Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



saw him standing watching me at 140 yards. 

 This time I got a shot, and hearing the bullet 

 tell, ran up, and found him a few yards on, 

 just breathing his last. My bullet had laid his 

 side open, spoiling the skin for me ; but Spots 

 said it was good for boots, and took it off. A 

 few of our men got seedy about this time ; they 

 said it was a way they had after the rains, and 

 tied bits of string round themselves as a cure ; we, 

 however, gave them large doses of cascara tabloids, 

 with results that exceeded their anticipations, and 

 they soon were recovered. 



We then moved east, a bit towards the Dolba- 

 hanta country, passing numerous karias; there 

 was not much game. The Dolbahantas were then 

 confirmed looters, and we heard a story of a 

 " sahib " who, on returning to camp one night, had 

 met some horsemen driving camels; he thought 

 little of it till he met some of his own men, and 

 discovered that they were his own beasts. He 

 galloped back and fired a shot, whereupon the 

 looters bolted, and the camels were recovered. 

 They probably had not realized to whom the loot 

 belonged, and had not reckoned on fire-arms. 



We were never molested, but Eustace one day 

 came on some Midgan hunters, very thin and 

 stark naked. They said they had been out after 

 game with two camels, two ostriches, two donkeys, 

 and some dogs. They had had good sport, and 



1 60 



