TIGER SLAYER BY ORDER 



twilight is merging into darkness, comes a period of blissful 

 inactivity passed lounging in a hammock-chair by the 

 camp fire, discussing sport with the shikaris, may be, or 

 in extracting information from the head men of the villages 

 in the neighbourhood of the camp. 



Much useful information, whether concerning sport or 

 crime, can be picked up in this way, for while voluble enough 

 when talked to in this unofficial manner, natives are singu- 

 larly reticent if they suspect they are being questioned for 

 some specific purpose. Thus, at these camp-fire councils, 

 the official not only picks up information which he could not 

 otherwise obtain, but, what is as important, gains the 

 confidence of the people, which once secured, is a valuable 

 asset in all dealings with orientals, and one not easy to 

 acquire by Europeans. 



But to continue. The most important function of the 

 day is dinner, which served in the cosy comfort of a warm, 

 well-lighted tent, has little in it to suggest the primitive 

 kitchen whence it issued, for though cooked in the open, 

 and on a range, ingeniously constructed out of clay, in the 

 number and quality of the courses, it differs in no way 

 from an ordinary meal. 



Nor in such matters as table linen, glass or plate, is any 

 difference to be seen, and even the furniture, though 

 obviously of a kind made to take to pieces or roll up, is 

 solid in appearance and comfortable in use. In fact, 

 except for its poles and canvas walls, there is nothing much 

 in the interior of the tent to distinguish it from that of an 

 ordinary, plainly furnished room. 



In addition to this, the day or " dining " tent, which, 

 by the way, is usually sent on the night before the camp is 

 moved, there is the sleeping tent, a counterpart of the other, 

 and being as comfortably furnished, makes as cosy a bed- 

 room as any one could wish for. 



The general pattern of these tents is what is termed a 

 Swiss cottage, varying in size from twelve to fourteen 

 feet square, with two poles, connected by a transverse 

 bar, or ridge pole, and having a verandah at either 

 end, the one at the back being enclosed to form a bath- 

 room. 



There are two openings, or doors, in front, one on each 

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