THIRTY-TWO BOARS IN A MEET ! 21 



on the south there was the village : the third one was 

 one we had planted out ourselves out of some subscrip- 

 tion we raised. 



We hunted the patiales twice a year regularly — once 

 in the cold weather and once in May — the Queen's Birth- 

 day. The patiales we had planted ourselves were right 

 away in the open. But retournons a nos moutons, as 

 descriptions of this sort get rather tedious. 



It took some time to get together the elephants and 

 coolies, and as there was a heavy fog hanging over the 

 bil and low lands, we were in no hurry ourselves. As 

 mentioned before, our plan for the* day was to go to the 

 furthest end of our line of beat. A start was accord- 

 ingly made, Ramkristopore village being our destina- 

 tion. On our way we proposed to beat any likely bits 

 of cover we might come across. The elephants, spare 

 horses, and tiffin-boxes were sent ahead and we followed. 

 As a rule, it is a very bad plan to leave any of your 

 followers behind, as very often you never see them again, 

 perhaps, until you are back in the evening. We had 

 not proceeded far on our journey when some villagers 

 shouted to us that they had marked down a pig in 

 some wheat. A line of the riders was soon made, and 

 we rode through the crops, but no pig did we see, 

 neither the sign of one. The villagers were, however, 

 right ; for no sooner the pig saw the riders had gone 

 to the furthest end of the wheat then he broke out 

 and made as fast as his legs could carry him for tha 

 patiales. 



