160 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



it would cost a good deal to take it with me, but he 

 thought he could arrange to make it cheap if he 

 weighed it himself and then had it put in the van. 

 He weighed it so well that it would have cost nothing 

 at all if a stupid clerk had not interfered, and made 

 out a bill for eightpence. The station-master went 

 off to his office and stayed there for some little time, 

 and when he came back with a paper and laid it 

 before me asking me to sign it, I ceased wondering 

 the cause of all this politeness. On the paper he had 

 written in English he knew a very little English 



" , Station-Master of , through the 



Almighty has the misfortune to meet such a lady 

 gentleman and great good will accrue, but he is not 

 man to want promotion. This man very good man 

 and work very promptly, he is honest fellow and all 

 othermen damn blackguards." 



I was very glad to sign the paper, certifying this 

 was what the station-master said about himself; 

 and I very much hope that he understood little 

 enough English to show it to his superiors, as they 

 might be amused. 



After the train journey there was one or two hours' 

 drive, in the state carriage, to the Raja's camp. 

 He and his brother were there and their two wives. 

 The Raja supplied me with everything I wanted, 

 but I lived away from his camp in my own tent. 

 He sent word each morning what they intended to 

 do in the shooting way, and I went to sit with them 

 in the evening round the camp fire. The Ranee 

 had shot her first panther the day before I got there. 

 She and the brother's wife lived in purdah, but they 



