228 REMINISCENCES OF SONEPORE. 



necessary it was for all to join as Volunteers, for though every- 

 one may not think such a step immediately necessary, yet if a 

 time came they would find what a small band of trained 

 Englishmen could do even against tremendous odds. He 

 could speak, he said, from his own experience what great ad- 

 vantage discipline and training can effect. Mr. Stevens, in 

 proposing the health of the Secretary, said that they were 

 all under the apprehension, when Mr. Abbott resigned last 

 year, that the Sonepore Meet would collapse, for who could 

 manage so well as he ; the proof was the present meet, his 

 excellent management was seen everywhere. So when Mr. 

 Kemble, the Opium Agent, wrote in his usual persuasive 

 style and asked him to resume the Secretaryship, everyone 

 was happy that he had accepted this onerous post. Harry 

 in returning thanks said that a great deal of the suc- 

 cess of the meet depended on the cordial help he had 

 received from several, especially from the Commissioner, the 

 Opium Agent, Jimmy, Bob Lockhart and several of the plant- 

 ers. At 10 A.M. on the i8th instant, Sir Charles, Lady 

 Elliott and party left Sonepore for Mozufferpore by train, 

 being escorted to the railway station by a troop of the Behar 

 Light Horse. And thus ended one of the most magnificent 

 meets that Sonepore has witnessed. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



YEAR 1892. 



In July 1892, at a meeting of Stewards, held in Calcutta, 

 Harry Abbott asked to be relieved of his duties and suggested 

 Mr. Bob Lockhart as his successor, but that festive sportsman 

 declined, and so did several other localites, so Harry had to 

 carry on the Secretaryship, and, publishing a programme early 

 in August, drew excellent entries. The Stewards for the year in 

 addition to the Maharajahs, were Messrs. Bourdillon, Graham 

 Forbes, Kemble, Hopkins, Lockhart, Elliot, Gordon, Gladstone 



