CHAPTER XXIII 



MY six months' leave, like the schoolboys' holidays, passed 

 only too rapidly ; and on my return to my own province 

 I found myself transferred, to my regret, to the district of 



D , which, however, proved happily to be also a sporting 



one. This, coupled with the fact that the camping season 

 had already set in, left me little to complain of. 



For the first six weeks, however, my duties kept me tied 

 to my office table as is usually the case on joining a 

 new district the ways of one's predecessor being, rightly 

 or wrongly, seldom one's own. Finally, having made 

 myself acquainted with the working of the district, so far 

 as can be ascertained from figures, and having overcome 

 the aspirations common to most " new brooms," I was free 

 to visit the interior of my district, where alone it is possible 

 to test, with anything like accuracy, whether facts agree with 

 figures. Accordingly, one morning towards the middle of 

 December found me engaged in the pleasing task of 

 superintending the despatch of my first camp ; a some- 

 what important undertaking since, to quote the \vords of 

 the old song " so very much depends upon the style in 

 which it's done," for in India that generally supposed 

 land of luxury and ease, it is even more necessary than 

 in England to see that orders given are duly carried out 

 more especially is this necessary when setting out on a 

 lengthened tour, since all one's comfort and convenience 

 depend on how efficiently the preliminary arrangements 

 have been made, arrangements which, as will be shown 

 later, require much thought and careful planning. For 

 it must be remembered that to most Indian officials, 

 camping is a part of their lives and generally looked 

 forward to as an oasis, so to speak, in the desert of their 

 existence, when no longer compelled to pass their days in 

 184. 



