Antlers 



and Croesus in the English popular imagination ; 

 now exchanged for the commonly expressed 

 opinion, ' That of all the stuck-up and aloof people 

 on the face of the earth, commend me to the Anglo- 

 Indian, my dear. And who is she ? 



' They never entertain, and live in that poky 

 little house and give themselves airs.' The reason 

 being, my good lady, that they who spend the best 

 of their lives serving their country end them in 

 genteel poverty. That is their reward for faithful 

 service to the State. 



But let us get back to our monkeys. As I was 

 sa5dng, although one may be nearing the end of 

 one's years of service and still not have attained 

 that record head, still in the heart of the true 

 shikari the hope that the luck will come ever 

 remains fresh and green, and each trip only makes 

 him keener. 



Strolling along meditating on this curious 

 trait in the sportsman's character, I suddenly 

 rounded a corner and came upon some of the 

 large grey, long-tailed monkeys so common in 

 these forests. He is rather an amusing beggar, 

 this monkey, when he is at play. The present lot 

 were not, however, at play — not by any means. 

 They appeared to be holding a panchayit thus 

 early in the morning, and they had chosen for 

 the scene of their deliberations and eloquence a 

 boundary-post-r-one of those stout erections one 

 sees in the Central Provinces' forests. A great 



93 



