SMALL GAME IN INDIA 159 



fowls, details which he did not condescend to 

 notice. 



Eminently satisfied with his morning's work, he 

 had spent the afternoon assiduously browning what 

 he was pleased to term a " covey of crows." He 

 informed us with great pride that he had hit 

 at least five with one shot, though none were 

 actually dead. A little revolver practice elicited the 

 fact that the small pocket-pistol he carried was 

 intended to put the finishing touches to a wounded 

 tiger, an animal which, though he naively ad- 

 mitted never having fired a rifle, he intended to 

 pursue on foot whenever an opportunity should pre- 

 sent itself. 



I met him subsequently at a fancy dress ball. 

 Trusting to a sense of humour, he had tied a piece 

 of rppe round his neck and represented " The Lost 

 Chord." Had it not been for the lady escorting 

 him he would have been even more lost. Her 

 costume was intended to give our benighted twentieth 

 century a correct idea of Juliet in her prime. She 

 had intended coming as the " Queen of Sheba," but 

 the family jewels had not turned up ! We separated 

 after she had given me the parting piece of infor- 

 mation that she had been married at sixteen, " we 

 being a young marrying family," and that she loathed 

 her husband. I saw the gentleman later and no 

 longer wondered. He was attired as a Zulu ; a 

 role he fitted to perfection. 



That was the last I saw of the little French- 



