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BLAND STRANGE THIRD EDITION I L LUSTRA TEV London JOHN MACQUEEN HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, W.C 1896 All Rfghts Re set veil ■IHIiliil ;;":- '"■■''y:i::'r ■^ ^ - '~ii.>- :j -.. FR 8 V>N W ♦ vs3; PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. To my numerous critics I have only thanks to offer, but as some ot them treated the book as an amusing work of fiction, I take this opportunity of stating that it is the auto- biography of a man more accustomed to the sword than the pen, as is perhaps too evident. I have nevertheless found no reason to correct any statement or opinion put forth in its pages, which recent events only confirm. T. BLAND STRANGE. ^mssn^mmn ^mimmmammmmmm \ \ I i PREFACE. " We do not want to fight, but, by Jingo ! if we do. We have the men, we have the guns, and have the money too." Music Hall Ballad. " A thousand curses never tore a shirt." Eastern Proverb. And yet the modern modification of the Pagan oath, ** By Jove," has been all-powerful in the mouths of word-coiners of political cries to kill with ridicule what cannot be overthrown by argument — a duty called Patriotism. Sir Henry Havelock- Allan in a speech on the death of Lord Beaconsfield, said — " It must be allowed that he possessed one virtue — Patriotism — but that was a Pagan virtue." If Patriotism be Paganism, then there be many English folk content to be writ, " Pagan." Among them we must not venture to include the Postmaster-General, judging by the following from The Times of November 2ist, 1892. •' The Drilling of Post-Office Messengers. — A deputation from the Council of the International Arbitration League waited upon the Postmaster-General at St. Martin's-le-Grand on Friday evening to protest against the military training of the telegraph boys in the postal service. Mr. W. R. Cremer, M.P., Secretary to the League, introduced the deputation, which, he explained, was composed of members of organised bodies of workers, who were there to endeavour to stay a movement they looked upon with great disfavour. Mr. Howard Evans, chairman of the Council, said the League had done not a little in the past to counteract the Jingo spirit — the war spirit of this country. The deputation were there to protest against the telegraph messengers being compelled to ^o into the army just as they attained the age of manhood, which was, in fact, a system of indirect conscription. Several others having spoken, the Postmaster-General in reply said the case of the deputation had been fairly and reasonably placed vUi PREFACE. before him. He was in thorough sympathy with the League, and it was their duty, as representatives of the League, and as Trade Unionists, to criticise the action of any public department which tended to increase the miHtary spirit of the country." It is needless to remark that drilling telegraph bo s no more to do with compulsory service than the Salvatiu ny's big drum, or the red smocks of the Shoeblack Brigad- The Peace Association would also forbid the i the national flag, ignoring the last advice en by ' rince of Peace to his followers — '• Let him tha ;ith P' d sell his garment and buy one." UNION JACKS. The International Arbitration and Peace Assoi lation wrote that the Committee of the Association had adopted a resolution as follows — " That, with reference to the letter of the Earl of Meath to the chairman of the London School Board offering to give £^o towards the provision of * Union Jacks ' to b. displayed in Board Schools, this committee trust that, should the offer be accepted, no use will be made of the flags tending to foster among the children a spirit of militarism, or of contempt for or disparagement of other nations." The letter was referred to the School Management Committee. The Gas Workers' and General Labourers' Union (South Woolwich Branch) forwarded the following resolution : — " That this meeting strongly condemns the undemocratic spirit of such members of the London School Board as are favourable to the introduction of Union Jacks, together with some ritual in keeping with that semi-barbaric worship of national fetishes known as Jingoism, into our Board Schools. And we think the members of the London School Board could be better congratulated upon a fitness for their high office were they rather eager in the suppression of such tales of the triumphs of the British flag as have made the name of Englishmen a pretty general byword for rapacity, tyranny, and oppression throughout the world, and, instead, endeavour to sink the vaunt of racial superiority and encourage in the young mind the nobler ideals of a reign of universal brother- hood and peace. Furthermore, we think any educational movement which may possibly bias children politically unfair to their parents, who are of many varied shades of political opinion, some thinking British traditions of the past rather PREl'ACE. IX remarkable for impudence than dignity, and British rule (in India, for example, where salt is taxed 400 per cent, to keep the younger sons of our aristocracy in snug billets) the most intolerable burden the world has ever had to bear." These people know that the Civil Service in India is filled by open competition. But they know also that political triumph is apt to follow the banners of those who lie longest and strongest. Like Count Tolstoi, they look only upon the inscriptions on one side of the coins set in circulation by the teaching of Christ. The Count follows this view to its logical conclusion in '* The Kreutzer Sonata," in which he submits a plan for the extinction of the human race. It will commend itself to those who are neither men nor women. When the earth is peopled by such, love and war will cease. Mean- while in every tongue and nation Jingoes will abound from General Joshua to Private John Ploughman. •' And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife." — Josh. XV., 16. Emile Zola has put into the mouth of a despairing French soldier the following opinion : " Mais, repris par sa science, Maurice songeait a la guerre necessaire, la guerre qui est la vie meme, la loi du monde. N'est-ce pas I'homme pitoyable qui a introduit I'idee de justice et de paix, lorsque I'impas- sable nature n'est qu'un continuel champ de massacre ? . . . ' S'entendre ! ' s'ecria-t-il. ' Oui, dans des siecles.' Si tous les peuples ne formaient plus qu'un peuple, on pourrait conce- voir a la rigueur I'avenement de cet age d'or ; et encore la fin de la guerre ne serait-elle pas la fin de I'humanite ? . . . . J'etais imbecile tout a I'heure, il faut se battre, puisque c'est la loi." The survival will be of the fittest. Englishmen shrink from the acknowledgment of Patriotism, perhaps because they feel the boastful ballad of the music-hall is nut true in its first postulate — men. In a country where universal liability to military service is not the law of the land, expressions of patriotism seem out of place, too much like Artemus Ward dedicating his wife's relations to the mainten.'Uir f of thi- American Union. We rely mainly upon the coiiscripts of hunger officered by the sans-souciant sons of affluence. " But Romans, in Rome's quarrel, spared neither land nor gold, Nor limb nor life, nor child nor wife, in the brave days of old." V PREFACE. It is not thought that the biography ol the special type of Jingo here selected has much of interest, apart from the fact that half-a-century of life, mostly over sea, has forced a wider horizon upon his physical and mental vision than falls to the lot of home-keeping Englishmen. Allowance must also be made for the taint of military heredity and the contact with many men of many creeds. If lessons are to be learned from events the truth must be told. " Naught has been set down in malice." The Canadian Campaign tells itself in telegrams and letters. Without permission I have used the names of some old ccTirades and others. I have also quoted from articles I had written in the United Service Magazine. The two illustrations initialed "I. A.," involving mysteries of millinery, have been kindly supplied by a lady friend, and I have been helped in the re-production of others. My friend, Comte de Borde, for- merly of the French navy, generously copied my originals by photography, and they were finally engraved by Messrs. Dellagana and Co. But my thanks are above all due to my friend *• Meg Dyan " for her valuable help and unflagging interest in the work, without which Gunner Jingo would probably never have seen the light. T. Bland Strange. In correcting for Second Edition, I have to thank my old comrade, Major-General F. T. Whinyates, R.A., for his kind correction of many slipshod mistakes, but much slang has been left for which he is not responsible. T. B. S. CONTENTS. PART I. PAGE. Chapter I. — Soldier Jhat — Petticoat Influence— " Enfant de Troupe "—Waterloo — Piety and Profanity — Tales of My Grandmother — A Royal Spree— A Burst with the Hounds— " Pallida Mors" — School Days and Holidays — Irish Highlanders — A Non-Competition Wallah ... i Chapter II. — College Life — *' Mos pro Lege " — The Minstrel Boy — Charles Gordon — Adam Lindsay Gordon — Promotion — A Military Arnold — A Snooker Aristocrat — A Quiet Pipe — Astronomical — Sky Signs 22 Chapter III.— Gibraltar— Gib-al-Taric— Saracenic Con- quest — A Queen's Chemise — Rien de sacre pour un Sapeur — The Union Jack — A Capture — Spanish Honour — Scrambling 35 Chapter IV. — A Vision — A Brain Wave. Chapter V.— The Calpe Hunt- Wedding Parties -Africa — Shooting and 45 48 Chapter VI. — Andalucia— Red Hot Shot — An Ass who Lost his Head — A Ride in Andalucia — The Insular Englishman — " Zingari " — Pepita — Cadiz — " La Tigre Real" 52 ■^ xu CONTENTS. PAGE. Chapter VII. — Bull Fighting, Professional and Amateur — A Matador's Salute — A Knowing Bull — Demos — A White Hat — Picadors and Horses — Chulos and Bandarilleros— The Melee— A Wild Waltz — The Slain — Cosas de Espana — An Amateur Bull Fight — Turkey Plucking — Wicked Women • — A Crowned Monarch of the Street — A Hea- Bitten Grey 62 Chapter VIII. — Gib. Once More — Moorish Haiks and Highland Kilts — The Carnival—" Rule Britannia" — " Plus Royaliste que le Roi " — The Crimea ... 70 Chapter IX. — Home Again — Disappointed — Chair au Canon — The Sub and the Bombardier — Ould Ireland — Another Woolwich Job — The Antilles — Yellow Jack and Port Royal Jack ... ... ... 74. Chapter X. — " D.T." — Creole Love — Opera and Man- grove Swamp — Mother Wingrove — The Blue Mountains — A Negro Hymn — Ruined Plantation — Blacksmith and Minister — M.P. and Waiter — A Devil Fish — A Young Earthquake — Negro Disturbance — Island Hospitalities — Ordered Off — Jigger'd 84 Chapter XI.— Simian ■Negro Home Rule — Amiable Aborigines — Aptitudes — A Yellow Bandana — A Principal Production — Quarantine — New Provi- dence — War Preparations — Pig Hunting — Anglo Saxon Relatives — The Imperial Octopus — A Swim for the Mail — A Fire — A Retrieving Snake — A Spectral Pipe — A Garrison Order— A Missing Detachment — Wanted for the Crimea 99 Chapter XII. — Store Ledgers and Kit Inspection — The Autocrat of the Quarterdeck— Pugilistic — A Coral Reef — Soldier-Sailors — Peace Proclaimed — Two Greetings — Crimean Heroes— An Awkward Question — Moplahs — Wolfe, the Amal — Conti- nental — A British Matron — A Soft Seat — A Wrathful Gaul — A Telegram 114 Chapter XIII. — Indian Equipments — The Land of the , Pharaohs — The Red Sea and Colombo — Calcutta CONTENTS. XUl. pa(5e. and Contemporary History — Bullock Train March — Benares Punishment Parade — A Commissary of Ordnance — The Butcha — A Plum Pudding — A Start — Gun Elephants — The Hooshiar One — An Ekka — A Release 131 Chapter XIV. — The Scrimmage of Secundra — Artillery Tactics in India — Chanda, a Spoilt Battle — A Regimental Legend — A Climax 147 Chapter XV. — Morning Orders — The Don — Jedburgh Justice — Winged Enemies — Sultanpoor — A Young May Moon — A Reconnaissance — A Word in Season — An ArtillerySteeplechase — Close Quarters — " Follow me, Lads ! " — Demon Rockets — Elephantine Philosophy ... ... ... ... 154 Chapter XVI. — Fort Moonshee Gunj — Polite Orders — 9th Lancers — Percy Smith — An Unsuccessful Attempt — More Captured Guns — A War Corre- spondent ... ... ... ... ... ... 164 Chapter XVII. — The Siege of Lucknow — Defences Taken in Reverse by Outram's Force — Not allowed to Cross the Bridges on the North — Arming a Battery by Night — Tommy Butler's V.C. — Death of an Empress Maker — Clearing Enclosures — A Card Party — Pyjamas — A Scare — We were not to take the Kaiser Bagh — A Prisoner — A Big Fish — A Kiosk — A Looted Horse — Prize Money... ... ... .. ... 169 Chapter XVIII. — Bronze Heroes— The Bayard of India — Bolt Holes — National Contrasts — Ali Baba's Jars — A Blow up — A Long Drink and a Long Sleep — Incongruities — Nobody's Child — Dead Like a Soldier — Another Job for Jingo — The Residency Ruins — A Conquering Captive 186 Chapter XIX. — Gunners and Highlanders Routed — A Skied Gun — •' X and Y ' — A Gift Horse — From Tent to Palace — Unwelcome Neighbours — Poor Appetite — " Saw away, Doctor ! " — Hot Weather Campaign — Variola — Lightly Won and Lightly Lost!" — Surprises of Sorts... ... ... ... 203 1 \ XIV CONTENTS. PAGE. Chapter XX. — Amalgamated Artilleries — Nightmare — , Nawabgunge — Swords — The Feeders of Ravens — j ' • . Truculent Fakirs — A Surprise Party — Aquatic Equitation ... ... ... ... ... ... 212 Chapter XXI. — The Jhungy Guns — Merry Sunshme — Noah's Ark Camp 225 Chapter XXII. — A Bullet without a Billet — Contra- dictory Orders — Paper Collars — Unlearned Lessons — A Methodical Major — Iron Cuffs — A Common Soldier's Common Honour ... ... 232 Chapter XXIII. — The Bivouac — Riding to Cover — The Throw Off — A Rasper — The Finish — Kismet — The Last of the Black Horse Battery — A Scare 246 Chapter XXIV. — An Unposted Sentry — The Longest March must have an End — A Dance of Death and Resurrection — The Lost Pension — Vaccination Marks — Sic Transit Gloria 263 Chapter XXV.— Dak-Bungalow Breakfast— The Well of Cawnpore — The QuaHty oi Mercy Strained — The Taj — Delhi — New Drills and Old Gun Car- riages — A Cropper— Hot Weather Shikar — Zaober Khan — Soldiers' Grievances — Soldiers' Colonies 271 Chapter XXVI. — Jottings from Jingo's Journal — In the Hills — Simla Thirty Years Ago — Flora and Fauna — Rope Bridge — Kooloo Valley — Poly- andry — Rhotung Pass, i3>oooft. — Sources of Rivers Beas and Chenab — Wickerwork Bridge — Lahoul Valley — Women — Buddhist Temples — Praying Machines — Moravian Missions 280 Chapter XXVII. — Alone — Yaks — Lamas — Ladak Tea — Tartar Tents — Ibex — Pig-tailed Shikaris — Bara Lacha Pass — Sing Kung La Pass, 17,000 feet — Ladies' Coiffure — Bewildered Guide — Glaciers — Ladakis (Male and Female) — Babies Few — Karjuk— " O I Man I Pat Mahoon "—Lost Coolies — Watershed — Char — Sale of Kashmir — The Rajah's Rapacity — Willow-Pattern-Plate Country 291 CONTENTS. XV PAGE. Chapter XXVIII. — Beyond the Rains — More Lamas — Portable Praying Machines — Sampoo River — Buddhist Monastery — Zascar Valley — Monks and Nuns — Mendicity and Mendacity — Surveyors — ; Phegam — Zunker Glacier — Servants 111 — One- Fifth of a Wife — Marmots — Pitidar — Snowstorm — Gilmotundi — Avalanche — 23,400 feet — Nunnoo Kunnoo — Pir La Moula — Abode of Snow Spirit — Crevasses — Dumohi — Wurdwan Valley — Kash- miri Character — Nagan Undher — Wounded Bear — Peculiar Pipe — Grass Sandals — Unsuccessful Ibex Stalk — Sacrifice a Sheep — Successful Bear and Bara Singa Shooting — Martund Ruins — Isla- mabad — Under the Chenars... ... ... ... 302 Chapter XXIX. — Lotus Eating — Peri Mahal — Mogul Dynasty — Nautch Girls — Punditanas — A Lady Killer — An Evening Party — Twelve Tined Ones — Star Chamber — More Bears — Camel Ride — Tale of a Foot — Missing Mahatmas — Mahometan Christian — Zubber Khan's Farewell ... •••3^7 Chapter XXX. — Piping Times of Peace — Cholera Creeds — A Sainted Scamp — Widows and Weddings — Honeymoon March — Drumhead Discipline — Chinese Gordon asks in Vain — Lights and Shadows on a Sun Dial — Farewell East ... •••33^ Chapter XXXI. — Homeward Bound — Sailoring — Over- board — Gunnery School — A Royal Gur.ner — Mili- tary Lessons of Sorts — Volunteers — Aldersbot — Chalons — Two Stories of 1870 — Bazaine — Gordon 338 PART II.— WESTWARD HO ! Chapter I. — Quebec — King Cash-Balance— The Old Flag — The New Guard — Winter Armament — English Ears — The Ice Cone — Tandems — Winter Bivouacs — Canadian Seigneurs — Lord Dufferin — The Phantom Fox — Electricity ... 347 xvi N CONTENTS. ? ;< PAGE. Chapter II. — The Tricolour and the Green — Goldwin Smith — Blue Blouse — An Inquest — Captain Short — The Centenary of 1875 — Charles Kingsley — The Marquis of Lome and the Princess — Palliser ' • Guns — Mission to British Columbia — The ■ Mormons — Lost Boundaries — Canadian Military College 365 Chapter III. — Too Old to Soldier — Start a Ranche — Blackfeet Neighbours — Legal Difficulties — General Jingo's Hardest March — Crowfoot and Old Sun— Horse-thieves, Red and White — A V Judas Kiss — House Building, Well-Sinking, etc. — Cattle Killing — Round-ups — Broncho-Busting — First War Note — Indian Strength — White Weakness — Called to Command — Old Soldiers Turn Up 380 Chapter IV. — Storm Foreseen — Causes — Party Politics Amnestied Rebel and Murderer — Land Claims Unadjusted — Prairie Indians no Practical Grievance — Cattle KiUing Impunity — Destruction of Buffalo — Northern Indians — The Squaw and the Agent's Dog — Annexation Scheme ... ... 400 Chapter \. — Telegram of Fight at Duck Lake — Burn- ing of Fort Carlton and Retirement of Police to Prince Albert — Blackfoot Scare at Calgary — Raising Mounted Corps — High and Bow River and Military Colonization Ranche Patrols — Ordered to March to Join General Middleton — Who can Take Care of Himself — Dancing, Raid- ing, and Patrolling — " Non Possumus" — Red Men on the War Path — White Men Denouncing Everybody and Everything — As I can get no Arms, Ammunition, nor Authority, Propose to Disband Troops I have Raised — Excellent Results, backed by Frog Lake Massacre ... ... 404 Chaptkr VI. — Letter to Lieutenant-Governor — Alarm of C.P.R. Employes — Strike of C.P.R. Workmen — y Appointed to Command in Alberta — Its Size — . General Middleton Orders up Militia — Field Force Order — Two Raw Militia Battalions — 300 Miles Frontier Patrolled — Colonel Ouimet's Trip CONTENTS. xvu ad -A V. ite its . / ... 380 ICS • lis :al on nd 400 PAGE. East — Ammunition Factories — Equipment and Supplies take Time — A Princess's Gift — " Owre Mony Maisters " — Police Placed under Military Law — Expense of Extemporising Transport ... 413 Chapter VII. — Burnt Prairie and Severe Snowstorms — 65th Voltigeurs — Scout Cavalry — Light Kit and Magazine Rifle make Dr. Johnson's Dragoon — Pope's Essay on Man — Revised Version — Buffalo Bill Parade — A Protective Tariff on Saddles — First Advance — Siiowblind Scouts — And Reverend Scouts — Amalgamated Police and Military Code — A Brigade-Major's Frictional Electricity — No Climate — Sloughs of Despond — Winnipeg Light Infantry — Three Successive Convoy Columns — Camp Orders — Sporting Medicos — Canadian Pioneers — Indian Signalling — Peccant and Penitent Indians — King George's Men — Fort Edmonton — H.B.C 426 Chapter VIII. — Fort Edmonton put into a State of Defence — Incessant Drill and Target Practice — Elastic Boat Building — Anticipated Famine in the North — Teamsters' Strike — Scout Cavalry and 65th Advance to Victoria, leaving Detachments — Collecting Supplies — Rear Column Close Up — Newspaper News — Fish Creek — Fort Pitt — Half- . Breed Scare — Flour-Clads not Appreciated — Suggested Experiments Relegated to the Enemy — Pjfan of Campaign — "Ma Boulu Roulant " — Edmonton Folk— ^My Own Affairs 446 Chapter IX. — Order of March — Queen's Birthday at Frog Lake — Massacre — Fort Pitt — Commentary on the Gospel — Scouts on the Wrong Trail — Steele's First Skirmish — Frenchman's Butte ... 460 Chapter X. — Nou-icturning Messengers — First Pro- • vision Convoy — Indian Rifle Pits — Cul-de-Sac-— Seven Trails — Steele on Big Bear's Track — | Chivalrous Red Men — Some Prisoners Released — General Middleton with Reinforcements — Steele's Fight— Race for H.B.C. Store — The Shade of '• Malbrook" — More Muskeg — The Beaver River — Chippwayan Surrender — General Middleton comes xvm \ CONTENTS. •.■^■-'•^' ■ - ..■.•'! PAGE, ; to Beaver River — Pow-Wow — Colonel Williams at Frog Lake — More Boat Building — Colonel ' , Osborne Smith crosses to Cold Lake — Captain !;. Constantine scouts East — McLeans traced to Lac " des lies — Mr. Bedson meets Them — Force Broken Up — Causes of Muskegs — My Old Oppo- ; ■ nent and Myself both Suffer — Conclusion of Official Dispatch 494 Chapter XL — Colonel Montizambert's Report on " A " and " B " Batteries — Major Short's Home Coming 511 Chapter XIL— My Son to the Old Corps— The Pillar of Cloud by Day — The Pillar of Fire by Night — Indian Revenge — A Broken Leg — A Friend in Need — A Forfeited Pension — General Jingo's Jubilee — Consolation — Farewell Canada ... 520 Chapter XI IL — A Gun with a Soul — Hawaii Found and Lost — The Girdle of Empire— Nigger-Butcher or Hero — American Patriotism — Australian Natives' Association — Old Colonists — Germany . . and Russia in the Pacific — Colonial Governors — Democracy — Inter-Imperial Free Trade — Postal Muddles — The British Disunited States — Austra- lian Heptanarchy — A Peripatetic Council — United Empire ... ... ... ... ... ... 527 Chapter XIV. — Finis. 54i Full Page Illustrations. ' ingo Jh&t 'i'etticoat Influence 2uropa Point '. i^epita Chutter Munzil Palace, Lucknow... A Conquering Captive Noah's Ark Camp Alec Galbraith's Leap Habet ! Buddhist Monastery, Ladak, Zascar Valley Title. 4 40 58 191 197 229 252 255 303 CONTENTS. XIX Kashmiri Punditanas B Battery's Christmas Greeting Military Colonization Ranche Steele's Scouts PAGE. ... 320 ^ .- 349 facing 392 ... 480 Maps. Lucknow Part of Dominion of Canada Battle of Frenchman's Butte Big Bear's Trail • •• facing 169 - • •• ••• ... 39^ ' • • • ... 489 • •• 508 ( . GUNNER JINGO'S JUBILEE, PART I.— CHAPTER I. Soldier Jhat — Petticoat Influence — "Enfant de Troupe"— Waterloo— Piety and Profanity — Tales of My Grandmother -A Royal Spree — A Burst with the Hounds— "Pallida Mors " — School Days and Holidays — Irish Highlanders — A Non-competition Wallah. My hero was not a hero, though of soldier caste. His earliest recollection was of the dusty maidan of Meerut, as he and his brother cantered on their ponies, syce-followed, along the line of the old Cameronian Regiment, whose tall white feathers stuck out of monstrous wide-topped shakos. Being a boy he had no right to a doll — but he had one — a soldier doll in a red coat. He cut its arm off to make it more closely resemble Colonel Oglander, the old chief of the Cameronians, who had lost an arm in the Peninsula. The amputation was followed by a copious effusion of saw- dust, which threatened the solidarity of the doll, but his mother, with the kindly surgery of her needle, saved the idol of her boy, which imaged the grim idol of that grim old covenanting regiment.* Half a century later, an old veteran hobbled on to a parade ground in British North America, and talked of the old Colonel to the new Colonel — the bo}-^ he had seen on his pony. The old Cameronian had kept his broad bonnet, * .\ bronze statue of the Earl of Angus, who raised the zflth, or Cameronian Keginieut, in 1689, has been unveiled by the Earl of Douglas, in Lanarkshire, in the presence of the Lord Provost of Glasgow, several of the past and present officers of the regiment and others. The statue, which is by Mr. Brock, R.A., has been erected to commemorate the 2ooth anniversary of the raising of the regiment, and is so placed that the figure over- looks the ground on which the first parade of the regiment was held. — "Timks," Sept. lath, 1892. IJ GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEK. I ill covered with white hnen, as it was in India, to be buried with him in the new world he had survived to reach — where he had seen with scorn the modern skimp glengarry trans- ferred to the Irish and English Regiments, as well as to Highlanders recruited in Manchester, composing what is called our localised army. The subject of our sketch was called " Tommy," supposed to be short for the more euphonious nomenclature bestowed upon him by his godfathers ^nd godmother, who had promised far more for Tommy in the matter of renunciation of " the world, the flesh, and the devil " than he was able to perform. From the Meerut cantonment Tommy was carried across the deadly Terai to the health-giving Himalayas, where his observations were mostly confined to the tops of the lofty deodars, whose roots were far down in the valley below ; owing to his feet being generally higher than his head in a sort of " Palky " — a position not favourable to accurate V bservation. Fortunately for veracious chroniclers, there are great gaps in the recollections of childhood. Tommy's next was the stately Indiaman, homeward bound, with a cargo composed largely of Indian children, those terrors to the modern young man, who, however, is not averse to cultivating their grass- widowed mammas on Indian troopships. Tommy was promptly taken captive by a little lady in frilled trousers and two pig-tails. As the old Jacobite ballad has it : " There's a rose in the gar- den for you, young man. To kiss the pretty girl with the trousers on ; " — and Tommy did it early and often, as the Irishman votes in America. Possi- bly the reprehensible ten- dency and abject submis- sion to petticoat influence thus early displayed was due to heredity. t •: i PETTICOAT INFLUENCE. 5 One of Tommy's ancestors had found himself in Prince Charlie's body-guard at Culloden, because his best girl had sewed a white cockade in his hat and he had not had the pluck to pull it oft". When, however, a round-shot broke his sword in his hand and so saved him the trouble of sheathing it in a hopeless cause, his lady-love proved equal to the occasion and got him out of one fi.x by putting him into another. When her lover, pursued by the " Seidther Roy " (Red Soldiers), King George's Dragoons, threw himself at her feet, she promptly rai.sed her petticoat and placed him in safety under its protecting hoops, as she sat at the harpsichord, that did duty in those days for a piano. As the King's ofhcer entered she did not ri.se, but played a defiant Jacobite air. He bowed politely, lifting his three- cornered hat, and .said he was bound to search for her attainted lover. She smiled sweetly and imploringly on the King's ollicer, bidding him search where he pleased. The defiant melody died away into a Highland Lament, and her tears began to fall on the ivory keys. The King's officer was a gentleman first and a Hanoverian after. He took in the situation, for a third and larger foot protruded beneath the lady's dress. The officer politely kissed the lady's hand, whispering : "I, too, would fain be a rebel to secure such hiding-place," treading heavily at the same time on her lover's clumsy foot,* half in jealous anger at the coign of vantage which he envied, and also to warn the rebel that he must not linger in so compromising a situation, f The lady played " God save the King," in token of gratitude, as his Majesty's officer descended the stairs and withdrew his nen. The lover escaped to Italy, and the lady procured his pardon, return, and Knighthood, by presenting to the King, "the pair of handsome Grenadiers she had gotten for his Majesty's Service." Perhaps the pardon was granted all the more readily inasmuch as the other branch of her husband's family, " dour Whigs " as th 63' were, had raised a company of foot, and fought for King George II., who presente.. them with drums and colours. Poor little Tommy, ignorant of his family history and * This historic foot has descended in all its grandeur to Tommy. i See Dennistoun's Memoirs of Sir R. Strange and A. Lumsden. GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. unconscious of heredity, only followed his instincts in loving the little lady in the pantelettes. " On revient toujours ci ses premiers amours ? " Bah I he never saw the small lady again, and promptly forgot her in the more exciting process of collecting Barrack boys of the old Pongo* Battalion for raids against the town boys at Chatham. In one scrimmage he got a blow with a stick that laid him up for months, and might thus early have finished his career and pre ented this veracious history being written. His military cendencies were still further developed by long walks with his father about the Chathani Lines, where the deep ditches inspired a sort of awe, heightened by his father's explanations of the mysteries of curtain, flank, and bastion redoubt and ravelin, so that years afterwards, when he entered a Military College, fortification came to him as by intuition. " Great praise is due to Cormontaigne, Who gave flanks to his redoubt But not to his ravelaine," sounded like a long-forgotten nursery rhynvj. So eager was the little man to follow his father and drink in his talk about the forts and his fighting forbears, that he would never betray fatigue, but stride along by the six-foot man, until in one of their walks the boy dropped fainting a* his side. It was the little fellow's ,jride to wear, as sword, p dirk that had belonged to his uncle, who, wiien a midshipi.i e, was found asleep at his perilous post in the tops of a line-of- battleship, at the cU.se of a bloody engagement. The Cameronians embarked for the First Chinese War, and Tommy's father, then in his prime, went through the campaign. He returned with some curious loot and much darkness of complexion, for the army did not in those days wear sun-helmets. It is amazing how they escaped without universal sunstroke. Meanwhile, his elder brother being sent to school. Tommy and his mother lived with his grandfather, an ex-Captain of Light Dragoons, who had fought at ♦ The Pon«o Bnttaliun was composed of depots of regiments in India. T " Pongo" was derivo! from a mischievous monKey, probably o-ving to the ch their recruits. The naiiK' iiracter H«; that the ribs of the boat and their own -.vere not in accord. Going ashore, they tried to join their comrades in the liotel, but found it closed and silent. Jingo, by a jump, managed to grasp the balcony and pull himself up, whilst his com- panion waited for him to make an entry, descend and open the door. A policeman, unfortunately, had witnessed the house- breaking gymnastics, sprang his rattle and another appeared. Le Fer bolted, policeman No. 2 in hot pursuit. The hotel was roused by this time, and Jingo's unconventional entrance explained, but nothing was seen or heard of Le Fer save the returning footsteps, slow and depressed, of his pursuer. Had he been captured? With a bewildered face, the policeman related how he had followed hard upon the burglar through lanes and byeways into a churchyard where, just within his grasp, he had mysteriously disappeared. The man patrolled until he was tired, without getting on the track of his prey. There was no use .speculating as to his whereabouts, so Jingo and his friends tipped the " peelers," — glad to see the last of them, and sat down to a breakfast of rashers and eggs. When nearly through the third rela}', Le Fer dropped quietly into a seat at the table and at once appropriated his share with the ferocity of a Chocktaw after a long fast, re- marking, in answer to their astonished queries, that he had enjoyed a smoke with an unobtrusive companion, who didn't bore him as the present company were doing with questions. Later on the truth was elicited. Le Fer had dashed into an open vault, which had been prepared over night for the burial of a local magnate, sat himself coolly on a coflin-lid and smoked his pipe until his pursuer got weary of search- ing for him. During his last winter vacation j'oung Jingo had varied trotting over snipe bogs by riding to hounds over the Kerry Hills. Politeness in opening gates was not appreciated by the Kerry girls of the period. His cousin gave him a mount named " Breakbones." The brute kept up its reputation, by smashing a collar-bone for our Jingo. When he joined the riding school, names were called — "Jingo I hum ! any relation to Paddy Jingo, of the Royal •Orse ? " ASTHONOMKAI, 33 " Cousin." "Ah! you Hirisli think you can ride. Well, take your countryman, ' Shamrock ' " — the greatest brute in the school. " Lead the ride — cross your stirrups — wa-a-lk, march — tro-o-ot — get into those corners. Here, sergeant, fetch the long whip." Crack, crack ! an irregular circus en- sued. '* There you are ! all over the place ! like peas on a drum ! 'Alt ! Wo-o gave you horders to dismount, Mr. Brown ? " he remarks to a poor beggar who had been shot over his horse's ears. " Without stirrups prepare to mount — mount," and after some ineffectual swimming on his stomach Brown is given a leg into the saddle. "Walk — marc'h — trot — leading file circle — go large. You won't take that orse into them corners, won't you ? " and the riding master made a rush at Shamrock — with a whip. The knowing old brute waited till he was close, and then let fly, kicking the forage cap off the irate riding master, who, knocking the tan off the lace of that diminutive bauble, replaced it on the three hairs left to him, shewing a bald patch behind like a monk's'tonsure, now apoplectically purple. "Bring out the bar — top-hole," xirH the furze-covered obstacle was set up by the grinning '- "lies. It was without precedent to produce it so early. ' then, leading file, steady ; don't let that 'orse rush." bless you ! steam steering gear would neither guide nor hold Shamrock, upon whose callous old mouth untold num- bers of recruits had hung until pulled over his head. A three foot si.x bar was nothing to Jingo, after stone walls and five- barred gates. Though to give him his due, old Shamrock made ample provision for avoiding the prickles, for he cleared them by about 2ft. "That will do," said the auto- crat of the tan — " Don't want no cruelty to hanimals 'ere — take away the bar — make much o* j'our 'orses." Lieut. Jingo was continued in the lead of the ride. The same performance was gone through about half a century later, with another young Jingo — his son. The army is Conservative. After being commissioned, some months were spent at the astronomical observatory, for in those days artillery officers were, if they so desired, permitted scientific employment, and under such men as Generals Sabine, Lefroy, Eardley Wilmot, Younghusband, Smythe, Strange, Haig, Blakiston, Drayson, and others, a series of valuable magnetic observa- tions were carried out vherever our flag floats. D 34 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE, Si I The younger officers, however, occasionally varied astro- nomy with nights devoted, not to the signs of the zodiac, but to those of the Woolwich tradesmen, their permutations and combinations being not strictly mathematical. A large red cocked hat was exchanged for a golden boot, the gigantic golden "9" over a Hebrew " mont de piete" by inversion becan ^ "6," while the three balls dangled in the place of the snuff-taking Highlander, whose image, with the superscription, " Licensed to be drunk on the premises," was one morning found conspicuously dis{)layed over the door of the Commandant. They were before the time in their crusade again? t the ^ tyranny of sky signs and aggravating modern advertise- ments. A tax upon advertisements all these yearb would have yielded a large revenue and certainly lessened the confusion of the unfortunate foreigner who might well imagine the name of any unknown station was "Colman's Mustard," and who sees upon an omnibus only " Nestle's. milk " when he looks for the place of its destination. 35 CHAPTER III. Gibraltar — Gib-al-Taric — Saracenic Conquest— A Queen's Chemise — RiEN DE sacre pour UN Sapeur— The Union Jack — A Capture — • Spanish Honour — Scrambling. The hill of Taric was named after the Arab conqueror, who was the crest of the wave of Saracenic War that surged through Spain, across the Pyrenees, until it met the Frankish Chivalry of Charles the Hammerer upon the plains of Tours, thence to be rolled back through the passes of Roncesvalles in the alternate defeat and victory that marked the centuries of Spanish Crusade. Tradition says that one little wavelet rippled west to that corner of Armorica which was the last refuge of the stubborn Kelt. There, on the site of the City of Aleth (St. Servan) Les Puits des Sarrasins gives local colour to the legend. Was it ever among the possibilities that the Cross should pale before the Crescent in Europe, or be wiped out as it was in those Eastern lands where it first rose and spread ? In the West the scimitar of Islam shivered on the mail-clad warriors, among whom was neither sophist nor schoolman to weaken war with words, such as divided the schools of Alexandria and distracted the Councils of Byzantium. The Western barbarian, who had forsaken Wodin to follow the faith of the White Christ, had not forgotten the manhood of his sires nor the respect for his women folk, which monogamy, the necessity of a cold climate, and the strife for life in such regions had engendered. Hence the birth of chivalry, from the contact of the virile Frank with the cultured feminine Christianity of the Roman populations he had subdued. The Saracen knew more science than either Goth or Latin Christian, ai.d the Pagan Greek more of art than either. Thus the triumph of the Cross retarded the march of science for many centuries. In the plenitude of its power it destroyed the sensuous Pagan worship of Art and persecuted Science with Galileo. 1) — 2 ! 'i Z6 GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE. i i! *' ViCISTI GaI,1L(EE.'' *' Thou hast conquered, O pale GaHlean ; the world has grown grey from thy breath ; We have drunken of things Lethean, and fed on the fulness of death. » • « * « « O lips, that the life-blood faints in, the leavings of rack and of rod! O ghastly glories of saints, dead limbs of a gibbetted god ! * * « * * * Of the maiden, thy mother, men sing, as a goddess with grace clad around ; Thou art throned where another was king ; where another was queen she is crowned ; Yea, once we had sight of another ; but now she is queen say these. Not as thine, not as thine was our mother, a blossom of flower- ing seas. « « # « * « For thine came pale and a maiden, and sister to sorrow ; but ours Her deep hair heavily laden with odour and colour of flowers. White rose of the rose-white water, a silver splendour, a flame, Bent down unto us that besought her, and earth grew sweet with her name. For thine came weeping, a slave among slaves and rejected ; but she Came flushed from the full-flushed wave, and Imperial, her foot on the sea." That Europe would have been happier or more advanced than she is had Charles Martel been defeated on the plains of Tours is improbable, judging by the state of Islam to-day. Yet Islam in the East is scarcely a criterion of what Is am would have been in the West. There would have been' no feudal system, no Crusades, nothing of what we call mediseval art or faith. The mind refuses to look down the long vista of " might-have-beens " — suffice that, as the cold morality of Christianity never took root in the East, so the polygamy of Islam could not flourish in the West ; yet the red towers and fairy courts of the Alhambra in the green valley of the Vega bear witness to the culture of SARACENIC CONQiTEST. 37 the most brilliant branch of the Saracenic race, most in contact with the West, while the old Moorish Castle of Gibraltar reminds us of a warlike power that has passed tc the Englishman, for it is the quarters of the subalterns of Royal Artillery, and the five lads on the deck of the steamer, wliose anchor chains rattle through the hawser holes, are looking up to the twinkling lights that gleam from their future home. The roar of the evening gun had died away amid the hills of Spain, and the great shadowed rock looked like a lion couchant, keeping watch and ward. But to-night the subs do not think much about Saracens, lions couchant or rampant, nor even of the daring capture of the fortress by a handful of Marines and its subsequent stubborn defence by red-hot shot against the fleets of France and Spain. Some day the lads will shoot quail round the old ruined tower, called " the Queen of Spain's Chair," and learn perhaps from the very excellent garrison library, that the tower was so called because from its summit the Queen of Spain used to watch the progress of the siege, and rashly vowed she would not change her chemise while the British flag floated over Gibraltar. Poor lady I it became yellow, and the Court ladies, to console her, dyed their under garments with saflfron, which became the fashionable colour for underlinf It is to be hoped the Queen eventually changed her muid — and her chemise.* No, to-night the thoughts of the newly-arrived subs run wholly on their future life. Presentation to the Governor took place in due time — there was Tommy Jingo, the senior, Billy Pease, the most amiable, Le Fer, the soi- disant sardonic, who seldom soitf kind things but always did them, Johnnie Scott, " El Rubio " the Red, as the Spanish girls called him, and "Chikito," the little dear, as they called their favourite youngster. His Excellency, Sir Robert Gardiner, himself an old gunner, made them an encouraging little speech to the effect that if " rien de sacre pour un sapeur " — everything was possible foi- a gunner. The great Napoleon, he reminded them, was a subaltern of Artillery. It is said when Corsica * It is said the Kallant Governor eventually ordered the flag to be lowered sufiiolently long enough to enable her to do to. V 38 GUNNKR JINGO S JUBILEE. ;ii was under British rule, he applied for a commission in the English Army — had he succeeded, the fate of Europe might have been changed ! His Excellency forgot to mention that Napoleon would have died of disgust under Wellington, who did not know how to handle artillery, and never allowed an Artilleryman to teach him. The tradition has been handed down in the Horse Guards, but as their writ did not run in India, little Bobs of Cabul got a chance. These matters, however, did not trouble the buoyant spirits of the new-joined subs. Young Englishmen take England's supremacy every- where in a very matter-of-fact fashion — they had reason. Our flag had not been furled in the Ionian Islands ; the British drum-beat, that heralds the rising sun around the globe, had not become intermittent by the withdrawal of Imperial troops from Canada and Australasia, though the old flag still floats above loyal people, and loyal hearts beat beneath the Queen's uniform of Canadian Militia and Australian Volunteers. There had been no Boer surrender, no cession of territory, nor frontiers lost by arbitration, nor had the British fleet been employed to destroy the lobster-pots of Newfoundland fisherfolk. Lieutenant Jingo thought it quite natural, when sent on duty to Europa Point, that his orders should be to fire on any ship not showing her colours, and that no vessel, not even a cock-boat, showing Bricish colours, should be molested within reach of our guns. A vessel going through the Straits, passing our flag, and not showing her own in return within reasonable time, had a shot sent across her bows as a reminder ; if disregarded, another under her stern, a third through her rigging if she continued obstinate — but the second was very seldom required. In anv case, the Consul of the Nationality economising bunting iiad to pay the price of the shot, recovering it from his own Govern- ment. Smart Yankee clippers were about the only ones which tried to run the gauntlet, seldom successfully, for the gunner subalterns got to know the cut of a Yankee craft and gave them less law than the others. I am afraid our long subaltern took pleasure in sending his shot hopping in dangerous proximity to the dolphin striker, and then close under the stern. On one occasion a Yankee skipper shook out his Stars ' 1 nil ' I I: I Si vV'*^'' - r" -_'S^.~.^' :*^' ■ 'nf'l*'-:.' -vt.V''''^ THE UNION JACK. 41 and Stripes by hand over the taffrail as a compromise, but a third shot singing between his taut spars, made him run them up to the peak, accompanied, no doubt, by a salvo of such oaths as the descendant of the Puritans is noted for. Familiarity with the Scriptures for many generations has given him his undisputed pre-eminence in picturesque blasphemy. ^ Just as the morning gun boomed at sunrise, the big Sergeant — Crawford Lindsay — burst into the room of the sub on duty, calling : " Sir, there's a Spanish Guarda-costa chasing a Contra- bandista ! She has let drive at her already, the puir deevil has run up the Jack and is making straight for the Guard Battery. Ye ken, sir, we perrmit no hosteelities in oor waters — so 'ave just lodded number one gun." Jumping out of bed and scrambling into his uniform, the Lieutenant was quickly standing on the parapet of the battery ^.^^ with a telescope to his unwashed eye. Sure enough, there /~ they were, like two great sea-birds skimming along the waves, their tall lateen sails spread like white wings before the spanking breeze, dashing the foam from their bows. The Guarda-costa could no longer fire her solitary bow gun, as the shot would have come direct for the British Battery. The Lieutenant's sympathies as well as those of his Scotch Sergeant had gone out to the gallant little craft, smuggler though she was, that flew our flag. Rather than surrender she had stood on, despite the chasing shot, and now, ever}' reef shaken out, she staggered under her huge lateen sails, .She was rushing to destruction on the black rocks round which the sea foamed like an angry cauldron. No time was to be lost. A shot could not be fired to check the mad race, without risk of striking both — they were in exact line and close together — there was nothing for it but to shoot over their heads, letting the Spaniard know she was break- ing the law of nations in carrying hostilities into neutral waters. A word from the officer, and the keen-^^yed Scot had taken his line of sight and sent his iron message. It fell beyond both and went dancing along in jets of spray, that rose in tiny fountains far away. The strong breeze cleared away the smoke and seemed even to carry off the report, but it bore to the gunners the derisive shout of the crew of the f: 42 GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE. ^ii:! : il .! ■i : II' liii! Guarda-costa, who realised that the guns from their great height could not be depressed to strike. The smuggler could not change her course without being boarded, but she managed to swing into a little cove, where she dropped her wings and lay in comparative safety. Some of her crew scrambled on to a ledge of rock at the foot of the battery wall. The Spaniard hove to, lowered her boat, and also pulled into the little cove, and proceeded to make prisoners of the smugglers. The sub shouted in his best Spanish that this would not be permitted and the captors must consider themselves prisoners. The jeering retort was : " Come and take us." Calling for a rope, it was made fast to the muzzle of a gun, the guard were ordered to load with ball, and before they had realised the situation, the officer had slid down amongst the Spaniards, and was politely informing the captain he was a prisoner. The answer was a volley of " puniateros " and '* carajos " with an accompanying flourish of his sword. The English officer had no sword, but he pointed to the levelled carbines of the gunners, who crowded the embrasures of the battery. The Spanish captain noted the grey eye of Crawford Lindsay behind the sight of his carbine, which was reduced in length to a round O. He, therefore, became more polite, an understanding was arrived at — the matter was to be referred without delay to the Governor of Gibraltar, and the Spaniard gave his parole that he would await the decision. The honour of a Spaniard can always be trusted, be he peasant, robber, or hidalgo.* The English officer ordered the withdrawal of the guard, and swarmed back up the rope. *At a picnic in the cork woods the Governor's A.D.C. lingered behind to pay the reckoning, and imprudently showed some gold pieces. The twilight fell swiftly as he rode after the party, the still evening was disturbed by a hoarse "Boca a baio ! " (mouth to the ground), the Si>anish robber's usual order to dismount and deliver. The English officer, roused from his reverie, possibly of bright eyes among the merry party ahead, saw the muzzles of many " escopetas " pointed townrds him. He was riding through one of the sunken roadways made oy the Romans and unrepaired by Goth, or Moor, or modern Spaniard. The high banks, crowned by prickly pear and aloes, tall and sharp as spears and at angles, like " cheveaux de frise, to say nothing of the escopetas, made flight im- possible. He was unarmed. There was nothing else for it ; with the best grace he handed his watch and his purse to the robbers, one of whom grabbed his cigar-case. Hewlio appeared the chief noticed the act, and, turning to his comrade, said, " You are no f;entleman to take the Caballero's cigar-case. Doirt you see it is worked with a lady's lair, doubtless a gift from his Querida," returning it to the officer. Then he remarked, " These piiros (cigars) have not paid duty to her Majesty of Spain. I will take toll for Isabella! " (Dei gracia Keyna y puta de todas las Espanas). Returning the case with a bow, he selected one, saying, " Va usted con Dios caballero." The A.D.C. was loth to part with his watch, notwithstanding the bandit's benediction, for it was an heirloom. He told the chief, who asked, " At what do you value it ? " A sum was named. Said he, " Send that same amount to (giving a certain address) make no enquiries about our little ' function ' to-night, and your watch shall be sent to you." And it was. SCRAMBLING. 43 His Captain, when routed out of bed, was somewhat sleepily perplexed, " Tut I tut 1 " he said, " what an awkward complication I You are so impulsive, Jingo ! Sliding down a rope ! How unseemly for the officer in charge of the guard ! " But the orders were distinct and had been obeyed in a fashion, eccentric perhaps, but practical. A messenger was dispatched to the Governor, and an order came for the release of the Spanish officer and a safe conduct for the Contra- bandista into Gibraltar Bay. Much loneliness had to be endured by the subaltern on duty at Europa, but he was an omniverous reader, and the garrison library excellent. He had mastered Spanish with an occasional help from certain dark-eyed dictionaries, and the too ardent pursuit of knowledge was varied by bouts of boxing and single-stick with his sergeant, who had a drop of good blood in him, as his name and appearance implied. Had the " lang-legget Scot " served under Louis XI. instead of Victoria he might have been a Quentin Durward ; as it was, he served his time as a sergeant, took his discharge, and became Sheriff" or Head Constable in the rough early days of British Columbia, where Crawford Lindsay's heavy hand was too much for the rowdiest miner. For duty, our sub was in artillery charge of the Rock Gun District, i.e.^ the whole jagged summit of the rock. Every gun magazine and store had to be inspected weekly, to the despair of the District gunners, who found it hard to follow the long-legged, deep-chested sub in his short cuts and climbs. A bet was once made against his clambering from the sea- level to the summit of the rock in a given time. It was thought impossible. He won the bet for his backers by running along the top of the old wall built by the Emperor Carlos Quinto. It was ruinous in many places and the stones clattered down as he mounted. Of course, like other tail-less apes of the garrison, he tried to rival the tailed natives by attempting to descend the precipitous face of Gibraltar, from the Signal Station to Catalan Bay, where the height is lessened by a vast accumu- lation of sand. When the depressing Levant or Siroc wind blows, it brings with it clouds of warm moisture from the Mediterranean and fine sand from the African desert. The sand, striking against the perpendicular face of the rock. 44 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. trickles down in tiny rivulets, causing, in the long ages^ the vast accumulation piled up at its Eastern base. It is needless to say, Tom Jingo and Johnnie Scott, who had made the attempt together, failed to reach the sands of Catalan Bay, and Jingo had to be ignominiously helped from a " parlous " position by the sash of his companion. \' ■<'•(:■■■ .•;■ ■..'.'■• ..:J';.i-/ ,:«^-.,f: -X/f 45 CHAPTER IV. A Vision. — A Brain Wave. " Oh, solitude 1 where are the charms, That sages have seen in thy face ? " " J'aime beaucoup la solitude," a sentimental French- woman remarks, but she candidly adds — "k deux." Tom had not tried it that way, but one evening his soli- tude was shared. He was sitting down to rest upon a boulder of grey limestone, looking across the purple sea to Africa ; the sea wind blew refreshingly in his face. Where the rose pink flush of sunset faded into pale opal, the horned moon sailed like a silver canoe ; a solitary star, Venus, seemed to throw to him a dancing path of radiance athwart the little wavelets of her own iEgean sea. He had been clambering round his district, inspecting the guns, watching our relatives, the ap^", and thinking about the cataclysm that had separated the pillars of Hercules, Mons Calpe and Mons Abyla, dividing Europe and Africa at a point where their flora and fauna are identical. He was suddenly brought back from the oppressive eternity of a dead past to a living present. A woman's hand was gently laid upon his shoulder — she must be standing there behind him. He was not startled, he did not move except to slightly turn his head. He knew that hand, it was the large well- formed hand of a tall woman, the ring she always wore was upon it. It was his cousin's hand, she of the ancient castle by the Western sea. Her last kiss seemed to come back to his lips — the drenching rain — the outside car, by which he stood to say farewell — her head bent down under her hood, her eyes wet with tears — or rain drops, were they ? She could not be beside him now, but her spirit might and it soothed him. He felt the pleasurable, almost painful tension 1,1 46 GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE. of the " ganglionic chords," '* nerve centres of the abdominal brain " as the new American medical cult has it. He rose and turned — " Is he sure of sight ? There stood a lady, youthful and bright 1 > . He gazed — he saw : he knew the face Of beauty, and the form of grace ; It was by his side, The maid who might have been his bride ! Around her form a thin robe twining. Naught concealed her bosom shining, Through the parting of her hair. Floating darkly downward there. Her rounded arm shewed white and bare He started now with more of fear Than if an armed foe were near. * * * * art thou here ? But ere yet she made reply. Once she raised her hand on high ; It was so wan and transparent of hue. You might have seen the moonbeam through, * I come from my rest to him I love best. That I may be happy, and he may be blest.' ***** Upon his hand she laid her own — Light was the touch but it thrilled to the bone. ***** But never did clasp of one so dear Strike on the pulse with such feeling of fear As those thin fingers, long and white, Froze through his blood by their touch that night. The feverish glow of his brow was gone, And his heart sank so still that it felt like stone. * A BRAIN WAVE. 47 She is gone ! Nothing is there but the cold grey stone. Hath she sunk in the earth, or melted in ai ? He saw not — he knew not, but nothing is there." Most miserable and disturbed, he strode down the nek to his lonely barrack-room — no cheery mess for the solitary sub on duty at Europa Point. As a lad, he remembered having seen the wraith or pre- sentiment of a school friend one morning, at daybreak, when going shooting. He had gone into the kitchen for the brogues he had left to be greased over-night, expecting to find them by the kitchen fire. There stood his chum, in his ordinary cord shooti i^ suit ! He knew his friend was in England, and the momentary hallucination had not troubled him much until he heard afterwards that his friend had died about that time. So now he noted the day and hour of this last vision, which for manifest reasons he did not care to confide to anyone, and was miserable till the next mail brought him a home letter. It was not black-edged I It told him of the marriage of his cousin, of which he had had no previous information. She had come to him on her bridal night I The relief ^' at it was not her death helped to soften other feelings. His solitary tour of duty at Europa Point was over, and he rejoined the cheery messmates at the north end of the rock, who made the vaulted roof of the old Moorish castle ring with a welcome. His artillery district was changed to the charge of those marvellous galleries where the teeth of the British lion grin through grim portals of solid rock. 48 I ''I f I li I CHAPTER V. The Calpe Hunt — Africa— Shooting and Wedding Parties. Time now passed pleasantly, and with no snubbing from seniors — not th'it it was necessary, for youngsters were knocked into shape beiore leaving the shop,* and on joining found brother officers in reality as well as in name. Our quintette of subs eschewed the tables of green cloth, and restricted themselves on guest nights to the " first cannon," as the Prince Regent's allowance of wine, thoughtfully provided by that much abused Prince for impecunious subalterns, was called, and the decanters for which had a distinguishing label. The custom has been discontinued and the allowance absorbed in the general mess expenditure. The " Four Georges " might never have been written had her Majesty bestowed upon Thackeray the titular honour he is said to have coveted. As the expenses of Army life were about half what they are to-day, the youngsters were able to keep horses and hunt with the Calpe hounds. Unlike the loose stone walls and stiff banks of the West of Ireland to which Jingo was accustomed, Spanish fences in those parts arc few and slight, except where the prickly pear or aloe conies in, and then they are not to be negociated. A little spice of danger was added when the fleet came in and the irrepressible "mid " got outside a horse. Riding in his usual fashion, he would generally elect to hunt the M.F. H. In vain the poor man, with a pack of hounds in front and a pack of " mids " behind, would .rotest /w was not the fox. "All right, old Red-coat 1 When in distress, hoist the * R.M. Academy. THE CALPE HUNT. 49 •danger-signal, and we'll 'bout ship 1 " was the cheery assurance. It was novel fox-hunting in every sense. The meet was usually at a half-ruined old convent, a dilapidated Hacienda or Venta. Then followed long wanderings over uncultivated country to pick up the scent, which, evaporating quickly under the hot sun of Spain, only lay in the shades of the €ver-green oak glades of the cork woods, or in the opener spaces where the myrtle bushes rising to the horses' flanks and the aromatic herbs yielding fragrance to their bruising hoofs, ought (one would imagine) to have demoralised any right-nosed English foxhound. Then the wild-looking Spanish earth-stoppers were a surprise when you came suddenly upon them ; they looked like bandits hurriedly burying a treasure or a corpse. When the scent^was picked up there were short scurr3'ing guHops, dodging the gnarled branches of the cork trees, or trusting your horse over ground intersected with ravines hidden by the tall myrtle and "The cistus, with its purple eye, Blooming but to die," which the fox rarely did, except at a good old age, for the earths were many and the earth-stoppers — Spanish. " Manana por la mafiana " was the invariable Iberian reply to the indignant M.F.H. " Manana es la calle por donde se va a la casa de nunca I " Just so. "To-morrow is the street by which you reach the house of Never." Then there was the subalterns' yacht, "Gitana," with their old Genoese pilot, Giacomo, and the scratch crew of " the boys," in which they would carry sail in a way calculated to make a sailor's hair curl. Alas ! one wild night, oft' the coast of Barbary, the yacht was ';osl. The subs were ashore shooting, and Giacomo contrived to get to land somehow. They were homeless, but managed to make their way to the town of Tetuan, where the Moorish officials were more polite than Sir Euan Smith found them. A house was provided near the mouth of the Mehannish river, and snipe, red-legged partridge, and boar were to be got there. A guard of Moorish soldiers (paid for by the party) was imposed upon them. This added more to their dignity than their safety. !•: 50 GUNNEK JINGO S JUBILEK, ^1 I' : ill : 11 ! 11! ! iSi if iil; ' ' I 1| i I I ■ 4 One day, out shooting, they noticed a lung procession wind- ing through the hills to the music of trumpets and tom-toms. Ladies in litters tempting to a nearer approach, some of the male part of the procession took deliberate aim and fired at the Faringi. Although it was a wedding procession this was not a " feu de joie " that the Bedouins were indulging in. Tiny spurts of dust flew round the feet of the Englishmen, and a few bullets pinged about their ears. They opened into skirmish line, and showed a front ; but as they had no ammunition except bird-shot, that eminent strategist, Hamley,* who was one of the party, suggested a strategic movement to the rear, in which all except "the iron one" concurred, especially as their escort of Moorish soldiers were seen galloping away — for reinforcements, they after- wards affirmed. When it came to the ears of the local Pasha that the Englishmen had been fired upon he expressed regret that he could not control the Bedouins, but offered to burn the nearest village. The execution of the project, with its accompaniment of looting and ravishing, might have been acceptable to their gallant escort, but was declined with thanks by the British officers. Meanwhile, the novelty of the situation had worn off. Of food there was little to be got but the proceeds of their guns, and game was getting scarce in the immediate neighbour- hood. Yet, going far afield, the shooters were liable to have the tables turned, as on the occasion of the wedding festivities. It was Winter, and the winds blew keen from the snowy Atlas range. There was no glass in the picturesquely-arched Moorish windows of the summer palace they inhabited ; they had brought bedding from the yacht, but there were no carpets on the azulejo (tiled) floors, and no table but a sort of tray with legs about four inches high, round which they squatted for meals, curling their length of leg as best they might, till cramp supervened. The pretty-coloured tiles were •Lleiitenant-General Sir Edward Briice Hamley, K.C.B., wati even then a brilliant writer of fiction and the life of the little party. Since then he has risen to fame by sword and pen in the service of his country. He entered Patdament, but was out of place there, where a man can only serve liis party or himself. His book on the " Opera- tions of War " was the first written, and, it may be said, it still is the only text-book on strategy in the English languaKe, and unsurpassed in any other. Since this was written be has gone to the " land of the leal," for a loyal hearted man he was, in spite of the dastardly statement in the " Standard " which appeared on his death : "That he was the best hated man in the army,"— a statement I would like to qualify by a short Saxon word of three letters. if AFRICA. 51 aesthetic to look at, but cold to sit upon. Tom's only pair of breeches had been torn to the verge of indecency by the thorn-bushes, and were in the hands of a local sartorial artist for repairs. He had borrowed a kilt from Johnny Scott, which he supplemented with leather gaiters, a cos- tume not uncomfortable except for sitting on cold tiles. Once he put their little portable stove to warm the special pattern of tiles on which he sat for dinner. Removing the stove as soon as that meal was announced, he plumped down for fear someone else would appropriate his warm corner. Alas ! it was a hot corner, and he suffered severe cutaneous afflic- tion for many days in addition to the pitiless chaff of his comrades, who compared him to a locomotive. The party were getting uncomfortable in other respects ; their period of leave had run out, and there were no means of communicating with the garrison at Gibraltar or of getting back. At length, a passing " felucca " relieved them and took them back to a gentle wigging, and ii. time for the season of gun practice. E — 2 m 'i mt . 52 t 'j;! :i i I' !!■ ;*■! CHAPTER VI. ANDALUCIA. Red Hot Shot — An Ass who Lost his Head — A Ride to Andalucia— The Insular Englishman — " Zingari " — Pepita — Cadiz — " La Tigre Real." At the time-honoured practice of firing red-hot shot from the batteries that had repulsed the combined fleets of France and Spain bj'^ setting fire to those roof-decked vessels so much resembling our Noah's Ark pictures, constructed to protect the decks from the plunging fire of the high rock batteries, our sub had a narrov* escape. Jingo had just been relieved from his gun and his place taken by Le Fer, when, at the next discharge, the gun burst and the fragments spread destruction, killing and wounding the gunners. Jingo escaped, as he was standing in the shade of one of the big trees of the Almeida battery, and was pro- tected by its trunk. The first thing that met his eyes was a poor fellow, pros- trate, with the front of his skull blown away, and his brain actually visible.* Close to him lay Le Fer, breathing, but apparently insensible. Jingo went to the latter, raised his head, and loosened his jacket, and, as Le Fer opened his eyes, said " I will bring the surgeon, he is close." Le Fer, in his usual dry tones, slowly replied : "Give me a weed, old fellow, and send 'Sawbones ' to some of the men who want him more than I do." Though evidently in great pain, Le Fer silently smoked and chewed the end of his cigar until the doctor came, who found on examination that he had been struck on the leg and * The poor man had had a portion of the bone of his forehead blown away, and the brain was exposed, but the scalp was drawn over and the wound healed. He lived for some months, and when excited the blood vessels of the brain could be seen pulsatinfi beneath the skin. AN ASS WHO LOST HIS HEAD. 53 liis foot crushed by a huge fragment of the wooden gun- carriage, but fortunately there was no fracture of any im- portant bone. When the doctor complimented him on his patience, ** the iron one " made a grim joke that it was " only an ass who lost his head," pointing to the headless carcase of an animal which lay in the roadway behind the battery. The breach of the gun had been blown to the rear, and had carried oft' the head of a passing donkey, ridden by a Spaniard, sitting very far back as usual, near the animal's tail. The rider had stood on his feet as the ass sank under him, had sworn a bit, but not so much probably as Balaam, and had finally walked off", never to be seen in Gibraltar again. Le Fer was many months before he recovered from his contusions, and the dangerously wounded gunners were sent home to England. After the drill and practice season, leave was easily obtainable, under the plea of perfecting oneself in the language. Jingo, having sent his portmanteau, packed with city garments to Cadiz, rode off" in light marching order, his " alforjas " (saddle-bags) containing little but sketching materials, a revolver, and Ford's unequalled handbook. He preferred travelling alone, as Englishmen are such incorri- gible grumblers over inevitables — oil, garlic, fleas, and the tarry taste of wine from the bota.* Not that the journey ever was lonely, for he made friends with all sorts and conditions of men— "Gente del Camino," "Zingari," *' Arrieros," '*Contrabandistas," and their enemies, the ** Carabineros," priests, women, and peasants. He even accompanied a mountain battery of artillery for several marches. Treated " en camarade " by the officers, he learnt something of the excellent system of the Spanish mountain artillery. Our own peerless screw-gun batteries of Himalayan artillery were not then in existence. Now the Muscovite must reckon with those and the flower of British and native armies, ere he descend the slopes of the Hindoo- koosh, as inevitably as the glacier — glacier-like, he will melt 1 ' Wine is carried and kept in pigskins lined witli tar — tlie bota is a similarly tarred leathern bottle, often hung frotn kitchen rafters, thus one understands the words of the matchless Shemitic poet, " I am become like a bottle in the smoke." I ! 54 GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE. before he reaches the valleys. But let us leave the Russ upon the Pamir, and return to our sub in the Sierra Nevada. Finding his suit of " dittoes " playing out, besides being abominably conspicuous and marking him an unmistak- able Englishman, thus adding many pesetas to his expenditure, he assumed what was then the ordinary costume of the road, the picturesque and serviceable majo dress, the smart jacket, many-buttoned breeches, and bottines, sash and sombrero. A vingt ans, on est bien dans un grenicr, or in a Posada, and takes one's oil and wine with a cheerful countenance. Jingo rode about the mountain towns and villages of the Sierras down to the valley of the Vega, lingering many days and moonlight nights about the courts of the Alhambra, and the gardens of the Generalifi, his head full of history, diluted with Chateaubriand and Washington Irving. Such memories haunt from youth to age, and a water-colour sketch still brightens his room with mimic sunshine upon the vermilion towers, the green gardens, and the far-away snowy summits of the Sierras, their changeful tints like opals in the dying day. Thence he tore himself away to stately Seville and its Giralda, and to Cordova with its many-pillared mosque con- verted into a cathedral. Southern Spain used to be, may still be, a land of romance to any youngster with a good digestion, a light heart, and a little imagination. But he must be familiar with the liquid lisping Latin of the "Andalu<;ena " and have the gift of rolling off the sonorous Spanish without biting the ends off the words. Los Inglescs se hablan Castcllano con los dicntcs scrrados. Above all, he must not be an insular Englishman, that most heartily detested being on the face of the earth. Froissart chronicles the haughty ways of the insolent Islan- ders. When our Plantagenet kings led our English chivalry and yeoman archers to the conquest of France, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, there was perhaps excuse for English hauteur. And even after the Union, when we faced Europe and America, patriotically submitting to the press-gang to man the fleet that swept our enemies from the seas, we had reason for national pride. Europe now sees in the wealthiest and most defenceless people of the world, who, like the Romans of degenerate days, refuse personal service in their own defence, nothing to authorise national swagger in individuals. Often have I seen the mozo scowl as the dismounting A I THE INSULAR ENGLISHMAN. 55 Englishman threw him the reins of his horse. It is the reprehensible " here — boy — hold my horse" manner which makes the proud, but naturally courteous Spaniard recoil, nor will he be placated with tips. That man's unconscious horse will be treated worse than his who distributes the only coin which enriches both giver and receiver. The travelling Englishman, too, will pay an evening visit to Spanish ladies in his everlasting *' dittoes " and thick ■dusty boots, when everyone else wears a black coat. Pity it is I that though he often looks like a j'oung Apollo in a Nor- folk suit, his manners are not also Olympian — unless it be the Olympia of West Kensington ? The custom of the English army never to wear uniform •even at military ceremonies, among nations who do the reverse, has an air of insolence. I have seen a British general inspecting Colonial troops in a shooting jacket, and at a London dinner, given by volunteer officers, one may see the guest of the evening — perhaps a guardsman officially con- nected with the hosts — "en Pekin," the only man so attired, ■e.xcept the waiters. As had been said, our sub had sent his portmanteau to Cadiz, and as the Queen of Spain's Court was at Puerto de Santa Maria at that season, we shall see presently how he fared there. Riding through the mountains towards Ronda, he was warned not to stop at a certain settlement of the Zingari and •especially to avoid a particular Posada of evil repute — "Muy mala genie." In fact, the whole neighbourhood was bad and there had been many robberies, many a " milagro Andaluz," as the little wooden wayside cross that marked a murder is sometimes facetiously termed. But he gave little heed to these stories, taking them as part of the stage business of travelling in the unfrequented parts of Spain. He carried little cash and showed less, and was generally taken for a Spaniard, or, at least, one familiar with their ways, and only when caught sketching in the sun was he detected as a mad Englishman, " loco Inglese." And that is a ■character foreigners are not over anxious to tackle. Thanks to our traveller's habit of smoking his cigarette and chatting to the stable boy whilst his horse was eating his barley, his powerful grey Andalusian steed had kept in good condition.* But one day, the road he was descending • " El ojo del anio eugor Jera el cavallo." Aiiglice— The eye of the master will fatten the Jiorbe. 56 I \ GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE. Xbecame a sort of dislocated staircase of loose stones. Almanzor came down, and In struggling to his feet, tore off a shoe. He was dead lame. It had happened close to the Posada of evil repute, but as night was coming on, there was nothing for it but to stay there. Fortunately a forge formed part of the interior court. The smith, a powerful gipsy, agreed to shoe the horse, and began at once rather roughly to lift the shoeless- hind leg. Tom warned him that Almanzor was difficult to shoe, especially by a stranger, but the Romany gave a guttural carajo : "Don't you think I know my own business ? " As there was only one way to shoe Almanzor, and the gipsy did not know that way, Tom stepped aside to see the circus. Through all the centuries that have passed since he left the East, the Spanish Egyptian has not learned the Western wa^' of shoeing. The man called an assistant to hold the hoof and began to work, facing the horse's quarter, but Almanzor soon sent both men flying across the forge. They picked themselves up slowly, and did not seem violently eager to tackle the job again. Charcoal only was used in the mountain forges, and yet there was a sulphurous smell about the place — was it the gipsy swears ? Almanzor usually carried his flowing tail like a " panache blanche," now it touched the ground, tucked into his quarters, his ears were laid back, and the whites of his eyes were visible. His master went up to him, made much of him and whispered into his ear, as he was wont, and the naughty symptoms vanished. Then Tom lifted his leg, and, taking- a hitch of his tail round the fetlock, held it securely for the smith, who, after cursing Almanzor's mother, finished the job and was duly paid. Tom, signalling Pepita, the pretty waitress, ordered wine for all. She had been looking on with the rest of the loungers, assuming a pose ** plastique," which she knew to be fetching ; her arms thrown back above her head, as she needlessly prolonged the operation of putting a pomegranate flower in her blue-black hair. The action threw out her shapely bust under the snowy chemise above the low-laced bodice. Her short yellow basquina displayed the well-formed 1 lil; 111 II ^'i i il^A PEPITA. 59 ankle an ' foot that could stamp and patter so effectively in a bolero. Her eyes — well, they were Spanish 1 and gitana at that. True daughter of the Gaditanae, the dancing girl of Cadiz, who conquered her Roman conqueror. In our own day, the renaissance of the skirt dancer and the decline of the hideous pirouette performance with an apology for a petticoat, is only a return to that ancient Eastern source of graceful movement, the Nautch girl. A Yankee will bet his " bottom dollar " that the daughter of Herodias was a skirt-dancer, and he will tell you he saw her in Mexico without the historic " plat, tete de saint." The wine went round, and the moon rose ; a guitar, tam- bourine, and castenets were produced, and Pepita took her part in dancing and singing snatches of Andalusian .song, eminently descriptive of herself and her little ways : " Es una hembra morena. Con unos ojos bar bales. Que lumbran como sirales Tiene los dientes parejas* Blancos como los ovejas. Mi madre no quiere soldados aqui Qui rompen la puerta y trie trac con mi." As travellers start early to avoid the sun, Tom essayed to go bedwards, but his popularity had risen, and it was hard to get away, and also advisable to carry with him his saddle and *• alforjas." In that he was anticipated by a friendly hand, which, in lifting the saddle on to his head, caused the pistol to drop from the holster. A bullet went through the ceiling. Tom picked up the revolver, and sighting a water-pot across the patio, put out to cool its contents, he smashed it and showed to the company the remaining four loaded chambers. Mine host remarked : " Basta ! senor, we understand you carry the lives of si.x men. We never saw the like before. Good-night and safe journey to-morrow." Pepita brought him his morning chocolate so thick that the spoon would almost stand in it. And then at break of day he rode away, giving Pepita the tiny gold dollar she begged !i \ The Spanish " j " is a soft guttural " h." The autlior will not be responsible for Tom's Spanish under the influence of bright eyelight and tnnonlighl. 6o GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. : ! :• ■■il from his watch-chain, to add to the other gold ones she Wore as ornaments. The fame of his weapon had preceded him. Further along the road the ladies of a party travelling to Cadiz wished for the escort of a " Caballero " so well armed, but their male friends intimated that their " escopetas " were ample protection. On reaching Cadiz he rode to the hotel where he had sent his portmanteau, and asked for a room ; but the dapper little office clerk eyed the travel-stained " majo " and suggested the Posada del Sol as a more suitable place for people of his sort. Jingo felt inclined to vault the bar and shake him, but resisted the temptation and only laughed, pulled his key from his pocket and opened his portmanteau, which he saw in a corner. The clerk eyed the operation with suspicion, and evidently thought a "gentle- man of the road " must have robbed the owner, but did not like to intercept without the presence of a " guardia civil." When the open portmanteau disclosed the uniform of a British officer, and the clerk contemplated the tall straight figure before him, he took in the situation, and was profuse in apologies for failing to estimate rightly the eccentricities of the Englishman, who was then shown to the best room, where he peeled off his dusty dress, and enjoyed the long- postponed luxury of a bath. Jingo then sallied forth to find an old friend, John Burdon, a genial English wine merchant, transmogrified into " Don Juan Bordone." Not realising that they could be the same person, Tom proceeded to describe his friend as a *' jolly old fellow with a red face and white hair." " You d d irreverent young rascal, is that the way you describe your friends ? '' was heard from behind a red curtain. A hearty handshake followed and an invitation to dinner. It is hard to keep your mouth shut when you have put your foot in it, but Tom made a minimum of apology. His friend had married a charming Spanish lady, and after dinner Tom found himself in their box at the Opera, and the next evening at a Court ball at Puerto Santa Maria, where her Majesty of Spain was staying for the baths, and at which Tom's uniform proved a passport. The transition LA TIGRE REAL. 6l was sudden from a dance with Pepita waltz with the Marquesa de and the Zingari to a , the bluest blood in Spain, in the most exclusive Court of Europe .The ladies of the Court looked like lovely sisters, so similar were they in type, but, indeed, the Spanish aristocracy are closely allied. The men ? Well, I am afraid our youthful sub did not find them as interesting as the ladies. His partner, the Marquesa, notwithstanding her satigre azul, had the full figure of a peasant girl, with the grace of an aristocrat ; the rich blood tinged her cheek through its olive, and her eyes positively outshone Pepita's and her own diamonds. La tigre real, was her sobriquet in society — she was said to have a temper and a will of her own. During a pause in the slow, swimming, Spanish waltz, Tom had the unwisdom to ask his partner the name of the little man in buttons, alluding to a short gentleman in Hussar uniform, who was eyeing them uncomfortably. "My husband," she said, with a mischievous gleam of teeth and eyes, " but let us not waste the music." The next time Tom saw her, the tigre real was tamed, and there was no smile on the older, but still beautiful face. She and her husband were fugitives from a Spanish revolution. The couple sat on the deck of a Channel steamer, and she was carefully wrapping her little, old mummy from the cold. Tom was also a passenger, and while pacing the deck he had recognised her, but to make sure, he coaxed away her little dog and read the name on the collar. On arriving at Folkestone, she was in tribulation at the Custom House over their many boxes, containing all the portable valuables they could get away with. They could not speak a word of English and had no courier. Tom made himself known to the Customs' officer, and told him they were refugees of the revolution. Their boxes were not opened, and in the refreshment room, he tipped the waiter and ordered him to attend to their wants. She seemed to wonder why things went so smoothly all at once, but she did not recognise her old partner, who had kept in the back- ground, but had the satisfaction of hearing her tell her mummy she always did like Englishmen. Tom could help her no more, but he would have 'iked to have held her thin hand for a moment, yet, Englishman-like, he left her without taking oflf his hat. ■P^IP 62 : ; 4 CHAPTER VII. BULL FIGHTING; PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR. A Matador's Salute — A Knowing Bull — Demos — A White Hat^ PiCAUORS AND HoRSL.S— ChULOS AND BaNDARILLEROS — ThE Melee — A Wild Waltz — The Slain — Cosas de Espana — An Amateur Bullfight — Turkey Plucking — Wicked Women — A Crowned Monarch of the Street— A Flea-Bittrn Grey. The Plaza de Toros brings back the barbaric arena of old Rome, with a dash of the medieval tournainent — a vast multitude of spectators, athirst for blood and strife, brilliant colours under a dazzling sky, the Alcalde in his seat of office, the pomp, the heralds, the calm active matador as he stands to receive the furious onslaught of the bull, with naught but his keen, bright blade and --carlet capa. Before the final onset he turns to the spectators, tier upon tier, and he knows where, among that sea of heads, is she, for whose smile to-night he will risk his life to-day. He kisses to her the cross handle of his sword ; who can tell, among those flicking fans and gleaming eyes, which wjiiian's heart it is that flutters at the salute, well-known to her, unknown to all besides ? She may be peasant or noble, maid or wife. He turns quickly, for the bull is upon him — a cunning bull who will not regard the flourish of the tantalizing capa, but goes straight for the matador. Surely there is no escape ! Man}' hearts thump, one woman's throat is dry, all heads are bent in eager expectation. As the bull lowers his massive front, it seems as if the matador must be impaled against the wooden barrier of the arena, where he stood to make his last salute. But no ! His foot is lightly placed between the lowered iiorns (iiitador at a bound clears the 1 agu rgnig whose horns crash into the splintering wood-work. Tlie A MATADOR S SALUTK. 63 man turns and derisively gives him a twist of the tail and a smack on the quarter. A thunder of braves shakes the arena, perfumed handkerchiefs, fans, bouquets, sombreros, cigar cases, purses shower upon the bowing matador, whose calm, set face is turning a trifle pale, for he knows the sulky half-stunned brute, which is slowly preparing to renew the conflict, is not one to be deluded by the scarlet scarf And now, so quick and furious are the charges made, that the man in his extremity, turns from the bull and vaults the barrier, while a low murmur rises from the fickle multitude, a . they hiss the matador, and shout " bravo Toro." A flush surmounts the pallor now. The man raises his sword hilt to his lips a second time, turning his ej'es from the bull t*) the woman — a mad act for a matador at such a moment. And Demos sees and is ashamed that it doubted the courage of a gallant man. Again the bull comes thundering down on his assailant, again the matador, having thrown away his useless capa, stands perfectly still to meet the onslaught, again the horns are lowered, when, with a side step of a few inches the matador straightens his sword arm and the bull drops dead beside him without a quiver. But the sleeve of the matador's gay jacket is ripped to the shoulder. Again the mob thunders out bravos — this time for the man — but he takes no notice, save by a quick glance in the old direction, ere he draws his sword fi-om the neck of the prostrate bull and wipes the marvellously-tempered blade bending beneath his foot. Then he strides from the arena, leaving flowers, fans, and purses in the bloody dust. As the gaily caparisoned mules, four abreast, canter into the arena and drag oft" the carcase of the slain in a whirl of dust, irresistibly again does the mind revert to the Roman Amphitheatre. The excitement was over, th(> crowd must relax, they suddenly spied the tall white hat and black hatband, AII3' Sloper like, worn by a solemn Scotch doctor who was sitting next Tom. Now a white hat is undeniably suitable under a burning sun, but unusual in conservative Spain, where sombreros and mantillas are black. A wag shouted : " II sombrero bianco ! " The refrain was taken up by ten thousand voices, accen- tuated by as nearly many sticks and twice as many feet 64 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. keeping time, and all eyes were fixed upon the Ally Sloper looking medico, who asked his neighbour what it all meant. Tom told him, what he could have seen for himself, that his was the only white head covering in that vast assembly and Demos would have it oflf. The dogged Scot damned Demos and sat stolidly crowned. There were cries of : "Where did you get that hat ? Take it off! Knock it off! Throw it to the toro !" and an amendment to pitch the obdurate owner after it, all which motions were duly translated by Tom, with the addition of his favourite Persian proverb : " Politeness is the only coin which enriches both giver and receiver." The economical side of the question seemed suddenly to strike the Scot, who got up, doffed his offending hat and bowed, amid shouts of applause which rivalled those that greeted the successful matador. Demos was appeased — the doctor sat down and resumed his Ally Sloper tile. The arena had meanwhile been cleared of the despised trophies showered upon the angry matador, sombreros thrown back to bare-headed enthusiasts, though not always to the rightful owners, while officials of the ring reaped a rich harvest of flowers, purses, and fans. The sand was raked over the blood, and all was ready for the renewal of the games, more merciless than the Roman, for neither man, nor bull, nor horse was ever spared. No matter how good a fight the}' made, the thumbs were always down. The four picadors, gorgeously apparelled as to the upper man, unpicturesquely padded as to their lower extremities, to protect them from the horns of the bull, sat proudly, lance in hand, on the high-peaked saddles of their poor old, blindfold Rosinantes, patient servants of man, " Butchered to make Iberian holiday I " At a signal from the Alcalde, whose box bore the royal arms, and to whom all eyes turned as to Caesar, the clarions rang out, the doors were flung open by the alguazils, who usually ensconced themselves behind as the gallant bull dashed out in the arena, cliarging the picadors. Hut this time he varied the performance by standing still, wild-eyed and irresolute. The alguazils peeped out from behind their respective half-doors to see wh}' the bull did not come on. PICADORS AND HORSES. 65 but they beat a rapid retreat, for toro went for them alternately, trying to prod them out, amid the jeers of the populace, until an impatient picador rode up and pricked the bull with his lance. The lances have a disc a few inches from the point to prevent a thrust so deadly as to spoil sport. The bull turned, the opposing spear flew into splinters as he charged home, and plunged his horns into the horse, pinning him against the barrier and goring him until the entrails gushed out. By a violent effort the rriaddened horse dashed forwards and galk/pc4 round the arena, trampling on his own intestines, but t>^aring away his rider unharmed. There seemed no pity in that Christian crowd* The poor hors<» soon fell under /.is rider; the nimble chulos vaulted the Darriers and took off the attention of the infuriated bull from the fallen picador, by flapping their many coloured capas in his face and leading him to pursue them, one after the other, until the picador was released from his dying horse and assisted over the barrier, his cumber- some, heavy leggings preventing him vaulting as did the flj'ing chulof^ None werr now left in the arena but the bull and the three remaining picadors, sitting like expectant statues. The bull, pant 111^,.^ snorting, and pawing the dust, gave a trium- phant bellow, believing himself lord of the arena until he caught sight of those three silent, statuesque picadors. Insulting in the calmness of their pose he evidently thought them, for he dashed across the arena at the one opposite to him. He was received on the point of the lance, which bent like a reed, and then broke but never slipped in the vice- like grip of the rider, who was borne backwards almost to his horse's croup, yet never lost his seat. The horse was forced to rear upon his haunches, but the impetuous charge was not stayed an instant. With lowered horns thrust into the animal, he fairly lifteil horse and rider over his head. They fell upon the bnll'H back, man iimlfir, bringing the bull ' r>()«s Christianity inculcate pity foi " tlic liiiitcs that perish?" " Tlioii shall nut n\ii!!/.le the ox that treadcth out tilt' corn," ami "The merciful man rcKardetli the life of his beast," come from the Oh) Testamiiit. The New tells us we " are of more value than many sparrows," lhou(;h the little fellow was sacred to Venus, and had a good record with her " cher ami " Mars, I tli!'^ 66 GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE. J f::l. also to his knees ; a moment more, and a tangled mass, man,, horse, and bull rolled into the arena. In less time than it < takes to tell, the flying chulos flung themselves into the mel^e ; white silk stockings, brilliant coloured gold and silver embroidered velvet jac- kets, crimson, blue, and yellow sashes and breeches, and fluttering many-hued capas flashed amid hoofs and horns and swirling dust in one mad dance, to a fiendish accompaniment of curses, shouts, groans, and snorts, and flakes of bloody foam. When the dust cleared the bull alone, of the fallen trio, was on his feet. He stood bewildered, a scarlet capa wrapped cleverly over his eyes and horns, his flanks heaving and dripping with blood and sweat. A daring chulo held him by the tail and a wild whirling waltz began with man and bull for partners, while skipping bandarilleros stuck him full of barbed and quivering darts, decorated with gaily fluttering ribbons and fireworks, that exploded like pistol shots, adding sparks and smoke and a smell of singed hair and flesh to the hellish holocaust, the bull bellowing with rage and pain. The horse's limbs quivered and began to grow rigid in death. His rider lay limp and pale beside him, his heaving chest alone telling that he lived. While the firework waltz went on, he was carried, groaning with the pain of removal, away on a stretcher. As the dying man was borne past, ladies' fans were drawn across their faces with a gentle sympathetic flutter and a murmured, "Ay de mil Ave Maria Santissima I Madre de Dios ! Pobre hombre I " and so forth. Yet still the bloody game went on, men shouted and women soon smiled again. COSAS DE ESPANA, 67 Tom and the Scotch doctor went at once to the suflferer, but he was beyond human help. His fight with the Universal Conqueror was over, it was his bereaved wife and children had now to carry on a warfare with the world without the wages from the bull-ring. Leaving a little money for the widow and orphans, Tom and his companion went saddened to their hotel. They thought they also had seen their last bull-fight. " Cosas de Espana ! "* In the Spaniard mingles the blood of many races, Iberian, Roman, apostate Hebrew, and Moresco. He, like ourselves, has peopled a new world, his banner of blood and gold, meet emblem of the crimson conquests of Castile in the New World, has flaunted as bravely as our own. There are Englishmen among us who would hasten the day and bid us be content when we also shall be celebrated only as the mother of many nations. The long crusade against the Moors made of the Spaniard's religion a fanatic chivalry. Among the men little of the former remains — with the women it is dift'erent. On the Almeida when " Las Animas " rings, a Spanish girl will abruptly stop her flirtation, spread her fan and cross herself behind it, and then as abruptly resume her amusement. And as Potiphar's wife in Arnold's poem veils the head of Ptah, she turns the picture of the Virgin to the wall, that Mary may not see her peccadilloes. Are her sisters of colder climates more consistent ? In the ancient city of Tarifa, upon one day in the year, a bull is let loose in its narrow and tortuous streets, causing amusement to men and boys, amateurs of the arena, but consternation to ordinary folk. Women watch the fun from their balconies or from the "rejas," grated windows, where in the gloaming, they enjoy what is termed, " turkey plucking," that is, when the heads of two persons of opposite sex get very close and their hands mixed, rather like Pyramus and Thisbe until the lion appeared. When the bull is loose " turkey plucking " is in abeyance. Tom and the doctor were strolling through the town in happy ignorance of this fiesta. Suddenly there was a mighty clpmour and r«)nfusion and a bull appeared, tearing down tho narrow street, followed at a respectful distance by * Things of Spain. F 2 68 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. M a shouting mob of men and boys, flinging projectiles of all sorts. Tom dashed through an open doorway into a group of giggling girls. They let him pass, and banged and bolted the door behind him. The wretched doctor was cut off. He next appeared climbing the " rejas," the bull below stamping and snorting with baffled rage. The girls were "costureras" (work girls) of the Spanish grisette type. They shrieked with laughter and mercilessly prodded the poor doctor with their needles to make him let go. Tom was very angr}'^, remonstrated and swore in two languages, but he could not control half a dozen frisky females armed with needles. They only laughed at him, and as fasi as he tore one away from torturing the doctor another would take her place. In vain he unbolted and opened the door, shouting to his friend ; retreat was cut off by the bull, which was making ineffectual prods at that portion of the doctor's person that was " nearest and most inviting." The long legs of the unfortunate man had slipped through the rejas, rucking up his trousers, and the crazy girls were tattooing the bare flesh. Tom could with difficulty restrain himself from joining the wicked but con- tagious hilarity. At last a more vindictive prod caused the tortured victim a violent convulsion ; his hat fell oft' and dropped on the horns of the bull, which shook its head ; the hat rattled sonorously, but was not dislodged. The bull waltzed with the Ally Sloper like hat cocked knowingly over one eye, and while his attention was thus diverted from the doctor, Tom opened the door. The bull dashed for it, and Tom had barely time to slam and bolt it ere the horns splintered it. The brute had stuck his horn through the hat and firmly fixed it there, somewhat flattened and out of shape to be sure, and thus adorned he trotted bellowing down the street to the great relief of the naturally indignant doctor. But what can a man do with a wicked woman except kiss her The doctor chose the latter black sombrero at the nearest his pent-up wrath on Tom, with long-suppressed laughter. Tom apologised meekly, but was not forgiven, and the next day added to his delinquencies. Beforr the rosy-fingered dawn had opened the pearl grey curtains of morning our two travellers were at the or let her severely alone ? alternative. He bought a shop, and then poured who had begun to shake A FLEA-BITTEN GREY. 69 om cet kit ler litter rest 'om, Iter, icxt stable. The doctor's steed, a white one, rather high in bone and low in tlcsh, had been stabled in a disused outhouse, there being no room in the ordinary stable of the inn where Tom's steed stood. As the doctor led out his horse to saddle him, in what there was of grey daylight, he exclaimed : " Here — confound it all, this isn't my horse 1 He's spotted, or piebald, or something." But no I There was the unmistakeable Roman nose, with the pale pink suffused over the nostril, the watery grey, eye and white eyelashes. To assure himself he stroked his steed, when horror ! the brown patches writhed under his hand 1 His horse was literally transformed to a flea- bitten grey. Why a disused shed should be so prolific in fleas is one of those '* Cosas de Espana " no fellow can understand. Now the doctor was as pernicketty about fleas as a woman who hates dogs and the scent of magnolias. (N.B. — Bad sort of woman to niarr}' is a woman who dislikes dogs and the perfume of flowers, she never cares much about men). It was useless to try to curry-comb the fleas out, the readiest way seemed to be to ride him into the sea. A nice level beach was close at hand, so Tom recom- mended the doctor to do Parthenon frieze, i.e., that he and his steed should, like Haidec and Juan form -a group antique. Naked, natural, and Greek 1" and so drown tlic Spanish " pulgas," that most persistent of fleas. But the medico was too modest, though there was no one about at that early hour. He jumped oil to his horse, clothed as he was, and rode him s-lowly into the sea. The water rose higher and higher, and the fleas crept higiier. The doctor rode on until his long legs were twined rouixl the horse's neck, and he found the fleas had left the animal and -^ttfcd on the man. He forbore a final plunge, and so caan^ back t' the shore, bear- ing the transferred injects udo" lii- own '.inhai-: ' rson. He vented his wrath III such u nu -ured •ftrr\^- _" Tom for what he conairienad hns iaskfiou^ advice tnat thry parted company. Moral — .\Lvei rrust man or woman who only take> half your advice. 70 n I' |: CHAPTER VIII. Gib ONCE MORE — Moorish Haiks and Highland Kilts — TheCahxival — " Rule Britannia "^" Plus Royaliste que le Roi " — The Crimea. About the hour of evening gun-fire as Jingo rode across the neutral ground towards the gates of the old fortress, he met the quartette sallying forth for their evening ride, and he heard Billy Pease remark : *' Hullo ! Here comes a big cock Spaniard." " He is riding Long Tom's horse then," said Le Fer, " masquerading may be lawful, but not always expedient." The sequel shows the words and acts of the speaker were not always consistent. Next morning at gunfire Tom was startled by seeing a Moor in his bedroom. Sleepily he wondered if the old denizens of the Tower had returned from the other world ; on arousing discovered that it was Le Fer in a Moorish haik, fez, slippers, and precious little else ; his aquiline features and dark complexion made the disguise complete. Thus attired, to save the trouble of dressing and undressing, it was his habit to go down and bathe. Tom wanted to accompany him, but here came the rub. Th'^re were many Moors in Gib., but they did not usually promenade with British officers. Le Fer suggested Tom should wear Billy Pease's haik, which he used as a dressing gown. This, with the hood pulled over his head and Moorish slippers, completed the costume, and it was no one else's business that there was nothing but a nightgown under it. Down they strode through Bell Lane, where many belles resided, to the old mole, and enjoyed a plunge in the cool green sea, followed by a stroll through the market, munching green figs and muscatel grapes. Next day came a lengthy epistle from the Town Major's office, demanding " reasons in writing " for wearing Moorish costume in the cit}' of Gibraltar. Brevity being the soul of wit, Tom turned up the corner MOORISH HAIKS AND HIGHLAND KILTS. 71 of the official document, and answered in one word, initialed, thus : " Coolness. T. J." He had to put in an appearance next day at the office, and was told severely that his reply shewed excessive coolness. When he reiterated the fact with edifying seriousness, that it tvas coolness, and nothing more or less that led him to adopt the costume, he was told not to do it again, as the ladies objected. He ventured to inquire how they recognised him. " By your pink heels," was the reply. "Oh!" The story got about, and a huge Highland officer borrowed the kilt of the smallest bugler in his regiment and marched past the house of the lady complainants, on his way to bathe every morning. More than hee/s was visible, but no objec- tion could be made — it was uniform. The rough old Colonel of the same distinguished regiment was annoyed by the persistent crowding of the aforesaid ladies on the limited ground of the Almeida. The regiment was in line, and he gave the word : " Gordon Highlanders, r — r — reet aboot face ! Ground arms ! " The fans were put in requisition, but the Spanish ladies were not put to flight by the Colonel's manoeuvre. As there were very few unmarried ladies in Gib., dances were rare, but the youngsters took advantage of the balls at the theatre, where it was the custom to choose a partner for the season from the Spanish grisettes, who danced beauti- fully, were very bright and cheery, and had charming manners. But the preference of the " shes " for the wearers of the Queen's uniform led to jealousies on the part of the "hes," (" Rock Scorpions," as the Gibraltar Spaniards are unkindly called), and matters culminated at the Pinata, the last ball of the carnival. A huge chandelier, ornamented with bon-bons and minia- ture trophy flags, was lowered from the ceiling, and a Spaniard was blindfolded and given a long stick, which he flourished round to enlarge the circle of men standing ready to scramble for the sweets and little flags of all nations as trophies for their qucridas. These withdrew to the boxes to watch their partners struggle for the relics of tlie Pinata 72 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. I 'i if i; HI chandelier, which the bhndfolded one eventually broke, after sundry impartially administered whacks to the men who, in their eagerness, came within reach. On this occasion there was not the usual impartiality shewn, for the stick always came down on a British uniform- The bandage was evidently ineffectual, but the young officers took their whacks good-humouredly. When the Pinata was broken the scramble began. The stick-wielder was then at liberty to push up his bandage and join in the scrimmage. This he did by going for the smallest officer in the room, our friend Chiquito, who had secured a prize and was quietl}' walking away with it. The Spaniard followed, and tried to snatch the trophy from him (it was a little Spanish flag). There was no surrender on the part of Chiquito, so the bigger man knocked him down. In less than two twos the assailant was on the broad of his back and the row became general. "Navajas" were drawn, the English officers picked up the chairs as shields and weapons, and after clearing the room of every Spaniard, they brought down their girls from the boxes and began to dance again. (Women always side with the conquerors). The band being a military one, played up for their officers, and " all went merry as a marriage bell," until the chief magistrate appeared upon the scene with a body of Scorpion police. He ordered the arrest of our Tom as the ringleader of the previous fracas. Tom was dancing quietly with his partner, Dolores, when a policeman seized him roughly by the collar of the open mess jacket he wore. The arm that encircled Dolores' slim waist was quietly withdrawn and the fist came down like a sledge hammer on the glazed leather top of the policeman's hat, which was about the level of Tom's shoulder. The minion of the law was brought to a sitting position, where he remained struggling with his hat, which had been driven over his face and firmly fixed there. The policeman's hat of those days had steel ribs up the sides to prevent its collapse from a bonnetting blow, but the force applied on this occasion had not been contemplated by its ingenious constructor. The police drew their truncheons and, headed by the magistrate, made for Tom, but his brother officers rallied round him, and in less time than it took to clear out the civilian Spaniards, the Scorpion police, magistrate and all, were ejected from the theatre. The bonnetted policeman^ :i._ ! • 11 "plus royaliste que le roi." 71 like a small Samson Agonistes, was sport for the young Philistines, but instead of bringing down the house he had to be led forth ignominiously, for no one on the spot could, or would get the hat oft'. The girls had disappeared in the tumult and the band, who had all along been with difficulty kept from helping the officers, was marched off, while the triumphant youngsters, after smging " Rule Britannia " to an empty house, prudently dispersed to their quarters, lest any of tlie senior officers should be informed of the row, and appear on the scene. Next morning a complaint was lodged before the Governor and Tom was made the scapegoat. This time he felt uncomfortable for he had a recollection of hustling the portly figure ofthechief magistrate out of the theatre door, and flinging into the street a certain little baton of office, surmounted by a gilt crown. This indignity to the Royal emblem troubled a conscience " plus royaliste que le roi." At the same time he felt that he would have surrendered at once had no hand been laid upon the Queen's uniform which he wore, while the magistrate who directed the arrest appeared in the usual British shooting coat, from the pocket of which, at the eleventh hour, he produced his little baton of office. However the mati< ended in a lecture from a superior officer on the supremacy of the civil over the military power, tlie edge of which was taken off by the lecturer a -king Tom with a smile, what was his fighting weight ? But a bloodier fight was looming er Europe. The Crimean War was declared, and the quiii "^te of sii' alterns was broken up. Tom, to his intense disgi.st, was ordered' to England to join a company in the West Indies, to which he had fallen by promotion. The other four went to the Crimea, where they saw hard service, and Le Per, who had always pretended that he did not "seek lie bubble reputa- tion at the cannon's mouth," volunteered for the spiking party of the Redan. III! IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) . ^O // ^J^ 1.0 I.I 11.25 l^m 12.5 1 5.0 l*^™ ffll^H lllllm 1.4 vl ^;. >:) ^^ ' ^' V y /^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WiST MAIN STRUT WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716)873-4503 o^ TT! ' fir' -:^' V- 74 '■>, ' \ CHAPTER IX. 'N- Home Again — Disappointed— Chair au Canon — The Sub and the Bombardier— OuLD Ireland — Another Woolwich Job — The Antilles — Yellow Jack and Port Royal Jack. ** Home again from wandering on a foreign shore, And, oh ! it fills my soul with joy to see my friends once more." " i Not a bit of it I The lady of the hallucination was the happy mother of twins, and our sub sent her a pretty wedding present. He was burning now only with a desire to go to the Crimea. After a short visit home he returned to Woolwich, and having got strong recommendations for active service, he haunted the Adjutant-General's office, then at Woolwich. The ■ Deputy-Adjutant-General R.A. of those days was a kindly sensible fellow, and saw in the tough, strong sub excellent " chair au canon," so he was promised the first death vacancy which occurred in his regiment. There had not yet been an engagement. I regret to write it. This other- wise amiable young officer eagerly scanned the daily papers for news of the first general action, which would inevitably take him to the front, so unprincipled and selfish do those become who follow the nefarious profession of arms ! One always wonders why He, " unto whom all hearts are open and all desires known," declared that He had " not found so great faith, no, not in Israel," as in a Roman centurion. But the Roman legions have marched past into Etern'ty, and the Houi:.e of Rothschild rules the civilised world, in which THE SUB AND THE BOMBARDIER. 75 we are bound to include the Czar of all the Russias. Will the present King of I-rrael give to the last-named potentate Hindostan for an inheritance ? Meanwhile, our sub was not wise in his generation ; there- fore, he must have been a child of light, for he did a very unwise thing. The D.A.G., R.A., had a confidential clerk, an excellent man and a full bombardier, who sat daily at his desk driving his quill through the enormous pile of corre- spondence he had to submit for the sign manual of his chief. The Lieutenant on his frequent visit appeared. The bom- bardier did not look up from his task, but simply said : " The Adjutant-General will not see you to-day." The foolish blood of some ancestral Irish Rapparee rose to the brain of the officer, and he said : " Do you know to whom you are speaking ? Stand to attention ! " The non-commissioned officer's pasty official face did not flush like that of the angry sunburnt sub. He put down his pen and rose to his feet, saying : " Sir, the Adjutant-General has given me orders to admit no one." The discomfited officer would have liked to have made some sort of apology, but he slunk out instead. Next day there was an order for him to take charge of a detachment of Field Artillery ordered to the north of Ireland, with a private note from the D. A.G. to say that he would not forget his desire for active service. And so in early summer he marched through pleasant " ould Ireland," before the reign of Parnell, the last king of the Stuart line, had made it unpleasant, and there he forgot for a time his hunger for more active service. The people were kind, the old lord who owned the property on which the barracks were built, had set aside a special snipe bog for the subaltern on duty, and the considerate captain, as it was within sight of the barrack-gate, allowed its use* ; the "pisantry were the noblest in the wor-r-ld," as Dan O'Connell put it, the unplundered gentry hospitable, and pretty girls galore. *On the first spot of shaking bog the last-joined ICnglish sub invariably found a jack snipe. It seemed to rise out of his pocket, zig-zag round his head, and soar away with an ironic " Cr-r-rake" after lie had let oft both barrels. Jingo, more to the manner born, without a notion that he was suoiling sport, shot the poor bird after it ,had said " Cr-r-rake I " His oomrade was disoli. T^. 76 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILKK, l;l;l But the day of reckoning was only deferred. Looking through a military paper, anxiously longing in the spirit of the old martial toast for " A bloody war or a sickly season/' his eye caught the large letter heading ; "ANOTHER WOOLWICH JOB. ^ ^ ^^ *' We hear that Lieutenant Jingo, whose company is in the West Indies, where his presence is much required, two subalterns in succession having died of yellow fever, is to be permitted to go to the Crimea out of his turn." The bolt was shot. The next mail brought his orders for Port Royal, Jamaica. The West Indian mail steamer sped him across the summer sea, her sharp bows dashing aside the yellow Sargasso weed which floats in the endless eddy of that shoreless ocean river that flows from the Gulf of Mexico, to warm the moist climate of Western Ireland. Disraeli declared the Gulf Stream had much to do with the character of the dwellers by the shores of that '* melancholy ocean " — the sam,; Sargasso sea, with its little crabs dancing on its golden wavelets, as their ancestors had done three hundred years ago round the prow of the low caravel that had carried Columbus to the Western World and given him an excuse to encourage his faint-hearted crew with the hoped-for proximity of land though they were still in mid-ocean. There were pleasant planter folks on board, with their grotesque coloured domestics in blazing bandana turbans. The sugar industry was not, at that time, quite ruined by the refusal of the slavery abolitionists to pay a half-penny in the pound duty, in favour of free-grown sugar. With equal consistency to-day, the octogenarian descendant of a slave owner, who rules our motley government, (the Cabinet livery of England should surely be motley for all parties !)* would fain have abandoned Uganda, whence the roots of the slave trade spread iheir deadly tendrils athwai't the dusky continent. A balmy tropical morning beamed upon the glassy waters of Port Royal Harbour, promising a blazing day. The land * " I met a fool 1' the forest, a motley fool ; a miserable world,' THE ANTILLES. n wind had died down and the sea-breeze had not yet begun to curl the green waves on to the beach, nor to toss the long feathers of the cocoa-nut palms that fringe the low spit of land on which stands Port Royal, with the huddled-up shanties of Negro Town by the shore, and beyond, the barracks, and the long, low, red-briclc crumbling batteries of antiquated guns which had slept through nigh half-a-century of peace, and even the echoes of the Crimean war had failed to displace for something more modern. The green mangroves swept away in a curve past the pali- sades of that well-peopled burying ground, where many a good fellow has been sanded down, to the scarcely more lively town of Kingston, while beyond were the green hills of Up Park Camp, beyond which rise the long wavy lines of the Blue Mountains. The white cottages of Newcastle, the Sanitorium, nestled on the spurs of slopes covered with tropical verdure. A lovely picture, this emerald gem of the Antilles made — "A summer isle of Eden, lying In deep purple spheres of sea." Grim, old red-nosed Noll conquered it for us — when shall we give it away ? Its commerce we have let go to America — it would be protection to stop it. St. George's banner, broad 'md gay, (are we to pull out the crosses of the three other fighting saints, Patrick, Andrew, and David ?) floated in those days from the peak of the old battle-ship, Boscawen, recalling Rodney and the old sea-dogs and carry- ing us back in imagination to the buccaneers, those pictur- esque old rowdies of the Spanish main. The listless present seemed to slumber in the long-forgotten past, and the tranquil waters covered the earthquake-buried city that lay hidden beneath the keel of the panting, puffing West Indian mail steamer, the only thing alive. Ere her anchor chains had rattled through the hawser holes, and the morning gun had boomed across the bay, it was alive with craft of all sorts, a flotilla of canoes and boats, laden with tropic fruit and flowers, and peopled with laughing, chattering men and women of many shades, from the just warm " ten cents to the dollar " girl to the ebon, plenteous-lipped daughter of Ethiop, with her gleaming teeth and eyes, and r 78 \ GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE, i'i 1 f[ i! 1 > : it'- m whose white and coloured calico garments scarce restrained her buxom charms, in the excitement of paddling her own canoe. Here in the Antilles meet in fantastic contrast the feminine types of four, continents. The pretty English girl in "kiss-me-quick bonnet," and the pure Africaine, whose Vf luminous and(perhaps to her own male) voluptuous lips, suggest to the white man only an indefinite post- ponement of osculation. The delicate featured ^ ^ Aryan woman of the •ItKAt >(V(C\iK\rRoK»'n East Indian coolie moves gracefully along, carrying her child on her hip. Here and there a dash of Chinese blood appears, as well as Anglo-Spanish, French from Louisiana, and original Carib. "Ah, there's the uniform of the dear old regiment ''^/"^'ncy' in the stern sheets of a boat." She sweeps along- 'o6"<^ side with the stroke of men-of-war's-men. "God bless my soul !" The men are in their shirt sleeves and regimental trousers. but the little forage caps are cocked on woolly heads, and — and — " By jove, they are all niggers, non-com and all." The sailor officer saw the new-comer's surprise, and said : '' I !!|: YELLOW JACK. 79 m '^ f^ ,(f " Ah, yes, they all get that way in time. You'll soon find your hair curl tighter than it does now, just like those other fellows." Our sub did not know that there was an establishment of negro gunners attached to the Royal Artillery, and splendid men they were, very useful for fatigue duties in that climate. They had been formerly enlisted from crews of captured slavers ; the fellows with teeth filed to points and who were said to have had cannibal antecedents, made the best gunners. But that source of supply has long since ceased, captured slaves are now sent to Liberia to keep company with "Auntie" who came to see the Queen the other day. The modern Jamaica Baptist nigger is a poor substitute for the fresh-caught African. It was early when the swarthy crew landed the new arrival at the Barrack Wharf, where he was met by his brother officers, for no one but a lunatic wastes a tropical morning in bed. As a matter of course, a gunner is made at home everywhere except at Woolwich, where the near- ness of modern Babylon draws men into its vortex and away from comrades. There, in Jamaica, was found one of the crew of the cadet 8-oar, and others Tom had never seen before, but the same hospitality was extended by all. The breezy breakfast of pink mullet en papillote, kedgeree, and green chillies, alli- gator pears, plantains, and custard apples, in the mess verandah, with the sea wind sweeping through, was cheery. There was no talk of the deadly yellow fever that had taken two of his comrades, and was still more than decimating the men. The irony of fate is for ever repeating itself Tom had been promoted by the death of the president of the cadet court-martial that had administered to him the most effective thrashing he ever had in his life. He had never felt the slightest ill-will in the matter — least of all now, when he had been sent to fill the poor fellow's place. It was and is after a long life the fixed opinion of General Jingo, that a good gunner is rarely a bad man. He never knew but one, an.d as a cadet he had freely used the buckle end of the belt for his reformation. The only instance in which he had used it, it failed — for the man had a dogged courage that resisted punishment and earned for him the Victoria Cross (which of course he did not get). But he was selected for ' ■ !f ■ II I 80 \. GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. a responsible post in which he brought disgrace upon his corps. " Sun ober de yard arm, long drink or short drink, sah ? " said the black mess waiter after orderly-room, morning chat and cigars. The new comer looked for explanation. " Urinky for drunky or drinky for dry ? " was all that was vouchsafed to intimate the difference between a cool san- garee with lots of the juice of fresh green limes and only a dash of Madeira, or h stiff " B " with but a dash of " S." At daybreak next morning was the Lieutenant's first duty — a funeral, for which he arrayed himself according to regulation, in tight coatee and epaulettes, the collar stiff with gold embroidery to the ears, and the leather stock buckled behind the neck, the whole surmounted by a top- heavy shako and a stiff white shaving brush for a plume. The pocket of the swallow-tailed coatee held a diminutive prayer-book and a cigar case, a degree more useful than the modern tunic with a breast pocket where even a pocket handkerchief creates such a protuberance that that requisite article has to be carried up the sleeve like a man doing a card trick. The parade ground was tenantless, no firing party, no following party, no mufifled drums, no parson. Four un- painted wooden boxes were aligned on the wharf where waited a couple of long canoes, with niggers and mattocks to scrape up the loose sand of the palisades, the usual burying-ground. The officer asked the crew where the funeral party was, but only got grins and shakes of the head, with the explanation : " Yellow Jack funeral — for true — sah 1 " He walked over to the barracks and found the Sergeant- Major unable to give any more satisfactory answer, for he had evidently taken several extra tots — medicinally, no doubt. He was placed under arrest and the dismal duty went on. The lily maid, Elaine, had a water funeral, but her boatman was mute ; better had these been so also. The pestilential vapour of the green mangrove swamp alqng which they coasted in the close morning air, excused a cigar, and the poor fellows who were being taken to their last and longest resting place would not have objected, could they have known. 'w-- PORT ROYAL JACK. 8l The negroes soon excavated four shallow graves ; at a depth of two feet the water filtered in rapidly, and the coffins splashed when dropped with a flop. The hideous, purple, bloated-looking land-crabs scuttled about, some stood and stared with stony protuberant eyes, waving expectant nippers. An abridged burial service was read and the niggers shovelled in the sand, dancing it down with their long bare heels. A mound over each grave was negotiated for, but the leading sable sexton, as deeply philosophic as Hamlet's, remarked : ** No good, massa, land-crabs too much hurry ! " and with his tool he struck a mound of loose sand over a coffin yet more carelessly interred than even the officer's last p)oor charges. It had merely been laid on the ground and sand thrown over it, which the negro had displaced, disclosing the coffin. As he struck that with his mattock, the land-crabs inside scuffled about. And yet land-crabs are considered a delicacy in the West Indies, like the prawn curries of the Ganges in the East. The officious young officer was hauled over the coals by the Colonel, and the Sergeant-Major, an excellent old soldier suffering from fever-funk, was released, while the extreme simplicity of the funeral rites was attributed to the depress- ing effect of incessant dead marches — possibly for the same reason ordinary drills were much abridged. Our youngster took the men seine fishing, and he invented in a canoe, which he fitted with outriggers and sculls, and then went a-fishing for sharks and devil-fish with his nigger boy, who was a capital youth, but who would wear his master's best dress-shirts at the " dignity hops." He was indifferent to any amount of thrashing on discovery, the •display of cuffs and collars up to the ebony ears being com- pensation. His other peculiarity was a passion for putting ^ everything on his head, from a chest of drawers to a three- • cornered billet doiix. Oh the top of the latter he would care- ' fully place a brickbat to prevent its being blown away by the sea breeze, and then walk away with the erect, jaunty, swaying swagger common to both sexes of coloured folks. The prize the Lieutenant longed for was " Port Royal Jack," a legendary shark of fabulous age and size, said to be rationed to swim round the Boscawen guardship, to prevent the blue-jackets swimming ashore for a spree or G TT" 82 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. fill III i!t deserting. " Port Royal Jack" had of late forsaken his post, attracted to the bathing-place of the garrison ladies, round the somewhat rotten palisades of which his black fin con- stantly sailed. A young sucking-pig was bought and killed near thr bathing-place, and the blood allowed to run into the Si \. strong iron hook, deftly inserted as in a trolling minno 'th a bit of chain long enough to reach beyond the si teeth, was fastened to a rope coiled in the bow of th' le. Our fisher then quickly paddled with his bait, until ing weary and hungry, he made fast the rope tO' .e palisades, and left as a watch *' the Demon," as K boy, from his sublime ugliness, was called. Then ^iit to breakfast, but was barely seated ere the shouts of " tlie Demon " brought him out again. Too late 1 The bait was gone, the rope broken, and the palisade pulled out of place. After breakfast he went to the Quartermaster's store, got a piece of salt junk, such as *' Port Royal Jack" was wont ta rtceive as his daily ration, and fastening this beef with wire to a number of stout hooks placed back to back as for stroke hauling, he put a harpoon in his canoe, and again essayed his luck. " Port Royal Jack's " appetite had only been whetted by the pig, away flew the carefully coiled rope, until the gunwale literally smoked under the friction. The line was out and taut in a jiffy, and the canoe shot over the water till Tom put in his paddles and backed water to try to check the run. Now the monster would dash from side to side, nearly upsetting the canoe, and causing the poor balanc- ing " Demon " to turn a peculiar tint, then he would plunge right down until the bows dipped. Many a salmon had our fishing friend played, " but never aught like this." How to reel, give line, or butt was a puzzle. He pulled his best, but , the fish could go faster than the boat. Suddenly the line was slack — had he broken off" ? There was his black fin making straight for the canoe. Tom seized the harpoon and, stood ready in the bows, shouting to " the Demon " to steady > her with the oars. When almost touching, Tom launched his harpoon, it turned the shark, but glided off" his back with only a scratch, and again the line was taut and the canoe spinning along as before, in instant peril of being capsized. And now other black fins came skimming round to see the fun ; the situation, like the rope, was strained, and Tom was half-minded to cut PORT ROYAL JACK. 83 )- both and give it up, when he heard the encouraging shouts of his men Trom the beach, for the garrison had turned out to watch the novel sport So he put his back into the sculls, the huge brute began to give way, and Tom fairly played him until he lay like an exhausted salmon ready to be gaffed, almost still, now and then showing his white belly and the huge mouth under his nose. Calling to the onlookers to be ready to haul in, Tom made a spurt for the beach, and as the keel grated, the men dashed in and dragged the shark high and dry. He lashed furiously with his tail and bit in two a handspike which had been thrust into his open jaws, but a smart gunner lopped off his caudal appendage, and thus rendered him powerless without that leverage. He was then easily dispatched and cut open. The fish-hooked beef had caugii in the roof and sides of his mouth, the smaller steel hooks and wire having held, though he had snapped the iron chain, which with the pig, iron hook and all, were found inside him. Next came a Marine's coatee, fortunately the owner had not been inside ; it had probably been hung in the rigging to dry the pipe-clay with which the white braid breast-adornment of those days was cleaned. A gust of wind had blown it overboard, and it h^d been taken by " Port Royal Jack " as a salmon takes a fly. A tin colander, a foot in diameter, turned up, which the cook's mate had let slip when washing the gieens — here was a spinning spoon bait for "Jack,"' as it sank, shooting from side to side, as such shaped articles do when dropped into the sea. There was an assortment of beef bones, the remains of " Jack's " rations, tufts of feathers, and miscel- laneous trifles, with three or four fish about a foot long, shaped like young sharks. Whether they were so or not, and sheltered in the mother's mouth, as the sailor's yarn has it, is left for naturalists to decide. " Port Royal Jack " measured twelve feet from the tip of snout to tail, and the Boscawen boys rejoiced over its cap- ture. Whether his successor was put on the ration list history does not relate. '-, i :ut TT 84 CHAPTER X. "D.T." — Creole Love — Opera and Mangrove Swamp — Mother WiNGROvE — The Blue Mountains — A Negro Hymn — Ruined Plantation — Blacksmith and Minister — M.P. and Waiter — A Devil Fish — A Young Earthquake — Negro Disturbance — Island Hospitalities— Ordered Off — Jigger'd. " Don't leave me, old fellow, for God's sake, don't go away or that cursed Jackass will come and play the trombone in my ear, and my head is splitting already. If you forsake me like the rest I shall finish it with this," he said, holding up a razor he was sharpening at his dressing- table. The speaker was a beautiful boy, with a perfect classic face, large violet eyes, long-lashed like a woman's, and with a mass of crisp curls crowning a Greek head. He used to be called " Pretty Polly " at the shop.* Tom turned and closed the door gently, and as he saw the wild look in the now bloodshot eyes, the quiver on the sensitive mouth, and the trembling hand that held the razor, it came like a flash upon him that this was D.T. His com- rade was one of those unfortunate fellows whom no one ever sees drunk, who never appeared unfit for duty. He had lately withdrawn from the intimate society of his comrades, having formed a liason with a handsome Creole girl, as young as himself, and the unhappy sequel had followed — a pretty baby. Tom did his best, seldom leaving him day or night, until the doctor insisted upon his being relieved by a sentry. The cure was slow and the reformation fitful, for, alas ! he had reached that stage when promises are naught. The foolish girl, who, with the easy morality of her race and that climate, did not consider such a connection discreditable, loved him in her own passionate way, and nursed him tenderly, but ''V. * R. M. A. ^ CREOLE LOVE. »5 could refuse him nothing, not even his mad entreaty for liquor, which she managed to get for him. When this was discovered, she was made to return to her people. As a last hope, Tom joined him in a pledge to touch no liquor so long as they remained on the station : but his poor friend broke his promise, and in spite of watch and ward and doctor the end came soon. Tom kept his oath, and to it, together with abstinence from meat, may be attributed b'c; immunity from illness, for he was habitually careless and exposed himself to the sun while fishing and shooting, and often to the miasma of swamp and forest. The grief of the girl was as violent as perhaps short-lived, happily for such natures. She asked Tom for a pair of white gloves to put upon her beautiful " karpse," as she called her lost love. Their ways are not our ways, nor their thoughts our the ughts. It is best so. In a few hours the dead had to be removed from the living — " from friend and from lover." " Or ere decay's effacing fingers • • ■ '• Had swept the lines where beauty lingers." Tom took him and many another poor fellow to that dismal " God's Acre," where he had read his first funeral service. El vomito fiegro, as the Spaniards call it, was not stayed. Like every good soldier, Lieutenant Jingo was a fatalist, and felt no personal anxiety. But his surroundings were depressing, for being the only subaltern available, he was on perpetual duty ; the other who acted as Adjutant and Quartermaster, was engaged to a bright Irish girl, who sent each mail what Tom called the ** Ballinafad Chronicle," a cross herring-bone correspondence, deciphering which apparently occupied his whole time between mails. A faithful fellow he was, and a magnificently handsome pair they made. He was blown up testing fuzes, and died shortly after. Meanwhile the Crimean War went on, with its record of duty and suffering, for which came honours — ribbons and crosses only for subalterns, brevets in addition for happy captains. But there was a bright spot for the solitary sub. The Governor of Jamaica and his charming wife were very kind ♦ t 86 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. Wi: i I Si T' 11 to him, and he had a room at Government House, whenever he could get over to Spanishtown. He asked for a little modification of the rigour of his imprisonment to the low spit of sand and coral reef, the barrack, the batteries, the hospital, and the dead-house, which constituted Port Royal, but was refused. Tom thought it was perhaps because his chief was known not to be a persona grata at Government House. Of course Jingo was wrong, and still more wrong in the sequel. A celebrated Spanish opera troupe had come to Kingston, and there was a pressing invitation to their Excellencies' box and a room at Government House. So at dusk he put his mess jacket and white trousers (which were de rigueur), in a tin box in the bow of his canoe and paddled off. What could happen except some poor fellow die in the hospital during the night, and for that there was the doctor, and he would be back before daylight. On arrival at the capital he changed his clothes and entered the regal box, where were his bright handsome friend, with her kindly chat, her equally kind husband, and his chum, the A.D.C., a man of his own regiment. Tom felt a qualm of military conscience when the officer commanding the troops also entered the box, but the chief was not supposed to know he was absent without leave, and was too kind and wise to ask questions. The evening was a treat, a delightful break in the sad monotony of Tom's life, though he was not able to accept the offered hospitality of the Governor, and had to make his way back in his canoe when the opera was over. He tried a short cut through the lagoons, but the bright moon went behind clouds, and he lost his way in a labyrinth of mangrove stems. The pestilential miasma of the swamps assailed him with the lassitude it brings, which fasting intensified, the mosquitoes were maddening, as both hands were on the sculls he could not scratch. .But he pulled away to be in time for morning parade. He reached the palisades, that dismal swamp where his friend lay ; his head felt like molten lead and his back ached to dislocation with every stroke. Kingsley's marvellous description of the lever- stricken Amyas Leigh in the mangrove swamps of Central America came to his mind, and the charges brought against Sir Walter Raleigh by the Royal pedant, who said the poor prisoner was so great a liar " he hath declared that he :li OPERA AM) MANGROVE SWAMP. 87 he visited lands where oysters do grow upon trees " — and here they hung from the mangrove branches dipping in the sea — a perpetual reminder of a gallant sailor and a coward King. The sudden pink flush of a tropical dawn had tinged the sky. He would be late for parade. He put on a last spurt and just as his keel grated on the barrack beach, the morn- ing gun boomed and the mellow bugles rang out the reveille. He tried to run his canoe up high and dry as was his wont, but his strength was gone. He plodded across to his quarters feeling dizzy, and meeting a group of laughing Creole girls going to market with baskets of bananas on their well-poised heads, their graceful figures swaying their skirts with the abandon of their natural walk, so unlike the stumping of high-heeled European femininity. He was not too ill to note these things — " Ha I that was a good sign," he thought. But their greeting depressed him. " Hi ! my sweet massa, you have Yellow Jack for true," said a softly sympa- thetic voice from thickish lips under solemn kindly sphynx-like eyes, that might have been Cleopatra's in her gentlest mood, only Cleopatra was a Ptolemy, a pure Greek, not half- European, half-African like the girl before him. A few paces further he met the adjutant, who said: "My dear fellow, you look awfully seedy. Go to your room, I'll send the doctor." " Send Mother Wingrove," (his old black washerwoman) was the request of the object of all this solicitude. Tom got to his room, looked in the glass, and saw the whites of his eyes were bright yellow. His Demon offered breakfast, but was hustled off to hasten Mother Wingrove. In bustled the comfortable stout negress, who in her caress- ing way undressed and put him in a warm bath covered with blankets, and thence into bed, on which more blankets were piled. She made no unflattering allusions to his awful aspect, but said : — " I make you all right soon, my sweet sonny ; don't you take no nasty doctor stuff." Then she gave him a big drink of a hot decoction of . herbs, which she called " feber tea." Next day he felt all right, except for a taste in his mouth as if he had feasted on the contents of Simon Peter's sheet of unclean things. He thought he would get out of bed, but he flumped on the floor, and the old lady 88 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. m IK^ next room waddled in, followed by the doctor^ been anxiously waiting for the end of that long from the who had sleep. " Hi, you bad boy!" said the former, picking up the big fellow in her stout arms, and putting him back to bed like a baby. " I tell you I make you a-rite, but you muss keep quite jess yit." The doctor, a man beyond his profession, remarked, " Glad Mother Wingrove got you first. I doubt if I could have pulled you through. Your extreme temperance has helped you, for you seem to have had all the symptoms of the prevailing epidemic, only I never saw such a case of recovery." The Demon thought it was " Obeah," African witchcraft. Strange to say, the incident appeared to have broken the spell ; others recovered, and the epidemic died out. The doctor tried hard to get the remedy from the negress, but money would not buy it, though she was ever ready with it and the vapour bath for those who would trust her. There are long intervals without yellow fever in the West Indies, and then life is a delightful if somewhat dreamy existence. In the mountains almost any climate can be obtained. The deep dark gullies of fern-palm, like those in parts of Australasia, the gigantically-buttressed cotton- wood monarchs of the forest, festooned with flowering garlands of tangled vines, the quaint growth of perfumed parasitic orchids, mostly night-blooming, the heated vapourous air, all carry back the mind to the period of the coal measures, here an arrested epoch, so it seems, in whose tepid seas the ancient shark still swims, and the gigantic iguanadon glides along the slimy shores of its lagoons. Perhaps its peculiar characteristic was silence and the absence of forest song-birds, or, indeed, of any life except the. exuberant insect and the flashing metallic tints of the tiny humming birds fluttering over hot-hued flowers of purple, scarlet, and yellow. There is not much to shoot at in a Jamaica forest but pigeons and poor little dqves, though to the lover of nature its solitudes are never dull. Our sub spent many delightful days in its shadow, for to his great delight a detachment of Artillery convalescents was sent up to Newcastle under his charge. Hitherto the luxury of the mountains had been THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. 89 reserved for the fortunate British Infantry that formed part of the garrison, it being considered necessary to keep all the gunners by their guns, although twenty-four hours would have brought them to the batteries strong with the health- giving mountain air. From the flowery porch of his cottage quarter hie could see over verdant valleys, with blue-green strips of sugar-cane and the darker green of coifee-plantation and forest, to where that long strip of coral strand,* his military prison, stretched into the distant sea. On the opposite side of the bay lay the swampy parade-ground of Fort Augusta, in the precincts of which the 22nd Dragoons have left almost a complete list of their regiment — in stone. Whose folly sent them there ? Or what use could they have been without sea-horses ? Perhaps in the old marooning days they went. The grave-yard had been over-grown with bush and Lieutenant Jingo came upon it in a dual expedition for shoot- ing guinea fowl, and inspecting the armament of the fort, of which an Artillery non-commissioned officer was in charge. H? could never be left longer than a month lest he should go mad. The last I heard of this delectable fortress was in a late newspaper. A non-commissioned officer of a West Indian regiment had gone mad there, and had fired at the officer who came to inspect. The officer had to return for a detachment, and as the madman had taken up a good defen- sive position and wounded some of the party, they were compelled to skirmish up to and then shoot him. We have forgotten both the follies and the glories of the history of Jamaica, but have repeated the former, even that last folly of giving constitutional government to the idle children of hastily liberated slaves, whose arrogant claims culminated in insurrection, and who had to be put down in blood by a resolute man — Governor Eyre — whom some of us wanted to see exalted as high as Haman, and others only raised to the peerage. The Anglo-Saxon never understands the negro unless he has been personally his master or under his heel. A tropical country producing by coloured labour valuable products, granted political equality, and you have immediately political inequality, the numerical preponderance giving superiority to ♦ Don't remember " Iiidia'sco- al strand " that Bishop Heber's missionary hymn tells lis about, nor that part of Hindostan where " So green a elade, so soft a sod, Our English fairies never trod ; " but then India is a big country and missionary experience extensive. m ^ GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. llHl the inferior race. Then comes strife, and eventually, as the negro is more prolific than the white in hot climates, you have the result — black barbarism, as in Hayti. This is the problem the United States of America have to solve. They should not take Cuba or accept Jamaica unless they mean to alter their constituiion and govern the negro race. As it is, ^ they may find in the not very distant future, a belt of black barbarism spread across their Southern States. Tom made many mountain excursions, ascended the Blue Mountain peak, whence he had a magnificent view of — clouds I Then he crossed to the other side of the island. He had bought a mountain pony and was riding one Sunday evening near a native village. The sweet melody of negro voices singing a well-remembered hymn brought with it a flood of memories ; his conscience reproached him, he had not been to church. Of course he tried the threadbare excuse to himself, he had been worshipping in " the temple not made with hands." It would not wash. There were these poor semi-savages worshipping God in decorous fashion, he would draw near and see what good might come to his soul. The chapel was thatched and many-windowed, all open to the evening breeze. The hymn had ceased and the minister was holding forth. Jingo rode close up to a window. The negro girls grinned and giggled plenteously at the " buckra" (white man). The preacher's attention was drawn to the frivolity of the female part of his congregation and the cause, and his face assumed a piously stern expression. Casting up the whites of his eyes, his rich bass voice rolled out in solemn tones : " Brudders and sissers, let us sing a nym of my own compogin and den pray for de soul ob our poor loss white ' brudder." He gave out the first verse, thus : i , "' Bring in de man wid de dui'ty soul — a.,, ty soul I ■ Walk him along on fire and coal — fire and coal ! De missable man wid de durty soul — durty soul ' ' " Toon — ' Cocoa blossoms bloom so sweet,' " He repeated this through again. The air was a lively, lilting one, a sort of Moody and Sankey, though these gentlemen had not been then invented. : A NEGRO HYMN. 91 It is curious that the Anglo-American has but little music, grave or gay, which he has not borrowed from the slave. The congregation sang with gusto, the ladies especially accentuating the reproof it conveyed, with " nods and winks " and very much " wreathed smiles " at the unlucky intruder. Accidentally or of malice prepense, at the end of the words given out, they sang the words of the "toon " — their favourite one : " Cocoa blossoms, blow so sweet, blow so sweet, .Blow so sweet — we'll have a little motion too." It is hard to sUggesti of if the last lines were i dance, but certain it is that the emotional Christianity of West Indian coloured women had very little effect on what we would call their morals. How it affects the men, except in making them insolent, I cannot say, nor dare I say how it affects those white races that take to it as readily as the negro, to wit, certain classes of the Anglo-Saxon and his Celtic neighbour, the Welshman. Buckle has not gone into this subject in his " History of Civilisation." Jingo retired from the church half laughing, half sad. For during the rainy season he had read much in the verandah of his cottage — from cover to cover, though he had been made to learn much of it in childhood by heart — of that most wonderful and beautiful of all books, and he had got as much puzzled over St. Paul's metaphysics as that honest old fisherman, St. Peter, declared himself to be. So he took a course of '• Paley's Evidences," with the usual result of only becoming more muddled. " Butler's Analogy " did not mend matters, nor ** Locke on the Human Understanding," in that it proved the mind of the new-born babe a blank, its ideas coming from surrounding material objects, from a night-light to a nurse's nose when she snored. Tom came to the con- clusion that the human mind was not a machine capable of judging of the " plan of salvation " any more than an Irish landlord can see the justice of the "plan of campaign." Much mountain air, however, and reading of the unprinted book of God improved his digestion and restored mental repose. As for practical morality, a diet such as a priest of the Roman Church would consider a perpetual fast, exorcised those devils that we are told, " Come not forth but by prayer and fasting." w 92 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. This digression on the mental condition of Lieutenant Jingo at this period must be excused to the author as giving the key to many of the shortcomings of some of the Jingo family in general, and of our unheroic hero in particular. In one of his wanderings, our Jingo sprained his ankle badly, and was kindly taken in and hospitably entertained at the house of a planter. " The Great House," as the planter's dwelling is always called, stood on a hill overlooking a flat valley, a green sea of sugar-cane. The breeze broke it into waves, and lights and shadows fleeting across it completed the illusion of a sea of verdure, whose shores were dark jungle-covered cliffs. There were islands of jungle also, pro- jections of rock in what seemed to once have been the alluvial bottom of a mountain lake. The soil was black and rich and the cane luxuriant, but there were no hands to wield the machete * for harvest. The great sugar-crushing mill stood silent and idle, the wild flowering convolvulus creeper, with the passionate luxuriance of tropical vegetation, clasped the rusty machinery in its Soft fantastic tendrils. The emancipated slaves and their sons no longer cared to work, except fitfully. Why should they ? They were tenants at will — their own will — on the master's land. A sort of black Ireland it was. He had left them at first, hoping they would work, but a very little work in the day and a great deal of banjo and shay-shay dancing at night was the cheerful routine of negro existence, supported on a patch of plantains and a little salt fish, while for garment, there was a calico shirt and trousers on one sex, and a sort of unpretentious cotton tea-gown for the other. Piccaninnies in plenty, with no garments at all, are no encumbrance. And the white planter who owned these fertile acres, fast lapsing into jungle, had been wealthy once, he and his fathers, in slave times, and might have been so still, had the philanthropist giver of other men's goods consented to a slight tax in favour of free-grown sugar, and permitted some species of vagrant act conducive to even partial industry. But perhaps no one of less authority than Moses could regulate slavery. To follow it with political franchise has proved a failure. A few East Indian coolies and Chinese have been imported without much beneficial result. ■* * Negro cutlas. M.P. AND WAITER. 93 The planter host, living hopelessly in his mansion, decay- ing from damp and lack of repair, was a cultivated, amiable gentleman, educated at Eton and Oxford. He still struggled on, his wife bearing her part uncomplainingly, except as to the future of her children. He had now neither place nor power among his coloured neighbours — every Justice of the Peace, every county official was black. It was government, not by brains, but by counting noses, and the majority of noses were black. Before his ankle allowed him to walk our sub was sum- moned to the plains as a member of a Court Martial, his short leave having expired. His friend lent him a pony, which he rode to a village, and there left to be returned, while he hired a trap from the blacksmith, who owned the only conveyance in the village — a mule cart. On bargaining for the trip down to Spanishtown, about twenty miles, the sable smith asked five pounds. ** But I don't want to buy the trap and mule," said Jingo. ** No, sah ; dat is de hire." " But it is extortionate." " Torshun or no torshun, you take it or leab it. An' you pay down fo' you start." " Where does the nearest magistrate live ? " enquired our sub. "Jus top ob de hill dere," said the sable one, pointing to a handsome house. " Very well ; whatever the magistrate says is right I'll pay and leave the money with him." ^' Jus' so. An' you bring me his honour's receep fo' de money. Dat genleman's member of Legislatur. I vote fo' him." "That's bad," thought Jingo; "an electoral conscience is a poor thing to expect justice from." He rode to the big house, dismounted with difficulty, hitched his horse to a paling, and knocked. The door was opened by a negro in a white linen suit with a napkin on his arm. ." .. " Is your master at home ? " "Sahl I hab no master but Gawd." No use to attempt apology and say, " I mistook you for the butler 1 " The magistrate had risen from dinner and opened the door himself, hence the napkin — or it may have w liw 94 GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE. ir I I If! 11 19 1 1 been old habit. He had been a waiter in early days, and now waited for the Premiership of the island. The matter was explained, and Jingo submitted that the price was exorbitant. The answer was a shrug and the oft- repeated formula : " He free man, same as you — please yourself, he please hisself, I please myself, ebbery body pleased all roun'." But Jingo demurred, said \J T> he was not pleased, he ^^ uSJAt Jj^^ should pay the money AV^ under protest, but would '^ appeal. This remark pro- duced a guffaw so loud and a grin so wide that Tom had a momentary hope that the ends of the mouth might meet at the back of his neck and the top of his woolly head come off. But it didn't — the powerful jaw of a practised parliamen- tary orator, white or black, is not easily dislocated. The money was paid, a receipt given, and Tom re- turned in no good humour C*^*U t^l^^T/VRU for his drive. ^^ '— *0 He started with the blacksmith, driving a rattletrap sort of gig, with a mule which could be made to go only with the special bad language of his master, and was like the one driven by the religious ladies in Sterne's " Sentimental Journey." The road was rough and his sprained ankle painful, the night was hot and his companion odorous as a crocodile* or an Assyrian Guardsman, not that Lieutenant Jingo had ever met an officer of that distinguished corps — he had only seen their pictured presentment and read somewhere that they were " curled darlings, smelling of musk and insolence." Suddenly the negro pulled up. They had reached a spot where the road was a narrow ledge along the edge of the precipice, with a steep bank on the other hand, the tall " * The natural odour of neRfo or crocodile is musk. BLACKSMITH AND MINISTER. 95 feathery bamboos through which the wind sighed, closed overhead and increased the inky darkness. The dull roar of a mountain torrent in its rocky bed rose from the depths below. " You gib me nudder poun' righ off," demanded the driver. Tom told him to go to a place hotter than Jamaica, and perhaps used adjectival cuss words of sorts. " Sah ! I a minister ob de Gospel, supprize t'heah ejjicated genman use sich lanwidge." The Lieutenant meditated as to whether he could chuck the minister down the gully and drive on. But he was on the wrong side of the trap, he had a sprained ankle, and the blacksmith was the heavier man, with the muscular develop- ment of his trade. So Tom lit a cigar and said he was in no hurry. Presently the mosquitoes tackled the cigarless negro, he began to be impatient, and said, ** I go Qn for tree dollar." He got no answer. "Two dollar?" More scratching and some expletives. "One dollar?" Still no answer. "Gimme cigar den I go on." A puff of smoke in his face was the reply. The pent-up profanity of that preacher burst forth in a torrent. Lieutenant Jingo's cuss words were nowhere in comparison. " Sorry to hear a minister of God blaspheme him," said the Lieutenant, taking a long pull at his cigar and carefully knocking off the ash. The minister drove on and there was silence, broken only by the croaking of the tree-frogs and the necessary swears on the part of the charioteer to make his mule go. The sun rose as, nearing Spanishtown, they drove down the Boca Agua, " Bog walk " as the uneuphonious English- man has called it. " Stan' us a drink, massa," suggested the driver, assuming a conciliatory manner. " Would be pleased to pay for the rope that hangs you, for one will be wanted some day," was the reply. Possibly the prophecy came true, for some black Baptist ministers were hung for complicity in the negro insurrection which broke out shortly after. Early as it was, everyone was about, and Tom went to Government House, where he enjoyed a luxurious bath X li'!' 96 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. and breakfast. He told his story to the Governor, and asked if he could appeal against the extravagant ; sum sanctioned by the native magistrate. But the Governor shook his head, saying : " It would probably be tried before a coloured Judge, and we have in- structions from the Colonial Office never to interfere with the decisions of a coloyred magistrate. There is a good deal of feeling just now because my wife said she was too tired to dance with a black M.P. who asked her. — You must give up dancing, my dear," he said, turning to Her Excellency. " Not at all," she replied, " I shall intimate my Royal pleasure on this point to my very intelligent A.D.C." It was given out "that to avoid offence, the A.D.C. would arrange for this ceremonial." Tom's friend, the A.D.C, haJ .eard the shark story and now accompanied him down to Port Royal on the chance of some similar fun. The Court-Martial was over, and the Lieutenant was relicv^ed of his pleasant charge of invalids, who had all recovered. The fishers got a larger, wider- beamed canoe, but they had no sport. They could not get a rise, for the wily sharks would not take the most fascinating bait. They seemed scared by the sad fate of "Port Royal Jack." They got another fish, however, but not to fry. One calm, blazing afternoon, after the sea-breeze had died, they spied a black mass floating on the still surface of the a huge flat fish like a I feet across, with a water. It was a sun or devil-fish, maiden-ray, measuring about seven hideous mouth and a tail, which perhaps gets him a name he does not otherwise deserve, as he is quite harmless. Creeping up with noiseless paddles, the huge fish was suc- cessfully harpooned by the A.D.C. There was a rush of line, and the harpoon-shaft quivered for a few moments as the brute sped away, and then the pole dropped from its socket in the barbed point as it was meant to do, the line being fastened to the steel head, and also with two half- hitches round the pole, which thus acted as a float and drag on the poor devil-fish, preventing him from diving or going fast. He could not execute the lively manoeuvres of the shark, but he made steadily out to sea, towards the outside reefs, over which the sea, for the wind had risen, was break- ing furiously. The game was not worth the candle. At last, when the canoe was within a few feet of apparent destruction, the line was cut and the poor devil let go. A YOUNG EARTHyUAKE. 97 Sail was hoisted, and the canoe spun back to harbour. As the fishers neardd the Boscawen they were all sitting on the windward gunwale, for there was no ballast. The huge hull of the man-of-war suddenly took the wind out of the sail, and the whole crew went headers backward into the sea, while the dug-out canoe half filled with water and all but upset also. Tom and his comrades were all good swimmers, so before the Boscaiven could lower a boat they had reached the gunwale and commenced rocking the canoe cradle-fashion to dislodge the water. This would have been done more ex- peditiously had the sharks which infest the harbour been remembered. But that danger never occurred to any of them until safety was reached, when Tom's black boy said : " Hi, massa, de shark miss him berry good dinner." But as a fact, sharks will not approach much splashing. A sail is sometimes slung overboard by the corners during a calm in the tropics, and used as a bath by the men, a boat rowing round and splashing meanwhile. " Once upon a time," — I forget the date, the reader can look it up for himself — the old town of Port Royal was swallowed up by the sea during an earthquake. ' People with strong ^yes and imaginations can on calm days, like Tommy Moore's Lough Neagh fisherman, see the ruins, " In the waves beneath him shining," and are only deterred from diving for the buried treasures of the buccaneers by the sharks. The garrison had a few gentle reminders of the event with no more serious result than the impromptu appearance as Aphrodite on the part of a married lady, who rushed from the bathing house in terror, without any apparel but her beauty — and a bathing towel, which she flourished in despair. Tom got used to it — the earthquakes, I mean. But there were other disturbances besides young earth- quakes, thought very little of at the time. The negro population, under injudicious philanthropic petting, like Jeshuron, " waxed fat and kicked." The troops were main- tained in " masterly inactivity," the Adjutant-General and his orderly officer for the occasion were for a time ur.der a fire of garbage, material and vocal, with an occasional brickbat from the negro viragoes, against whom no weapon could be used but chaff. Once made to laugh they got into H 98 \ GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. 'r ■ , i\) ! i.ii good-humour and sent home their men, who had prudently- kept in the rear rank. Matters culminated some years later, when it was found necessary t.> hang by Court Martial the Reverend Mr. Gordon, a v loured Baptist minister, and also to suspend the Constitution of the island. It was subsequently restored by Mr. Gladstone, who could not, however, reinstate the clerical gentleman, nor could he even be amnestied. With the disappearance of the epidemic of yellow fever, painful memories were forgotten, or rather, were not allowed to interfere with the daily life of those who still enjoyed the sea-breeze and the sunshine of a really pleasant climate. The kindly, unpretentious hospitalities of the impoverished planters were as much appreciated as those of the Govern- ment officials. There were pleasant picnics in the mountains by day and an occasional dance at Up-park Camp or on the deck of the guard ship by moonlight with the Creole ladies, who are proverbially charming. The name Creole does not of necessity imply coloured blood, as some persons imagine. It is also applied to persons of perfectly pure ancestry born in the West Indies, and some of the best blood of England courses in Creole veins. But our sub was suddenly removed from this genial society, where he had already many kind friends, and ordered to the Bahama Islands, to relieve an officer appointed to the Horse Artillery in the army of the Crimea. How poor Jingo envied him I Just before embarking, his foot became inflamed, from no apparent cause but a little purple spot on the end of the big toe. He consulted his Demon who, after brief examination, shouted : " Hi ! you be jigger'd ! " His fine, open countenance expanded more widely than usual, as he noticed the incipient look of resentment on his master's face, at being thus familiarly, not to say disrespect- fully, addressed. The Demon explained that the " chigoe,'* one of the insect plagues of the West Indies, had laid a bunch of eggs in his foot. These he deftly extracted with a needle. It was his last office for his master, who parted from him with regret, for the African makes a good servant but a bad master. The Demon's grief was assuaged by being presented with some of the high-collared shirts which he had so persistently worn. 99 } • • -4 by lich CHAPTER XI. Negro Home Rule — Amiable Aborigines — Simian Aptitudes— A Yellow Bandana — A Principal Production — Quarantine — New Providence — War Preparations — Pig Hunting — Anglo Saxon Relatives — The Imperial Octopus — A Swim for the Mail — A Fire — A Retrieving Snake — A Spectral Pipe — A Garrison Order — A Missing Detachment— Wanted for the Crimea. The mail steamer which carried our Lieutenant to his destination, Nassau, the capital of New Providence, one of the Bahama group, coasted along the lirxuriant shores of Cuba and Hayti, or San Domingo, as Columbus called it, because he discovered it on Sunday. Hispaniola, New Spain it was afterwards named, is now the paradise of negro Home Rule. It consists of two independent republics, and has had many vicissitudes. The whole island belonged to Spain until the Treaty of Ryswick, 1697, when the east end was given to France. The natives still speak Creole French and Spanish. The gentle aborigines whom Columbus loved, and whom the amiable missionary, Las Casas, tried to serve by baptism and the substitution of negro slaves for Indian labourers, were improved off the face of their beautiful island. Neither remedy proved effectual, in this world at least. "Whether the baptism saved them in that world to which thiey have passed. Lieutenant Jingo was not sufficiently versed in theology to decide. At the epoch of the first French Revolution, the negroes imitated their white brothers of France, and extirpated the, to them, odious ruling caste of Frenchmen. This was an argumentum ad hominem^ as difficult of digestion to the advo- cates of the rights of man in France, as it was to the founders of the American Republic. But France had set herself the task of overrunning Europe, and Napoleon, who sold Louisiana and its French- men to the United States, never seemed to grasp the future importance of the New World as the much-abused Bourbons H — 2 \i ,t III! Ml 112 GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE. The Artillery boat with its lug-sail would often be seen crossing the bar in such heavy weather, that once the watchers from land saw the mast and sail go by the board. The men, however, so soon cleared away the hamper, that they had taken to their oars and recrossed the bar in safety before the local life-boat could reach them. The officer commanding, though a very good friend to our lieutenant, nevertheless thought it his duty to publish an order that, " though the life of Lieutenant Jingo might be of no value, the lives of his men were, and the Artillery boat must not cross the harbour bar when the storm signal was up." In the next spell of fine weather the gunners prepared a grand expedition to one of the Keys, as the neighbouring islands were called, taking barrels with them to salt down the wild pigs. The trusty Sergeant and the guard only were left. The monthly mail boat had sailed with the usual blank defaulter return, so there could be no official communi- cation for a month. They would, therefore, have a good time, feast on turtle, fish and pork, and Jingo would forget the Crimea. The tent was pitched, supper and pipes and banjo songs prolonged over the camp fire, which was loaded with green stuff to make a smoke to discompose the few mosquitoes that the breeze had left. There was a rival smoke along the horizon, a steamer doubtless — no concern of theirs. There were no Russian cruisers on the high seas. The prudent ones retired to the tent to avoid the heavy night dews, while the Lieutenant and another, rolled in their cloaks, slept by the fire on gathered leaves and grass. Long before day they were aroused by a boat's crew. It was the Commissariat officer. Good fellow that he was, he had sailed out with the land breeze to tell them a man-of-war steamer, the Vulture, had swooped down on the island to carry off the gunners. They were wanted for the Crimea ! A wild " Hurrah 1 " rang out on that desolate shore, echoing through the lonely bush and waking the wood pigeons, that fluttered and commenced cooing their tender love notes in response to the war shouts of the insensate soldiers. Never since the wild carousals of the buccaneers had such shouts been heard upon that peaceful little coral islet. " But," added the bearer of good tidings, " make haste, or WANTED FOR THE CRIMEA, >I3 you may get left. The Captain swears he'll sail without you at daybreak. Swear! My dear Jingo, our arm}' in Flanders was nothing to the navy of to-day. The least and lightest of his swears is that you shall be tried by Court Martial for absence from your post. I wonder he has not blown up his magazine with the red-hot curses he has let off at you. Old Dunny (the sergeant) keeps on, never minding, but getting everything ready. You may be in time yet." In a trice the tent was down and everything packed away. The winds were kind, exchanging the erstwhile friendly land breeze for a still more friendly sea one, which sprang up hours before its time. The sail was hoisted and the Itttle island left to its desolation — the doves, and the pigs, and the flamingoes by the lone lagoon. The men gave one more shout as the boat with a sort of spring, dashed over the surge, startling the sober watchers, the flamingoes standing sentry on one leg, while their mates straddled over tbeir fantastic nests in the jaunty way clerks sometimes do on high stools.* The frightened white flock flashed crimson as their wings opened and like a red cloud hovered over the boats and their freight of soldiers bound for war. * The flamingo is white with red under the wings. He builds a nest on a htin.ile of ingeniously twisted sticks, which raise it about a foot and a half from the n^i'. . rid, across this the female bird strides. No doubt the position is comical but com- lurtable, less irksome than for a long-legged creature to squat on its eggs. toil ■•'-■;•. I, r - . •■■! '• '■ ■ >- ^,^ 1^14. I I u (■I !• I 1:1 114 1^ ' If.; I 'h ^;-i J CHAPTER XII. Store Ledgers ano Kit Inspection — The Al'tockat ok the CJuarter- nECK--PuG!uisTic — A Corai- Keef — Soldier-Sailors— Peace Pro- ^ claimed — Two Greetings -- Crimean Heroes- — An Awkward Question — Moplahs — Wolfe, the Amal — Continental — A British Matron — A Soft Seat — A Wrathful Gaul — A Telegram. The missing Lieutenant, when he turned up, found that the indefatigable S»^rgeant had squared everything, even to that exacting demon of the barracks, damages — with his penny a nail-hole and halfpenny a scratch, deducted from the pay of Thomas Atkins, the worst-cheated servant of the richest people in the world. All night long had th.e Sergeant wrestled with an infantry Adjutant, who had been little less than an angel in the way he had signed receipts for the con- tents of a ponderous ledger of artillery armament, alpha- betically arranged and beginning — " Axes, pick, iron, helved, wood," and ending — "Zinc, perforated, galvanised, hexa- gonal, ventilating, magazine, sheet, etc." as much a mystery to him as the Koran, and taken equally on trust as by a good Mahometan. There being no relief of gunners, the armament hud to be taken over by the West India Regiment, who had, fortu- nately, been taught a little gun-drill. But for simplicity, the armament of those days compared to the present, might be as a round shot to the n3ing machine the Maxim gun man is bound to invent. Everything was packed and stowed awa}- on board the man-of-war, including the Lieutenant's belongings. Nothing was forgotten but his watch, which was under repair in con- sequence of a sea-bath it had taken in his pocket, when its owner had been trying to turn a turtle that dived into deep water with him on his back. He had no bills to pay, and therefore, fe'v people to see him oft'. There was no time for adieux, except between the "yaller" girls and their pet gunners, who were doubtless rapidly consoled, and there were, KIT INSPECTION. 115 d the )t,hing con- en its deep , and lie for r pet were, happily, no weeping unregimental wives nor children to be left behind — that cruel curse of military necessity. The grim old sea-tartar who commanded the Vulture began to be mollified from the first ceremonious salute of the soldier officer to that mysterious spot which is not visibly marked, but which exists somewhere on the quarter-deck. This salute had to be performed at the gangway, but the vessel steamed out v/ithout salutation from the guns of the f 't, though the dodgy old Sergeant had managed with hi- o.nall guard to fire one on the arrival of the man-of-war. Tiie absence of the officer and nearly all the detachment would not have been detected had they not been required for embarka- tion The soldiers were divided into watches as usual, and into gun crews at quarters, which is not usual, but the sailors liad been reduced in numbers b}' yellow fever and long service on the station. "God bless my soul!" said the old salt, relapsing from profanity into partial piety, when he saw the way the land gunners pifcked up the navy drill, even helping to set up the rigging, knotting and splicing like any A.B. ; "why your fellov/s are moie handy than half the red marines afloat." Perhaps the gunners' blue jackets made him partial, any- way the soldier sub was invited to mess with the autocrat of the quarter-deck, who had a kind heart under a rough out- side. And when they disembarked at Jamaica, he said — " By the way, I shall say nothing about your absence from your post. It is none of my business," with a twinkle in his grey e3'e. " I shall only report as to your embarkation, which was rapid, and upon the conduct of your detachment while under my command, which leaves nothing to be desired." The Lieutenant's heart was lightened until there came the Gencial's inspection. The first things he wanted to see were the men's kits. The General was a terror on kit ! " Great Jingo ! "' thought the Lieutenant, apostropl^iising the patron saint of his family, " does he think soldiers slay the enemy wit'' button sticks or fire Douay Bibles at them ? * He knew he had only looked at the men's k"ts once, when he first took command and told the Sergeant he • The Douay Uible was carried by every Roman Catholic soldier in his knapsack, anil that dedicated to the " Most Hieh and Mighty Prince Ji.;nes, by the Grace of God, etc.," by Protestants ; both excellent books, very much nli';e and containing more interesting military history than the soldiers' pocket book compiled by our only other General besides General Booth. 1— li 1^ S: : ii6 GUNNER JINGOS JUBII.EK. li ;l' i-i III' expected the men, if not troubled with kit inspection, would consider it a point of honour not to make away with anything. Again he had not been deceived. The wily Sergeant knew the special fads of that General, so the shirts, etc., were rolled with the names outside, and when that warrior, as was his wont, opened the socks, lo I they had been neatlv darned by the coloured ladies who did the washing and it.idered other little services to the men. Had he looked as carefully at the arms, he might have found cause for complaint. There had not been time to clean those the men had had with them on the pig-shooting picnic, and they had been stowed away in the arm-chests and put down in the hold, by order of the naval officer, who is supreme on his own ship. The books showed there had been no Court Martial and scarcely anj nun '-^nents. But the socks had carried the day before tii< " ■ ; icre opened. The General was pleased. The hired transport, Etmua Etigcuia, lay in the harbour of Port Royal, a disgraceful old tub of only 400 tons. The men were transhipped at once, otherwise there "might have been a break in the good conduct. The Lieutenant had a farewell dinner at mess, and after good-bye to the unfortu- nates who remained, he strolled down to the wharf to meet the boat that was to take him to the transport. There was no one there but a sailor lad, apparently about seventeen years of age, kicking his heels against the wood-work of the jetty. The bright moonlight showed the gilt letters on his hat ribbon, "Boscawen," and his hat, well on the back of his head, freed the clustering Saxon curls over the handsome face. A heavy footfall echoed along rho pier and a huge negro appeared in evident ill-tempet jo" ; omething, for he walked behind the sailor and shout -^d " Hi, you Boscawen blackguard I " The boy jumped to his feet and, hitchiug jp the waist- band of his trousers, slowly remarked : " What's that you say, you d — n nigger ** 1 say, you Boscawen blackguards, tiefs." The boy drew back a few paces, threw ofl' his hat, whipped his white smock over his head, and in a few seconds, stood stripped to the waist and posed fr-r the attack. His skin white as a woman's, but with i-i^ > nuscles gleaming in the moonlight, like the marble torso .! vjreek statue, and the ?" all same, d — n PUGILISTIC. 117 proud head, with its well cut features, set on the column of throat, added to the resemblance, though there was a de- cidedly ui'-statuesque gleam in the eye and in the curl of dis- dain on the hairless lip. The big negro presented a strong contrast. He wore no coat, and beyond his rolled-up shirt sleeves the masses of softish muscles stood out under the black satin skin. His straw hat was thrown off, and the frizzled mane came low down on his retreating forehead. But there was a certain lion-like look in his angry ferocity, for he had not the loose lips ofthe common or banjo variety of nigger. The pair seemed too unequally matched, and Jingo felt ashamed of the policy of " masterly inactivity." But before he could frame a protocol he saw interference was not needed. The negro had rushed at the boy, but could not touch him — the lad was a sublime boxer ! He just walked round his opponent, putting in his blows with a thud, now and again varied with a counter, full on what should have been the bridge of that negro's nasal organ, but which made as much impression as hammering the lion on a door-knocker. But Sambo was losing his wind and his patience. Suddenly he put down his head, and, butting the boy, sent him sprawl- ing on his back. Then he rushed like a wild beast on his prey, and, fastening his teeth in the pectoral muscles of the lad's naked breast, began like a bulldog to worry him. Jingo thought it was time for him to take a hand. Plant- ing his heel in the small of the nigger's back, he twisted the fingers of his right hand well into the wool, until he got a grip firm enough to lift him off the boy. The furious savage dashed at the fresh assailant, but was met straight from the shoulder under the chin, which made him keep his head up and give ground, until Tom worked him backwards close to the pier's edge. Now, watching his opportunity. Jingo planted a blow between the eyes, which sent the negro with a .semi-somersault into the sea, whither he was followed by a hearty prayer that the sharks would take him for supper That praj'er, like many another, was not answered. The Lieutenant having, as he thought, safely disposed of one of the parties, turned to the other, who was faint and bleeding from a nasty wound in the chest. Tom knelt over him and with his handkerchief tried to bandage the V ii8 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILKE. lit I: » ft- awkwardly-situated place. While so engaged he saw stars and felt as if the back of his skull had been lifted off. He staggered to his feet and confronted his late opponent, who was swinging an oar round his head like the two- handed sword of a mediaeval paladin. Another sweep of that blade would do for him I Before it fell he had closed with his assailant, who had dropped the oar and fled into the darkness of the crooked streets of Blacktown. Jingo felt too giddy to follow, and returned to the wharf, where he found two boats — one from the Bosfaiuc/i and one from the trans- port. The " Boscawens " were surprised at the unprovoked attack, for which the young sailor could in no way account. The boat's cox put the time-honoured question : '* Well, my lad, who is she ? " but got no answer. The thickness of the muscles at the base of Tom's skull, or perhaps the skull itself, had saved a fracture. The wonder was that the bump of philoprogenitiveness had not been obliterated by the blow, the effects of which he felt for weeks. The motion of the vessel gave him the sensation that his brain was loose — some of his friends have said that it has remained so. The old tub could sail only in one direction, before the wind, which was favourable, and the delighted soldiers declared the Gravesend girls had hold of the tow-rope. What remained of two companies of Artillery were on board, but only two officers — Captain Hill, a big, imperturbable blond, with a moustache to match, and Lieutenant jingo, with his brain loose. There were a number of ladies, grass- widows, and children of officers. Things went pleasantly until it became evident that the skipper, an amiable little man when sober, was very seldom so, and yet persisted in keeping the reckoning himself The crew were a mongrel lot and many coloured. The bo'sun and a few petty officers only were British. The soldiers, told off in watches, pulled and hauled as required, for all were eager to get home. Lieutenant Jingo was on watch one moonlight night, walking the deck with the second officer. All sail was set before a light breeze. Suddenly the sea changed colour from purple to pale green. Being only a soldier, Tom hesitated to express the opinion that the}' were in shallow water over a coral reef, the peculiar aspect of which he knew well. But he did ask for information as to the A CORAL REEF. 119 ■cliange. Before he got an answer, there was a shock which nearly sent both men on their faces. The masts shook, the sails flapped, and the vessel heeled over until it was hard to stand on deck without holding on. Jingo ordered the watch to fall in and tore down to report to his superior, but before he could reach him, he had to run the gauntlet of ladies in deshabille holding up a variety of night-gowned •children for him to save. His swimming feats were known, but the extent of his powers of imagination Lad not been known, even to himself, until this occasion, and when repeated to him in calmer moments he did not recognise his own inventions to account for the entire absence of danger in the situation. On the morrow there was general indignation when the ladies compared notes and found he had promised €ach " mamma " in particular to save her special children, to say nothing of herself Though the sea was comparatively calm, the number of boats was quite inadequate. Ere Tom reached his Captain's cabin, which was a/t, the imperturbable one appeared in voluminous striped pyjamas; that only wanted stars to complete the American banner. Pulling at his blonde moustache, a.s he did in any little difficulty, he said : " Yas ! All wight I Sound the assembly, fall in the men, .and tell the Sergeant-Major to call the roll." But all hands were on deck already, the sailors in a state of •confusion getting contradictory orders from their Captain, who began by wanting everybody put in irons. The only quiet ones were the soldiers, who stood as if on parade, holding on while answering their names to Sergeant-Major Dunlop, who saluted " all present " in his usual parade manner. The first officer, pointing to the gunners, remarked to Jingo— " Those are the only fellows that can be relied upon. Can you pick out a good boat's crew ? " " Yes." " Very well, 1 will take out a kedge anchor, and see if we can't haul the ship astern. I dare not trust our coloured aascals in a boat, they would make for the shore, and may do so anyway, so put a sentry on each boat." The long, low coast of Florida was visible in the moon- light. " But before I can do anything, that drunken sweep, the skipper, must be got into his cabin and locked up there. You fiiil- Vi 11: ii ,'J: 8 120 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEK. explain to your boss that /le has to take the responsibility. It would be mutiny for me." Captain Hill came on deck, correctly dressed, and received the report. He soon took in the situation and the Lieuten- ant's explanation. Though deliberate, as big men often are, in manner and decision, he was as quick to act upon that decision once made, as he was slow to abandon it. He suggested to the obfuscated Captain the propriety of a temporary seclusion, and as the hint was not taken, he hustled the little man into his cabin, locked the door and put the key in his pocket. It was all very well to put sentries on the boats but there were no arms to give them as they had not been taken out of the arm-chests, which had been stowed below, for, though it was war time, no one expected to meet a Russian cruiser. The sentries, apparently unarmed, were posted, but the Lieutenant noticed that Gunner Deacon had the round end of an iron marlin-spike in the hollow of his hand, the point up his sleeve. He said nothing, for the sailors all wore sheath knives. The old Bahama crew were fallen out, and the chief officer ordered them to lower a boat. This was too much for the coloured sailors, they made a rush, led by the bo'sun, who was promptly felled to the deck by the sentry. Gunner Deacon. The coloured men drew their knives, but on the appear- ance of more marlin-spikes, the sailors picked up the bo'sun and retired to the forecastle where they stood sulkily watch- ing the soldiers lower a boat, get out the kedge anchor, and run out a hawser passed round the capstan. The bo'sun .soon came to his senses in more ways than one. He was a Britisli seaman, and ashamed of himself, but having once led the men wrong, he found he could not get them right in a hurry. They refused to work either capstan or pumps, which duties, therefore, devolved on the soldiers, who also, under the direction of the ship's officers and quartermasters, put the sails aback to further help her oft". The ship was rapidly making water, but ihe breeze was light and she lay without bumping. The slack was hauled in and the soldiers began to walk round the capstan cheerily singing a sailor song — " Oh-ye-ho 1 Ramzo 1 gallant Captain Ramzo ! Ramzo was a sailor, gallant Captain Ramzo ! He'd jump 'em and kick 'em and knock a man down I Hey oh ! Ramzo I etc." SOLDIER-SAILORS. 121 The disciplinary methods of the legendary skipper, though severe, seem to have been necessary with mixed crews of coloured men and foreigners.* The capstan bars were manned until they bent. The anchor held, but there was no stir in the ship though the bows were higher than the poop which was afloat. Suddenly with the twang of a gigantic harp-string, the hawser snapped, fortunately close to the capstan, for the ends flew across the deck and would have about cut a man in two had one been in the way. As it was, no one was hurt, for the deck had been kept clear. The men on the capstan were of course flung forward in a heap and the broken end of the hawser, flying along the deck, flashed into the sea in a huge serpent- like coil. The anchor could not be recovered from the boat which returned to the ship. A second hawser and a second anchor were put out with a like result. Meanwhile, as the carpenters could not get at the damage, all spare hands were at the pumps, officers and men taking their turns alike, for the coloured sailors remained useless ♦Jiroiigh fear and sulks. But it was weary work, and no progress seemed to be made though the water was kept from gaming. No refreshment was given to the men, the cooks were at the pumps and the Captain kept the key of the spirit-room. Towards morning the wind and sea began to rise, and the vessel to bump on the rocks. What tide there was seemed at the full. The last chance lay in the best bower anchor and the chain cable. All were tired, but a supreme effort was made ; everything moveable was shifted aft where the ship floated, the capstan hands were exhausted and dispirited. At last a streak of red appeared in the sky, the ship lurched heavily and slid into deep water, an exultant shout rose from the men, but there was a rush of water in the hold. Incessant pumping had still to be kept up. _At noon the officers got observations and found the ship off the coast of Florida. The old tub having only soldiers for cargo (she was probably too unseaworthy to carry anything more valu- able), was light and had made leewa}', and the boozy captain had made no allowance for the set of the Gulf Stream. * The abolition of the navigation laws has almost ousted the ordinary British seaman in the mercantile marine. \Ve are told these clieap, and sometimes nasty, foreign sailor* and free ports have given us the carrying trade of tlie world. We may have to modify both without losing either. The protective policy of other nations and a desire to hold our Empire by conunercial union— the interest of the pocket is stronger than sentiment ; for, '■ where your treasure is there will your heart be also"— may compel a now departure. 122 GUNNER JINGOS JUBILFK. if I 'n ■|i 'iil ill iiii i:,! in r i Getting into the fog region where the warm water meets the cold Arctic current, they were for a long time without reli- able observations ; they went far out of their course oft' the coast of Newfoundland, and the voyage was protracted until all hands had to be allowanced, especially hard on Jingo who had a fearful hunger for flesh food, due to the damp cold and to his abstinence from meat while in the tropics. The fat salt pork and weavelly biscuit were not appreciated by the poor ladies, who willingly abandoned their share to Jingo in exchange for his portion of what there was of farinaceous food in the form of " death-bed puddings," as naughty tart- preferring children call them. Past the fogs, the weather became bitterly cold, and the coloured men more than ever unreliable The gunners did most of the work on deck and a few even volunteered aloft, among them Deacon, who also took his turn at the wheel. One evening when the old tub was beating as close as she could against a head wind. Jingo declared he smelt the perfume of peat reek and the gorse blossom of " ould Oireland," where the gorse is never out of bloom nor kiss- ing out of season, the Lord be praised ! He was derided and told his brain was still loose. Next day they made the old head of Kinsale whose bluffs were crowned with golden gorse in all the glory of early Spring. Fresh provisions were taken in and another start made. At last they sighted the white cliffs of Kent. The first news the pilot brought was that peace was pro- claimed. It damped the pleasure of that insensate Jingo's return, the more so when, seeing the downs of Shorncliffe dotted with white tents, he asked what troops they were, and was told they were the Foreign Legion.* " Prince Awlbert's poor relations," that disrespectful pilot said. Jingo knew that the King's German Legion had rendered good service in the days before our Sovereign fortunately lost Hanover by the Salic Law — but was it necessary under Queen Victoria ? Conscription has dried up that source. In the next strife for national life, Englishmen will have themselves to accept compulsory service for the defence of :l I * The German Legion raised for the Crimea never fired a sliot, but were given Ir.iids in South Africa. It is the only instance where niilitaiy colonisation has been tried by Knglant), and it has been said that the infusion of a German military element among the Boers was not an advantage to us. TWO GREETINGS. 123 the soil as the duty and privilege of a free elector. The sadness of it is, we ?i'/// delay until it is too late to save us from disaster if not some national dismemberment, as befel France, Austria, Denmaik, and Turkey after a few weeks' war. Of course the senile babblers will prattle on about the silver streak as monotonously as it ripples upon our shores, ignoring that the conditions of naval war must have altered since Nelson's time, and we have nothing now to guide us except the efficacy of the torpedo and the unwieldiness of ironclads. Of course the east wind which always blows down the chops of the Channel, welcomed the homeward-bound troop tub. But she reached Woolwich Arsenal Wharf at last. There, Jingo's men were absorbed by a Woolwich adjutant, whose greeting to his comrade was typical of the man and the place — '* Who's your tailor ? " Sun and storm had tarnished our Jingo's uniform. The retort was — " Your's is your maker." The Lieutenant saw his men no more. They were dis- tributed among the conglomeration of companies composing an arm of the service still ludicrously designated as the *' Royal Regiment of Artillery," and were kept out of sight on fatigues until they had also passed through the hands of the Almighty Maker of — modern soldiers. Jingo wandered disconsolately along the long front of the Barracks, as yet ungraced with the figure of P'ame playing quoits with laurel crowns. He could get no quarters, all being reserved for the home-coming siege train. It was late and wet, and he was told to go and look for lodgings in the town. A gruff voice from an upper window shouted : " Here, you long fellow from the West Indies, come and have a shake down with me." It was a Woolwich adjutant! — unlike that other s gold to pinchbeck. There were not many inches of Dick Oldfield, U. but every inch was sterling. » The siege train marched past her Majesty, and Jingo and his men were put to keep the ground with the *' peelers." The solid tread of those magnificent veterans, bronzed and bearded, made their comrade proud of them, though he had no share in their well-earned honours. Some of the schoolboy officers were served out with medals for the parade, which were taken away from them afterwards yJi gi f K \ GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEK. .rJ 1 ■ I. , iti- because they had not been und'T fire. Apparently there is neither heart nor brain to officialdom. A letter was sent by the owners of the hired transport, attributing the safety of their vessel to the detachment of Royal Artillery. The Lieutenant only heard it acciden- tally, and the men not at all, as they had been removed from , his command — the Sergeant-Major getting a commission as Quartermaster, which he so well merited. For his faithful soldier-servant the Lieutenant was able to get a good berth in the officer's mess. Montgomery had yielded to the fascina- tions of a plump, pink cook, too much for him after the dusky damsels of the tropics. He required a rest, and it was better than following the fortunes of a Jingo subaltern ; moreover, his term of service had nearly expired. Tom was glad, therefore, to be appointed Acting-Adjutant to the Field Batteries, which gave him experience of the mounted branch, and took him for a brief space to Aldershot, which was then in its infancy. There he had a closer acquaintance with the German Legion, striking-looking troops, as they marched past sing- ing their " Soldalen-Lieder." Their Anglo-Saxon comrades don't sing so well, but perhaps they fight no worse for their vocal deficiencies. * i .. : ■ \V ■ i .- Returning to Woolwich, he found that entertainments for ' the Crimean heroes were the order of the day and still more of the night — glorious dances with the London belles in the great mess-room, where the marble statue of Armed Science looked down with stony stare upon " fair women and brave men." Jingo had monopolised a lively brown-eyed little brunette, they passed many pleasant quarters of an hour in cosy corners of ante-room sofas, and " mamma " did not seem to mind. In the intervals of dances she devoted to his comrades, one of them remarked to him : ' "Lucky dog! Jolly girl! Nice little piece of ordnance, fifty thousand pounder." But in the breathing space of a mad post-horn galop, the girl pertly said — for fun, let us hope — looking up at the broad expanse on the breast of his tunic : " You have no medals ! Where did so big a fellow manage to hide during the war ? " "Allow me to take you to your mother," was the only answer. " Mamma " gave a cordial invitation to their house in MOPLAHS. 125 town, which was vaguely accepted, but our peppery Jingo never got over that awkward question, which probably pre- vented the popping of another. A brother officer was more fortunate in the wooing of her sister. She admired his jacket and medals, especiall}' the Star of the Medjedi, and sportively asked him for it. "Yes," said he ; " but you must take me with it." About this time Jingo got to know a good many people in the London world, where plain clothes obliterated the dis- tinction of medals. But he soon tired of the crushes, where the big balloon petticoats of the period prevented dancing or even sitting on the stairs ; and, moreover, a great part of his modest allowance disappeared in gloves and hansoms. So he determined to cut Society until ne had won his spurs. To carry out this resolution he cropped his hair so short as to be unpresentable, which excuse would be scarcely possible / now when the back of a blond young man's head looks like aA/ pink sucking-pig. Jingo's brother had an unlooked-for chance in India. The Moplahs, a tribe of Arab fanatics that we are now wisely trying to enlist in our Indian army, had broken into insurrec- tion. A Madras Sepoy regiment had been sent against them. They went for the " Mundrassee Logue " with their huge knives and carved them. The regiment had been formed into square, which diminished their front of fire, and the Moplahs attacked the angle, for the same reason that Vauban did. They broke in and it was a bad business. . ' Jingo Senior was sent against the fanatics with a detach- ment of his father's regiment — the King's Own Borderers. They were met by the Moplahs at the entrance to a bazaar. To fire would have meant shooting into a promiscuous mob of traders, women and children. The K.O.B's were halted. The leader of the Moplahs, in the green turban of a Hadji, advanced and began a harangue, flourishing his tulwar and calling on the faithful to follow. But there was something about the big quiet officer who came out to meet him without drawing sword or pistol, and the set line of white faces behind him with ordered arms, that seemed to have a damp- ing effect on the faithful, which was completed when the officer, without uttering a word, walked close up to the gesticulating Ghazee, evidently " bhanged "* for the occasion, * "Bhang," a preparation of hemp used by Mahometan fanatics, to excite them to fighting trenzy without taking away their senses, except that of sensibility to danger. lia p 126 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. II ;. ml s? s seized him by the wrist of his sword-arm, and bent him to his icnees, wrenching his sword from his grasp. The EngHsh- man put the. blade under his foot, broke it, and flung the pieces into the crowd. The Gha/ee and those behind liim remained stupefied for a few moments. Then the former rose from the kneehng position to which he had been forced, and bowing his head with both hands to his face, made salaam, putting the palms together in the attitude of supplication. •' A-a-p ka Gola-a-m hi I " he said, quietly. " Your High- ness' slave." " Bid your followers to put down their arms at the feet of the Sircar," was the reply. And they did so. ■■■'■' > When Gunner Jingo asked his infantry brother how so simple a proceeding occurred to him, the answer was : " Well, I never thought about it. The fellow looked such a gibbering ape ! " Unlike Jingo, his brother was phlegmatic. Some years after, this same brother was appointed a Cap- tain to a young second batt '''on regiment in Ireland, manu- facturing soldiers out of willing " paddies '' of those days. Our Jingo was sent on the same sort of job to Sheer- nasty-ness on the Medway, where he became District Adjutant. The drudgery and dulness were alleviated by lots of good fellows : Jerry Orton, our medico, a fighting Chaplain from China (Huleatt), "Jovial Jock" Baird, the flag Lieutenant who was Admiral of the Green during the late naval manoeuvres, and a gigantic gunner, named Wolfe, or " the Amal," as he was called, being evidently Norse by name and race, though nothing of a Goth. He was one of those fellows who could do all things well without knowing it, soldier, sportsman, athlete, artist. When the Staft' College was first formed, it was open to the competition of the army, without favour or distinction of corps. At the first examination for entrance, heading the list of about twenty successful candidates, were fifteen Engineer and Artillery officers. It was thought necessary to handicap those corps by allowing only four Artillery officers, as repre- senting some 35,000 men, to enter each term, as against an officer from each battalion of Guards, Infantry c*" the Line, A BRITISH MATRON. 127 or Cavalry Regiment, which practically excluded the scien- tific corps from the Staft" of the Army. The successful candidates who were debarred from entering, by the misfor- tune of belonging to the Artillery, were permitted to go up for the final examination without going through the course of insliuction. Wolfe was one of these. He passed with flying colours, though he was never allowed to serve on the Army Staff, but, like other Artillery officers, was thrust back into the Regimental Staff.* Wolfe and Jingo occupied opposite rooms, and a pair of boxing gloves hung in the passage with which bouts of read- ing and painting were varied. Of these two it had been . said, artists were spoiled when soldiers were made, but as it was a Frenchman who paid the pretty compliment, allowance must be made for Gallic licence. When the leave season came on. Jingo went to the Conti- nent, where he studied and sketched in France, Spain, and Italy, and subsequently did the tour in Switzerland and the Rhine, 'n company with two other gunners likewise artisti- cally inclined, or rather they confined their admiration of beauty to living specimens — a British matron with three pretty girls, for apparently " papa " did nothing but sign cheques. •* Mamma," though her husband had amassed wealth by a patent for improving our batteries — de cuisine — did not approve of gunners I's companions for her girls, preferring a French titled gentleman of a good round age and a good round figure. But what was he among so many ? " ' '■ ' "Though he looked like a tun. Or three single gentlemen rolled into one." The girls, as girls will, differed in taste from mamma, and had each in her turn refused him, 3'et he continued his attacks under cover of the mother, whose watchful strategy was incessantly frustrated. There were traitors in her camp and the intelligence department of the enemy was informed beforehand of every intended march. The route became a very wobbly one in consequence of the maternal efforts to throw the pursuing force off the track of the convoy. In vain at every table d'hote did she flank her charges with the father and the fat Frenchman and place herself opposite, the smiling soldiers came and sat on either side of her, pay- \P i '" The blight on the blue coat hus extended to the Artillery College, no longer for Artillery officers only. ' ■■ wmrmi 128 K GUNNVR JINGO S JUBILEK. ' ' ' Hi 1! i' I; ' i i!; iH : i ■ I ing her such respectful attention as would throw her off her guard, leaving them free to open communications over and, I regret to say, under the table. Matterj ai last culminated. The British matron and her party started from Chamounix for the Mer de Glace when the wily gunners had conveyed the false information of their intended departure in an opposite direction. But they were at he chalet on the glacier before the arrival of the convoy, and had taken all the rooms. It was evening. The rose and sii\'er of the silent Alpine g/iim upon the snow and the black, rocks, the perfume of new-mown hay, full of flowers, froia the scant mountain pastures, the tinkle of bells on re- turning flocks, were all swept from that present to linger only in the memories of the past, by the raucous tones of the incensed Philistine lady, who arrived at the head of her bevy of fair daughters, but to discover that the soldiers were masters of the situation. All their offers to give up their rooms would not pacify her. She strode into the chalet and called for " M'ssoo, le patron." As he did not at once appear and she was tired frjm walking the last part of the steep ascent through fear of sliding oft' her mule backwards, she looked round for a seat. Seeing what appeared by the moonlight streaming through the doorway, to be a low flat stool of tempting white- ness, and therefore cleanness, always dear to the British mind, she, in her most majestic manner, subsided upon — alas, no, into it ! It was a pan of cream on a low stool I As she wore the balloon garment of the period the situation cannot be described. And yet it was only her daughters who audibly gave way to immoderate laughter. The polite young soldiers helped her to rise. No remnant of majesty remained in the limp garments that now clung to her ample person. Assiduously they rubbed her down with wisps of hay, making a noise peculiar to grooms, a transparent outlet for cachinnations that nearly choked them. But they lay awake far into the night in the hay-loft where they slept, shaking with laughter that had still to be suppressed lest the least sounds of it should be audible in the rooms below, where the ladies slept. " Mamma " had been partially pacified after supper and they wished a truce for the morrow. It came, and all started amicably together, but the three guides were required to push up the father and mother and the panting Count, where mules ir A WRATHFUL GAUL. 129 ite 5ty est uid ■ted could no longer travel on the snow and the crevasses, so the gunners took care of the girls and the secure lacing of their Balmoral boots. Pairing off pleasantly, the column of route was at full intervals. The impedimenta necessitating a slower pace in .».ar, the advanced guard arrived before it at the '* Jardin," so called because the Alpine flora blooms in profusion at the edges of the snow, which the brilliant sun, through the clear thin air, converted to tiny rivulets over the soft green turf The girls sat to rest while Jingo clambered to a little knoll for an opening view of the va^'^y bc'ow. He got one — and returned to his companion w lio was eager to share it. Leading her to his coign of vantage : •' Look 1 " he said. Close under them was the fat Frenchman making his toilet, mopping his bald head with a yellow silk pocket-hand- kerchief with one hand, and balancing his wig on the other. He had proposed to the girl the evening before as a forlorn hope. She laughed outright and Tom joined in. The poor startled foreigner hastily replaced his wig hind-side before, and wrathfuUy shook his fist at Tom. The echoes rang with laughter and " sacres," which quickly brought up the rest of the party. Even " mamma " could not stand it, and gave way like the rest. With mingled threats and insults, the Count panted up to Tom, who was finally forced to say he would have to administer a cuffing if he were not silent. To-morrow, matters could be arranged. " Yes, to-morrow," said the angry Frenchman — but he would not stay for lunch. That meeting on the morrow never came off. Not for one moment is it to be supposed that the Frenchman dreaded sword or pistol — it was ridicule he feared. The ladies saw him no more, and thanked Tom for the riddance. The governor said he hoped ** they had seen the last of that con- founded Count," and " mamma " added, " the poor dear man was too funny for anything." Even to marry her daughter she probably meant. They planned further expeditions across the Alps to the Italian lakes, and soon, but *' I'homme propose, (he didn't in this case), Dieu dispose." In the valley was a telegram for Tom. The Indian Mutiny had broken out, and he was offered an appointment on the X ' >■ * —■- *ii. fWr V' n 130 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEB;. / -/ \l II Staff of his old Colonel, to go out with the first detachment of troops by the overland route. This time his chance had come and he took it. The farewell was hasty, and the journey home without a break. / 7 131 CHAPTER XIII. Indian Equipments — The Land of the Pharaohs — The Red Sea AND Colombo— Calcutta and Contemporary History— Bullock Train March — Benares Punishment Parade — A Commissary of Ordnance— The Butcha — A Plum-Pudding — A Start — Gun Elephants— The Hooshiar One — An Ekka — A Release. On arrival in England, Jingo was met by his father, who had left the army to save himself from being promoted to the rank of General, thus losing the price of his commissions. Everything was hurry and bustle to get the lightest possible outfit for an Indian campaign, about which the only thing certain was that a minimum weight would be allowed. The detachment was the first to be sent by the overland route. The big ditch had not been dug by the forced labour of Egyptian Fellahs, directed by the brilliant French- man who was to suffer at the close of his long life because he had not calculated the cost between forced and free black labo'"- the difference between salubrious sands and mia 'tic marsh and rock, in short, between Northern Africa nd Central America. Let ns see what the Almighty American and his dollar will do with the Nicaraguan canal I The isthmus of 'uiez was vciy much what the children of Israel left it, except for a few niile- of railroad just begun. The means of transport were much the same. The force carried "its treasure" (anus, ammunition, and busbies) "on the bunches of camels," thi inselveson the croppers of asses, and in four-wheeled chariots called " char-^-bancs." The men were clothed in white caiivn sea-kits and were supposed to pass as an unarmed party i was not known how far the passing of troops would ' considered a breach of the neutrality of Egypt. But things are changed for the better, thanks to the commercial instinct of our great Hebrew " Maire du Palais," and the warlike poHcy of his " peace at any price " successor. K— 2 !i^'f PIT 132 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEK. ■■;:' But we are anticipating. A regimental ball was given to the departing officers, and as all England was palpitating with horror at the atrocities of the . Mutiny, the avengers were conjured by gentle dames and damosels to slay and spare not. Yet in the first newspaper they saw in Calcutta an M.P. questioned our right to "let loose a brutal and licentious soldiery on the mild Hindoo." The Royal Artillery had not served in India since the battle of Plassy. The requirements of India were unknown quantities, that even a scientific corps could not supply. So the men were served out with pillow cases to put over their busbies, with a pocket in front holding a leather peak, which, as there were no means of keeping it at any angle, flapped over the wearer's nose and eyes. " Flap-doodles," the irreverent soldiery styled them. They were given to the men as they marched off the parade after an address from the hero of Kars, Sir Fenwick Williams — a pair of pillow cases and two flap-doodles to each officer and man, to be carried in the hand as they marched to the land of the Pharaohs. Even the solemn Sphinx might have smiled had she seen the head gear provided by a thoughtful War Department. But she never had the chance ! The reckless staff* officer who led the column down the High Street of Woolwich, skied his two peaks, boomerang-fashion, and they came back with a vindictive curve to his Colonel's feet, who administered a mild rebuke — too late I The men had followed the ex- ample set them and the air was thick with skimming scimi- tar-shaped pieces of leather. As to the armament, some of the woodwork of the gun-carriages bore the date of the battle of Waterloo. When Jingo became a Captain and was left in command of a battery, he felt it his first duty to break up those old carriages by trotting them over rough ground until they dropped to pieces and new ones had to be supplied. So the old gun-carriages were embarked, but wives and children, alas I had to be abandoned to the merry music of "The Girl I left behind mc I" Short service has to a certain extent remedied the evil of too many married soldiers. This time it was no old tub of a sailing troopship, but the splendid Australian steam-packet, packed rather close to be sure, but with comparative luxury, for the warmer latitudes soon nllowed sleeping on deck. They sped through the MeditCi lanean, past the pillars of Hercules, the old rock THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 133 fortress of Gibraltar on one hand and the African coast Jingo knew so well, on the other, and where he had sailed in the little " Gitana " over the purple waters which had borne the keels of Carthagenian and Roman Triremes, the long galleys of the Norsemen and their descendants of to-day. The shores have changed, but not the sea — "Time writes no wrinkles on thine azure brow." Malta I Cairo ! Everybody knows them without seeing, and reads in the guide-books about the Knights of one and the Mamelukes of the other. The East of " Eothen " is fami- liarised. Tommy Atkins, the little man with a penny cane, has introduced the Pyramids and the Pharaohs to Badalia Herodsfoot and the East-end costers ; and Cleopatra's Needle, does it not stand dwarfed and abashed by the big houses on the Thames Embankment ? But the potent spell of the records in stone and dessicated men and women of this most ancient civilization is not weakened for thinkers, because man}' have seen without thinking of aught but that Bass's beer is good at Sheppard's Hotel after a hot, dusty tramp in the footsteps of the Pharaohs. More pleasant to contemplate is the conservative tyranny of the Pharaohs than the dyspeptic radicalism of the dismal dweller by the Lake Shores of primitive Europe, he who sat on the platform of his pile-built dwelling, too cowardly to fight his neighbour on the shore. He and his women dropped their bone brooches, their hairpins and their fish- hooks into the kitchen midden heaps of shells, just as the Maoris do to-day. Let us hope that the young world was warmer, and that there were hot springs bubbling out in volcanic old Europe as in Maori land to-day, enabling them to boil their suppers, and to parboil themselves. The Cave Dweller living on the sunny side of the rivers of France was evidently a bolder and a happier man ; he warmed him- self with the chase of the curve-tusked mammoth and the reindeer, while his wife stayed at home to cook and receive visitors. In the evening, by the fire he scratched pictures of himself, his wife, and his hunting, on the tusk of the mammoth, which h s descendants dig up long ages after when the world has grown old and tired. Neither Cave nor Lake Dweller worried about his soul, to him the claims of his stomach were more imperious than they were to those lentil-fed dwellers by the Nile. They suffered soul hunger, i!,* •? t~ I II !'■! ^ii 134 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. which was fed by the Priests with solemn ritual, and the body was kept for the soul's return. The future of reward and punishment is everywhere pictured. It dwarfed the importance of daily life to a nation of slaves content to build pyramids for their masters in return for a mere pittance of bread and onion. It was a creed only less com- forting than that of the Christian slave in Pagan Rome, who was liable to be thrown into a fish pond at the caprice of a mistress; or of the Salvationist in London to-day, because in lieu of mere consciousness of salvation acquired with the help of drum and tambourine, it imposed the necessity of work to be done. Moses was a practical man, he told the people he wished to raise from slavery to be a nation of cultivators and warriors, nothing about their souls, steeped though he must have been in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, his mother's people perhaps. Does not Renan, the great Hebrew scholar, think so ? He preferred to hold before the Israelites only earthly rewards and earthly service, " vine- yards that ye planted not, cities that ye builded not." And the Jew, like the Scotchman, has tried to keep not only the commandments, but ever3'thing else he could lay his hands on.* The Egyptian has been bested by both. He was spoiled by the Israelite of old, and the Scotch engineer stokes up his engine with the mummy that was embalmed for the return of his soul. Among the rifled tombs Jingo found an Egyptian girl ruthlessly deprived of her cerements. She was 4,000 years old, and yet she died young 1 Her thin face had a refined look, the once full lip had been pressed by her last lover — Death — had she ever another? Jingo took her small, thin, brown hand in his big, hot one, with futile wonder whether her soul would feel the sympathy of the passing soldier. Her little finger with its filbert nail came off, and he put it in his pocket for that other girl he might some day make his wife. Would she appreciate the memento of her rival's last flirtation ? The steamer to embark the troops on the other side of the isthmus was delayed a week, giving time for a pic-nic to the pyramids. The cavalcade of long-legged soldiers cantered gaily out on Cairene donkeys ; very much like Kingsley's ♦ Max O'Rell. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 135 Goths were these, their descendants, prone, with boisterous good humour, to fight, drink, or to make love, whichever came first. At the foot of the great pyramid, which is a stairway of gigantic steps, each one about three feet high, and a broad platform on the summit, looking like a point from the far below, the wrists of our Jingo were seized by two wiry Arabs, who intended to haul him up and be backsheeshed, while another inserted his turbanned head behind him as a pro- pelling ready-cushioned seat. A backward kick sent the proffered Ottoman flying, and with a right and left bander our angry Goth smote the Egyptian on either side. They fell prone, while the long-legged barbarian, taking each stone in a giant's stride, reached the top without a pause. The races remained unchanged, one barbaric at bottom with a veneer of civilisation, the other an ancient civilisation over- laid with barbarism. A few days saw the detachment across the isthmus in motley order of march, after a fireless night-bivouac on the extremely cold desert, which at night parts with its sun- acquired caloric. On the morning after arrival they were mustered, hot, dry, and dusty in the Quadrangle of the Hotel at Suez. Sad-faced ladies, many in mourning, the first fugitives from India, watched from the balconies the arrival of the first reliefs from England. Suddenly they were amongst the dusty ranks with baskets of oranges and ginger-pop, and the thirsty gunners were aUcn(irisi>es to demoralisation : when it got to bottled beer there might have been heard : " Yes, mum, we'll pay hoif them blooming black beastesses ! " The saturnalia had to be sternly stopped by the officers, whom the ladies had not noticed. The night, hot and stuffy, was passed by the zealous Staff" Officer in the hold of the troopship, superintending the stowing of ammunition, and when morning broke in blood- red glory over the shining wet sand and sea, the site where the destruction of the Egyptian army might well have been, he tried to dash off' a sketch of the scene in water-colour. His chief stood behind him. " How can you waste time when there is so much to be done ? " he said. w 136 V GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. The Colonel, who never spared himself nor anyone else, did not know how his Staff Officer had passed the previous hours. "There is nothing more to be done, sir," was the reply, " everything is stowed away." He ripped off the offending sketch and sent it flying down the morning breeze. Henceforward every spare moment was devoted to learning Hindustani, the first language baby Jingo had spoken, and it came back to him as bj' magic. A crowded troopship — the Red Sea in summer need not be described, nor burn t-up Aden, nor Colombo, with its palms, outrigger canoes, and native population of apparently inter- changeable sexes, men with petticoats and knotted up back hair, and women ditto. Calcutta was in a fever. Lord Canning had refused to accept white volunteers, or disarm doubtful regiments, until they had shot their officers. Of course in these days, when the sentence of contemporary history' is so often reversed, we say he was quite right. Then — with Cawnpore, the base of Sir Colin Campbell's relief for Lucknow, in a critical position, things still looked gloomy, notwithstanding the hard-won success of Delhi and of Havelock's desperate march. The detachments were hurried up without twenty-four hour's delay. Everything not absolutely necessary was left behind in store at Calcutta, including the busbies in their pillow-case covers. In those days sun-helmets were not. The Colonel ordered a quantity of turban stuff in the Bazaars which, folded round the men's forage caps, Sikh fashion, down the temples and round the base of the skull, gave ample protection against sun and sabre strokes, besides providing them with a pillow. The smart Hussars wore it folded neatly round the edge of the forage cap, thus courting sunstroke on the exposed temple, and they suffered acordingly for the whim of their Colonel. What the old Anglo-Indian heads were made of is a wonder ; that there was good stuff inside them is certain, probably the white powdered wig and three- cornered cocked hat of Clive's day were as good as a " solar topee." There was a short railway journey to Ranegunge, and A PUNISHMENT PARADE. 137 then a long tramp up the Grand Trunk Road with the bul- lock train, for many nights and days without a halt, except to eat. Bullocks failing, wretched villagers with their beasts had to be impressed ; the owners often bolted, and the bullocks, unaccustomed to Europeans, became unmanageable. But the detachments pushed on, and one morning the sacred city of Benares, with temples and ghats reflected in the yellow Ganges, rose out of the plain with the sun. A parade of the garrison drawn up in hollow square — a line of unlimbered guns — opposite, a row of Sepoy prisoners — fine-looking Oudh men with the handsome features of their Jhat, some still clothed in the tight coatee and shoulder wings, the white dhotee for trousers, scarce reaching to the knee — on the right an old native oflHcer, with a white beard and moustaclie carefully curled like a white cat's, and wearing on the breast of his uniform the medal for the Sikh cam- paign, round his neck the gilt necklace and the Order of Merit. These men had been tried by Court Martial and con- victed of mutiny and the murder of their officers — " Nimuck Harami " — (faithless to their salt) — thej' were to undergo the native punishment of being blown away from guns, when their remains would be collected by the sweeper caste, a defilement that would neces3itate, for the Hindoo, ages of degraded transmigration for his soul ere he could hope to be re-embodied in the caste he would lose by such a death. The veteran native officer sf nped from the ranks and saluted the Brigadier. " Sahib, I have often faced death for the Sircar, (Government), let me show my Baba logue (children) how to die." " Yes," said the Brigadier, " pity you did not show them how to live like loyal Poorbeah soldiers." The old man made no reply but marched proudly up to the flank gun, and saluting it with his right hand, touching the muzzle and then his forehead on the caste mark, he looked steadily at the gunner. Then he gave the command : "Ready! Fire!" When the smoke cleared, a heap lay on the ground. The guns were not shotted, it was not necessary. " Now men," said the Brigadier, " follow your officer." But no man moved. I'H If I' if 1 1 ( 138 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. The six right hand files had to be marched to the six guns, faced about, and their arms stretched and tied to the wheels at either side. ••Ready I Fire I " The six heads bowed, but this time the pieces flew. • Lieutenant Jingo's post was a few paces in rear of the centre of the line of guns. An arm flew back, rotating from the wrist where it had been tied, and sent a swish of blood into his face. He wished the campaign had opened for him in some other fashion, asked leave to stand further to the rear and wiped his face. The difficulty was solved by using a reduced saluting charge instead of the service one, and no more remains flew back. The disagreeable duty completed, the Force marched back to breakfast, and the sweepers gathered the remains. Brahman, Rajpoot, an J Musselman — " In one red burial blent." None had flinched. It was Kismet. A Field Force to throw itself into Oudh, cut itself free from base of supply and line of communication, and effect a junction with Sir Colin Campbell before Lucknow, was to be hastily formed under General Franks, a fine old crusted veteran, one of the original " Rakes of Mallow," it was said, for he hailed from there. A small siege train was required, for there were fortified cities (to wit, Sultcfnpoore) and strong positions between them and their objective. Also a reserve of field service Infantry ammunition had to be organised. Colonel Maberly, the Commanding Officer of the Artillery Division was the man for the occasion, and he had named the luckless Lieutenant Jingo, Commissary of Ordnance. " But, sir," remonstrated that unhappy youth, •' I'll be out of the fighting ;" and waxing hot, added : " Sir, I did not accept a position on the Royal Artillery Staff to run a Noah's ark ammunition train." •' You will obey orders and not talk nonsense. I have arranged for your full share of seeing the fighting. The General wants an extra galloper to carry orders in action ; you aren't a light weight, but I told him you would ride any- thing and go anywhere, so that's settled. Sit down now and calculate the amount of transport, elephants, camels, and bullock-hackeries you will require, for the field siege train, ammunition for the guns, howitzers and mortars, the reserve A COMMISSARY OF ORDNANCE. 139 for the Field Artillery Division, the supply of Infantry am- munition in the field, and their reserves." And the Colonel threw him a bundle of papers covered with figures of the estimated amount of ammunition for the various calibres, etc., which he had already calculated. There only remained for Jingo to estimate the number of transport animals — merely that and nothing more. Great Jingo ! Which was to carry what and how much ? It was like a horrid arithmetical question from " Alice in Wonder- land." His poor bewildered brain saw an endless Noah's ark procession of elephants, " a-waving of their trunks," packing themselves with 24-pounder death-pills, camels and sacred bulls slowly trundling sacrificial cars full of fuzes, while the wooden axles turned and creaked in his brain. A crowd of apathetic gharrywans, already bitoed (sat) outside the office tent, their heads wrapped in their bedding to keep out the morning cold. To every question asked as to what weight their hackeries would carry, came the grunted : " Haw I Sahib 1 Gee haw ! " Jingo felt inclined to smite them for their asinine reply, which after all was only — " Yes, sir I " Then the Commissarist Gomashta and the oleaginously interpreting Baboo also said, " Yes, sah ! " with hateful Oriental acquiescence to any impossibility proposed by a '' Sahib." Oh, for one hour of Bishop Colenso with his biblical arithmetic, to find out how many of which would go into what I But his chief, whose head was worth two of his subordinate's for figures, ultimately came to the rescue of the bewildered Lieutenant. He could not forbear a smile at the jottings already put down by the puzzled Jingo. Wisely he took upon himself the calculations and left the Lieutenant to the executive. Between them and various Baboos, and stolid old Sergeants, the ammunition transport was at lasi organised. Then — the reward — the General's galloper ! He had no horse — none was to be got for love or money. There were barely sufficient for the Field Artillery, none for the Artillery Staff, and there were elephants and bullocks for the heavy guns. In an evening stroll Jingo met a stately Afghan in a long ■ ■ ' • »'■ 1 m : t; m fii ! * i; 4,, i J. > m 140 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. fur poshteen, striding at the head of his caravan of camels and horses. War or no war he must trade, or rather, on account of war, he had brought his horses to sell. There was one, a compact Caubul grey stalHon, only 14-2 hands, and barely four years old, carrying a pack of raisins and tobacco as proudly as if it were a Princess. A bargain was struck without the usual haggling, much to the grief of the Afghan, who got just what he asked, some raisins being thrown into the bargain as it was Christmas Eve. A plum pudding would be necessary. The few servants who could be got by the officers of newly-arrived English troops were not, in those distressful days, the sort who turn out a lovely dish from nothing in no time. "If ycu wish to preserve your appr Mte, never inspect the cook's proceedings," is a wise maxin' in many lands. But plum pudding was a mystery to the jungle wallah who acted as bobbachee. Jingo had to supervise, and when he saw the filthy cloth the pudding was to be boiled in he rushed to provide a substi- tute. The first thing which came to hand was a lady's long white stocking pulled out of Jingo's bullock trunk by a brother sub amid shouts of *' Who is she ? " The fact was, that, having worn ou his socks in the tramp up the Grand Trunk Road, Jirjm 'id sent the Baboo interpreter to buy some in the Bazaar. The man had returned with ladies' long cotton stockings ! The prize was carried oflf and the pudding boiled in it, a temporary garter closing the top. Great was the astonish- ment of the Colonel when the lifted cover disclosed a lady's leg ! A surgical operation with a pen-knife released the pudding, which was pronounced not bad, considering — but — there was something peculiar ! And the festive evening was marred by the early disappearance of some members of the mess. The raisins had been carried in a bag which had held tobacco. At last the Eield Force paraded to move. In the centre, the phalanx of solid British infantry in line of contiguous columns — on the right, the loth, the General's old regiment, spick and span in scarlet, old soldiers of Indian service who had not been to the Crimea and who looked like Grenadiers beside the boy battalions of the 97th and 20th, both recruited after the depletion of veterans in the Crimean war, Thring's Roj'al Battery on the right — on the left, Cotter's Horse Battery from Madras — in the rear, a Bengal bullock battery. THK BUTCH A. 141 1] while Waller's elephants drawing the heavy guns in tandem, towered likea vision of the army of Pyrrhus above the bayonets of the British Infantry which gleamed through the thin veil of dust that was already rising from incipient movement. On the extreme right again, a troop of British '* Tommies " mounted on tattoos, made a good substitute for cavalry, of which there were none, but a few wild squadrons of Irregular Punjabi horse. In rear of all was the Ghoorka Brigade of Infantry with many-coloured umbrellas stuck in the muzzles of their muskets, and looking like a crawling column of brilliant lady-birds, while flanking them was their own ex- tremely irregular artillery. Jung Bahador had loyally sent the Nepaulese army sweeping from the hills to share in the loot of the cities of the plain. The redoubtable Ghoorka Infantry, under their own officers, were a useless and un- disciplined mob. What the little Ghoorka becomes under a British officer goes without saying. There are no martial strains to enliven real war. The bandsmen were all in the ranks with rifles, except the Company buglers. But away behind the tangled ammunition columns was the crowd of camp followers — grass-cutters, dhoolie-bearers, tents, bazaar and baggage animals, an endless stream of struggling, gesticulating men, gurgling camels, placid elephants, and ox carts. Cries of " Oh ! Raam-jee I Oh I Ra-a-am Bux 1 " between lost friends, mingled with the British "damnl" and "Juldee kurro " (make haste) of the rear guard. The General's trumpeter had sounded the advance — little clouds of dust and dancing pennonless lance-points spreading across the front and flanlvS showed where the Irregulars were scouting. Jingo got the order to lead the elephant battery (Captain Waller's) by the best road. The horsed guns could make their way across the sparsely fenced country and it was the dry season. His little horse, " Butcha," full of pride and gram, in his brass bossed appointments, carrying a Royal gunner instead of a pack of raisins and tobacco, was jumping out of his skin, eager to fight the biggest horse he could find. He promenaded a good deal on two legs, in fact the regimental jokist had remarked ; "Jingo's horse has six legs, and this I'll prove to you. For he lifts up his fore legs, and then he stands on two." fi. I! 1| ■ 142 GUNNER JINGO S JUUILEE, ' 1 And the result was similar to that told of Mrs. Simpkins in the song. When he reached the elephant battery, he had been quieted down to a hand canter. The leading elephant raised his trunk and trumpetted. This was too much for the mountain-bred Butcha. Camels he had seen, " but never aught like this." He rose, balanced a moment, and Jingo, quitting the stirrups, took a lock of mane with his bridle hand to avoid pulling him over. No use — over he fell backwards, his rider barely escaping the peaks of the regimental saddle which dug into the ground. Jingo scrambled to his feet but he had fallen on the handle of his pistol, which had slipped round the sword belt to the back. It was a nasty one, but he and Butcha picked themselves up and started the elephant battery. The Butcha got used to elephants and to most things before the campaign was over. There was the long tangle of ammunition train to drill into the habit of moving on the reverse flank to avoid getting in the way of fighting deployment, for, in those days, there was a pivot flank. To impress the tactical fact, " that left in front, right's the pivot," and vice versa, upon the brains of ount wallahs (camel drivers) and gharry wans, with his limited knowledge of Hindustani, drove young Jingo to the verge of distraction. As for the dust, the sentence of reversion to it seemed likely to be prematurely carried out. When a cart broke down, the contents, say "howitzer" ammunition, had to be distributed on others and thws would get mixed with gun ammunition or infantry small arm, and so had to be readjusted on arrival in camp, when they did eventually arrive, dog-tired and long after everyone else. But after a few days, his wonderful Sergeant conductors soon had everything running smoothly. Once get a native into a groove and he'll stay in it. One day the siege train halted, a heavy gun had stuck in the muddy bottom of a nullah. Jingo rode up, they unhooked the leading tandem elephant to get him to shove behind or lift the muzzle of the gun with his trunk. But he would not, he only bellowed and swore and swayed uneasily, shifting from one foot to the other in the sticky mud in which he was sinking. At last, with a piteous shrill trumpet, he touched the sharp point of the iron sight on the ! ! THE HOOSHIAR ONE. 143 muzzle.* The wise brute's meaning was evident without the mahout's explanation. " He says he is afraid of hurting himself, sahib." " Well/' said Jingo, in jest, " tell him to spoke the wheel." " Promise him backsheesh, sahib, and he will,'' was the answer. The elephant carefully got himself a securer footing, and curling his trunk round a lower spoke made the wheel revolve, the shaft elephant put in his ponderous weight, and the gun slowly rose out of the mud and rolled up the opposite bank. The triumphant mahout demanded backsheesh for his " Hooshiar Hatti " (wise elephant). " You scamp I You want the backsheesh for yourself I " " No, sahib, I dare not cheat him, and if you don't give him backsheesh, he will remember you are no gentleman and will never work for you again." " There is something in that," thought Jingo, " whichever is master, elephant or mahout, must have the backsheesh." "All right," said he aloud, flipping up a couple of rupees, which the mahout caught in succession. " How shall I know you don't cheat him ? " " Come and see him fed this evening, sahib." At last that dreary march did have an end. Long after everyone else was comfortably smoking the pipe of repletion, the weary, dinnerless Jingo sat on liis charpoy in the tent shared with Joe Smart, the Adjutant. Genial Joe I A native came up and salaamed. " What next ? " thought Jingo, " are the Ghoorkas smoking hubble-bubbles inside their ammunition boxes ? " It was an invitation to see the Hooshiar Hatti get his supper. " Blow the Hooshiar Hatti ! I haven't had my own supper." " Seeing is believing, sahib," said the mahout, im- pressively. Jingo' dinner or supper, that is to say, his first morsel since breakfast was not ready, so he followed the mahout ♦ Specially pointed sights had been fixed to avoid using the awkward old-fashioned qnarter sikIus. w \¥ Hill 144 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. down the elephant lines. The moon had risen and silvered the great grey backs of the monsters who were blowing dust over themselves. The Hooshiar one was swaying to and fro, fanning himself with a branch, looking like a mad male Ophelia who had not drowned himself, but lived to be old and bald, and had thatched his head with straw and wild weeds. Huge chupatties (flat cakes made of flour, rancid butter, and coarse sugar) had been purchased and stood on edge round the fire where the mahout had cooked the elephant's backsheesh supper before his own, the animal keeping an eye all the time on the proceedings. Taking one of the chupatties, the mahout offered it to the wise one, who weighed it carefully with his trunk and Hien de- posited it with a satisfied smack in his raw-looking mouth. " Now, sahib, this second chupattie is light weight, you see he will find it out." The elephants are accustomed to a certain ration weight of chupattie when fodder is scarce. The Hooshiar took the chupattie by the edge, weighed it, there came an angry twinkle in his wicked little eye, and he caught the mahout a slap in the face with the huge leathery chupattie, which knocked him heels over head. " See, sahib, I dare not cheat him 1 " And he went up with a larger chupattie. " Here, you foolish one, did I ever cheat you ? This is overweight." And the wise one was mollified and made to salaam the sahib, who went back to his supper. The Hooshiar one generally led the train. He had a habit which his mahout connived at. The route of the heavy guns ocemed to be irresistibly drawn through sugar cane kates, where the elephants would deftly sweep up a trunkful, and tapping the roots on their knees, to knock oft' the earth, would suck the ends as one would asparagus. Then the wretched Ryots would come crying for justice with uplifted hands, and the mahout would say he was exceedingly sorry, and the next day "da capo." The elephant which carried the Staff tent and baggage and his mahout were equally deficient in morality. Passing through a village, the beast lifted anything hand}' and passed it up to the mahout. The baggage increased to a mountain, and the elephants were always late in coming up. So the smart Adjutant had an inspection when out tumbled a whole curiosity shop, brass cooking pots, carpets, etc. The mahout GUN ELEPHANTS. 145 was handed over to the provost sergeant for a thrashing and the elephant looked on and inwardly chuckled. On one occasion a river had to be crossed. The Hooshiar was in the lead and declined to pass the bridge, refusing to believe the statement of the Royal Engineer that it was all right. After trying with one foot and then with the other, he shouted his contempt for the whole corps of R. E. In vain the mahout mercilessly dug the iron into the back of the animal's neck until the blood flowed, in vain were promises of backsheesh held out. At last a Bengal gunner solved the difficulty. Taking his lunch under a mango tree, he said : " Don't worry the wise brute, let him take the gun through the river, and you come and have a drink." The wise one was unhooked and sent to try the river bottom, which he reported solid, and in walked the whole train, dragging the heavy guns through. They disappeared. Jingo felt depressed with responsibility — would they ever come up again I Nothing remained above water but the breathing tips of the elephants' trunks and the mahouts standing on the backs of the submerged animals. Through they went, up the shelving banks, and out the opposite side, while the ammunition carts, oxen, and camels crossed the bridge. It was hard for a GriflF to understand the wisdom and ways of the men and beasts of the mysterious East. Jingo went to get a coal to light his pipe from the cooking fire of a naked bullock driver. The man had a string over his shoulder and a spot of white paint on his forehead. The Christian shadow fell upon the Brahman's food, his foot had rested inside the circle drawn round the fire. The man rose and threw away his dinner with a gesture of disgust. Jingo felt irritated. " He, the heir of all the ages, in the foremost files of time," who tubbed regularly, to defile the food of that squatting savage 1 Bah I that man's ancestors were civilised when Jingo's wore blue paint ! Besides, the poor wretch had lost his dinner — Jingo never spoilt another native meal. There was like to be a bad row. A Ghoorka soldier per- sisted in cutting into the line of ammunition waggons with his cart. The sergeant conductor smote the oxen and damned and hustled the driver. The man drew his cookerie and the sergeant knocked him down with a stick of firewood. It was the private cart of a Ghoorka Colonel with a harem lady I But relief came at last in the shape of a Bengal n 146 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. !|; !■ f Artillery officer who knew Hindustani. His men had mutinied without murdering him and his occupation being gone, he was sent, to Jingo's intense delight, to relieve him of the duties of Commissary of Ordnance. Then there was a day's halt — a blessed halt I A portion of the force was engaged within sound of cannon. Was the unlucky Jingo never to get himself foughten I Something had been forgotten. Jingo must go back to the town they had already passed. " Oh, yes, it was quite safe ; The enemy would not run in that direction." Jingo did not want to kill his horse and he might miss the way, for night was coming on, so he got a native with an ekka. Why an ekka ? " Ek " means one. It is a cart to carry one, but it must be a being with rever- sible hinges to his or her legs to sit on a platform less than two feet square, covered with a dome. For a fellow six feet two, here was a problem ! The machine should have been called a " sulky," for Jingo felt that way as he started, the native driver sitting some- where between the shaft and the horse's tail. The long legged sub tried all sorts of postures. If his legs stuck out they were broken on the wheel, if they hung out behind the pony was lifted off its feet. The most convenient posture was to hitch his feet into the roof and sit on his own shoulders. He executed his commission to the Colonel's satisfaction, and returned to Camp at daylight, broken on his rack, for every joint ached. But he unstiffened after a delicious bath administered in a jet from the mussach of a faithful Bhistie, a good breakfast, and the sense of release, from that awful siege train. But, alas I he was still to be haunted by the ghost of it. Five years later, on leaving India, he was detained — his accounts could not be settled ! He had not taken a receipt for it when handed over to another officer. A perspiring Baboo in the Paymaster- General's office presented him with a bill amounting ta near a lakh of rupees — to wit : . R. A. P. I Siege Train, with appurtenances thereof 99,000 4 3 In vain he protested that he had not feloniously appropriated it as a light equipment for snipe-shooting, and as he had been ordered to embark, he bolted, and left the perspiring one desolate. -^ ' ;- • * •, .2 ;; .; . ; . 147 / id .- CHAPTER XIV. ;. K ;^ > ' The Scrimmage of Secundra — Artillery Tactics in India — Chanda, A Spoilt Battle — A Regimental Legend— A Climax. March I March 1 It was getting monotonous through the flat fields of the Jaunpore District. Here indigo, there sugar-cane, wheat or grain, now and then a burnt-up bit of barren plain or scrubby jungle or mango tope. And there was dust, always dust 1 The brilliant winter sun was not overpowering, and the hour before dawn, when the march commenced, was cold enough to make one glad to get the feet out of stirrups and walk. On the morning of the 22nd of January, General Franks was joined by Colonel D'Aguilar and his Battery of Horse Artillery, with two squadrons of Queen's Bays who had made a dash from Allahabad and a night march. The next morning, the General attacked — Horse Artillery in advance on the flanks of the Infantry skirmish line, the heavy guns kept in reserve, as also the CO. of Artillery and his Staff. The rebels occupied a belt of low jUngle, which concealed their movements and made it difficult for guns to get through, thus necessitating wide and irregular intervals between guns and supports, never much regarded by the gunner of that day in India, whose maxim was : " L'audace, encore l'audace, toujours l'audace I " exemplified by such a quartette of gunners as General Olpherts, V.C. (Hell-fire Jack), Colonel Maude, V.C, General Tombs, V.C, and last but not least. Lord Roberts, V.C. Brigadier Wood (Sir David) reports : — " At all times the freest use has been made of the Field Artillery, doing what would be considered in European war- fare, the duty of Infantry," while Anderson's Horse Artillery on emergency charged as Cavalry. When riding at the head of his guns through the low bush. Captain Thring was surprised by an agile native swordsman, whose L-2 \ , ' t 9'{ . ; a 1 '■ ;' '. i''t! ! I 148 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. keen tulwar cut through the peak of the sun-helmet and the skin of his nose, stopped only by the thick folds of his pugaree. The powerful Englishman settled accounts with his assailant, whose loss was his life as against a patch of white sticking plaister on Thring's sunburnt nose, which produced a temporary squint and much merriment among his comrades. The General, gradually forcing his way through the jungle with the Infantry, sent Colonel D'Aguilar with two Horse Artillery guns and two squadrons of the Bays to threaten the enemy's left flank, " directing him at the same time to observe the greatest caution," so the official account of the action at Secundra says. The 1 esult of the caution was that Colonel D'Aguilar, with his little detachment, got possession of the rebels' camp, destroying their tents and blowing up three cartloads of ammunition. In spite of the difficult country from which the enemy was driven, our losses were inconsiderable. This was an unsatisfactory commencement for Joe and Jingo and their chief, who had neither part nor lot in it, but they managed to cut themselves loose next time. Before daylight on the 19th of February, the force marched as usual. About the time they were looking forward to a mid-day meal, they had another style of refreshment. The enemy's Artillery opened fire at long ranges and were replied to by our heavy guns. Middleton's and Cotter's (Madras) horsed guns got the order to advance with the skirmishers, directly against the entrenchment of Chanda. The skirmish, or really the fighting line, was composed of the picked marksmen of the 1 0th, the 20th, and the 97th Regiments, under Colonel Longden, very much as the old light companies of Regiments used to be worked, and their fire, combined with that of the Artillery, was exceedingly effective. There was a minimum target for the enemy and the main body of the Infantry and the heavy guns, which were pounding away, were kept out of range of the enemy's musketry. A fighting line of skirmishers and Field Artillery were General Franks' invariable tactics, as they were exceedingly elastic and quick in their movements. Before the advance, Colonel Maberly, taking Jingo with him, rode lorward to reconnoitre positions and a line of advance for the guns. Seizing the advantageous cover of a mango-grove, A SPOILT BATTLE. 149 ly \, they got within about 300 yards of the right flank of the enemy's position. The round shot from their own heavy guns swished high over their heads. " I think they are making off, sir," remarked Jingo, looking through his field glasses. " Lend me your glasses," replied the Colonel. He satis- fied himself in a few moments, and, handing back the glasses, mounted hastily, and dashed away at a gallop, straight for the enemy's entrenchments. Jingo thought his chief was demented but swung himself into his saddle and followed him. The enemy's fire was heavy from their centre and left flank, but had nearly ceased from the right, towards which the pair were making. It was evident that the enemy were retiring from their own left. Jingo followed his chief across the shallow ditch, riding through the embrasure. A dead Sepahi gunner lay beside the silent gun, but the mass of the enemy was hurriedly retreating towards their left. " Mark these two guns as captured by the Royal Artillery," said the Colonel. " How am I to do it, sir ?" " Write it with the point of your sword, sir," shouted the Colonel, and a large R. A. was scrawled on the bronze guns above the fish crest of the Kings of Oudh. Meanwhile the fire was getting hot from the advancing British skirmishers, Enfield bullets came whistling through the embrasure. " Fasten your handkerchief to the point of your sword," was the next order, *' mount the parapet and wave it." The pocket-handkerchief was not a clean one, but it went up to procure a cessation of fire from friends, and to proclaim the capture of that part of the position. The display on the parapet was not prolonged, The infantry rushed in, travers- ing the entrenchments, and me village of Chanda in rear, capturing four more guns, and turning the retreat into a promiscuous flight. Middleton's and Cotter's guns advanced at a gallop, the gunners clinging for bare life to the axle seats and limbers. Getting in rear of the entrenchments, they poured a fire into the confused crowd of the rebels who were trying to cross a stream. Thring's R. A. bullock guns, together with Simeon's F^ dSQ GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. 1 M'V. (Bengal) had " accompanied the line in its advance, and they came into action against a body of the enemy, holding a ridge of rising ground by which the skirmishers were checked. The ridge was abandoned after a few well-directed rounds." " Now for a Cavalry charge I " shouted the gunner chief, who had no right to indulge in such vanities, and turning to Jingo, ordered him to ride back for the General's per- mission. Jingo left with a heavy heart, knowing that his irrepress- ible chief would nail the Cavalry without leave, there being no distinct Cavalry leader for the mounted " Tommies " of the loth Regiment, the group of Indigo Planters, with their hog spears, under Mr. Venables, and the Punjabi Horse under Russeldar-Gholam-Ma-bund-Khan. Looking for a needle in a bundle of hay is nothing to look- ing for a General on a battle-field. When found, leave was granted, and the General became an accessory after the •fact. As Jingo rode back on his now played-out charger, he came across the handiwork of the Cavalry ; scattered about • were dead Sepahis and Mr. Venables with a lance thrust through his thigh that pinned him to his saddle, a couple of •wounded "Tommies," and some dismounted troopers leading their wounded horses. Shortly after the Colonel appeared, followed by a motley staff. Lieutenant Percival, Commissary of Ordnance, Captain Angus, interpreter, and Jenkinson, the civil magistrate, with • Joe Smart, the adjutant, riding at the head of the returning .Cavalry. They were flushed with triumph and nothing else, for no one had had anything since morning coffee. They took a smoke to keep off hunger, while Joe told his comrade how tlie chief had "led the Cavalry up the plain to the .right, which was covered with Sepoy fugitives, who turned .and stood at bay, firing their muskets and fighting with their swords until cut to pieces." One little group stood splendidly at bay and the Colonel, who was a tender-hearted, generous man, called out — , " Spare those brave men I" But he had to change his mind suddenly, for he was only saved from a dangerous sword cut . by the high cantle of his regimental saddle. ,. . He promptly shot his assailant, which was the signal for ;the rest to go down. "The pursuit was carried on for about A REGIMENTAL LEGEND. 151 •a mile and a half, to the end of the plain, until groves of mangoes and a close jungle rendered a further advance im- possible." The yarn and the pipes were scarcely concluded ere the order came for the whole force to move in a direction to the left of their original front. The General, knowing that two ■forcesof the enemy were trying to effect a junction, had thrown himself between them, defeated one, and now turned to face the other, but without an idea how close they were. After marching about three miles, the order was given to halt and pitch camp. The Ghoorkas, who had not been engaged, were thrown forward as outposts. The General was in a horrid temper — he had had no lunch — and growl- ing that " that damned hot-headed gunner " had spoilt his battle. The tent-pegs of his own old regiment, the lOth, were not properly aligned. " The regiment had gone to the devil entirely," since he gave up the command. The hand- some old man strode up and down, swearing profusely, ordering the tents to be struck and re-pitched. The soldiers of the lOth rivalled their old chief in swears, not loud, but equally eloquent. They also were mostly Irish. " May the divil fly away wid the ould man from Munsther I Bad luck to the boys that didn't shoot him at Sobraon I " The General had a legend, and the men knew it. They loved his fighting qualities, but his strictness sometimes irritated them. When firing blank one day a bullet whistled past Colonel Franks. He did not stop the firing, but when the number of rounds ordered had been completed, he rode up to the regiment, and said — " Boys, there's a damned bad shot in the loth. He nearly shot my t»-umpeter, and what should I have said to that boy's mother ? I don't want to know the blackguard's name, the officers will not examine the men's pouches." They were on the eve of a campaign and the Senior Major came to him before an action and said — " Don't put yourself in front of the regiment to-morrow, Colonel, you know there are always one or two bad men in a regiment." " Thank you, Major, it's very kind of you. I might have given you a step." When the lOth were drawn up for the final advance, he put himself at their head, and said — ii! i'li •I .ir 'l '^ li.ii H Mi 'I' 152 GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE. " Boys, I'm tould ye mane to shoot ine to-day. Take my advice, and don't shoot Tom Franks till the foighting's done, for ye won't find a better man to lade ye." The regiment answered with a cheer, and carried the Sikh batteries with the bayonet rather than run the risk of shooting the old fire-eater at their head. Jingo had been sent to ask for orders for the camping of the Horse batteries, who had come up late from the pursuit, but was afraid to approach the General in his present mood. His Staff had fled, even to Captain Gordon, the man who managed him best. It was 5 p.m. and growing dusk and neither man nor beast had tasted food since morning. All of a sudden there was a rattle of musketry from the left, the boom of a heavy gun, and the lob of a round shot. The General's horse was being led up and down behind him by the syce, who was as much afraid as Jingo to ask for orders. The tall, active old man was in his saddle in a rt^ lent, himself and his big grey horse a picture. Never mind the tent-pegs, boys, pick up your rifles, and fall in, and follow me." The men were in their shirt sleeves, but they slipped on belts and pouches, and moved forward with a cheer for the General, forgetting in an instant the bad language used on both sides. The Artillery, fortunately not unhooked, swept round to the left at full intervals, and unlimbered for action, but could not open fire, for the Ghoorka outposts were being driven in among the guns. When the front was clear, the guns opened. The enemy's Artillery was quickly silenced, and their Infantry driven back. They made a second attack, but with no better success. The General rode up and down the line, talking to the men. " Boys, me heart bleeds for ye. 1 know you've had neither bite nor sup this blazing day, but I've given ye your bellyful of fighting and you must bivouac by your arms to-night." The call for Commanding Officers and Staff was sounded. "Gentlemen," said the General, "we must be prepared for another attack during the night, we have no outposts beyond our guns, I expect the utmost vigilance. The officers must set an example, ing in doolies.* I'll have no shurrking and lurrk- * A doolie is a curtained litter tor carrying the wounded. •\ t A CLIMAX. 153 In spite of " excursions and alarms " the imperturbable native cooks improvised a meal. Jingo with a pleasant sense of repletion and a pipe, lay down beside the guns and dozed, but woke suddenly with the sense of some unfilled duty, and rising, visited the sentries along the line of unlimbered guns, loaded with canister. The moon was bright and shone in a fretwork of light and shade upon the white curtains of a doolie under a tree at some little distance in rear of the centre of the line of guns. He thought of the General's last injuiicjicn, and lifting his sword scabbard to prevent clanking, he walked towards the suspicious doolie and raised the curtains. ** Sheets, by Jove, and a round protuberance I " He drew his foot back and administered a deliberate kick. It was followed by a fearful imprecation in the General's voice. Jingo turned and fled to the utmost extremity of the line and flung himself down by the flank gun, a thoroughly demoralised subaltern, feigning the sleep which would not come. He felt utterly depressed. Here was his long sought " bapteme de feu 1 " He had helped his chief to spoil a battle, he had missed the " divarsion " of a Cavalry charge, and he had fin shed up by kicking his General. What will be the end of a military career commenced in such a fashion ? •f:i'^ \ 154 p:„ I \§ 1- • ■ J i 1 4 ii- '■:X • : ,1 I i gr U Ji CHAPTER XV. Morning Orders -The Don— Jedburgh Justice— Winged Enemies — SuLTANPOOR — A Young May Moon — A Reconnaissance— A Word m Season — An Artillery Steeple-Chase — Close Quarters — "Follow Mk, Lads !"— Demon Rockets— Elephantine Philosophy. There was much less Orderly-room Clerk and much more personaluy in the military system of that epoch. Early the following morning our Lieutenant was sent to the General to know if there were any special instructions for the Artillery, the previous evening having closed somewhat con- fusedly. He went in fear, if not trembling. Would the General recognise the indiscreet executor of his orders in the unobtrusive subaltern who stood behind the Adjutant and Quarter-Master Generals, Brigade Majors, and others, as they surrounded the old man while he sipped his morning coffee and gave his orders. They received their instructions and left, there remained only the luckless Jingo, who made nor sound nor sign. The General, in his long grey coat, stirred the bivouac fire with his boot. Suddenly he turned, and seeing the waiting officer, his grey eyes lit up with a comic twinkle and there was a lift of one corner of the grizzled moustache that betrayed an inclination to smile. "The Artillery ? Ah, yes 1 Tell the Colonel, with my compliments, to make his own disposition for the march — we are not likely to get near John Pandy to-day, he had enough of us yesterday. Good morning." The General nodded and Jingo retired, immensely relieved. The General had evidently recognised his mid- night assailant, but his manner was kind, and at the end of the campaign, he mentioned him favourably in despatches. Jingo kept his own counsel. At the next halt, when C.O.= and Staff were called for, the General casually remai ..ed upon the hardships JEDBURGH JUSTICE. »55 of the past t',venty-four hours endured by all ranks, ending with : — " I have to take care of myself, however, it won't do for the General to break down." From that date the Artillery Colonel was dubbed " Don Quixote " by the irreverent. He had the noble side of the Don's character and something of the aspect and habits too — solemn, tall, dry, and unweariedly energetic. For weeks together he slept in his long boots, but he was better mounted than the Don, and in his madness, if such it were, there was the method of a clever, conscientious man and a good soldier. Fate had failed to fit him with a squire of the rotundity and wisdom of Sancho Panza. The monotony of the marches was varied by the necessity of greater precautions. The enemy had closed in upon our line of communication, which had accordingly to be abandoned, and the force of Cavalry was inadequate for scouting, though the Punjabi Irregulars were adepts, especially when loot was to be found. Occasionally Sepahi prisoners were brought in who had abandoned all traces of uniform, and posed as innocent husbandmen. But their erect carriage was against them in the eyes of an officer who had served in the Native Army, and if the short test of calling the prisoner to attention resulted in his instinctively assuming that military position sentence was passed. " Laijow 1 " (take him away), was addressed to the Punjabi escort. One day the advance guard was thrown into dire confusion by an unexpected attack. The Cavalry and Horse guns had halted at noon in a grove of mango trees. A foolish trooper, noticing what looked like a brown sack hanging from a branch above his head, prodded it with his lance. It was a hornefs nest! The Cavalry, who had not dismounted, scattered in flight. The Artillery had had the order to "Dismount, down props, and feed the horses." The maddened animals, released from the bit, nose-bag on nose, dashed away, knocking down the dismounted drivers, who were vainly trying to hold them and narrowly escaped being crushed by the wheels. ^Jter a wild career at full gallop, the leading limber wheel was caught in a tree, the suddenly arrested team was flung round in a heap, and the •second gun was brought up on top of the first. When the gunners, in spite of the terrible stings of the hornets, undid 115'= I aim \- ■■ K 156 GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE. litki- the tangle, not a man nor horse was seriously hurt. But though the Staff and all spare hands, armed with branches, had done battle with the insects, the force had eventually to evacuate the tope of trees. Fortunately no enemy but the winged ones appeared. The vedettes had stood their ground, being beyond reach of the attack. On the 22nd of February, 1858, in the early morning, the force was ordered to dejJoy on the march. Once off the roads among the dew laden fields (for the crops were green at that season), there was no dust. In the distance, catch- ing the rising sun, glittered the golden minarets and domes of Sultanpoor, while a pale moon grew faint in a sky whose rose tints melted into zenith blue. Graceful groups of the rounded foliage of mango gfroves broke the level aspect. The scarlet of the long lines of British Infantry contrasted with nature's green, and the glint of burnished accoutrements. The sheen of dancing spears shone above the brilliant turbans of the Irregular Horse, followed by the more sombre hue of the Artillery and the crawling columns of the Ghoorkas in rear, with white bullocks drawing their guns, while high above all loomed the broad foreheads of the elephants as they trundled the heavy guns like baby carts behind their huge forms, walking with their peculiar slouchy gait and noiseless footstep. All made a picture framed in the memory. Put it face to wall ! It is irresistibly recalled by a note of the bugle. A happy inspiration had seized the Bugle-Major (a Kelt of course). The mellow bugles of the Ld^ht Infantry rang out the lively march of — " The young May moon is beaming, love, And the glow-worm's lamp is gleaming, love. How sweet to rove through Morna's grove. While the drowsy world is sleeping, love 1 " And so some marched to death, and all were light- hearted. This time the General made his own reconnaissance. Jingo was sent to accompany him and to bring back orders. Along the line of freshly-turned earth, forming the enemy's entrenchments, beyond musket-shot he rode, followed by hi& Staff, a feat impossible in these days, the rejection by the Sepahi of the greased rifl-; cartridge, which caused the Mutiny, rendered its suppression comparatively easy. A WORD IN SEASON. 157 When about opposite the centre of the enemy's position, which was approached by a road at right angles to it, there was a sudden puff of white smoke, a thud, and a shower of dust and gravel over Jingo. A cannon-shot, meant for the General at the head of his Staff, had struck close to the tail — our sub. The smart canter at which they were riding had made it miss its intended mark. The black muzzles of fourteen heavy guns could be counted in a sunken battery, commanding the road, and some of them began to belch forth flash and ball. Jingo got his orders to bring up the horsed guns through the intervals of the Infantry. Supported by the picked Infantry marksmen, they were tc; pass by a flank march an eighth of a circle to the left, under cover of tall cane and indigo crops. As he neared the line of scarlet columns a cheer broke out, the galloper from the front was the signal for attack. The Artillery trotted gaily out amid the cheers of the Infantry, Major Pennycuick in command. To get forward as rapidly as possible he led them out along the pucca road. Jingo riding beside him tried to explafn that fourteen heavy guns commanded that road, but the rattle of the gun-wheels prevented his being heard. In despair at last he rose in his stirrups and shouted, " Left take ground I " using the sword-arm signal at the same time. Every gun wheeled sharp to the left off the road and across the dip at the side. The Major rode at him, red with rage. " D you, sir, how dare you take command of my battery ? " The answer came from the masked guns which sent their round shot bounding like cricket balls in quick succession down the road, throwing up fountains of dust and stones. The Major nodded, " All right I " and in a few moments the moving Artillery were sheltered by a depression in the ground and hidden by high crops until out of the direct line of fire. The enemy's guns being embrasured had a limited traversing range, and their gunners could only get glimpses of the flying Artillery executing an audacious flank move- ment across their front. The enemy's shot flew harmlessly overhead, struck short, and bounded or ploughed the ground between the intervals of the irregular echelons which swept past in a wild artillery i c ■■■■■ 158 GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE. K II! steeple-chase, into which the first orderly advance had degenerated. Fierce but friendly rivalry existed between the Royal Gunners and their Indian brothers. The former accustomed to the decorous jog which alone is permitted to the Field Artillery on Woolwich Common or across the unenclosed heaths of Aldershot* saw with surprise the leading echelon of Madras Artillery dash at a wall, the leaders, encouraged by the shouts of their Irish drivers, rising, as the long traces permitted, simultaneously into the air, pair after pair, like well-trained circus animals. But the " circus " illusion vanished in a cloud of dust and debris, as the gun wheels, knocking down half the height of the kutchat brick wall, bounded to the top, over, and down with a cra^^^. —and there lay limp, like a living thing arrested by a broken back. A gun axle had smashed, for which there was no immediate repair. The Indian gunners cursed the luck which let those " blank, blank beggars from Woolwich give them the go-bye ! " I regret to record that there was a ring of hardly sup- pressed triumph in the passing remark of the steady " hands down" Woolwich driver who shouted — 'Well rode, Pat 1 " to the disconsolate Madrassees. A man must have ridden the whed Tiorse of a gun and felt the merciless Juggernaut thunder rattle behind as he goes at an obstacle to know what nerve means, especially if he has once seen the wheel grind slowly over the flattening J)ody of a comrade. Whyte Melville met his death athwart the furrow of a ploughed field. The hunting-field and the battle-field have spirit-stirring moments. But to sit in the saddle ashamed to bow to the dzing ! and ping ! or to notice the wicked scream of jagged bits of rotating shell is best described by Zola in " La Ddbacle." " Mais ce qui frappa surtout , ce fut I'attitude des conducteurs, k quinze metres en arri^re, raidis sur lour chevaux, face k I'ennemi II fallait vraiment un fier courage pour ne pas m€me battre des yeux, k regarder ainsi les obus venir droit sur soi, »ttii8 avoir seulement I'occupation de mordre ses pouces pour se * Behind every ditch wuuid stand the British farmer with his pitch-foric, backed by his Tory Member of Parliam<::i.t, to prevent a manoeuvres' act. t Sun-dried brick, much more friable than kiln-baked. CLOSE QUARTERS. 159 distraire. Les quoi penser k immobiles, ne d'y songer et servants qui autre chose ; voyaient que de I'attendre. face a 1 ennemi, parce que, travaillaient, eux, avaient de tandis que les conducteurs, la mort, avec tout le loisir On les obligeait de faire s'ils avaient tourn^ le dos, r irresistible besoin de fuite aurait pu emporter les hommes et les betes. " A voir le danger, on le brave. II n' y a pas d' hdro'lsme plus obscur ni plus grand." "It was no use waiting to play long bowls with 9-pounders against 32 ^'vi 24-p^/unders, there was nothing for it but to close on the flawk of the heavy guns, and the wild gallop steadied down. The enemy's first fire flew harmlessly over head, killing a few bullocks and drivers in the second line, and bowling over a luckless camel or two that must put their stilted carcases in the way. The elephants, much too wise to be beguiled under fire, had long ago been exchanged for bullock draught by Captain Waller, who commanded the Battery. Meanwhile the advancnig Artillery had been getting within grape range of the enemy. Jingo rode by his chief in front of the centre of the leading echelon. A salvo burst from the " gates of hell," as the late Poet Laureate would have called it, and a flight of grape shot sang in the air with the swish of a flock of migrating starlings; a few more strides and the peculiar swagger flourish of the native gunners turning their sponge staves was visible through the smoke. Then came another volley of grape. This time laid low, the iron hail threw up spurts of dust all along the hard ground in front and danced forward, driven by the hot breath of battle. Jingo noticed the leading driver on his right clutch the mane with his bridle hand, while the right held the whip extended over the off horse, for they were in the act of reversing for action. The driver's left leg hung loose from the knee like a doll's with the stuffing out ; but the man brought round his horses with exactitude, and then sat in the saddle, white and now cluiching the mane with both hands. If he groaned it wa^i lost in the shouts of commniul, the rattle of the wheels, and the quick reports nf round after round of case shot poured into the hostile battery as the echelons came up in succession and aligned themselves. The swords of the subaltern officers riding in \w i! M ' :, I ■■ ;• -■ r >. Middie- ton's horse battery was in front. " Heads up, lads, the girls are all in tiae tc^ storey windows ! " A few stray shots sang down the street from otiier than Zenana weapons. The '* wise ones " umiderstood at once that they were being humbugged into daiigEr. What were V.C.'s to them ? They furiously trunipetied their dis*- ELEPHANTINE PHILOSOPHY. 163 iu ' ill content.* In vain the mahouts prodded until the blood ran down behind their poor flapping ears. Scolding and abuse were drowned in angry trumpettings, but the elephants could not turn with their guns, the streets were so narrow. The " Hooshiar one " made up his mind and took his line. Flourishing his trunk with shrieks of rage and pain he dashed forward, his ponderous cannon rumbling behind him. Right in his path rode Jingo on poor little Butcha, quite subdued now to all the incongruous sights and sounds of Oriental war. Before them was the rear waggon of Middleton's Horse Battery, the advance of which was checked by a column of Infantry on the bridge. On came the thundering trumpetting terror. Jingo turned in his saddle and felt sick with fear. No escape, no opening on either hand ! Not even a projecting balcony to clutch and pull himself up out of the way while he left his poor Butcha to be flattened to annihilation. But he was saved from the baseness of such desertion. A dull rumble and a crash — shrieks, groans, curses — a cloud of dust through which loomed the great " Hooshiar " tranquilly blowing dust from the ruins of a house over himself and his mahout. He had taken his gun through a projecting corner and had brought down the whole front of a building, inhabitants and all, in one fell ruin at his feet, thus eft'ectually barring progress to the guns. He himself did not wish to advance. So soon as he was satisfied that the firing had ceased and there was no further danger to himself, he proceeded leisurely to clear away the ruins of beams and rafters, piling them in. an orderly fashion on one side. Then refreshing himself from the contents of a basket of sweets, from the open shop front on the other side of the street he went on his way rejoicing, with the self-satisfied air of having done a good action. But his hypocrisy was evident in the naughty twinkle of his wicked little eye. • Elephants art^ ry goes ike kisses— au'f lasts about un long ! But if you are "soldier jb-i " )OU will go ill "or both. 11—2 i if; .L ■' V i$4 CHAPTER XVI. Fort Moonshee Gonj — Polite Orders— qth Lancers— Percy Smith — An Unsuccessful Attempt — More Captured Guns — A War Corre- < SPONDENT. '1 i II I i ! !■ ! Eight more marches, enlivened by the qui vive maintained in passing through the hostile territory of Oudh, with its many fortified villages and warlike population, brought them on the evening of the 4th of March to Selimpore. Informa- tion had been brought to the General of a fort, situated about a mile from the line of march for the following day, which could not be left in possession of an enemy, who would fall on the rear and loot the baggage. Yet on the other hand, the morrow had been fixed for the junction of General Franks' force with that of Sir Colin Campbell before Lucknow. Any delay now would dislocate the plans of the Commander-in-Chief It was hoped to carry the mud-fort of Moonshee Gunj by a coup de main. On the morning of the 4th at daybreak, the advance guard, two guns, R.H.A., Lieutenant Arbuthnot, a squadron of the 9th Lancers, Captain Coles, and three companies of the 97th, Major Chichester, were deflected to the right to attack the fort. Colonel Maberly, R.A., commanding the whole, pushed on Cavalry. Evidently impatient of any delay, the doing his own reconnoitring, appeared, was sent to ask for orders as to the Artillery. " Go to Hell with the Artillery ! " was the answer. Jingo saluted formally and reined back behind the General, with a mind to tell him that he considered him the best authority on the way to that locality. All the Staff had been despatched on various errands. After a while the General looked round. the guns and General himself, Lieutenant Jingo position of the POLITE ORDERS. 165 " Well, what are you waiting for ? Have you not got your orders ? " " No, sir. I don't mean to take that order, and you did not mean to send it." ** You are right. Tell the Colonel he can select his own position for his guns. There 1 He has done it 1 " as the first shot was heard and answered by the fort. The Lieutenant galloped back and gave the message — the polite one — and was told to return in case the General desired a further change, which he very soon did, for he said : — " Those gunners are playing at long bowls I " This remark Jingo did repeat to his chief as the most concise way of putting the General's views. The Horse Artillery sub overheard and flushed in his yellow beard. With the Colonel's permission he went, followed by the supporting Lancers, (old hands the 9th) who knew how to get there, to be always near, and never in the way. The Horse Artillery galloped to within 400 yards of the Fort and again opened fire, enfilading one face which they silenced, for the enemy's guns were en barbette. Then up the glacis they dashed to within 200 yards, clearing the parapet with case shot. But from the loop-holes of the central keep came an unpleasant musketry fire which the little 6-pounders could not silence. The gunners unfastened carbines, and lying down in the standing corn, replied. Here the Colonel's stirrup-iron rang out a response to a musket ball, and there were some few casualities among the men. Both leaders of one gun were wounded, though they stood like Lady Butler's picture of " Patient Heroes," and it was only when they were required to move that it was found the}' could not. Meantime, Bradford's Madras 24-pr. Howitzers came up, and by their largei' calibre of shell, seemed to render the outer defences untenable, for the enemy began to bolt. The ditch communicated with a series of dry nullahs, down which the white turbans could be seen streaming. Now for the Cavalry ! But where were they ? Well and wisely under cover. In vain Jingo looked to the rear, at last he caught the gleam of a lance head just above ground, for the 9th carried no useless pennon. The troopers liad dismounted in a hollow, but in less time than it takes to tell they were up, let loose, extended, and 4 m "4. m GUNNER ...IGOS- JUBILEE. I t 1 m IT .11 jP ii 1 i: ! filing down on each side of the nullahs radiating from the ditch. Now and again a lance was lowered and there was a white turban the less. As quickly they reformed when their work was done. After the campaign this veteran Cavalry regiment were told, nen they got home to Aldershot, that they had to begin to learn their work. By this time the Infantry had come up and rushed the works. But there still remained the interior castellated keep with flanking towers, to the fire from whose loopholes the Artillery were exposed. The General ordered them to retire and rejoin the line of march, and Jingo was sent to tell the Engineer officer, McLeod Innes, to blow open the gate of the citadel with a powder bag. On reaching that part of the inside of the exterior entrenchment, which led to a second work by a bridge over the ditch. Jingo saw that this second enclosure in front of the keep had been abandoned by our men. The body of an officer lay in front of the citadel gate beside a beam, which he and his men had used as a battering ram to break open the gate. He had been shot dead and some of the men wounded. The beam had been dropped — an- 'he men had retired under cover of the outside of the second line of works. With the assistance of Sergeant Wilkins and a couple of Horse Artillery gunners, Jingo turned one of the enemy's guns from the exterior trenchment, and kicking into the ditch the dead body of a Sepahi that lay across the bridge, ran in the gun and opened fire on the gate. But the 6-pounder shot only made little holes which did not even let daylight through, thus proving that there was some further barrier behind. He then fired at and struck what appeared to be the lock, but still the gate remained solidly closed. A shot jamming in the bore, the gun business seemed to be hopeless and it was decided to try a powder bag. The sergeant carried the body of the gallant young officer, Lieutenant Percy Smith, to the rear. Unfortunately the guns had been ordered away and there was nothing but the native powder in captured gun limbn-s. A bag had to be extemporised out of a " setringee " (cai jmu). While Jingo and McLeod Innes were engaged in thi-; task the latter, who was stooping over the bag, fell, shot thr-Migh the upper part of both thighs, (his wounds were salved bj a FORT MOONSHEE GUNJ. 167 V.C.) and Jingo carried out the duty, at which Captain Midd1«:!ton of the 29th offered to assist. Having arranged for a heavy fire to be kept up on the loop-holes by the Infantry, who were sheltered by the exterior slope of the second entrenchment, the two officers made a rush. Jingo carrying the bag, fixed it to the gate of the keep, and when Middleton had lit the fuze with a port-fire tied to his hog spear, which he always carried,* they both bolted and reached the exterior gate in safety. The storming party was ready for a rush, but — the explosion only blew a few splinters from the gate, which still stood almost as before. The native po\sder had proved too weak. Now came an imperative order from the General to retire immediately. But there were the enemy's guns