him, besides his drivers. And it is a curious fact
that, in India, the lower the "caste" of the
individual, the greater the number of children he
is certain to have. Captain Ring and myself
had between us seven horses; these necessitated
seven syces, or grooms, and seven grass-cutters
—fourteen men, eleven of whom had wives,
and having amongst them twenty-eight children.
When these various figures and facts are taken
into consideration, it will not be deemed
surprising that our following in this camp amounted
to upwards of a hundred and fifty souls.

All our arrangements being ready, the
servants, camp equipage, baggage, spare horses,
and everything which we did not want with us
was sent on ahead, with orders to form our
camp at a village about fifty miles from Meerut.
At certain stations on the road, about twelve
or fifteen miles apart from each other, a groom
with a horse belonging to each of our party was
to stop, so that we might ride through without
stopping, and have a change of mounts on the
road. We started the day our leave of absence
commenced, and in about seven hours from the
time we left the cantonment we found ourselves
in our camp, which was pitched under a grove of
trees, and in the immediate neighbourhood of
what Orientals value above all other things—a
running stream of good water.

To an Englishman fond of out-door sports,
and yet, to a certain degree, liking his personal
comfort, I cannot imagine anything more
"jolly " than a sporting camp in India. When
we arrived, the servants had had plenty of time
to get everything ready. Each of us had a
good single-poled tent, some sixteen feet square,
with double roof and double walls. Round
each such tent there was a cluster of smaller
tents, in which the owner's servants lived.
Close behind these were his horses. A little
way off, in the middle of the camp, was the
mess-tent, in which we intended to breakfast,
lunch, and dine, during our sojourn in the
jungle. On the outskirts of the camp were
the half-dozen temporary huts erected by the
grain-sellers, sweetmeat-vendors, and other
natives, who had followed us from Meerut,
determined to attach themselves to our camp,
and supply our servants during the month we
were to be away from cantonments. We got
to camp in time for luncheon, and passed
the afternoon in making preparations for
whatever sport the next day might afford; for as
yet no certain news of any tiger being in the
vicinity had been received, and our head
shikarie—the individual whose perilous office it
is to wander far and near, in order to find out
where sport is to be had—was still absent.

That evening old Hassein, the shikarie,
returned to camp, and brought us news—
"kubber," as it is called in Anglo-Indian jargon—of
a more hopeful character than is common at
the outset of a shooting-party. A tiger had been
lately seen at a village only two coss (or four
miles) off. The animal was by no means
apocryphal, for Hassein had himself seen it that
very morning. The villagers themselves had
not been molested by the brute; but it had
destroyed three or four of their cattle, which
was a serious loss to them. Its lair was not
known, but it had been seen regularly to
come morning and evening to a certain pool
to drink; and Hassein recommended that we
should start from camp about two hours
before daybreak, so as to reach the spot and
be ready when the animal appeared, as is
the nature of its kind, to drink as soon as there
is daylight enough to see any distance.

As a matter of course, this news created not a
little stir among us. I can see our party now,
and remember each incident that occurred,
although it is more than twenty years since the
events I am relating happened. We sat in
various positions, and vested in curious shooting-
jackets and other garments, smoking our
after-dinner cigars, questioning and listening to
Hassein's tale. Poor old fellow!

Long before we went to bed all our arrangements
were made. There was a good, well-
tried sporting elephant for each of the party;
all of them, with the exception of myself, had
more than once assisted at the death of a tiger.
Our camp we left standing where it was, for we
expected to be back before breakfast. A little
after two A.M. Hassein went round our tents
and awoke us, and by three o'clock we were
fully under way. I, being the only young
hand of the party, was entrusted especially to
the care of the shikarie, who arranged to
accompany me on my elephant, and thus I was
pretty sure of having a good place when we got
to the ground. So far as I could understand—
for the old fellow's English was limited, and of
Hindostanee I could only speak a very few
words—from what Hassein told me on our way
to the scene of action, he did not hope to get
within shot of the tiger whilst the latter was at
the pool, but to be able to trace the beast from
thence to its usual haunts, and then beat it up
in the usual manner. The tiger, as he informed
me, was one which "got a madam," meaning
thereby that it had, probably, a female and
cubs, and could not wander very far from where
the latter were to be found.

On our way to the ground, however, Hassein
changed his plans. He stopped the elephants that
were plodding along, each one with a sportsman
and his battery of rifles on its back, and, after a
long conference in Hindostanee with the rest of
the party, I was told that we were to leave our
elephants and proceed on foot—I being, as
before, under the special care of the shikarie. The
mahouts in charge of the elephants had orders
to remain where they were, but to come
towards us quickly the moment they heard a shot
fired. After about a quarter of an hour's quick
walking, we arrived at a tope, or clump of trees,
situated, so far as I could judge in the
moonlight, about sixty yards from a large pool of
shallow water. Two of the party—Captain Ring
and Mr. Hogan, who were the best shots—he
placed behind a large boulder of rock, which
commanded a good view of the pool, but was at
least eighty yards from it; three more he placed
in different trees of the small grove, whilst the
"chota saib," or youngster (meaning myself),