Part 1 (2/2)
”Yes, at my uncle's place near Desford in Leicesters.h.i.+re. He gave me some shooting, too. It was all very well; but I was very envious when the regiment came here and you wrote and told me of the pigsticking you were getting. I've always longed for it. It's great sport, isn't it?”
”The best I know,” cried Raymond enthusiastically. ”Beats hunting hollow. You're not following a wretched little animal that runs for its life, but a game brute that will turn on you as like as not and make you fight for yours.”
”It must be ripping. I do hope we'll have the luck to find plenty of pig to-day.”
”Oh, we're sure to. The Maharajah told me yesterday they have marked down a _sounder_--that is, a herd--of wild pig in a _nullah_ about seven miles the other side of the city, which is two miles away, so we have a ride of nine to the meet.”
”That will make it a very hard day for our ponies, won't it?” asked Wargrave anxiously. ”Eighteen miles there and back and the runs as well.”
”Oh, that's all right. The Maharajah mounts us at the meet. We'll find his horses waiting there for us. Rawboned beasts with mouths like iron, as a rule; but good goers and staunch to pig.”
”By Jove! The Maharajah must be a real good chap.”
”One of the best,” replied Raymond. ”He is a man for whom I've the greatest admiration. He rules his State admirably. He commanded his own Imperial Service regiment in the war and did splendidly. He is very good to us here.”
”So it seems. From what I gathered at Mess last night he appears to provide all our sport for us.”
”Yes; he arranges his shoots and the pigsticking meets for days on which the officers of the regiment are free to go out with him. When we can travel by road he sends his carriages for us, lends us horses and has camels to follow us with lunch, ice and drinks wherever we go.”
”What a good fellow he must be!” exclaimed Wargrave. ”I am glad we get pigsticking here. I've always longed for it, but never have been anywhere before where there was any, as you know.”
”It's lucky for us that the sport here is good; for without it life in Rohar would be too awful to contemplate. It's the last place the Lord made.”
”It's the hardest place to reach I've ever known,” said Wargrave. ”It was a shock to learn that, after forty-eight hours in the train, I had two more days to travel after leaving the railway.”
”How did you like that forty miles in a camel train over the salt desert? That made you sit up a bit, eh?”
”It was awful. The heat and the glare off the sand nearly killed me. You say there is no society here?”
”Society? The only Europeans here or in the whole State, besides those of us in the regiment, are the Resident and his wife.”
”What is a Resident, exactly?”
”A Political Officer appointed by the Government of India to be a sort of adviser to a rajah and to keep a check on him if he rules his State badly. I shouldn't imagine that our fellow here, Major Norton, would be much good as an adviser to anybody. The only thing he seems to know anything about is insects. He's quite a famous entomologist. Personally he's not a bad sort, but a bit of a bore.”
”What's his wife like?”
”Oh, very different. Much younger and fond of gaiety, I think. Not that she can get any here. She's a decidedly pretty woman. I haven't seen much of her; for she has been away most of the time, that the regiment has been here. She has relatives in Calcutta and stays a lot with them.”
”I don't blame her,” said Wargrave, laughing. ”Rohar must be a very deadly place for a young woman. No amus.e.m.e.nts. No dances. No shops. And the only female society the wives of the Colonel and the Doctor.”
”Luckily for Mrs. Norton she is rather keen on sport and is a good rider. You'll probably meet her to-day; for she generally comes out pigsticking with us, though she doesn't carry a spear. I've promised to take her shooting with us the next time we go. Hullo! here are the ponies at last. Are you ready, Frank?”
The two officers rose, as their _syces_, or native grooms, came up before the bungalow leading two ponies, a Waler and an Arab. Raymond walked over to the bundle of spears and selected one with a leaf-shaped steel head.
”Try this, Frank,” he said. ”See if it suits you. You don't want too long a spear.”
His companion balanced it in his hand.
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