He liked to think quietly of the past and, somehow, he could do so far better, while engaged on this duty, than when lying awake in his little tent.

The expanse and stillness calmed him, and agreed far more with his mood than the camp.
His sight was keen, even when his thoughts were farthest away and, three times, he sent a bullet through a lurking Pathan who was crawling up towards him, astonishing his comrades by the accuracy of his aim.
"I suppose," he said, when congratulated upon the third occasion on which he had laid one of the enemy low, "that the good fairy must have given me a quick eye, as well as good spirits." "It is indeed extraordinary that you, a young recruit, should not only make out a man whom none of us saw; but that you should, each time, fetch him down at a distance of three or four hundred yards." "I used to practice with my father's rifle," he said.

"He was very fond of shikari, and I often went out with him.

It needs a keener sight to put a bullet between the eyes of a tiger, than to hit a lurking Pathan." So noted did he become for the accuracy of his aim that one of the native officers asked him, privately, if he would like to be always put on night duty.
"I should like it every other night," he said.

"By resting every alternate night, and by snatching a couple of hours' sleep before going on duty, when we arrive at the end of a day's march in good time, I can manage very well." "I will arrange that for you," the officer said.