The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-24

throttle and grip the mahout into a'steady
stay on the beasts ne6k, process that was
uncommonly difficult How difficult no
one can tell who has not tried to hold down
a shrIeking girl with one hand, while grasp
ing nothing but q simple rope and Dusied
.n choking a struggling mauout with the
other, the whole on the back of a runaway
eleghaut. To make matters worse we were
rapidly nearing a grove Of large tamarind
trees. Nothing connected with work on ele-
phants is more dangerous than to be taken
through trees by runaway, as you are
liable co be brushed off or cru he'd 6ysevery
bough. Luckily for us the rest Of the psrby,
all of whom had been splitting their sides
laughing as long as the chase was simple
runaway on the plains. now saw the impeAd-
ing danger and, galloping their horses to be
between Us and the timber, headed off the
elephant and by circling continued it to one
part Of the madam until at last it was grad
ually brought to halt. 1t was new
conner from Burmah and had been detailed
forsus through mistake.
The sport we most missed at Secundera-
bad was hcg'hunting, of which but little
was procurable, IA very serious loss to a COM
munity of hsrd-ridIng officers. lt was the
only place 10 India where the frightfully
exciting sport Of panther -spearing from
horseback was practiced and more than
occasionally have known bears speared in
the same way by Secunderahad sportsmen,
but pigs were almost an unknown quantity
in our amusements. The nearest plaiu
where pigs we're occasionally t. be found
was at Beder, eighty miles off aud even
when one or the other of us would go theRe
for day or two on the off-chance of run,
we were By no mans sure of one. The
place was utilized for pork supply once in a
queer way, which may be briefly told as
follows:
After one Of our race meetings q little
fellow named Munro, one OF the senior
subalterns of the One Hundred and Eighth
Foot, found himself fiat broke, and with a
view to economizlng he obtained two
months leave for hunting. Always earnest
in what he did. Munro laid in a supply of
rice, coffee, sugar and little else, took a
pony and one servant and started for Beder
determined to save the whole of his pay
while he was on leave. He trusted to his
gun for meat, but being nothing of shot
his larder was always bare, and as he would
not buy fowls or mutton from the village
he was fast losing both girth and weight,
when some wretch of village shikaree
told him that pigs were plenty On the
madam and could be shot by the
most moderate of marksmen. Next morn
ing an old SOW bit the dust; two days
later porker sucoumbed, and so on until
Munro ought to have been ashamed to look
pig in the face. Any one of the large
crowd of hard riders in Secunderabad would
| have cheerfully given up months leave to
enjoy even one of the runs Munro, whom
we now quite looked upon as modern
MeleAger, was supposed to be enjoying,
| and his pony would have commanded any
kind of high price as being an incompara-
| BILE pig-sticker until, unluckily for his
game, two or three of Us determined to
snatch two days from duty and put them
| in with Munro in his piR-sticking paradise
Posting horses every few miles, we sur
| prised the gentlemen in his tent one even
| ing and were assured Of splendid sport next
| morning,
At dayn, when ready for start, W
were asked by our host where our guns
were and the explanations were lurid.
However, we were assured that the pigs
were there oil right. 30 we accepted his
| guidance and were conducted to some gar
| dens surrounded with walls, ever which no
one could possibly ride, and'in which any SEN
sible pig could lose himself and escape with
| out a posi- bility of being seen. So limo
| cent was Munro Of the fact that to shoot a
pig in India when it can under any cir cum
stances be ridden was a wrong that hs then
| and there deliberately shot one before us
| from behind a WALL and on looking tue
matter up it was found that he never claimed
| TO have speared pig. - He had shot tbem
| on the open plain by stalking Thorn up water
| courses or from rock to rock until piggy
| had got scared and taken to the Enclosures,
where, of course, il became still easier prey
for the novice. 1t is needless to say how
cheap we felt when, on returning from our
| trip of over $50 miles, we had to report that:
| 20, yes there are plenty of pigs, no doubt.
l there, for we saw beauty and saw it shot"
| but If we were made to suffer chaff for some
time about it, poor Munro never heard the
last of il.