THE GUZERAT CUP 191 



a mile of cantonments. During the hot weather 

 many a monotonous day is cut short by the arrival 

 of khabar of a boar lying up in some field or hedge- 

 row. 



Pig-sticking generally starts towards the end of 

 November and continues up till July. There is 

 generally a break in the rains after the first fall in 

 this district, and if this has not been too heavy, 

 excellent sport is obtained, as the pig can be tracked 

 without difficulty. 



One of the best hunts I ever had was in the final 

 of the Guzerat Cup of 1909. Captain Vernon (of 

 Kadir Cup fame) was the umpire, and Colonel 

 " Jim " Forbes and myself the competitors. I 

 wrote down a description of the run almost directly 

 afterwards, and though apologizing for the com- 

 position, I think it best to set it forth without 

 cooking it up. 



A good boar followed the tola out of the castor- 

 oil field where they had been lying up, and Vernon 

 got us off to a splendid start. Forbes soon went 

 to the front, with me on his right. I then crossed 

 behind Forbes to the left and he rode the boar hard. 

 The boar turned left-handed, and I followed him 

 through a dried-up jheel and then through a gap. 

 Here Forbes had very bad luck, as he could easily 

 have gone through the gap first, and there was 

 nothing to show what was beyond. It happened 

 that there was a lane, and I quickly turned down 

 after the boar and speared him shortly after in the 

 lane. 



The spectators had all kept well clear, and when 

 the boar was speared they all went off in the wrong 

 direction ; so Forbes and I had to try and finish 

 the boar off ourselves. This took us over half an 



