Saturday Sept. 16th.
I have now got the whole story of Noad's fall on Thursday pieced together from several sources.
Apparently he came off twice! He got on the pony near the Orderly room the first time and according to Rogers the pony jumped a little. Noad promptly tried to hand on by his heels and in doing so of course got his spurs in. Well no pony will stand too much of that sort of thing, and "Snooker" is particularly touchy on the subject. The net resu lt was that "Snooker" decided "This fellow must come off" and proceeded to put him off, Rogers remarked that he had never seen a ppony buck a man off so neatly.
Then Noad had another try. This time Slack was on the spot and held the pony for him to mount. When Noad was on he walked at the pony's head for a few steps to make sure that he was alright. As soon as he let go apparently Noad got his spurs in again, and th epony decided to bolt, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx however he found that he could not go along the road, as that was blocked with troops so he took the only other course open to him, namely to go down the Khud. Noad then got frightened and tried to get off on the right side, but got his foot cuahgt in the stirrup and was consequently dragged a bit. The pony soon decided that the Khud was not good enough for a prolonged gallop and stopped.
Noad was alright, though rather shaken. He has been stiff and sore since. I consider he was very lucky. The Khud really saved him. I was very amused when I asked my syce how the accident happened. He wasted no words, but said simply (in Pushtu} "Sahib can't ride."
I must say that a man who is not a good rider, who gets on a pony he doesn't know and wears Spurs, is several kinds of idiot.
Handed over to Somervall this morning. I am not altogether sorry. The Adjutant's job is very well if you are getting the (British pound sign}10 a month Staff pay for it. Somervell never has the deceny to hand over a brass cent of that to me when I am doing the job for him which always rather "Sticks in my gizzard" particularly as the money is no object to him.
Sunday Sept. 17th.
Wandered up to theBarracks after Churche Parade to see Larner about various things.
Lazed the rest of the day.
"Billy" was over here this afternoon, he had tea with me and after that I saw him on his way to Changla as far as Ghora Dhaka.