Reasons for showing the flag--Soldierless Bengal--Planning the march--Difficulties of transport--The first day's march--Sepoys in the jungle--The water-creeper--The commander loses his men--The bivouac at Rajabhatkawa--Alipur Duar--A small Indian Station--Long-delayed pay--The Sub-divisional Officer--A _dâk_ bungalow--The sub-judge--Brahmin pharisees--The _nautch_--A dusty march--Santals--A mission settlement--Crossing a river--Rafts--A bivouac in a tea garden--A dinner-party in an 80-lb. tent--Bears at night--A daring tiger--Chasing a tiger on elephants--In the forest again--A fickle river--A strange animal--The Maharajah of Cooch Behar's experiment--A scare and a disappointment--Across the Raidak--A woman killed by a bear--A planters' club--Hospitality in the jungle--The zareba--Impromptu sports--The Alarm Stakes--The raft race--Hathipota--Jainti. There is a tale told of the Indian Army in the good old days when soldiering in peace time was an easy life and very different to what it has now become. The story runs that a general order was published to the effect that "Officers are forbidden to drill the men from the verandas of their bungalows." For it was said that, attired in pyjamas, they lounged comfortably in long chairs and shouted out the words of command to their companies drilling on the parade ground in front of the bungalows. But those delightful days have gone for ever. Despite what democratic orators say, the British Army has become a professional one; and soldiering in it is a strenuous existence. In India only the Rains, when outdoor work is almost impossible, give rest to the hard-worked officer and man. Musketry, field firing, company training, both winter and summer, keep them fully employed until battalion training leads up to the culminating point of the year--the brigade or divisional manoeuvres, or both. And then it begins all over again. And this, mark you, in a tropical climate! Up to the rank of Colonel every officer must pass difficult examinations for promotion to each successive grade. And generals and colonels sit on the benches of class-rooms in the Schools of Musketry, and in their own commands lecture, or listen to other officers lecturing, on military subjects.