A RICKETY HAMMOCK 183 



sticks and danced around with them all, and seemed 

 to enjoy it as much as the rest. 



We changed camp at Arjuni, and I rode there at 

 night. Standing in the middle of the wide road, in 

 front of me, I saw a big black thing, motionless, 

 looking towards me. Fretful Fanny saw it too, and 

 did not like the look of it, as she pulled up and 

 trembled violently. We had come up quite close 

 to it and I saw that it was a bison ; we all stood and 

 looked at each other in the darkness and then it 

 quietly went off in the forest. 



This was a very nice camp for the pony ; there was 

 a river close by, and Suki, the syce, could take her 

 down to graze on any green thing they could find 

 along the banks, this being a beautiful change of 

 food in the hot weather, from the usual dry, dusty 

 bundles of grass. On the way back there was a 

 nice stretch of shallow river to cross, where she 

 would splash about and lie down and have a roll. 

 When I came back from my ride I often had to cross 

 the river and used to jump off, unsaddle, and let 

 her have a bath ; we often rode into the water, but 

 she never tried to lie down with me on her back, 

 however hot it was. 



The Forest Ranger had two little boys and they 

 were sent in to ask for some quinine; one of them 

 seemed very anxious to say something before he 

 went, and too shy to say it, but at last he asked if 

 they might come in to hear me play the banjo. So I 

 gave a concert in the evening ; the audience, who 

 numbered about twenty, sat in a circle on the ground 

 free seats. I played a great many things, that is 



