BLUE-BULL SHOOTING 43 



finage," when I was willing to take the word of a 

 worthless haremzadeh (scamp), self-dubbed shikari, 

 as to the presence of game in any place, and also as 

 to the best way to get at it. 



Not to make my story too long, I had been in 

 India about six weeks when the bazaar loafer in 

 question persuaded myself and P , another green- 

 horn, of the presence of large quantities of game in 

 a district some fifty miles off. 



Our troubles began early. Arrived at the end of 

 our railway journey, no coolies were forthcoming, 

 and a couple of valuable hours were thus lost. 

 Towards dark we were persuaded by the cause of 

 all our woes to disregard the local knowledge of the 

 men we had with difficulty enlisted as to the route 

 we should follow. The result of this was that, when 

 the path we were following came to an abrupt end 

 at the top of a rocky pass, we had to camp there, 

 waterless, and this in an Indian May ! Lest I 

 should be misunderstood, I hasten to add that we 

 had plenty of soda - water, but we had to leave 

 camp at 5 a.m. without tea and unrefreshed by a 

 wash. 



The information as to game turned out to be on a 

 par with that as to our route. Except a couple of 

 gazelle we saw nothing for hours. At last I got a 

 long shot at a nylghau and missed. 



The cup of our misery was, however, not yet full. 

 Nine o'clock came ; then ten ; the sun was high and 

 the heat intense. But our horses never arrived. 

 We had ordered them to skirt the rocky range 

 we had walked across and join us at a certain 

 village. 



At last we started off, fasting and without any 



