“All twelve had every right to be proud and at the same time to be afraid; Although they had won game after game of polo in the tournament, that day they were to meet in the final match against a team of “archangels,” and these opponents were playing with half a dozen ponies each. The game was to be divided into six games, with breaks of eight minutes after each hour. This meant that “they” would have a fresh pony after each break. The skidar team could field a fresh pony only after two breaks; and two on one - the chances are unequal. Moreover, as Shiraz, the gray Syrian pony, pointed out, they would have to contend with the very color of polo - the ponies of Upper India, ponies that cost a thousand rupees each, while they themselves were cheap, recruited mostly from village, cart-pulling ponies, whose owners belong to the native poor but honest regiment..."