The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-26

and hence it was with the pleasantest
 anticipations that one blight February
 afternoon I rode into Frainpton's camp,
 pitched in the shelter of a manga grove
 on the banks of the Sooswa River.
 These forest officers do know how to make themselves comfortable in
 camp No scrambling about in SO-
 pound tents, as we poor soldiers do
 No rousing at awful hours in the
 morning, long before daylight, to make
 dreary, dusty marches, as we have to. Their camps are pieturesquely laid out
 in shady dells, by babbling streams.
 Their tents, ample as to size, various
 in design, and many in number, fieck
 the green forest with their spotless white, as they nestle under some an
 cient tree, amid whose spreading branches querulous doves and timid
 green pigeons coo their amorous plaints and the gray squirrels chase each other
 up and down the gnarled and twisted
 limbs; while flocks of shrieking parrots
 dart in and out increasingly, like hun
 gry passengers, trying to snatch has ty mouthful at crowded buffet. and afraid of getting left unless they hurry.
 Let us peep inside the tents and see how they the occupied. Begin with this big Swiss cottage A curtain across the center divides it into two rooms. In
 one a table is laid for dinner. So rough
 ing it here. Observe the spotless nap pery, the bright silver, the shaded lamps, and the beautiful flowers fresh from the dewy jungle Pass through the curtain. Here is a drawing room comfortable even to luxuriousness. Soft carpets easy-ehairs. teatables, books
 and flowers and lights; and, yes-a lady's work basket! An, that accounts
 then, for all this refinement and cozi-
 ness. Mrs. Frampton is in camp with her husband. He does not always tour in this Sybarite style; but if his wife
 accompanies him. as she often does,
 then he travels en grand seigneur. A little way off are the sleeping tents, each with dressing-rooln and bath room attached. In another direction there is the big square office tent in ] which Frampton and his native clerks l transact their business. During the daytime there is always squatting out side it circle of patient villagers, who
 have come in-many of them long dis tances-to see the sahib; some with | complaints, some with news and reports
 some simply to pay their respects to the great man; a few perhaps because they are in, trouble, charged with tres pass, theft, or assaulting a forest
 ranger Frampton will have busy time to morrow Away to the right
 our horses are picketed, and a little be- yond them some elephants, eight or nine, borrowed from neighboring land- lords. But one of them is Framptons
 own property Piyari, the Beloved, 2 is a female, shapely. swift, and stanch.
 Many a time has she stood like rock
 before the charge of an infuriated
 roaring tiger, confident in the unerring
 markmanship of her master in the
 howdah on her back. Her mahout, or
 driver, old Ali Khan, has been with
 her an long as any one can remember
 and under his guidance she has never
 finched from any danger, and displays
 an intelligence almost human. The old
 man loves her with devotion, and all
 ways rewards her at the end of long
 day with toothsome balls of brown
 sugar and flour, and sticks of juicy sug-
 arcane. He is pleased and proud that we should admire and praise his Be- loved" one, and is ready to tell us many instances of her poWess in the
 leld. But the shades of night are de-
 scending. We must get ready for din-
 ner, a repast as well cooked and as
 daintily served by the well-trained ser wants as if we were comfortably housed in cantonments, instead of encamped in the heart of an Indian jungle. Af- ! ter dinner we all three sit outside in easy chairs, under shamana-a great awning unheld by four poles at the | corners; and while Frampton and l | smoke our pipes, we all talk of many matters, but chiefly of the jungIes and l sport. Frampton is going to be busy | in camp all day tomorrow with office work, but he suggests that go out ! after breakfast on Piyari, with the rest ! of the elephants to beat, and shoot the ! grass covers to the west of the camp. I There is not likely to be any big game 1 in that direction, but there will be heaps of cartridges, and pig and hog l deer, and very likely cheetul, so ! ought to get fair sport. Mrs. Tramp | ton says she will come, too, and bring her camera, and lunch, and make a
 regular picnic of it. She often goes with her husband in his howdah, and | is not at all a nervous woman, so | am delighted that she would accom- l pany me, and the details of our excur- l sion are soon settled The head shi-
 kari and old Ali Khan are called up | Orders for the morrow are explained
 to them, and soon after. we all turn in The next morning about 10 o'clock, ! after good breakfast, we make a start. l am on Piyari; Mrs. Frampton is with me in the black seat of the how dah The rest of the elephants have merely pads on their backs. Old Ali
 Khan is stopping in camp, his son, | Ahmed Khan, a boy about IA or 15 talk ing his place on Piyaris neck and act
 ing as mahout for the day. The old
 says he was ill in the night, and as we