44 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



When she and I were leaving the railway to start 

 for our little camp, I remember there was rather a 

 difficulty in finding enough coolies to carry out our 

 kit, one or two important loads being left behind 

 for some hours ; so that when we reached the place 

 we were tea-less and dinner was very late. While 

 we were waiting and hungering some coolies brought 

 us in a dozen peahen's eggs that they had found 

 as they were coming along. Unfortunately they 

 turned out to be very much sat on; too much so 

 to eat as eggs, and not enough to eat as boiled 

 chicken : so we were no better off. 



The men said they could not find the nest again 

 to put them all back. 



The march out had been very hot and poor spaniel 

 Bumps felt the heat terribly. He ran from one bit 

 of shade to another and there was not much and 

 lay down under it with his tongue hanging out. I 

 wondered what I could do for him to shield him 

 from the sun's rays, till I thought of the pony's 

 thin cloth, which I rolled up, laid along his back 

 and then tied round him. It was a great success, 

 and after that he trotted along in the sun quite 

 happily. 



After our very late dinner, which we got eventually, 

 it was time for bed. May had the big tent with her 

 camp bed put right in the middle of it, and I had 

 my ordinary little six-foot tent. Bumps was chained 

 to my tent pole for safety, to keep him away from 

 any panther there might be prowling around, and 

 lay under my bed. In the middle of the still hot 

 night there was a crash, and down came the tent 



