Introduction 



the result of this one of the forerunners of many- 

 glorious shoots, that little pile of horns repre- 

 sents hours of patient toil and tramp, hours of 

 discomfort through the long hot day when the 

 flies nearly drove one mad, and the heat tempera- 

 ture went up and up and up, until you felt as if you 

 would never and could never get cool again, nor 

 ever get rid of the thirst which assailed and 

 tempted you to drink and drink and drink to the 

 detriment of fitness and shooting capabilities. 

 Having taken in the well-known collection of kit 

 that one expected to find issue from the sahib's 

 compartment, the eye wandered down to the 

 third-class carriages and soon alighted on the rest 

 of the party. A servant, black-bearded and fierce- 

 moustached with fine features, evidently an up- 

 country man by face and figure, was engaged in 

 extracting from the interior of the carriage, with 

 the help of a couple of orderlies in khaki shikar 

 kit, and a number of clothesless station coolies in 

 their usual deshabille, a mass which, often as one 

 has seen it, is ever apt to startle and appal one with 

 its heterogeneous character and the talent, for it 

 can be nothing else, which the native displays for 

 making one's kit look as awful and disreputable as 

 it possibly can. It is bad enough on an ordinary 

 railway journey which is to terminate in a visit to 

 friends when your bearer persists in carrying your 

 best topi and straw hat wrapped up in a towel, and 

 your boots and half your clothing in your bedding 



