By Rudyard Kipling
Go， stalk the red deer o’er the heather
Ride， follow the fox if you can！
But， for pleasure and profit together，
Allow me the hunting of Man，—
The chase of the Human， the search for the SoulTo its ruin，—the hunting of Man.
—The Old Shikarri.
I believe the difference began in the matter of a horse， witha twist in his temper， whom Pinecoffin sold to Nafferton andby whom Nafferton was nearly slain. There may have beenother causes of offence； the horse was the official stalkinghorse.
Nafferton was very angry； but Pinecoffin laughedand said that he had never guaranteed the beast’s manners.
Nafferton laughed， too， though he vowed that he would writeoff his fall against Pinecoffin if he waited five years. Now， aDalesman from beyond Skipton will forgive an injury whenthe Strid lets a man live； but a South Devon man is as soft asa Dartmoor bog. You can see from their names that Naffertonhad the race-advantage of Pinecoffin. He was a peculiar man，and his notions of humor were cruel. He taught me a newand fascinating form of shikar. He hounded Pinecoffin fromMithankot to Jagadri， and from Gurgaon to Abbottabad up andacross the Punjab， a large province and in places remarkablydry. He said that he had no intention of allowing AssistantCommissioners to “sell him pups，” in the shape of ramping，screaming countrybreds， without making their lives a burdento them.
Most Assistant Commissioners develop a bent for somespecial work after their first hot weather in the country. Theboys with digestions hope to write their names large on theFrontier and struggle for dreary places like Bannu and Kohat.
The bilious ones climb into the Secretariat. Which is very badfor the liver.
Others are bitten with a mania for District work， Ghuznividecoins or Persian poetry； while some， who come of farmers’
stock， find that the smell of the Earth after the Rains gets intotheir blood， and calls them to “develop the resources of theProvince.” These men are enthusiasts. Pinecoffin belonged totheir class. He knew a great many facts bearing on the costof bullocks and temporary wells， and opium-scrapers， andwhat happens if you burn too much rubbish on a field， in thehope of enriching used-up soil. All the Pinecoffins come ofa landholding breed， and so the land only took back her ownagain. Unfortunately—most unfortunately for Pinecoffin—hewas a Civilian， as well as a farmer. Nafferton watched him，and thought about the horse. Nafferton said：—“See me chasethat boy till he drops！” I said：—“You can’t get your knife intoan Assistant Commissioner.” Nafferton told me that I did notunderstand the administration of the Province.
Our Government is rather peculiar. It gushes on theagricultural and general information side， and will supplya moderately respectable man with all sorts of “economicstatistics，” if he speaks to it prettily. For instance， you areinterested in gold-washing in the sands of the Sutlej. You pullthe string， and find that it wakes up half a dozen Departments，and finally communicates， say， with a friend of yours in theTelegraph， who once wrote some notes on the customs ofthe gold-washers when he was on construction-work in theirpart of the Empire. He may or may not be pleased at beingordered to write out everything he knows for your benefit.
This depends on his temperament. The bigger man you are， themore information and the greater trouble can you raise.
Nafferton was not a big man； but he had the reputation ofbeing very “earnest.” An “earnest” man can do much witha Government. There was an earnest man who once nearlywrecked... but all India knows THAT story. I am not sure whatreal “earnestness” is. A very fair imitation can be manufacturedby neglecting to dress decently， by mooning about in a dreamy，misty sort of way， by taking office-work home after staying inoffice till seven， and by receiving crowds of native gentlemenon Sundays. That is one sort of “earnestness.”
Nafferton cast about for a peg whereon to hang his earnestness，and for a string that would communicate with Pinecoffin. Hefound both.
They were Pig. Nafferton became an earnest inquirer afterPig. He informed the Government that he had a schemewhereby a very large percentage of the British Army in Indiacould be fed， at a very large saving， on Pig. Then he hintedthat Pinecoffin might supply him with the “varied informationnecessary to the proper inception of the scheme.” So theGovernment wrote on the back of the letter：—“Instruct Mr.
Pinecoffin to furnish Mr. Nafferton with any information inhis power.” Government is very prone to writing things on thebacks of letters which， later， lead to trouble and confusion.
Nafferton had not the faintest interest in Pig， but he knewthat Pinecoffin would flounce into the trap. Pinecoffin wasdelighted at being consulted about Pig. The Indian Pig is notexactly an important factor in agricultural life； but Naffertonexplained to Pinecoffin that there was room for improvement，and corresponded direct with that young man.
You may think that there is not much to be evolved from Pig.
It all depends how you set to work. Pinecoffin being a Civilianand wishing to do things thoroughly， began with an essay onthe Primitive Pig， the Mythology of the Pig， and the DravidianPig.
Nafferton filed that information—twenty-seven foolscapsheets—and wanted to know about the distribution of the Pigin the Punjab， and how it stood the Plains in the hot weather.
From this point onwards， remember that I am giving you onlythe barest outlines of the affair—the guy-ropes， as it were， ofthe web that Nafferton spun round Pinecoffin.
Pinecoffin made a colored Pig-population map， and collectedobservations on the comparative longevity of the Pig （a） in thesub-montane tracts of the Himalayas， and （b） in the RechnaDoab.