1 88 PATNA DURING THE MUTINY. 



rear behind. How well I remember his tall, picturesque figure, as 

 leader of the Sikhs. Stepping delicately over the stony ground, 

 appearing like some romantic chief upon the stage, but like a 

 cautious general also, peering into every bush and tuft of jungle, so 

 as to be ready, in case the boar should charge us unawares. This 

 skirmishing went on for fifty yards. The time we took in covering 

 the ground was short, but very exciting whilst it lasted, as this was 

 the first large game I had come across. But when we reached a 

 small open space, among some circling trees, there lay the boar 

 stone-dead, with one bullet through his heart and the other through 

 his brain. 



I raised a shrill whoo-hoop, and Ross Mangles came running up, 

 and when he saw the quarry, he turned on me and said, " You're a 

 nice fellow, you are ! You must be fined at least six dozen of 

 champagne ! Fancy shooting such a noble beast * as this ! " 



But Colonel Rattray took my part, as he always did, and pointed 

 out the impossibility of riding with a spear, in such a forest ; and, 

 doubtless there were plenty of other boars about. 



Although my double shot at the wild boar undoubtedly was pretty 

 fair, I exceeded it shortly afterwards, by sending a bullet through the 

 head of a tiger, at a distance of a hundred yards, as he was rushing 

 towards a crowd of unarmed natives. Even that shot was 

 excelled by my neighbour. Captain Noyes, whose brother " Plum- 

 pudding " I have already mentioned as one of the first arrivals at 

 Marlborough College. This gentleman, who has killed much large 

 game in many parts of the world, saw through his telescope one day 



* Wild boar hunting, or pig-sticking as it is called in India, is alluded to in the following lines, culled from 

 a well-known song : 



" Then let's away : at break of day, 

 Ride vale and hill-top o'er, 

 Scale mountain-side, and stem the tide, 

 To spear the savage boar. 



'Mid festal times in other climes 



We'll think of days so dear, 

 And fill the cup, and drain it up. 



To snaffle, spur, and spear." 



When I wrote home from India and told my old aunt that I had been enjoying some " pig-sticking," she, 

 much scandalized, forthwith demanded an explanation from my father. 



