A CHAPTER OF NOTHINGS 125 



punishment was indicated, so I had the two men 

 hauled out of the cart and laid by the side of the road 

 to do, when able, the rest of the march on foot; 

 and I hoped that would learn them to get drunk ! 



I shot a few duck and snipe on a large tank on the 

 march and, as I was not far from the railway then, 

 sent them off by train to friends in Nagpur. The 

 coolie who took them in to the station had plenty of 

 time, if he travelled at night, to walk his fifteen miles 

 and hand them over to the guard of the mail train 

 passing in the morning. I suppose he loitered on 

 his way and probably used the nice soft ducks as a 

 pillow. He came back after five or six days bringing 

 a dirty crumpled bit of paper with him that he handed 

 to me. It was the railway receipt from the station- 

 master, and on it was written, " Three dead birds 

 received, ducks, stinking, bad smell 1 " I hope my 

 friends appreciated them. 



After a few marches we arrived at our standing 

 camp ; the ground for it was a good one, level and 

 covered with nice short grass and there was a shady 

 tree to put the tent under. I found that Fretful 

 Fanny's shoes had to come off as her feet were getting 

 long, and, as there were no shoemakers for her in 

 those parts, the village kotwal sent for a blacksmith. 

 The blacksmith ran away and hid as he said he was 

 afraid of horses and did not know the work, but he 

 sent some of his tools. The kotwal suggested a 

 goldsmith if I thought he would do ! The goldsmith 

 did not mind coming and brought some funny tools 

 with him. I showed him what to do and mostly 

 how to do it, and between us, with help from the syce, 



