154 A Sportswoman in India 



had a dance and concert at the hotel, we dined out and 

 attended tea-parties, and we went in for a gymkana 

 and a horse show ; after which festivities we repaired 

 to the native bazaar, and, seated on a packing-case 

 with paper and pencil, spent an afternoon buying stores, 

 cooking-pots, and crockery (enamelled tin), bargaining 

 over everything with an exorbitant native, till we were 

 supplied with the necessaries of camp life. Our outfit 

 ready, and having had a last dinner with Captain and 

 Mrs. Fred Davies in their hut, we left one morning 

 with many adieus to all our kind friends at the hotel. 



We rode straight down to the vale, into warmth 

 and sunshine, leaving damp and verdant Gulmerg, 

 buried in its mists and forest, two thousand feet above 

 us. Across the vale we made our way to Soper, on 

 the Jhelum once more, and arrived at the dak 

 bungalow about 6.30 p.m. We had a long, weary 

 wait (with nothing to eat) for our kit, the coolies 

 being slow ; and when at last they arrived, Sala 

 Bux was still behind with the keys of the padlocks 

 on the leather kilters in which all our rations were 

 stored. His reception was sultry. Finally, we had 

 a scratch meal in the dark, outside the bungalow in 

 which we slept cocoa, tinned soup, tinned sausages, 

 and stewed peaches. The mosquitos down by the 

 river were not so bad as might have been expected, 

 but it was hot. This was, however, our last night 

 under a roof for many weeks. 



We engaged a cook and a shikari at Soper. The 

 cook was a big, bearded, capable-looking fellow ; the 



