68
and the moments snatched for refreshment during
the day's hard work, and the night spent under
canvas, with all sorts of weird sounds indistinctly
heard between sleeping and waking—including
the rhythmic snoring and grunting of the beaters
stretched round the camp fires—all this went
into the charm wrought by that great enchantress,
Nature, and became romance/'
One of the charms of Sir Nizamat's personality
arises from an unexpected combination of
widely differing traits that go to form it. A lover
of books and peace by disposition, of Nature and
solitude by habit, one may well wonder at his love
of horses and weapons and jungle life.
" Yes, I was fond of weapons," said he one
day, " and always kept some by me, whether
they were required for use or not. Even now
in m£^7qth .year I sometimes take a gun out of its
case, or a sword or a dagger out of its sheath and
have a good look at it for a little pleasurable
excitement. I like to read history in such things ;
they have played a great part in our world/'
He delighted to remind people that Socrates
had fought as a foot soldier at the battle olPIa-
taea and JEschylus at Salamis and Marathon.
Though a hermit at heart, the warrior's soul in
him was always orTthe alert, and we find flashes
of it in some of his poems.
His daily habits are even now regular. He rises
before four in the morning; sometimes between
three and four for the night prayers, Tahajjud,
makes a cup of coffegJor himself, repeats passages