Although the Anglo-Indian is faced with all the discomforts attending an exile to the East, he is at least able to get a daily game of billiards, even in the smallest "up country" station. Indeed, almost everyone has an opportunity of playing. In the out-of-the-way indigo factories the manager's bungalow is occasionally furnished with a billiard table, whilst the Railway Institute is provided with one or two, on which the mail-driver and the senior guard challenge the station-master and the locomotive-foreman to a friendly game The sergeants' mess is never without one, and the men are also provided with countless opportunities of playing. In fact, the warrior is, in his own words, "a demon at the blooming game," while his officer is also possessed of no little skill. It may be added that eight out of every twelve exiles can give points to the average player "at Home" as England is known. For the rest, India being a country in which hard work is seldom expected, the "sahib" has a considerable amount of leisure His eligibility for honorary membership of the various "Indian Army" regimental messes also affords him many opportunities of improving his style, and at the "station" club of an evening the tables are never unoccupied. At Lucknow and Allahabad, in the Northern Provinces, the United Service and the North-West Clubs, respectively, have four tables each, while the Wheeler Club at Meerut and the Cawnpore Club are equally well provided for.
The Station Club, in short, is the happy hunting ground of the billiard-player, for though in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, the hotels and bars attract many players, in the majority of "mofussil" (country) "stations" hotels are either non-existent, or minus a billiard-table. In Lucknow, Mussoorie, Darjheeling, Allahabad, Delhi, Poonah, Bangalore, Lahore, Secunderabad, Simla, Kurseong, and Hyderabad, the local hotels are equipped with a billiard-room; but in Benares, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Meerut, Coconada, Belgaum, Bellary, Amritsar, and elsewhere, the luxury in question is unknown. However, at each of the places named, as well as at Sialkote, Multan, Jheclum, Mean-Meir, Dinapore, Dum-Dum, Almedabad, Ahmednugger, Deolali, and other military stations, the officers' messes, sergeants' messes, corporals' messes, and railway institutes contain at least one table.
Even at the very small "stations," such as Jalaun, Jaunpore, Hulbi, Nimach, Yercand, Kassauli, Bankipore, Julpaigurie, Banda, Cuddapeth, Mozuffapore, and Bakergunje, each of which contains from four to fourteen European residents, the local club possesses a table. It must not, however, be supposed that they are necessarily good of their kind. In India, as in most places, it may be said there are tables and tables, and very odd contrivances some of them are, too. "Slow" is hardly the word with which to describe some of them; and faulty cushions, pockets which, having an antipathy to the performer, decline to "draw," and often a cracked bed, are amongst their attributes The cloth is frequently threadbare, and should it be patched by the local "duzzi" (tailor) with a rough material which does not match, playing will be a matter of enormous difficulty.
Indeed, the excuse about "a strange table" applies to the majority of the ramshackle tables to be found in the smaller clubs, for they literally require navigating Each corner has some particular feature, and every cushion requires a special study. The "joint-magistrate," or "opium-wallah," who plays two or three games of a hundred up every evening of his life, knows the peculiarities of the table as well as he does his own name. Although a rank duffer when confronted with a first-class player, he will—if playing on the table to which he is accustomed—in all probability come out an easy winner. It may, in fact, be said that the good player (used to the tables of civilized countries) is bound to make a sorry exhibition of himself.
Under ordinary circumstances he is able to give his opponent fifty in a hundred; but when playing on the Gordon- Highlander-plaid-patched table of the "station" club he will be glad to take fifty It should also be borne in mind that the table in many a small Anglo-Indian club is anything but level, since the woodwork is apt to warp It is, indeed, on record that an Anglo-Indian cleric, having failed to win the first prize at a club tournament held in an out-of-the-way Indian "station," was much annoyed, described the table as "possessed of a devil." It must have been a precious bad one!
Some excellent matches are to be witnessed in India, for in such stations as Jhansi, Benares, Mhow, Mean-Meir, Shajaharpore, Nowshera, and elsewhere, the form of the twenty to thirty players competing being known almost to the seventh place of decimals, the correct handicap is easily ascertained. And, provided that the game is not too short, a close finish is the inevitable result, while any adventurous member of the club who desires to back his fancy will not obtain a particularly long price. The local amateur bookmakers know each player's capabilities too well to speculate in generosity.
The native marker in an Anglo-Indian club is quite a character, while his grandfather and great-grandfather before him have probably held the post, which is an hereditary one. At the very small clubs, such as those of Budoan, Hoshungabad, Moradabad, and Jalaun, the marker is also appointed racquet-court scorer, keeper of the swimming bath, and librarian; and he has been known to double the duties of club secretary and golf caddie. Although unable to speak three words of English, he can count up to three hundred or more with ease, his pronunciation naturally being Oriental. In the United Service Club, Lucknow, there is a native who has been head-marker some thirty years, and for at least a quarter of a century before that he had officiated at many an annual tournament.
Aiken has been suffering in Australia from a bad arm following vaccination, and his match at Melbourne with Williams was broken off. Williams made a 547 break.