Harsh measures, equally with mild, were, however,
altogether wasted on him. Personally, he was a groveling debauchee,
exhausted alike in mind and in body to sheer imbecility; and his
courtiers and counselors were little better than himself. To anarchy,
insurrection seemed inevitably imminent. It was precluded by
annexation, and the kingdom of Oude, not an hour in advance of its
deserts, took its place in finished history.
Game of a humbler description I met with in abundance everywhere in
Oude, but I had hunted the tiger with the rajah of Benares, and since
then had conceived a disdain of feathered things, bustards excepted.
Moreover, I had lately bought a superb double-barreled Swiss rifle, as
yet untested in real work. With inviting jungles constantly within
easy reach, not to experiment with this lordly implement on something
bigger than a wild pig demanded abnegation beyond my philosophy. I had
no companion, but then I would control my impetuosity, do nothing
rash, and, if I could, keep out of the way of temptation. One day,
therefore, breakfast despatched, I shouldered my lovely Switzer, and
struck off at random across the open. Woodland was not far to seek,
and before I had been away an hour I was in the heart of a dense
jungle. Ordinary deer and "such-like" I might have shot at will, but I
happened to be in an exclusive mood of mind, and was determined to
drop a blue-cow, if anything.
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