CHAPTER XXVII 



Wild-fowl and small game plentiful — Coolin and Saras — Venerated by 

 natives — Many alligators — I shoot one — Internal evidence of human 

 victims — Muggurs — The snub-nosed variety — Good fishing — Wild 

 figs and frogs as bait — Shooting fish — Thieves in camp — Some descrip- 

 tion of their methods — A victim's experience — Choice between being 

 robbed or murdered — A clever thief — Carelessness of native syces — 

 An example — Pony trap adventure — Both reins unbuckled — Pony 

 bolts with cart — Two helpless women — A railway level crossing — 

 Charging the gates — A smash — Advantages of being a heavy weight 

 — Lying msensible on the hne — A train approaching — Agonizing sus- 

 pense — A miraculous escape — The distracted husband — Well-merited 

 castigation — Driving accidents not uncommon in India — Partially- 

 trained horses — Amateur horse-breaking — Implements used — Home- 

 made but useful — The break — Ramshackle contrivance — A haphazard 

 system — Dangerous vices engendered — Bolting and shying — I fall a 

 victim to the latter — More native carelessness — A coronation cele- 

 bration — Arranging for a royal salute — An ancient weapon found — 

 Volunteer gunners — Loading the weapon — The supreme moment 

 arrives — The salute fired — Direful results — A tragic ending. 



While encamped on one occasion on the banks of the 

 Tapti — ^the river mentioned in another chapter — I was 

 much struck by the number of wild-fowl and small game of 

 all kinds which seemed so plentiful. Every field was 

 swarming with quail and in every patch of rushes we found 

 snipe, while in the pools were duck of many kinds. 



There were also a number of coolin, or large blue 

 crane, which come in huge flocks in the cold weather. 

 I had shot these beautiful birds in both Nasik and Dharwar 

 but had never met with them in such large numbers as 

 they were here. 



I also fell in with the Sarus here, for the first time ; it 

 is a huge bird belonging to the crane family of a light- 

 blue colour with some white about the tail. The head and 

 some eight inches of the neck are bright red, but devoid of 

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