40 



CHAPTER y. 



BLUE-BULL SHOOTING. 



The worst of the Indian summer was over ; the 

 rains had cooled the air a little, and brouofht back 

 the green to the trees and dusty plains. Personally 

 I would rather have had the dry heat continue, even 

 with a high thermometer, the damp heat being more 

 trying and far less healthy. Cholera rarely makes 

 its appearance till after the rains. For the rest, 



life was as dull at pore as it surely can only be 



in the Indian plains in the hot weather. Of the 

 score and a half of brother officers whose names 

 appeared in the Army List, half a dozen were in 

 England, and of the rest half were up in the hills, 

 dancing and flirting at Simla or Mussoorie, or shoot- 

 ing in Cashmere or even Thibet. Consequently 

 those left in the mess, perhaps eight or nine without 

 the married men, got rather sick of each other's 

 company, and looked eagerly forward to the Sun- 

 days and Thursdays, which brought some change by 

 enabling them to get away from their station for 

 the day. Especially did the sporting contingent, 

 not just then very strongly represented in the 

 regiment, look forward to the day of rest and to 

 the "soldier's holiday." 



