CHAPTER VII 



DAYS WITH THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 



I WILL try and give you an idea of a few days' 

 sport at ordinary meets of one of the great Indian 

 hunts. I have written of some days at length : 

 the accounts of the other days are for the most 

 part brief extracts from the Meerut Tent Club Log. 

 The short accounts, as written at the time, will 

 show you everything better than any words of mine. 



I have chosen days on which various incidents 

 happened. Do not think therefrom that we always 

 kill panther, slay countless hog, ride heroically, or 

 fall for ever on our heads. The times when we 

 kill few pig or many pig without incident are 

 numerous ; the long blank days are not unknown. 

 But of such I do not write. I need be no subtle 

 craftsman to show you a blank canvas and call it 

 a picture ; although I always remember the Board 

 of Examiners at Calcutta. I was examining a 

 man in Hindustani. He, finding the questions 

 uncongenial, submitted a blank paper, which I duly 

 forwarded. I was asked by the Board for my 

 reasons for not sending with the candidate's paper 

 a certificate that he had had no help in doing it. 



I will describe to you first a day's beating a 

 cover, and then I will be quit of it ; for you know 

 my views on this subject. 



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