38 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
his body, scarred with a hundred fights, in the 
jungles he loved so well, and felt that I had lost 
one of the truest companions that a man could have. 
None other could take his place—neither Victor, 
the pure-bred bull-mastiff, who was killed in single 
combat with a panther; nor Punch, the cocker 
spaniel, who would retrieve any game though he 
had painfully to drag it along the ground; nor 
Grip, the Irish terrier, pacific only by training, yet 
longing to be bitten, so that he could conscientiously 
enjoy a real fight; hardly even Puggles, the Thibet 
terrier, whose eyes flashed red with the excitement 
of the hunt as he charged into a herd of astonished 
deer, they evidently thinking him to be a fox cub 
who had lost his way, or an outrageous squirrel, and 
treating him accordingly. The solitary Englishman 
without a dog is surely a pitiable spectacle, and 
when his loneliness is amongst those who cannot 
speak his mother-tongue nor think his English 
thoughts, he will appreciate the worth of a com- 
panion who understands both language and thoughts, 
and, understanding, will join in his amusements or 
silently show sympathetic affection, as may befit the 
passing mood. 
With horses I found, as with elephants, that 
they were entirely dependent on their confidence in 
their rider. Most horses on first introduction to 
jungle life were exceedingly timid at finding them- 
selves walled in by vegetation ; they were prepared 
to fly from the slightest rustle, and hated narrow 
paths through heavy grass. In a short time, with 
careful handling, they were at home. Standing un- 
stabled day and night, they became accustomed to 
