234 PONTO A JUDGE. 



go with anyone else if I ordered him, looking to 

 him only for orders whilst with him. I think he 

 sometimes looked upon snipe-shooting in the hot 

 weather as rather a bore; for although he never 

 seemed to get fatigued in the forest after some 

 hours' tramping through the paddy fields and 

 mud, I have seen him quite done up, and heard 

 him growl and grumble as he went along, as if 

 he thought lejeu ne vaut pas la chandette. He 

 looked upon an indifferent shot with the most 

 supreme contempt, and the manner in which he 

 showed his indignation at bad shooting was some- 

 times highly amusing. In cantonment he lived 

 on terms of friendship with numerous kinds of 

 tame animals, against which in their wild state he 

 was accustomed to wage war ; and young bears, 

 hunting leopards, deer, antelope, monkeys, mon- 

 geese, pea-fowl, and partridge, that I kept about 

 the house, were allowed to wander unmolested, 

 although he seemed to wish to keep aloof from 

 them, and never encouraged any undue famili- 

 arity. With Gooty, my favourite Mahratta pony, 



