BULLET AND SHOT 



which I was bound. The south-west monsoon 

 happened to be particularly early that year, since 

 it burst during the latter end of May, and I was 

 eagerly anticipating my first rencontre with a bison 

 an animal which as yet I had never seen. 



While thus detained at the Travellers' Bungalow, 

 a bullock- coach one day drew up at the door, 

 and from it emerged a tall man with a thick, but 

 evidently unaccustomed, growth of hair all round 

 his face, from which projected far upon either side 

 an enormous, and very handsome moustache. He 

 walked slowly and totteringly up the steps and 

 entered the bungalow, and it was not long ere we 

 became acquainted. My then new acquaintance, 

 but afterwards valued friend, proved to be Captain 

 (now Colonel) W., of the 43rd O.L.I., who was, 

 without exception, the best sportsman, and best 

 all-round shot, of the many good sportsmen and 

 pleasant shooting companions with whom it has 

 been my good fortune to meet and to shoot, while 

 his unselfishness and generosity in sport equalled 

 his proficiency therein. Captain W. had been 

 encamped during the preceding six weeks in a 

 very feverish locality, and was weak and much 

 reduced after a bad attack of ague, and he was 

 even then on his way up to the hill-station of 

 Ootacamund, with a view to appearing before a 

 medical board. He was out on six months' leave, 

 every day of which he had intended to spend in 

 the jungles, but after the first six weeks of perhaps 

 the most unhealthy season of the year in those 

 parts it appeared as if he would be compelled to 



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