206 THE IMAGE OF WAR 



One more run, and I have done. The meet was 

 at the Commissariat Stores, and a hare was soon 

 afoot. After running a ring or two she went off 

 down the road by the mosque, and into the town of 

 Kandy. What a hubbub ! More than she likes, for 

 she turns across the new railway, up through the 

 officers' quarters on to the parade - ground. As I 

 arrived there this was the scene I witnessed : Half a 

 hundred British soldiers full cry, frightening my poor 

 little hounds off the line. Fortunately, the thick 

 jungle chokes the men off. But the hare evidently 

 has a love for soldiers, for turning down again she 

 once more crosses the parade-ground, and the hounds 

 pull her down in the corner of a barrack-room. I 

 present her to the dwellers therein ; and no doubt she 

 goes to swell the day's ration. 



When I left Kandy not long after, I had the satis- 

 faction of handing over to my successor a perfectly 

 efficient pack of hounds. I believe they were soon 

 after given up, owing to nearly all the old members 

 of the hunt leaving the station. 



I returned to Colombo to find the new pack of 

 harriers in working order. I was offered, and gladly 

 accepted, the post of whip. We did the thing more 

 smartly in Colombo, huntsmen and whips wearing 

 the orthodox green frock with silver buttons. Only 

 instead of hunting - caps we wore white helmets, 

 for the sun was often high before we returned 

 home. 



The available hunting country at Colombo consisted 

 mostly of cinnamon gardens, interspersed with groves 

 of cocoa-nut trees. The cinnamon is a laurel-like 

 plant, growing to a height of about five feet, though 



