32 Tfie Hunting Grounds 



I was mounted on a very favourite chesnut 

 Arab, called Lai Babba (Lai signifies red, and 

 Babba is a term of endearment, generally used 

 towards children), full of fire, and who seemed to 

 be as eager for the sport as any of us. He was of 

 a very high caste, of great courage, yet exceed- 

 ingly docile, having a good mouth an essential 

 quality in a hog-hunter, and a famous cross-country 

 horse, although small, not being over fourteen 

 hands two inches ; but extremely active, very swift, 

 and of great endurance, and I felt, as he bounded 

 under me, that he was in first-rate working con- 

 dition, and would not disgrace me. 



We cantered out to the scene of action, which 

 was about half-a-mile from our tents, mustering 

 twenty-seven well-mounted horsemen, and as soon 

 as we had all taken post, two and two, some 

 short distance from each other, like videttes, in 

 the dry bed of a nullah, or watercourse, the 

 banks of which hid us from view, the signal was 

 given, and the beat commenced. 



We waited some twenty minutes without being 

 able to distinguish anything, although we heard 

 the distant sounds of tomtoms (a kind of drum), 

 and cholera horns (a huge brass trumpet shaped 

 like the letter S). 



After some time we began to discover, here and 

 there, a long line of men slowly advancing through 



