Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



manner ; but the hat remained obdurate. Event- 

 ually he came to about forty yards from me, and 

 how much nearer he would have pursued his 

 investigations will never be known, as, fearing he 

 would take sudden alarm, I shot him. 



Not long after this I had to take a journey to 

 Deolali, known to the soldier as " Doodle Alley " 

 with time-expired men of my own and other 

 regiments. We were detained at various rest 

 camps en route, and I got a little shikar at each. 

 At Jhansi I made my first acquaintance with 

 the chinkara gazelle. On arriving at Deolali, I 

 was told I must stop there a fortnight, but 

 managed to reduce this appalling sentence to two 

 days, returning to Meerut just in time for the 

 races and polo tournament. 



At the end of November I had an extraordi- 

 nary mishap. I started late one afternoon to ride 

 a buck I thought had been hit. After a long 

 gallop, he appeared to be going as strong as ever. 

 I accordingly pulled off just at dusk, and soon 

 after got benighted and lost. There was no moon, 

 and it was black as pitch. Biding along in what 

 I supposed to be my direction, I suddenly found 

 myself between two bullocks. It is hard to write 

 what happened, as it all took place in a moment. 

 The bullocks were going in the opposite direction 

 to me, and their heads were against my knees on 

 both sides ; that was all I could see of them. My 



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