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GUNNER JINGO'S JUBILEE

A N A UTOBIOGRA PH Y

GENERAL T. BLAND STRANGE

THIRD EDITION

I L LUSTRA TEV

London
JOHN MACQUEEN

HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, W.C

1896
All Rfghts Re set veil

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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

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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.

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."

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

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

■^

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

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

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.

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

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...

380

ICS

•

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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.

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEK.

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 •:

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 <if

PIF.TY AND PROFANITY. /

Waterloo, afterwards served in India, and lived to be
ninety-four.

On the anniversary of Waterloo, the old Dragoon appeared
at breakfast with a laurel leaf in his button-hole ; upon it, in
gold letters, "Waterloo."

Tommy, his e3'es big with astonishment, remarked :

" Grandpapa, where does the tree grow with those
wonderful leaves ? "

The old man stroked his white moustache, patted the child's
head, and said :

" My boy, when you are a man you will find that tree and
get some leavi . for j'ourself."

The boy sought that tree for nearly half-a-centur}', east
and west, from the Tropics to Canadian snows, yet never a
leaf he found, and discovered too late that it grows on the
shady side of Pall Mall.

I lis grandmother, a very tall and stately dame, with white
hair and flashing black eyes, all the more expressive in that
she vvas quiie deaf, unfortunately came down late to break-
fast this important morning. After the meal, and as the old
man (who, though in moments of irritation rivalled "our
army in Flanders," was nevertheless a pious Presbyterian),
had commenced his long grace, she rose and began talking.
He stopped short, seized her by the wrist, trying to force her
to keep her seat, and shouting :

" By G— d, you shall hear it ! "—
gabbled to the end of his grace, whilst the old lady
remonstrated :

" Don't, Alec, you hurt me."

The Calvinism, cast off" in his gay youth, had returned in
all its severity with age. Hinc ilhv laclirinuv.

They had married long ago for love, that old couple, when
he was a gay dragoon, qnartered in Ireland, and she the
belle of an old Norman-Irish house, tliat traced back through
many noble knights and dames to Charlemagne.* She had
not inherited the aggressive Christianity of that Paladin of
the Roman Church, but seemed to derive her stature and her
mental characteristics froiii some Gothic-Arian ancestor —

Notably, Gladys, clauKlitt'f of tin Sir David Ciaiii, who, scut to ri'coimoitre hcforo

Agiiicoiirt, rci)orti'(i ;
" Sire, there are eiuniKli to slay, eiioii|i{h to run away, and enough to Like prisoners."
He was knighted by the kina while dying on the field of Agineonrt. iSi^e Chron. of

I'roissart aii<l Hurkc's Landed Gentry of Ireland.)

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

vivified by the seep io literature of the French revolutionary
era, which she had read as a girl.

It was all a sad puzzle to Tommy, early inspired with
piety by his mother, who came of a race that suffered mar-
tyrdom, "not accepting deliverance" from "bloody Mary." *

The mixed-up heredities of the poor child chequered his
mental life from start to finish, analyse it who may. His
mother taught him his prayers, his grandmother interested
him more in the family relics and histories of those who had
fought at the Boyne, at Dettingen, and in the Low Countries —
of her great-grandfather, who in 1688 defended the famil}'
mansion, the famous White House of Macaulay's History —
of her father wounded at Minden — and of her brother shot
through the heart at Talavera. She treasured the broad silk
sash in which he was carried from the field as in a ham-
mock, its faded crimson spotted russet with his heart's blood.
Her husband's Waterloo sabre was also "en evidence."

But her tears would not flow for father, brother, or husband
till she came to the miniatures of " me five beautiful boys,"
in the uniform of the first years of the century, all gone but
one — Tom's father. Four had been soldiers and one a sailor.
The miniature of the eldest, in the uniform of the 42nd High-
landers, showed an empty sleeve. She gave to Tommy as a
sacred relic the old pocket-book, in which were recorded his
battles, his washing and his wine bills. The writing sloped
in the usual manner at first, but inclined to the hft after the
loss of his arm.

When Tommy entered the Service his mother gave him a
Bible, in which she wrote the following lines, and his grand-
mother the aforesaid pocket-book.

" Remember, love, who gave thee this,
When other days shall )wie
When she, who had thy earliest kiss.
Sleeps in her narrow home.
Remember, 'twas a mother gave
The gift to one she'd die to save,
And when the scofter in his pride
Shall bid thee cast the gift aside.
Which thou from youth hast borne,
She bids thee pause and ask thy breast,
If he or she has loved thee best."

Kecords of Canterbury Cathedral.

TALES OF MY GRANDMOTHER.

The owner of the pocket-book had carried the colours of
the Black Watch across the Pyrenees, to die from the effects
of a wound received at Toulouse.

He had been promoted from ensign to lieutenant of the
Grenadier Company, and he headed the regiment across the
bridge of the redoubt they stormed. The French had a gun
commanding it — he saw the gunner raise the port-fire, and
with the duelling instinct of those days, faced to the left and
bent the sword-arm, so as to cover the lungs and present
the narrowest possible target to the inevitable shower of
grape-shot.

His sword-arm was shattered in two places, and the clay-
more dropped from his grasp. The rush of the 42nd
through the smoke, threw him oft' the bridge into the wet
ditch, where he was left clinging to the timbers of the
bridge until after the action.

He never recovered the long immersion and the loss of
blood before and after the amputation, but he lingered long
enough, to be purchased over by men who entered the service
at the close of the war.*

His father, the careless and somewhat extravagant dragoon,
who had married the Irish lady with no dowry but blood and
beauty, sold the house and family acres in Lanarkshire, and
with what remained purchased some acres of bog in Kerry,
down b}' the Kenmare river, and there the ex-dragoon started
a linen factor}' in partnership with a Quaker of eminent
piety and considerable experience. Eventually the money
and the experience changed hands.

In any case military service for many generations renders
families impecunious. But the old kings were not altogether
unmindful of those who gave their blood and their money to
tile service of the State.

In spite of what has been written in the malevolent Gre-
ville Memoirs, William IV. was a just and generous king in
such matters.

He had sailed with the sleepy midshipman of the main-
top, and exerted himself, though apparently without success,

♦ When imrcliiise was aliolishcd it wiis supposed tliat the Army would bccoiiu' iiior<' a
profession for poor men. The very reverse has occurred. For it is only rich men who
(an afford to wait for employment on the wretched pittance termed half-iiay ; it is oidy
rich men who can take many of the connnands offered to eeuerals, and in these days of
vohniteerinK and Klobe-trottmg on the chance of beinij "taken on " by some Keneral tor a
campaign, it is the man with money or influential friends who has the best chance of
Killing brevets, and thus rising to the top — " Hkoai^ Arrow."

It is only rich men who can uflbrd Crammer education for their sons.— .Author.

\ ,

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

for the wounded soldier brother, as the accompanying letter
shews.

"St. James'. August i ith, 1820.

"To Lieutenant Alexander Jingo,

42nd Regiment. \

Clarence Barracks, Dublin.

"Dear Jingo, in answer to yours, 8th inst, which reached
me this morning, I am to observe that it has given me surprise,
for I sent you the Duke of York's reply, which you ought,
whether directed in London or Dublin, to have received some
time ago : the purport was every wish to serve 3'ou when-
ever the fair opportunity offered — for the present therefore
rest satisfied and ever believe me.

" Yours sincerely,

" WiLU.\M. Rex."

The King gave his father, the ex-dragoon, a refuge in his
old age, among the military knights of Windsor, where he
occupied quarters in the Castle, and always got a kindly nod
and often a friendly chat with the bluff Sailor King. Tommy's
uncle used to tell a characteristic yarn about his quondam
ship-mate.

After a monotonous cruise in the West Indies, the Duke
of Clarence, then a midshipman, was bent on a spree ashore
— a dance with the pretty yellow girls, in what was called, in
West Indian parlance, " a dignity hop," at Kingston
(Jamaica). The Duke asked his captain for leave, but was
refused.

He went below in dudgeon, but shortly re-appeared in
plain clothes, with the ribbon of the Garter across his
breast, walked up to the captain and demanded a boat.

" Certainly, your Royal Highness," said the Captain,
doffing his cocked hat till it nearly swept the quarter
deck.

The Duke again plunged below, and re-emerged from the
midshipmen's berth in suitable seedy garments, bent on his
spree incog.

No sooner had his head appeared above the hatchway,
than the boatswain's shrill whistle sent the jacks scampering
aloft to man the yards.

Boom ! boom I boom 1 thundered forth the Royal salute
across the calm waters of the bay, startling the sleepy city of

A ROYAL SPREE.

Kingston, and dying away in the echoes of the far-off Blue
Mountains.

The captain's gig lay alongside, with the Royal Standard
flaunting in the stern, while the captain and officers stood
at the gangway, hats in hand, bowing profoundly. The Duke
turned red, bent his head in acknowledgment of the un-
welcome salute, jumped into the boat, took the tiller ropes,
and ordered the men to give way. The jacks bent to their
oars with a will, enjoying the joke, and envying the Royal
mid the spree he would have.

He steered to an unfrequented wharf in a disreputable
part of Blacktown and ordered the boat to return to the
ship, meaning to make a night of it. He dived into the
crooked lanes of Blacktown, but to his horror, when he
reached the house of festivity, he saw a guard of honour
(Royal Marines) drawn up in front of it.

The drums beat, the arms clattered to the present, the
officers' swords dropped to the Royal salute, while from the
verandahs peeped several pairs of "lovely black eyes," in
eager and happy expectation of selection by a Royal
partner.

But the Royal mid, after receiving the salute, walked up
to the officer in command, and said : .

" Sir, accept my apologies to yourself and your men, for
the indignity my thoughtlessness has brought upon his
Majesty's uniform. Please to withdraw j'our guard as I
intend to return to the ship.

And he turned on his heel, without one glance at the
expectant houris, lest his resolution should fail. The dark
eyes of more than one beautiful Creole glittered with tears of
vexation at the loss of a Royal lover, even if it were for
one night only.

But he hurried to the shore, hired a negro and his canoe
to paddle him to the ship, and so managed to slink on board
and cheat the disciplinary captain out of a Royal salute pre-
pared for his reception when he should return, limp and
repentant, next morning. Instead of which he reported
himself at once, apologised to the captain for the trouble he
had caused the ship's company, adding :

" I shall not forget, sir, the lesson you have given me."

And he did not, for he advanced that captain's promotion
as soon as he had a chance.

Though kindly, the King was a disciplinarian.

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEK,

When Tommy's papa was a cadet at Sandhurst with the
King's son, the Duke of Munster, a fox, with the pack in full
cry, swept across the parade ground. The sporting English
instinct was irresistible — the cadets broke their ranks, and
many joined the chase in spite of their officers.

Tommy's father, sound of wind, long of limb, and lean of
flank, soon took the lead, but towards evening he found
himself thrown out, with the Duke as his only companion.
• What was to be done ? They were miles from the
College.

The Windsor coach came swinging along.

"Jump up behind and take a lift," said the good-natured
guard, giving the boys a hand up.

But the coach was going the wrong way !

" As well be hung for a sheep as a lamb," said the King's
son. " Let us go on to Windsor Castle."

In vain his comrade demurred — there seemed nothing for
it but to follow the chapter of accidents.

On arriving at Windsor, they were dead beat, no money,
hungry, and spattered with mud. The Duke insisted on
both going up to the Castle.

They were shown into the presence of the King, sitting
over his after-dinner wine. t

" You young scamps, what the devil brings you here ? "

"The Windsor coach, sir," said the boys, and they made a
clean breast of it.

The King laughed heariil}', ordered them a good dinner
and a bottle of port.

Next morning came retribution in the shape of a subaltern
officer of the Cadet Company, who came to demand the
bodie of the Gentlemen Cadets the Duke of Munster and
Harry Jingo.

The King ordered the culprits to be produced, and asked
from the officer the particulars of their oftience, which being
given with military brevity, accorded with the confession of
the lads.

"Ah ! " said the King, "what punishment will they get ? "'

" Forty-eight hours black hole on bread and water."

" Serve 'em right I Damned young rascals I They
have had their fun, and must pay the piper. March 'em
off!"

And so they were, and ensconced in the black hole with-
out mitigation of punishment.

PALLIDA MORS.

M^'^

The old King ever after shewed a friendly feeling for
Tommy's father, whom he used to joke about his escapade,
and often invited to spend his holidays at Bushey Park —
once the abode of the beautiful and talented Mrs. Jordan,
whose married life with the Duke of Clarence had been
without reproach.

But—

^* Pallida Mors cqtio pedc pulsat
Paupcrum taherrtas Regtimquc turn's.

Death came equally to the beautiful actress, the king, and
the ex-dragoon.*

As he sat among the huge oak beams in the Castle garret,
to which he had been consigned to be out of the way on the
day of the funeral, the mufiled drums of the Guards brought
home to Tommy his first bitter bereavement, in which there
was a strong dash of cupboard-love, for the old man
used to conceal, for their private feasts, fruits forbidden to
both by the doctor and the severer women-folk of the
establishment.

Tommy dried his eyes when the roll of the drum fell upon
his ears, and his heart swelled with pride as he looked down
on the martial pageant that carried the old warrior to the
resting place that was, after all, not to be his last, for years
after, in visiting the spot. Tommy found that alterations in
the precincts of St. George's Chapel, had caused the removal
of the remains, he knew not whither.

Tommy's father being still on service, his elder brother
was sent to one school, preparatory for Sandhurst, and
Tommy to another for Eton, where he was left for his first
Christmas holidays, as he was considered too small to make
his way to Ireland by himself

Those were gloomy days for Tommy, nevertheless, they
were lightened by love and war. For the schoolmaster's
daughter was kind to Tommy, who was a pi-etty boy, with
nice manners. She used to kiss him after his hebdomadal
tub, which she superintended. This was trying to Tommy,
who would have preferred taking the initiative. In after
years he took his kisses as they came.

' The house of silence and darkness received, in 1837, the body of King William IV.
and thither also, in 1849, was taken from Hentley Priory the mortal coil of the mild and
charitable Queen Adelaide, whose coffin, according to her expressed injunctions, and in
touching remembrance of the glorious profession to which her husband's early manhood
liad been devoted, was carried by the sailors of the Royal Navy,

' {■"

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Ill II!

The" fighting was furnished by the schoolmaster's son —
and as Tommy could not reach his face, he contented him-
self with kicking his shins, in return for which he received
severe boxes on the ears. The subject of dispute was the
possession of a rosebud, presented to Tommy after a Christ-
mas dance and mistletoe performance with a bu.xom beauty,
named " Susan," to whom the schoolmaster's son was paying
his addresses. Alas ! Tommy had no sense of proportion
or fitness of things. He got the rose all the same, and kept
it.

Subsequent holidays were spent with their mother's
relatives on the wild west coast of Kerry. They were pleasant
summers there at the old Castle by the sea, when the boys
made love with strict impartiality to all their pretty Kerry
cousins in succession. With the boys they learnt to handle
oar, and sail, and fishing-rod ; " to ride, to shoot, and to
speak the truth," which was equally the education of an
Irish or a Parthian gentleman of the past. The girls are
married, and the boys, except an amateur preacher and a
parson, are gone, let us hope, to happier hunting grounds.
The eldest, a magnificent fellow, died on a misty November
morning at Inkerman, as a Captain of the "Die-Hards"
should — his coat blackened by the discharge of more than
one Russian rifle, so close had been the struggle. The next
fell before a Maori Pah — and the sailor lad at Gamla Karbly,
in the Baltic, where a boat landing was attempted. The boy
had urged his boat's crew in advance of his captain's gig and
of the whole flotilla. The grape fire of a masked battery
wounded some of his crew, broke some of the oars and his
own arm, but the undaunted boy stood up in the stern sheets,
still urging his men to row on. A Russian bullet found his
heart — and the enemy gave him a grave, for the expedition
retired defeated.

Tom's only brother sleeps under broad Atlantic billows,
after hard service ia India and New Zealand, where his
mortally wounded cousin died in his arms.

When the Cameronians returned from service in
China they were quartered in Edinburgh Castle. For the
brothers the old fortress was haunted by the ghost of their
ancestor, Kircaldy of Grange, who had defended it for the
hapless Mary against her cruel cousin, Elizabeth. But
Elizabeth (unmindful of the honour of her lieutenant, who
had promised an amnesty to the soldier surrendering only to

SCHOOL DAYS.

famine) ordei'ed Kircaldy to be hanged at the Market
Cross.

7'om and his brother were sent to the Edinburgh
Academy, where they had more than their share of school
fights to prove they were no '* Southern loons," though
their speech was southern. The last occasion on which this
epithet was applied to Tom it was answered by a blow.
Just then the school-bell rang, and the fight had to be
arranged for after hours. Tommy's opponent was older
than himself, of stouter build, and the cock of his class.
Poor Tommy's heart sank, and during the recess for their
frugal lunch he consulted his brother on the possibility of
getting out of it. Truth must be told — Tommy funked.

Tom's brother shook his head, saying :

'• I would gladly take him off your hands, but the fellows
would not stand it. I am in the senior class. There is no
way out of it. Tommy, the family honour depends on you —
you iiiiisi see it through. We cannot be called ' Southern
loons,' for we are Scots and Cameronians to boot."

After hours there was a tumultuous gathering of the
wliole school, about 300 boys, in the fighting field, the sides
of which sloped upwards like an amphitheatre. The princi-
pals, backed by their seconds, peeled to their shirt-sleeves
and stood ready, when, to Tommy's great relief, the police
appeared to disperse the assembly. The sixth-form boys
promptly ejected them, and ordered the fight to commence at
once. Again poor Tom's heart sank, though he came up to
the scratch like a man, only, alas ! to go down like a ninepin
before his more powerful assailant. The triumphant shouts
of his opponent's class-mates rang in his ears, and when he
rose to his feet Tom's " funk " was gone — he felt punishment
no more.

Round after round was fought, till there were four
"lovely black eyes" and a plentiful outpouring of claret. At
length his antagonist began to flinch, for a well-planted blow
broke the bridge of his nose. He turned his face to avoid
more punishment, and a blow under the left ear dropped him
senseless.

Now the shouts of the whole school greeted Tommy, for
he was known to be the younger and weaker boy, and the
fight had been forced upon him by what was felt to be a
deadly insult to a Scot.

When brought to, his opponent acknowledged himself

, t

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

defeated, and declined to fight any more. Tom was hoisted
on the shoulders of his classmates, and escorted to his
horrified mother, whom they comforted by remarking :

" Ah, but you should see the other fellow."

Tom appeared at school, a green shade over his eyes. \

" Fechting again," remarked Pat MacDougall, his severe
but well-beloved master ; " an' wha is it noo ? "

When told, he exclaimed :

" Ech, moni But ye didna thresh yon? "

" Aye, but he did," shouted his class-mates in chorus.

" Yer faither's son ! What's bi ed in the bane, will aye
'oot in the flesh. Haud 'oot yer han', ye belleegerent young
Cameronian," and a couple of pandys were administered by
the evidently approving pedagogue.

The opprobrious term of "Southern loon " was dropped
in the school and the fights of the brothers were few during
the time they remained there.

A great change has come over the Edinburgh Academy
during the Victorian reign. At its commencement boys
of all ranks crowded the forms, from the son of Mac-
allum More to the porridge-fed son of the small farmer
or tradesman who pinched himself to get the best possible
education for his sons. And wisely, for of such and of '
their kinsmen from Ulster were the builders of this great
Empire — notabl}' of India. Though poor, they were proud
of the drop of good blood — they were often tenth cousin
fourteen times removed to the laird of their name, who sat
on the bench beside them and whose influence subsequently
got them an Indian cadetship.

The mingling of classes did good all round. The poor lad
became a gentleman in every sense of the word, including
the exterior manner, and, as Scotch boys are no respectors
of persons, the young aristocrat got toughened instead of
toadied, found his own level, and learnt to respect his poorer
school-mate, whom, perhaps, when he became governor of a
colony, he would find to be his prime minister.

With the rise in value of Scotch shootings, due to the
demand for them from trade millionaires, the Scotch
aristocracy and gentry could afford to send their sons to
Eton and Rugby, with the result that they became "just like
every other fellow, don't you know." They ceased to be Scots,
v;hile the poorer lads, left to themselves on the Academy
benches, ceased to be gentlemen, and became Radicals,

rii

IRISH HIGHLANDERS.

•7

because they never mixed with or got a day's shooting from
their mercenary kinsmen. Hence the Midlothian miracle —
that the sons of those who had built an empire should wish
to destroy it.

But the rise in the value of shootings, the conversion of
the Highlands into deer forests, and the Lothians into sheep
walks, have had a worse result. It has seriously impaired
our military strength by depriving us of the recruiting
grounds of our hardiest soldiers, and Irish disaffection has
done the rest. There are few Highland soldiers nor many
Lowland Scotch. We manufacture Highlanders out of
Glasgow Irish, who, by the time they learn to tie their
garters, do not make bad soldiers. But trousers would be
less expensive and more comfortable than kilts.

Localisation without conscription is a fallacy, like building
a bridge without the keystone. You may call Regiments or
Brigades Lothian or anything else you like, but on the
voluntary system you must take your recruits from the
centres of population and rely upon the conscripts of hunger,
and as Parliament won't vote for strong men's wages, they
get weakl}' boys.

in the higher ranks of the public service the system of
competition has opened the door widely to the Irish, who
have largely superseded Scotch, notably in the Indian Civil
Sei"vice. The Irish, being of brighter brain, can write more
fluent examination papers and Government minutes.
Whether they can run an Empire remains to be seen. Mani-
poor dop= not promise well for government by Competition
Wallahs.

There were exceptions to the Scotch lairds, who expatri-
ated their tenants without caring whither they went. The
author, while shooting in the Western Highlands once, came
upon a wild desolate valley, where, on that August afternoon,
there was but one thin curl of smoke from a lone mountain
sheiling, scarce visible amid the purple heather and the grey
boulders

His host remarked in explanation :

" During my father's time, a recruiting sergeant took forty
braw lads for a Highland regiment from this glen."

The Sassenach sportsman asked :

" Do you think your father was justified in making a
wilderness for sport ? "

" Yes,"

answered the other. " it was best

for them and
C

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

best for us. The land could not support them. Do you see
yon little house the smoke rises from ? A gill}' born in that
house is one of the richest commoners in Australia. He en-
tertained the Duke of Edinburgh. Before he sent his people
out, my father got a sheep run in Australia. Upon it he
started them with stock in which both parties were to have
shares. The lad in question became overseer, and has built
himself a splendid house on my land. Now whose is it ? I
won't try law, I shall go out and compromise in the interest
of my second son."

He did so. The run and the stock were divided, and they
tossed up for the mansion, and the builder lost it. He built
himself another — a palace — on his half of the run. He does
not sleep with his fathers on the desolate hillside, but in
sunny Australia, in his bran-new family vault, hard b}' the
church he had himself erected on the land he gave for the pur-
pose out of his own wide acres. The old Scotch widow lady,
and her sons, perfect types of the physical beauty not un-
common at the Antipodes, dispense a princely hospitalit}' in
the squatter mansion, with its Greek-columned stone portico.
The spacious hall shewed trophies, won by the brothers for
physical feats at an English University — there were no
prizes for mental culture, nor were the handsome, gentle-
manly young giants conversationally interesting to an old-
world traveller.

When taken to the stable, where the horses rivalled their
masters in beauty, the guest thought —

" Ah, here we have something in common I can talk to my
hosts about 1 "

They were all there on the points of a horse and rode like
centaurs, but when asked if the}' liked Adam Lindsay
Gordon's " Bush Ballad's," and " How we beat the Favourite,"
the answer was :

" I never read Gordon — I never read poetry. '

The son of the old Scotch laird who owned the other half
of the run was the exact opposite to the sons of his father's
shepherd — brilliantly cultivated but a feckless chiel, a sort
of gentleman Burns, who brought his run to the hammer and
returned to his family castle in Argyle.

A gentleman is seldom a colonial success, and it sometimes
takes a colonial more than a generation to become a success
as a gentleman.

From the Edinburgh Academy the eldest Jingo brother

A NON-COMPETITION WALLAH.

entered Sandhurst. Tommy had still to follow the colours,
and though his book-learning suffered thereby, he studied
men and manners ; some of the manners were of a decidedly
questionable character, such as being encouraged to draw
regimental caricatures and recite battle ballads upon the mess
table, at the conclusion of which he would be invited by
thoughtless young officers to sip usquebagh from the regi-
mental cup as it passed round with the pipers. When that
came to his father's ears, the officers got a sharp reprimand,
and Tommy a severe thrashing.

When his father returned to India, having exchanged into
the " King's Own Borderers," which he subsequently com-
manded, there was no one to repeat the lesson, for it was
shortly found out that Tommy could thrash a schoolmaster
with comparative impunity. Fortunately, the senior cadets
at Woolwich quickly corrected this tendency to insubordi-
nation.

Tommy's mother, a clever and beautiful woman, who long
retained her youth of body and mind, was his most charming
companion, friend, and confidante. She spoilt him in child-
hood by her own unselfishness, but, as he grew up, all that
was best in him was due to her influence. Perhaps, fortu-
nately, he had no sisters, and knew nothing of the familiarity
which breeds contempt, too often common among many-
sistered men without brothers. Hence he had a certain
deference for the sweeter sex, of whom his mother was to
him a type.

How he became a Woolwich cadet was on this wise. His
father being in India, his mother took him to London and
laid before Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Master-General of the
Ordnance (afterwards Lord Raglan) the services of Tom's
family, as a claim to a nomination.

The old veteran, who had lost an arm at Waterloo,
seemed to take a fancy to the tall lad, perhaps because he
had known his father and grandfather, said he looked good
stuff for a soldier, and asked if he thought he could pass the
examination ?

Tom, who in spite of his erratic education was generally
near the top of his class, promptly answered, "Yes, sir,"

" Then you shall go up in three months," was the equally
prompt reply.

When he saw the synopsis of the subjects for examina-
tion he was horror-struck. It was mainly mathematics, in

C — 2

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

which he was weak, having been at schools where the teach-
ing was chiefly classical.

He went straight to a mathematical coach, for there
were crammers in those days. But little harm was done
in that direction, however, for a lad had only ore chance.
He could not go up again and again, cramming after each
failure until his brain was addled and physique and sight
impaired.

In former days there was a fixed standard, which, if
passed would enable a candidate of average education and
ability to profit by the aLer-tea-hing at Woolwich. There
was a probationary examination at the end of the first year
which eliminated the idle and the hopelessly dull.

The time at Woolwich now appears too short to enable the
cadet to digest tne mental pabulum with which he has been
biufFed before joining.

Let us return to Tom in the sombre parlour of the crammer
producing his nomination for Woolwich. The tutor proceeds
to examine him. Caesar he could read and parse as if it
were English, and a gooH deal better, for he had not wasted
time on English grammar, which did not exist in those days,
and was only invented for ladies' schools in the latter half of
the Victorian era.

His questioner then went on to history, geography,
French, free-hand drawing and general subjects ; then Euclid,
in all which he found substantial knowledge, but when it
cp.me to accurate arithmetic, to say nothing of algebraical
dodges, his pupil was nowhere.

The coach threw the books on the table with a bang, and
said :

" It's no use, I can't take you, you couldn't possibly pass
in three months."

" But I promise you that I will work hard," pleaded
Tom.

" You would inevitably disgrace my school — I won't have
you."

The lad rose, strode out to the gate where the cab was still
standing, pulled his portmanteau off the roof and threw it
into the hall.

" What do you mean ? " said the master, angrily.

" I mean to stay," was the quiet reply.
• ** You're a strange lad," he remarked. "Well if you give
me y^ur word of honour that you will not go up without my

I i '.

A NON-COMPET.ITION WALLAH.

leave you may stay, and I will do my bef^t for you— your
pluck may pull you through."

Tom worked very hard, and at the end of three months
his tutor said :

" You may gc up, you will pass." '

And he did.

CHAPTER II.

|i 9'

College Life — " Mos pro lege "—The Minstrel Bov — Charles
GoRiON — Adam Lindsay Gordon — Promotion — A Military Arnold
— A iilNOOKER Aristocrat — A Quiet Pipe — Astronomical — Sky
Signs.

Formerly it was de riguenriox a cadet to join at Woolwich
in an evening dress-coat and a tall hat — " a claw-hammer
coat and a stove-pipe," as the Yankees call it — and woe
betide the boy who did not comply with the custom. Mos
pro lege.

The disciplinary process at the hands of tlie senior cadets,
rough but effectual, commenced at once — their unwritten
rod*^ was as the law of the Medes and Persians.

iNo " snooker," or young cadet, could return a blow from
one of the senior class, even if the latter did not wear
"swabs," (the shoulder straps, symbol of a corporal). Fail-
ing the corporal's rank, except when on parade, the old cadet
turned his chin strap over his forage cap, or allowed a morsel
of white handkerchief to appear between the buttons of his
double-breasted coatee. For a junior to do so from ignorance
or malice prepense would b'*ing condign punishment, under
the charge of "coolness."

The young cadets were not permitted to smoke or enter a
public-house, unless, unfortunately, they were sent for liquor
for a senior spree, nor were they allowed to lounge or sit in
the reading-room, but get a book and begone. They had to
brush the uniforms, and fag generally for the head of their
rooms — make toast at tea — pour out the beer in hall — and be
helped last and rather least in the matter cf Sunday pudding
and Thursday pie.

Cadet Jingo's first disciplinary lesson was severe, and he
did not require a second. Going downstairs from the halls
of study, his descent was accelerated by a kick between the
swallow tails from an old but diminutive cadet, aggressive as
little dogs snd men mostly are.

" MOS PRO LEGE."

2},

It is probable that the expression on the face of the reci-
pient of that kick was not one of gratitude, for the donor
remarked :

*' You great hulking snooker, I suppose if you were not a
newx* you would thrash me ? "

" Undoubtedly," was the reply. For which answer he was
summoned to the racquet-court, the usual place of punish-
ment, and very severely belted, the buckle end of the belt
being sometimes used for emphasis, by the four Senior
Corporals of his division, each in their turn, commencing
with the junior. The correct thing was to stand perfectly
still without flinching or remonstrance, and the arms folded,
which had a dignified aspect, and saved the knuckles from
ti:c buckle end.

A 'be conclusion of his punishment the senior
It'll. u; i.cd :

"So much for being a mutinous-looking beggar.*'

With seniors of bad disposition discipline occasionally
degenerated into cruelty. The prevailing spirit was, how-
ever, more of fun than deliberate cruelty, though many a
severe and sometimes salutary lesson was conve^'ed.

A dark-complexioned, sardonic " snooker," a professed
Atheist, who made himself conspicuous for blasphemy in a
by no means strait-laced community, was appropriately nick-
named " the Demon." To accentuate the resemblance (as
Henry Irving's lime-light was not in vogue) blue blazes
were extemporised by pouring Eau de Cologne on his hair
and setting fire to it, with the result that not only his hair but
his face was '■exc.ely burnt, and his eyes only narrowly
escaped.

Another b' " , .' adipose tissue and sedentary habits, that
rendered act distasteful, was styled the " Bounding

Hanchute." Hi; at person was compulsorily arrayed in
extremely tight and brilliantly-coloured bathing drawers, in
which he was made to climb to the top of the high cupboard,
that nearly reached the ceiling of the barrack-room, and from
this coign of vantage to jump through the top of the half-
tester barrack-bed, splitting the calico, and coming down in
a cloud of dust amid the applause of his tormentors.

An Irish cadet, whose extremely studious habits and puri-

Fag,

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

tanical * propriety of demeanour were considered inappro-
priate to his nationality, was compelled to recite and sing
amatory stanzas from his national bard, got up as :

" The minstrel boy to the war has gone,

In the ranks of death you'll find him, ^

His oxter t sword he has girded on,

And his wild harp (banjo) slung behind him."

But the compulsory performance most appreciated was the
irresistibly comic effect of this knight of the rueful countenance
singing :

" Oh ! the toin OiVe lost in wooing,

In honting and [ : i.j^

The loit that loies

In woman's 03'^es

Has been me soul's ondoing !

Tho' wisdom oft hath sought me,

I scorned the lore she brought me.

Me only books

Were woman's looks.

And folly all they taught me."

A contrast to the knight of the rueful countenance was a
laughter-loving 3'oungster, whose irrepressible exuberance of
spirits during study was a source of annoyance to the
corporal on duty, who ordered him an extra dose of frivolity
on the principle sitiiilia shtiilibus curatttur. The festive
youth was compelled to execute a " pas seul " up the hall of
study to the platform of the Octagon Tower, whence the
spectacles of the grim German professor glared at the ap-
parentlj' insane performer as he pirouetted and kissed his
hand, singing his own accompaniment in an assumed, and by
no means unmelodious, falsetto.

The refrain ran —

" My name's Torriano,

And I'm a damned I — talian ! "

The performer was a remarkably broad-shouldered, hand-
some lad, with merry brown eyes. It was too much for the
professor's gravity.

* He was killed in the Crimea. Puritan ways were hereditary, for lie was descended
from a Colonel of CromwcU'i arniv.
t Extra Drill,

CHARLES GORDON.

After using his wonted formula, " Shoken 1 shoken I
Kaporal, put dat shentlemans onder arrests ! " he burst out
laughing.

The consequences were not, as well as I remember, very
serious to the merry-making one, at any rate not sufficiently
so to make him serious for any length of time.

The cadet's name was really an Italian one and historic in
the Royal Artillery, like many others of foreign origin, such
as Torriano, de Rienzi, d'Aguilar, des Aguilliers, Du Plat,
Le Mesurier, etc.

In the ante-room of the R.A. Mess hangs the portrait of
General Borghardt, the father of the Royal Artillery. He
was, like Von Moltke, a hard bitten old Dane, survivor of
countless battles and sieges. The reason for the foreign
origin of so many of our Royal Artilleryiofficers, who became
almost a regimental caste and upheld its glory, " Ubique,"
for many generations, was that the fighting English
aristocracy preferred the Cavalry and Infantry service, in
which rank could be purchased, and no stiff examinations
vveie required. They were too proud, in fact, and
mental!}' indolent to study the base mechanic science of
artiller}'. On the Continent it was otherwise, and men like
Leonardo da Vinci were gunners as well as aitists and
aristocrats.

Charles Gordon was at the R.M.A. at this time.* Though
a severe disciplinarian, as an old cadet, and eccentric in his
modes of punishment, as in all else, he never joined in these
frivolities.

Being short of stature he was rear rank man to Cadet Jingo
on the left Hank of the Cadet Company. Gerald Graham
(General Graham, V.C, also of Soudan celebrity), was the
right hand file when the cadets were paraded on the occasion
of the Chartist Riots in 1848, when the Iron Duke took such
precautions as rendered any rising impossible. Nothing was
forgotten, even the cadets were paraded, served out with ball
cartridge, and given the brief instruction not to fire without
orders, " to fire low, and to fire slow."

Charles Gordon had always strong opinions, and was ad-
dicted to scarcely " sotto voce " comments on afliairs in
general and on orders in particular, disturbing to the
equanimity of his front rank file, behind whom the speaker
was un seen.

* Gordon Pasha of Khartoum

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

, II

extra drill for

front, took

drill for his

One one occasion an order was read out that on the recom-
mendation of the doctor, gentlemen cadets were forbidden to
bathe later than the month of October.

" Damned nonthence, coddling young soldiers/' lisped
Gordon, " let us bathe all winter and prove that it's wholesome
and the doctor's a fool."

An argument like that of Dickens' patient, who, forbidden
muffins, " eat 'alf-a-crown's worth and then blowed his brains
out to prove that muffins was 'olesome and the doctor was
wrong."

The front rank file grinned and got an
unsteadiness. Gordon stepped to the
the blame upon himself, and also got a
pains.

Next morning, after " oxters," (extras) as the defaulter's
drill was called, they doubled over to the cadet's pond and
bathed, continuing to do so all winter, though they had some-
times to break the ice.

A warm friendship, which lasted for their lives, existed
between Charles Gordon and " Long Tom," as Cadet Jingo
was familiarly called. Gordon would at times, without
apparent reason, withdraw himself from his friends, not
speaking for days, then he would come up as if nothing had
happened, and say :

"Come for a walk, old fellow."

In these walks they made many plans. Strange to say,
Gordon had always a hankering c^fter Africa. They A^ere to
volunteer for service at the Cape, get long leave, not difficult
in those days — equip a waggon, trek north, shoot elephants,
and with the proceeds of the ivory carr}^ on further explora-
tions. Details were not forgotten, even to the pattern of a
rifle and a hunting knife, " Long Tom" being considered an
authority, as his father had given him a gun and a rifle, both
of which he could use fairly, shooting snipe and seals on the
West Coast of Kerry.

Had he been told then that his impulsive little comrade was
to be a great soldier, his self-conceit would have led him to
think :

'* More likely me than him ! "

The characteristics, which years later made Gordon the
idol of many Englishmen, had scarcely developed.

But those African plans fell through — "the best laid
schemes o' mice and men gang aft a-gley I " Their paths

CHARLES GORDON.

separated — Gordon was commissioned into the Royal
Engineers, which Jingo missed by one place, getting 1st
Artillery — mainly in consequence of steeple-chasing over the
ditches in Woolwich marshes, using levelling rods as leaping
poles, whereby the survey and the poles sufTered.

When Gordon was forming his ever-victorious Chinese
army, he applied for his old friend to organise the Artillery of
his Force, but was refused. " Lieutenant Jingo could not be
spared from Regimental duty in India." A few months later
he was sent home round the Cape in charge of invalids !

But they met again. On his return from China, Gordon
was put to build mud forts at the mouth of the Medway.
He spent his spare time and spare cash in teaching street
Arabs. When asked by his friend why he had not accepted
the enormous present of " Sycee " silver given him by the
Emperor, replied —

" Wanted to show them there was no price for a British
officer."

The following characteristic letter was the last he wrote to
his friend : —

" Massowah, i8th May, 1878.

"Colonel Jingo, R.A., Quebec.
" My dear Jingo,

" I never forgot you or the R.M.A., or our ideas so much
in common as they were.

" wrote to me, and I received his letter with yours

yesterda}', on my arrival here from Berbush, Zeyle, and
Harar, which is some 235 miles inland.

" It was very interesting to see Harar, which for years had
bullied Abyssinia, it is a walled town of 20,000 inhabitants.
Burton visited it in 1862 — and described it in the book he
wrote — 'First Footsteps in Africa.' The town was founded
in the 7th century. Egypt occupied it in 1874, and it is now
under my Government.

" I have written to * to tell him to consult with you

(ask him to show you my letter) about his futuie. It would be
absolute ruin for him with no profession to be out here; what
can he do, look at him yourself, is he an engineer, a carpenter,
a botanist ? It is the one great mistake our class of life
makes, in educating their children to no trade.

♦ A nephew of General Gordon.

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

" Put our birth, our energy, and our determination into
shoe-making, carpentering, etc., we could beat the tradesmen
out of the field, but now we pay ;{^ioo's for a miserable edu-
cation of which more than two-thirds is useless.

" How often during my life I have regretted I could not
braze metals, could not solder, etc.

" Kindly advise for the best, for I feel for him, and

thank you and Mrs. for your kindness.

" I do not know if you knew his father , a queer

Puritan of the Cromwell type.*

" You and I have had different lives, but as I said to

, yours is the safer and smoother ; you at any rate are

not dependant on a man (H. Highness) having dyspepsia or
not, this 1 am dependant on.

" Kind regards to Mrs.

** i'ours sincerely,

" C. E. GORDO.N."

Adam Lindsay Gordon, pKjet and stockrider, was also a
cadet in those days. He was the exact opposite of Charles
Gordon — a dreamy lad, with a far-off look in his eyes, indi-
cative perhaps of the touching and semi-philosophical bush
ballads, so dear to every Australian heart, redolent as they
are of fatalism and wattle blossoms, though scarcely indica-
tive of the man who beat " the Favourite."

Unwittingly, Lindsay Gordon caused the loss of his swabs
to Corporal Jingo, who was on duty in the Hall of Study.
In marching out, the future poet, probably in dreamland, paid
no heed to Jingo's word of command and got a sharp rap on
the head with the edge of the ruler, which drew blood and
brought him from the clouds.

*' Shoken ! shoken I shoken ! " shouted little Troppenager,
the Gej'man professor. *' Kaporal, I reports you.''

Which he did, and Jingo was reduced to the ranks, the
Commandant remarking that though he maintained excellent
discipline, his methods were irregular.

Jingo's first promotion was brought about by infringe-
ment of rules. There was a Spartan simplicity about the
ablutions of the cadets — they took their morning bath
under the pump. In doing so. Cadet Jingo was unfortunate
enough to sever the tendons of his foot by treading on a

♦ Major Bayley, R.A., killed in action during Indian Mutiny Campaign.

A MILITARY ARNOLD.

broken bottle, which sent him to hospital for so long a time
that it lost him an examination, and many places in his
regiment.

One day he, with others, was smoking in the hospital
ward, against orders. The spurs of '* Eardley the Upright,"
or " Ramrod," as it was generally shortened to, clanked up
the passage. Cigar ends were thrown out of window and
Cadets stood to attention.

" Who's been smoking here ? " asked the officer.

" I, sir," said Jingo.

Seven days' close arrest was the punishment.

" Anyone else?" remarked the Captain, looking round with
something of a sneer when there was no response. The
others probably considered one scapegoat quite sufficient for
the occasion.

At the completion of his punishment, Cadet Jingo was sent
for to the Orderly-room, pondering in his mind what new
peccadillo had been detected.

To his surprise, the Commandant said :

" I have sent for you to tell you that, though your conduct
cannot be considered steady, and you have not reached the
Upper Academy, I intend to promote you."

" Thank you, sir, I would rather not be promoted," was
the foolish reply. " I can't report my comrades."

" You are much too fine a fellow to be a fool, and I shall
promote 3'ou, and you will do your duty as a soldier on your
honour."

Cadet morality was elastic on many points, but when a
cadet was put upon his honour, it was never known to fail.
If placed under arrest in his room, no sentry or watch was
ever kept upon him.

Thus, in his abrupt and kindly fashion, did the Captain
of Cadets secure the hearty service and affectionate esteem
of all who served under him, man or boy. It was the
turning point of their lives when
influence of Eardley Wilmot, the
Woolwich.

Cadet Jingo was shortly promoted Senior Corporal of a
Division. On the first day of the term, a coronetted
carriage, with flunkeys complete, entered the gates with
the humbler cabs of other last joined cadets. From it
alighted a still beautiful woman with her son, a fair-
haired, delicate-looking lad. He was among those told off

they came under the
Military Arnold of

GUNNER JINGOS JUBII.EK.

I m

II I'

to the Division commanded by Corporal Tom. His regula-
tion portmanteau, containing the usual trousseau, including
the indispensable cotton night-caps, generally used to boil
eggs in, was carried to the barrack-room by a stately flunkey
and deposited on the sanded floor with a sigh of relief, and
a cloud of powder from his hair.

Surveying the room, with its iron bedsteads, pewter basins
and grated window, he touched his hat to his master and
said, with an air of respectful condolence :

"Good G — d, my lord, they are not going to put you into
such an 'ole as this ? "

"That will do, Mr. Plush!" said the Corporal in charge
of the room ; but the magnificent one heeded him not, and
again touching his hat for orders, received his dismissal
from his master.

" And what is your name, sir ? " said the Corporal, some-
what aggravated by the sang-froid of the flunkey.

" Lord Ronald Plantagenet de Montmorency Grosvenor,"
said the little man, drawing himself up all his inches,
and fixing a fishy gray aristocratic eye on his inter-
locutor.

" Oh, you're a lord, are you I " and he gave the poor boy
a box on the ear, with the comment, " Ough I It's only like
boxing any other fellow's ear 1 " Then — " Your hair's too
long, sir, get it cut regimental length. Number 24 barrack-
room, you'll find a barber."

Wlien the lad entered the room designated, he found an
impromptu barber, with all the paraphernalia necessary, the
shoulder straps of a Corporal appearing above the apron.
A pair of candle snuffers for scissors and tallow as an ac-
cessory were produced. On saying he had been ordered to
get his hair cut, he was again asked his name and unfortu-
nately gave his title with it.

He was told to turn round and hold up his coat tails.
Scarcely realising what was contemplated, he did so, and re-
ceived a kick, with the remark :

" I never had the honour of kicking a lord's just like

any other fellow's "

Being made to sit down, and scissors substituted for
snuffers, which were not found expeditious enough, his hair
was reduced to less than military brevity.

As he left the chamber of tonsorial torment, walking
moodily and brooding over the indignity to whic'" he had

■i:

A SNOOKER ARISTOtRAT.

been subjected, he met the Senior of the Division, who had
got V ind of the practical joking that was going on, and
thought the poor lad had probably had enough of it. The
boy expected more harsh treatment from the commanding
looking senior who stopped him, especially when he heard
the oft-repeated query :

*' What's your name ? "

He answered with the same fatal precedence of his title.
The senior put his two hands on his shoulders and, looking
down kindly, said solemnly :

" Did your Godfathers and Godmothers in your baptism
wherein, etc., etc., call you Lord Ronald and so on ?"

" No, sir," said the boy, a new light breaking in upon him.
" My Christian name is Ronald."

" And your family name ? "

"Grosvenor," said the boy.

" Very well, my lad, when you are asked your name, give
it, and if anyone wants to know your title, you can tell them
that also."

He took the hint thankfully and was bullied no
more, for he was an amiable lad and turned out a very good
fellow.

Academy days, in spite of hard study towards the end of
the term for those who had been idle, passed pleasantly with
kindly cameraderie and athletic sports. Eardley Wilmot, the
captain of cadets, kept a pack of beagles, which were followed
on foot. Lieutenant Biddulph * being a whip that few could
match. It was a sport that laid the foundation of an enduring
soundness of wind and limb in those who pursued it, instead
of wasting health and money in Saturday and Sunday leaves
to imaginary friends in London, from whom written invita-
tions, which were too often " fudged," as it was technically
termed, were expected to be shewn.

But those whom a limited purse made wise, if nothing
else, would make expeditions into the country, bivouac in
Epping Forest or elsewhere, instead of going to imaginary
relatives.

One Easter a cadet 8-oar ascended the river. The funds
of the crew ran low, and Le Per and Jingo, the most impe-
cunious and eccentric of the lot agreed to sleep in the boat.
Towards day-break it was cold, and they found, moreover,

♦ General Sir Michael Biddulph, Keeperof the Crown Jewels at the Tower.

(lUNNKR JINGO S JUBILEE.

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,

" 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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'*^'' -

-_'S^.~.^'

:*^'

■ 'nf'l*'-:.'

-vt.V''''^

THE UNION JACK.

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

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.

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.

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.

■<'•(:■■■ .•;■

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,:«^-.,f: -X/f

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

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.

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.

I ''I

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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.

•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.

!•:

GUNNEK JINGO S JUBILEK,

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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.

AFRICA.

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

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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.

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

' 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 !

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.

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.

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;
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il^A

PEPITA.

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

\ 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.

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.

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

: ; 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.

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

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.

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!'^

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,

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

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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.

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.

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.

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

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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."

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!

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33 WiST MAIN STRUT

WEBSTER, NY. 14580

(716)873-4503

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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.

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^.

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.

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

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE,

i'i

1 f[

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.

,(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 ■

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.

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

TT"

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.

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. '-,

:ut

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

♦

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Wi:

i I

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.

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

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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.

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.

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.

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

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."

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.

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

liw

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

ir
I

If!

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.

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

li'!'

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.

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

\ 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.

} •

• -4

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

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B,6U0TH«*

tttav

,en»^:

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GUNNER jingo's JUBILEE.

had done. He therefore let things slide in San Domingo,
and Toussaint L'Overture was put into the Republican school
books as a patriot. With true simian aptitude, when
Napoleon III. executed a "coup d'etat," the negro President,
Zoolouque did ditto, and assumed the Imperial purple and
big boots, and like his prototype he died an exile. ^

When Jingo land-

^^^^^^^Ni^)

ed at Jackmel, the
mail-port of Hayti,
he found the sentry
on the tumble-down
wharf, a caricature
in black of a Volti-
geur of the Imperial
Guard at Paris, with
the same tall tri-
coloured plume, to
which a tropical
shower had given a
bedraggled droop,
for there was no
sentry box. On
the rain ceasing,
Sambo got a chair
and sunnc ' himself
and his plumage
while he smoked a
long cigar, his rusty
rifle between his
knees. But we must
not be too hard on
Sambo, there is ex-
cuse for him, he
may be a step nearer
the ancestral ape than the Anglo-Saxon. Yet our army culti-
vated Prussian pigtails and grenadiers after Frederic the Great,
considering powder on the soldier's head as essential as in
his musket, forgetting that these details were of his father,
the glorified Sergeant-Major, and not of the geniuo of his
son. Wellington never copied anyone's clothes nor tactics,
but stuck to the thin red line. After the Crimea our caps
grew kepi-like, military trousers expanded at the hips and
actually permitted pockets as do the French red legs of to-day.

iHiCvTA^Xtl'^cHirv'

NEGRO HOME RULE.

lOI

But on the reverses of 1870, the miHtary mind of England
saw that reform was needed, and we braced up until
Tommy was not left a pocket for his pipe, and when we
crowned him with a spiked pot, we made believe we had
the Prussian military system.

Upon the hills that overlooked the harbour was a fort.
Lieutenant Jingo, anxious to learn all he could of the military
power of a negro empire, ascended the elevation in the
sweltering heat that had succeeded the tropical downpour.
He was accompanied by a pair of energetic middies from the
mail steamer who said they knew the ropes.

" In the afternoon
They came into aland wherein it seemed to be always afternoon,
A sleepy land of drowsy head it was."

The scattered little town was taking its siesta, the lizards
basked upon the walls, swelling out their varying; coloured
throat bags, black satin babies pillowed their heads on
scrofulous-looking pigs and snored in concert under the
verandahs. The gate of the fort stood open, the guard had
retired to t'le shelter of the guard-room. Their arms stood
in a rack in the verandah, the sentry snoozed in a hammock
under a couple of trees, his rifle leaned against a trunk close

by.

It was more than mortal middies and a harum-scarum sub
could stand, the temptation to capture a fort all on their own
hook. Noiselessly they took the sentry's rifle and hid it, then me
arms from the rack. They entered the fort and looked round.
There were no occupants but the lizards basking on the
crumbling parapets. The tropic growth of bush had filled
the ditch and was forcing its' way between the interstices of
the masonry. The antiquated cannon, hot to the touch,
rested insecurely on their rotten carriages with pyramids of
rusty shot beside. The Imperial banner drooped from its
stafi' in the sultry air. Quick as thought the middies seized
the halyards and lowered it to substitute a yellow bandana,
emblem of quarantine. Then they became inebriate with the
exuberance of youthful frivolity and before the more sober
Lieutenant could stop them, they had commenced to roll the
shot over the parapet slope down into the ditch below. The
rumble of the iroi: cascade roused the guard, who rushed
about looking for their lost rifles and chattering like demented
baboons. They rushed into the fort furious with the

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GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

mischievous monkeys tliey found there. A torrent of vitu-
peration was met by the Lieutenant remarking, in French —

" Very well, gentlemen, take us before the commandant
and explain to him how you lost your aimi? a!:d where they
are."

This was a poser. A treaty of peace was arranged. On
the restoration of the missing arms and the price of a modest
drink, the Britishers were allowed to depart. They did so,
abandoning their extemporised flag, the yellow bandana, hop-
ing it would not be noticed ur\til they were well away.

They wandered on along the dusty tortuous roads, among
the scattered single-storied shanties and lean-tos which made
up the town of Jackmel. Faded jalousies, ill-kept gardens of
limes, guava, bread-fruit, scarlet hybiscus, and flaming
Barbadoes Pride, were the prevailing features, arranged in
no order, but apparently dusted out of some huge pepper-
castor over the jungle-covered undulating countr^-^, with here
and there a patch of sugar-cane, unmanufactured, and
seemingly grown but to suck, for almost every man, woman,
and child were so refreshing themselves during their evening
cackle across the garden gates or among the sweet-scented
hedges of Marvel of Peru, which also has its siesta hours,
waking to perfume the evening air for the lovers to whom
moonlight and fireflies are all-suflficing illumination, and
mosquitoes not deterrent.

Ever eager for information and having satisfied himself
that the state of national defence, like our own, did not
mean defiance. Jingo turned his thoughts to the commerce of
the country aiid accosted a bright-looking Creole girl behind
the counter of a miscellaneous store, enquiring what were
the principal productions of the plate.

Leaning over the counter and shrugging her shoulders
with an arch look in her eyes, she replied : " Rien que les
enfants, m'sieu — qu'en voulez-vous de plus ? "

The answer raised such a train of thought that Tom forgot
to make further investigations about commerce. But I find
in a school board geography that " the chief vegetable
productions are, mahogany, logwood, coffee, cotton, coal,
with tobacco, wax, ginger, and sugar. Its excellent harbours
afford great facilities for trade, but the unsettled state of the
Government has almost destroyed its commerce."''

♦ In the crisis of the next revohition Capt. McCme, R.A., landed his company of
gunners and removed the Emperor and his ciiloHivgi: to a place of safety.

QUARANTINE.

103

When the vessel steamed away, she fired a gun and
dipped her ensign in salute. The yellow bandana was
lowered in return and then hastily pulled down, for until
then the lazy guards had not noticed the change. The
<]uarantine colours had been hoisted in mockery on the Fort,
but in bitter earnest did the yellow flag flutter from the mast-
head when the port of St. Thomas was reached, where
quarantine was enforced, for the fever had followed them
and broken out among the crew. The ship lay in the hot
land-locked harbour of St. Thomas, a Danish possession
and about the last of the vast inheritance of their sea-king
forefathers. The passengers gazed helplessly at the
bright town of Dutch toy-looking houses, their red roofs
shimmering in the sunshine. Jingo made a rough water-
colour sketch to keep his mind from dwelling on the row of
pitch-daubed hammocks that lay in the gangway every
morning with a shot at the foot of each, ready to be launched
to the hungry sharks in the placid green depths. 'Twas
hoped they sank so fast they were not caught until they got
to rest at the bottom, anyway the shot were hard pills. Tom
liked exercise, but his early walk was circumscribed by these
•quiet occupants of either gangway.

The sketch he made then is like nothing that exists. The
town of St. Thomas was shaken down by earthquake and
the debris overwhelmed by a huge sea wave which carried
ships from their moorings to rest upon the green hill-sides.
But all mundane things must have an end, even quarantine,
one way or the other, and Tom was released at last, to go on
board the trim, white, swift-sailing schooner that was to take
him to the Bahamas. Here he met the outgomg sub he had
come to relieve, and who did not express himself violently
overjoyed at his change, but perhaps this was swagger of
some sort, or a kindly attempt to comfort his comrade for
the disappointment of not going to the Crimea, for which he
himself was bound.

The long lake-like harbour of Nassau, with its clumps of
greenery, its fringe of waving palms, and its English-look-
ing church spire was refreshing after weeks of quarantine.
It is low and of coral formation. About the highest point is
crowned by Fort Fincastle, once the stronghold of the pirate
Black Beard. The salubrious island, swept by the sea-
breezes, and encircled by coral reefs with numerous open-
ings for small craft into the always calm water inside, made

104

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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it a favourite resort of the buccaneers. Why it is called
New Providence one can't imagine, unless the old one was
played out. A Yankee would say the same thing of New
and old England.

The first task of the Lieutenant was to overhaul the
Artillery defence of the island, to make the best of it, for we
were at war. The command of the garrison devolved,
of course, on the Colonel, an able officer, commanding the
infantry — a West India Regiment — but considerable respon-
sibility rested on the Artillery subaltern, with its usual
exhilarating influence on a young soldier. Those were days
before the crushing Control Department had laid its heavy
hand upon the Artillery service. There was a Board of
Respective Officers, as they were called. The officer com-
manding the garrison — the Senior Artillery officer, the Royal
Engineer, the Ordnance Storekeeper, and the Commissariat
Officer. During the long peace no money had been spent
in repairs, and the state of the principal fort would be best
described by the flippant remark of the Lieutenant when
asked his opinion as junior member of the Board. He said
it was a " piano fort," and was forthwith very properly
frowned down until he explained his views for " tuning
up," which he was allowed to carry out as far as funds
and the views of his, Engineer colleague permitted. But
the purely Artillery part afforded ample scope for energy.

As Government had provided none, the Lieutenant bought
an old man-of-war's boat by auction, and with the help of a
chart made himself practically acquainted with the channels,
marking with unobtrusive little buoys the ranges for his
guns, etc. A road went round the island, often concealed
from sight of the sea by a fringe of bush. A couple of field-
guns were so equipped that they could be trotted round
with hired horses to meet any attempt at boat-landing, the
only kind possible inside the reefs. As for bombarding the
beach, or even the town, no one is ever killed by bombard-
ments, it is only a question of bricks and mortar at the
worst, and ships for the most part run aground trying to
bombard anything.

Once the defensive arrangements were complete so far as
the gunners were concerned there was no need to harrass
them with unnecessary parades. They were all reliable old
soldiers of from ten to fifteen years' service, who were
perfectly familiar with the armament in their charge. Ser-

WAR PREPARATION AND PIG HUNTING.

105

geant Dunlop was a treasure of Scotch discretion, and the
men had already taken the Lieutenant's mental and moral
measurement. There had been no drunkenness, for the
men had been rationally employed. The work had been
severe, but they knew it was needful, and it had been
shared all day and every day by the officer, whom they
shrewdly suspected would be as hard on misconduct as he
was exacting on duty. The other side of him they equally
approved — the cricket and football side. Then his boat was
practically theirs for fishing and turtle-turning on the Keys,
as the neighbouring coral islands are called.

He used to take them on expeditions to fish, or to shoot
wild pigs on some of the bush-covered adjacent islets, and —
tell it not at head quarters I — after rifle practice, he allowed
the best shots to take their carbines, and he even distributed
ammunition for porcine warfare.

There were on the island some of the old breed of Spanish
bloodhounds, formerly employed to track runaway slaves,
and the Lieutenant used them to hunt piggy and run him to
bay by the seashore. Piggy is not good at aquatics, and is
generally accused of cutting his own throat with his fore-feet
when he tries swimming. So h*^ stood at bay and was shot
at close quarters for fear of injuring the dogs, for the boar
always makes a desperate fight. At any rate he never acted
like the Gadarene swine, about which Professor Huxley is
so sceptical, but was eaten fresh or salted down in barrels
brought for the purpose, as an agreeable change for the men's
mess. The only complaint ever made to their officer was the
great frequency of turtle soup. Beef was scarce but turtle
plentiful, so the commissariat supplied turtle rations. If the
London Aldermen only knew of this fact it might relieve the
difficulty about recruiting. Alas! we are giving up this paradise
of Calapash and Calipee. The troops are being, or have
been withdrawn from the Bahamas. Fatal policy ! During
the war between the North and South, Nassau was a rendez-
vous for blockade runners. We may yet want to break
blockades in the interest of our starving people. Every spot
from which our troops are withdrawn, other interests must
step in and eventually become paramount. Apart from trade
questions, Americans in search of health largely frequent the
balmy climate of these islands as a winter resort. They like
British officers — tv/wii they kuoiv them. When they don't
they fall back for their ideas on their silly old school books,

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

about Bunker's Hill and the Hessians,* or Howell's "Chance
Acquaintance," and imagine him with a port-wine face, that
rivals the colour of his coat. It is perhaps not peculiar to
American historians that they never credit the prowess of
an enemy. They won't acknowledge the fact that they were
driven from their position at Bunker's Hill, and some of
their cannon captured.

When shewn an American gun taken at Bunker's Hill
and which now stands on the citadel at Quebec, a Yankee
remarked :

" Wall ! I guess you've got the gun, but we've got the
hill ! "

An American girl finished off her sea voyage flirtation
with a British officer by pointing out Bunker's Hill as they
entered Boston Harbour, remarking sweetly :

"There, that's the glorious Bunker's Hill ! "

The young man screwed his glass in his eye
with deliberation, and then looking stonily at the girl,
said :

" Aw I Ya-as — and who was Mistah Bunkaw — and what
did he do on his hill ? "

Our Lieutenant duly called to pay his respects to the
ladies of the family of the American Consul. Ushered in
from the outside glare to a cool, darkened drawing-room,
with its slippery oak-floor, a beautiful being in white fluff
languidly received him, and then sank into a low rocking-
chair and conmienced to oscillate with a vigour out of all
proportion to her limp appearance. The sea-breezes playing
through the jalousies, assisted by the motion of the chair,
produced the effect of a recumbent skirt dancer. She had
dainty little feet, and — and — she would have made a most
" fetching " pictorial advertisement for embroidered petticoats
in a lady's newspaper, or done for a practical commentary on
''the King's daughter," who was "all glorious within, and her
raiment of needlework," etc. Our French neighbours call
them shocking chairs.

Our poor sub lost his head if not his heart. He sat on
the edge of a chair opposite, ready to rush forward to
put her right end up, should she topple over, as

* It is scarcely a discredit to Kngland that Hessians were employed in the attempted
siiiipression of tlie insurrection of the American Colonists. Blood is thicker than water,
the liiiKlish troops were half-hearted and tlie task most distasteful to them. The same
thing occurred in the Irish Rebellion of '98. Tlie miin work was done by Hessians, tho
loyal " Irish " Militia themselves, and the Yeomanry.

ANGLO-SAXON RELATIVES,

107

there seemed every fear she would. He did not know
then that rocking chairs, unHke modern ironclads, never turn
over.

How was he to open fire ? The weather conversation being
tabooed out of England, he ventured the remark :

" You must find it rather dull in this little island, after
your gay New York life — ho'v do you manage to pass the
time ? "

" Oh, I guess I don't try to pass the time, I jess sit here, /n
and let the time pass me." '

We all know what delightfully entertaining companions
American girls are, unlike their brothers, who leave school
for the counting-house at an early age, and read nothing
thenceforth but " Wall Street " and dime novels, or politics
•equally sensational and about as veracious.

The women-folk read everything, and if they become
delightfully dogmatic, are still infinitely amusing.

The electrically-laden air of the New World, where, during
the cold, dry North American winter, a man can light the gas
in the stove-heated " parlour " with his finger, or produce a
blue flash if he should kiss his best girl, has evidently had its
influence in brightening and quickening the Anglo-Saxon
pulse and brain. That the character has become less solid
is not doubtful. Again, there has been a vast intermixture
of blood which has brightened the children of the unimaginative
Pilgrim Fathers. And finally, the education of boys and
girls together gives the latter a familiarity with men, that
the insular " miss " waits for the emancipation of marriage
to attain.

The common education of the sexes has a tendency to
make the man womanly and the woman manly, distinctly a
disadvantage to the man, who unwittingly picks up the
weapon the woman has dropped — deceit.

" La belle Americaine " and the young Jingo became fast
friends, talked books — other things possibly — danced
together, rode together, picnicked among the murmuring pines,
and began to mingle negro melodies and Spanish ballads on
guitar and banjo. This was decidedly dangerous. Luckily
a man-of-war came to the rescue. Our Lieutenant introduced
his friend, a gallant sailor, lent him his island pony — a
wondrous, unshod animal that even a sailor could not cap-
size — to ride with the brilliant fair one, and our soldier was
quickly put in the background, from which he never emerged.

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In answer to a three-cornered note, asking reasons for
changes quite understood, the youth waxed poetic and wrote
in reply:

" The moon has many changes, only lunatics alarming.

In life we learn, where'er we turn, variety is charming." \

But in reality the belle, with true American acumen,
scorned mere ordinary impecunious soldiers or sailors. She
married into the red book of Burke, and if she were not
happy she deserved to be.

But to revert — the social aspect of the question of with-
drawing troops from the Colonies is only one of the many
causes which make for the disintegration of Empire.
The West India regiments, under good officers, have done
much hard and unobtrusive service on the deadly West
African coast, impossible to white troops, except as a rush
out and home, leaving no permanent results. Nevertheless,
the honours have fallen upon the military picnickers from Pall
Mall. The Bahamas, the refreshing place of the West India
regiments from the burden of African service, are to be given
up as a Garrison. The excuse for all these withdrawals is
concentration. But the Colonies are the tentacles of our
octopus Empire, and could be made to supply the food of
England with her thirty-six millions of mouths, whose home
provisions would not keep her six months. There is less
reason for concentration now that facilities of communication
are so intensified. It was a sailing schooner which had
brought Lieutenant Jingo and carried the monthly mails and
blank defaulter returns to headquarters.

She had arrived overnight, and when the Lieutenant
went for his morning swim he walked along the sponge and
coral-strewn beach to the bathing house, a quarter-of-a-mile
from which lay the white ship, like a sea-bird with folded wings
at rest upon the emerald green lagoon within the barrier
reefs surrounding the island. As sharks did not come
there, he thought he would swim out and hail the big Dutch
skipper.*

As he neared the schooner he saw there was no one on
deck but the look-out man, who was gazing out to sea. The
humour seized the swimmer to dive under the ship's bottom,

* This swim was never repeated, for a few days after Jingo saw black fins careering
inside the reefs where lie had often swum and dived for coral, which, by-the-way, is a very
unpleasant thing to handle, as it stings when alive.

A SWIM FOR THE MAIL.

109

and as he emerged on the further side, the watcher started —

" Hi, de debbii ! where you come from ? "

I'm
the

" Don't stand jibbering there, but throw us a rope ,
tired, I have swum from Jamaica and dived most of

way.

But the darkie bolted below without throwing the rope and
reported " de debbii on the port bow." The captain came up,
had a gangway ladder lowered and welcomed his friend. The
passengers had gone ashore, so Jingo's scant costume did not
matter, and was soon remedied by the loan of a suit of vast
circumference belonging to the " Flying Dutchman," as the
skipper of the swift sailing schooner was nicknamed.

Over a comfortable breakfast, Tom read his mail, the usual
budget from his mother, a few lines from father and brother,
who were respectively Colonel and Adjutant of the King's
Own Borderers and were sweltering in the East Indies while
he was doing ditto in the West. " Bad family luck 1 " he
thought, though two of his cousins had been killed, one in the
old " die-hards " at Inkerman and the middy in the Baltic,
while a third had gained a brevet, a C.B., and a Legion of
Honour. The war still dragged on, there had been plenty of
death vacancies, but he, a tough old subaltern, had been for-
gotten, whereas boys from the public schools were being sent
out as Artillery officers without professional training. They
died like flies, though those who survived eventually made
excellent officers, as public schoolboys are apt to do.

Tom went home to the barracks, signed the blank returns
submitted by the Sergeant, and found an invitation to a
dance at Government House, which he was glad to accept,
for he liked the old Scotch Governor, whose daughter, a
bonny lass, was married to his chum, the sapper sub, at
whose recent wedding he had been best man.

He had ordered his best golden garments to be prepared
for the festive occasion, but when he came to dress he found
his old ones laid out, and rated his soldier servant, Montgomerie,
who ruled his master methodically and economically for
his welfare and to their mutual benefit. He was a black
Protestant from the north of Ireland, Scotch descent with a
dash of Irish warmth, and true as steel — they make the best
of soldiers. Of course he had his way as to his master's
dress, remarking :

" Deed then, shure, they're good enough for the loikes of
folks in this wee bit island." His speech was a melange of

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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north and south. He was never known to be drunk, but he
put in a pass for three days in the year. 17th of March, July
1 2th, and Christmas Day. The pass was always signed and
no questions asked. He had good conduct badges to the
elbow, but his eyes were fishy and his movements languid
the days following those anniversaries.

Leaving the dance after the small hours, Jingo was startled
by a glare in the sky, too bright for the flush of dawn. It
was over the old wooden town of Nassau, where the houses,
dry as tinder, would blaze like matchboxes. The most
efficient fire-engine was in the hands of the Artillery. Tom's
conscience smote him, for, contrary to regulations, he had
given an all-night pass to the whole detachment except the
guard. Would they return and work the engines ? He
dashed off to his quarters, threw off his jacket and vest, but
did not stay to change his full dress trousers and patent
leather boots. No sign of Montgomerie. He ran down to
the barracks. The engine was out and just on the start under
the Sergeant, the men hitched in with drag ropes. Not a man
absent, though some were in even lighter costume than the
Lieutenant in his shirt sleeves. Montgomerie whispered,
looking reproachfully at his master's gold laced nethers —

" Ech, sir, but ye're that feckless ! . Ye took no heed til the
owld duds I pet oot for ye. It's weel they're no yer best
overalls."

Off they rattled, reaching the conflagration before the town
engine. The lusty strokes of the gunners sent the water
supplied from the sea in a cataiact, and they kept it up as
the Creole pompiers could not. But noihing could stop the
fury of the flames among the old wooden houses. The sea
breeze had set in and when a spirit store caught fire it
seemed as if the whole town must go. There was nothing for
it but to make a gap and pull down the next building. Ropes
and grapnels had to be fixed to the brick chimneys, and the
Lieutenant mounted to direct operations, followed by Gunner
Deacon, who had been a sailor. The lower part of the con-
demned house was already burning. Jingo's foot went
through the floor of an upper room and, the trouser rucking
up, a hot cinder got inside his wet boot, which could neither
be got off nor the cinder dislodged. The engines had been
playing about them as they worked. Deacon with an axe
hewing away the connecting beams to the next house. He
stood on the end of the beam he was cutting, a black-bearded

A FIRE, A RETRIEVING SNAKE, A SPECTRAL PIPE. I I I

handsome man against the lurid glare, looking like a demon
with a benevolent mission. Tom had a few seconds to take
in the "coup d'oeil " while engaged ti-ying with his hand to
crush the agonising cinder.

All being ready they descended. All hands hauled on the
ropes and down came the house, chimneys and all, leaving a
gap which eventually stayed the conflagration. The thanks
of the citizens were conveyed to the Artillery.

Officers seldom have cause to repent indulgence shown to
good soldiers, who on their side rarely betray a trust. It
seems a monstrous regulation not to give a man leave for the
whole night instead of until midnight, for very evident
reasons. A sense of duty and daylight will bring him up to
time in the morning, but to drag himself away before
midnight is more than ordinary flesh can stand — and Tommy
is very ordinary flesh, and has fewer opportunities than his
officers.

There was but little to shoot on the island. Huge flocks
of pigeons from the mainland flew over and rested there at
certain seasons, arid a few snipe frequented the edges of the
lagoons. Our Lieutenant bagged the few which were to be
got by much bog trotting. On one occasion he came across
a novel retriever. A brilliant snake had seized the snipe he
had just shot, but as it did not bring it to the sportsman, it
was despatched forthwith by the second barrel.

There were a fair library and Literary Institute in the
town, of which our sub was a member, and the large gardens
attached to the mess house of the West India Regiment
were handed over to his supervision, so that his time was
fairly occupied. One morning he had been working, planting
pine apple shoots, and sat resting in the shade on a low wall.
A few feet from him lay a short clay pipe, probably kft by
the negro gardener. All of a sudden it wagged its stem,
then stood on its bowl and staggered away waving 1. . stem
in the air ! Jingo had been reading Swedenborg's mad
muddle of spiritualism and theology until he was getting
muddled himself, and the perambulating pipe was startling
in the extreme. To make sure it was not an optical delusion,
he seized it. It contained a soldier crab. The claws
protruded from the bowl which the soft body filled. Exposure
to the sun and rain had removed every trace of nicotine from
the pipe, otherwise it would have been a deadly dwelling for
its eccentric tenant.

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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

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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.

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GUNNER JINGOS JUBII.EK.

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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

ii8

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILKE.

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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

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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.

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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

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\ GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEK.

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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

126

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

II ;.

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-

'" The blight on the blue coat hus extended to the Artillery College, no longer for
Artillery officers only. '

■■

wmrmi

128

GUNNVR JINGO S JUBILEK.

' ' '

1! i'

I; ' i

i!;

iH :

■ 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

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

' >■ * —■- *ii.

fWr

130

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEB;.

/ -/

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!,* •?

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^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.

136

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'

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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

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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

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."

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GUNNER JINGO S JUUILEE,

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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

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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.

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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

146

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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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

.- 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

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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

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

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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

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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.

•\

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

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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

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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

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158

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

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

i! M

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GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

liii;

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front were raised to check the pace for a few moments
before wheeHng about for action front. There were not
sufficient gunners to have lifted round the gun-trails, so it was
done by the horses — with extreme precision.

There seemed no haste now. Everything was done
mechanically. Round after round of case shot was poured
into the enemy, until —

" Cease fire I " sounded.

There was the mad General riding to the front through
the smoke, shouting, like a naughty girl at a fair :

" Follow me, lads ! "

But there were none to follow. The Infantry were pant-
ing half a mile behind. The Sepahi battery stood silent,
and the smoke still wreathed from the black muzzles not
two hundred yards oft'.

" Well, bedad 1 if you're not coming, boys, I'll go by
meselfl" shouted the old fire-eater, riding straight for the
nearest gun.

He was followed by two or three officers of his Staff".
They could see the Sepahi gunner raise the port-fire — another
instant and the General and Staff" would be " in smithereens,"
as he would himself have expressed it. McLeod Innes,
Bengal Engineers, raised his revolver and the gunner fell.
A scramble into the battery, where the native gunners lay
pretty thick about their guns, showed the reason of our
success plainly. It was a sunken battery, and the guns
rested on the dried bottom of a gheel (pond), with their
muzzles only just above the terrain. In turning them to
meet our flank attack the heavy trails had broken through
the crust of mud, and in some cases even the wheels on
which the gun had pivoted, thus accounting for the first
inaccuracy of their fire, while our case shot, delivered point
blank, had been most effective, as their dead gunners,
as well as the splintered rammers lying round testified.
But that mishap alone wcjld have silenced their fire, for,
with the curious improvidence of natives, 'ley had no spare
ones.

More quickly than it took to realise the situation did the
Infantry swarm in and press along the whole line of entrench-
ments, while the Artillery limberM up and trotted round to
take the whole position in reverse, following mercilessly in
pursuit, and pouring round after round into the retreating
masses. Our losses were inconsiderable, for the General's

the

ich-

ling

al's

INDIAN ARTILLERY TACTICS.

l6i

tactics of advancing with Field Artillery and picked Infantry
marksmen, had brought a minimum of men under fire with
a maximum of effect. Aldershot umpires rule guns out of
action within a mile of Infantry fire. Success will be to
him who overrides this vicious teaching that men must
retire lest they be killed. Tactics move in circles, with the
•changes in weapons : picked shots with magazine rifles
and breech-loading guns with shields will yet form the
advance.

The Oudh Talook-dars, native gentlemen who commanded
the rebel armies, though brave and accustomed before our
regime to fighting among themselves, were ignorant of "la
grande guerre." The native officers who commanded the
Sepahis had the knowledge and ideas of sergeants. Their
positions were well chosen and entrenched, but always
with the idea that we would of necessity make a front attack
and go blundering down the road leading to the centre of
position.

That night the Artillery ammunition waggons had to be re-
plenished and the captured guns destroyed before the force
marched oflF. So Jingo's hands were full. Until late and
again early, long before day, was he trying to burst the
beautiful long bronze guns, highly ornamented and sonorous
as a bell. But the " beastly things " refused to be burst and
became more dangerous in their death than in their life. At
last, he loaded some of the longest with native powder up to
the muzzle, jammed in a couple of shot, then finding a dry
well handy, he threw them into it, muzzle down, 24 and 18-
pounders, previously connecting a fuze with the touch holes
up to which the well was tamped with earth. The fuze was
lighted and every one went under cover. With a roar a
column of dust and smoke rose, and out of it appeared
three majestic demon rockets ; like the Prince's plume of the
heir apparent of hell, it seemed to the terrified Jingo, who
watched this pyrotechnic display as it soared almost out of
sight, falling later like destroying angels in the direction of
the camp.

One, a 24-pounder, went througii a tent, which was fortu-
nately empty, as the men were foi ming on parade. Staff
officers rode in lelays to curse him, and as the force marched
off, gangs of Budmashes * from the bazaars of Sultanp<x)r

♦ Disaffected bands of plunderers who swelled the rebel armies.

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■^ GUNNER jingo's JUBILEE.

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III.

I j

hung round to cut his throat and annihilate the small detach-
ment who were vainly striving to destroy the almost
sacred guns, decorated as they were with the device of King
or Emperor, and many a boastful text from the Koran, which
the infidel soldier could not read.

After the ineffectual fireworks, there were no means of
collecting the guns. Jingo at last slew them where they lay.
Digging a shallow grave for each, they were again heavily
loaded and two shot, with a space between each maintained
by a short stick, were rammed in. This method was
suggested to him by a leery old gunner, who had
remarked :

" Nature aborrs a wackyyum, sir."

The masses of valuable metal had thevi to be transported
in hackeries, to the great disappointment of the Budmashes.
The gun carriages had, meanwhile, been reduced to heaps of
smouldering ashes.

So it was late in the day when Jingo overtook the head of
the Artillery column, where he found his chief He was immedi-
ately sent back to bring up the elephant battery, for the
passage of the Goomti had to be forced through the dis-
affected city of Sultanpoor, before which the rebel army had
just been defeated. A dashing irregular cavalry advance
had already been made under Aikman, who had been
decorated with a tulwar cut across the face, to which was
subsequently added a V.C. on his coat.

The heavy guns were to be brought up as quickly as pos-
sible and posted on our bank of the river on each side of the
bridge over the Goomti. To save time it was decided not to
change the draught from elephant to bullock. Once in a
way the " wise ones " might be humbugged into going under
fire. The}' shuffled along quiet!}- and sw'ftly at first, Jingo
riding in advance to show the way to the bridge through tlie
narrow streets of the native town, whose male inhabirants
scowled from their doors, while the other se.\ smiled witfi
timid curiosity over veils fiom lattices and rooi>. 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

' 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^ </iill« content to perform at strictly peace manoeuvres. They will
march past, trailin)( th'ir suns in perfect line and saluting simultaneously with their
runkf to touch the hedr» of the most glorified Sergeant Major who ever wore spiked
heliivrc. Imperial crown r cocked hat. They will even assist at gun practice, but to
herome < targcl I No I Among the gun elephants there was one old fellow who
thrwed ihe sc<ir of a wmnd received in oiii- of Lord Lake's battles nearly 100 years ago.
H hod not 1 ven beer mentioned in despatches ! You don't require to live a century to
)»»{;« ibiit 1' >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

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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.

GUNNER ...IGOS- JUBILEE.

1 m

.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 <t;ind-
ing in tlie exterior entrenchment and one close to the obdurate
gate. These guns would certainly be turned on the retiring
force and there were no spikes to render them unserviceable
— besides, to abandon capturtd guns was not to be thought
of The fire from the keep, now that the covering British
Infantry were withdrawn, was redoubled. Jingo and the
remaining officers dashed into the gate, flung round the gun
trail, and ran it out. Directly they had passed the bridge
they were sheltered, as were the remaining three guns
which were also ) carried oft', bullocks having been
procured.

The derisive shouts and last shots of the plucky
garrison who still held the keep, were not pleasant to the
ears of the retiring men, whose consolation, however, was the
rapture of the :.:uns.

The little episode of the repulse before the mud fort of
Moonshee Gunj never appeared in the brilliant official litera-
ture of the day. There was no special correspondent, he
was with the Headquarter Staff", and when the official ac-
counts did appear Jingo failed to recognise the battles in
which he had borne a humble part. It is ever thus, the
individual sees only r"und himself

Overtaking the loluinn, Jingo had to push on to the
Commander-in-Chief before Lucknow, to ascertain the camp-
ing ground for the various batteries of Artillery, which were
here distributed to different brigades, the heavy batteries

'" On one occasion Middleton (now General Sir I
off the head of his spear with his sharp tulwar— the
he had cut it to a point !

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<li bamboo went through him,

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GUNNER jingo's JUBILEE.

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joining the siege train. On reaching the Headquarter
Camp the Lieutenant noticed a large tent with a bannerol
marked Q.M.G, Before it stood a figure verging on the
portly Field Officer, with a Crimean beard, a brass cap, and
a froggy frock-coat. He saluted, and it was returne'i.

" You have come "

" From General Franks' Field Force," said the Lieutenant,,
smartly.

"Aw I You have with you— "

"Her Majesty's loth, 20th, 97th, and Ghoorka Brigade
Royal, Bengal, and Madras Artillery. Where are the
Artillery to camp, sir ? "

"Aw! I'm not the Quartermaster- general," said the
imposing one, stroking his beard with one hand and tapping
his boot with his riding whip. " There is the Quarter-
master-general," he said, pointing to a group of officers.

"Then may I ask who you are, sir ? "

" Me ? Oh, I'm the Thunder correspondent I "

Hot, tired, dusty,* and irritated at having been delayed to
be pumped, the Lieutenant turned sharply, put his spurs into
the jaded Butcha, and had at least the satisfaction of dust-
ing the astute interrogator.

;■■)■■ ^

l^it'..

.iti^

i69

_-.i-

{" : ,. f

.y : . ' CHAPTER XVII. ; . ;•. : y! v

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-t-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.

" The walls grew weak ; and fast and hot

Against them poured the ceaseless shot,

With unabating fury sent

From battery to battlement ;

And thunder— like the pealing din

Rose from each heated culverin ;

And here and there some crackling dome

Was fired before the exploding bomb ;

And as the fabric sank beneath

The shattering shells' volcanic breath

In red and wreathing columns flash'd

The flame, as loud the ruin crash'd,

Or into countless meteors driven,

Its earth stars melted into Heaven ;

Whose clouds that day grew doubly dun.

Impervious to the hidden sun.

With volumed smoke that slowly grew

In one wide sky of sulphurous hue. "

Siege of Corinth.

On arrival before Lucknow the Artillery Division of
General Franks' force was broken up. The heavy guns
joined the siege train, and the horse batteries were made
over to Colonel Wood, who commanded the Horse and
Field Artillery of General Outram's force on the East bank
of the' river Goomti, whence the heavy guns, under
Colonel Riddell, enfiladed and soon silenced the enemy's line
of works along the canal. Because both Havelock's and
Sir Colin Campbell's advance had been from the Alum
Bagh (Garden of the World), the~ native commanders
imagined the attack must come from the same quarter, and
they therefore erected the formidable line of works, which,
as before stated, v^re taken in reverse.

Colonels Carleton and Maberly conducted the siege opera-
tions from the south, and Lieutenant Jingo remained on the

I l;

To face fafie 169.

1 *

170

GUNNER JINGO S Jl.BII.EK.

personal Staff of the latter, but as they were short of officers,
he volunteered for night duty in the batteries in addition to
the daily Staff ones. He had but one solid sleep during the
siege and his recollections became hazy and linger in his
memory like the broken pieces of a fantastic dream, of white
tents of the camp among the park-like gardens of the Dil
Khusha (the palace of the " Heart's Delight ") a meretricious
strawberry cream coloured building, in front of which and
the Mahomed Bagh the inexorable British batteries were
p>ounding away at the city of fair white palaces and mosques,
golden domes, and needle-like minarets rising from the
greenery of gardens to cleave the cloudless blue of an Indian
sky. A desultory reply came from the long lines of the
beleaguered city.

The Dil Khusha batteries played principally on the works
in front of the handsome buildings of the Martini^re which
was not Oriental but French in design, a school for native or
half-caste boys. The founder. General La Martine, served
the Kings of Oudh before our Raj. There seems to have
been a genial easy-going amiability about the French soldiers
of that period who served in the armies and courts of
Oriental Kings, with whom they were much more popular
than their successors, the unbending Puritan Scotch or
North of Ireland men who became residents at native
Courts.

On the 6th of March, at 4 a.m., a force under General
Outram, was detached with Horse, Field, and Siege Artil-
lery, to cross the river Goomti. The 9th Lancers, always in
spotless white, though they had kept the field since Delhi,
like their war-worn comrades, the Bengal European Fusiliers,
who wore blue tunics (fortunately there was no glaring
scarlet cloth available), the Queen's Bays, Punjaub Cavalry,
23rd Welsh Fusiliers, 79th Highlanders, and Rifle Brigade
formed a splendid force. The crossing had commenced by
the lower Pontoon Bridge. Sir Colin Campbell " appeared
at 4.30 a.m. and ordered the Artillery to defile over the
upper bridge and for some time this defiling went on, until
the upper bridge was considered too weak for the Artillery
and they were ordered to defile over the lower, this alteration
rendered the crossing the line of Infantry by the Artillery
necessary."*

♦ Despatch of Colonel D. E. Wood, R. H. .\.

ARMING A BATTERY BY NIGHT.

171

With some fighting the force made good their ground on
the opposite side of the river, the Horse and Field Artillery
being actively engaged. On the 9th, the Bengal Fusiliers,
and 79th Highlanders stormed the *' Chukker Kothi." The
colours of the old Fusiliers, on the top of that building was
the signal to Sir Colin Campbell of success — he now decided
to advance but would not allow Outram to cross the bridges
and enter the city from the North, fearing unnecessarily to
increase the loss of life. A fresh battery was ordered to
be armed with 8 mortars in front of the Martini^re. This
work had to be done silently and at night, as the ground to
be passed over was under' fire. Lieutenant Jingo took his
turn at this duty. There was no moon and no road, the
country was intersected by dry nullahs, no gunner had been
in the new earthwork thrown up by the Engineers and no
one knew the way. So they made a night of it. When the
bullocks blundered into holes, the cart followed with a
run, and the mortar jerking to the rear would break the
lashings, elevate the pole and hang up the animals
by the yoke, (fortunately they were not vocal beasts),
where they would patiently swing until a gunner swarmed
up the pole, pulled out the yoke pins, and let them drop. The
mortars were then remounted. And all had to be done in
darkness without a word spoken. And so they blundered
on until day-break to find themselves under the pattering
tire of musketry from the Martini^re and entrenchments.
The party had gone be3'ond the battery made for them,
but they managed to get back to it without casualties,
and to open fire. The Martiniere became untenable and
was carried by the 42nd and 93rd Highlanders with very
little opposition.

It was comical to watch from the batteries below, the
kilted warriors climb over the terrace and in at the windows,
shewing no muslin and less grace than the ladies of the
ballet.

The same night the enfilading batteries on the opposite
side of the river had been armed, and the next day they
silenced the works nearest to them, their fire sweeping
down the whole line. The Chiefs did not know if the work
were really abandoned, or if it were a feint on the part of
the enemy.

Lieutenant Butler of the Bengal Fusiliers solved the doubt
by throwing off his coat and swimming the river. Entering

f' ;

172

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

ii!

I i

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i\i,

i i.

i! I

the vacant bastion he signalled whilst under a heavy fire to
the Sikhs and Highlanders, who swarmed in. Butler
won a V.C. by this plucky performance.

On the 1 1 th, when Jingo was relieved from duty »'■' 'ie
batteries, he heard that the assault was shortly to be del !.

At this time he met Hodson. The whole army knew H( i» :
" the Empress-maker,"* who had a friendly nod or a i

for everyone, and who began to chaflF our sub it

gunners being " Ubique." The retort coui ous wr de
as to a leader of Irregular Horse on the '"'■ ind

deadly breach." But the advance was soundt , lost

each other in the rush of the 93rd.'

Then followed a typical scene of desultory slaughter —
an enemy hemmed in by frenzied Highlanders, and fight-
ing from court to court of a Harem, where the marble
channels literally ran with blood and rosewater, and the
tawdry garments of native women were strewn among
littered arms and dying men. Jingo had betn in the
batteries all night and only broken his fast with scraps-
from his haversack, and he felt faint with heat and
hunger. Along one side of the court was an alcove, on the
shelves of which were ranged big-bellied, pale green, trans-
parent jars of rosewater, about eighteen inches diameter.
An English sergeant clubbed his rifle and began to smash
the jars in a sort of boyish mischief, bred of the excitement
of slaughter. He was no wild Irishman or Highlander but
a little Cockney.

" Hold on," said the Lieutenant, " give me a bath. The
ladies don't want the rosewater," and taking off his helmet
he stretched out his neck, and a delicious douche over his
head was administered by the laughing sergeant.

His bath ran into the marble channel and was soon
veined with the blood running from the piled corpses in the
court.

Most of our losses, like poor Hodson who had lived
through so many perils, were caused by the necessity of
clearing the enemy out of numberless rooms leading from the
various courts before a further advance could be made.
These rooms were generally dark, and it was a service of

♦ Tlie death by Hodson's own hand of the rebel Princes of the House of Timor, alone
rendered possible tlie undisputed possession of the throne of the Moguls by the Empress
of India. It took a dozen ye&rs for insular Englishmen to realise the situation, and it
required a Statesman of Oriental blood to overcome the dull repugnance of Parliament to
allow the Queen to assume the title of " Kaiser-i-Ind,"

DEATH OF AN EMPRESS-MAKER.

173

deadly peril to enter the doorway, as had to be done, with
the light behind and invisible foes in the darkness. This the
intrepid Hodson did, and he fell with a bullet through his
chest. A party of Highlanders rushing into the darkened
room, avenged his fall. A sorrowful murmur passed among
the men that the gallant Hodson was no more.

Jingo, who had not seen him since the beginning of the
advance, went to look for him, thinking no doctor might
be at hand. He found him on the floor of Bank's bungalow,
a doctor bending over him, while his orderlies stood mute
with folded arms and bowed heads, tears running down their
beards,

" Like faithful slaves, with folded arms, that wait
The Koran chanters of the Hymn of Fate."

With every laboured breath, air and blood gurgled in his
breast and dyed his lips. The Lieutenant saw there was no
hope and that he could do nothing for him. He felt he was
a stranger with no right to intrude upon the last hours of the
dying soldier. Older friends had gathered round him and
Jingo turned away saddened.

In IndA Hodson's name will long remain a terror to our
enemies and be treasured in the memory of those whom he
so often led to victory against fearful odds. There was a
brigade of three regiments of Irregular Cavalry, designated
" Hodson's Horse." Long since they have been im-
proved off the list of the Indian Army by the high-stooled
officialism which takes no stock in military traditions. But
they were very much " Hodson's Horse " during his short
but brilliant command, and on the morning after his burial
their trumpets sounded boot and saddle to march to their
distant home in the Punjaub, where they wished to be dis-
banded. The white-bearded old native commandant (a
chief among his people), when informed that he could not
leave the camp without permission of the Lord Sahib (Com-
m«nder-in-Chi*'f), replied :

"I knew but one Lord Sahib. We buried him yesterday.
My heart is in his grave. I can serve no other."

The old chieftain, his sons, and a few of his immediate
retainers obtained permission to go to their homes; The
rest of the three regiments remained in our army, and have
done good service since — how named or numbered who
can tell ? " : . , :

ill''

ill

I']

I is
my

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174

GUNNER JINGO S JUBfLEE.

Hodson met his fate calmly, sending his love to his wife,
with the message that his last thoughts were Vvith her. He
said quietly :

*' I have tried to do my duty to man. May God forgive
my sins."

So died an Irregular Leader of Irregular Horse.

Fanatics in Parliament demanded his trial for the death of
the Mogul Princes, but the bold spirit had already gone
before a higher tribunal. As long as the traditions of our
race last the dauntless Hodson will hold a place in the Val-
halla of heroes of English blood.

When Jingo got back to camp, his grimy aspect, exhaling a
perfume of rosewater, was greeted with roars of laughter
by his Staff mates.

When the city was entered, the troops found themselves
in a labyrinth of lanes, houses, palaces, and courtyards,
which had to be carried in succession. This was effected
by pushing forward batteries of small mortars from enclo-
sure to enclosure and breeching the walls with a howitzer
as soon as a further advance became necessary — a dynamite
cartridge would do it now. The howitzer was loaded and
run up by hand close to a wall. The discharge l^ew down
about seven feet, opening out a garden of orange trees and
shrubs from which the Sepahis brought a heavy musketry
fire on the exposed gun — there was a momentary hesitation —
the post of loader was vacant ! The Lieutenant stepped in
and a couple of rounds of case shot were poured into the
bushes. Before the third could be fired, the gunner serving
the vent threw up his arms and fell shot through the head,
convulsively flinging the priming irons from him. They
could not be found. Moments seem vastly prolonged when
a man stands at attention watching the smoke wreaths
slowly leaving the muzzle of an empty gun, while bullets
whistle past in succession. The primitive method of firing
was still in vogue in India. There were no friction tubes —
the gun missed fire again and again. More casualties
occurred, and Jingo felt immensely relieved when the detach-
ment was ordered to take cover. Eventually the garden
wac forced and the mortars established there, shelled in
advance, and so on ad infinitum it seemed.

Another night the monotony was relieved by an invitation
to a card party. The Captain of the battery to which Jingo
was attached for that night's duty, a brilliant but reckless

'->.'

PYJAMAS.

175

ten
in

jss

soldier who wore a V.C, which he had gained by des-
perate bravery, proposed cards, and suggested stopping
the fire of a mortar to utiHse the platform, at the same
time bringing a lantern which attracted fire. Jingo re-
fused to cease fire, and was told he was a young fool.
They had their game, but not on his mortar. Every one
of that quartette were good soldiers, a. id that special game
was never heard of. •

Next day the mortars were again pushed forward, and
Jingo found himself in a walled enclosure commanded by
musketry from a neighbouring minaret. To get a better
view and to point with greater precision, he stood astride on
the cap-squares of the mortar. A flick ofdustonthe top o*"the
wall, a blow on the head, and he was knocked oft' the mortar.
A bullet from the minaret had struck his conspicuous white
turban, for after the chaff" about his disreputable appearance
he had folded over his dirty Kakee puggeree a white muslin
garment, which he had picked up in the rosewater apartment.

He felt stunned and had a dim idea that ^^ — ^
it was no use for a fellow with a hole in his > — "^

head to trouble about picking himself up. /
So his men did it for him.
His helmet had fallen oft" and
he put up his hand to feel for
the hole. There was neither,
blood nor wound, only a lump
about the size of a
walnut, and he felt
rather ashamed of
having done dead.
The doctor seeing
he need not look
for the bullet in
the patient's head,
examined the tur-
ban — the helmet
had rolled away,^ :
and the turban ^s
uncoiled itself like
a soft white snake.

"Ahem! What
have we here ?
Delicate muslin,
exquisitely em-

II:

Wl ^

■MM

176

GUN>ER JINGOS JUBILEE.

Ill

<: I

ill

broidered from the distant looms of Dacca ! A mem-sahib's
scarf 1" (There was no white woman within 200 miles).
" A native lady's pyjamas I Well my young friend, you
owe your life to the multiple folds of the diaphanous
garment of a bright-eyed beguiler of darkness I "

The doctor was waggishly addicted to Johnsonian prose"
and Oriental metaphor.

" I presume it is a gage d'amour you carry on your helmet,

like a knight errant. But," he added, critically, with his head

» on one side, regarding the garment as an old crow does an

I Vempty marrow-bone, *' a woman's p3'jamas doubtless contain

/ charms — when she wears them — and even apparently when

misplaced on the occiput of the other sex — nevertheless, I

would suggest your dropping that unconventional head-gear

or get it dyed Kakee rung, if that's not desecration of j'our

Noor Mahal's* pyjamas ! "

"Don't be absurd, doctor," said Jingo, getting savage
instead of thankful for his escape, " I picked them up in
the Begum Khoti, but you know the women had
all left."

" Ah — dessay ! " said the doctor, dryly, and as the patient
•did not require his attention he turned it to the marksmen on
the minaret and brought one down with a borrowed rifle.
The victim hung with his head and arms over the balcony
like one of the murdered puppets in a Punch and Judy show,
and the doctor grimly rejoiced over the success of his
irregular practice.

Feeling dizzy and tired, Jingo lay down and slept, in
spite of the reverberating cannonade. He dreamt that the
doctor was throwing pebbles at him to make believe they
were bullets. He roused himself to try and catch the
delinquent. It was dark now and a red eye watched him.
It was the slow match held in a lintstock which a gunner
had stuck into the ground in line with the lieutenant's head,
and the gravel in his face was knocked up by the enemy's
bullets directed at the light. Jingo got up, removed the
lintstock with the glowing match, and finding a comrade was
doing his duty he finished a dreamless sleep, from which he
was awakened by —

*' I say, old fellow, I am afraid I'm done for I "

His brother sub, Harry Tracey, stood by him, his trousers

Light of the Palace.

II*

A SCARE.

177

Stained with blood, but an examination showed it was only a
flesh wound, though the locality was alaiining, like that of
my Uncle Toby's which puzzled the widow. In a short time
he was all right. He also had lain down for a sleep in his
turn and at daylight the indefatigable marksmen on the
minaret had awakened him with a leaden reveille.

On the night of the 13th, two heavy guns of the Naval
Brigade kept up a continuous fire, making a breach in the
little Imaum Bara, which was quite close. Our Lieutenant
was placed in charge of a battery of small 5-^-inch mortars
on their right to throw shells into the neighbouring courts and
buildings which were across the road, so as to render them
untenable, and thus to protect the sailors while their guns
carried out their work. The battery was in a yard which
had a large open gateway leading from a road behind, on
the right a postern door, and on the left an open shed, where
doolies for the wounded were put.

The Naval Brigade blazed away furiously, as " Jack "
loves to do ; their object being near, no very accurate aim was
required. The Artillery Lieutenant carried on a stead}' fire,
using small charges, the enemy being so close. Mortar
charges have to be weighed with some nicety, the charge
varying with the range, not fixed as with guns. This duty
was entrusted to a stout, phlegmatic bombardier, who sat in
a temporary powder magazine with weights and scales, and
with something of the air of a Methodist grocer weighing
out tea, only this one gave full measure. He sat on a full
barrel of gunpowder, with the open and partially empty
barrel from which he was weighing between his knees.
The magazine was only a lean-to of timbers against the
front wall of the court.

A bugle sounded the advance quite close — what did it
mean ?

It was unlikely our own people would sound an advance
at night, and certainly not from the direction of the enemy,
whose bugle calls exactly resembled our own. The solution
was not long in coming. Musketry fire poured in through
the wide gateway in rear, and at the same moment the
timber of the powder magazine was found to be on fire from
some inflammable composition thrown over the wall.

Things looked ugly. The Naval guns ceased fire, and the
sailors took cover behind the doolies. There were no Infantry
and the gunners had no weapons. The Lieutenant ordered

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178

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

the little Coehorn mortars to be carried off through the
postern door in the direction of the Infantry supports, and
he called to the Bombardier to come out of the burning
magazine.

" I'm all right, sir," and as the Lieutenant looked in,
the man grinned. He was sitting now on the open barrel,
his ample proportions effectually plugging it.

The men were slow about moving the mortars, and the
Sergeant said :

"If you please, sir, the men say they'll face the black B.'s
with the handspikes."

Jingo felt a twinge of shame as he drew his sword and
handed his revolver to the unarmed Sergeant. Then the
Infantry supports came in through the postern. The " Jacks "
came out of the shed, cutlass in hand, after the manner of
Mr. T. P. Cooke's stage tar.

" Doolie curtains — not quite bullet proof," remarked
Jingo.

" None of your business, soldier officer," growled the
Naval officer in command.

" Thanks — quite content to be a soldier officer," said the
Artillery Lieutenant.

Next morning the Naval guns had made a breach in the
Imaum Bara. General Franks* Brigade was to take the
advance. Colonel Maberly appeared with the reliefs, and
Jingo asked and got permission to remain for the assault,
and was told to report himself to the Engineer officer
directing the attack, and to make himself generally useful.
But he could not find that officer and the little Imaum Bara
was carried before he knew it.

Jingo was now close to General Fraiiks and his Staff, who
were near the great archway at the entrance to the China
Bazaar. Captain Wall, of the General's Staff, lay dead, shot
through the spine, and a dark pool of blood welled out on
the pavement. He had been a quiet man, much respected
and liked, and Captain Havelock,* his comrade on the Staff,
seemed much touched at his death and very eager that it
should be avenged.

Just at this juncture General Franks received an order
that disturbed him —

" Sir Colin says we're not to take the Kaiser Bagh, do you

• General Sir Henry Havelock Allon, V.C.

WE WERL NOT TO TAKE THE KAISER BAGH.

179

Older

lo you

hear me, gentlemen ? Do you understand, we're not to take
the Kaiser Bagli ? He wants the honour for his bare-legged
Brigade," he added, sotto voce.

Jingo thought he did understand, and went to an officer
commanding a party of the loth, who were firing up the
road-way of the China Bazaar.

" The General wants you to get on," and he made the
same remark to Colonel Brazier of the Sikhs.

" All right," said that grim old soldier, adjusting his
spectacles and drawing his sword.

It was impossible to advance up the centre of that fire-
swept Bazaar with its colonnade on either side, from which
opened little rooms once used as shops, now empty. In
these the Sepahis had ensconced themselves, coming into
the verandah to fire down the road from behind the pillars
and then retire to load again.

The Grenadiers of the loth were pushing along one side
and Brazier's Sikhs the other. It became necessary to
examine each room as it was passed, for Sepahis thus left
beh'nd caused casualties. Jingo commenced this job on the
right hand side of the Bazaar. As he entered, stooping
through a small door, he came in contact with a tall Sepahi
who had come in through a similar door on the other side.
His bayonet was not fixed (Sepahis seldom fix bayonets),
and instinctively Jingo gripped him by the throat with
one hand, while with his sword in the other he turned the
muzzle of the musket away from himself, and then dragged
him to the light. The two men were about the same height,
the Englishman was evidently the stronger or had some
mysterious will power over his assailant, who struggled feebly.
His forage cap bore the number 16, a Grenadier regiment
of historic fame that had mutinied. Jingo forced him against
a pillar and held him at arm's length for a moment, waiting
to hand him over to the men coming up.

Directly the Sikhs saw the situation they fired across the
road at the prisoner, who dropped limp from the Lieutenant's
hand. The men who had fired ran across and turned over
the body with experienced fingers, feeling for rupees. Deftly
they loosed his dhoti and produced about fifty. Apparently
the Sepahis had been either lately paid or they had helped
themselves from the Royal Treasury. Dividing the spoil
into portions the naik (corporal), with a gleam of teeth and
eyes lighting up his handsome face, saluted and handed his

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GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

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share to ihe Lieutenant, who knew enough Oriental custom
to touch the hand holding the nuzzer (present) in acceptance
of the compliment, but not of the cash. But the Lieutenant
intimated that he was fasting, and in a few moments a Sikh
returned with sweetmeats from a yet'-unlooted corner of the
Bazaar, expressing a hope that the Sahib would join
their regiment as he was the style of officer they
appreciated.

The advance was pressed on in a wild rivalry between
the Sikhs and the white soldiers. All were excited, the
light of loot and battle glittered alike in the eyes of Sikhs
and Englishmen. The Lieutenant noticed a man of the loth
firing at Sepahis within fifty yards, with the sight up for
500.

" Oh, I'm giving them the whole by ladder I " said the
soldier, when remonstrated with.

As they reached the end of the Bazaar, where it opened
into the gorge of a bastion of the line of works along the
rear of the Kaiser Bagh (the King's Palace) which had been
taken in reverse, the Sikhs and the lOth raced like school-
boys for the honour of the first touch on the guns. A long-
legged Sikh won and shouted, " Mera Pultan ka tope ! " (the
gun of my battalion). But it was " seeking the bubble
reputation at the cannon's breach." The Sepahis were
scuttling through the embrasures and dropping into the
ditch, along which also from the line of works which had
been turned, came a mob of the enemy, who, not knowing the
English had gained thfe bastion, were met by a murderous
Infantry fire from it. The guns could not be depressed
sufficiently. Our sub also emptied his revolver into th€
brown at 20 paces ; but few were able to escape round the
ditch of the bastion where they were sheltered.

The Artillery Lieutenant * got the men to turn the
captured guns upon a mosque inside the Kaiser Bagh
enclosure, from th€ top of which the bastion was com-
manded. But the guns were too close to be elevated
sufficiently and were only injuring the beautiful building, so
he ceased fire, and moved along with the mixed procession
under the wall of the Kaiser Bagh, meeting no opposition.
There they camfe upon Captain Havelock, who, with a few

■ t • it a L . : 1 ■■ 1 '

* Another Artillery sub, Falkland Warren, did more execution. Entering the Kaiser
Bagk with hlB patty of gunners supported by a cotnpftny of infantry he captured two

Suns which he turned upon a crowd of the enemy within 50 to 60 yards and 'eft heaps of
ead, to \Vlifdh the rifled of the company of the goth also contributed.

A BIG FISH.

i8i

Sappers, had made a hole in the palace enclosure wall, but
only large enough to admit a file of men at a time.
Through this, British and Sikh soldiery streamed into the
great square of the palace, where finding themselves ex-
posed to desultory fire from all sides, they burst open the
doors of buildings, where, being under cover, they could loot
at their leisure. Every remnant of discipline was lost. The
men knew they were in the palace of the King with fabulous
treasures somewhere — but where ? It was curious how
little of real value was realised, though costly clothing,
embroidered with gold and barbaric gems, sewn on by a
hole through the stone, lay about, gorgeous chariots, banners,
the paraphernalia of Oriental pageantry — all looking more
like stage property than regalia of value. * There was little
that was portable, and men began to destroy with reckless
disappointment what they could not carry away. Mirrors,
statues, furniture were smashed, silken hangings torn down.
Cashmere shawls littered about, men seemed drunk with
blood and plunder and thirst for vengeance.

Turning to his left after entering the hole in the wall,
Jingo burst open a door with Tiis shoulder and came head-
long upon something out of the "Arabian Nights,"t a
gigantic silver fish, the crest of the Kings o. Oudh. It was
a pleasure boat made of cedar, for the harem ladies, covered
with scales of silver, each the size of a rupee though not so
thick. The interior was more luxuriously fitted than we
have any reason to suppose the quarters of Jonah, and there
were jalousies through which the fair and dusky occupants,
without being seen, could themselves look upon a city as
naughty as Nineveh. Jingo would have felt like a silver
Midas, but for the order to report himself to the Engineer
directing the attack, who would be in the front somewhere,
as Sappers always are. Jingo had seen his hand-writing on
the palace wall, that little hole by which the troops had
entered.

* Jingo came across ^;jl(i-c'mbroiJered caps rourwl which were sewn uncut flat oval
t'Mieralrls ; his lapidary eilucation having been neglected he thought thev were glass. A
Sikh soldier put a cap over jingo's helmet, witli the eitctamation, " Shabasl) Bahadur
Sahib," (well done, warrior lord) ; this he indignantly flung off, to the surprise of Sikh, who
stuffed it into his expansive dhoti with evident satisfaction.

+ In the " debacle " that ensued in the capture of the Palace, Lieut. Warren who pro-
bably turned to his right, came upon a wild beast show, part of the fighting menagerie
of the Kings of Oudh, wliich in its entirety consisted of leopards, lions, tigers, bearsl
elephants and a rhinocct OS, for these Oriental Caesars were wont to amuse themselves,
and their subjects with combats almost as barbarous as those of the arena of old Roiii*'
Those animals kept in the Kaiser Bagh had to be shot.

182

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

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'III

Sure enough, he found Colonel Harness, R.E., and Lieut.
Beaumont, with a handful of men collected from the
plunderers, forcing their way from room to room. But the
Colonel, thinking more progress might be made along
the flat roof of the palatial buildings which formed the
great square, ordered the party up a stairway. From the
roof they had a command, but were themselves exposed, for
the light open balustrade afforded no protection and men
began to drop. The small party could not aftbrd many
losses and the Colonel ordered a descent. All the wounded
could walk except one poor lad of the 20th who was shot
under the belt plate. Poor boy 1 he had had his " compte,"
as the French soldiers say. Jingo helped to carry him down
and he moaned piteously, but the Lieutenant had got hardened
to that sort of thing and only wondered why he felt so little
for the sufferer. It was the necessity of the moment.

The Sepahis held the lower rooms too strongly for
the handful of men to attempt assault after assault.
There was a detached ornamental kiosk standing in the
great square. Incited by curiosity or the craze that seemed
to possess everyone. Jingo jcrined a few Sikhs and soldiers
of the lOth, to whom the miniature marble pleasure palace
suggested loot. They made a dash across the square — a few
wild shots, and they were in it. On the steps stood a native
in a long yellow chupkun of Cashmere stuff embroidered in
silver. He had a drawn tulwar in his hand but was evi-
dently not a fighting man, for he dropped the weapon and
bolted back into the kiosk, dodged round sofas and ottomans,
and out the other side into an ornamental shrubbery where
the few defenders of the kiosk had also escaped. Jingo was
not particularly sorry. He picked up the sword — it was a
Damascus blade. The kiosk was a mass of mirrors, marble
pillars, silken hangings, divan sofas, statuettes of question-
able French taste, and what Mrs. Malaprop would call
articles of " bigotry if not virtue." There was the indescrib-
able perfume of Nautch girls, attar of roses, and something
else. The whole thing was a marvellous mixture of French
demi-monde and degraded Oriental taste.

On a sofa in the centre of the room lay an ivory-handled
dagger in its gold and velvet sheath and a pink Cashmere
shawl. Jingo went towards it as spoil of war, but a
soldier of the lOth was before him, who picked up the
dagger and said :

■^

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. '■*■
t A

III

A KIOSK.

183

" The shawl for your young lady, sir ! How much for
the dagger ? "

Jingo wished it as a memento, and handed him a few
rupees. The dagger was Damascus like the naked sword.
He stuck both into the shawl twisted cummerbund fashion.
The native gentleman had not been so considerate as toleave
the scabbard. The men began to loot, pulling down the
silk curtains and making up bundles of portable nick-nacks.
Jingo contented himself with a paper-weight, a grotesque
little bronze lion looking at his own tail, which he slipped
into his haversack.

An Irish soldier stopped to admire himself before a mirror,
which rose from floor to roof

'* Bedad, Terence, j^e're not a bad-looking boy, as poor
Norah used to tell yez 1 " As he curled his moustache in
the mirror a musket ball passed over his shoulder and
shivered the glass. " Bad cess to yez, ye black banchute,
spiling me tylet ! "

The shots came in quick succession now from the
shrubbery, and there were glimpses of red-coated
Sepahis among the green, and voices heard urging an
advance.

" Chillao ! Bahi Bahadur I " (Go on, brother ! Go on,
honourable warrior !) But there is all the difference in the
world between " go on " and "come on."

The Sikhs had retired with their loot and there remained
but half-a-dozen men of the 1 0th.

" Fi.\ ba3'nits, boys!" said an old soldier, "and don't
waste good bullets on them bushes ! "

Each man selected a pillar for cover, and put down his
bundle of loot at his feet. Click — click ! went the bayonets
in their sockets, and the men waited quietly — no one
came !

There was nothing more to loot and the men retired to
the main building. On their way back. Jingo, like a tanta-
lising "ginn," showed them the silver boat. The British
soldiers .stood aghast, leaning on their rifles, staring at the
inexploitable silver mine, but a bright intelligence glittered
in the greedy eyes of the Sikhs. They whipped out their
bayonets and rapidly tore off the silver scales in long strips
which they rolled up, hammered tight with the butts of their
rifles, and then stuck into their loin-cloths, the folds of their
turbans, their haversacks, and all available places. The

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GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

British soldiers were apt pupils. The Lieutenant left them
to their prize, taking only a small paddle as a souvenir of
his fantastic find.

He was completely tired out ; the sweetmeat breakfast had
not proved sustaining, and he wondered how he would ever
get back to camp. Just outside the Palace he met one of the
Sikhs who had shot his prisoner. The man was leading a
looted horse, an ugly nutmeg-coloured pink-nosed brute, but
compact, and more up to weight than poor Butcha, who was
suffering from hard work and strangles.

The Sikh knew he could not keep his prize and oftered
to swap it for the Damascus sword. The Lieutenant did
not like to part with his trophy, and so scribbled a "chit"
(LO.U.) on a leaf of his note-book for the amount the Sikh
asked. The man could not read, but ** Britannica Fides ""
goes far in India. The Sahib would be found in the "Tope
Khana," (Artillery Camp).

Jingo's new purchase was caparisoned with a native saddle,^
the sort of pad from which circus ladies go through paper
hoops, very roomy and comfortable to a tired man. The
incongruous get-up, an armament of two swords, a dagger
and a revolver, pnd a silver paddle delighted the camp wits,
who hailed him as Alp the Renegade, resuscitated from the
" Siege of Corinth." The Colonel's comment, administered in
private, was more severe :

"Setting a bad example to the men by plundering,,
etc."

The Lieutenant valued the good opinion of his conscien-
tious chief, but was too proud to give the details of the last
twenty-four hours. Moreover, the Commander-in-Chief had
tacitly sanctioned, for three days, the looting of the palaces,
9s a lesson to the rebellious kings and nobles of a city whose
streets had run with British blood in the siege and two
successive reliefs of the Residency. During the final siege
he had purposely left open two sides of the city for the
escape of those inhabitants who chose to avail themselves of
it. After those three days all loot was ordered to be given
up to the prize agent.

About seven years later, Captain Jingo received £'J, some
odd shillings and pence, as his share of prize money. His^
name did not appear among the list of those entitled to
prize — and on application he was informed in a letter from a
War Office clerk, "that Captain Jingo \jd& not present at

PRIZE MONEY. ' • ■ l8$

tlie Siege of Luckmw." He had some difficulty in proving
that Lieutenant Jingo had become Captain Jingo. As it was
the price of blood," the money was handed over to the
Home for the aged widows of soldiers ,

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CHAPTER XVTII.

Bronze Heroes — The Bayard of India — Bolt Holes — National Con-
trasts— 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.

General Franks' Brigade had only carried a corner of one
the squares of the Kaiser Bagh, of which there were several,
each one larger than Trafalgar Square and with the same
idea of ornamental water and fountains, but with airy ara-
besque kiosks instead of bronze heroes — Nelson — hook-nosed
old Napier of the dispatch shorter than Caesar's, " Peccavi
I have Scinde " — Havelock — Charlie Gordon, with his bible
and his cane, and — a little distance from them once stood
Outram, with sword drawn, looking backwards* — he who
never looked back, the "Bayard of India," sans peiir d sans
rcprochc, he who never drew sword throughout the Mutiny
Campaign, but led Havelock's handful of Cavalry with
a thick stick, deeming the mutinous soldiery unworthy of his
steel.

But Jingo's thoughts were very far from Trafalgar Square
and its bronze heroes, when he found himself ordered to leave
his battery and take some gunners to carry 5|-inch shells,
loaded and fuzed, to be thrown by hand through the windows
of the lower story of the Kaiser Bagh, which was still obsti-
nately occupied by the enemy. On reaching the spot he
found it was the same building along the roof of which the
attempt had been made to advance. It was as useless to try
throwing shells through those iron-barred windows as to force
the outside doors with men exposed to fire from across the
square.

He went into the upper story and was met by some of the
soldiers of the 97th.

* General Outram's equestrian statue, a very artistic production, once stood in
Waterloo place, on show, before it was sent out to Calcutta, the most appropriate
spot for its final erection.

NATIONAL CONTRASTS.

'87

the

in
iriite

"This way, sir I We have made a hole in the floor to
fire down, but the beggars fire up, and they have shot the
Sergeant-Major and a lot of our chaps."

And no wonder ! The room below was dark, and every
head standing out against the light got a bullet
through it.

'* No thank you, I am not going there," and Jingo ordered
the lads to pound with the butts ri their rifles in different
parts of the room to mislead the occupants below as to
where a fresh hole would be made.

The floor was tiled. Taking a " mugdah," a large club
used by Pulwans (native athletes), he dashed it through
the floor and held it in its place, plugging the hole.

le fuze was lighted, the mugdah was withdrawn an
instant to let the shell drop, and the hole was replugged by
the Lieutenant. An explosion followed and a burst of half
a dozen Sepahis out of the doorway into the square, who
were shot like bolting rabbits as they ran by the Infantry
below. And so on for a few more rooms until the occupants
took the hint and cleared out of their own accord, leaving as
legacy a huge depot of gunpowder, of which more anon.
There were no more men shoi through the head, though a
gunner got his hand blown off" by the premature explosion
of a shell.

The other squares of the Palace had also been entered
and the same wild scenes prevailed everywhere — an orgie of
blood and plunder, varied by grotesque comedy.

The national characteristics of the three warlike races of
our islands were curiously contrasted — the Englishman,
stolidly smashing inoffensive jars of rosewater while he left
, untouched jewel-spangled garments, because the stones were
unpolished and uncut — the Irish soldier admiring himself in
a mirror until it was smashed by a bullet — and the Scot,
with the front of his kilt held in his teeth regardless of
appearances, was with both hands pulling high up on to his
thighs, pair after pair of harem ladies' pyjamas of satin, silk,
or embroidered muslin, securing all with a Cashmere scarf.
Dropping the garb of old Gaul over the garments of the
harem, he gave himself a shake, and arranging his sporran,
remarked :

" Now, sir, mebbe I'll pass muster, they'll jest think I'm
as a gude wife aften finds hersell," and he swaggered off
past the long pictured walls where the loves of the gods

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

.'!l II

': ,1*

*iti:

and heroes with the daughters of men were depicted, the
women of which, mostly drawn in profile, Egyptian fashion,
sepmed to look at him from the corner of one of their eyes,
but they did not disturb his equanimity as the painted
presentment of beautiful women on the tombs of Thebes did
the poor young monk, Philammon of Alexandria.

But what is this the practical Scot has spurned ? A little
white satin slipper, torn music leaves — "The heart bowed
down," a guitar with broken strings, little odds and ends of
a European lady's dress ! They may have belonged to some
poor captive or some willing slave ! Tales are told of such
inmates of the Oudh harems.

But there was little time to mark the coloured kaleidoscope
of events for one who had to turn in it. There was another
job for Jingo. The shells thrown into the building had set
fire to the Kaiser Bagh. Colonel Napier,* directing the
attack, ordered him to empty into a well a quantity of
powder stored in a corner of the burning building. On
reaching the spot he found to his consternation a large
room, round whose walls were ranged Ali Baba's jars con-
taining, not forty thieves, but gunpowder I He could have
wished for the girl with the boiling oil, or better still with
water ! But the well was deep and there was nothing to
draw with. It was also in the square and therefore exposed
to the enemy's fire. Colonel Napier was not far off; Jingo
went to him and pointed out the impossibility of emptying
the store of powder before it must be reached by the flames.
He suggested further " that the troops should be withdrawn
from the neighbourhood and the magazine allowed to blow
up, if the enemy should be so unwise as to attempt recovery
of the lost ground before that event, so much the
better."

But Napier looked at him, coldly, and said :

" When I want your advice I shall ask for it."

"Then give me a strong working party, sir. I have not
enough men."

" Go to the officer commanding the 97th, and get what
men you want."

Jingo asked for help from his half-dozen gunners, who all
volunteered. He took the first who had stepped out, a smart,
young, intelligent Bombardier — Shoeing-Smith Lever.

* The late Lord Napier of Magdala.

A BLOW VP.

189

What need of more victims from among those he knew, those
who had stood by him through so much ? It was wrong,
but he preferred to take strangers to die with him and went
to the Infantry officer to ask for a sergeant and twenty of his
men.

Poor fellows ! They tackled the job bravely. Two men
could barely lift and carry between them a jar of powder and
drop it down the well, and not half the heavy task was done,
when the Sergeant reported that there was another room
nearer the fire containing more powder than the one they
were emptying. The Lieutenant called to his Bombardier
and went in the direction indicated. They had gone through
two or ihree rooms and Jingo was in the act of passing an
open doorway leading into the square, perhaps halfway
between the two magazines, when he was blown out through
it. As he lay on the ground, a vast column of yellow
dust, beams and stones, followed by a dense cloud of
black smoke, rose in the darkened air, then a rain of
debris of which nothing touched him. He was unhurt,
but dazed. He thought of t)ie Bombardier who had been
following him and he went to the open doorway, for that
{>avt of the wall was still standing. He could see nothing
for the volumes of smoke, but shouted the Bombardier's
name, to which came a faint answer from within. The
poor fellow appeared at a window clutching the iron bars,
his clothing in flames. The Lieutenant went close up and
told him to turn to his left and make for the open dooi^
way. But he must have been bewildered and so took the
wrong direction, for he never came out until he was brought
forth in ?, joolie. Jingo entered the ruins but could not find him.
The doolie-bearers were on the spot immediately, and Jingo
had a horrid vision of poor, charred, wounded men, groaning
as they were put into the doolies.

How he got or was taken to the doctor's tent he never
knew. Hrs first recollection was of a long drink of
delicious, foaming beer, such as he never tasted before or
since. It was a draught of Let'^e and he dropped on to
the tent floor. When he opened his eyes the sun was
shining through the tent door chick, making thin strips of
light and shade upon the blue and white striped setringee.
He shouted—

" Qui hi ! " the equivaletit for '* Qui vive."

A strange bearer came.

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190

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

toon bridge,
commanding
the river.

"What's the matter, Ram Sammy? "

" The sahib was drunk in the doctor's tent, and I put him
to bed."

There was no missile near, for his boots had been
removed.

" What time is it ? "

The man went to the tent door and looked up at the sun.
"Mid-day, sahib."

"Where are the Cr 'onel and the Adjutant ?"

" Gone across the river — Burra fugger, sahib ! " (very
early).

Their common canvas dwelling was gone.

" Folded their tents like Arabs, and silently stole away,"
thought Jingo. So he rose and found himself none the
worse, except that eyelashes, eyebrows, moustache, and
beard were singed. After a mussock bath and breakfast,
he mounted his new purchase and rode over the pon-
In reporting himself to Colonel Riddell,
the siege train on that side of
his explanation was cut short by
the bouleversement of his auditor. The Colonel's horse
suddenly veered round and fell dead w''.h a bullet through
its head. They were at the time in a low mortar battery
with a parapet on'y about two feet high, for the sappers had
not finished it. It was commanded by musketry from und'-
the golden domes of the Chutter Munzil Palace, just across
the river. In the stream had been mo'^red a miniature
pleasure frigate, repr'^senting a British man-of-war of the
old type. She had been sunk by the batt 'is, but hei
bulwarks, poop, and masts appeared above water, and by the
bank lay another huge fish boat, like that found in the
Kaiser Bagh, only its scales were not of solid silver or it
would not have remained to add its mournful testimony to
the bizarre spectacle everywhere presented by the devastated
relics of this incongruous Court, ruled by women and
eunuchs, making futile war while their king was a prisoner
in Calcutta. The bodies of slain soldiery tenanted the rooms
and corridors of his pillaged palaces — they were everywhere
in the streets and narrow lanes of the city, fesiering in the
sun, distended corpses floating down the poisoned river ;
slaughter was avenged by pestilence on the army of occupa-
tion long after the rage of battle had past. But the end was
not yet.

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DEAD LIKE A SOLDIER.

193

The Commander-in-Chief would not permit the Force on
the north side to enter the city by the bridges which were
held by the Bengal European Fusiliers and Captain Gibbons'
Horse Battery. The latter had had many casualties during
this sort of perpetual picket duty. There was not much to
be done, therefore, on that side and the Lieutenant was told
to return to his duties on the other. Indeed, there seemed
to be no use for Jingo except to be blown up, metaphorically
and literally. Some comment was made upon his prolonged
sleep. To be everybody's servant and nobody's child was
too much, so he wrote out a resignation of his Staft" appoint-
ment and asked to join a service battery.

On his way back, he bethought him of his poor Bombar-
dier and rode to the Dilkusha Palace, then turned into a
hospital. Round the lofty rooms were ranged the wounded.
No neat skillful sisters glided round the charpoys of the
suffering soldiers, but here and there crouched a half naked
native, fanning away the flies in such a perfunctory fashion
that they crawled undisturbed over many a poor fellow's face
and eyes, whose hands were too feeble to brush them away.
Among these was the Bombardier, an unrecognisable mass of
cotton wool and crawling flies. He knew the voice of the
Lieutenant, who bent over him to catch the weak muffled
response, and he put his arms about his officer. Ranks
are not in the army of martyrs.

"Tell my mother I died like a soldier."

" No, not yet, you must live to see her."

Tears were not in Jingo's line, but he turned away his
face from the hospital orderly as he walked out and went off
to write the following letter : —

'* Camp Badshabagh,

" 1 8th March, 1858.
" To Lieut. -Colonel Maberly,
Late Commanding Royal Artillery of Siege Train, Lucknow.
" Sir, — I have the honour to bring to your notice the steadi-
ness displayed by Shoeing-Smith Lever, of Captain Le
Mesurier's Company, 3rd Company, 14th Battalion, Royal
Artillery.

"On the 1 6th of March, 1858, he was mainly instrumental
in emptying into a well a quantity of captured powder in a
room of the Kaiser Bagh while the building was on fire at
no great distance from him.

MIT"

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

"A second room was then reported to contain a large
quantity ot" ammunition. To this he was proceeding when'
an explosion took place, which has, I believe, rendered hint
helpless for life, if he recover at all.

" I beg to request that the circumstance be reported to the
Brigadier Commanding, in the hope that some consideration' '
of his conduct may aftect the amount of pension awarded,
or that a situation, if he is ever fit to fill one, may be
requested for him, or at least a record of his service kept.

(Signed)

"T. J-

Lieut. Royal Artillery, and
Quartermaster Artillery Division.

" Forwarded to the Adjutant-General of Royal Artillery,
for record in the office of the battalion to which Shoeing-
Sniith Lever belonged.

" I regret to say that the man has since died of the injuries-
received.

(Signed) "J. E. Dupuis.

Major-General Commanding."

The day following. Jingo was again sent to the advance in
command of a detachment, and then on special duty by the
Engineer Officer directing operations. Colonel Napier, who
had selected him for the previous job, now ordered him to
take his men and empty — another powder magazine into a
tank along the front of the building ! The powder this time
was in the vaults under one of the kiosk buildings in the
great square before describe;d.

Descending some steps he stood at the entrance of a vault.
The massive door opened easily. There was blank darkness
inside, except for a gleam of light from a window at the end
of a long passage, apparently composed of huge sacks of
gunpowder, standing about six feet high and two feet in
diameter, resembling Kentish hop-pockets in size and shape.

The whole vault, about fifty feet square, was probably
filled with sacks sufficient to shake half the city to its-
foundations, but that it was isolated in the centre of the
great square.

" This time," thought Jingo, " my hour has come. I
shall not survive this job. The enemy mean to blow it up-
as soon as it is full of men. I don't want company."

ANOTHER JOB FOR JINGO.

195

up-

Ordering his men to remain outside, he took off his
trailing steel scabbard, and holding one of the gunner's
sword bayonets between his teeth so as to leave his hands
free to grope, he entered with extended arms, feeling the
huge sacks on each side. He found one open near
the door and he brought out a handful of its contents to
examine. It was coarse grain cannon powder of native
manufacture !

Expecting every moment to encounter some desperate
fanatic willing to destroy himself so long as he sent to per-
dition a goodly number of the hated infidel, he reached at
last the little window, on the sill of which was a tinder box
such as natives use. Was the owner near ? Looking out
of the window, he noted a long line of newly disturbed earth
leading to the buildings on the opposite side of the vacant
square, where an enemy might well lurk, ready to set a match
to what was evidently a powder hose.

Jingo made his way quickly back, with an eager desire
just to get that Sapper Colonel into the vault too. He would
make no suggestion, remembering the reception of his last
in that line. Putting a sentry on the door he went for the
Colonel. Saluting, he said :

" Sir, I have a little difficulty as to the best way of carry-
ing out your instructions, would you mind giving me the
benefit of your advice ? "

" Certainly," said the Colonel, entering boldly. But he
drew back.

*' Will you kindly follow me
window, there is something I think

to the little
you ought to

see.

He looked at the tinder box and the disturbed line of earth
and said :

" This job is impossible for you. You can take your
men away. I will have a trench dug and flood the vault from
the tank."

"Just so!" thought Jingo. "Make a suggestion to a
sapper I " And he went off with a light heart and a festive
step.

A trench was dug and the magazine flooded. Major
Barry, R. A., and a number of others were severely
injured by an explosion in another part of the Kaiser
Bagh.

The Residency had been carried by the Infantry with but

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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little opposition on the previous day, March i6th, after bom-
bardment. So destructive had been the continuous artillery
fire that it seemed to have paralysed resistance everywhere.
The sight of the battered gate of the Residency, riddled with
round-shot and barely hanging on its hinges, the shallow
ditch and crumbling parapet, over which in many places an
English boy could have ridden his pony, the building inside, so
pitted with bullet marks that you could scarcely put your hand
upon the wall without covering one, which was held for
half a year in the heart of an insurgent city by a handful of
Englishmen against an army of 30,000 men, is a page of
history without parallel, an unlettered monument to the
dogged tenacity of our race. The crumbling ruins are
tidifed over. No boastful column rears a record, but the
graveyard speaks — the gray slab, " Here lies Henry Law-
rence, who tried to do his duty."* The little mounds over
the nameless dead that we call "common soldiers," or
" rank and file " in official phraseology, are mutely eloquent,
and they seem to say, like the Spartan monument at Ther-
mopylae :

" Go, stranger, tell it in Lacedemon that we lie here,
obedient to her sacred laws."

Meanwhile, the mortars and howitzers had been ad-
vanced to the front of the great Imaum Bara. Not far from
the post was a handsome private house with a mirador
tower. Jingo noted that all the jalousies on the side
towards the battery were closed, those on the mirador side,
looking over the quarter of the city still occupied by the
enemy under the Moulvie, were open, though the afternoon
sun blazed upon them. It struck him that the house was
used as a signal station.

There came a lull in the firing during the noontide heat.
The stillness which reigned after the incessant turmoil of
the last few days was a relief to the tired gunners, and
they lay down to rest in any available nook of shadow from
the glare. Leaving a junior sub in command, the Lieu-
tenant started to explore and walked quietly round the
house. His suspicions were not allayed. Without an-
nouncing his presence by trying the door, he rushed at it
with his shoulder forward, some fastening gave way, and
he was launched, an uninvited guest, into a bevy of terrified

* The inscription was dictated by himself.

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A CONQUERING CAPTIVE.

T99

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"women, who were occupying a large lofty room almost
•devoid of furniture. There were no decorations or signs of
that sort of pretty litter which indicate the abode of a
woman, from the squaw to the Parisian Cocotte. These
things the soldier took in at a glance — also that the women
were old and ugly except one. The old ladies fled. He made
no effort to intercept and watched them scuttling away,
their thin bandy legs encased in trousers, tight below the
knees aud wrinkled at the ankles, giving the appearance
of a horsey man's nethers. They had pulled up their
•chuddahs to run the faster and he saw with indifference
the last pair of brown heels vanish, as a heavy cotton
•quilted striped purdah fell and closed the horseshoe arch
through which they had shuffled with that peculiar noise and
^ait necessitated by the heel-less Oriental slipper dragged
along on the toe.

But — in the centre of the room stood — She !

A dusky beauty, whose brown tints contrasted with the
white of her gauzy garments, whose little hands were
together in the native attitude of submission, and whose
head was bent.

" Ap ka golam hi ! " she murmured.

" More like to be the other way," thought the surprised
soldier. " Is she also an Arabian Nights' Entertainment —
this statuette in bronze and marble, that would be the
■despair of a sculptor ? "

He approached. She started at the clank of his steel
scabbard on the marble floor. There was a quick glance
from her dark eyes, like that of a frightened wild thing
caught in a trap. She half turned to fly, then faced him,
and stretched out her arms. The movement made a tinkle
of silver bangles on her wrists and ankles.

" Take them," she said, making a motion to draw off her
bracelets ; " but do not harm me, sahib I " and she looked at
him imploringly with her brown velvety eyes.

Jingo was being mesmerised ; he hardly knew what he
was doing. With a vague idea of staying this dainty vision,
he lifted her gently in his arms, where she unresistingly
lay, her head drooping on his shoulder, as he whispered in
her ear :

"Oh, foolish one! The sahib logue do not make war
upon women," and her arms folded softly and confidingly
round his neck. He carried her across the room to a

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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charpoy where she seated herself cross-legged, her
shapely brown limbs shining through her divided skirt of
gauzy muslin and her eyes downcast like a contemplative
she Buddha — if there be such a being ! She, however, was
a Musselmani.

'* Glad there are no Sikhs to loot this little captive as they
did the Sepahi," thought Jingo. " Wonder if she is doing
Delilah while her women go for help, and the Philistines be
upon thee, Jingo ? " He assumed an air that tried to be
judicial but was not judicious, for the judge sat beside
the prisoner and took her hand. " Where are your women
gone ? " He had learnt Hindostani colloquially in a fashion
by study and practice, and passed as an interpreter when
the fighting was over. " I must search this house." He rose
slowly as if to execute his threat.

She sprang up and put herself between him and the
purdah doorway.

"Don't follow my women," she said, "it will surely cost
you your life and perhaps mine. I may persuade my
women not to tell if you will only go away at once. Oh,
go away ! " she implored, with despairing gestures, " my
man may come back at any moment and they will kill you
and me too."

"Lie words!" said Jingo, slowl}', "your man won't come
back, he is a cowardly hound to have left you here to
watch us and give information, or to hide some valuable
treasure they had not time to take away," and he watched
her face to see the eftect of his random shot.

In spite of her evident consternation, a quietly comic
smile lit up her thoroughbred Caucasian face. " Yes," she
answered, " he is a coward, and 3'ou are big and brave as
Roostum ! He will not come back so near the Ghora
logue, you have advanced quickly, but there is no treasure
here but me, and you see how he values me!" showing
her v.'hite teeth in a silent little laugh, for natives seldom
laugh outright, at least the men do not and the women onl}-
occasionally. " But your Ghora logue will come to look for you
and I shall be undone ! If you will only go awa}', I can get oft"
at dusk and I will tell no one, and I can bribe my
women."

" No Ghora logue shall harm you while I am here, but 1
will go back now lest they should come to look for
me."

A CONQUERING CAPTIVE.

20 1

" Oh, don't leave me ! " with a sudden change to softness
in her tone, " I am afraid now to be left alone 1 See, you
are a sahib," she added, taking his hand and turning his
signet ring, " you can protect me, don't leave me, take me
with you ! " throwing her arms round him. " I will follow
you everywhere " — she almost used the words of Ruth — " I
will be the sahib's servant ! Mera dhil tera samni pawnee
hogea ! " (my heart has become water before thee). She
murmured a distich from a Hindustani love song, looking up
in his face and clinging to him.

" If thy bright eyes the Brigand should see,
The conqueror, thou, the captive is he ! "

repeated Jingo. " My pretty captive has turned the tables,"
and a foolish thought ran through his brain. He had sent
in his resignation, he might remain — be left in garrison — in
Lucknow ! But the Colonel ! Fancy his face if this pretty
piece of loot were brought to camp ! How take her to the
picket ? Impossible ! Besides — his duty ! Her women
could not have left the building in daylight, they would come
back to her, and she could get away. It would soon be
dark.

He tried to explain the impossibility, but she would not
let him go until he had promised to come back and look for
her — some day. She could not remain where she was, she
would go, but not far — the fighting would be over in a few
dav's, she would look out for him always and make a signal.
Her husband would be afraid to return to the city and she
hoped never to see him again. She had money for present
needs, and poor Jingo felt bewildered over the fatal facility
of female resource and the weakness of man's rash
promise.

How to account for his long absence ? For a woman he
could lie like a man of honour.

But the story of another woman was the subject of
sympathetic interest in camp. A Bengal Artillerj' officer
attached to the Ghoorka Brigade, got information that Miss

, the sister of a civil officer who had been cruelly

murdered during the first outbreak in Lucknow, was still a
prisoner in the city. The rebels had separated her from her
brother and had shot him. under the walls of her prison
where she had heard the death shots. But a native, an

202

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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old man of rank and influence, though he could not save her
brother, rescued her from death or worse. Disguised as a
native woman, she was handed over to the care of his mother
until opportunity could be found of returning her to her
friends, tor the old Talookdar was wise enough to foresee
that the British Raj would reassert itself. He had been
forced to join the rebels, to flee the city with them, but he
sent intimation of the whereabouts of his prisoner. Captain

N took a party of Ghoorkas to rescue her from the

house, which had been set fire to in the assault. Forcing
his way in, a native lady rushed to meet him, but the gallant
Scot had no use for such an article. E.xplanations were
short. He took her in his arms and carried her off in safety.
He had never seen her before, but the lady found lover and
husband in the brave gunner who had been her preserver
and she was able to save the life and estates of her native
protector, whose rebellion was condoned.

Yet a third woman appeared upon the scene. Three limp
officers rode out of the city in the still sultry evening of a
baking day '* to eat the air " as the natives say, or what
there was of it. Returning they met a radiant vision, a
golden-haired girl on a golden chestnut filly. The rose
bloom of England had not yet left her cheek. Hat, habit,
and mount, she might hcive dropped out of the Row, but for
the handsome white clothed syce who strode beside her
flourishing a white j^ak's-tail chowrie with something of the
air of guarding a princess.

The three officers reined up and made room for her to
pass. Three helmets were dofted — a surprised smile played
about the e3'es and lips of the lady as she bowed slightly ;
she was not yet accustomed to the woman worship of Anglo-
Indian chivalry as it then was. She was the young wife of
a wounded officer, just come out to nurse him.

♦'Who's your friend ?" said No. I."

" Don't know," said No. 2 ; " Nor 1 either," said No. 3.
''Wonder who she belongs to, wish it was me "

203

CHAPTER XIX.

Gunners and Highlanders Routed — A Skied Gun — "XandY" — A
Gift Horse — From Tent to Palace— Unwelcome Neighbours^
Poor Appetite — " Saw awav, Doctor ' ' — Hot Weather Campaign
— Variola — " Lightly Won and Lightly Lost ! " — Surprises of
Sorts.

1!?

The day following the capture of tlie " Muchee Bawn," two
heavy guns under Lieutenant Warren were pushed forward to
occupy the high terrace forming the basement of the "Jumma
Musjid." Warren was supported bya company of Highlanders.
The enemy advanced through the narrow lanes and opened
fire upon the party. The guns responded by sending a
shell occasionally into those hous'^s where the enemy shewed
themselves in any numbers. But the gunners and the gallant
Highlanders were routed by an unforeseen and irresistible
enemy. The reverberation of firing brought down;, swarm of
hornets from their nest in an archway under wliicn the gun
was placed The maddened gunners rammed in a shell with-
out a cartridge. There was a miss fire, of course, and
powder was hastily poured into the vent from a powder horn
and the gun fired with just enough powder to light the fuze
and drop the shell in front of the muzzle where it
fizzed and everyone threw themselves flat. Fortunately, it
burst upwards without hurting anybody, but it brought down
a fresh contingent of hornets. The tortured Highlanders
crouched on the ground striving to cover their bare knees
with their kilts to prevent attacks higher, but at last they
broke and fled, followed by the gunners.

By this time the Sepahis had been driven from post to
post and the Oudh levies of the Moulvie from the city, whose
inhabitants had also fled by the roads left open for them by
the Commander-in-Chief The place was tenanted only by
the dogs, the dead, and the marauding camp-followers.
Jingo longed for one thing onl}' — sleep ! A square sleep

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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between cool white sheets 1 He began to take the first
instalment in a siesta after returning from the front,
but he was disturbed by a conversation in the tent he shared
with his chum, the Adjutant. He heard a chuckle and the
words —

" Hi, Jingo I Vuu're the man I A str.pid old aub of the
old sort, none of your cursed competition wallahs ! That is
what the Brigadier writes in his chit. So look alive, old man,
he wants you at once at the great Imaum Bara. He has
got a gold medallist University B.A. man up there, trying to
mount a gun on the top of the highest building in Lucknow,
and he wants him relie ed be^'^re he kills himself and the
whole gun detachment."

The selection might be considered complimentary or other-
wise, but ihere was the order, so Jingo shouted, " Qui
hi ! " ordered uhe nutmeg roan, and, followed by his syce,
Wtis i:oon on his way through the deserted streets of the
city.

" What in the name of Allah, do they want a gun for on
the top of the great Imaum Bara 1 It could not be depressed
sufficiently to hit anybody ! '* reasoned Jingo.

It afterwards transpired that the Commander-in-Chief
desired a gun so skied, to overawe the enemy still in the
suburbs.

" You might as well spit at them, sir 1 " the blunt Briga-
dier Barker, Commanding, the Artillery, had said.

"Always maku g ohjections, those dom gunners from
Woolwich ! " retorted the obstinate old Highlander.

" Not at all, Sir Colin, the gun shall go up 1 "

And it did, and the officer selected for the duty was an
eminent scientist. But when the Brigadier saw his arrange-
ment, he was struck with consternation and dispatched the
order above quoted.

When Jingo by many flights of steps, reached the flat
roof that was to form the platform for the gun, he found his
scientific little friend just beginning to take the weight of it
by means of an extemporised derrick, blocks, and
tackle. The whole detachment was below steadying tlie gun
which had to be raised about 150 feet, and — horror of
horrors !

'* Hold on, old fellow ! Just let us have a look round
together," Jingo said, wishing to break gently to hiri that
he had come to supersede hi.n.

X AND Y.

205

" Oh, it's all right !" pulling out his note book. " Let X
=the lever, Y=the counter lever, W=the weight, w=the
counter weight "

" And how much the unknown quantity — the rottenness
of the bags in which you have put the shot for counter-
weight ?"

The shot, piled in gunny bags to count ibalance the gun,
etc., were already forcing themselves through the straining
sacking. The senior Lieutenant was compelled to give the
order to stop.

It was a vast flat-roofed building. There must be a
drain for the heavy tropical rains to run off. In a corner of
the roof, close to the position selected for the gun was an
iron grating about two feet square. Jingo had it removed
and a drain was disclosed from top to bottom of the
building, justsufficient to admit the gun perpendicularly. The
gunners below were ordered to brea': a hole in the base of
the wall into the dr^in, the gun was dismounted on its
muzzle, slung perpendicularly by its trunnions, and hauled
up by tackle through the drain to the roof And the " stupid
old sub " sent in his report to t le Brigadier that the order
had been carried out.

Active operations were over. The siege train was
broken up and our Lieutenant was transferred to a service
battery of elephant guns, commandv'^d by Captain Good-
enough, an old cadet comrade. Jingo paited with regret
from his old chief. Colonel Maberly, for whom he had
a sincere regard, as well as for his tent chum,
the Adjutant, Lieutenant Smart. The health of the
former had suffered from the fatigues of a campaign in
which he had never spared himself and he returned shortly
after to England. A kind farewell letter came to Jingo to

thank him for his services and a P.S. told him that £

had been put to his credit in a Calcutta bank to buy himself
a horse, " for," said the Colonel, " you wore one out in my
service." The money was not drawn by the Lieutenant,
but the thoughtful kindness was never forgotten.

Jingo's new battery (the Pompadours, from the colour of
their turbans), commanded by Captain Goodenough, who
shortly afterwards lost the fingers of his right hand in a
skirmish * waa quartered in the Kaiser Bagh. From tent

* Major-General Goodenough, C.B,

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G.INNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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to palace might have been considered an acceptable change,
but for the other occupants, who made their unwelcome pre-
sence known, not by sight nor sound, but by odours which
tainted the perfume of the devastated gardens, for the orange
blossoms had begun to open in .spite of war and destruction.
Where were the dainty ladies who so lately filled the courts,
wandered in the gardens, and enjoyed the luxurious marble
huminaums ? The bodies of some of their defenders lay in
all sorts of out-of-the-way corners, some under piles of torn
curtains, under which they had crept to die or been secreted
by the comrades who had not had time to carry them of!', others
filled shallow graves among the half-ruined gardens, and one
had found an airy resting place, whence his body, festering
in the sun, poisoned every passing air.

To dream that she " dwelt in marble halls," may have been
agreeable to the Bohemian girl of the poet Bunn's creation,
but the reality Jingo found most unpleasant. There were
marble pillars and pavements, and walls inlaid in flowery
mosaics of cornelian, jasper, and onyx, like bits of the beau-
tiful Taj, but the pestilential odour was everywhere, and
'vorst of all about the apartments he had selected to live in.
Night or day there was no respite. A Peri who lives only
on perfume would have had a bad time, and he, poor mortal,
felt himself sickening. He was uncomfortable, moreover,
about the fate of the little lady he had left in the deserted
house and his premise haunted him. He had not been able to
get away to search for her. Many officers and men were
down with fever, daily there was some duty. The hot
v/eather had set in. Jingo thought he would sleep on the
root, perhaps there he would escape the vengeful odour of
death that was so unendurable. So he got a ladder and
mounted, but he nearly fell off backwards, for there, prone,
lay the sun-bloated body of a huge fat Ethiopian eunuch,
who had been shot through the head, and had dropped
close to the balustrade which overlooked the street, probably
while firing from the roof during the fighting. Jingo fled
from him more quickly than he might have done when living,
and sent the sweepers to remove him.

The pestilential odour abated, but he still felt constant
nausea, especially after eating, and his food had a hateful
flavour. Was he being slowly poisoned by some vengeful
native ? He would eat nothing but eggs. Great Jove I the
same odious taste. The salt I Ah I He sent for his kitmugar.

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SAW AWAY, DOCTOR.

207

" Where did you get the salt ? "

" I found it herein the palace, sahib." And he produced
a ghurra.

It was powdered alum !

An otTficer's mess had been established in one of the kiosks
in the square of the Kaiser Bagh. One sultry evening,
when the air did not circulate even through the open archwaj's
as did the innumerable winged insects fluttering round the
lamps, an orderly from the hospital came to say, with the
doctor's compliments, that Lieutenant Jingo was wanted.
Gunner McCausland, the soldier servant who had replaced
Montgomerie, had been wounded some time previously — the
bullet had shattered the elbow, necessitating amputation,
which the doctor had delayed, hoping to save the arm. But
why he " was wanted " puzzled our sub, who rose to go in
^c good humour. He was waiting for dinner — always a bad
quarter of an hour with an Englishman — and his appetite had
returned with the disuse of alum for salt.

Making a short cut through the few shrubs that remained
of a garden, he fell over something and embraced Mother
Earth. A swarm of flies buzzed about him, and a terrible
smell assailed his nostrils. He had stumbled over the foot
of a Sepahi, which stuck out from a shallow grave. He
felt inclined to damn everything above an inch high, which
would have included the Sepahi's toe.

" I knew you would humour the poor fellow," said the
doctor. " He wants you to see him grin and bear it, I sus-
pect. He refused to have it off until you came."

"Thaiik you for comin', sur. Just let me hould 3'er
hand vid the only wan they'll be afther lavin' me.
Nov ' :ct'ni.", ye may saw away." And he grinned and
bore •

'Ihi^Lirt f feeling was not unnatural nor uncommon
between t,i'^ '^'•"l long-service soldier and his officers. His
Captain (Goodenough) got him a situation as lime-keeper in
Woolwich Arsenal, and he had a small pension.

The elephant battery was now under orders to take the
field. The escaped Sepahis of the Lucknow garrison had
overrun Oudh and swelled the forces of the discontented
Talookdars. who, with their warlike retainers, still held their
village forts, and plundered the wretched ryots to provide
si',.^ 'ies.

i '^ot weather campaign had commenced. The garrison

tfi

31:

I \

I': Ji

208

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Ift

.f X 'I

of the captured and now pestiferous city rejoiced, for they
were already tired of inactivity from which they suffered,
it being too violent a reaction after the exertions of the siege,
and they preferred the greater fatigues and the intense heat
of marching and fighting to the dull monotony which had
begun to fill the hospitals. \

Jingo bethought him of his promise to the dusky beauty,
and he made his way through the thinly-peopled streets, for
the citizens were slow in coming back to their houses and
trusting the amnesty proclaimed.

The house with the mirador tower was unoccupied, and its
empty halls gave back a melancholy echo to his footfall.
Jingo began to reproacl, ■•" -^-^elf for having left his promise
so long unfulfilled, and he •— ed, wandering from room to
room, thinking he might fina . ne trace of the missing " She."

His footstep had a double echo surely ! He turned and
confronted an old woman whom he thought he recognised as
one of her attendants. The crone looked back and made a
sign to follow. Through narrow lanes and crooked passages
between high walls he was led to a little room in a corner of a
large empty court, with rooms looking into it, and unlighted b}'
windows on the street.

And here he found his charmer. She had not been molested
in her new and unpretentious dwelling, but she reproached
him with long tarrying.

" My women are tired of watching for you, but I
told them the sahib logue do not lie," she said, with a
smile.

He must tell her that soon — on the morrow — he might
march. Meanwhile her magnetism asserted itself, and he
found it hard to tell her. But she only said when the news
was broken, putting her arms about him :

" You will take me, I still have money and a palkee. I
will only take my ayah."

It was difficult to make her understand the impossibility.
His absence might not be for long, but who and what might
not come between I

At last he tore himself away and was a little surprised and
perhaps piqued at the Oriental calmness with which she
accepted " Kismet."

When he got back to quarters he found the battery was to
march the following day. He felt dull and heavy, and his
head ached; he had been walking in the sun, but he would be

'li

VARIOLA.

209

all right next day, he thought. He passed a feverish night,
and at daybreak when they paraded, he felt no better, but
would not report sick as it was pretty certain there would be
fighting.

But the doctor stared hard. " Hullo ! What's the matter
with you ? All over rash ? "

" Prickly heat," said Jingo, sententiously, doing his own
diagnosis. " Unpleasant, but not dangerous."

" Dessay ! " said the doctor.

And the Lieutenant who loved, rode away. It has been so
before and since — and will be so again.

It was a fearful day. The hot wind, like the breath of a
furnace, blew the clouds of dust raised by the marching
column into swirls, which whisked away across the baked
plain. The patient elephants plodded along with noiseless
footstep, their mahouts' heads swathed in huge turban folds.

The very gun wheels seemed muffled on the sandy track.
The Infantry were in advance raising clouds which hid the
sun, though his angry red rays penetrated the dun obscurity.
How did the foot-soldiers breathe, let alone march, in that
perambulatory hell ?

There came a short halt, but to Jingo everything seemed
to swim round instead of stopping. In the effort to dismount
he fell from his horse.

'* Variola maligna I " was the doctor's verdict.

" Malignant small-pox," was the Captain's translation.
•" Poor fellow ! We must send him back to hospital at once."

They thought he was unconscious, but he heard and asked
for a drink.

A little cold tea moistened his parched lips. Fortu-
nately the column was not far from the city, so he was
packed in a doolie, his sword laid beside him and his charger
led behind by his syce. The motion of the doolie, and the
measured guttural rhythm " hung ! hung I " of the bearers as
they shuffled along at their peculiar run, not keeping step,
yet which makes the motion easier than would be sup-
posed, sent him to sleep.

There was a hiatus of a day in his recollections, but the
illness was not severe, for he had an iron constitution,
and in a short time he was convalescent and able to write to
his mother asking her to tell the girl cousins that his beauty
was not spoilt.

Captain Peel of the Naval Brigade at this time closed a

2IO

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

h: III

•II

1 1f- ■

i ili. ! 1

1. 1:

m. *

brilliant career, a victim to the fell disease, and many another
followed.

As soon as Jingo was able to get about he went to look
for " She," as he had a second time rashly promised to do.
But they never met, and he heard afterwards that the lady,
who evidently preferred the sahib logue to her own
people, had been consoled and found a protector in an officer
with less arduous duties. " Lightly won, lightly lost." The
Lieutenant recovered quickly. He had taken both complaints
lightly and his cure was aided by hearing, to his satisfaction,
that his resignation had not been approved of at head-
quarters.

He now found himself appointed Staff Officer to
an Artillery Division in the field, which necessitated
buying another horse. General Sir Hope Grant
commanded the Oudh Field Force, a flying column in
perpetual pursuit of various insurgent chiefs still in com-
mand of considerable contingents of Sepahis and Oudh
fighting men.

The arch miscreant. Nana Sahib, had not been captured yet ;
according to common rumour, a common liar, he was here,
there, and everywhere. But the Sepahis had no heart to fight
and as they carried no commissariat, but lived on the country,
they were hard to overtake and our poor fellows suffered
mainly from sunstroke, not from the enemy's fire.

On one occasion camp had been pitched at noon to deceive
the enemy, and almost within touch of their outposts. After
the men's dinner of tough bull beef washed down with a tot
of ration rum, the order was given to strike tents and march.
A peremptory order had come from Sir Colin for the force
to return forthwith to Lucknow, as an emeute of
Mahommetans was expected at the festival of the " Buckra
ka eed." The garrison of Lucknow considered themselves
capable of eating the Mahommetans, as well as their
sacrificial goat, but the field force was ordered to return for
the ceremony. A blow must be struck before returning. It
would be impossible to leave an enemy to fall upon the
helpless train that follows in the rear even of a Jlyitig column in
India.

The attack was delivered as usual and it was pursuit from
start to finish. It was startling to see men dropping, though
the force was under scarcely appreciable fire. It was sun-
stroke on bull beef and ration rum I The graves were filled

SURPRISES OF SORTS.

in that fight without sword or bullet. Before night the force
changed front, so as to start at dawn on the return march.

The camp-followers were between the troops and the
position lately occupied by the enemy. Whether some of
the latter returned or not under cover of the darkness,
was never found out, but shots were heard, panic seized
the poor camp-followers, and helter-skelter they charged
into the lines, squadrons of grass-cutters, tattoos, doolie-
bearers, camels, and their drivers, tumbling over tent-ropes
in the dire confusion. Officers and men rushed from their
tents only to be knocked down and perhaps trodden upon by
the spongy foot of a camel. In despair, after being so
treated two or three times, an officer, short in temper and
stature, drew his revolver and shot the next charging
maniac that appeared. None knew friend from foe and firing
became promiscuous. The wise ones lay flat on the ground
and wished for day, which when it came disclosed many
strange and some sad sights. The short-tempered officer
had shot his camel-driver. An officer who, suffering from
the sun, had lain down with ' a damp towel wound round his
head turban fashion which, with a black beard and flowing
pyjamas, gave him an Oriental aspect, was promptly felled
by the clubbed rifle of an infantry soldier, while a stout
Colonel and his equally stout Sergeant-Major discovered that
they had passed a considerable time in a panting skirmish
round a tree, which they nearly cut down in their vicious
swipes at each other.

Another alternative for effecting a surprise was to march
all night so as to reach the enemy's posts before day, when
a short but refreshing snooze could be indulged in before
attacking. But it had the drawback that they occasionally
found themselves by daylight in about the same place as
they had started from, the march having by an intelligent
guide been conducted in a circle. As might be concluded, it
was bad for that guide unless he had made his escape before
the denouement.

Years after, looking into that blazing scroll of fame — the
" Army List " — record of officers' services — Jingo, trying to
remind himself of the incidents of his services, would find
after his name the record of an engagement in Oriental
orthographies, the how and when of which he had not the
faintest recollection. Pompey and Caesar were so very much
alike, especially Pompey.

P — 2

11'!
i

212

CHAPTER XX.

Amalgamated Artilleriesj — Nightmare — Nawabgunge — Swords — The
Feeders of Ravens — Truculent Fakirs — A Surprise Party —
Aquatic Equitation.

" He saw the lean dogs beneath the wall,

Hold o'er the dead their Carnival,

Gorging and growling o'er carcase and limb;

They were too busy to bark at him.
From a Tartar's skull they had stripped the flesh,
As ye peel a fig when its fruit is fresh,
And their white tusks crunched o'er the whiter skull.
As it slipped through their jaws, when their edge grew dull.
As they lazily mumbled the bones of the dead.
Till they scarcely could rise from the spot where they fed ;
So well had they broken a lingering fast
With those who had fallen for that night's repast.
And Alp knew by the turbans that rolled on the sand,
The foremost of these were the best of the band :
Crimson and green were the shawls of their wear.
And each scalp had a single long tuft of hair.

And all the rest was shaven and bare.

The scalps were in the wild dog's maw.

The hair was tangled round his jaw."

'■'5i

The troops and batteries of the Artillery division changed
from sometimes Royal to sometimes Bengal or Madras, and
the Commanding Officer was also a variable co-efficient, *
but the Staff Officer seemed a fixture.

** Men might come and men might go,
But he went on for ever. "

■I ; i>

No matter how composed or commanded the division

might be. Jingo, though a Royal, met with kindness from
all.

It speaks well for the gunners of that time that when

* Colonel Carlton, of the Bengal Artillery, commanded at this time.

NIGHTMARE.

213

eventually amalgamated, the esprit and the glories of all
mingled harmoniously, as to-day, in " Ubique ! " With such
a man as Lord Roberts 'to lead, it is not, perhaps,
surprising.

It was now the merry month of June, and after one of
those scampering little skirmishes and long pursuits fourteen
sunstruck Hussars lay dead under one tree.

On the sultry night of that 1 2th the column was not far
from the town of Nawabgunge, which the enemy held in
force. A halt had been called to wait for daylight. Jingo
had a happy knack of snatching a sleep anyhow ; perhaps
the arrears of waking during the siege of Lucknow had to be
made up. The gnarled root of a mango tree, softened by his
turban, aiforded a pillow. But that night, fate and the
Butcha were against a comfortable snooze. His syce had
not come up and he had twisted the reins round his wrist.
Butcha woke him with a premonitory jerk. There was no
sound, yet a ghostly cavalcade in grey swept past between
the advanced unlimbered guns, with no clank of steel or
accoutrements. The very horses' feet seemed muffled
by the loose sand and the gunners sleeping by the guns
were not disturbed.

Jingo forgot which was front or rear. The spectral horse-
men were natives — could the enemy be so bold ? They
turned out to be a squadron of our own Irregulars going out
to reconnoitre, and had been scarcely noticed by the sentries,
so different was their silent advance from the clatter
of European cavalry.

There was no grass upon the baked earth for the hungry
Butcha to crop, and he slept as he stood. But his rider had
a fearfully mixed nightmare. He was Hector being dragged
by the chariot of Achilles. He was Mazeppa torn to pieces
by wild horses. He was to be flattened by the foot of an
elephant carrying the skeleton ribs of a Megatherion,
and it towered above him with its load from the Paleo-
lithic age. The dreams of centuries are but seconds.
It was, after all, only a commissariat elephant coming up
with its noiseless tread that always seems so stealthy for so
huge a beast, and carrying the iron framework (like some
unfleshed pre-historic monster) of camp ovens belonging to
the wonderful never-failing Indian Commissariat. The
Butcha, as startled as his master, nearly pulled Jingo's arm
out of the socket. Ever after. Jingo had a horror of sleeping

''\

214

GUNNER jingo's JUBILEE.

where an elephant might tread on him, and if he could, he
would choose the root of a tree with low projecting branches,
which precaution was, however, unnecessary, as elephants,
as well as their mahouts, are careful.

Day was breaking and the dropping fire of outposts
had commenced. The order for the Artillery might have been
freely rendered as " Devil take the hindmost I " and yet it
was the old story — an Infantry escort for Field Artillery that
could gallop and was expected to do so. One battery was
ordered to the right, another to the left, to sweep the enemy's
line obliquely from both flanks. As they could not be in
both places at once, the Staff went to the left with Captain
Alured Johnson's " Q " Field Battery. Its commander.
Major Gibbon, had been wounded in a previous affair and
was left in hospital.

" Q " pushed through the enemy's irregular skirmish line
and opened upon their main position. The battery was sur-
rounded by low brush, but from a bush about one hundred
and fifty yards in rear bullets whizzed at regular intervals
in unpleasant proximity to Jingo and Jack Hallows, of the
87th Roj'al Irish, the latter being attached to the Artillery
as interpreter. They were two extensive targets with
nothing to do but look pleased. The Infantry escort had
been left far behind.

" Better flush that fellow," said Jack.

Waiting until the next puff of smoke told that the man
was unloaded, they both rode at the bush where the smoke
still lingered. Jack firing his revolver as he advanced. The
Oudh man rose from his lair, threw down his gun, and drew
his tulwar. Jingo in passing delivered a regulation sword-
exercise cut with his ponderous blade. Young Jingo was
proud of his swordsmanship ; he could cut through the thick
part of a hanging leg of mutton, bone and all, and now he
expected to see that unbeliever's head fly from his shoulders.
Instead, the tulwar deftly turned the sword, while a round
white spot of bare skull, the size of a rupee, showed that the
poor fellow had lost his Houri handle.* His turban, wound
round his head, had left the top unprotected. Circling his
horse, Jingo passed his sword through the poor devil's brown
bodyjust above the cummerbund. One of Jack Hallows' small

* The long tuft of hair left on the shaven scalp for Honris to lift
Paradise,

.'.r lovers into

NAWABGUNGE.

215

revolver bullets had struck the breastbone and another had
penetrated the turban, without reaching the skull. It was
hardly a fair scrimmage and could not well have been
avoided, yet the pair felt disgusted. " Mais, a la guerre,
comme a la guerre." That was a cruel war. There were
atrocities to be avenged, English hearts were hardened, and
Oudh men, who had a perfect right to defend their country,
and were not responsible for the cruelties of a mutinous
soldiery whose cause they had espoused, suifered with
them.

The battery escort of the Rifle Brigade, Celer ct Atu/ax,
now came up at the double and cleared the scrub. A tall
Sepahi was retiring sullenly, reloading as he went. One of
the foremost files of riflemen called out in Cockney
vernacular :

•' 'Ere, you black b , 'old on a bit ! "

But the invitation met with no response from the Sepahi
who did not even look over his shoulder at his diminutive
assailant, who, making a supreme effort, overtook him and
plunged his bayonet through the back of the retiring Sepahi
with such force that both men fell together.

The Sepahi did not rise.

Coming back to the battery, the two officers noticed that
Lieutenant Neil, (son of the gallant General who was
killed at the relief of Lucknow), was leaning over his horse's
neck.

" What's the matter ? " was the instant query.

" Don't know, feel very sick, suppose it is the sun."

He was put into a doolie, and his sword hung from the
pole. There was no wound, nor any appearance of sunstroke,
but on the belt-plate was a splash of lead.

On the right flank, the advance had to be made across an
open glacis slope. The enemy's guns were posted on the
crest, behind the mud wall of a mango tope. Embrasures
had been pierced, and their horses and limbers were on a
reverse slope and sheltered among the trees. Our guns
in the open began to suffer and one was disabled by a
round-shot.

Jingo had followed his Artillery Chief, and to him General
Sir Hope Grant, seeing no one else available, gave the
order :

" Go and tell Daly of ' Hodson's Horse ' to charge those
^uns."

2l6

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

!U.

■cJi;

I :;

The messenger lost no time, and none was lost by Daly,
who put himself at the head of his men, shouted, " Charge ! "
and dashed forward. He was followed — by his orderly. The
native troopers were slowly making a jostling, jogging, right
incline. Jingo called out to the gallant leader who, turning
in his saddle, shouted reproaches, then curses in Hindustani
and English. They would have followed Hcdson anywhere,
but the new sahib they did not knew, though later they learned
to trust him as confidently as their lost Hodscn. There
was no bolder leader among Anglo-Indian chivalry than
Daly.

The General saw his messenger returning.

*' What's up ? "

" Don't know, sir, but Hodson's horse are not charging."

"Tell Sir William Russell to cliarge with the 7th, and
Hodson's Horse to follow in support."

Again the Butcha flew. Leaving the order with Dal)\
Jingo passed on to the Hussars and gave his message.

" Who are you, sir ? "

Perhaps he was taken for a second Nolan, ordering another
Balaclava on a small scale, for it was not usual for a gunner
to carry orders to Cavalry, nor was he on the General's
personal staft".

Jingo explained. The Adjutant was called.

" Repeat that order, sir I " '

He did.

'* All right. Queen's Own Hussars, by your centre, draw
swords ! "

But the " Queen's Own " — the old 4th " Queen's Own 1" —
their bones lie bleaching in the valley of Balaclava. These
were raw boys on bucking, unbroken whalers. The clatter
of scabbards started — plunging, rearing, bucking I

" Steady, men ! God bless my soul, you're like a lot of
Yeomanry Cavalry ! Walk ! March 1 Trot ! Canter 1
Charge ! " And away they dashed after their brave Colonel
and the squadron leaders, straight for the guns ! No
flinching among the English lads, and the horses seemed to
know the boys meant business, for they settled down into a
steady stride.

The Lieutenant, his message delivered, thought he might
legitimate!}' enjoy the novel luxury of a Cavalry charge now,
for he had missed that at Chanda. So he put himself on
the right of the line, and once more drew his sword, sur-

1*1

SWORDS.

217

prised to find how clean it was, considering. That evening
the Hindoo bearer spat as he took his master's sword, and
handed it to the low caste Malher to clean.

The enemy had now seen what was up, and a clump of
Ghazee Infantry threw themselves in front of the wall
while the guns were being withdrawn. A few wild, scatter-
ing shots and shouts, and the tulwars flashed round the
fluttering green flag of the Ghazees. Through this gesticu-
lating mob the Englishmen silently rode, like a hot knife
through a pat of butter, riding over them or knocking them
down with slogging blows from the flat, the back, anything
but the edge of the sword. If by accident the edge did lead,
it would neither cut through the folds of the turban nor
the quilted cotton coats they wore. The regulation Cavalry
sword cannot keep its edge through being perpetually drawn
from, and returned with a smart Jlourisli to the steel
scabbard, and the handle, too large and round, generally
turns in the hand. The squadron leaders alone killed their
men. They knew enough to deliver point — that is, hr 1 out
the iron as FalstaflF did. One understands " men who
smote with the edge of the sword " did not mean
recruits.

The galloping gunner had leisure to note these things, for
the flank on which he rode overlapped the mob of Ghazees,
and he found no opponent for his steel. Fearful of a wigging
for amateur dragooning, he reined round and saw the
unharmed Ghazees picking themselves up. But not for
escape. Hodson's Horse were coming up in support. With
wild shouts, in rather open order, on swept the Irregulars,
mostly Sikhs, without sympathy for Oudh Poorbeah, or
Moslem. Their keen tulwars making drawing swoops,
always in a diiection supplemented by the speed of the
horse, did work the clumsy British blades could not do.

A Ghazee, rising from the ground, turned to fly, his
tulwar raised to protect his head. A passing Sowar severed
from the wrist the hand holding the sword. The hand, still
clutching the weapon, flew off some feet, and a jet of blood
spurted from the artery. Another man, just staggering to
his feet, had his back laid open diagonally from shoulder to
waist, and the spine severed. Nothing escaped the torrent
of horsemen, whose front rank used with deadly
dexterity that queen of amies blanches, the lance. It was
held tent-pegging fashion, except that here the weapon was.

i .'I I

W^"""^

2l8

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

j;''^

1^,..m'%

deftly extracted by the rider bending forward and letting his
right arm go with the butt over his back and the point to
the rear, when the weight of the stabbed body and the
speed of the horse extracted the lance.

The native tulwar, made of charcoal steel b}' a caste of

smiths, * w;

secrets are transmitted from countless

ancestors, takes a keen edge, unblunted in its If^ather
sheath. The handle, flattened and widened at the centre,
with a disc end, exactly fits :he small sinewy native hand,
and cannot turn in the grip. When the line of the knuckles
corresponds with the edge, the latter always leads, as you
can tell by the clean whistle of a true sword-cut cc nipared
to the fluff of a duffer. As the curved tulwar is manifestly
unsuited for thrust the native substitute is to bnng the edge
of the curve to the throat or body of an opponent, when
the shape of the blaae and the speed of the horse will give a
nasty gash. As a rule, a native never expects point. It i?
said, Hodson ahvays killed his man by meeting his assailant's
first cut with the fork' of his sword and then delivering
point.

Few things are more remarkable than the scolid con-
servatism of military practice. The great development of
firearms is one reason for the sword being remembered only
as an inconvenient adjunct for parrde purposes. Jingo
retains little of the possessions of his ancestors but their
swords. One, belonging to the old Light Dragoon grand-
father of Waterloo, is a curved blade, about as useless as
they make them to-day. The old man used to say the
English Dragoons rarely did more than cut a Frenchman's
coat, but a man wounded by a French swordsman generally
died. It was a thrust delivered at speed.

A better weapon was given to Jingo by his friend Zubber
Khan, a native officer of Irregular Horse.

"Take it, sahib," he said ; "it has been in my father's
family for many generations ; it has been" red with the blood
of the 'niniuk harami,' (faithless on<_r.) of my countrymen,
which I shed ibr the Sircar. But I can wear it no more.
Our regiment is supplied with Europe swords. Mine weighs
many maund. I could almost put my head through the hilt.

* The swords supplied to the British army an; made by llie thousand and mostly by
foreign contractors. A hot blast furnace and coal containing sulphur are used, with
results any chemist could foretell, and our recent battles have amply illustrated this in
the matter of swords and bayonets.

.1! :■

illl

THE FEEDERS OF RAVENS.

219

But what does it mattei* ? They have also given us Europe
bits, and a sowar can no longer chuckker (circle) round a
rupee."

The moon rose early on the night after the action. Jingo
was riding slowly back to his tent, over the ground where
the dead were Ij'ing thickest. He noticed the body of a
verj' handsome man whom he had seen killed the da}"^ before.
Stripped to his loin cloth, he lay on his back, with his arms
outstretched and his broad breast bare, his face upturned to
the moonlight, with glazed eyes unclosed, and upper lip still
curled with the death grin of rage and pain. His white teeth
gleamed under his black moustache, his head was towards
Jingo, pillowed on a little hillock, and Jingo sat regarding him
rather sorrowfully, as having passed away in the prime of life
from all the pleasant things of a not unpleasant world for
those who are wise enough to enjoy. Now, Jingo knows that
'• whom the gods love die young."

Could it be a trick of the moonlight. The man moved 1
Slowly contracting his arms, he then shot them out with a
jerk like a satisfied stretch. Great heavens 1 Jingo had seen
the man killed the day before, he could not possibly be alive.
An eerie feeling crept over him, the oft-told tales of Indian
"zadoo " (magic) flashed through his mind. He would see
this out. The Butcha snorted, and trembled, and broke into
sweat under the caressing hand of his master. The spur
was equally ineffectual, the animal was rooted to the spot.
His rider dismounted and walked up towards the corpse,
which lay on the farther slope of the little hillock. As he
approached he could see the whole athletic form of the dead
man, his shield and sword lying beside him. The corpse
stretched its hands towards its weapons, the head was
slightly lifted, as if in an effort to rise, and then sank back as
if exhausted.

Jingo's brow was damp and his heart throbbed. Another
stride or two, and a vulture flapped out from the dead vian
and hopped a short distance, too gorged to fly, its bald head
and neck besmeared with blood. It had eaten its way into
the carcase, and tearing at the tendon., had caused the hideous
contractions. Jingo drew his revolver and shot the vulture,
which, after all, was only partaking of the feast prepared for
him by man. But it was useless. Long lines of flapping wings
were sailing towards the spot, the prowling hyena laughed,
and pariah dogs and jackals raised a yowl of discontent

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

at being disturbed by one of the illogical givers of that
repast.

The column, marching in pursuit to Fyzabad, pressed on
through the ancient Hindoo city of Adjudeah, with its many
sacred temples and ghats, on the bank of the Gogra. The
rear guard of the enemy was in the act of crossing ; when a
few shots from the Artillery sank the last boats. But there
were no means of following in pursuit. Many stalwart
Fakirs, armed with heavy iron-bound laities of stout bamboo,
scowled from the steps of the sacred precincts with no
salaam (peace be with you I) until certain impulsive subs
demanded the usual salutation from the men, who were
evidently Sepahis tired of running away. The subs were
only two, out for an evening ride " howah khana kiwasti " (to
eat the air). The salute of amity and submission was
refused and the Fakirs retreated to the temples, whereupon
the unarmed youngsters rode their ponies up the sacred
steps into the very presence of the gods, whose stony e3'es
saw not the submission of their armed votaries before the
whips of a pair of unbelieving British boys. But then that
awful army was encamped only a few miles distant.

In a short time it was broken up, for Cis Gogra Oudhwas
declaj"ed pacified, and our Lieutenant was thankful to find
himself appointed to "Q " Field Battery.

The rains had set in. Clia-

butras (mounds of earth) were

raised under the tents. The

political officers declared amnesty

\ '^ilP everywhere, and talked of the

j^jraPL blessings of peace and the

horrors of wai". All

were weary of the

latter. An imaginative

soldier drew the

jrdawning future

' as shown in our-

"^ illustration. Re-

^ bellious Talook- ^^P^^'^^t^^^ '859-

dars were restored to rank and

lands.but small bands of desperate

ijws:- Sepahis still held together and

forced subsistence wheie it was

not freely given.

PEACt

A SURPRISE PARTY.

221

" Dours " (raids) still had to be undertaken by the troops,
but always under the guidance of an omniscient Political.
Our most august one was sometimes at fault, for once, sending
one of his chuprassees to reconnoitre, the man mounted a
tree, and the Commissioner mistaking him for an enemy
brought him down, shot like a garden thrush by a bad boy of
sporting proclivities.

A few squadrons of Hussars and two guns of "Q" were
sent on a " dour." A good gunner always reconnoitres his
way out of camp and as far beyond as he can, for though he
is chained up at Autumn manoeuvres, he is very much let
loose in war. In one case it is, "get those d — guns out of
the way I " in the other, "where are those blessed guns ? "

Towards evening. Jingo had ridden some miles from camp,
and there, in the wide plain, now bursting into brilliant blue-
green from the magic influence of the rains, he saw a
feather clump of bamboos, with blue smoke curling above
the centre, which he knew to be one of the fortified
villages of some turbulent native Talookdar. It was the
hour of the evening meal, when the high-caste Hindoo,
stripped to his waistcloth, makes the sacred circle round his
cooking place, and the more savoury supper of the Moslem is
prepared with less of ceremony but equal impatience. The
approach of Jingo was unobserved. He tied his horse
among the bamboos and crept noiselessly through. Sure
enough, he came upon the sun-dried escarp of a nd-fort
surrounding trees, temples, and the roofs of houses. ^ v i i i - feet
was a ditch, not difficult to cross, and he climbed to the level
berm at the foot of the exterior parapet slope, and cautiously
raised his head. There were the piled arms and the groups
of Sepahis cooking their " roti khana " (supper). The society
was not good enough, and Jingo hoped to leave unobserved
as he had come, but a piece of the escarp crumbled under his
feet and rattled into the ditch. " Kaun hi ! " and the click of
unpiling arms told him he was discovered. There was
nothing for it but what the Americans call bluff. Raising
himself to his full height, he asked, sternly —

" Pig people ! Why do you not salute an officer ?" And
the salutes were rigidly given. " Shew me the way into this
abode ofBudmarshes I" (truculent robbers). "Stay where
you are, sahib, and we will come round and show you."

There is no word in Hindostani for " thank you," or Jingo
might have used it. As it was, he jumped into the ditch,

222

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

away.

!f.^

Jingo,

scrambled across, mounted his horse, and rode
number of Sepahis ran out of the gate, crying—

** This way, sahib I "

" Never mind now. I am in a hurry," said
turning in his saddle, " I'll come to-morrow."

The Sepahis had come out unarmed to allay suspicion, or
they might have sent a leaden messenger to stop him. On
arriving at camp, he went straight to the tent of the CO.
The Political sat at meat with him, and muttered :
" Mare's nest ! I know the Rhanee of that fort is well
disposed to the Government, and would not harbour
Sepahis."

" Never mind," said the Major, " we will look them up
at daylight."

But with daylight the Sepahi logue had departed. The
Rhanee admitted they had been there, had demanded pro-
visions, she had no force to refuse them, and was afraid to
report for fear of reprisals. A sahib had come and looked
over the wall, and the Sepahis had marched away. So the
guns and cavalry returned from a bootless errand to
Fyzabad.

Dispatches had to be carried to Lucknow, and as Jingo's
wardrobe was now dilapidated and he had heard some of his
baggage had reached that city from Calcutta, he volunteered.
His three horses were sent ahead — Dak — as far as was safe, for
the country was still disturbed, with the last horse, the
nutmeg, he would have to push on to Lucknow. The first
stage he rode a battery nag. The whole distance was about
lOO miles.

The rains had turned dry nullahs into rivers, the hot
winds into sultry vapour, and the baked earth into slime. He
met no enemy more formidable than the incorrigible pariah
dogs. Awakened from their siesta by the sound of his horse's
hoofs, as he rode through the villaj^'^os, tin v persistently
followed him with yapping din and rushes at his horse's
nose. Jingo loved dogs, but those ! the eaters of the slain I
The manners of dogs are a measure of the civilisation of a
people all the world over. He was loth to do it, but had to
rid himself of the pest, and drew his revolver from
time to time and shot the most pertinacious, when the rest
v/ould stop to worry the wounded one and eventually eat
him. Jingo became an adept at this galloping |)istol
practice.

>,' :

AQUATIC EQUITATION.

223

His last horse was getting tired out when he
reached the banks of a d^ep swollen stream, a tributary of
the Goomti. Like young Lochinvar who " came out of the
west," except that Jingo rode for some clean linen instead of
a lady, "he swam the wide river where ford there was none."
Horse swimming, unfortunately, forms no part of a military
education, mostly devoted to differential calculus and kindred
subjects of practical utility. In the picture story-books,
warriors plunge into rivers, sitting upright, often repre-
sented as armed cap-a-pie, their chargers bearing them
bravely.

Jingo found there was no getting in gradually, the river
swept past, almost level with the steep bank. He spurred the
nutmeg to a plunge, horse and man went under. Jingo was
in heavy marching order, and rode thirteen stone without
accoutrements. When the horse's hind feet touched the
bottom, the animal plunged and another dive followed. His
rider knew enough to hang on to the mane and not the
bridle, then quitting the stirrups, he slipped off on the up-
stream side. So relieved, the nutmeg swam across, but to
get up the steep bank was the problem for man and horse.
Jingo was encumbered with sword, sabretache, pistol, and
long water-filled boots. He caught hold of the undocked
tail of the nutmeg, and the animal, encouraged b}' his
master's voice, after one or two unsuccessful efforts,
scrambled up and pulled Jingo after him. The latter,
propping his legs against a mud wall, stood on his head, like
a street Arab, to let the water run out of his boots. His
cartouche box and its contents were wet — cartridges were
not brass in those days — would his six-shooter go
off?

Bang I All right ! Well done, Sam Colt ! The bullets
of the old pattern were rammed down water-tight with a
lever, the caps also proved the same, and the remaining five
barrels would see him through to Lucknow.

Horse and man were refreshed by the bath, but there were
two more unfordable streams to cross. These were passed
swimmingly I Jingo had learnt a lesson in horse-swimming
which served for the rest of his life. Later, in the icy waters
of the Canadian Saskatchewan and the treacherous rivers of
New Zealand, it stood him in good stead.

The blazing sun came out from the rain clouds and dried
him and his dispatches long before he reached the city of

' \:

224

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE,

shattered palaces, in one of which he found his old comrades
of the card party (the '• Primus in Indis ").*

Great goodness, had they been playing ever since 1 It
looked Hke it. It was evening, but they sat in pyjamas, and
the relics of a meal were on the floor, the table being other-
wise occupied. Before one of them lay a pile of paper,
I.O.U.'s for fabulous sums he had won.

" Good heavens I" exclaimed Jingo, looking over his
shoulder, " you don't mean to make those poor beggars pay
you ? "

The winner's face flushed. " Mind your own business I "
But he was generous as he was brave. Suddenly he flung
down the cards, rose, and tore up the I.O.U.'s. " Have a
drink, Jingo, you must be dry after your ride, and the sage
remark you made ? "

The rest in Lucknow was brief. Jingo was recalled, and
the old game went on again.

March 1 March 1 March 1

• This battery had done heroic service under Havelcck. Out of the original loo men
but 13 remained. The battery had been recruited up, and given a well-earned rest while
fresher troops were sent on the hot weather campaign.

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225

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CHAPTER XXI.

The Jhungy Guns — Merry Sunshine — Noah's Ark Camp.

" March, march, march in good order, * ■.

All the blue bonnets are over the border —

March ! "

" Ho ! hi'me mounted hon my sheepskin throne,

And all 1 'ave I calls my hown,

Tho' this ere 'orse don't belong to hi,

But to 'er gracious Majest — y.

I 'ave no care, hi'me never sad,

But always 'appy, 'arty, and glad.

And if to-day I spends all my pay,

To-morrow, boys, will bring us more.

For hi'me mounted on my sheepskin throne.

One more river, one more river to cross."

Bombardier Ballad.

" Eyes fr-r-r-ont 1 Eyes r-r-r-ight ! " rolled out, with a
rattle of somewhat superfluous r's, from the deep chest and
brown throat of the gaunt gunner sub, who, riding tired and
slouchy in front of his two guns, now sat up in his saddle,
and pulled together the compact black tetze-flecked Cape 'un
he rode.

He was not the type of tailor-made sub, who drawls his
commands with w's in place of r's, he was not even a com-
petition wallah, as we have seen.

On the present occasion his " eyes fr-r-r-ont " had abruptly
put a stop to the ballad of the bombardier, who had been
enlivening the march of the tired Column.

Day was just breaking after a long weary night in the
saddle. The kind old chief met the Column, riding his
bright little bay Arab, and attired as usual in the spotless
white of his old lancer regiment. The long-legged Lieutenant,
recognising the dear old face, ordered the usual Artillery

),;■

226

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

' it

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salute with the whips, while a kindly eye greeting passed
between the old soldier and the young one.

It was still the rainy season in Oudh, which had tempo-
rarily closed the hot weather campaign of 1858. The Column
was nearing the banks of the now swollen Goomti, which had
stopped pursuit by Sir Hope Grant's force.

"John Pandy " was taking his " Aram " on the opposite
bank. As the light 6-pounders of the Royal Horse, which
had previously arrived, could not molest him, guns of heavier
calibre had been sent up from Fyzabad by forced marches,
hence the appearance of our Lieutenant with his division of
"Q" Field Battery, called in the bazaars the "Jhungy," or
fighting division.

His two 9-pounders were horsed by plucky little Persian
Arab stallions, eight to a team, dragging the guns in some
places axle-deep through mud. They leaned to their collars,
every trace taut, under the skilful guidance of the old Crimean
drivers, never a whip-crack, or an oath, except soUo voce, for
Sergeant-Major Douglas was a Puritan soldier, who allowed
no oaths except his own. and they were restricted to neces-
sary occasions — such as when he would blandly enquire of a
young driver : " Why the sanguinary Hades he was so dom
polite the morn ? V'e're no in the Temple of Reemon, young
mon ; and ye need na fash yerself wi' bowin' yer head," etc.
This scriptural reproof was addressed to a recruit, who, sit-
ting inactive in his saddle, had been surprised into relieving
his strained nerves by ducking his head at the swish of the
first shell that had ever passed over it. Though " Q " had
marched many hundred miles, they had scarcely a horse
out of place. On one occasion, an old well-bred 'un, a
wheeler, dropped in his tracks during a rapid pursuit of
the enemy. The Lieutenant, with a heavy heart, gave orders
to put in a spare horse and leave the old warrior to his fate.
His little driver drew his cuff sniffily across his face, and the
battery went on into action. By evening they had covered
about twenty miles across country, yet before daybreak
next morning the old horse was whinnying in his place for
his feed, and ready to be harnessed up when " boot and
saddle " sounded.

It was otherwise with the men, for many a saddle had been
emptied, and the jackals had rooted many a rider out of the
shallow grave upon the dusty plain where his comrades had
left him after the abridged burial service read by an officer.

MERRY SUNSHINE.

22/

,5; ■]-

Most soldiers are fatalists, Calvinist or Moslem, Gordon
or Mahdi, the result is much the same.

Casualties in action had not been many during the desul-
tory pursuits of the scattered Sepoy columns, making their
way to the jungles of the Terai, after crossing the golden
bridge left at Lucknow by Sir " Crawling Camel " (" Old
Kubberdar"), as grumbling lads disrespectfully called the
brave but cautious Commander-in-Chief. Perhaps a
bigger butcher's bill at Lucknow might have been less than
the death-toll taken by sunstroke, fever, and dysentery,
which made havoc even in the seasoned ranks of " Q," an
old Crimean battery, and i iflicted far heavier losses in the
long columns of the younger Infantry, marching in choking
heat and dust over the same country where they had marched
and fought six months before. The Sepoys had doubled
back after Lucknow.

" Ho I I loves the merry merry sunshine,
It makes the 'art so gay,"

was trolled out from the ranks of the Rifle Brigade by a
little Cockney, after a short drink at the tiny dribble of an all
but empty " mussuch," on a blazing day when the mercury
might have burst the bulb of a thermometer, had they
possessed such an instrument wherewith to measure their
misery. His comrades' eyes brightened, and they broke into
their jaunty regimental step for a short spell, though their
lips were too cracked to laugh, and their throats too parched
to join in the chorus. The officers strode alongside their
men, never mounting the luxurious ".tat," as was the habit
in some red regiments with less lofty marching traditions.

" What a fool you are not to ride 1 " said an officer of a red
regiment with a splendid fighting reputation, to an exhausted
boy officer of the Rifle Brigade.

"When an officer o( ifie Brigade has to be carried, it must
be in that," the boy replied, pointing to a doolie.

At last the tired escort of the guns struggled up to the
camping ground, piled arms, and dropped on the baked
earth under the merciful shade of a mango tope. The
grateful gleam of a sheet of water shone through the trees in
the near distance. Here the General had insisted on the
camp being pitched, though it broke up the geometric plan
oftheQ.M.G. The red turbans and gleaming lance points

Q — 2

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228

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

of the flanking parties of Hodson's Horse appeared above
the low jungle, as they closed in.

Soon the lumbering elephants came swinging noiselessly
along and knelt down to the " arrah I bheit 1 bheit ! " of the
mahouts, accompanied by the none too gentle pressure of the
iron goad on their placid bald foreheads. Very like a gouty
old butler in grey trousers and list slippers, kneeling down
to family prayers, are the hind-quarters of a tired elephant
trying to kneel with his load.

Then the grumbling camels 1 How those querulous ships
of the desert ever got up a reputation for patience is " what no
fellow can understand." Their long, aggravatingly reversible
necks enable them to turn their ugly heads with a grin that,
disclosing all their snaggle teeth, sends a puff of poisonously
oad breath into the face of the perspiring rider, who vainly
endeavours to pull him down with the single cord held in
the nostril by a wooden button. The more he pulls, in
closer proximity comes the abominable head. The Oont-
wallah comes at last to the rescue, the long fore legs and
then the hind ones collapse with a series of jerks that
seem to send the diaphragm of a white rider into his brain
pan. Mahomet was an Oont-wallah ; one begins to
understand the fatalistic patience that made the success of
his religion !

If the querulous camel be a teacher of patience, much
more so are the bullocks which slowly drag the primitive
carts of the country. The excruciating creak of their
unoiled wooden-axelled wheels might be moans from the
tortured spirit of some long deceased " garrewan " (driver of
bullock carts).

But the Lieutenant has no time to look out for the special
animal in the Noah's Ark procession that carries his house
and household gods — the battery horses are his first care.
Long after his fellow subs of the Infantry have washed off
the dust, with the delicious jet so skilfully applied by the
B'histi, got outside their breakfasts and inside their pyjamas,
the Artillery sub still paces the horse lines.

Meanwhile, the tough ration of beef is sending forth a
fragrant fizzle from the camp fires, started by the marvell-
ously adept native cooks, not without sundry objurgations
of an unclassic character, in the newly-acquired vernacular
of the Quartermaster-Sergeant.

The streets of the Canvas City have spread as by Oriental

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NOAH S ARK CAMP.

magic, the horses groomed with more prosaic pains, the
trumpet sounds " feed I " — with a joyful accompaniment of
snickering neighs — and seems to say :

) " All you that are able,

Now go to your stable, |

And give to your horses
Both fodder and co — o — orn 1
And if you don't do it.
The Colonel shall know it.
And ye shall be punished
According to la — a — aw I "

"To your tents, O Israeli" one expected the scriptural
Sergeant to say.

Like others, in those days, our sub was dependent on his
rations. Because the mild Hindoo pays for it, the Indian
Commissariat, in peace and v/dr, supplies a far superior
ration, free of cost, to Mr. Thomas Atkins, than that for
which two-thirds of his mi&erabie shilling is mulcted from
the soldier in Merrie England by Right Honourable Secre-
taries of State, who return thanks for the Army at
Guii Jhall banquets.

Y' folks wonder why men won't enlist.

There was a Royal Commission that looked dangerously
like doing something. So the War Office old women called
in a clerk (a son of Sam Slick), who, with hereditary light-
ness of heart upset the apple-cart, and sent resolutions
rolling in the gutter, and the greatest Empire of the world
remains contentedly without an army — numerically worth
mentioning, compared with even second-rate powers, and
with a money expenditure equal to the greatest.

iL!t!

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232

CHAPTER XXII.

ft ,;!!'

A Bullet without a Billet — Contradictory Orders — Paper
Collars — Unlearned Lessons — A Methodical Major — Iron Cuff*
— A Common Soldier's Common Honour.

During a smoke of ship's tobacco, that would have upset
ordinary ^erve'^, Ji-'-go glanced over the " niarching-in state."
The Scotch carefulness of the Sergeant-Major, hardly
excused the carelessness of the sub as to the columns of
figures he should have verified before signing, and 5'et one
would have expected him to be more careful, for, as we have
said, he came of Lowland Scotch stock, upon which, how-
ever, had been grafted three centuries of Norman Irish.
Hibcrnicis ipsis HIberniut: Of course, an Irish pedigree is
nothing if not royal, and as we have each sixteen million
ancestors, if we go back to the Norman Conquest, it is more
than probable some life germs of Charles the Hammerer had
come down through the centuries to our long-legged sub-
altern — had not the Ulster King-at-Arms signed, sealed, and
declared it proven ?

According to the creed of that dirty old Fakir yonder, a
creed which was old before Moses, there is a re-incarnation
of souls. Is not the vital spark transmitted with the microbe
in direct descent, instead of hap-hazard ? Be that as it
may, here is the descendant of Charles Martel, after twelve
centuries, still hammering Saracens. Apparentl}', the family
occupation has not been lucrative, though varied by the
hammering of other races, principally Gallic, from Agincourt
to Waterloo. As the fighting families paid for the privilege
by the purchase of commissions from the House of Hanover, and
lost their money when they died in their service, their latest
descendants '"jund themselves impecunious, and had to enter
non-purchase corps. With the righteous abolition of purchase,
the claims of officers' sons to enter the army through military
colleges, with a fixed standard of examination, were also

A BULLET WITHOUT A BILLET.

J33

abolished. Open competition necessitated expensive cram-
ming. This, with the ever-increasing extravagant habits of
the modern officer, excludes from our army the professional
military caste, of which officers of serious armies are mainly
composed.

After our next war with people who wear trousers, and
use smokeless powder, it will be time enough to congratulate
ourselves on the adoption of the Chinese pedagogic system
for selecting military mandarins.

But we must follow our degenerate product of non-com-
petitive barbarism through the blazing sunshine to report
himself to the Commanding Officer. He found him rousing
himself from an afternoon siesta for an evening ride. A
strikingly handsome man was the Colonel of the Royal
Horse. The breast of his Khakee uniform was chequered with
ribbons from her Majesty and allies of the Crimea. French,
Turkish, Sardinian, besides British decorations had fallen in
profusion upon the fortunate participator in a single cam-
paign. It is to be feared envious feelings rose in the
undecorated breast of Jingo.

"The very man I wanted," said the Colonel. "I can shew
you v/here your work will be to-morrow. We force the
river. I shall post you to cover our crossing."

Jingo felt disgusted at the prospect of only covering some-
one else's advance, and this after all the awful marching. He
had hoped, indeed he had been confidentially told, that the
General had speciall}' sent for him and his guns, because
the 6-pounders could hardly range across the river.

They rode down to the bank to reconnoitre. An earth-
work was pointed out to him, in which the 6-pounders had
been posted. It was 6oo yards from the river, thereby still
further reducing the effect of the tiny armament. Evidently
there was some confusion in the mind of the military
architect, as to the protection necessary from Russian attack
and the comparatively feeble efforts of the demoralized
Sepahis.

The thought of being ordered to occupy that earth-work,
while hi.s comrades galloped free across the plain beyond the
river, irritated our sub. While the Colonel dismounted and
brought his field glass to bear from behind a wall, the Lieu-
tenant rode on, followed by his Sergeant, to the bank of the
river. The pointed domeof a small Hindoo temple rose against
the sunset sky. The river flowed majestically past. Athwart

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

evening breeze came, laden with

its broken reflections the

an indescribable mixture of odours of native cooking and
bazaar perfume. The Sepoy picket established there were
preparing their evening meal, and the prayers of the gaunt
old Fakir were shared by certain devout damsels who sacri-
ficed alternately to Venus, Mars, Brahma and Co.

The Sepahi sentry, in his old-fashioned red coatee, but
relieved of his uncomfortable Europe trousers, dropped on
his knee and took deliberate aim.

" Too far for Brown Bess ! Lucky the beggars refused
Enfields with their cow and pork-fat cartridges ! " thought the
Lieutenant, as he saw the puff of smoke.

Before he heard the report he felt a sharp rap on the
knuckles of his ungloved bridle hand. The bullet had grazed
it, and struck the wall behind.

"That Pandy deserves to be pet intil the first-class," re-
marked the Sergeant, picking out the bullet with his sword
point and giving it to the officer. It was a belted rifle ball
of the old pattern. "Ye maun keep it for the leddy at hame,
sir. But, mebbe, we'd best retire with deegnity."

The advice was followed, the Lieutenant wrapping his
handkerchief round his bleeding hand, and slipping the
bullet into his pocket.

When he rejoined the Colonel a snub was administered
for causing unnecessary alarm, drawing fire, etc. The
Lieutenant's excuse was, he had not his field glasses and he
was short-sighted. The uniform of the Artillery officer
provides for the carrying of nothing bigger than a cigar-
case.

Neither officer was inclined for further talk. They had
made their mental notes.

On reaching camp, Jingo went to the tent of his friend,
Paddy Warren, of the heavy battery. He also had been re-
connoitring on his own hook, and had reported to the
General a favourable position from which the heavy guns
could rake the enemy's camp. Paddy Warren was a cheery
pocket Hercules, who had seen some hard fighting at the
Relief, yet did not seem to have had enough.

A strong friendship existed between the physically con-
trasted pair. As they sat together on the only available bit
of furniture in the tent — "thecharpoy" — the General's order
book was brought to them.

*' At daybreak to-morrow Lieutenant Jingo's 2-horsed

CONTRADICTORY ORDERS.

J35

guns will cross the river on rafts prepared bj' the Engineer
Department, etc., etc. Captain Talbot's heavy guns will
cover the operations." In those days a man's guns were
called by his name instead of by a letter of the alphabet. A
Battery Commander did not envy a Brigadier-General.

" Hoorooh ! We'll woipe the oye of the Golden Gunner
this time ! " shouted Pat.

Emulation was keen between the different branches of the
Artillery, and the heavier guns seldom got a chance in the
swift pursuits of late. But their joy was short-lived. The
Regimental Orders by the Colonel came to hand. The posi-
tions were reversed. " Two guns R.H.A., Lieutenant Black,
will cross on rafts, etc., etc., supported by the guns ' Q '
Field Battery, which will take up a position in the earthwork
to cover the operation."

** D n that mud bank I " growled the irate sub of " Q "

heedless of the presence of the Colonel's orderly.*

He strode off to the mess tent, where the Colonel was at
dinner, faring sumptuously.

Saluting formally, he said :

" I think. Colonel, there is a mistake in your orders. The
General mentioned my name and my guns."

" Ya-as I There was an error, which I have rectified. The
General meant R.H.A, by horsed guns."

" Will you permit me, sir, to ask the General his wishes ?"
demanded the unconvinced sub.

" I should strongly advise you to do nothing of the kind,"
the Colonel replied, looking severe, and pulling his
moustache.

" You will excuse me neglecting your advice," was Jingo's
retort, from the tent door.

He was out and across to the General's tent before he
could be stopped.

The chief was evidently put out.

" I mentioned you, Jingo, and I meant you. Go back
to your tent and have no further communication with the
Colonel."

With a light heart, he v/ent back to his lines, summoned
his Sergeant and gave the necessary instructions.

♦ The faulty organisation which treated an arm of the service as a single regiment
made possible snch friction as here described. After a century of deliberation, an effort
has been made to separate arms so widely different as Fortress and Field Artillery.
It seems to have culmmated in adding half-a-dozen buttons to the skirt tails of the Koyal
Artillery,

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236

GUNNER JINGO.S JUBILEE.

** Gunner Doyle to remain with the baggage, sir ? " said
the Sergeant.

*' But," remarked the sub, " this is a sort of fox and
goose and sack of corn story ; the camel with the rum cask
can't cross the river. Surely, Gunner Doyle would be an
unsafe guardian for rum rations I "

" Ye ken, sir, the old man has had the shakes lately, and
the watter might just be waur than the speerits for
him."

Jingo grinned, and the Sergeant left to give orders. Shortly
after, the tent fly was lifted, and the broad Doric of the
Sergeant was again heard .

'* Gunner Doyle wad spake till ye, sir I "

" Af ye plazc, sorr, I'm tould aft" for baggage guard, and
ye're goin' into action. D'ye moind, sorr, I'm the oldest
soulger in the bathery, 1 was bald-headed in the sarvice
when ye joined us in Jamaica, 1 seen ye grow up wid
proide to be the foine officer ye are, and "

*' That'll do, Doyle ; sorry for yovi, but orders are
orders "

" Reet about fass — quick nuir-rch ! " put an end to the
colloquy.

After a hasty meal, the Lieutenant went to the point of
embarkation. He knew from experience that the Royal
Engineer occasionally undertakes for the sister service, with
a light heart, more than he can possibly perform. On the
present occasion there was more work and less materials
than usual ; the principal ingredients being, two dug-out
canoes and some planking. These oft'ered but slight prospect
for the conveyance of two guns, carriages, ammunition
waggons, fifty horses, and about the same number of men.
The Engineer officer in charge was, however, only too
ready to let the gunner take the job oft' his hands, full as
they were with preparations for the Infantry crossing.

It was a moonlight night, and leaving their camp standing,
the gunners were marched to the river bank. By pulling
down some native houses, enough material was found to
construct a tolerably solid raft, with the help of the battery
artificers. The two canoes were used as pontoons. All
hands worked through the night, and matters were completed^
the raft moored to the bank, and guns, men, and horses
ready for embarkation before the sun drew the grey mist
from the river.

IJI

PAPER COLLARS.

237

In spite of the Lieutenant's orders for an extra tot of rum,
served out with alacrity by the now cheerful Paddy Doyle,
the heavy night's work was beginning to tell, esjiecially on
the officer, who had but lately recovered from a touch of the
prevalent camp complaint.

In the meantime appeared that vision, ever aggravating to
the tired soldier — the spick and span Staff Officer, just out
of bed, clean shaven, waxed moustache, and paper collar.
He had an inspiration. Like the man in Dickens, who,
walking with his girl, came to a church, and said : " Hullo I
here's a church, let's get married 1 " — the Staff Officer
thought : " Hillo 1 here's a raft, and a gun. Let's put the
gun on the raft ! "

"Why this delay, Sergeant? Why are not the guns em-
barked ? " he demanded.

"The Lieutenant, sir, will be back directly."

"This delay is unwarrantable. Run on the guns, Ser-
geant."

" Weel, ye ken, sir — the officer "

" Do you know who I am ? Obey orders I '' was the next
authoritative remark.

"The craychur ! A bantam cock on a better bird's dung-
hill," came from the bushes.

The Staff Officer looked round, wrathfully. Vox pretera
nihil.

" Fall in No, i detachment."

A couple of stout planks were laid for the wheels, another
for the trail, and the gunners ran the gun on to the raft,
which swayed and slowly sank with its burden of gun and
men. The men scrambled out, assisted by their comrades
from the bank, and the bubbles rose and floated away down
the stream from the submerged raft.

At this juncture appeared Jingo, white with rage. He said
that which brought a flush into the face of the usually self-
satisfied Staft' Officer.

"How dare you use such expressions to me, sir? If it
were not for the urgency of the case, I should place you
under arrest, and have you relieved from your command."

"Thank you," said the Lieutenant, looking the Staff Officer
full in the face. " Doubtless you will kindly continue the
embarkation you have so successfully begun ? "

"Nol"

" Then, perhaps, as you don't intend to relieve me from

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

my work you will be good enough to relieve me of your
presence, and report the situation to the General ? "

The sub turned on his heel, and the Staft' Officer rode
away.

"No. I, walk! Mar-r-ch I Left incline 1 R-right
R~r-reverse I Rein back 1" And the gun-limber was backed
to the water's edge.

A plunge into the river, a bald head rising to the surface,
and struggling with the stream, and a rope from the limber-
hook was hitched to the submerged gun-trail, and drag ropes
to the wheels by old Doyle. Planks were then re-adjusted
under the wheels, and the drag-ropes manned.

" Reddy, sor-r-r," shouted the old gunner, who looked
rather like a representative " Father Thames," with a tangle
of weeds hanging from his beard.

" Walk ! Mar-r ch 1 "

The magnetic pressure of the driver's legs closed on the rid-
ing horses, without a spur touching, each whip was laid gently
over the off-horse, and the sturdy chestnuts simultaneously
leant to their collars, like one thirty-two-legged animal. They
dug their hoofs into the soil, the lusty gunners heaved, and
the gun surged slowly up from the river, followed by Doyle
with a handspike to prevent a back slip, an eventuality which
would probably have closed the career of that eccentric
veteran.

Their beloved gun once more on terra firma, officer and
men breathed freely.

" Mr. Jingo says ye maun tak anither tot o' grog, Doyle,
to dilute the watter ye've swallowed the noo. Gang awa*
till camp, change yer claes, and remain wi' the baggage as
ye're ordered."

Meanwhile, a couple of companies of Sikhs (5th Punjabi)
had marched down, and a tall, handsome native officer, a
Sikh,* with all the physical beauty of his race, a gentleman
from his turban tip to the turned-up toes of his native shoes,
salaamed to the white sub, and said :

" Sahib, don't let your Ghorah Logue (white soldiers) go

* It is curious how the Sikhs, with a national and religious life but little over three
centuries, and originally composed of different races and religions, should have de-
veloped a national type perhaps more marked than that of any people, not excepting
the Bent-Israel, whom they slightly resemble in feature, but far surpass in refined
physical beauty, courage, and morality. Of course, exception must be made to the irre-
sistible tendency to loot, common to all Orientals and some Westerns. Had Darwin been
familiar with the East, the Sikh would have been an interesting problem to him. Grant
Allen would not be interested in so " bloodgy " a people ; he prefers to dilate upon an
impossibly artistic Kelt of his own creation.

I' m

UNLEARNED LESSONS.

239

and

into the rjver. They will get fever. It won't hurt my men.
■ They will strip, and they can swim fish-like." The native
officer called for volunteers.

In less time than it takes to tell, a score of tall, sinewy
Sikhs (stripped to their waist-cloths) were in the river lifting
the raft to the surface. The canoes were rapidly bailed out
,- and the raft floated.

Meanwhile, the gunners had dismounted gun and carriage.
It was placed piecemeal on the raft and ferried across.
The horses, relieved of their harness, swam after their
drivers, who sat on the raft, holding the picketing cords. So
soon as a few sensible old stallions had set the example there
was little difficulty with the rest, for horses, like soldiers,
will always follow a confident leader. The recalcitrant
ones, who would not swim alone, were taken over by the
Sikhs, strapped to their " dhoties." It was looked upon as
good fun by these men, accustomed as they were to swim-
ming horses in the cold swift waters of the five rivers which
give the name to their country.

The white officer was only too thankful for this assistance.
He knew from personal experience the difficulty of swim-
ming a horse, and had learnt how some things that are useful
are not taught in our army, which occasionlly pays dearly
for experience, as was unfortunately proved shortly after by
the 7th Hussars, whose gallant Major and many a bold
troopier and horse were swept away by the rapid waters of
the Raptee. The same unlearnt lesson had to be repeated a
quarter of a century later by another Hussar regiment in the
Cabul River. On this occasion a pair of horses, but no
men, were drowned. The Lieutenant had given orders that
nothing was to be left on the horses but watering bridles
with the reins unbuckled. Because there happened to be an
old pattern pair of bridles without buckles these were not
cut, consequently they looped over the forelegs of the
unlucky brutes as they swam, and caused them to roll help-
lessly down the river. So much for the literal obedience to
orders.

There were no losses from the enemy's fire in crossing.
The heavy battery had opened as soon as it was light
enough, and had swept the enemy from the opposite bank,
so the landing was unopposed. With but a single raft many
journeys had to be made before the second gun, ammunition,
waggons, etc., were got across. The Madras European

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240

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Fusiliers and the Funjaub Battalion having gone over in
large flat boats, formed rapidly in column of companies for
the advance, and were not kept long waiting by the gunners.
Twenty minutes after the last horse had scrambled up the
bank with his Sikh rider hanging on to his tail, the teams
were harnessed and the guns advanced into action at the
steady trot peculiar to Field Batteries.

Our sub, on his powerful black charger, cantered to the
front to detect any obstacle to the advance of his guns. His
heart was full of pride in his "Jhungy Division." He heard
the cheers of the old " Niel topees " * and the shouts of the
warrior Sikhs. The morning sunlight bathed the undulating
plain, dotted with clumps of trees, and villages occupied by
the enemy, over whose outlying camp the white puffs from
the bursting shells of the heavy battery told they had turned
their attention to a more distant object, rather than risk a
close fire over the heads of the now advancing troops.

Jingo's guns, after rattling across a nullah with the
reckless dash common to Indian Artillery, met a cloud of
dust suddenly unrolling itself across the plain. Lance points
glint like dancing stars, and now the Lieutenant can see the
white clothing of the enemy's Cavalry, and hear the shouts
of command above the muffled thud of their horse hoofs.
With no feeling but that of grim satisfaction, he sees them
sweep along to charge the guns he knows they will never
reach. Without turning in his saddle, his eyes fixed on the
advancing horsemen, calculating the range, his sword raised
in signals well understood, he awaited his guns.

The boy trumpeter has not been allowed to follow him to
the front, for he is " the only son of his mother and she is a
widow ; " and yet that boy has registered a vow to *' git
himself foughten some day."

The guns are up with him now.

'* Halt ! Action fr-r-ront I Shi apnel shell : 800 yards !
7CXJ ! 600 1 500 ! 400 ! Case-shot ! "

They never came for the case-shot.

The custom inculcated by the methodical Major Gibbon,
of *' Q," was to carry shrapnel, filled, fused, and labelled in

* The Madras European Fusiliers were one of the oldest regiments of the Hon. East
India Cotnpany. They had been sent direct from Madras, under General Neil. He died
at their head at Lucknow. They had landed in their sea kit, canvas smocks and trousers,
without waiting for uniform, and had marched up country to join Havelock. No regiment
bore a more distinguished part in the Mutiny Campaign than the gallant old " Niel topees,"
so called from the blue turbans they wore. This iiom ile guerre was originally
bestowed on the old Bengal European Fusiliers by Lord Lake at the Seige of Burtpore.

l!.' t

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A METHODICAL MAJOR.

241

ranges, set in order in the limbers. He was lying wounded,
many hundred miles to the rear, but his orders were
obeyed. The sub got the credit, and the Sepoy sowars a
very bad five minutes. There were confused shouts. The
gunners could see but little, for their own smoke hung, but
they caught a gleam of tulwars, they heard a patter of
letreating hoofs, and when the smoke and dust-cloud had
cleared there remained a few dots upon the plain — the
prostrate men and horses. And the dust-cloud trailed away
in the distance.

But there was more to follow. Hardly had the sub taken
in the ranges he had made use of, when he heard the familiar
rumble of guns, advancing through the dust left by the re-
treating Cavalry.

There they came 1 The celebrated Black Horse Battery
of a mutineer Brigade. Soon they spoke ; shell after shell
burst, all too high, showering bullets that rattled on the
limbers, denting without penetrating, contusing men and
horses but causing no serious casualties. It was soon over.
The accurate range and superior ammunition of "Q" speedily
led to their withdrawal. The Infantry carried the villages
previously shelled by the heavy guns.

Darkness falls swiftly after short twilight in India. The
Force retired, their orders being not to pursue, but form a
living fete dc pout for the bridge about to be constructed.
Accordingly they took up a position along the line of a dry
" nullah," forming the base of a salient angle of the river.

The guns, forming the salient of the living tete dc pont,
were posted on the edge of the nullah, down which they
could not be depressed. But our sub knew better (as one
of his men remarked) than ** for to hargue with a hinfantry
hadjutant" on the choice of an Artillery position. When
the latter had gone, he quietly withdrew his guns about 300
3'ards from the ravine along which an enemy could have
crept unseen. There was no Infantry outposts between
the guns and the enemy. From the edge of the ravine the
ground sloped gently back to the new position, so that only
the muzzles, but nothing of the men as they lay between
their guns, could be seen over it. Dinnerless and supperless,
save for what they had in their haversacks, so were they to
spend the night. The horses, after being watered, were
picketed in a second nullah, parallel to that in front. A
single small tent was pitched to serve as hospital and guard

111

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242

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GUNNER J1N(;()S JUBlMa:,

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tent, but as all hands were practically on guard it was-
unoccupied. The In/antry were at some distance.

It was pitch dark. After ordering the guns to be double-
loaded with case-shot, Jingo lay down with his men. But
not to sleep. He gave orders to prevent the guns being
fired prematurely (in which case they could be rushed before
reloading) and decided to wait till the enemy topped the
bank of the ravine and shewed against the sky line, cluster-
ing together in the way men do instinctively, but unwisely,
preparatoiy to a dangerous rush.

The officer was calculating on the repressive tendencies
of his silent guns.

Contrary to the story books, the expected did happen.
The Sepahis gathered in the nullah, and lining its edge,
opened a desultory fire on the guns, hoping to draw their
fire and then rush them. Their bullets rang on the bronze
gun metal and struck the wood-work of the carriages with a
dull thud, but there was no response. Not a - ' r came from
the recumbent gunners, who were completely .^ ered by the
slope of the terrain.

The firing had almost died away. Jingo lying with his ear
close to the ground, heard, telephonically, the Sepahi officer's
urging their men in persuasive but ineffectual Orientalisms —
"Chullaw mera bahi ! Chullaw bahadur !" (go on, my
brother ! go on, noble warrior !).

Suddenly in the opposite direction, there was a bewilder-
ing row, like Donnj'brook broke loose. The accents of a
well-known Western tongue jarred the hot stillness of the
night.

" Faugh a ballagh ! your sowl to blazes ! Lemme go till I
welt the black beggars out o' that."

The shout was followed by the rush of the Munster man,
who had broken away from his comrades. His longcavahy
sword, sweeping and flashing round his head, was a most
effectual " Faugh a ballagh."

A rattle of musketry from the Sepoys did not stop
Paddy Doyle. He dashed between the guns at the
astonished enemy, shouting his battle cry and his
blasphemies.

And the Sepahis actually bolted, imagining they were
attacked by a battalion of " Dirty Shirts ! " (mostly Irishmen).
No regiment inspired a greater terror among them than the
Madras European Fusiliers.

IRON CUFFS.

243

man,

avalry

most

jUt Paddy's career for death or glory was ignominiouslycut
short. He tripped over his scabbard and fell on his face.
A couple of his comrades ran to the front and dragged him
to the rear by his heels. His face scraping through the
mud, smothered his swears. When propped on his feet he
presented a most ludicrous spectacle, as he tried to steady
himself by the sword he still held gripped in his hand.

But Jingo was too angry to laugh, for the position was
critical. The Sepahis might recover from their panic at any
moment.

" Take away that man's sword, and bring a pair of hand-
cuffs 1 " was his quick command.

These were speedily produced by the never-failing
Douglas — who, it always seemed, could have produced any-
thing, even the " Holy Grail " itself, from his haversack had
the officer demanded it — and clapped upon the soldier's
wrists.

Partially sobered by the indignity, he raised his manacled
hands in pathetic entreaty.

"Don't disgrace me foriver afore the inemy, sorr I Take
thim ugly ruflles aff me wrists, and I promise on the honour
of a sojor to obey orthers ! "

Jingo knew his man, and told the Sergeant to remove the
handcuffs.

" May the Lord of Glory reward ye wid that same an'
plinty of it, sorr ! " was his thankful ejaculation. " Hoorroo I
An' now boys, gimme me gun rammer ! " For Paddy was a
smart soldier when sober, and held a post of honour as No.
2 of No. I gun. But, "Off to the guard tent and remain
until relieved 1 " was the order of the officer.

" Reet about faass ! Queek marrch ! " the executive
command of the Sergeant.

The gunner brought his hand to his bald head (for he had
left his helmet in the Sepahi position) faced about in three
motions, and so far trifled with orders as to make the quick
into a slow marc^h — a sort of drunken balance step, without
gaining ground, thereby having the satisfaction of remaining
under fire as long as possible. At last he disappeared into
the nullah.

Having got rid of the drunken Irishman, who, it seemed
had, in his turn, disposed of the Sepahis, there was a lull.
The Lieutenant lay down on the sodden ground to rest. But
not for long. The restless Adjutant of the Fusiliers

R — 2

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244

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILKK.

attracted by the firing, returned, trailing his steel scabbard
in a way that again drew fire, for the Sepahis had recovered
from the scare administered by Paddy.

Night fire is seldom effective, but intensely demoralising,
especially when the men have been under it for hours, wet,
tired, hungry, and sleepless. It is too dark io see shirkers,
and one never knows when a startled sleeper will open fire
on his comrades, eventually to be taken up all round.

The best man feels helpless. So the Artillery sub inwardly

d d with "a big big D " the Infantry Adjutant, as he

raised his long length to answer his interlocutor, who
remained standing, with singular indifference to fire. He
was one of those wrongly-constituted men who have no
proper sense of danger to himself or others. He had a
lately-healed scar on both cheeks, through which a bullet had
passed without cutting out his tongue. Jingo, it is si. imeful
to relate, momentarily regretted that fact. He could not,
however, help admiring Seton, that heir to one of the oldest
Scotch baronetcies, famous in history, whose subsequent life
was not pleasant enough to keep him from shouldering a
musket in the ranks of a Prussian Fusilier Regiment, during
the war of 1870. But his admiration did not prevent him
hearing with delight the " fire-eater's " good night, as he
departed, trailing his clattering weapon, and drawing a
pattering fire after him.

That proverbially dark hour before the dawn seemed
endless.

The firing ceased in front, but in a lull of the tropical
downpour of rain, it broke out towards the right. This
puzzled, but did not trouble the Lieutenant. He knew his
horses were defiladed from fire, by a bend in the nullah.
The air grew chill, his teeth chattered, visions of an ague
fit impending for himself and his men, disturbed his attempt
at rest.

Then the day burst.

A biscuit and a cup of coffee from the indefatigable native
cooks, who had managed to cross with the rations, made
matters look brighter. Nevertheless, it was with a feeling of
irritation that he heard the dry voice of his Sergeant, which
seemed to be about the only dry thing in camp,

" Gunner Doyle wad spake till ye, sir I "

He walked towards the guard tent on the right flank. It
had been riddled with bullets. Inside it was now the sobered

A COMMON SOLDIER S COMMON HONOUR.

245

iined

Irishman, sitting on nothing, with his hands clasped round his.
knees, blowing a morning cloud from his dudheen. Removing
it from his mouth to the hollow of his horny hand, he stood
to attention.

" At)' ye plaze, son*, I'm sorry to be afther forgettin
myself. It was the wather." He omitted all mention of the
rum. "Might I return tojooty, sir ?"

" Did you stay here all night under that fire ? "

" Yis, sorr. On the honour of a sojer I could not lave
the tint, but wid the help of God, an' lyin' on me belly, the
blackguards missed me entoirely, .so they did."

The enemy, stealing round the flank, had noted the gleam
of the solitary white tent, and had fired on it fcrlack of any
other visible object.

" Well, Doyle," said the officer, regretfully, '' I cannot
overlook a drunk and disorderly under arms. Twenty-one
days C.B"

The old scamp did not mind restriction to camp, there
being no bazaar and no scarlet ladies. As for the loss of his
daily tot, his comiades would share theirs with him, to say
nothing of the Lieutenant's ration, which was never inquired
about.

The sergeant dotted down the punishment in his note book,
" Regimental Entry to be transferred to defaulter sheet and
sent to head quarters first opportunity."

The seasoned old soldier — " Ould Tough " as his comrades
called him — seemed none the worse for his escapade. After
a breakfast, seasoned by the chaflf' of his comrades, he
assisted the non-com. to replenish the ammunition limbers,
and things being quiet in front, he brought out his cleaning
traps and set to work to polish his beloved gun to its very
linch-pins. And as he removed the lead splash of a Sepoy
bullet here and there on the metal, mourning over a dent or
two in the wood-work, he sang his favourite refrain, irresist-
ibly reminding one of a Royal Warrant for the encourage-
ment of recruiting : ^

" Your soul to blazes.
Sure I'll raise 3'our wages,
From fifty shillins
To two pounds tin,"

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246

i'l'l ■''

CHAPTER XXIII.

TiiK Bivol^-.c RiniNc. to Covkk Thk Tiirow Off A Rasi'er —
Tin; Finish KisMF.T Thf, Last of The Black Hokse Battery - A
Scare.

' '"'!,, Illl

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:!■,

For three days and nigiits "Q" stood to their guns, or,
rather, lay down heside them on the sodden earth, with no
covering but their g/eatcoats, to he aUernately drenched by
tropical downpours or scorched by the fierce rays of tlie sun,
whenever that hnninary pierced the darii pall of over-
hanging clouds. The i)anting Europeans, stifled by the
moist heat, were tempted to replace their heavy sun-helmets
by the festive forage-cap, which, as it rested on one ear,
courted svmstroke. '*■ does not require direct sun-rays to
produce heat-apoplexy. Had decorum and mosquitoes
permitted the removal of all clothing save a turban, "Q"
might have enjoyed some of the luxury of a Turkish bath,
including a frequent warm douche. As it was, rh<»ir situation
more nearly rc^.embled a wet pack in an extra-lieated hydro-
pathic establishment, without the salutary results. Here
were sown the seeds of jimgle fever, the effects of which
mostly follow a man to his grave, if they do 'iot take him to
it by a short cut. Not a man of the detachment < scaped.
There was no doctor wiih them, and it was bad form to report
sick just then — there would be leisure to die "in the sweet
by-and-bve."

Each day the Black Hattery sent a few ineffectual
missiles from long range, but the excellent position of
"Q," protected as they were by the folds of the terrain, made
them difficult to hit. Yet their opponents daily selected the
same position, the range of which had been so exactly
obtained. They consequently had to withdraw, with probable
loss, after a short interchange of incivilities.

The night attacks were discontinued, as the Infantry were

!i.'

RIDINf. TO (OVKR.

247

<lrawii closer to the guns, and their outposts were pushed
Jarther forward since the night of the successful sortie by
the drunken Irishman.

Relief came at last, the bridge was built. The raft had
hitherto sufficed to bring the daily rations for men and
horses, but now the whole force streamed across, followed
by the inevitable army f camp followers. Conspicuous
among them were the elephants, who, dis.senting from the
opinion of the Engineer officer, declined to make u.se of his
handiwoik, and walked through the river, \ uh only their
trunks visible for breathing purposes.

Paddy Warren .soon made his way to his friend, greeting
Jiim with :

" Well, old fellow, what did you say to ' Collars ' the
morning you crossed ? He wanted you court martialled."

" 1 don't remember. Perhaps the expressions 1 made use
of were not Parliamentary ; but when he told the General
what I .s7//>/did he tell what he did?"

" Yes, ye.s, and the old chief laughed, and said, ' I hope
this will be a lesson to you not to interfere with Irish
subalterns of Artillery.' You are well out of it. Jingo, old
Jiian."

"And .so is my gun,'' interpolated Jingo.

" ' Collars' is not a fellow to bear a grudge," continued his
friend. " He joined in the laugh against himself, and he
•will like you all the better. Your rebuke suggests a title for
A pious leaflet, ' Plain Words for a Staff Sinner.' "

Sergeant Douglas thought " Q " came under the category'
of the wicked. There was no peace for them ; the Black
Battery commenced to drop shells into the new camp.

The White Hussars, some squadrons of Irregular Cava'ry,
two guns of Royal Horse under Lieutenant Black, and two
guns "Q," with a detachment of the Rille Brigade, the whole
under that sn\art soldier. Brigadier Horsford, were to try and
•effect a capture of the aggravating guns, apparently the last
and best equipped among the mutineers. The camp was
left standing. After dark, without sound of bugle, the
Force stole silently forth, the Irregular Cavalry leading.
The sounds of horse-hoofs were muHled by the soft earth,
only the jingle and clatter of the White Hussars aggravated
feelings longing for a stealthy advance. In comparison, the
dull rumble of the gun-wheels seemed to be one of nature's
noises — a continuance of the thunder-growling overhead

>48

GUNNKR JINGO S JUHII.KK.

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among tlic black clouds that hung low in the starless sky.
The horses walked out, and the Rifle Brigade swung along
with more than their usual "^lan." Not a word was spoken,
not a pipe lighted.

The Horse Artillery followed close on the Hussars. At
starting, Lieutenant Jingo, by right of seniority, was pre-
parmg to lead the Artillerj' Column with his own guns, when
the Horse Artillery sub rode up, and .said in his quiet way,
fwinting to his own detachment :

"The right of the line and the pride of the army" — the
common toast of the Royal Horse Artillery when drinking to
their corps. I le used it on this occasion to as.sert as in-
offensively as possible his claim to the post of honour on
behalf of his corps.

It might have been disputed by the Field Battery oflicer,
considering his seniority, but from a feeling of comradeship,
he forebore. He liked the quiet Etonian officer; they had
been cadets together, and theii" difference in manner,
character, and physique, perhaps made them more friendly.
Lieutenant Black was pale and Lhin, with delicate features ;
and a keen and excellent soldier.

" Mind you keep the post of honour,'" his comrade said to
him that night as he rode to the front with his guns, for
jingo felt just a little sore. He knew his com[)act gulf Arab
stallions, eight to a gun, were more than a match in speed
and endurance for the si.\ awkward, long-legged, half-broken
geldings in the Horse Artillery teams, ^'eal■s aftci', a burst-
ing shell found his friend at the post of duty. To-night
neither knew the destiny in store for each.

Morning broke slow and grey, di.sclosing a flat country
sparsely covered with low jungle of large-leaved bush.
The Rifle B?"igade were rapidly extended on each side of
the rough tiack along which the guns and Cavalry moved.
Scaicely had the deployment been ett'ected when a j^attering
Hri> opened down the whole front, followed by a rapid
advance to drive in the enemy's outposts. The Irregular
Cavalry were let loose for a turning movement. The
Brigadier became impatient at the neces.sarily slow advance
of the skirmishing Infantry, though the Rille Brigade now,
as ever, worked up to the motto, "Celer et audax."* The
ground becoming more open in front, he ordered the advance

* This motto belongs to 6oth Rifles.

THE THROW OFF.

249

of Cavalry and guns. The track here descended, furrowed
into deep gullies by the late rains.

Moving at a. trot, the horses of Lieutenant Black's leading
gun fell. In an instant men, horses, and gun were in a
tangle at the bottom of the descent ; the remaining
guns pulled up with difficulty, throwing off right and
left to avoid riding over their comrades. Lieutenant Black,
to cover the confusion, and give time to right it, brought
his second gun into action at a distant line of skirmishers,
thereby preventing the other guns f/r the Cavalry passing
to the front.

Jingo sat impatiently chafing, n*i* liking to stop the futile
fire of his comrade, by ordei ing an advance and so leaving
him in the lurrh— besides, as the *" avalry officer was senior,
and took no initiative, Jingo could hardly do so in the
absence of the Brigadier. He, iiowever, soon came up,
fuming at tlie dela .

" Is it any use firing at those distant skirmishers ? '' he
asked Jingo.

" Might as well spit at them, sir," was the reply of
the impatient sub. " Will you let me go ahead with the
Cavah-y ? "

"Yes, go, and Lieutenant Black can pick up the pieces
and i''A^>vf. The Infantry will be up directly."

The White Hussars dashed past, followed by Jingo at a
steadit r pace.

" Now, my friend," he thought, " I gave you the lead —
you lost it. When a fellow bungles over the first fence, he
has to pick him.self up. You can't do it for him with the
pack in full cry. Black, my boy ! if I see the ragged I'umps
of your long-legged garrons again this day in front of ' Q '
may I be — ' rammed, crammed, and double damned down
the great gun of Athlone I ' as the Orange oath says."

R-r-r-r-at-tat-tat ! A rattle of musketry in front the
Hussais incline to the right to unmask the advancing guns
— an empty saddle or two and the riderless hor.ses tbllowing
in their section I

A line of newly-turned earth was visible across the road ;
turbans showed above il, lUid long bundcoks gave forth a
(hopping fire. On the left a ragged-looking mob, with
shields, tulwars, and long guns, led by a wild fellow with a
Hag. Probably the crowd had taken a dose of " bhang " to
prepare for the paradise of bright-eyed girls awaiting the

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i Mahometan beyond the gates of death. And Jingo sends
' them there with a whiff' of grape-shot. The Hussars trotted
along the road to the now abandoned earthwork, for the
thickeningjungle made progress too slow otherwise, and the
guns followed. The Lieutenant, who was too soft-hearted to
drown a kitten, glanced carelessly now at what had once
been brave men. With sword and brass-bossed buckler
still grasped in their hands, they lay, as they had fallen, on
their faces, for they had been running forward, and it
stretches them out very limp, does the grape-shot. Here
and there a turban, rolled off" or carelessly twisted round
the temples, showed the bare brown head with its long tuft
of hair. The Lieutenant noted these things with artistic
perception, even while his thoughts were occupied with
weightier issues. It is often thus that an effective
picture reaches the mental vision and remains stamped on
the memory. It was an instantaneous photograph on the
outward eye. While taking all this in. Jingo was
really watching the Hussars in his front; a single sword was
raised and gleamed an instant through the dust, for the
morning sun had dried the road.

Threes right and left ! (they did not go all fours in those
days). Evidently there was an obstacle in front for the
Cavalry. If so, how could his guns get over? They could
not turn and hie through the jungle as the Cavalry did.
The Royal Horse were thundering close behind, so he
pressed forward, set his teeth, hardened his heart, steadied
his horse, and whoop la ! the powerful black had cleared the
ditch, seeming to alight like a goat, all four feet together, on the
berm, about a foot space between ditch and parapet, and then
scrambled up the soft parapet, where he stood panting. The
drop on the other side was a trifle.

He turned and looked at his advancing teams. The sun-
light glorified them, their coats shone with sweat, and here
and there a fleck of foam ; the trace-links glittered and
danced. The men's faces, under their grey helmets, were
grave and quiet. He loved them all, men and horses —
should he save them and call a halt ? The prudent Douglas
had halted and dismounted limber gunners — this looked like
business. Yet it seemed impossible that harnessed teams
with a gun behind them could surmount what Cavalry had
drawn rein at. The oflicer's prophetic vision saw a tangled
heap of men and horses in the ditch, and the cruel Jugger-

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naut gun sJowly crushing out their Hves. His actual vision,
for they were coming close now, saw the grim, hard face of
his leading driver. Alec Galbraith, whose grizzled moustache
made a straight line across his set mouth. His left hand
was down, his right, with the whip lash gathered in it, was
extended with a sort of mesmeric effect over his off horse.
[i< There was no need to give any word of command, it had
to be tried, and here was the man to try it. The officer
reined back and watched the coming sacrifice to the god of
war. The chariot seemed thundering to its doom. The
brave little leaders would have cleared the ditch, for their
fore feet pawed the parapet, but the second pair stopped
dead on the brink, and back into the ditch fell the leaders,
Galbraith under them. The impetus of the third pair pushed
the second with their driver on to the top of the leaders, but
the powerful wheelers, firmly held by the driver, stopped
the gun in time to prevent the crushing death for man
and beast that seemed impending. In a twinkling the
gunners had the team unhitched, the little Arabs scrambled
up like cats, unhurt, and shook themselves, even Galbraith
crawled stiffly out. The bottom of the ditch was V shaped,
and he had lain under his riding liorse unharmed, and
the wise little beasts had not trampled upon him in getting
out. His long sword * in its steel scabbard was bent ;
falling across the ditch above liim, it had in great measure
kept the weight of his horse off' him, and thus had helped to
save him.

" Are you hurt, Galbraith ? " was the officer's anxious
query.

" Naw, sir ! " And walking up to his horses he patted and
made much of them, and prepared to mount. Then, turning
to his second driver, he said, slowl> — " Yoong mon 1 I'll
just trouble yc to follow yer leading dhriveranither time, and
not to get the funks."

The word was now gives to reverse, and the gun was
brought up at :. gallop. The horses in successive pairs
cleared the ditc- and scraonbled over the pan&pet J and {\tf
gun leapt like a live thing over ditch ^nd bank into the road
on tht- opposrte side. The second gm foil i wed easily in the

* Artillery -jamerK in India, wore loiig ciivalry i;'
knives now canned.

* The Indian Artillery used lont^f traces thai-

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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track of the first, for the
made the task fighter.

The Lieutenant saw
Black Horse Battery,
just withdrawn from the

crunibfing earth fifiing the ditch

the fresh wheel tracks of the
thej' having evidently been
work they had been intended to
defend, probably on account of the turning movement of the
Irregular Cavalry. Over the top of the parapet he could see
the heads of the Brigadier and his Staff approaching.
Delays are dangerous ! Oft" he trotted with his guns before
he could be stopped. A Staff Officer cleared the ditch and
rode after him, shouting " Halt ! " The headstrong Jingo
heard perfectly, and increased the pace. His guns broke
into a gallop, rendering further commands inaudible, for his
pursuer could not pass them to reach him, as the road was
narrowed by the dense jungle through which the Cavalry had
not been able to advance. He knew he was unsupported —
behind him, disobedience of orders, court martial, etc., —
before him, a moving cloud of dust — under his horses' feei
a trail of gram (horse feed) dropped from leaky nose bags,
then a bag itself, artillery pattern, emphasizing the gun
wheel tracks of the Black Battery.

Jingo was now far in front of his guns, intent upon the
trail. The road took a sudden turn, and, there, a short
hundred yards before him, was the last division of the Black
Horse Battery in action, two guns at close intervals, and only
a corporal's guard of Sepahis as escort.

To lialt, in order to open fire, would be destruction ; he saw
the gun sponges turn in the air, heard the case-shot rammed
home with a thud, the native gunners blowing the slow match
to light the port-fires. With a sudden impulse he gave a
stentorian shout, and a fox-hunter's " tall3'-ho ! " that
seemed to paralyze the native artillerymen, rang out
above the rattle of the gun wheels,
charge — the guns were not fired—
sitting stolidly on his horse now
away. The English officer noted that he wore the
gold belts and appointments of a brother officer, murdered
by the mutineers, and Jingo's blood boiled to close with him,
but the Sepahi corporal stepped forward with his musket
at the ready. His bayonet was not fixed (the Sepahi
seldom fixed his bayonet) and there was no excitement in his
handsome face, only a look of quiet " Kismet 1" "Whose?"
thought the Lieutenant, " his or mine ? or both ? " He bent

A trumpet sounded the
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257

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his head and body behind the horse's necit to escape the
bullet, and dropped the point of his sword. The
man's shoulder struck his right knee, and he fell without
firing.

Had sword and musket both failed then ? There was no
time n think, for he was among the native gunners, smiting
and prodding, somewhat ineffectually. They had drawn their
tulwars, but escaped between the gun wheels and under the
horses' bellies, into the jungle. The drivers tried to unhook
and ride off their horses, but they were cut down in the
attempt by " the sword of the Lord in the hand of his
servant " Douglas, who had ridden up with other mounted
non-commissioned officers. Among them was the Quarter-
master - Sergeant of the Horse Artillery, an excellent
swordsman, who went for that native officer and returned
with his sword and belts, saying, with a grim smile :

"The native gentleman had no further use for them, sir."

He offered them to the now radiant Jingo, who declined
them with thanks and suitable encomiums. Lieutenant Black,
who was now upon the scene with his mounted detach-
ments, secured the abandoned gun teams and ammunition
waggons.

The Brigadiei ,, 'so rode up, his horse in a lather and
himself in a blazing rage, his brown eyes flashing, and his
black moustache, always waxed a I'Einperciir, now extra stiff
with anger.

He made as if he would ride over he Lieutenant, but the
big black horse and rider had a vis n, '-tim which brought up
the Brigadier with an undignified jolt.

" Damn you, sir '. " he said, between his clenched white
teeth, "how dare you disobey orders .-" Where ..re your
Cavalry escort ? "

" I don't know !" and the LieuteiiMnt very nearly added,
'' I am d d if I care ! "

"Where are the enemy?" the Brigadier added, looking
round, bewildered, and not realising th^ situation
in the cloud of dust and confused mass of gun-, men. and
horses.

" I don't know," replied the Lieutenant again, with aggra-
vating deliberation, "h-; here are his guns," pointing,
sullenly, with his sword

" God bless my soul ! Yc., don't say so I " and several
expressions passed over bi-i face, in which lingered a trace of

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Infantry are
this infernal
d d hot-

anxiety at a situation not provided for in any tactical
books.

'* We must get out of this jungle as quickly as possible.
The enemy must be in force and not far, and they may j'et
be down on us before we can get clear. The
miles in rear, and the Cavalry tangled up in
jungle somewhere behind — nothing but you
headed gunners I "

"With somebody else's gunsl" the Lieutenant added.

The Brigadier, recovered now, laughed kin'H}', and
said :

" Well, well, Jingo. We will say no more abuut dis
obedience of orders. You have done a good morning's work,
going out with two guns and coming back with four.
Devilish dashing thing ! Never heard of anything like it,,
by gad ! I'll have a good mark put against your name at the
Horse Guards."

If a mark was made, it must ha\ e been in pencil, and was
rubbed out one day by a War Office clerk, who had a new
piece of indiarubber to try.

Limber gunners were mounted on the captured gun teams,
and they rode off, with pardonable swagger, to rejoin the
rest of the force, the Staff and the triumphant Lieutenant at
their head. Jingo was about to sheath his sword, when the
same Staff Officer, who had shouted himself hoarse trying
to stop him, remarked, with a very broad grin on a very broad
mouth :

"■* We must change your nom de guerre from ' Gunner
Jingo ' to * Beau Sabreur.' "

" No," was ihe reply, " I missed my chance and he missed
me.

" He had reason," said the wide-mouthed one, showing
more teeth ; " look at your sword."

It was greasy to within six inches of the hilt, just to
where the sword-maker (for it was not tailor-made any more
than its owner) had engraved the family ciest of the
Jingos, which was smeared with blood.

Just then they came upon the body of the Sepahi corporal,
the quiet look of " Kismet " still upon his handsome face. He
lay in a pool of blood darker than his scarlet uniform (the
old-fashioned coatee). His bare, brown limbs would have
served as model for a bronze Apollo. The Lieutenant'?
sword had entered downwards above the » ollar-bone, and

iMl

KISMET.

259

out below the shoulder-blade. The speed of the horse and
the shock of impact had prevented the swordsman knowing,
how deftly the blade had done its work. The Sepahi's
musket lay beside him, loaded, capped, and cocked ; his
finger had been on the trigger — v/hy had he not fired ?
Kismet ! Did the mutineer's heart fail before the
white face of the avenging sahib, because the memories
of another, a murdered sahib, a sweet mem-sahib,
of baba logue he had played with when the Captain's
orderly — rose before him ? Did he feel the hour of Kismet
had come ?

The Lieutenant called one of the men to draw the
charge and put the musket on the gun-limber.

" It might have held my life," he thought ; " but my Kismet
was not rammed down with that bullet. I may as well keep
the weapon, it may serve as a duck gun till I get my own
shooting-iron left at Calcutta" — for marching order was
mighty light in those days.

The Hussars, having got clear of the jungle, formed the
rear guard. More Cavalry appeared in the distance, and the
usual demand was made upon Jingo to open fire. There
were two things — yea, three things — he always tried to be
deliberate about — to open fire — to retire — to back a bill for
a friend.

As they drew nearer, the Khakee, instead of white, showed
they were our own sowars, who had been sent fonvard
early in the morning to make a turning movement. They
had succeeded admirably.

Their sweep had been so far-reaching as to threaten the
enemy's line of retreat, which accounted for the abandon-
ment of their prepared position. The Irregulars had
suffered. Captain Palliser, who commanded, had a severe
sabre wound. The Brigadier was in high good humour.

Guns captured by gunners was unique, even in the startling
annals of the Mutiny.

The little Trumpeter, who had sounded the charge without
orders and then dashed into the mel^e with a sword as long
as himself, was had up for a make-believe wigging as his
share of the glory. Thus :

*' You were ordered to stay in rear. What brought you to
the front ? "

" My 'orse, sir — couldn't 'old 'im."

The little brat, whose feet barely reached the end of his

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saddle-flaps, sat in a statuesque attitude, with his trumpet
resting on his short thigh.

" Why did you sound the charge without orders ? "

** 'Eard you 'oiler ' Tally ho ! ' and thort yer made a mis-
take, sir 1 "

** My boy, ' Tally ho 1 ' was shouted at Waterloo by the
Staff-Officer who ordered an advance of the Horse Artillery
in pursuit of the French."

" Like to read that story, sir," said the boy.

" Well, when we get into cantonments we will try and
get some books," said the good-natured officer.*

There was a little comfort in camp now. The Brigadier
gave a dinner in commemoration of the breaking up of the
Black Horse Battery, for the remaining guns had made good
their retreat, but they were never heard of more. The
Brigadier's little London Arabs of the Chota Ruffles, his own
regiment, stole his dinner, waylaying the native kitmugars
on their way to the mess-tent. However, as there was
enough left, the Brigadier could afford to laugh, as he
said :

" Poor little beggars ! They have not had a blow-out of
anything but fighting and marching for many a long day,
and they have marched and fought well."

" Brigadier, vous avez raison," a chanson of the Empire,
learnt in the Crimea from our allies, was sung with
gusto.

As there was a short, quiet time, the indefatigable
sportsman, Warren, started early morning shootings with
Jingo, who used as his shooting-iron the Brown Bess no
longer wanted by the Sepahi corporal.

The gheels were full of full-grown flappers, for men had
been too busy of late shooting each other to molest them, so
the sportsmen made excellent bags of ducks. To be sure
they had to go considerably beyond the outposts, and wander-
ing parties of the enemy's sowars still infested the country. But
immunity had brought recklessness. It had been suggested
to the Chief to put a stop to these excursions, but Sir Hope
Grant only chuckled, and said :

'* Let the boys alone 1 My sporting subs are my best

• Rudyard Kipling has been criticised for making his Tommies talk travestied
" Lays of Ancient Rome " or " Ossian." Many a long-service soldier in India was
better read than a modern oflficer would imagine, who had himself been crammed with
selected sentences of English literature till he bates the sight of any book but a shilling
shocker.

ii-i

■ ^' A SCARE.

261

scouts, they beat the PoHticals hollow, and they learn the
country for me."

One early morning Jingo and his friend were having
splendid sport in a long winding gheel, having penetrated
much beyond their usual limits. Suddenly arose a cloud of
dust, through which nothing was visible, though out of it
could be heard the trample of many hoofs.

Surely, nothing less than a large party of the enemy's
sowars advancing between them and the direction of camp,
where the syces with the shooting ponies had been left I
Poor beggars 1 They would have a short shrift if they were
captured. But the odds were they had escaped into the
jungle.

** Warren was brave, but to his heart,

The life-blood thrill'd with sudden start."

^'11

The gallant Jingo was in an equally abject funk. Their
case seemed desperate — the anticipated ending too horrible
for contemplation. And nothing larger than duck-shot 1
They were already knee-deep in the gheel. Shouts mingled
now with the clatter of hoofs, sounding close to the edge of
the gheel. They were coming at a sharp trot. There was
nothing for it but concealment, and that but a poor
chance.

The gheel was not deep — they must have been seen.

Nevertheless, in they rushed, crouching anong the rushes
to their very chins, with difficulty keeping their guns dry for
a last, if futile, effort to account for the first who ventured
to come close.

But the probability was they would be potted from the
bank without any chance of reply.

The end was not yet. There came a bellow — and the
enemy took shape as a herd of water-buffaloes being driven
down by villagers to drink at the gheel.

In spite of the reprieve from the sudden death they had
expected, our friends felt almost mortified at the relief They
looked foolishly at each other, burst into a laugh, crawled
out, and found their syces, of whom they made no inquiries,
trusting these had not taken in the ignominious situation. If
they had done so they were much too polite to notice it to
the sah'j, whose eccentricities they never seemed to remark.
The blazing sun almost dried them before they reached camp.

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

The mess had an appetising supply of snipe and duck, and
the sportsmen a go of ague, to which, with the help of
quinine, they were getting accustomed, though il made them
rather buzzy about the head at times. But they kept their
counsel and the story did not leak out. :' : • /.v=

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263

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CHAPTER XXIV. '^

An Unposted Sentry — The Longest March must have an End—
A Dance of Death and Resurrection — The Lojt Pension —
Vaccination Marks — Sic. Transit Gloria.

" For they say the war is over,
i And again each war-worn rover, ; ''

Doth his Httle girl discover."

Ballad of the Bould Sojer Boy. '

At last the order came for " Q " to rejoin headquarters;
they were to march across country with an escort of Irregular
Cavalry, leaving the best roads for the Infantry. "Across
country " meant a series of " Sloughs of Despond," into
which guns and Cavalry often sank girth-deep. Once they
stuck. Night overtook them in the rice khates, baggage
and tents not forthcoming,. The latter could not have been
pitched had they been there, for there was nothing approach-
ing solid ground except the narrow raised paths between the
inundated rice fields. There was nothing for it but to leave
the horses, as they stood, in the guns, letting them eat off the
green rice within their reach. The Cavalry were able to get
on drier ground and place outposts.

The Lieutenant, after posting sentries, lay down with his
men on the driest path he could find, between two khates,
■close to the guns, and " wished for the day." Wrapped in
his wet cloak, his teeth chattered with ague. He felt no
hunger. Most of the men were in the same case. Every-
thing was wet— no wood for fires — nothing but haversack
rations. The situation made him remember how much of
his time had been taken up repeating the formula of the
orderly officer — '* Any complaints ? " to men who have nothing
to complain about. Now he never asked for complaints,
and the men never made any. It is puzzling to know what
part of our peace training has any relation to war.

The fever-stricken officer did not know he had slept, but

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264

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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he certainly awoke towards morning with a sense of warmth,
comfort and refreshment, and the remembrance of a dream
of dehcious heavy bed-clothes. It had not been a dream I
Very extraordinary —but he felt too " comfy " to rouse
himself Close to him was a sentry he had not posted. The
gaunt figure strode up and down, breaking the grey sky li ne
of coming day.

" Hullo 1 " he called out, " what are you doing with-
out a great-coat ? " And the figure slunk off without
reply.

' The officer rose and unwrapped himself There were
one! two! three great-coats over him I No. 24710 was in
white letters on the first coat.

"Whose number?" he asked.

" Gunner Doyle," said a non-com, for the men were
beginning to stir about.

" Send him here and the other men the coats belong to,"
was the officer's order.

They were marched up in file along the narrow
path.

" Look here, men ! You should not do this, you kno^' ! "
Here the officer-manner broke down. " Please don't ever
do it again — it is not right."

The men took up their coats without reply and waded into
the mud to look after their horses.

The longest march must have an end, no matter how many
drop by the way.

" Ha-a-a-lt !" The command long drawn out to prevent a
sudden pull or strain on the tired gun-horses, differing
from the short, sharp word which arrests the biped
soldier.

" Prepare to dismount 1 "

" Dismount ! Down props 1 Look to your horses."

The tired drivers obeyed somewhat stiffly and languidly,
for the long fight against the fever was beginning to
tell, and it was the fourth, or periodic, ague day with
many.

The reports from N.C.O. of sub-divisions had come in
as O.K. — all correct — no galled shoulders, etc., for the rainy
season, during which the horses' skins are as liable to tear
as wet brown paper, was over.

The morning was bright and crisp, but the sun was getting
hot.

THE LONGEST MARCH MUST HAVE AN END.

265

Mary Jane, with her
cap, and trim figure.
He knew not that she

" Now, men ! " said the Lieutenant, assuming a cheerful
air, " the last halt before we get into cantonments ! Polish
up everything, trace-links, every strap and buckle, boys I
We have had a tough time, but the 'Jhungy Division ' is
going to swagger in as if they had come off an Aldershot
picnic and their best girls, that they left behind them,
were all in the top windows 1 Heads up, heels down,
Tommy 1 "

But the memory of many a
pink fresh face, perky little lace
saddened the heart of " Tommy."
had consoled herself with another Tommy, the ** bobby," or
even the baker's boy, else he would have felt more philo-
sophic. As it was, the absence of the bright eyes, that
would have looked appreciation, made the swagger somewhat
of a make-believe. There would be black orbs peeping from
heavily veiled faces ; graceful, undulating, bronze ladies with
posed water jars, or babies straddled on the swelling hip,
but what were these to Tommy ? His heart was heavy for
the " girl he left behind him " — the girl who had long since
forgotten him. And why not ? Merciful Providence gives
us each a forget book in which to write the names of those
we love.

The Lieutenant sat by the roadside watching, with a
pleased and kindly eye, the efforts of his men, while his syce
polished the irons and bosses of his horse appointments. He
tried to smoke a mild cigar, for strong tobacco was too
much for him now, but it had no taste and he flung it
away.

The march has been a silent one. There have been no songs,
for that minstrel boy, the ballad-making Bombardier, sleeps
far from the sound of the Bells of Bow that chimed over his
cradle — the coster-cart his mother watched while his father
alternately boozed and beat her. Is she still patiently
enduring, or has her rest come too — perhaps by the hand of
the brute she once loved ? Her boy fills a nameless
grave on the banks of an ancient sacred river. The little
cross with his name and number, cut by a comrade, was
kicked down by a passing Mahomedan fanatic after " Q "
had marched. But they remained long enough there to pro-
tect it from the four-footed wild beasts, so the material part
of him was left to fertilise the wide-spreading mango, which,
with its luscious fruit, shaded his grave from the merciless

266

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

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sun that killed him. And so he passed into the laboratory
of the untired Chemist " who doeth all things well." The
neighbouring Fakir says, " Ram ! Ram I The vital spark of
this white man's soul will be used fortheBidgf ^-ka-tar — the

id — for the.

'VCl-

o supply a

iiorses had

Lieutenant's

;e that makes

aid — quicker —

rose and bent the

lightning wire which passes above hi'
obtuse worshipper of a carpenter was not
soul for a pig."

The furbishing up was complet'^d. Men
enjoyed the short rest. Trumpet vuided.
foot was in the stirrup. The hot
the horizon dance began to move
quicker — the landscape waltzed, the
y leg he stood on, the dusty road upheavcu slowly and struck
him on the back of the head. Was it an earthcjuake ? No !
He had had that experience elsewhere. A doolie was fetched
— ah ! that is comfortable, out of the blinding glare, and
that cursed mad waltz of the hot horizon.
' "Hung! hung! hung!" The hearers began their
monotonous chant.

Blank — blank — blank 1 *' Had a good sleep ? Head nice
and cool ? " — a voice was asking.

He out up his hand. Where are the brown curls that
frizzed in spite of military shears ? Head shaved ! " Don't
put a fellow in the cells ! Qui hi 1 "

No answer. •

. " Confound that bearer ! "

Up jumped Jingo from his bed — and flopped on the earth
floor of his tent.

" Shure, I knew he'd chate the divil ! Glory be to God ! "
And old Doyle lifted the helpless Lieutenant on to his bed
and then appeared with a basin of broth. He ate it
hungrily.

*' He'll do," said the doctor, who came in shortly after,
summoned to what was considered a resurrection. " Well,
my friend, the last time you were under my hands you owed
your life to a native lady's pyjamas ; this time you owe it to
that old scamp Doyle, who gave up his big drink on coming
into cantonment to look after you. No hospital nurse could
have done it better."

Convalescence was slow, and the Lieutenant grew im-
patient to be about among his men, from whom he knew he was
soon to part, for he had been for some time senior sub on
the long list which reaches from Pall Mall to the uttermost

ORDERED TO THE HILLS.

267

parts of the earth.* The weather was now cool and bracing.
The men having been served out with new bedding had put
their old setringieson the horses still picketed in the open.
He noticed through the tent chicks that some clothing had
fallen off" the horses, and was being trampled. He got up to
draw attention to it. Seeing his old Sergeant he tried to
call him by name. He could not remember it — could not
recall a single name of those he so intimately knew. He
walked out, touched a man, and pointed to the fallen
clothing.

"Glad to see you out, sir," said the man.

The officer nodded his thanks, walked back to his tent,
sat down, put his head in his hands, and sobbed like a child.
He was recommended to go to the hills on sick leave, but
leave was not forthcoming.

Doyle packed everything, for his native bearer had left
him during his illness.

Native servants vary. Some are very faithful, mostly
Mahomedans. His bhisti had followed Jingo throughout
the campaign. He had found Mokhum sitting by the body of
a former master, an Irregular Cavalry officer killed in action.
At first he would serve no second master — would go back to
his own people — but he turned at last to the Lieutenant and
never left him either in sickness or danger, on one occasion
bringing up a fresh horse for his master in action when the
fire was so hot that the syce could not be got to face it.

Everything was ready, and the Lieutenant partook of his
last " chota hazrie " in the lines of " Q " with a full heart.
The men crowded round. Sergeant Douglas brought out a
sheet of foolscap, which he handed to the Lieutenant. His
eyes glanced over the kindly words, and he felt very proud —
more so than if he had sent in his own name for a V.C.
and got it.

"Thank you. Sergeant," he said, " I understand. But it is
not usual in the service for soldiers to give expression to any
opinion or feeling regarding their officers. Officers, however,
may tell their men, as I tell you, I never want to lead better
soldiers."

The Lieutenant carefully concealed that document, till he
lost it.

There was a pause, and then the Sergeant said :

mil

iii

* He was relieved by a much decorated young sub trom the Crimea (now General

Geary, C.B.).

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268

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

" About that punishment of Gunner Doyle, sir — couldn't
he be recommended for restoration of pension ? "

The old man here stepped forward and saluted.

" You see, sorr, there's a sintince agin me av deprivashun
av pinshun, which might be restored for good sarvice afore
the inemy, if you'd mention it to the Major. You see, sorr,
I've two campaigns, thrutty odd engagemints, includin'
Sevastopol and Lucknow, and a wownd to the good. And it
was all along of a little girl, sorr, that I desarted, the cray-
chur I I couldn't lave her, sorr, the way she was, and 1 had
married without lave. I was a recruit and knew no better,
sorr, and I had to choose 'tween my counthry and my little
girl — well, anyways, sorr, I couldn't lave her thin, and we
was ordered oflF, so I desarted, and the Coort Martial sintinced
me to be deprived of pinshun or any binifit that might
accrue from future sarvice. Av coorse, I know, sorr, they
couldn't help it, it's the regulashun — but sorr "

" Why didn't you tell me this before ? You have to be
clear of regimental entry before being recommended. Your
crime for drunkenness under arms has gone in. It is too late,
my poor fellow I But I'll do my best, and I know the Major
will also."

And the Lieutenant was rattled away in a "dak gharry,"
with "Good-bye and God bless you, sir! " accompanied by a
sickly sort of cheer, that had a ring of despondency and
make-believe about it. English soldiers cheer when their
hearts are heaviest, as the shouts that come from the parting
troopship testify.

Years afterwards, in the routine of relief, fourteen non-
commissioned officers and men, out of the original two hun-
dred of "Q" that had embarked for India, landed at Woolwich.
Among them was the "Ould Tough" Doyle. The Lieutenant
had been promoted to another battery, and " Q " re-organised
into something that did not know itself, nor that anyone else
knew.

A dirty strip of paper was handed one day to Captain
Jingo. It was a request to go and see Gunner Doyle in
hospital.

He went, expecting to see the last of the " Ould
Tough," but he looked hale and hearty, though somewhat
crestfallen.

" Aff ye plaze, sorr, I'm sorry tothrubble yez, but there's
a young docthur here has marked me for discharge and I not

VACCINATION MARKS.

269

coniplated me twinty-wan years by eighteen months. 'Twas
boy sarvice some av it — mebbe afther all they might be givin'
me pinshun, aff I put in me twinty-wan complate, and it's all
along o' that wownd, sorr. Mebbe ye disremembers. 'Twas
that same blackguard, up in the shtaple of the mosque, that
knocked ye aff the morther, whin the lady's petticoat came
in handy — glory be to God," the old scamp remarked, with a
perfectly sober face, appropriate to the piety of his exclam.a-
tion, and concealing his internal enjoyment at chaffing his
officer. '* I took yer place, sorr, wid the plum-line, and
the nixt bullet sthruck me on the shoulder and kim out at
me elbow without braking a bone av me. We was
being examined for vaccinashun murks, and the docthor,
wid a pane av glas in his oye, was mistakin' the
bullet mark for a vaccinashun, an' sez to me — * Where was
you vaccinated and who did it ?' 'A sapoy, sorr,' sez Oi, ' at
Lucknow.' ' Serjeant, take that man's name down for i .nper-
thinance,' sez the docthor, wan of thim new wans he was,
that owns no rigimint and no rigimint would own. Ye know
the sort, sorr, they're Majors and Ginirals now. *Nooffince,
sorr,' sez Oi, * but it's thrue for me, a bullet-mark it is.' ' Yes,'
sez he, examinin' the place, ' that must interfere with your
carryin' a knapsack. I must mark you for discharge.' ' But,
.sorr,' sez Oi, 'Oi've carried me knapsack many a day since —
worse luck.' And he walks aff to the nixt man."

The previous Commanding Officer, who was with the
battery in the Crimea, and was left wounded at Lucknow,*
a man who would worry the War Office for a year, and
write a ream of foolscap to get compensation for a soldier's
trousers, was not the sort of man to let Doyle's case slide.
But he was impotent to save the pension.

** Uncle Toby " was not arraigned before the War Office
when " the accusing spirit that flew to Heaven's chancel with
an old soldier's oath, blushed as she gave it in, and the
recording angel dropped a tear upon the word and blotted it
out for ever."

There are, of necessity, in the army many accusing spirits,
but no lachrymose recording angels at the War Office to
drop a tear and blot out a soldier's crime 1 It is easier to
reach the ear of an Oriental despot than to influence the
machine called a Constitutional Sovereign. What shall be

• The late General Gibbon, C.B.

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270

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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said of a service that necessitates the forfeiture of a pension
which may accrue from fuhirc service for a military offence
at the commencement of a soldier's career? "Leave Hope
behind who enter here " was written over the gates of Hell.
It might be so for some who enter barrack gates.

The Colonel could not save Doyle's pension, but he got
him a position as timekeeper in Woolwich Arsenal, which he
held till reductions by a Liberal Minister, necessitated his
discharge, with that of a crowd of efficient artisans.
They emigrated to the United States. When our next
small war demanded an increase of war material they were
wanted, but were not forthcoming. In our next great war
their children will be found to have helped to build up the
United States. Doyle swept a crossing, wearing his medals,
till a passing War Office clerk, a C.B., in shiny boots, said
that to him which made the old soldier go to his garret and
put his three medals and five clasps into the fire. The bellows
helped to convert them into undistinguishable silver to the
value of something under ten shillings. This proved more
serviceable to him in his need than the decorations of his
Sovereign, whose image and superscription he would not sell.
He had before now endured taunts and brickbats in her
defence from Fenian fellow-countrymen. Want, and drink
when procurable, brought him at last to the workhouse
hospital. There he " slipped away " unobtrusively. The
medical students joked over his emaciated carcase in the
dissecting room. Where the pieces went, it is hard to trace.
They got probably mixed up with the remains of an old
pauper Orange-woman from the " black North." In life they
wrangled over their differing creeds and politics — their
remains mingle peacefull}'. The disposal of his remnants
would not have troubled the " Ould Tough," but he was a good
Catholic, and had the prejudices of his creed and country as
regards "dacent Christian burial."

Sic transit Gloria ! — we cannot say Hie jacct!

271

1 J.'f

CHAPTER XXV.

Dak-Bungalow Breakfast — The Well ok Cawnpore — The Quality
OK Mercy Strained — The Taj — Delhi — New Drills and Old Gun
Carriages — A Cropper— Hot Weather Shikar — Zubber Khan —
Soldiers' Grievances — Soldiers' Colonies,

ill

Dak-bungalows had been re-established along the Grand
Trunk Road, and the traveller, who felt a return of appetite
after a comparatively cool night in his palkee gharri, asked
what he could have for breakfast.

" Sub cheese hi 1 Kadawan ! " (There is everything for
your highness) said the complaisant kitmugar.

" Then bring me some curried crocodile.''

" Gareeb purwah ! Croc-croc-crocdile. Nahi, sahib — Sepahi
logue, sub loot leah. Sub khata hi I " (Protector of the
poor ! There are no crocodiles. The Sepahi people have
looted all — have eaten all) was answered, with folded hands
and true Oriental composure.

" Bif tick ? " " Nai, sahib." " Mutton ghosht ? " " Nai,
sahib." " Unda? " (eggs) " Nai, sahib." And so on ; the
inevitable answer being, " Lieken, moorghi hi, sahib " (there
are fowls). And forthwith, while he had his bath. Jingo
heard the fluttering chase and death of his breakfast, which
was cooked before it had time to get tough.

On reaching Cawnpore, there were the ruined entrench-
ments, surrendered to the perfidy of Nana Sahib, and the
well of ghastly memory, once choked with slaughtered
women and children. It has since been surrounded by a
beautiful Gothic screen, which softens but cannot obliterate
the odious memory.

As Jingo stood beside it, he called to mind a certain
morning \v hen a small force had been drawn up preparatory
to attack. On the left of his guns had stood the remains of
the old 32nc!, who had formed part of the glorious garrison
of Lucknow Residency. The principal element in the
re-conquest of India had been the destruction of the tele-
graph. Orders could not be sent, and in default Englishmen

nil""""*"

|!>?| WIN*:

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1 11

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271

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

always did the right thing. As soon as the telegraph had been
righted, one of the first messages which had been sent by it was
to the army ofOudh from that amiable gentleman and scholar,
the Governor-General of India, "Clemency Canning," as
his detractors called him. It was characteristic — inculcating
rhercy to the conquered, and finishing with a quotation
from Shakespeare — " The quality of mercy, etc."

The Brigade-Major had read it to the force, in a flat,
monotonous tone, and seemed to bite off the ends of the
words. Brown and gaunt, the veteran soldiers of the 32nd
had stood with ordered arms. At the conclusion of the
dispatch no word had been spoken, but a low growl had
rolled down the ranks, and the butts of the rifles were
struck with a spasmodic thud upon the ground. The bugle
had sounded the advance. That day, the 32nd took no pri-
soners. Their wives and children had helped to fill the well
of Cawnpore. To these men was first addressed the message
of mercy. People called it the " irony of fate " — a better
name might have been invented.

The first distant glimpse of the Taj at Agra is just a little
disappointing, when seen from over the tree tops, the gleaming
white dome with its tall candle-like minarets against the
clear blue sky. It looks — well, like something good to
eat ! — the sugared top of Noormahal's bride-cake. It
is her grave — the favourite wife of Shah Jehan, the
Conqueror.

" . . . . the magnificent son of Akbar,
As he fled from the triumphs and trophies of war.
Preferred, in his heart, the least ringlet that curl'd
Down her exquisite neck, to the throne of the world."

And yet it was the old story, Othello's — only it ended with
a scimitar instead of a bolster. And the Taj is the stony
tear of ineffectual remorse he idly shed over his withered
" rose of Kashmir." He sleeps beside her in this, the most
exquisite mausoleum of the world, that glistens, white and
pure, as it did two hundred years ago.

Some one had put fresh flowers on the tomb of
Noormahal. There were none on the grave of Shah Jehan.
Jingo took a white rose from the lady's garland (she won't
miss it I) instead of picking out a little stone from the
flowery mosaic of her marble tomb, as some barbarians have

'!!

DELHI.

273

done. He whistled a few bars of "Ihe Last Rose of
Summer," and startled echoes floated in a melodious chorus
round the lofty dome. Then the strains of a well-known
waltz were taken up by the invisible choir with still more
fantastic effects It was the echo of a military band from a
merry pic-nic party dancing in the large mosque on the left-
hand side of the Taj. Jingo strolled over. The ladies, so
fair and pink (for it was Indian winter), look, to the fever-
stricken traveller, like Peris let loose from Paradise. Since
the solitary lady at Lucknow, he had not seen white woman-
kind — or unkind — for more than a year. He felt tempted to
introduce himself and ask for a dance, nor would he have been
snubbed, for Anglo-Indians are always genial and hospitable,
and just then they were more so, after the past miseries of
the Mutiny. In a country where all are pretty much the
same jhat, freedom of intercourse is possible.

But our Jingo was dusty and travel-stained, his head was
shaved from recent fever, he knew he was an unpicturesque
person, so he slunk back to his gharrie and rattled along the
dusty road another hundred miles to Delhi. In an eariy
morning walk along the Chandi Chowk, under the shade of
its trees, he passed the bloody Chabutra, before the Kutwali,
where the murdered bodies of outraged Englishwomen had
been exposed, and where, in bloody revenge, lay the last
princes of the house of Timour, slain by Hodson in fulfilment
of his oath of vengeance.

A little further on was an English officer buying bulbuls
(nightingales), of whom Jingo inquired where the regimental
doctor was to be found, for he felt ill,

" Come and breakfast with me and I'll write him a chit to
come over," was the characteristic Anglo-Indian answer. As
a natural sequence to a man buying bulbuls, his home was a
bower of roses, presided over by a pretty wife. She had
been lately married. Her first husband was shot by ore of
his men at the commencement of the Mutiny, and when it was
over, her present husband had been sent to the hills wounded.
The widow had dried her tears, nursed, and married him.
They were poor, but, to make a proper story-book ending, a
native appeared one day and produced the will of her uncle,
the Principal of Delhi College, who had been murdered at the
outbreak. On the back of the will was written in Dr. Taylor's
handwriting —

The bearer of this,

by name, whom I

have
T

for

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274

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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years befriended, will be my murderer. He has forced me to
give him all my papers and bills to a large amount, and I
know he intends my destruction."

The native was arrested, and the notes found concealed
in his house. He had come to demand compensation from
the Government for injuries inflicted by the rebels, and hfe
had produced the will as a proof of his faithfulness to his
master, not understanding the purport of the addenda. He
was convicted of complicity in the murder, and paid the
penalty, while the will, being in favour of the newly-married
niece, put a golden sequel to the love among the roses and
bulbuls. They were a very charming pair, and if they were
not happy ever afterwards, in true fairy-tale style, they
should have been.

Latter-day historians often try to overturn contemporary
beliefs. It would be pleasant to think that the naturally
gentle people of India had not been guilty of the atrocities
laid to their charge during the military revolt. No doubt,
some of the horrors were exaggerated, but, while the mass
of the population was guiltless, or, at the worst, apathetic,
unfortunately the bazaar ruffians and some of the mutinous
soldiery committed acts that are unwritable.

Jingo became acquainted with the President of one of the
courts that had been held on mutineers. He told him that
during the proceedings he had put aside his revolver lest the
temptation to use it should overpower him, in listening to the
boastful admissions of men, who, having no hope of escaping
death, seemed to glory in the recital of their fiendish
atrocities. He had taken notes, and after sentence it was
permissible to discuss evidence. Jingo was not an over-
sensitive subject, but the perusal of those notes literally
made him ill, and can never be thought of without pain.
That reprisals were severe is not surprising, but it is to the
credit of the British soldier that native women suffered no
wrong at his hands.

After the wonderful palaces, the site of the Peacock
Throne and Imperial tombs, and that marvellous minaret,
the Kootub of Delhi, and the massive ruins of pre-
Mahomedan conquest, came Umritzur, with golden temple
reflected in its sacred tank, the hol> book and the sword
beside it, which the Goroo inserts between the leaves hap-
hazard to find the text to read to his warlike audience — a
custom typical of this nation of soldiers.

NEW DRILLS AND OLD GUN CARRIAGES.

275

From Umritzur, Lahore, the ancient capital of the Sikh
power, was reached, and thence Mooltan, the baked-up city
on the borders of the desert which stretches down to
Scinde. Here, in the cantonments. Captain Jingo found the
battery to which he was appointed. It was the cheerful,
bright, cold weather of the Punjaub, and the usual kindly
greeting of the ** Ubique " gunner met him here also.

Time passed pleasantly. After a campaign comes drill,
and the young Captain woke up the new battery to move-
ments rather more lively than those on Woolwich Common,
and over very much rougher ground ; consequently the old
gun-carriages which had been sent out from England, some
of them bearing the date of the battle of Waterloo, began
to go to pieces, with unfortunate results, for a couple of poor
fellows got badly hurt. Those carriages had been condemned
by Boards many — but not replaced, until they got beyond
sitting upon, either by Boards or gunners.

After morning drills there was the Gymkhana and some-
times an impromptu scamper across country to the horse
lines, the sub on duty being left to bring home the battery in
more sober style. The guard turned out to receive the galloping
CO. There was no one to open the gate to the horse
lines. The sporting light-weight sub, who was leading,
turned in his saddle and shouted :

" Oh, blow the gate ! Will you take the wall. Captain ? "
And his active chestnut cleared it in splendid style.

The Captain felt his heavy Cabul charger was pumped
and rolling in his gait ; but he pulled him together, for it
would never do to refuse before the guard what the sub had
taken. But his charger's forefeet touched the wall, and a
somersault resulted. Fortunately, the rider fell clear, for
the peaked cantle of the regimental saddle made a hole in
the mutti (ground). Jingo picked himself up and a syce
dusted him. The battery filed through the gate in due
time, and morning stables were gone through in a hazy
iaoiiion by the spilt one, who, when feed was sounded,
called his subs to ride home to dinner. It was breakfast
time !

The celibate gunners lived fraternally in a big bungalow.

After that morning's mishap, a stiff hurdle was put across
the entrance to their compound, which their horses had to
jump before reaching the stable. It was found an excellent
device for teaching chargers, to jump, in preparation for

T — 2

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276

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

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the hunts With the bobbery pack and the coming station
steeplechase.

To vary the drills, there was shooting quail, which came
in flocks at certain seasons in the cotton khates ; plenty of
black partridges in the patches of tall jungle grass, and
sand grouse on the burnt-up plains ; duck by the river and the
gheels ; further afield, the ravine deer, a species of gazelle ;
black antelope ; and Ubara bustard ; once in a way, pig-
sticking in the jhow jungle.*

The hot season had come round again. Already, the
burning breath of the sandy deserts of Scinde had begun to
blow from the south. Yet Jingo could not rest all day shut
up in a dark bungalow, even with a punkah, and the hot wind
tempered by the perfumed kuskus tattie, which the coolie
kept wet, until, like his master, he fell asleep, the one with
his book dropped from his hand, the other cross-legged, like
a new Buddha, holding the slackened punkah-rope which, no
longer working with mechanical motion, left the room like a
darkened Hades. The wrathful sahib woke the outside
sleef>er with inconsiderate and ill-expressed threats of ven-
geance, alas 1 too often carried out by the feverish European
with an enlarged spleen, to the great danger of the native
affected with ditto. ^

The soldiers were confined to barracks and longed for the
rains, which came not to the desert cantonment of Mooltan
that year.

An almost asphyxiated soldier goes into the verandah and
sees the dun-cloud of a dust storm rolling across the maidan.
Thinks it may be rain, and asks the coolie his opinion. The
colloquy is unsatisfactory, and the wretched, dozing coolie
receives a dig in the ribs, which nearly causes death. The
soldier is brought up before the Commanding Officer.

" He was afther stoppin' the punkah and makin' game av
me, sur, and I lost me timper. * Pawnee purt ? ' says I,
quite civil like, (does it rain). * Pawnee purt ? ' says I agin,
getting angry. ' Gee haw 1 ' says he, as if I was a jackass,
and wid that I hit him a dig. "

Unfortunately, the inflection on

a sentence makes the

♦ Among sporting subs were : Gunner Mick Tweedie ; (General)- Mad Morrow, 46th,
equally at nome tiger or butterfly liunting, now sobered down to chureliwarden and catch-
ing sliarks in New Zealand ; and Jervis (General), yclept the " Murderer" by his comrades
of the Bengal Fusiliers, on account of his numerous successful single combats. As no
more fighting was to be done, he and Jingo took to Mugdahs Gymnastics and jhungeas on
the shady side of the verandah.

ZUBBER KHAN.

277

difference whether it be
" gee haw " there meant,

a question or an affirmative, and

'yes, sir," from the poor native,
who lied, rather tuan contradict the ghora logue, with
pxDor results to both, for the soldier had to be severely
punished.

Jingo preferred the parched plains, with the occasional
shelter of a clump of palms, and he prolonged his shooting
expeditions late into the hot season.

One blazing noon, he sat by a mud wall, under the flickering
shade of the hot-wind-shaken palms. A native approached
and salaamed. He leaned upon a long gun. There
was that something which made the men take to each other
at once.

The manly, frank look about the neatly cut face of the
stranger, less dark than usual, with cheek bones shewing
Mongul origin, and the curled beard and moustache of
the Mahomedan, with his spare, sinewy frame, were
indicative of the qualities time shewed him to
possess. ' - ■=

" Why is not the sahib asleep under a punkah ? " he
asked.

"Fond of shikar," was the reply.

" But you can shoot nothing with such boots. Take them
off, and you shall find shikar."

It was done, and leaving his horse with the syce. Jingo
followed his new, noiseless friend, with bent and aching
back, crouching along nullahs, where the hot gravel burnt
the soles of his stocking-feet.

At last, Zubber Khan, with a sign for caution, pointed to
three ravine deer asleep under a bush, about a hundred yards
off. The buck, on the right, never rose after Jingo's shot
through the heart, nor the doe, on the left, after Zubber
Khan's ; the third started, but fell to the second barrel of
Jingo's double rifle. The syce, with the pony, came up, and
the quarry was carried back to cantonments.

Zubber Khan was a non-commissioned officer of Irregular
Cavalry, quartered in the same cantonment. He was a
gentleman by birth, of Pathan origin, dating from
the conquest of Arungzebe. His father was a Zemindar,
near Delhi.

The two men became fast shikar friends and Zubber
Khan was entrusted to buy a swift Biccaneer camel for their
shikar. Splendid sport they had among the black antelope

nil

ill

278

GUNNER jingo's JUBILEE.

Mm**"''.!

and Ubara bustard on the plains. The camel would be made
to circle until the quarry was within range, for the black
buck were accustomed to camels and allowed approach in
this fashion. The sahib, riding in rear, would fire from the
saddle, or sometimes slide oif and walk parallel to the
camel's hind legs. They could travel great distances and
yet return to cantonments without long absence, thus dispens-
ing with leave ; for, unfortunately, that indulgence was not to
be had.

Once, on returning from a short leave shooting excursion.
Jingo found there had been a row. • He was only the second
in command, and the discipline was not in his hands. The
drills and the horses had been made over to him as his
province. With the best intentions the senior acted on the
idea, not yet defunct, that the only way to keep the soldier
sober was to spend all his money for him. The Queen's
regulations authorized certain stoppages for messing, etc.,
calculated on the meagre ration of bread and meat only, as
issued in England, where the soldier's pay is made to supply
everything else from potatoes to pepper, mustard, salt,
sugar, tea, and coffee.

That " man cannot live by bread alone," even with the
additi ni of J lb. of meat includivg bone, is an unconsidered
inaccuracy in the placards, which proclaim a free ration to
the confiding recruit, as well as the delusion of a free kit. In
India it was otherwise, because the mild Hindoo, not the
British taxpayer, paid. The Indian Government gives
literally a free ration.

But the English stoppage was continued, and luxurious
breakfasts, including Europe hams, were provided for Tommy,
who chucked them out of window and doggedly refused
to sign his accounts. The battery was much married, with
and without leave, and the old-fashioned fellows wanted to
send all their money to their wives at home.

Jingo had pleaded strenuously, but in vain, for them. The
Queen's regulations seemed too strong for him and humanity,
and Jingo got put under arrest. The men marched to the
Brigadier's quarters, without orders, and stood silently before
him, for they knew that soldiers may not address superiors in
a body. They were sent back to barracks, and obeyed. The
Brigadier ordered that the stoppage for extra rations should
cease, and that Captain Jingo's sword should be returned to
him with an apology. But his leave was stopped, while his

SOLDIERS COLONIES.

279

senior was given sick leave so long that he never returned,
being promoted in the interim.

But the difficulty remained. The men still doggedly
declined to sign their accounts for the past month's stoppages.
The Captain went to the barracks as usual on muster day,
said nothing, handed the men their books, and every man
signed without a word. There were few punishments and
no courts-martial that year, and the battery was the best
shooting battery of the Brigade.

The married with leave arrived from England, and there
was rejoicing save among ti.,e desolate, without-leaves. But
their sorrows were over sea, and salt-water mercifully solves
many ties and troubles. The women and children who did
come were very helpless in the new land, and strangely un-
adaptable to changed conditions, as the English poorer class
.generally are. The women would walk about with apologies
for bonnets and the children persist in playing " hop-scotch "
with the fearful sun blazing on their yellow curls. They
were all soon down with fever. What holocausts of beautiful
British children — " non Angli sed angeli " — have been and
are sacrificed in India during the two centuries we have held
it. And we might largely have avoided the sacrifice of
Innocents, held India as securely, and been more ready to
meet the Muscovite when he shall descend from the slopes of
the Hindoo Koosh, had we planted colonies of married officers
and soldiers in the valleys of Cashmere and down the long
lines of Himalayan frontier, instead of dragging them home
as pauper reservists to the slums of our cities. Delhi was
mainly re-conquered by the European regiments which swept
down fresh from their cantonments in the hills. Henry
Lawrence founded a home for soldiers' children in the hills.
But that only shows what might have been.

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28o

CHAPTER XXVI.

Jottings from Jingo's Journal — In the Hills — Simla 30 Years Ago—
Flora and Fauna -^ Rope Bridge — Kooloo Valley — Polyandry
— Rhotung Pass, ij.oooft. — Sources of Rivers Beas and Chenab
— WicKERWORK Bridge — Lahoul Valley — Women— Buddhist Tem-
ples — Praying Machines— Moravian Missions.

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May 1 8th, 1861. — Was packed into a doolie and am off
to the hills at the recommendation of a Medical Board.
Rattled all night over the infamous road, thinking often of
the poor fellows in yonder barrack who will have to crawl
through six months of suffering — many a fine fellow will go
on a gun carriage to that little square place in the jungle
where I have followed so many 1 There they sleep in whole
ranks. What an army of martyrs will rise from that lonely
burying-place among the palms when the last trumpet calls
to boot and saddle for the battle of Armageddon !

There are no stones near Mooltan, indeed the great
alluvial valleys of Hindostan are, for the most part,
singularly devoid of stones. It was aggravating to think
one might walk 500 miles and not find a stone to throw at a
barking dog. Farewell then, to Mooltan with its three G's
— Gurda, Gurumi, and Ghoristan — dust, heat, and
sepulchres. Corderoy roads one knows of — did you ever
hear of a straw highway ? As there are no stones the road
is covered with long jungle grass in bundles, the mail cares
soon press it down, and then it is a pleasant road to ride
daks on horseback, but oh I the immense holes which arje
only hidden by the stratum of straw 1 I thought the roof of
my head would fly off with the jolting and the heat

Passed Lahore, Jellunder, and Umballa — the

hills at last ! I can't describe the feeling of seeing stones
and running water. Soon the lower hills rose, only a few
hundred feet at first, for it was a mist}' morning, and the

IN THE HILLS.

281

higher ranges were veiled. How my eyes have ached to
see a mountain — anything but the arid plains and deserts
they have too long rested on 1 As we rise from Kalka
loose low stone walls appear and tiettles — by Jingo ! I must
sting myself for auld lang syne. I feel getting stronger
hourly.

Kussowlie, with jolly, honest, Scotch fir, smelling
turpentiney. I feel drunk with the beauty of those valleys
stretching away at my feet. Am never tired of looking by
the hour at the shadows and lights chasing each other over
their beautiful faces.

Simla. — My old comrade, Warren, as warm-hearted as ever,
gave me a cordial welcome to his bungalow. He is just the
same as when we used to prowl about the outposts, shooting
in Oudh, except that he has turned Benedict since tho.se days.
A pic-nic in the crimson rhododendron forests. A ball, too,
and peacocking about. I must leave all this civilisation, it is
rather overpowering, and I am not used to it. Simla is
pleasant at the time, but apt to leave a bad taste, like sweet '^
champagne.

June 1 2th. — Left Simla with little Burnet, who has been
photographing capitally.

14th. — NarkunJa, 8,480 feet above the sea. Splendid
view when the mist clears. The hillsides are covered with
wild strawberries, large and full-flavoured, and the air is
heavy with the perfume of jasmine, which grows wild every-
where. Potatoes grow splendidly in almost virgin soil — .
labour is only four annas per diem 1 Dark deodar forests —
pheasants, somewhat resembling our domestic fowl, only -
black. What a country to colonize with officer jhat. There,
in the valley below, grows the tea, and the Sutlej, a silver
thread from here, will float that stately timber to the sea.
Forests full of game, rivers teeming with mahrseah. Came
the short cut over the mountain, capped with mist like our
own Highland grey rocks and glens, all but the heather —

" Where fain to be kiss'd through his thin scarf of mist,
Benmore to the sun heaves his wet, shining shoulders."

June 15th. — Walked down the short cut to Kotegurh,
a Moravian Missionary Establishment. The path lay through
splendid pine forest. There were all sorts of glorious
pheasants in these valleys, goorul or Himalayan chamois,
and occasionally bear (but I was not successful). Very

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III
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282

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

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hot climbing the hill, and a profusion of wild apricots
by the path side. Saw an idol carried in procession. It
was in fact a graven image, but the makers had scarcely
transgressed the commandment. The priests carried long
horns " gilt with silver," as Pat says, and w len li.ese were
exalted they gave a long, monotonous, but not unpleasant
note, reminding one of the '* Ranz des Vaches." Heaven
knows why that same " Ranz des Vaches " should be
so appreciated, for, if it is not the original tune the old cow died
of, I don't know another I

June 17th. — Started early, having sent on our servants,
tent, etc. Last post-office, last dak bungalow, good-bye
civilisation. Wish I felt stronger. Went down a steep and
roughish puck dundy to the Sutlej, which is here crossed by a
wooden bridge over wild turbid torrent between cliffs — very
hot — tropic vegetation. Left the temperate zone of firs,
etc., this morning and are among plantains, bananas, and
such like. Not a breath of air. Stiff walk up to Dilas, on
the top of a high hill — had a delicious showerbath an naturel
in a mountain stream. Reached Dilas at i p.m., found our
tent on a green knoll above the village. Feel so free, dark-
ness creeping on, night wind soughing fitfully up the glen and
flapping the flys of our little tent. It's a wild night and wind and
rain have it all their own way. A great grey wolf or hill fox
comes prowling down towards us, much to my dog's disgust,
who growls desperately, but only pursues to a prudent
distance. Grey morning breaks, and the clouds come rolling
up the mountain vaUey and enter unbidden into our tent —
rain, now drizzling, now pouring. Difficult to rouse natives
— poor beggars, they look as if they really would be washed
out of creation. i.- r.,

June 1 8th. — Rain has ceased and the mountains and
purple shadows have come out soft and clear. Walked to
Chouai, an indefinite sort of village up the hill, where we had
some difficulty in getting supplies. The flies are almost
maddening here. Shall take my gun and prowl up the hill
as I hear chukkore (the fire-eater of India, red-leg partridge
of France and Africa) calling. This home of the pheasant
tribe is certainly favoured with a glorious variety ; there is
the Manaul, all gleaming in purple, and gold, and green, he
swoops down the khud, positively like a live firework, over
the tops of the gigantic deodars into the valley. Shot one
dead, and it fell almost an afternoon's walk away, in the

FLORA AND FAUNA.

283

valley below. Impian pheasant is, I think, the swell name
of this gorgeous bird. Then there is the Argus pheasant,
all over white eyes, and a scarlet ruffle round his neck. This
Argus must be the bird Bishop Heber alludes to, when he
talks of . . . " the bird of thousand dyes, whose plumes the
dames of Ava prize." There is also a pheasant with two
long tail feathers, probably the progenitor of our own almost
domestic bird, besides heaps of common jungle fowl exactly
like our domestic dunghill — the snow pheasant, a purely
marked game bird ; the tree partridge, with long crooked
claws for holding on to branches ; the ordinary black
partridge of the plains ; and woodcock in winter — they don't
fly so briskly as our home bird. Of the deer varieties there
are goorul or Himalayan chamois, its horns not curved so
much as its Alpine prototype ; the musk-deer, and the
kukkur, or barking deer. As for Flora, she has strewn
these mountains with a lavish hand. Among old friends one
finds the despised and scentless dog-violet, a little yellow
heartsease, whole acres of wild anemones, tormentilla
reptans, Alpine campion, prunella, germander speedwell,
varieties of wild geranium, hillsides purple with blue iris ;
besides thousands utterly unknown, and others recognised as
West Indian favourites and acquaintances. Datura among
them. Nearly all the varieties of the Killarney ferns, from
common bracken to maiden-hair, except perhaps the
Desmond, appear to abound. But one looks in vain for the
" wee, modest, crimson-tipped flower." Nature here seems
to strive for effect, not to make bouquets nor even pretty
parterres, but whole hillsides are gorgeous with similarity of
flower and tree, beauty just missed through lack of flow-
ing water, till — " the eye falls asleep in the sameness of
splendour." Day after day, march after march, find us climbing
the same hillsides, monotonous in darkling pines and summits
lost in mist, the same sort of wild glens, the same sort of
huge detached rocks.

June 19th. — A thunderstorm last night in the valley below
that Byronics would be required to describe. Went to a
place called Kote, by a pathway or puck-dundy — a term
applicable in many cases to a path something between a
sheep-track and a dislocated staircase — down black rocks into
a wild glen. On the top of a hill is a Davy-ka-makaun.
There is the tent of the Tartar turned into a dwelling, the
curled eaves, etc.

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284

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

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June 20th. — Mist and rain, as usual, mountains clothed
with scraggy evergreen oak, a little like the cork tree of
Spain, though not so pretty and umbrageous. Coming down,
the valley to Gibee was more than usually lovely — camping
ground by the music of falling waters, shut in from the
mist of the mountains above by the tall pines —the heat will
. be unpleasant, and the flies — horrible I Shed cur sunburnt
■^ skins, which peeled off to-day. Saw splendid walnut trees,
such as on° passes when descending into Italy over the
Splugen, though there is nothing Swiss Alpine in the scenery,
indeed, lUe perpetual greenery and want of lakes, combined
with the monotonous slope of the mountams, forbid a com-
parison with the lower Alps. What the eternal snows are
like, not4S verrons.

June 2 1 St. — After leaving Gibee we entered a new style of
country, grassy unwooded slopes, and cultivation in those
queer little built-up patches peculiar to these hills. Following
the course of a rapid stream, now muddy and swollen with
the late rains, passed bridges, constructed in the canti-lever
style which would delight the modern garrison instructor,
and came to Mungalore, a hot place in the valley. Why do
they always consign us to the custody of David Jones, Esq.,
of Locker celebrity ? For at each halting-place there is
what the natives call a Davy-ka-makaun, or Idol-house.

June 22nd. — At Plack the Tesseel told us tb t\\G only
bridge was swept away, which meant, at least, eight days*
delay, for the only other road is through Kangia, and as B.'s
leave is limited we must push on. Pretty little bungalows
with lovely views. Such a place t^^ '"^ lazy in for half a
lifetime, if one was not tired of it in Vvventy-four hours.

June 24th. — My old friend Zubber Khan arrived. He
caught me up by double marches, and reproached me for
having left without telling him.

June 26th. — Left Plack, where there is nothing
.Cool breezes and a beautiful view are all very well as

accessories, but . We are going to make a detour by

an unfrequented path, crossing the objectionable river (over
which the bridges are broken) by a rope of grass, sounds
insecure, but no acrobatic performance is intended.

June 27th. — There is a filthy grime, a dirty old man of
the mountain, who is frightening our lowland niggers into
fits, and he tries to take a rise out of me by saying there
never was so big a man crossed the rope, and that it may

to kill
well

A POPE BRIDGE.

285

break. He also descants upon the impracticability of
the path, which he terms a "very falling-down road."
On the way we met a flock jf sheep and goats carrying
loads. They come over the passes to Thibet. Saw the
snow nearer and clearer than before, not like a vision of
cloudland, as it appears from Simla. It does one's baked-
up heart good to see the snow look real. One can see the
rope bridge far below, spanning the Beas like a thread.
The river is about 1 50 yards across, and seems to have
cut its violent course, by force of its own wild will
through adamantine walls that rise nearly perpendicular to
a height of seven or eight hundred feet. No pen or pencil
could convey the wildness and grandeur of this dark

chasm — even B 's sun-pictures fail, for the old orb of

day can only illumine one side even at mid-day, and the
apparatus is not large enough to take in the tops
of the glorious heights of rock which imprison the
raging river. Not a word can be heard above the roar of the
waters, and the rope coolies gesticulate like lunatics to make
amends for the deprivation of speech — that exercise which
is so dear to every blackskin, the amount of work exactly in
inverse proportion to the amount of talk. The rope bridge is
composed of eight ropes of grass (rather loosely made,
apparently), and each rope is about an inch and a quarter in
diameter. A hollow cylinder of wood, (just a piece of the
trunk of a tree, ten inches through, with the centre scooped
out), slides over these ropes. To this is attached a sling of
grass rope, in which the traveller sits, clutching a short stick
which goes over the top of the wooden slide. Ropes are
tied round the body and the sling, to prevent an accident in
case of giddiness. But this I found unnecessary. A lighter
rope is made fast to the bottom of the sling. The whole con-
cern starts with a rush down the slack of the rope, but is pulled
across l^y jerks after passing the centre. My kit, a swagger-
ing fellow, exhibited some reluctance to crossing, and put off
the operation until nearly evening. It took a long time
crossinp, as everything had to be slung separately, and there
were no less than twenty-five coolies to be got over. Heaven
knows what they carry, for my wardrobe consists of two
<"'annel shooting-shirts, two pairs of flannel knickerbockers,
a pair of p-aiters, woollen stockings, and boots, my bed, one
blanket, and a rezai. I will never again bring Hindostanis
to the hills, they can't walk, their roti khanas and uswabs

]&:

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11

286

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

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(rubbish) are a perpetual nuisance, and they become
idiotically paralysed in cold and rain. A dinner of Bombay
deckchee, containing goat chuccore and bacon. I must shoot

for the pot now, as our staple food is goat, and B does

not approve the flavour of that animal.

June 28th. — Steep ascent next morning to a green summit,
where the breeze blew, oh, so fresh ! What would they give
in Mooltan for such a life-giving air ! From this ridge we
can see our last night's camping ground, and to-day's halting
place below us, though they say the}' are ten miles apart. It
almost seems one could shy a stone to either — not much in
the way of a path up the mountain. As we descend, the
Kooloo valley opens before us in a more tranquil style of
beauty than anything wc leave behind us. The river
meanders and makes islands as it goes along, as if it loved
to linger there before it goes dashing and foaming with
ceaseless roar through those glorious gorges to the sea. It
has a weary way to wander through the sultry plains of
Hindostan. Across those mountains, to the east, lies the
Spitti valley. I wonder how they manage marriage settle-
ments here, for every lady has many husbands. How very
unkind of fate I when some of the dear girls at home have
not got even one. And certainly there can be no comparison
in loveliness. I may be prejudiced, but I would sooner have
half an English wife, than a hundred of these hideous
creatures. But, after all, I am pot sure it is a bad arrange-
ment, for the husbands who are invested in so recklessly, are
not more than fractional men ; the wives are much the
stouter, larger, and physically finer, and do all the work in
the fields, while the men sit at home, smoke, and mind the
babies. The women are not well-featured, and they wear
enormous tails of h-'"'r (not their own always), twisted round
their heads like turb .ns, while at work. Hair is a capital non-
conductor of heat, but it don't look " handsome " when worn
in this style. The wedding-ring is worn in the nose, and they
indulge in a profusion of bracelets — the gift of each husband,
I presume, but where are the other wedding-rings worn I
wonder ? The husbands are generally brothers ; they don't
seem to quarrel, probably haven't enough pluck to fight.
On dit the S3'stem does not answer, as the population is
diminishing in the Spitti district. There are probably
economical reasons for this division — of labour can I call
it ? for the country can't support a large population. If

i !

RHOTUNG PASS.

287

our " girls of the period " persist in amplifying the folds of
their drapery at their present extravagant rate, why,
it may come to the same thing, and a lot of fellows have
to go shares in the expensive luxury of a wife. Then, what
is to become of the surplus commodity ?

June 29th. — Bijourah. It is quite a pleasant
change to leave the confined gorges we have
travelled through, and come to the open, smiling
valley before us, the only one of this character
I have seen in these hills. This is a very
Brahminy place, and consequently full of children.

June 30th. — Camping in the valley under some
large trees at the foot of an old ruined fort with
some tall towers left standing. There are
many of these — in fact, all the houses are built
apparently capable of defence, with a slight
dash of the Tartaresque, willow-pattern-plate
style.

July 3rd. — Boorwah, eight miles further on.
The valley closes by great walls of rock, wild
and picturesque, and we see the snow near. My
shooting-boots cut my heel, and I am trying the
mountain sandal made of rice straw rope
(twisted soogawn). They are capital for rough walking, but
are difficult to keep on the feet at first. An officer of the
Rifle Brigade was killed ibex shooting, and the shikari
attributed it to the wearing of boots. Rice has been culti-
vated all along the valley to this point — here it ceases, as we
get near the snow.

July 4th. — From Boorwah a gradual ascent of the
Rhotung Pass (13,000 feet) begins, and after some distance
the path becomes something between a young cascade and
an insane staircase of unlimited length. Scenery extremely
fantastic, an infinite variety of beautiful waterfalls — one in
particular I should select if I were to become Undine, it
seems to come from cloudland to lose itself in spray. What
a quaint way coolies have of regularly blowing off steam.
This is a severe pull for them, as they can't obtain
substitutes at Murra, which is only a collection of a few
stones on the summit of the pass. We crossed a small
glacier. The eternal snow about here is extremely dirty.
After passing the stones on the top of the Rhotung the
scenery becomes very wild, no trees, etc. This ground is a

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watershed between two large rivers. We are at the source
of the Beas, which we have followed for miles, until here it
rises from a hundred little rivulets of melted snow that run
from the glaciers. The Chenab rushes down the other side
of the Pass — I wonder why it is so wild to get on, T would
stay and linger here if I were the river god — he does not*
know what dreary leagues of sand lie before him 1 We
crossed here at the foot of the pass by a bridge of most
peculiar construction — three ropes of twisted brushwood,
each about an inch and a half in diameter, support the
footway, which consists of small hurdles about a foot wide
laid upon three ropes, a parapet about two and a half feet high
is formed also of brushwood ropes, and the whole swings about

somewhat unpleasantly, particularly so to B 's kitmugar,

who sat down about half-way, and could not be induced
to stir. The poor old fellow had quite lost his head, but
another man came behind him, and got him along somehow.
We are now in the valley of Lahoul ; Koksur, a collection of a
few mud huts, contains Mongul-looking men, with extensive
cheek-bones, quite different in character from the Caucasian
people on the other side. The whole village seemed drunk
and riotous — they distil a liquor from barley not unlike
whiskey. The women wear a most peculiar costume, dark- ,
coloured instead of the all-pervading Karkee of Kooloo,
with a diminutive silver bread-basket-looking thing, only a
little larger than a rupee, stuck on the top of the head.
They all wear chatelaines with chains down their backs,
and what appears to be a young warming-pan attached, the
use of which I can't conceive. Their hair is rather well
got up, with huge turquoise ornaments, and some of them
are almost pretty. Poor things ! they are better than they
look, for when nothing would induce our Kooloo men to
carry the baggage the next day, those dear little women with

warming-pans whipped it up and bore it off. B *s native

gallantry was shocked at the idea of the gentle beings
becoming beasts of burden, and at first resisted their solicita-
tions to be permitted to act as porters. They have none of
the habits of seclusion practised by Hindoo women, which
are borrowed from the Moslems, for they came and
crowded round our tents while we were dressing — partly

from curiosity (B thinks a good deal from feelings of

admiration), but really to secure light things to carry.

July 5th. — Both of us seedy from drinking snow water.

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289

B , I fear, is going to have a touch of ague and fever —

our tent has never been dry since we started, and it has
rained more or less every day. — Reached Sissoo.

July 6th. — Rode to Goondla, 10 miles, then on to Kardung,
another 1 2. Scenery along the road wild and grand, snow
and rock, Alp piled on Alp. At Goondla, Damoda Chund, a
wealthy individual, was very civil. Change coolies on double
marches. Buddhists in this valley — temple by the side of the
rock, and for the first time saw one of those windmill
praying machines. A hollow cylinder with wings attached to
It revolves on the principle of a windmill. The cylinder is
filled with written prayers. Each revolution counts as a
prayer. But the sinner in Thibet, as elsewhere, sometimes
finds it difficult to raise the wind — some praying mills are
worked by water in the streams that run from the perpetual
snows. The hotter the weather the more snow melts — are
people wickeder in hot than in cold weather ? Byron says :
''What men call gallantry and gods adultery, is much more
common when the climate's sultry." It really is a neat ,
style of attempting to cheat Omniscience. If sermons '
could be thus turned off. Gospel-grinding on these lines
would be economical. Innumerable stones, rudely carved
with prayers, are stuck up like cairns. The missionaries
tell me that the sentence so often carved on these stones are
the syllables :

" O ! man i pat mahoon ! "

(Oh ! thou jewel in the lotos, O ! )

Is it an allusion to the eternal Irishman ? There are three
Moravian missionaries in the valley — singular people, they
have never made a convert, nor are ever likely to, as they
can't afford to buy one. They sent home to Germany for
three wives— girls Ihej' had never seen came out, quite
promiscuous-like, ** this side up with care," and were con-
signed to an agent in Bombay, and one missionary went
down to meet the consignment. They tossed up which was
for which ; he married one and brought up the two others.
They live harmoniously, as if they had married each other
all round. We did not find out which belonged to which,
for they talked about " our wives." They have one child
among them, and all seemed to take such an interest in it
that it might be part of the joint-stock company. Tara Chund,
head man at Kardung, tells us that there is no road to

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Kashmir by Kishtowar, beyond Trilograth, the great place of
Hindoo pilgrimage — missionaries also say we can get neither
coolies nor food in that direction, as they never heard of

anyone going that way. B returns to Simla to-morrow.

I shall push on to Leh, capital of Ladak. There are nine
marches of perpetual snow, without a village, so all food,
wood, etc., must be taken with us on coolies.

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CHAPTER XXVII.

mff:- ;..;

Alone — Yaks — Lamas — Ladak Tea — Tartar Tents — Ibex — Pigtailed
Shikaris — Bara Lacha Pass — Sing Kung La Pass, 17,000 Feet —
Ladies' Coiffure — Bewildered Guide — Glaciers — Ladakis (Male
and Female) — Babies Few — Karjuk — " O ! Man i Pat Mahoon " — •
Lost Coolies — Watershed — Char — Sale of Kashmir — The Rajah's
Rapacity — Willow Pattern Plate Country.

July 7th. — Sunday. I miss B dreadfully. Consoled

myself by taking the locks of my guns to pieces and cleaning
them. They were in a fearful state of rust from perpetual
rain and damp. Made more enquiries of Tara Chund, who
though dirty and diminutive in person, is nevertheless a
well informed good-natured fellow, and he assures me I
shall get splendid shooting to the west of the Ladak road, and
none in the direction of Leh. Shall, therefore, cross the
Bara Lacha mountains into Ladak, and strike westward for
Kashmir. Saw the old red-billed Cornish chough in great
numbers. Yaks for the first time, the quaintest thing in
cows ; they have long hairy wool and bushy tails, finer and
thicker than horses. Here ye are, my Buffon I The
shepherds of the Lahoul country wear the old original
fool's cap and a long rope twisted round their waists to go
down cliffs with. Noticed a comet, large and clear, at the
foot of the Rhotung Pass, due north and close to the nose
of the Great Bear.

July 8th. — Marched to Kulung , fine clear day, and cool
breeze blowing from the snow. Saw a live Lama, He wore
a red robe (the sacred colour) and was, without doubt, the
dirtiest emanation of the Deity I ever set eyes on. Tara
Chund came with us to Darcha. He owns the country from
Koksur to Darcha. Is descended from an old Rajpoot family

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who came from Bengal in the days when the Lahoul valley
paid tribute to the Chinese Empire. The valley revolted,
and with the assistance of the Rajah of Kooloo, beat off the
Chinese troops. Subsequently, the ancestor of Tara Chund,
a wily Bengalee, made himself useful in arranging a treaty
with the Chinese, or rather Tartars, who abandoned the
valley. For these services he received his present Jaghire,
and his family are employed to this day on the frontier sett-
ling disputes between the Kooloomen and the Tartars from
Thibet, who come to traffic at the foot of the Bara Lacha
Pass. On arrival, T. C. brought an enormous brazen tea-pot,
and an attendant dirty Lama poured out a very refreshing cup
of tea, made in a peculiar way, of a reddish colour, like cocoa.
It had milk, svigar, apd butter in it, and was very good. He
also brought me some excellent apricot whiskey. They make
a respectable, but weak, whiskey from barley. Next morning
he sent me the same Gampish teapot, containing tea made
after the custom of the country, with butter and salt. Tl^at
was too much. I drank a little for civility sake, but it nearly
made me ill. T. C. says I must take six days' provisions
and firewood for self and coolies. Saw them measuring out
the everlasting ghee, haggling as usual over seere, kutcha
and pucca. There stands my sleek Hindoo bearer,
who looks upon me and all my race as unclean. Look
at the filthy fingers of the hillman who is measuring
out ghee for the cleanly Hindoo — now and again he cleanses
his hands by giving them a rub in his abominable hair, and
then s°ets to work ramming the solidified ghee with his hands
into small chatties for my pure-feeding friend. — The homely
old dandelion makes its appearance in these valleys, but still no
daisy on the close velvety turf. Holly, ivy, and mistletoe

frow in the lower valleys —but where are the pretty girls ?
'his is a tantalising arrangement.

July 9th. — Reached Darcha very early — only a short
distance from Koolung. On dit, there is another case of
bridge broken, this time a bridge of ice over a torrent, which
can't be repaired until next winter. Suppose I shan't see a
white face for a month to come, nor village, nor house for
six days. Pig-tails positively I Sketched two men from the
neighbourhood of Lassa where the grand Lama hangs out —
most picturesque and Tartaresque, but difficult to pourtray
faithfully from a general vagueness of feature, a want of
nasal development peculiar to the Chinese and Tartar, as if

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PIGTAILED SHIKARIS,

293

nature had been in a sketchy humour and left them
unfinished.

July lOth. — Reached Pul-um-00, a place, if such can be
called a place, which boasts no local habitation, yet
has a name. It is a camp of nomadic Tartars who live in
small black tents made of goats' hair blankets. They gave
me some delicious milk. Crossed to their camp over a most
extraordinary chasm with the wildest of torrents beneath
spanned by a rainbow of foam. The overhanging rocks
nearly met above and were joined by two pieces of timber —
such fantastic freaks of nature I have never seen before.
Went on about four miles beyond this camp and was brought
up short by another torrent, utterly bridgeless and wild.
Could have cros.sed myself and then sat on the other side
and looked at m}' coolies who declined the passage. They
told me that the river was swollen by the melting of the
snow during the heat of the day, and that after the night
chill it would be fordable at day-break. Camped,

July iith. — Hearing that ibex occasionally frequented
the mountain above, I started about 3 a.m., with young
Hari Chund, son of Tara, and heir presumptive, good-
looking chap with extensive eyes, and earrings about
three inches in diameter, set with pearls and turquoises,
and two wild Tartar shikaris who sported pigtails and
matchlocks, and the Chinese sort of shoe one sees in
pictures. There was, to me, something ludicrous about
the idea of going shooting with pigtails. We saw five ibex,
but unfortunately came upon them to windward, which, of
course, they would not stand. Ibex shooting is supposed to
be the most difficult and dangerous sport ; every year there
are victims. Poor Myers, of the Rifle iirigadc, was killed
this season in the Kooloo country. He fell down a preci-
pice, and Nichols, of his regiment, whom we met at Phago,
recovered his body. — Tried to get above the ibex, without
success. The best chance of a shot is from above, as they look
out below. Spring is the season for ibex shooting, before the
snows have melted ; after that they go off to inaccessible
regions, so I haven't a ghost of a chance. My pigtail friends
tell me that having once sniffed the tainted air of the hunter,
they won't come near these parts for a month, so I must try
my luck elsewhere. Saw some half-dozen broods of snow
pheasants with their mas, the largest and gamiest-looking of
the pheasant tribe — caught a young one. There are constant

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sunshine showers among these mountains, and yet no rain-
bow, except in the foam of a waterfall. I almost live on
chuccore, a fine bird — generally pot a brace on the march, as
there are plenty here. Wonder if they are the same as the
partridge one used to shoot in North Africa and eat with
kus-kusoo? The plumage, as far as I can recollect, is the
same, but the Himalayan bird is finer, the natives call
him the fire-eater and say he eats red-hot coals — the diet
keeps him in fine flesh. I can't understand these fellows'
lingo, and have to do double-distilled translation — English,
Hindostani — and their language, whatever it is, seems
to consist chiefly of chee-chees and chung-chings.

July 1 2th. — Natives told truth for once. The torrent was
wadeable this morning, no snow having melted during the
night. Passed the stream over which the ice-bridge (as
they termed a small glacier) had given way. It is really
unpleasant to see these poor hillwomen carrying loads, and
they work much more cheerfully than their abominable male
relatives, who never dream of assisting the poor things in
any difficulty. Wading across the last stream, which was
the worst, I took care of one coolie lady — not the youngest
and best looking, nor the one who shewed her pretty, fat
little legs ; it was the oldest and nastiest for whom I did
preux chevalier, and she was not an atom grateful, the old
thing, though I saved her a good ducking, if no worse.

We are entering the pass of Sing-kung-la. (It is
impossible to write or remember these Chinese names
without dividing them into syllables.) The hills on each side
close in walls of granite capped with perpetual snow, which
has glided down in a glacier to the very bottom of the
valley. It is covered by a debris of stones, etc., the
thickness varying from inches to feet, and the stream in
many places runs below. These violent rivers roll along
great stones with a noise like thunder. Indeed, " the sound
of many waters " is ever in my ears, for we generally follow
the course of a torrent. Crossing the pass this evening,
came across a group of Ladakis sitting under a rook, drinking
red tea, with the addition of butter and salt, out of a huge
pot. The beverage was dispensed by a man, though there
were several ladies present, whose coiffure was peculiar,
consisting of a combination of dirt, turquoises, silver, and
sheepskin. — It is with difficulty I can get my coolies to take
even the short marches they do. I could go double the

BEWILDERED GUIDE.

295

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length myself, but citi bono ? They carry from 30 to 40 lbs.
weight, poor beggars I I find even my rifle and shooting
belt with ammunition, etc., make some difference at
the end of a long day's march in these mountains.
Have not passed through so bare, so wild, so utterly
desolate a countiy. My dirty old Lama divinity parted
from me this morning with many signs of gratitude.
I gave him backsheesh the day I sketched his godship,
and he has made himself generally useful ever since.
As no milk, wood, nor food of any sort are procurable
for the next few marches, I bring them all with me,
except the first, which is supplied by a couple of
milch goats that accompany me. These hill people
arc singularly fond of flowers, and the wildest of
Ihem, the men in particular, wear a flower in their
caps. Flora festoons the very skirts of eternal
snow. — The voices of women are almost in-
variably soft and sweet, no matter what semi-
civilized tongue they speak in (excluding
Billingsgate ladies). Even the laughter and soft chatter of
these poor Tartar things as they prepare their food after
marching is not unmusical.

July 13th. — The descent from the Rumjuk valley was
gradual, but unpleasant, owing to the loose sharp fragments
of rock, etc. Had to cross numerous icy-cold streams. The
summit of the pass, snow, nothing but snow and cloud, and
needle-like masses of black rock projecting here and there.
A snowstorm came on while we were on the summit, and
we could not see 20 yards before us. The guide seemed
quite bewildered, said he had lost his way, and wanted to
sit down in the snow and wait until the storm blew over.
This was impossible, so I pelted him with pieces of ice till I
made him move on, like the peeler and poor "Jo" — " move
on, move on, it's alius move on 1 " He was a native of the
hills, but a poor creature, like most of them. It was
bitterly cold and my Hindostanis seemed stupefied. They
complained of pain in the head, and I rubbed their noses
with snow, telling them it was the custom of my country and
a certain cure for headache. The treatment acted like a charm.
I felt uneasy lest some of them should lie down, and if they
did, the chances are they would never rise again from that
rest. Felt the cold myself, for I had nothing on but a
flannel shirt, long stockings and knickerbockers, and my

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fingers seemed frozen round the rifle I carried. Nor was it
wonderful, considering the height, 17,000ft., 3,000 higher
than Mt. Blanc, the difference of temperature, of course, due
to latitude. It is really curious how stupid and
indifferent natives become from cold. One coolie persisted in
wandering away from the rest, and I had to go after him
myself and bring him back, after a great expenditure of
shouting and abuse, to which he was as utterly indifferent as
he was to his safety. The snow was firm and sound and
after .some time we came upon tracks of some of our people
who had gone ahead under the guidance of a Fartaresque
goat-herd, who was really a fine sharp fellow. — As these
mountains are in the Tropics, all unsound snow appears to
melt during the Summer and fresh snow rarely falls until
late in the Autumn, consequently, one does not see the
fearful crevasses which render crossing the Alpine snows so
dangerous, especially when concealed by a fresh fall, as they
often are. Then glaciers bring down on their surface an
immense amount of rock debris which renders them easy to
cross. The mountains, when not granite or hornblende, are
generally of some species of black mica slate, very friable,
particularly under the changes of intense cold and tropic
sun to which they are subjected, consequently one often sees
a sort of sandwich, a layer of 50 feet — thick ice between two
slices of rocky debris.

At the foot of the pass, as we came down, we found
ourselves in the Ladak country. On that patch of brilliant
green is a flock of queer little mares feeding (this is entirely
pastoral country), and a fine Ladaki keeps a vague look-out
after the wild little beasts. He wears a picturesque
cap, hanging over one side, similar to the Catalan
peasantry, only the colour is not red. He caught a mare
for me to cross the stream upon, and showed all his white
teeth as I caught the rope he lia<^ twisted round her jaw and
vaulted on to her back. He is altogether the finest fellow
I have seen for a long time, and if he only washed himself
would be as fair as I am, though that is not saying much, for
between sun and wind and rain I am about as dark as a well-
coloured meerschaum. Looking down this valley of Karjuk
there is a long line of red, warm-looking hills, a contrast to
the cold grey ones we leave behind. Here the coolies
indulged in tea, and I walked up the valley. We came
upon another Ladaki camp, consisting of the same black

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297

blanket sort of tent, with a hole in the top for chimney.
Window ventilators I don't imagine they desire, for the
cold in winter must be intense, judging from what it is
now in July. Some men, as we approached, ran up the
mountain like wild animals, evidently afraid of us, but the
ladies of the camp came out to meet us, and were remarkably
civil and hospitable, spreading a sheepskin for me to sit on,
and offered fresh milk, curds and a sort of paste, looking like
a mixture of flour and curds. The milk was delicious — yak
milk, 1 suppose, for the herds about consisted only of yak
mares and sheep. The whole picture was most novel. The
yak has great chowries, or immense tufts of silk}'
black hair, one for his tail, one for each haunch,
and one on each flank, or, rather, just under the
girth, and a mass of mane or hair all over
his head. He seems to be a singular, but most
useful beast, for he carries burdens, gives
milk and wool and beef too, only I expect
he is too precious to eat. His tail is much
valued in Hindostan, where they are sold for
as much as ten rupees, to make chowries or fly-
flapper affairs. The women of these nomadic
people were as curious as their cattle. Their,
dress is really pretty and lively in colour (and
in other respects too, probably\ but tVi*;y them-
selves are so fearfully and wonuerfulh- '•nade, so
utterly plain. They have great, broad, fleshy
faces, with large pieces of meat for cheeks, and
yet withal, a good-natured kind expression. One
old woman was more terribly ugly than a blear-
eyed nightmare. She was a labyrinth of
wrinkles, without form and void of feature. All
people who live much in the open air get wrinkled
early, from involuntaril}'' screwing up their eyes
and features in the glare of the sun, or when exposed
to wind and rain. Her dress was exactly the same as that
of the young girls — a fault not unknown in other lands.
The Ladaki women wear a cap resembling the old broad
blue bonnet of Scotland, set jauntil}' on one side, only it is
black. The coiffure, as usual, consists of coarse common
turquoise, red coral-like beads, sheepskin, and last but not least,
dirt. Round their throats they have a thing like a small
horse-collar covered with the all-pervading dirt and red

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beads, and occasionally a Russian coin* for ornament ; for
warmth, a sheepskin (the woolly side in, after Mr. O'Lynn's
fashion) thrown over the shoulders, a dirt-coloured upper gar-
ment, and a petticoat of strips of different
coloured cloth, each strip about six inches
wide, sewn longjitudinally together. The
colours are red, yellow, black, and dark
green, the whole sobered and rendered pic-
turesque b}'^ dirt. Be it understood that
filth in every case enters largely into the
composition of all pictures in Ladak. What
would Murillo have done but for dirt in the
pictures of his brown Spanish boy, John
the Baptist, and his equally brown monks ?
These Ladak ladies wear a species of shape-
less Chinese stocking boot which gives
them the appearance of being elephant-
footed. Whether the}- are so or not re-
mains to be see!'>. They dispense with
crinoline, but, being naturally stout little
parties, do not appear limp. Babies are
evidently not one of the staple manufactures
«y* of the country, for J see few. Perhaps they
''"herd with the goats in the higher pastures.
In the evening I reached Karjuk, a ver}'
few hdvels, a gr^at number of Mausoleums, and piles of long
stone proving walls, built up with carved stones covered with
the ceaseless allusion to Mr. Patrick Mahoon. Everywhere

^^^c

* Thirty years li.ivc passed, and the partv of Imperial defence by large maps and catch
phrases about '■ Mervousness " and " Masterly Inactivity " is again m the ascendant. The
linglish i)eopie are always ready for doses of soothing syrui) — Mrs. Winslow's or any
other old woman's. A distingiiisned General, through the " Times," October 2gth, 189J.
assures us that " in a military point of view, and so far as India is concerned, it is evident
the country of the Pamirs may be left out of account as a possible base of operations.
.\mongst the many invasions of India which occurred in ages gone by there is no record of
any attempt having ever been made from that quarter. ' I am not sufficiently versed in
Indian History to say there is no such record, b it there is very strong tradition among the
natives of that region that in times past cavalry iuvaders came from the north into Kashmir,
corroborating the tradition received by Zuhber Khan from his forebears. He could trace
his ancestors to the time of the conquest of Am, igtcbe, and he assured me that an in-
vading force of Central Asian cavalr had descended into India by the passes in the north
of Ladak, and through Kashmir.

Sir George Malleson informs us mat in isSeAkbar Khan sent in army " tc conquer
Kashmir. His force consisted chiefly of cavalry, and although he did not certainly enter
Kashmir by way of the Pamirs, he invaded it through thf most northern pass, and con-
quered it."

It is not iiretended that Turkoman cavalry selected passes 17,000 feet high, when there
are innumerable others of less altitude, any more than it is expected t'.iat the Russians have
selected the Pamirs as a jumping off place. Mountain heights are only valuable in military
operations, because they command the passes that wind about the'r feet. In that harm-
ing book, " Where Three Umpires meet," a man who is more of a oldier than nu :; who
■vear uniform, tells us how the Cossack has already descended the ^iindoo Koos'.i into terri-
tory once under our influence. Hut we do not wish to see, and are preparing, only— to
turn the otlier cheek.

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299

it is (like the nose at Lucknow) a mystic sym-
bol— V.O.V.—"0 ! man i pat mahoon."*

As feared, two coolies are not forthcoming,
lost their way in the snow and one of them
was carrying the poles of our little paul tents.
Bitterly cold, no tent, no dinner, for the other
missing coolie carried the kitchi. ;i on his back.
Was glad to creep into one of the miserable
hovels I had cleared out, and fall asleep after a
severe day's work. My kit awoke me, having managed to
cook some pigeons I had shot on the road (there was no
road) as we came along. After dinner and pipe I wouldn't
have called the Queen my uncle. Sent back some men to
look after the missing coolies, who turned up about the
middle of the next day, considerably bruised and utterly
done, having fallen' and lost themselves and my tent
bamboos in the snow. Ihey are only five feet long and
light. The beggar had not much to carry. Waiting for
new ones and for the arrival of the kitchen detained me till
the afternoon. Tht inhabitants of the place arc civil and I
got with difficulty a 'ouple of sticks for :ny tent, for nothing
grows in this valley above a foot high. It must be un-
commonly cold in winter here, for even now the men are all
clothed warmly, in July. Some of them wear long sheep-
skin coats, woolly side in. Their hovtis have no windows
but

" A hole in the roof and all complate.
Through which the smoke most gracefully doth retrate."

The men imoke long, thin, iron pipes (not bubble
bubbles). These appear their chief characteristics, combined
with the attribute of being much more civil and obliging than
the people in the territory under British raj.

July 14th. — Remained most of the day at Karjuk, and in
the afternoon made tracks up the valley, about 7 miles.

* Any one wlio served through the Mntiny Ciinipaitjn will reineniher the bir(I-l"e profile
of a well-known officer, which appeared as by magic traced by mysterious hands .ipon the
walls of every dak bimgalow along the Grand Tnnik road, on the marble walls of the
I'eacock Throne Room at Delhi, on the palaces of Oudh, on mosque and temple, it met the
<"'s of the advancing troops. Kven Sir Colin Campbell is sai<l to have recoiled with an
astonished "damn,"ashefonKht his way into the Residency, and recognized the eiior :ous
nose with nothing of a chin delineated among the holes of musket balls tliat pitted tne wall
ofthe Residency facing the Haily Guard Gate. Jin^o reproduced it among the mystic
Buddhist symbols on the highest Himalayas, whcro It may puzzle Madame Ulavatzky's
Mahatmas.

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where ve camped on a bit of soft green turf close to
running water. The mountain opposite is a great wall
of rock, not a green blade upon it. Here is another
Tartar camp and flocks. My baggage was carried to-day
on yaks, and we formed a most picturesque procession,
closed by self and Hindostani bearer, who has usurped
the tulwar of the faithful Zubber, donned a scarlet puggeree
and wears a chuprass — brass plate with my name on it,
like the door-plate of a young doctor. I can see his appear-
ance commands respect, and, what is more to the purpose,
facilitates my getting supplies, for these poor wild fellows
address him as " Maharaj " (great prince).

July 15th. — Marched to Char late in the day, and camped
near the rope bridge, made of brushwood like that at
Koksur, about six miles from last camp, along a wild gorge
cut by a largish river which Hov.'o noi Lli. Have passed the
highest part of the Himalayas in this region. The
Sing-Kung-I.a Pass( 17,000ft.) is the watershed which divides
the larg„. rivers flowing south through Hindostan and the
Punjaub to the Indian Ocean, viz., Beas and Chendb, from
those which flow north, and, after as long a course through
Thibet or Chinese Tartary, find their way to the Arctic
seas. No vegetation whatever, nothing but huge walls of
rock on each side of the pent-up torrent. In spite of the
altitude 't is warm, as the sun is straight overhead and the
rocks rad.ate the heat. These changes of temperature are
trying. No shikar here, they say, all the ibex gone to the
snows this time of year, and no shikarrees, and, thank
Heaven I no flics, no mosquitoes. The Celestials once ruled
this country of Ladak, and did some little fighting here in a
mild way, but they left this inhospitable region of snow,
though, unlike the sheep mentioned in the infantine epic, the}'
did leave their tails behind them. Nearly all the men wear
Celestial extremities, i.e., pigtails and stocking-boots. The
Sikh also tried a little fighting, and a good many got frozen
up. The country at that time paid tribute to Maharajah
Rumbeer Singh, to whose father we gave, or sold for an
unpaid trifle, as lovely and valuable a territory as our swords
ever won — Kashmir, the Garden of Asia, the while we cling
to the Scinde desert with tenacity. This huckstering tran-
saction of the old E.I.C. consigned an inoffensive people to a
rule of iron tyranny. They bolt in great numbers to the
*^erritory under British protection to avoid the rapacity of

WILLOW PATTERN PLATE COUNTRY.

301

their present ruler, who thinks nothing of taking a nose or
an ear in default of a few rupees. — I see a good many men
wear the sort of stocking bandage the stereotyped Italian
brigand is supposed to indulge in.* What on earth do the
few people live on who hang out on these hills ? for hang
out it certainly seems where footing is precarious. Oc-
casionally are seen very small patches of barley, but that
probably is for whiskey. No green bits of pasture here as
in the Karjuk valley. Have long ago given up all hope of
seeing the country depicted on the old willow-pattern
plate. I fondly imagined at one time, from seeing the preter-
naturally-peaked mountains, and the houses with the cocked-
up pagoda-like roofs, with bells and things hanging from
the eaves, that I mi\st be approaching that curious
country. ,

army.

It has since been adopted for the mounted infantry and camel porps of the British

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CHAPTER XXVIII.

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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 III — One-Fifth of a Wife — Marmots —

PiTIDAR — Snc -ORM — GiLMOTUNDI — AVALANCHE — 23,400 FeET—

Nunnoo Kunn I ''. La Moula — Abode of Snow Spirit —
Crevasses — Dl? Wurdwan Valley — Kashmiri Character

— Nagan Undher ounded Bear — Peculiar Pipe — Grass

Sandals — UNsuccEst.i-uL Ibex Stalk — Sacrifice a Sheep —
Successful Bear and Bara Singa Shooting — Martund Ruins —
Islamabad — Under the Chenars.

We have at last got beyond the influence of those
abominable rains, though there are still frequent sunshine
showers, as in most mountainous districts. There are lots of
Lamas in these parts. They always shave the head and
don the sacred scarlet. Their pupils or disciples wear
yellow. Sometimes the dress is a combination of the two
colours, and then it reminds one of Rochester's line —

" Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red."

They are not allowed to adopt the red mantle until they
have made a pilgrimage to Lassa, where the grand Lama
lives — but never dies, as he takes one body after another as
he finds it convenient. Those who have not been to Lassa
to be initiated are "yellow boys." I bought two devil-dodg-
ing machines for three dibs (rupees). One is a copper
cylinder containing written prayers, which is revolved from
right to left, and each revolution scores one — a case of pray-
ing made popular, for it is easy to turn off a lot in a few
seconds. The other mystical affair I don't understand,
except you hold it in the left hand. The pious party in pos-
session turned his eyes up, and said he could not sell prayers,
but on the production of rupees said he would make me a
present of the holy articles — if I made him a present also.
Fellows of this trade are much the same all over the world.
I began turning the praying machine the wrong way, to the

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MONKS AND NUNS.

305

vendor's great distress, as he said I was unsaying his prayers.
These men are evidently Monguls, high cheek bones, and
very thin light beards.

July 1 6th. — Marched along a wild barren gorge beside a
turbid river, the Sampoo, flowing north. Have been very
happy among these lonely peaks, and leave them with regret.
In the elevated regions of Ladak now open to me I see ,
no more of the grand snow peaks which have looked down
upon me for so long. My bhistie is laid up with a stiff
touch of fever — poor fellow, he is a good faithful servant,
and followed me through the campaign. Am giving him
lots of the never-failing quinine. Zubber Khan also has
fever. We passed a small Buddhist Monastery perched like
an eagle's nest in a crevice of an apparently inaccessible
rock. I wondered at first why the clergy, contrary to their
wont, should choose such an inhospitable eyrie, but a turn
in the valley showed us a snug little village nestling below.
With this exception there was no habitation along the whole
gorge of about 20 miles of rock and roaring water. How
yaks, carrying loads, can come along the narrow path I am
at a loss to conceive. It hardly seems wide enough in some
places for their enormous tails to pass. Crossed a natural
rock bridge over one of the many fantastic chasms, with a
furious flood below — a spot which would be denominated
'' The Devil's " — something, and make the fortune of a
whole Swiss Canton. A paling would be put round, and
they would let 3'ou look through a hole, at a franc a
head.

July 17th. — Stopped on the road to sketch the monastery.
On the way to Puldum or Pudom, in the Zascar valley. An
old Lama and young monk came out in their usual scarlet
costume, and brought me what they call a lighted joss stick
in China, much the same as incense. The monk who
accompanied the old scamp of a Lama wasn't a monk at all,
but a young nun — a great mistake to suppose even
Buddhist monks could get on without nuns, who are dressed
like the monks, except that they generally wear yellow caps,
and look like boys — ugly boys! A good deal of house-top
praying was done. The roof was studded with little flags
and a large gilt praying cylinder. It ought to grind off enough
prayers on a windy day for the whole community of sinners,
unless they are an extra wicked lot. The knowing ones
use water prayer wheels in the streams which flow from

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perpetual snow. The hotter tlie weather the faster spins
the praying wheel. Laborarc est orarc never seems to
enter into the Oriental mind. Indolent abstraction or
brown study, combined with mechanical prayer, mendicity,
mendacity, and personal filth are the acme of Oriental holi-
ness. From the east I suppose the theory reached Rome.
^ Shot a marmot on the mountain. It is rather larger than an
English hare, has teeth like one, red fur, long bushy tail, and
paws with long fingers to them. Except in colour it is not
unlike a badger. There appears to have been a largish town
here formerly, now mostly in ruins, the eft'ects of monastic
institutions, or of the rapacity of the Maharajah Rumbeer
Singh, whose sepoys, a ragged, ill-paid lot, infest the valley.
The Tesseldar, or swell of the district, paid me a visit en
grmidc temie, sword, shield, etc., like a wicked warrior. He
is in reality a mild and wily Hindoo. Shall halt here to
make arrangements for coolies, etc., along the way to Kashmir.
There are two white tents here. I find they belong to a
surveyor, an Englishman, who, with some others, is
making a survey for the Maharajah. He is up the hill at
present.

July 1 8th. — The young surveyor came down the hill and
dined with me. He told me the Sing-kung-la Pass is 17,000
feet, 1000 higher than the Burra-la-cha Pass, the usual route
to Ladak. The air is so dry, a difficulty in breathing is
often felt at the slightest ascent, more than the ordinary
" bellows to mend " one feels in the lower hills where the air
is not so rarefied. The Tesseldar sent a sepoy to attend me,
as is the custom of the Maharajah, whose soldier he is. A
picturesque, tall fellow, all hair and teeth, and tulwar, and
knives od lib. He carries a shield on his back — probablj'^ the
part most exposed to an enemy. The coolies carry "sitting-
sticks" here — a T-shaped contrivance.

19th. — Matched to Phegam. All my servants are sick
now, poor beggars, they can't stand this work. Saw a lot
of Tartar cavaliers on well-shaped, active little ponies. We
came to a rope bridge. They unsaddled and drove their
wild little horses into the stream, which they swam splendidly,
their masters shouting to them all the time. The current
was tremendous.

My boots have established a raw, and grass sandals last no
time in this stony place.

20th. — Servants awoke me about i a.m., wanting me to

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ONE FIFTH OF A WIFE.

307

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start. I could tell by the stars it wasn't near morning, so
declined. My kit went on and complained of having marched
half the night. One of my coolies informs me he owns the
fifth part of a wife, who is shared between five brothers. Am
not surprised at his wishing to accompany me to Kashmir:
should imagine his home none too comfortable, perhaps he
doesn't get his share of "spooning." Anyway, his wife
won't miss him. This inverted polygamy, if I may call it so,
exists all through this country. There does not seem any
scarcity of ladies but as may be supposed a paucity of
children, doubtless enough to rear in a hungry land where
the men are not warlike. Rain and high wind this afternoon.
The usual style of black, barren hills, with mica slate
shewing here, pulverised into light dust, unpleasant when
the wind is high.

2 1 St. — Pitched camp at Zunker, eighteen miles on,
quite close to a large glacier. Pain in the head all day,
due to high elevation. Servants still ill. They ride on
yaks and tats. It will become expensive keeping up this
cavalry. Saw lots of marmots to-day — shot five with my
Yankee rifle and missed a couple. The head of a marmot
is not a large mark for a bullet, and if not hit in a vital part
they roll into their holes to linger and die. For that reason,
don't fire at the poor little beggars with shot. They have
beautiful soft fur ; hope to get enough skins to make a warm
something for somebody, but they are much prized and
difficult to get, for the animals only live in a few of these
high valleys.

22nd. — Very cold, snowed last night. The Pitidar must
be a considerable height. On the top are two bleak lone
mountain tarns, still and dark, with the mist floating over
them. Cold cutting wind, sleet and snow, large and fast
flakes, which never ceased until we got down into the
valley to Tashedungdhee, when it turned to rain. My
Hindostanis think all this very terrible, and though they
are warmly clad, with blankets on their heads, collapsed as
usual. Fancy this being July, and snowing away like
Christmas at home ! God help my poor fellows panting in
that Mooltan oven. Don't think I shall ever recover
the baking I got there. Gilmotungdhee. Phew I There
goes the prolonged thunder of the avalanche — masses of
snow falling, unusual at this time of year.

23rd. — Tashedungdhee. Halted for shooting. Got nine

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marmot skins to-day, Zubber Khan four. Bought a sheep
for four annas — about 6d. 1 " Bos Grunniens " the learned
pundits put down the yak. He grunts Hke a pig — ride one
sometimes across a stream.* The pigeons here are nearly
white, and the leopards too, all but the spots, difficult to
change them. Very pretty variety of sparrow here with a
bright reddish-brown tail ; managed to catch a young one to
examine. The wild flowers are lovely, strange ' and varied
as usual. This can't be a very cheerful diggings in winter,
neither men nor cattle stir out of their stone cells. The
roofs are piled with firewood — where it comes from is a
puzzle, for there is not a stick growing in the valley. They
store a little grass there too, but scarcely sufficient for their
flocks, and they don't grow anything else. The dung of
their cattle serves for fuel. The people learn to be insolent,
and refuse to sell the necessaries of life to a passing stranger.
The nearer one is to a British Commissioner (when once
beyond the exercise of his personal hospitality, which is
extensive), the greater is the probability of being starved.

Passed a rather extensive Lamassary, on a green hill in
the middle of the barren valley. A crowd of mendicant
monks came running down and held out their filthy fists for
backsheesh. I caused it to be interpreted to them that I did
not wish to encourage idleness and mendicity, either clerical
or lay, so the red rascals returned to their hive disgusted.
Guess no wind nor water mills ground any prayers for me
to-day. Valley narrows here, and is eventually walled in
by cliffs. Found an ibex head, natives said it had been
killed by an avalanche. They are frequent in the
neighbourhood, and disturb the stillness of the night. The
road in some places was impassable for yaks, and my
baggage had to be lowered by ropes down a cliff
overhanging a torrent. A large glacier came right down
into the pent-up valley. The bright blue sky contrasted
with two giant mountains in the background, 23,400 feet
altitude, one white with snow, named Kunnoo, or clothed in
white, the black brother called Nunnoo (naked). The blue
tints of the glacier were more vivid than usual as it was so
close,, and the hot sun set off" several young avalanches all
born in thunder. As I sat looking at the wondrously beautiful
creation before me a great pinnacle of snow, a perfect castle

Or eross on a charpoy raft supixirted by inflated yak skins.

ABODE OF SNOW SPIRIT.

309

cliff was pointed out in a
spirit of snow and storm ;

glittering against the sky, came down with a thunder-crash
and melted into snow vapour in the gulf below.

25th. — Over the mountain to another valley, Percutchun
where the little fort of Tissur lies.

27th. — Towards the Wurdwan Valley. Camp at Dunaroo,
no huts,

28th. — Marched 20 miles, 18 of them over glacier.
Crossed the Pass Bo-bung at the foot of the Pir Lamoula
Mountain, a perpendicular mass of snow, with the head in
cloudland, giving birth to an enormous glacier. A red

whisper as the abode of the
meet dwelling place for the
evil demon who issues from his home of eternal snow to
overwhelm the belated traveller. My coolies made devout
salaams to the scarlet cliff and prayed that he would be
propitious and allow us to pass without the unpleasant
accompaniment of a snowstorm, which is his usual greeting.
We had to cross about 18 miles of frozen snow, with some very
ugly crevasses in it — not pleasant to walk over a snow bridge
say a foot wide, with a cold blue eternity of crevasse fathoms
deep on either hand. Was the only one of the party who
wore a pair of slippery English shoes. Took them off to
cross the first bridge, but it did not improve matters much
for the sun shone out and the thawing snow made my stock-
ings as slippery as the shoes. The second bridge a trifle
worse, about 30ft. longer, could not see the bottom but could
hear the gurgling snow river rolling below. These coolies
are a poor race for mountain-breds. They wear a kind of
woollen boot with sheepskin (wool inside) stitched over it,
woollen bandages on the leg up to the knee, an excellent
species of chaussure for this kind of country. The snow-
spirit treated us to a storm of mingled sleet and snow before
we left his domain. My Hindoo bearer is hardly able to
crawl. Poor beggar ! I can hardly refrain from laughing
at his awkward shambling figure wrapped in a mass of
cotton rag apparently, for, though I have given him a sheep-
skin coat (poshteen) and lots of warm clothing, he still per-
sists in putting on over all, his mivserable chudders and thin
down-country cotton rags. Camped, wet and cold, at the
foot of the glacier where king snow and king coal seem to
have amalgamated , for the glacier here is almost black with
debris of grey mica slate.

29th, Dumohi. — The valley opened in most lovely green

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and brushwood, undulating meadow filled with wild flowers
in a thousand varieties, acres of tall purple loosestrife,
meadow sweet, silver wort, and heaps of new and beautiful
flowers, until the soft air is laden with perfume. Sun not
so dry nor scorching as in Ladak. The feathery foliage of
the aspen and silver bark of the birch shew through the
greenery, while the tall dark pine adds sombre shadows to
the fairy picture. " Ventre bleu !" what shall I do ? Some-
body black has broken the hair trigger of my pet rifle, the
antelope shooter, and the ball of Nat Lewis is too light for
bears and large game.

30th. — The Wurdwan Valley to Rickenwas, passing
Sukenahi. Seen no human habitation for four days, and the
last two have been through a most beautiful pasture valley.
The Kashmir people are remarkably handsome and nearly
white, a pleasing contrast to the I'.gly Monguls of Thibet.
But they have a poor character for integrity.

" Kashmiri butcha,
Kubi ne sutcha :
Jo hi sutcha,
Ne hi butcha."

Son of Kashmir,
Never sincere :
Be he sincere,
No son of Kashmir.

As I was breakfasting under a tree a little white-skinned
Kashmiri came and gave me three apples, and told me he
knew the haunts of the red bears. Promised him plenty of
backsheesh if he shewed me any. He is going frontierwards
to exchange salt for pinewood with the Ladakis, a valuable
commodity to them, answering to coals and candles in their
treeless region. Valley still very lovely, profusion of flowers,
hollyhocks, docks, lOft. high, and giant nettles in proportion
which the hillmen call " bichou," or scorpions. Took an un-
kind pleasure in the surprise of my Hindoo bearer when he
got stung, for he is a great pig, and carries more personal
property than I do. He cut up my mosquito curtains and
made himself a sort of transparent tulle chemise, trimmed
with silver tinsel, shewing dimly his abominable black
"buzzim" and arms. Jieast ! he brought it with him and I

PECULIAR PIPE.

311

threatened to make him wear it when we were on the top
of the Sing-kung-la, i7,ooot"t.

31st. — Went up the mountains Nagen Undher. Saw
several kael (ibex), but could not get a shot at them though I
went to the topmost ridges in my endeavour. Wounded a
large brown bear at 100 yards — had her cub with her, she
went oflf before I could re-load (the coolie wiih my second
rifle left far behind) so Bruin escaped with her cub and a
mortal wound, I fear, for I followed her bloody tracks for
more than a mile. Zubber Khan fired a shot after her but
missed her, ibr a wonder, a thing he rarely does.

August 1st. — Got two shikarees from Busman, who tell
me honestly I shall get no shooting at this time of year (the
rains.) The jungle and grass grow rank and tall upon the
mountains, you can't see where to put the foot, and slip
about in a most unpleasant way. Wear the Kashmir grass
sandal, which nearly cuts my foot in two between the great
and second toes. Moved to Cumber and left all servants
except the kit. Up to Pulwas mountain, ?' out eight miles,
where we made a sleeping-place, a sort of second camp, from
which to go and prowl about the mountain. Saw two
very large brown bears, but could not get a shot, coolies dis-
turbed them.

2nd. — Up Chunar hills. Followed bear tracks unsuccess-
fully. Climbed above the snow ridges, long and fatiguing
day for nothing. Hail, rain, snow, and darkness came on
before camp was reached. The two shikarees are really
good mountaineers. Saw some Ladakis smoking a singular
and original species of pipe, they wet the ground in a soft
place and pass a pliant twig through it in a curve, then they
scooped out a bowl to hold the baccy at one end, pulled out
the twig, the other end was the mouth-piece. They
lay down on their stomachs and smoked in turn from this
primitive pipe.

3rd. — Started up the hills, but found a gang of nimuck
wallahs, men distributing salt to the ponies on the hills at
pasture. The fellows spread themselves all over the hills,
and of course scare the game. So after an unsuccessful
ramble returned to camp, shooting a marmot.

August 4th, Sunday. — Returned to Cumber and the ser-
vants. Went on to Murrug, three miles off. Found my
bearer cleaning his kitchen range, he carries about pots
and pc'ns enough for a Battery mess. Ordered him to send

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me a dozen pairs of grass shoes up the hill, he sent
me one pair only and too small, so I cut my feet to
pieces and nearly broke my neck as I had to wear English
shoes.

August 5th. — Left camp, etc., at Murrug, and went up the
mountain. Saw three bara singa (stags) a long wa}' oft'.
Cold, nail, rain, mist. Slept on the mountain. It is no use
trying to shoot here in the rainy season, was told so before,
believe it now. They say the bears go down to eat the fruit
in the valley, and the ibex go oft' to );he highest peaks,
where one may sometimes see the scimitar-shaped horn
against the blue sky line. They are only to be got in the
colder months till April or May. When the snows drive
them down they are less wideawake.

August 7th, — Took a long prowl over the mountains, saw
eight ibex (very wild) and a large red bear. After a long
stalk something alarmed him and he went oft". Came down
a short cut, precipitous rather, and found myself towards
dusk, in the woods above Cumber village. Went on to camp,
etc., at Murrug.

8tli. — Moved camp to Busman, and marie arrangements for
supplies for ray coolies as 1 am oft' to Seranugger, over the
mountain, not by the usual track through the valley. No
villages on the way, servants and impedimenta go the
lower road to Chittur. Zubber Khan and my kitmugar with
me. The shikarees tell me if I sacrifice a sheep to the
Almighty and distribute the flesh to the poor I shall be sure
of fine weather and sport. They, themselves, are of course
the poor alluded to, and I am perfectly well aware whose are
the sheep upon all the hills, and I don't expect to make a
bunderbust with him to give me bears for sheep. Neverthe-
less I give the sheep. It may make the shikarees more lively
and work better.

9th. — Up mountain above Busman and walked all day without
seeing anything, except a small black snake, very poisonou.s,
the second I have killed. Not pleasant walking in the long
grass in sandals and stockings. This bad sport is
disheartening. The shikarees sa^' I have been where no
other sahib has been — perhaps they lie, but I know I have
walked from the snows to the valleys day after day without
a shot. No one could work harder, but this is not the right
time of year.

lOth. — Harwut Camp. Saw three bears. Went to wind-

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BEAR SHOOTING.

313

ward of one. He was off at once. Got a shot afterwards
at another, not so large as the firsi, which was as big as a
cow. Fired at about 120 yards, ball hit him fair behind the
shoulder, seemed to stagger him, but he made off. Zubber
Khan then fired, striking him in the thigh, yet he still made
down the hill for the jungle, with me afc r him as sharp as
possible. He halted in some rocks and bush and I got
below him to cut off his further retreat, although the
shikarees advised me not, as a wounded bear generally
charges down hill. Went up to about 10 yards of where he
was, but could not see him for jungle, though the bushes
shook as he came straight towards me. Rearing on his
hind legs his great W00II3' head appeared above the bushes
about two yards off. I let him have the left barrel fair in
the centre of the horse-shoe on his chest, when he growled,
rolled over, and shuffled off in another direction.
"Shahbash," from the faithful Zubber Khan showed me
that he was at my elbow in case I had missed. After
loading I followed and fired the two barrels without effect,
apparently, which astonished me. At last I got within 30
yards and determined to try a head shot. Hit him half an
inch below the eye, which dropped him at once. To my
surprise found he had been hit no less than six times before
he fell. One ball had gone clean through the shoulders,
another just behind them, a third through the chest, yet he
did not fall until the last pierced his brain. (N.B. — Shall
make a memo, not to go at a bear from below for I see the
effect of even well placed balls is uncertain).* He had a
tolerable amount of grease though not a verj' good skin.
Feel very koosh after skinning my first bear. A thunder-
storm after getting to camp — didn't we eat a breakfast !
About one o'clock it was. Have been luck}- enough to get a
brick of Thibet tea, not very good, but most acceptable to
poor beggars who have nothing to drink but snow-water.
Still feel very seedy, but shan't go into Seranugger empty-
handed.

nth. — The sight of u big brown she-bear with two
nearly full-grown cubs, mac'e me forget my ailments. After
a successful stalk leeward, fired, and hit behind the shoulder,
but the ball entered about four inches too far back, so she
went off with a roar. Told Zubber Khan to look after the

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when a horrid yell from my shikai'i, Kurream, and
roar from old Bruin made me think the former was a
coon. Found all serene, except he was in a mortal

cubs, but they looked after themselves, and he could not get
a shot, so he turned attention to the old 'un, and hit her in
the flank. After following, we traced her under a large
rock. Suddenly she sprang out, let a roar within a few feet
of us, and dashed off like greased electricity, though she was
bloody from shoulder to flank. Am ashamed to say we
both missed her. My footing was insecure, I slipped, fell
backwards, and let off my rifle in a vague way. As I knew
the bear was badly hit, and could not finally escape,
followed her tracks an immense distance, all day in fact,
until she got right into the valley jungle. Had almost given
up, when a horrid yell from my shikai'i, Kurream, and a

gone
funk.
He was lying on his face. The bear had taken an extensive
sample of the voluminous folds of his nether garment,
>< making a sanguinary scratchwork pattern on the brown
skin. Can only account for his escape by the extreme
rottenness of his trousers. He had fired at her with my
double rifle, and missed her. The jungle was so thick here
one could not see far. We tracked Bruin into some bushes
on the edge of a most awful precipice, indeed, the whole of
the ground we had come over in the latter part of the pursuit
was such as I should be sorry to retrace at speed in cooler
moments ; gave her the roup c/c grace from the small
American pea rifle. Could just see the points of her ears
through the bush. The back of her head was towards me at
about lOO yards, and the small bullet struck her fair
between the ears, dropping her dead. The body rolled a
(ew feet down the hill, over the edge of the precipice, and
then went a most tremendous smash, 400 feet I should say,
into the torrent below, where she rebounded with a loud
thud, I fear to say how high, but I really think ten
feet into the air. Saw her the whole way down, bounding
from rock lo rock in a most extraordinary fashion. It gave
one a fair idea of one's fall should the foot slip in such a
place. Got down with some difficulty, and found not a
bone broken, except the skull, which was smashed The
bones of the aninia' enormous, and the muscular develop-
ment of the fore-arm (corresponding very much with tliat of
man) magnificent; splendid skin, hair half a foot long.
Seldom underwent such fatigue as in this hunt. Had no
breakfast, only a cup of tea before da3'break at starting.

MARTUND RUINS.

315

nothing but a little snow-water passed my lips since. Felt
utterly exhausted sitting by the dead bear, thought reaching
camp (sent on 10 miles) utterly impossible. Coolie with our
breakfast of hard boiled eggs, chupatties, and bottle of cold
tea, was left far behind, and never put in appearance until
we reached Zug Murrug at nightfall. How glad we were to
see the glimmer of the camp fire ! (N.B. — Never go shoot-
ing in the rains without brandy). Zubber Khan's pluck
enables him to undergo fatigue and hardship in a wonderful
way for a Hindostani.

August 1 2th. — Saw two bears up hill, too seedy to follow
them. Eat opium pills, don't do much good. The faithful
Zubber sa\'s I must go and lay up at Seranugger, hills and
bears can wait. Coolies, too, have nothing to eat, so we
must make tracks for the valley. They say the bear killed
is a very old one, used to hunt the shepherds and occasion-
ally eat sheep. The black bear is rarely carniverous, living
largely on mulberries, etc. The brown bear at the beginning
of winter, before hibernating, likes a meat meal or two, be
it the liver of an elderly lady or a tender lambkin.

August 13th. — Went down to Chittur, roughish road in
one part. Muchtah Shikari lives there by the Hereball
Mountain. Dirty, wet place at this time of yt ar, though
lovely, walnut trees, etc. Rained tremendously all night
and day. Bottom of the valley under rice cultivation. Went
into the top storey of a house to sleep, stead of in wet
blanket on wet grass. Oh, the fleas! Ii;r sutHered from
the sharp navajaof the Spanish Pulga, bloodthirsty, in I'osada
and Venta, but never aught like this. Shied my cloilics into
the stream in the morning to soak. Walked (but clothed ^n
to Reinpora, pretty place where the country opens, huge
trees and running water, emerald meadows. Had my first
glimpse of the Vale of Kashmir — or rather, the extensive
plain so-called — from the top ot the Hereball Mountain. The
old rock was bathed in mist and rain. Pleasant again to
see open country, all supremely beautiful and fertile. In the
higher mountains are Nature's kitchen gardens, wild rhubarb
(very good), carrots, onions, parsley, garlic, and lower down,
raspberries, black and red currants, strawberries, as good
as English, apple trees, cherries, walnuts, mulberries in
profusion.

15th. — At Martund. Curious old ruins, unlike the modern
Hindoo architecture, disfigured as it is by fantastic forms

0i0m\

- %

316

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

of sculptured ugliness, nor yet showing any relationship to
the Moslem Mosque or frail Minar. The heavy mass
of ruins are more like the Egypto-Greek in massive sim-
plicity. Evidently a Buddhist temple and monastery built in
the old time before Brahman corruption. The remains of
the old cloisters and little cells are distinctly visible where
the recluse Buddhist sought Nirvana. Walked on to Muttong,
breakfasted under some magnificent chunars near two sacred
tanks filled with holy fish and Fakirs bathing, crowds of
dirty rascals with long matted hair, their naked bodies
smeared with dirt and ashes ; they were being waited upon
by some rich shopkeeping Bunneahs and the usual assort-
ment of women, devout and otherwise, after the fashion of
their kind all the world over. Walked to Islamabad, the
old Moslem capital. Pleasant place for the sahib logue
under the stately chunars, close by the cool tank and arti-
ficial streams. There, to our astonishment, we saw two
English ladies with their brother.

i6th. — Caught half a dozen trout in the stream above the
town. Floated down to Seranugger by the river. Very
pleasant this (/o/cc far nicntc after the hard work over the
snowy passes of the Himalava and the desolate tablelands of
Thibet.

lip to
mass

sim-
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^here
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I the
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• the
is of

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.

It is said that eating the seeds of the lotus deprives men
of desire.

September 2nd. — Here have I been lotus-eating to a
disgraceful degree, fishing for unsophisticated trout with the
coarsest of improvised flies, or drifting idly through the
broad-leaved pink lotus among the floating island gardens on
the lake. These islands are made by putting hurdles and
brushwood on the mass of lotus leaves and tangled water
weeds, and earth over all. Seranugger itself I do not care
to stay in, the old wooden buildings are more quaintly
mediaeval European than Asiatic.

September 3rd. — Off to the hills again.

September 5th. — Islamabad. Met Dr. , who forbade

my going shooting — Englishman-like had to kill something —
with the Yankee rifle shot the head off a dicky-bird perched
on the projecting ridge pole of a semi-thatched boat that
was passing — the crew were squatting round a pot, the
body of the dicky-bird dropped into it, to the consternation
of the dinner-party ; where the shot came from they could
not tell, for I was not visible. Perhaps they did not desire
the feathered addition to their meal. One of my milch goats
was rubbing her nose on a spit stuck in the ground beside
the cook ; knocked the spit from her nose with a rifle bullet
without grazing the goat, and won a wager from Zubber and
astonished the kit.

6th. — Returned Seranugger way ; seedy with hill dysen-
tery till near the end of the month, most disappointing.

318

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

October ist. — Started again for Islamabad, feeling all

serene now. Walked one day last week with Zubber Khan

to Peri Mahal, the Palace of the Peris. Said to have been

constructed by Akber Shah, with the assistance of those

lovely and loving sprites, but alas 1 little remains of their

labour of love. The beauty of the situation was worthy of

their selection, a sloping hillside terraced with this excavated

palace looking down on the lotus-covered lake, with its

floating island-gardens of flowers and vegetables. Wandered

among the ruined baths and tangled rose thickets, thinking

sorrowfully about that Imperial race, so lately blotted from

the page of history in blood and crime. It seems only

yesterday an English gentleman, a fair-haired blue-eyed man

from Rugby, slew with his own hand the last Princes of

the once glorious Mogul dynasty, surrounded as he was by

a cowering crowd of Moslem soldiery. Poor Hodson ! I

won't forget his pleasant cheery face, nor the day his

destined bullet found him. Perhaps it was well so — Paladin

as he was, prince of partisan leaders, had he lived, Mr.

Gibson and the ghost of Joseph Hume, " in his old brown

coat, all snufly down before " (if ghosts wear coats) might

have haunted the House of Commons until they had hung

poor Hodson. But I have got a long way from

the Padishahs, their fountains, gardens, and glorious

chenars, their pretty pavilions by the murmuring water and

their handsome hummams. One can't but sympathise with

these old Badshas, Akber the Magnificent and his son —

those Emperors whose very ruins are such glories as the

Taj, and which at least deserve the homage of all artistic

natures. The sarcastic Baboo declares that broken bottles

will mark the ruins of our Raj. He ignores our railroads.

As to the ** love-lighted eye " department of the Vale of
Kashmir, I thought it a miserable failure, perhaps I was
not in a position to judge, though I could certainly do so
dispassionately. The majority of the professionals who get
paid for doing the love-lighting business are sadly plain,
poor things. Went to a dinner and nautch at the shawl
merchant's. The former part of the entertainment did credit
to his national taste in the cuisine, and he appeared to enter
into the spirit of the native performance with the character-
istic readiness of a Frank to amuse and be amused — happy
facility I But the latter part was a most dreary affair,
though performed by the prima donna (rather pretty girl

.V i-

■^m

c ^

s.'SPS,.-

h:^

-•■■*i^^ ■

NAUTCH GIRLS.

i'/i(e of

321

with a name about a rose) and t\
Kashmir. They have all, of course, undeniable Oriental eyes,
large, dark, and sleepy — the lids artificially blackened for
extra effect. Their pretty statuesque arms and ankles tinkle
with many bracelets and anklets. The richness of their
barbaric golden coin ornaments, and their long black hair
hanging down the way they wear it, would make a very
effective picture if they would only sit still, smoke, chat, and
pass the long snake-like hookah from one pretty pouting
mouth to another. Alas, they are not paid to make pictures,
so they begin to dance and sing, or rather nautch and howl —
from that moment they are hateful. Why, hang it all, it has
not even the small merit of impropriety to recommend it, like
the can-can and other dances of the European professional
ladies.

The Punditana women do a good deal of picturesque
drawing of water and bathing by the river very early in the
morning. They are generally handsome. The dress is a
long dark claret-coloured chemise, I suppose I must call it,
for it is an under and only garment (except the long veil, or
chudder), which shews the refined type of the Hindoo with
the usual pretty arms and wrists, and their figures have the
graceful poise which belongs to those races where the water
is not turned on from the main.

October 2nd. — At Islamabad again.

3rd. — Walked up to the top of the breezy hill
behind, and had a glorious gaze at this fertile valley and
then on to Atchebull, one of the sources of the Ghelum
(Fabulosus Hydaspes) where there is, or rather was, another
of those lovely gardens. There are the ruins of Akbar's
baths lettered all over with Persian poetr}', but larger
and heavier-handed than all, is scrawled, Sam Buggins,
24th Foot.

4th. — Walked to Chougaum, and here I am with
my tent under a haycock. It is the custom of the country to
put haycocks up in trees, an excellent plan for a climate of
deep snow, rain, etc. The autumnal tints are telling now,
swelling up in crimson and gold woodland hills even to the
eternal snows.

Here we are at the old camp fire, listening to the stories
of my shikaris an'^ the rumours of devastating animals told
by unveracious villagers, with clasped hands and the usual

preface of " Protector of the Poor ! " One came,

begging
Y

322

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

me to go to his village and shoot a brown bear which
had killed his mother-in-law and eaten her liver ; my
private opinion was that he was an ungrateful person, but as
I did not believe him, I asked for the corpse. " Sahib," he
said, " I must bury her, and throw her ashes into the sacred
river. What do you want her for ? " "I should tie her up,
the bear would come to finish her, and I would finish him."'
He shook his head and went away sorrowful — why should
he be so, left in possession of his mother-in-law's ashes ? I
was under the impression there was no dead relative, and he
only wanted me to go to the village to profit by the purchase
of his supplies for my party. He came again and said r
" Sahib, the bear has killed my cow. I am a Hindoo and
cannot eat cow, you may have her." Thought there
must be something in this ; went to the village,
had the remains of the cow trailed a little way through
the jungle, and tied to the root of a tree. There we waited
for the devourer. He came to finish his last supper. It was
just about dusk, and I could scarcely see the sights of my
rifle, but was lucky enough to lodge a ball in the region of
the lady-killer's heart. The pill did not prevent his endeav-
ouring to make a closer acquaintance with me, though the
wound was mortal. Perhaps he wished to give me a last ,
embrace. These advances to familiarity were met with the
contents of my left barrel ; Zubber Khan als ohit him fair in
the chest (my rifle makes a small hole, and my smooth-
bore in the hands of Z.K. a large one). This was too much for
any well-regulated bear. He seemed puzzled how to act, and
finally retired to the jungle. It was now quite dark; the
short twilight dies suddenly in these latitudes. The jungle
was dense, so we went back to tent and dinner, leaving two
coolies to watch the cow's carcass, which we had brought
nearer the camp. Had dined well oflf my favourite shikar
stew, and was lighting my pipe, when to my disgust I heard
a hullabaloo. Guessed what it meant, took my rifle, called
Zubber Khan, and went off to the cow. Was met by the two
coolies, frenzied with funk. They said a black bear having
polished off the beef au naturel wished to taste them ditto.
We found the mangled remains, sat down behind some
bushes and waited patiently, for a cold dark hour, then fetched
blankets to make a night of it. Came back, heard the report
of Zubber Khan's gun quite close, and something crashed
through the jungle beside me. Zubber Khan told me he had

AN EVENING PARTY.

323

wounded a bear, which had made off. Rolled myself in my
blanket and waited. Was dozing pleasantly, when an in-
fernal grumbling rriatch awakened me. It was, in fact, an
evening party over the remains of the lady-killer's supper,
and the lion of the party appeared to be a lady panther, for
she certainly talked most, and was probably the handsomest.
Four bears had come, possibly without invitation, for they all
were quarrelling dreadfully among themselves, and shewed no
respect to me, the giver of the repast. I dispersed them with
a shot, harmless I am sure, for it was so dark could scarcely
see a yard, and only let drive in the direction of the voices of
the angry disputants. Rolled over and slept until the heavy
masses of cloud which had gathered began to pelt down rain.
Made for the tent, drenched and disgusted. Next morning
found the lady-killer stretched stark and stiff in his bloody
tracks. Sent down some coolies to bring him in, which they
did, triumphantly, tied to the branch of a tree. We found
and followed the tracks of Zubber Khan's wounded bear for
some distance, unsuccessfully, though we found blood on the
trail.

9th to I ith. — Sleep out every night now, on the watch for
game. No fire, no companionable pipe, for Bruin has keen
scent, and objects to tobacco more than .a good-natured girl
who says she likes it, but doesn't.

October i ith. — Started for Serapoora, pretty village among
the hills at the m.ath of the Wurdwan valley. Bathed at
Atchbul, beneath the artificial waterfalls of the son of Akbar
— icy-cold, delicious ! I pray that the founder be behisht
in the seventh Asman. Very lovely this mingling of the
sisters — nature and art. The stately, shadowy chenars
reflected in cool, clear waters, and the wild mountain, clad in
jungle, almost frowning on the scene of peace and luxury
below. Fountains, baths, pavilions — alas, now a heap of
tangled wild rose jungle.

1 2th. — Started at daybreak for Sangaur. Sent to the
village for a shikari. Chose one, Azim (a name out of
" Lalla Rookh," you see)^ tall, rather slight, but clean-
limbed fellow, with no superfluous meat upon him, deep-
chested, thin open nostril like a blood Arab. Made a tente
d'abris out of my waterproof sheet and Zubber Khan's, by
sewing on buttons — our mountain walking-sticks serve for
poles, a rope and four pegs complete it — might with advan-
tage be introduced into our service. Started for the hills

V— 2

324

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

with the abris, blanket, and food for three days, for the Bara
singa, or Himalayan stag. The grass-sandalled foot falls
lightly on the dead pine needles, save When some hateful
twig cracks with an annoying noise in the silent forest
through which we steal in Indian file. Came upon a muddy
little pool, where there were the deep prints of his enormous
hoofs, like a cow's. On we crept, until the village shikari
clutched my arm, and with an excited face pointed into the
tangled mass of forest. Made out the branching antlers
about 200 yards off. We all sank noiselessly into the long
jgrass, waiting for him to show a little more — waited,
waited what seemed an eternity — in reality perhaps a quarter
of an hour — and then the noble beast showed his stately
head. Raised my rifle, something startled hin, and he
dashed off along the hillside. Ran a few paces to get a clear
sight, and fired. Phud ! went my ball, and the magnificent
fellow staggered, but, to my utter chagrin, bounded off as if
nothing was up. It was astonishing to see the way he
made through the thick branches, with his antlers laid back.
I hastily gave my hunting knife to the shikari and bade him
follow, for I was afraid to go down the mountain at the pace
required, as I had sprained my ankle on one of those fruit-
less night affairs after bears. Followed dejectedly in the
track until my shikari waved my bloody hunting-knife.
There lay the noble quarry, as large as a good-sized pony,
with branching twelve-tined antlers. Shikari delighted,
insisted on shaking grimy bloody hands with me. The
ball had gone clean through the shoulder and lungs an inch
above the heart, and lodged just under the skin on the further
side. Our united strength could scarcely lift the enormous
brute. Night was closing in, so, leaving a shikari to keep
vigil, we went down to the village for coolies to bring
him in.

October 13th. — Glorious venison steak spluttering,
smoking on my pewter plate for breakfast 1 Shikaris,
servants and coolies had a feast. The Bara singa
made the pine-clad hills echo last night with their
loud roars of defiance to each other. This is their love-
making season, and, like the knights of old, they fight over
it ; but none hold back, as at the tournament held by Pen-
dragon for his daughter's hand, where all contended save
4;hree — two who loved their neighbours' wives and one who
;loved his own. This breezy hilltop is a jolly bedroom, a

STAR-CHAMBER.

325

* perfect Star-chamber. They glitter, through the fretwork of
forest aisles of tall pines, like th^ jewels Aladdin saw by the
light of his lamp. The forest music is a queer lullaby. The
flying squirrels, chattering like girls in bed long after other
folks are asleep. An owl had something to say, for he came
and sat on a branch above my head, but, like a good many
people with a reputation for wisdom, he sent me to sleep.
There is a painful scarcity of water up here for a morning
bath.

14th. — No stags appeared. Stayed all day on the hill-
tops, and slept under the old tree by the half-dried pool,
where I hoped some stately stag would come for a mud bath —
none did. My shikaris are most picturesque, a small cap on
the back of their shaven heads, showing the sun-browned
forehead and face, finished with a thick bushy beard and
moustache. Their upper garments are sufficiently vague
and flowing to please an artist — a woollen Loho, or thin
blanket, worn after the fashion of a Scotch plaid, legs
bandaged like in the pictures of Anglo-Saxon worthies, feet
grass-sandalled. The bandages support and protect in
mountain walking and keep the feet warm in wet and snow.
We were following the course of a rocky mountain stream up
a glen, full of fern and tangled wild flowers below and dark
umbrageous trees above, when Azim's quick eyes detected a
black she-bear and two cubs up a very high wild cherry tree
about 100 yards off. She saw us, and slid down the tree.
Zubber Khan fired, apparently without effect. She bolted till
I dropped her dead with a bullet in the brain, and wounded \
one of the cubs, which ran off". Azim treed both young 'uns,
from which perch they were shot like garden thrushes. Felt
compunction when I saw the poor little beggars, but they
were orphans, and their skins are beautiful. The old missus
has a lovely soft black skin, quite worthy of app>earing before
Buckingham Palace on a Guardsman's head.

1 6th. — Started up the mountains, followed by a
coolie with blankets and food, but saw few tracks of game.
Towards evening heard the bellowing of stags above us and
came on their tracks at a spot where there was a spring.
Most difficult to follow noiselessly, for the dead leaves are
falling, and carpet the forest with a plaguily noisy drugget.
After a long bare-footed stalk got within 200 yards of three
does and a stag, which were scared by Zubber Khan's rifle
going oflf accidentally. It was a hair-trigger.

326

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

17th. — Chilly these times without a fire. At daybreak
we heard two stags challenging across the valley. They
were evidently spoiling for a fight. Got between as they
approached each other, one got our wind and went off, the
other came on defiantly to meet a foe he did not wot of. We
could hear, but not see, his approach. His evil destiny
tempted him within reach of my rifle. He bore splendid
antlers, i2 tines. Fired, he tumbled down the steep hillside,
we could hear him crashing through the branches. Dashed
after him with my hunting knife, he tried to rise, struggled to
free himself. I seized him by the antlers, and finished him.
He must have stood 1 3-2 at least. Slept in a small shanty
of pine branches made by the cowherds when they come up
here in Summer, but the roof was defective. Snowed hard,
six inches on my blanket when I woke. Went down to
camp, as the snow drives down the stags. The silver shower
off the foliage drops down one's neck, wetting one's inside
garments.

19th. — Up the hills again, eastward, on game tracks,
the crunching snow prevents close approach. Misty and
dark, and grass sandals are not the warmest chaussure in
thawing snow.

20th. — My " liver wing " troubles me again. Once a
man begins to break in the sultry heats of Hindostan
it is not months but years he needs to restore what may
perhaps never be restored. A Mussuk bath of ice-cold
water poured over me daily may not be exactly wise — could
not sleep with pain last night. Can't do hill work to-day, a
difficulty in breathing. Took a prowl in the jungle. Saw a
black bear, could not get a fair shot, but fired and wounded
him. Poor brute I He roared and danced in a bewildered
way. Second barrel missed fire, and he made off into dense
jungle. Followed quickly, carrying the pain in my side like
poor Bruin, until nightfall. Returned to camp feeling better
from exercise and excitement. That beast of a bearer ! The
lazy beggar did not dry my rifles properly after cleaning. I
lost a fine black bear in consequence. The poor brute went
to die miserably in the jungle, for he is too badly hit to
live.

2 'St. — Went out at daybreak on the tracks of the
wounded bear. Shikaris are keen sighted and will detect a
drop of blood upon a leaf in the thickest jungle. Lost the
tracks, but saw another black she-bear and two cubs.

■ :r

TALE OF A FOOT.

Dropped her dead, but the cubs made off. Skinned her, and
came back to breakfast in camp.

Alas, my leave is nearly up. Must make tracks for the
plains and bid farewell to the paradise of shikar.

November 7th. — The patient camel is a deplorable
grumbler, but, like the British soldier, he "grumbles and goes."
The Oriental legend has it that the pre-historic camel prayed
to Allah for a hump to prevent men riding him as they did the
horse. His prayer was granted, and the archangel flung a
hump from Heaven which enables two men to ride the
€amel. Zubber Khan and I thus started from the foot of the
hills. A batteric de cliassc provided supplies as we rode
along and a small batterie de cuisine, carried by our sowari
camel was deftly managed by Zubber Khan, who proved
almost a "cordon bleu." Camel riding, after long disuse, is
trying, requiring India-rubber vertebrae. Ease myself by
riding and running 10 miles alternately. The marvellous
condition produced by mountain training makes a ten mile
run a rest after a prolonged camel jolt.*

In this fashion we averaged 50 miles a day. Our ship of the
desert did not get much in the way of green food, but was fed on
spices and condiments of sorts, according to the knowledge of
Zubber Khan. The camel's abstinence from water was not
severely tried, but when he has to fall back on his water
stomach, the camel grumbles and gurgles till he brings up
his water bag, which sticks out of his snaggle-tooth jaws
like a huge raw sausage, about a foot and a half long, and
five inches in diameter. Thankful to say, he did not often
have recourse to this watering arrangement, which was
supremely unpleasant to hear and see.

As we jogged along, Zubber Khan regaled me with stories
and puzzled me with queries. He had been on leave,
staying at his father's house near Delhi. He was awakened
one night by the noise of a robber working a hole through
the sun-dried mud wall of the house, near the head of his
charpoy. Noiselessly drawing his tulwar, he laid it beside
him and feigned sleep. The hole accomplished with little
noise, a man crept in, crawled round the room, and was
returning with his selected loot. Zubber Khan knew he
would be naked and oiled, probably carry a dagger — no

* On arrival tlio garrison Sky races wore on, anil being challejiged bv a champion runner
beat him in a mile hurille race over the liorse track. He did not know how tit 1 was.

528

GUNNER JINOOS JUBILEE.

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holding this stamp of burglar. So watched him wriggling
out, serpent-wise, on his stomach. When sufficiently Jn the
hole to be unable to turn, Zubber made a slash with his
sword, got up, struck a light with flint and steel, lit a lamp,
and picked up the foot of the intruder severed just above the
ankle.

" I shall find the owner of this in the morning," thought
Z. K. to himself. " He won't come back for it, nor will he
go far without it." So he composed himself to finish his
sleep.

Next morning, following the blood-tracks, he found the
owner of the foot ensconced in a neighbouring patch of
jungle, having tied a cord round his own stump and stopped
the hemorrhage. Recovering the small amount of property
he had taken, Zubber Khan put the robber on his own horse
and conducted him to the cutwali (gaol).

" Would you believe it, sahib," he went on to me, " the
white Magistrate put nic in prison ! — I, a soldier of the
sircar. I, whose sword has been red with the blood of mine
own people in defence of the .sahib logue. I, a descendant
of nobles who came with Arungzebe, the Conqueror, 20O
years before 3'ou set foot in Calcutta as merchants. I, to be
thus degraded ! "

" And the robber ? "

"They sent him to the hospital, treated hur; kindly, cured
him, and let him go. Sahib, you arc a strange people I
Can you explain this treatment meted out to me ? "

I could not explain to his satisfaction that bail was not
given in cases of homicide — except when an English working
man kicks his wife to death — but that is feminicide.

Zubber Khan told startling stories of Zadoo magic with
all the earnestness of credulity, but I never could see
auN'thing to beat Maskelyne and Cook, except perhaps the
mango-growing and child-stabbing through the basket.*

As we neared our journe)''s end, the cheerful Zubber
became distrait and taciturn.

" Sahib," he said, at last aftei- long silence, "you never
lie ! Tell me, are you not a Mahomedan ? "

" No, Zubber ! What put that into your head ? "

" You arc not like other sahibs. You drink no strong

* Madame Blavatzky liad not unveiled Isis.and Mahatnias were not forthcoming in tlie
Thibet of tliose days, (Reviewer of Reviews, please note.)

MAHOMETAN CHRISTIANS.

329 • ,

drink, nor eat the unclean animal. You know the Koi-an
better than I • do, you love us Mahomedans, and you
despise those wretched, idolatrous Hindoos. When we have
been watching for bears at night, and none have come —
perhaps because you talked — you told me about the stars,
those other great worlds, in some of which your great
Europe sky-glasses show the snows, waxing and waning,
winter and summer, where, if there is snow there are water
and air, and earth like ours, and vegetation and animal life.
Beings, perhaps, a little like ourselves, it may well be better.
You do not believe that the great Creator of all this, the
Maker of the laws which keep it all moving, was a breaker
of His own laws, loved a mortal woman of this poor earth,
and crucified their Son to save this world — from what ?
From following His own laws. Were there sons born to
Him also in other worlds to be crucified ? Explain all this
to me and then tell me you are a Christian. We
Mahomedans are (rue Christians. We believe that Christ
was a prophet, that Hazatri Isa (the Lord Jesus) will come
at the last day to judge the world, and tiot Mahotuet.
Mahomet was sent because men had begun to worship the
creature for the Creator. Then there are so many kinds of
Christians — which is right ? "

" You have also your sects," I said. '* Sunnies and
Seahs. And how many false Mahdis have you had ? "

" What then is the difterence between you and ,

sahib," mentioning a Roman Catholic officer.

"Oh! the difference is not essential. The Catholics
worship the mother of Christ and some saints. You also
pay great reverence to the tombs of saints."

" What ! worship a woman, and a woman with such
story ! No, sahib, you may call yourself a Christian, but I
shall meet you in Paradise."

'* I can't believe in Mahomet's Paradise, Zubber. The
desire to live and to generate are the variously disguised
motive powers on this earth, or it could neither have come
into being nor be continued. It must be so in the other
worlds, or they would not exist. Your liouris are childless,
a senseless and sensual stultification of God's law as we see
it everywhere. Besides, have your relations with women on
this earth been .so satisfactory that you would be content to
have no other joy in Paradise ? "

" You have not answered my questions, sahib. You put

330

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Others to me. We have eaten from the same dish. I have
been to you not only as a friend, but have made myself as a
servant. If my comrades get to know of it 1 shall lose
caste."

'* None shall ever know that you are to me other than a
comrade. There is no reason why you should lose caste
eating with me. We have eaten no swine's flesh, nor
drunk wine. You have helal-kuroed (bled), as the Koran
directs, all that we have killed. Your fathers took to them-
selves high caste Hindoo wives from those they had con-
quered and converted. That is why you Indian Mahomedans
have these foolish traditions about caste, which are not to be
found in the Koran "

Zubber Khan comforted himself with repeating that I am
as good a Moslem as he is, and we disputed the point no
more.

Zubber Khan, though poor, would never accept money
from me. He accepted my hospitality as far as food and
ammunition went, and I gave him the rifle he liked best
when we parted. Black or white, I had no truer friend, nor
more unselfish, cheerful, plucky companion, as true a gentle-
man as ever wore a sword. *

November 15th. — Rode into Mooltan cantonments.

JOURNAL FINIS.

•,l^.

* He afterwards became my friend Warien's trusted companion in more stirring
scenes of shikar than ever fell to my lot, for when I was in the tiger districts there was
other shooting going on. Once Zubber Khan and Warren were shooting partridge, and
came suddenly close upon a tiger. "Go back, sahib," said Zubber; "you have a
family, I am childless. I will face the tiger." This, of course, was not permitted. Fortu-
nately the tiger did not charge. Zubber Khan rose to distinction in our service, became a
native officer, and went through the Kabul War. He gained his pension, and then
entered the service of a Rahnee. These are the men of the faithful fighting races we do
well to honour, to raisr, to rank and dignity in our service, not the competition wallah
Hindoo Baboo we are pushing into office and emolument because he passes parrot-like
examinations, scribbles in the Press, and spouts at Congress.

\i .

331

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 !

During Jingo's long leave, welcome marching orders had
come for the Battery. The new station, Ferozepore, was
further north, and had a good character for salubrity.

The cold weather march was delightful luxury compared
to the hot weather and rainy season campaign. Starting
before daylight, most preferred to walk, as the stirrup irons
were cold in the early morning. As soon as it was light a
sharp trot could be indulged in, shaking men into their
saddles and warming up the horses. About the time the
sun was getting powerful there would be a halt for chota
hazri — coflFee, a biscuit, and a smoke for all hands, the cooks
having gone ahead the night before — an easy march, and
the camping-ground would be reached before noon, generally
a. tope of mango trees, as there were no constraining strategic
reasons obliging us to camp in the open.

Tent-pitching took little time, and the horse-grooming was
soon got over. The men were old hands, and the establish-
ment of kolasses and syces ample. The rest of the day was
spent in shikar, of which there was abundance.

The new station was an agreeable change, and things
went swimmingly at first. But an enemy who knows no
truce put in an appearance.

" Captain, your little trumpeter is down among the rest.
Wish you'd pass the night in the hospital, the men have got
the funks," said our sporting but conscientious young
surgeon.

"All right I"

Of course the hospital had been visited daily by an
officer, and efforts had been made to put a cheerful face on

>i 1. 1
11 ] '

332

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

r I !

li >

matters. But there had come a sudden increase in the
deaths. Cholera walked down one side of a barrack-
room, and all the men on that side thought they had to go.
Some took to teetotalism, some to drink and gambling, and
some to religion of the short-and-sharp salvation style — the
" believe-only " business, no other is possible, for there is no
time for pottering over good works to prove repentance
genuine, just work up assurance. St. Paul, with his " Lest
I myself should be a castaway," would have been nowhere
among the fervid emotionalists of a cholera camp.

Unfortunately, the authorities were not so quick turning
men into camp in those days as they are now. But they
went at last. The Captain started athletic sports, steeple-
chases with the gun horses — wheelers, leaders, etc. — drivers
up, and shikar was permitted to all ranks ae/ lib.

Meanwhile the toll was taken. Jingo's poor little trumpeter
was nearly the last, and he died in his captain's arms after a
night of agonising convulsions. As his soft, dark eyes at
last closed peacefully, and the livid blueness passed from the
little thin face, leaving it like wax, a pink ray of dawn shot
through the hospital window and lit up the dead boy's face
with glory. He had been a bright, honest, pluck}-, little
scamp. He had chucked the defaulters' book into a well to
wipe out the records against the veteran drunks of the Battery.
Alas, for good intentions ! It was fished up. Let us hope
this one was not put into a certain pavement, but counted to
him for righteousness. He would not lie, and took his
punishment like a man. His mother wrote to the Captain
about her "sainted boy," and he was not denied the title. He
had as good a right to the glory that came through the hospital
window as most of the wry-necked saints in church windows
have to their halos.

The biggest gunner in the batter}' occupied the next cot.

When he saw the Captain lay down the little trumpeter,
and rise — damp with the death-dews of the boy — to leave,
the big man turned his face to the wall with a groan :

" My Gawd ! The Captain too is a dead man like the rest
of us."

" He's not a dead man, but you are a damned fool
if you funk yourself into your grave," was the unlooked-for
answer.

On the other side was a sturdy little driver. He had been

a sailor. He was

was
now

n collapse, and the attendants began

WIDOWS AND WEDDINGS.

33S

to remove his cot into the verandah, that his death agonies
might not demoralise others.

" I knows what you are up to. You're takin' me into
that there verandah to die, but I ain't a goin' to pleaze
yer. I'm blowed if I'll die, and ye'll just have to fetch me
back."

And he did not die.

The Angel of Death seemed weary — or was he snubbed ?
The little trumpeter was the last he took.

*' You must have a peg," said the doctor to Jingo, as he left
the hospital. " You look white about the gills after your
night's vigil."

The Captain had to see about mourning — from the canteen
fund was it ? — for widows dearly love becoming weeds with
flaunting veils which hang behind and do not hide pretty faces.
The weeds had to be got, though they were ere long to be
changed for bridal garments. Soldiers' widows in India are
often passed on to loving comrades — cynics say they are some-
times bespoke — a happier arrangement than going back to
pensionless penury in the slums of a great city, and soldier-
stepfathers seem to take as readily to the families of their
comrades as they do to their widows.

When the plague was stayed, short leaves to the hills were
granted to officers, and some men sent up to the sanatoriums.
Captain Jingo's turn had come, in more senses than one. He
went up to the hills single and returned double.

The Battery again had marching orders, this time half
across India, to the great camp of manceuvres at Lucknow.
So the soldier's wedding had to be in double-quick time, and
the honeymoon a march of over four hundred miles. The
bride changed her wedding-dress for a habit, and rode off on
her husband's second charger to meet the Battery at the foot
of the hills en route. The men had smothered the leading gun
and horses with roses, and impiovised it into a hymeneal car
for the bride, but her blushes were spared, to the disappoint-
ment of the honest fellows who had expended their decorative
art in vain.

A compromise was effected. Her charger was garlanded,
and, donning an officer's forage cap, the bride was
presented to the Battery and started at their head on
the long march of a soldier's wife — sometimes a weary
one. But the beginning, at least, was made as bright and
easy as possible for the young bride. First the cheery

!'!

334

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

'd4

chota hazri on the road, then as the sun grew warm, her
buggy was brought up, tents had been sent in advance, and
breakfast, with a nuzzer of flowers, was ready for her on
arrival. The march sped happily to its end. The good
Colonel and his wife received the Battery bride almost as a
daughter. The great camp of mimic war was to her a long
picnic. Her husband's Battery had carried oft' the prize
with the highest shooting figure of merit in the Brigade.
The gallant old chief — Sir Hugh Rose — had been
eulogistic — he could be very much the reverse when
necessary.

The return march was commenced 'not very smoothly.
Volunteers from Batteries returning to England had elected
to remain for service in India. Among them was a man with
a defaulter's book of his own composing, and the Captain
warned the man to turn over no more leaves in the old style.
He seemed to have taken the advice, but before the break-
up of camp, he went on an extensive spree, which included
setting fire to a bazaar, happily without much damage.

The man was brought before the Colonel, as the powers
of a commanding officer of a Battery are limited, by the
presence of a Lieutenant-Colonel. The Captain produced
the long record of offences but asked in vain for a deterrent
punishment. The Colonel resolved to try leniency once
more, and gave a slight but technically illegal sentence —
confinement to camp (to keep him out of mischief as long as
possible). The old barrack lawyer detected the irregularity
and appealed to the Commander-in-Chief at his final
inspection. The Colonel was told of his error, but no order
was given for the man's release.

On the eve of marching, under the influence of liquor,
the soldier forced his way into the Captain's tent to
demand his immediate release. He was told no order
had yet been received on the subject, and he became
insolent. Fortunately he was not flung out, but a file of
the guard called. Next morning the man refused to march.
He was secured to a gun carriage with a light cord, long
enough to allow of his marching comfortably if he pleased,
and the word was given to advance at a walk. He preferred
to throw himself on his face, but a short experience of that
mode of progression satisfied him of its disadvantages, and
on his expressing a desire to march, he was released and
allowed to do so.

It;*

ii. ' I

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS ON A SUN-DIAL.

335

He was now beyond the jurisdiction of the lenient
Colonel, and for his second offence received a suitable
punishment from his Captain, who, however, had his
misgivings as to the legality of his proceedings. At the
next General's inspection Jingo expected a complaint to be
made, and anticipated the man by asking him to make it.
But the man said he had none to make, and thenceforth
became a good soldier. Different men require different
methods.

A Major had come to command the Battery. The
Captain's occupation had gone with his big pay, his wife's
health was not good, he was therefore glad to be selected to
return to England in charge of drafts of time-expired men and
invalids to proceed round the Cape of Good Hope. Chinese
Gordon had asked for his old friend to help him to organise
the Artillery of his ever-victorious arm)', but Jingo could
not be spared. He was too much married. Marching with
his heterogeneous command down country, in due course
they reached the ancient city of Benares.

Jingo wandered along the magnificent ghats, by the
sacred river and the temples, through the native bazaars
in narrow lanes, where the pretty little white Brahmin bulls
promenaded at their own sweet will, helping themselves to
whatever seemed succulent to their sacred appetites, without
let or hindrance from the owners. Then there were the
sacred monkeys and the hospital for sick animals of^
sorts which must not be killed, yet sometimes suffered the
more cruel death from hunger, among a people with
contradictions between religious theory and practice as
glaring as our own.

Among ruins of a still more ancient part of the city,
Jingo came upon a gigantic sun-dial, not a horizontal plane
as we have it with a gnomon at an angle according to
latitude, but an inverted arch —a wall with a semicircle cut
out of it. The diameter of the circle was about thirty feet.
Where the gnomon should have been, stood the huge Phallic
emblem so common in India, and all over the world in the
infancy of creeds, the emblem which drew the ancient
Israelites from the worship of Jehovah, that our Druidical
ancestors worshipped, the Menhir stones which you still see
in Brittany surmounted by a cross, with that wisdom of the
Roman church which sanctified superstitions it could not
overthrow.

'V'

33<5

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

' -!

:. r

lll':'-il'

Jingo was struck by the thought of the amount of precise
calculation necessary to cut correctly ever}' minute and
degree on that immense semi-circumference of nearly fifty
feet. Every pair of marks on each side of noon had required
a separate calculation, only two shadows making the same
angle for the same hours a.m. and p.m. Doubtless a sun-
dial can be ordered complete at the Co-operative Stores, but
Jingo had once tried to make one in an out-of-the-way part
of the world, so he knew what calculations were involved
when so many minute sub-divisions were marked. Besides
all these there were other marks he did not understand.

Scarcely expecting an intelligent answer, he turned for
information to an old Brahmin who sat silently in the
shadow of the dial, taking no notice of the young soldier.
He wore no clothing but his loin-cloth, a Braliminical cord
over the shoulder, and a caste-mark of paint on his high but
somewhat narrow forehead, which indicated an Aryan
intellect of no mean order. His hand- le, refined features
and neatly-proportioned thin frame, ^^. ved a descent from
countless generations who had done more mental than
physical labour, and unspeakable pride of race lurked in the
quiet dignity of manner, which was polite without being
servile. To this man, god-descended in his own eyes and
those of his fellows, we send a lower middle-class, narrowly-
educated Englishman as a missionary, and e.xpect conversion
— of which ?

The old Brahmin explained the signs as connected with
the precession of the equinoxes — the sort of knowledge a
young Englishman crams and forgets as readily. Jingo
expressed some surprise at the scientific knowledge dis-
played in the construction of such a dial, evidently of great
antiquity.

A glint of humour passed over the thin, handsome face of
the old Hindoo, as he said, dryly :

" You ought to know, sahib, that my ancestors were
skilled in astronomy when yours were still savages over the
black water."

" True," said the soldier, " but your people seem to have
stood still, else wh}'^ do your Pundits permit the worship of
so filthy an emblem ? " pointing to the huge upright stone,
garlanded with flowers and wet with the libations of female
devotees who desire children, the one thing necessary fpr
the happiness of an Oriental wife.

';h:

FAREWELL EAST.

337

" Sahib," continued the old man, " it is a meet emblem of
that power of reproduction which peoples the universe. Do
you not know that the flowers are male and female, that the
passing breeze, the flitting insect, fertilizes one with the
pollen of the other and produces fruit and seed in due season ?
The insects themselves, the fishes, the birds, the beasts, all
things living, including man, are guided by the irresistible
impulse of the great creative power. Is not that sacred
which brings into the world a soul, a spark of that divine
being to which it will eventually return, when the material
with which it has been mysteriously connected shall be dis-
solved into elements by death, to be used again and again
by the great Chemist. Sahib, are these truth words, or what
you call filth ? Our books are older than yours, but the
great book of nature is open to all of us."

Jingo was not a missionary, so he had no cut-and-dried
answer. This was scarcely surprising. A very eminent
Presbyterian who had spent a lifetime in Indian Mission
work had been heard sorrowfully to admit that he doubted if
he had made a dozen absolutely sincere converts among
high-caste Hindoos, "though," he said, "much enlightenment
has followed the secular education I have given." His
pupils would freely admit that they no longer believed their
own sacred books, stultified as they are by the physical
science of the west. When asked what hindered their bap-
tism, they would not confess fear of the awful social penalties
inflicted on a high-caste Hindoo by such a step, but with
true Oriental subtlety would reply :

" You tell us we can do nothing of ourselves ; when the
Holy Spirit compels, we shall be baptised."

Meanwhile, the secular teaching has produced the Baboo
of the Indian National Congress, and a native Press which
exceeds the Irish in treasonable vituperation.

Thus Jingo bade farewell to India, with its marvellous,
interesting lands and peoples, and its unsolved problems,
which most of us only begin to think about when we have
left its shores for ever.

»i
It

t«

338

CHAPTER XXXI.

Homeward Bound— Sailoring — Overboard — Gunnery School — A
Royal Gunner — Military Lessons of Sorts — Volunteers —
Aldershot — Chalons — Two Stories of 1870 — Bazaine --
Gordon.

The voyage round the Cape of Good Hope in the good
ship Hotspur, with her estimable skipper, Captain Toynbee,
was hghtened by encouraging the time-expired soldiers to
work, and in a few weeks there seemed to be no more
invalids, and red and blue jackets were on the best of terms.
Some of Jingo's statements regarding the treatment of soldiers
by a most pious nation will scarcely be believed by those
who have little opportunity to verify them. Some mentally-
deranged soldiers were put on board at Calcutta, at the last
moment. Neither the Captain of the vessel nor Jingo were
told that they might be dangerous to themselves or others. No
separate cabins nor place of security were provided for them
— to save expense the Captain of the Hotspur thought. One
poor fellow after trying to set tire to the ship saved further
trouble by jumping overboard, and could not be rescued.
Since doing away (for economic reasons probably), with
the hospital for lunatic soldiers, formerly at Fort Pitt, Chat-
ham, the poor fellows used to be turned loose in the streets
of that town, so as to throw upon the city authorities the
expense of sending them to lunatic asylums. I believe the
practice has been discontinued, or we should hear more of it.
Greenwich Hospital has been turned into a Naval College,
and Chelsea will perhaps soon follow, and the good work of
kind-hearted, naughty Nell Gwynne disappear, though her
ennobled posterity still grace the Peerage.

Jingo was seconded by three excellent subalterns, who,
not content with pulling and hauling with the watch on
deck, would sometimes join him aloft and take a turn at
reefing topsails, and the mizzen got to be called the " soldier
officer's mast." It is exhilarating (when you get used to
it) to struggle with the flapping canvas as you lean over the

A ROYAL GUNNER.

339

yard-arm and look down into the green seas as ihe vessel
rolls. But Jingo eschewed the weather-earing^, the foot-
ropes out there were unpleasantly short for his long legs.
One calm day he managed to reach the main truck, having
previously taken the precaution of paying his footing to the
bo'sun.

At the Cape, Jingo was welcomed by his old friend, the
Iron One, now Military Secretary to the Governor, and he
spent some pleasant days up country and at the vineyards
with him and his wife, enjoying the sight of the red soil
and the green trees, after so long at sea.

A spell of leave among the Kerry mountains and fishing
on the lakes, and Jingo went to school again for a year —
the gunnery school, under General Eardly Wilmot, the
upright — was then appointed to the Field Artillery in Ire-
land, and shortly afterwards to the Instructional Staff at
Woolwich. His work there delighted him, perhaps not
always his pupils. The young officers all passed through
his hands on first joining — charming youngsters ! Jingo
loved boys — and girls ! Does so still, I'm afraid.

Among others, came H.R.H. Prince Arthur. Jingo
wondered how he was to make him understand that on
parade he was Captain Jingo, and the Prince, Gentleman
Cadet Guelph. So he began by telling him off to " No. 7 " —
a sort of man-of-all-work to the squad, to whom it was,
" Fetch a grease-pot. No. 7 I " " Scotch up there. No. 7."
But, bless you I there was no need. There was no smarter,
steadier gunner in the squad than the gunner of the blood
Royal. And it was hard and dirty work they had, no kid-
glove business. The jeunesse dorie were more '.nclined to
give themselves airs than the true blue-blooded ores, among
the former, the most conspicuous was the scion tf a since
ennobled brewing-house. Jingo had to remark that perhaps
the Beerage had a hereditary right to think no small beer of
themselves. But they also make excellent soldiers when it
comes to fighting, which is the easiest part of the profession.
At first his Royal Highness seemed denied that part.
After returning from Canada, where he had served with
the Rifle Brigade, he gave a dinner to his old instructors,
and was congratulated on his bap'eme de feu.

" No," he said, " I was not under fire, but I mean to get
myself foughten some day in spite of them 1 " And we
know he did. '* There are enough of us," he remarked, " to

Z — 2

340

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

..-"f't

i:i'..j

spare one to die in our proper place. Nothing would fix
the crown so firmly in our family, as the death of a Royal
soldier has done for the House of Savoy."

The peasant and the peeress give up lover, husband,
brother, at their country's call — why not the first lady in the
land?

Mere gunnery instruction was varied by Jingo being given
charge of Artillery Volunteers at Easter manoeuvres. He
was rash enough to point out in the Times certain tactical
crrc Thinking he was giving a military lesson he got
one limself — in discipline. The day of discussion had not
dawned, and with his friend, Charles Brackenbury, he was
sent for to the Horse Guards and wigged. He had put his
tactical opinions over his signature, and was told that of the
two offenders he had the greater cheek. He wrote no more
on military subjects until he left England.

But his tongue got him into as much trouble as his pen.
He was ordered to give a course of lectures to the National
Artillery Association at Shoeburyness. The lectures seemed
to have caught on in two directions. The Volunteer
Artillery of North Britain, without his knowledge, had
applied for his appointment in some instructional capacity to
their force. He was again sent for. Partly in jest, but
more in earne' as he waxed warm, the D.G.A. began :

" A pretty kettle of fish you have made with your lectures
to Volunteers. They want rifle-guns, forsooth — say they
might as well drill with old gas-pipes as with the obsolete
smooth-bores. You have put Lord Northbrook in an
awkward fix, for these Volunteer Colonels have political
influence, and the issue of rifle armament to Volunteers will
be a large item in the estimates. And, confound it, sir, they
have asked for you to be appointed in some impossible
position. They seem to forget that you are only a Captain,
and, by God, sir, you seem to have forgotten it too I "

From a subordinate there can be no answer but silence to
this sort of thing. But Jingo thought all the more that
England was a little place, small people in it, so he turned
his thoughts to the New World, and found an opening in
Canada, for the little people at the top of the big Empire
were bent on shrinking it, and the withdrawal of Imperial
garrisons was contemplated.

But meantime he saw mimic war on a large scale on the
plains of Chalons, and on a smaller .scale at Aldershot, where,

MILITARY LESSONS OF SORTS.

341

through the good offices of his friend Geary, he got a tem-
porary position on the Staff for the manoeuvres. Gunners
of the present day hardly know how much they owe to General
Geary's administrative ability and fixedness of purpose. It
is largely due to his efforts that the position of Major was
accorded to officers commanding batteries.

After theoretically slaying the tin-bellies (as the House-
hold Cavalry are vulgarly yclept by the officers of the line),
who had exposed themselves to guns brought up the reverse
of a slope, the Force to which Jingo was attached trium-
phantly carried the Hog's-back, ^i./J, flushed with lunch and
conquest, descended to attack the Fox Hills. The Artillery
were told off, as usual, to a place in the procession which
they could not dispute, hemmed in by narrow lanes. In
real war ten minutes with the axes on the gun-limbers would
have cut a way through the hedgerows. But this could not
be ; therefore, rather than be destroyed in column of route,
they preferred to die fighting, and advanced to a turning
road, deploying along it, and opened fire. The galloping
umpires were upon them, and the batteries were ruled out
of action, to the disgust of their commanders, who poured
their phials of wrath on Jingo, the instigator of the move-
ment and director of its execution. If they had only kept
quiet between the liigh hedges the umpires might not have
realised the situation. When the General went for Jingo
at the final palaver. Colonel Domville would not have his
subordinate blamed, and took the responsibility on his own
broad shoulders. Next day brought its revenge. The
umpires ruled the Highland Brigade out of action, one of the
defunct batteries of yesterday was brought up on their
flank. It was first concealed and then unmasked by shunt-
ing empty railway carriages on a siding, and forming an
epaulement of coal oil casks. They were empty. The
umpires generously decided they might have been filled
with earth.

From the handful of troops at Aldershot to the extensive
manoeuvres of the French armies, was like passing from a
box of prettily-painted toy-soldiers to those masses of men
by which the fate of nations alone can be decided. The
French army of 1870 like our own to-day, rested upon its
glorious traditions. They were rudely awakened. The
French army of to-day is an entirely different machine, ever
striving for efficiency. Defeat has made the French officer

it*

III I

.■li

342

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

modest, serious, and hardworking. Their organisation
could, with reserves, probably produce four million trained
soldiers on emergency.

In 1869 Colonel Milman, R.A., and Jingo were accredited
to witness the manoeuvres at Chalons. Military Mass was
the first parade they saw. Thirty thousand troops of all
arms were formed in a hollow square ; in the centre, the
eagles round the high altar ; the front lines, unlimbered
Artillery ; behind, the bearskins of the Imperial Guard, the
shakos of Voltigeurs and Piou Pious and the turbans of
Zouaves ; in the rear of all, flashing helmets and cuirasses,
gorgeous Corps de Guide, Chasseurs d'Afrique, etc. No
words of the officiating priest could be heard in so vast an
arena. But, on the elevation of the Host, the Artillery
thundered a salvo, the gleaming lines of bayonets flashed
through the smoke to the present, and the drums beat.
Jingo was carried away ; for a moment he wondered if
Madame de Maintenon's Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
had not been a success after all, since it produced uniformity
of faith. He forgot there was no faith except here and
there in the breast of a Breton conscript. The spectacle
was a gorgeous sham.

Captain Bazaine, the nephew and A.D.C. of the General,
was sent to invite the English officers to lunch. They were
distinguishable in uniform, for British officers had not yet
begun to frequent courts or camps in knickerbockers. Jingo
said something as to the solemnity of the spectacle they had
just seen.

" Bah I I am a Protestant," said the A.D.C, " my body
obeys the words of command but my soul does no obeisance
to their bread God, and my colleague here prefers Voltaire to
Thomas a Kempis."

The Marshal asked Jingo if he did not think Chalons a
splendid training ground.

" A Marshal of France honours an English Captain of
Artillery in asking his opinion," said Jingo. " Frankly, I
think it is unwise to train troops only in country differing
from the rest of France in its level openness. It is true the
fate of France was decided upon the plains when Charles
the Hammerer defeated the Saracens, but the Germans will
not elect to meet you on the Plains of Chalons. They are
not Eastern cavalry. Besides, the habit of manoeuvring in
the open may lead to disregard of cover."

CHALONS.

343

" Oh, you think the Plain of Chalons as level as a billiard-
table ? To-morrow I will post 30,000 men and you will
find it hard to see them."

Before day a couple of mounted orderlies, with led
chargers, were sent to their hotel, and the two English
officers were taken to the front of the position. The
Marshal was as good as his word. First line, supports,
reserves were admirably posted, and Jingo learnt the lesson
that there are folds in the terrain of most plains that will
give cover to tro'>;>s.

Bazaine had corisunirriate skill in the selection of a
defensive position, as he proved at Graor^lotte, only
strategically it faced in the wrong direction, 'i'hp gewial,
broad-shouldered, 'hick-necked soldier had won his field
grade in Africa, by getting his m^n to push him over an
Arab stockade. He gave one the idea of great natural
shr' wdness, but little reading ; an excellent tactician, but a
poor strategist. Whether he preferred a dynasty to his
country, and so held his trump card until he lost the chance
of playing it at Metz, has been much discussed.

At the beginning of 1870, Jingo got leave to follow the
French Army as a private individual, at his own risk and
charges, to study his profession. On the eve of his
departure he was stopped by telegram and was told that
Mr. Gladstone feared his presence might cause complications.
Jingo had no notion he was so important a person. Many
officers were allowed to go as newspaper correspondents,
and directly after th^ peace, before the armies of
occupation were withdrawn, he visited the battle-fields with
his friend and quondam comrade, Maurice. Being both
obstinate men, they had many amicable word-battles over
the sites of more serious strife. Of course. Jingo must have
got the worst of it in controversy with so brilliant an
essayist. But they combined on occasion. They had been
refused access to the parapets of Thionviile by the German
sentriPH, This was aggravating, as they had only a few
liiMiis to spare Happy thought! The high steeple of a
central church was conveniently loop-holed with shell bursts.
They nirtilc for it, but were refused access, in spite of a silver
key. The church was undergoing repairs ; the custodian
turned his back for an instant to superintcnil the workmen ;
the two bolted up the stairs and ensconced themselves
among the rafters of the belfry, whence the shell holes in

t'-

344

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

the roof gave a complete bird's-eye view of the fortifications
and the position of every German battery. The watchful
Teuton had been sold.

They were startled on their perch by the tremendous peal of
the huge bell just above, which warned them they had barely
time to catch the train for Metz. Rapidly descending, they
found themselves locked in and the workmen gone. Looking
through the key-hole they saw the obstinate custodian
locking the outer gate, and shouted to him. He opened the
Sesame, with violent abuse of what he was pleased to call
perfidy, declaring the offenders, " not true men but spies "
who would bring ruin upon him. He refused a douceur, and
begged them in frightened accents to begone and tell no-
one.

Besides the professional knowledge gained, many
characteristic stories of the contending nationalities were
heard. A young French Lieutenant of Artillery was
conspicuous for his reckless gallantry and devotion to duty
during the siege of Paris. Yet he managed to spend in
musical recreation most of the few hours left for rest. A&
provisions got scarcer his meat ration was reduced to a
sparrow per diem ; these he kept in a cage at the window
near his piano, and fed them with the crumbs of his daily
biscuit. His landlady anxiously watched him grow thinner
and paler, and entreated, in vain, to be allowed to transform
his little pels into a pate d'alouettes. At length a Prussian
shell smashed the cage and the piano and liberated the
Lieutenant and his pets as he sat singing his own
requiem.

The coarser qualities called forth by war do not alter a
refined nature, which often combines the tenderness of a
woman with the courage of a man. It is not strange that it
should be so, considering whom we have been trying to imitate
more or less for the last eighteen hundred years. We are
told He took His human nature from His mother only.
Certainly imitation of Christ seems more natural to women
than to men.

The German, with a coarser type of chivahy, svicceeds
better, perhaps, as the world wags. A one-year volunteer
with three troopers rides up to the octroi gate of a small French
town. The douanier hesitates to open to the enemies of
his country. A pistol bullet bores a hole through his tall
hat, accompanied by the remark :

TWO STORIES OF I87O.

345

"Why don't you uncover to a German gentleman, and
not keep him waiting at the gate ? "

The Frenchman removed his hat and looked at the hole,
" I did not open the gate," he said, *' because there are 5CX5
French infantry in the town. Do you wish to visit
them ? "

" Certainly," said the undaunted young Uhlan, " I am
sent to demand their surrender," and tearing out a leaf of
his pocket-book, scribbled a pencil note for one of his men
to gallop with to the rear :

" Five hundred French infantry reported in this town.
Am going to demand surrender. Push on in support.
Von '•

He had found no outposts outside the little town, and, to
his amazement, no sentries until he was challenged at the
gate of a building which seemed to have been an old con-
vent. The little French red-leg was so astonished that he
nearly let off" his chassepot in spite of the dirty white
handkerchief which fluttered from the lance point of a
Uhlan.

The guard turned out, and Monsieur le Commandant was
sent for. He came out from the dejeihicr, wiping his
moustache with his napkin. He h?d won his epaulettes for
service in Africa, but had grown a trifle tubby, and olower in
thought and action.

" Mais, M'sieu, milles tonneres de Dieu I ce n'est pas de
rigueur a conduire ses affaires k I'heure de dejeQner."

" But I am ordered to demand your immediate surrender.
The town is surrounded, defence hopeless, we will settle it
at breakfast, and you shall be m}' guest afterwards."

So saying, the cool youngster, who saw there was no
retreat, dismounted and threw the reins to one of his
troopers. After finishing breakfast, with a better appetite
than the disturbed Frenchman, he pulled out his watch and
said :

*' You have only ten minutes more to make your arrange-
ments. The advanced guard will be here directly."

He got up and walked in despair towards the barrack
gate, closely followed by the French officer, who was
beginning to regain his confidence just as the German's was
evaporating. But there was a clatter of hoofs down the ill-
paved street, and lance flags fluttered and danced as far as
eye could see. Squadron after squadron poured in from all

i
I

346

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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sides. They had ridden at speed, and five hundred French
infantry had surrendered to a German University student
of one year's miUtary service.

There are crowds of such English lads. By conscription
for the militia, the national constitutional force, alone can ■
they be utilised. Such a law was the natural sequence to
the abolition of purchase. If Mr. Cardwell's military
advisers had had the courage of their opinions, Englishmen
by this time would have learnt that the obligation of short
military service for the defence of their country was a
blessing in disguise.

About that time Charlie Gordon had returned rather
shattered from China, and was put to build mud forts at the
mouth of the Medway — not conducive to the cure of the
ague from which he suffered. He and Jingo often met and
resumed the old walks and talks of cadet days.

" Why did you not accept the loads of syce silver the
Emperor of China sent you, Charlie ? If you don't care
about money there are your nephews and nieces, and your
ragged school."

" Had to shew the Chinese there was no price for a
British officer. The pay of my army was in arrears."

Perhaps the key to Gordon's character was, not his con-
tempt for money, but a constitutional indifference to women,
which enabled him, without hypocrisy, to keep to the standard
of absolute purity he Iiad set up for himself When his
time came, Gordon went to the Soudan, and Jingo saw his old
friend no more. Another comrade also went to the " land of
the leal." Wolfe, the Amal, theCrichton of old Shoebury and
Sheerness days, had been set to do office work, which he
injudiciously varied with outbursts of violent athletics.
There being no officer competing for a veteran race in heavy
marching order, Wolfe insisted on entering, to shew the old
stuff. He won the race, and died of heart complaint.

END OF PART I.

GUNNER JINGO'S JUBILEE.

111

PART II.

WESTWARD HO !

i I

" C'est I'aviron, qpi nous wmmitK, qui nous m6ne,
C'est Tavircm, qui nous monte -^n haut."

'>ll

347

\ .

PART II.— Westward-Ho 1

CHAPTER I.

iii.

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.

" Many a vanished year and age,

And tempest's breath and battle's rage

Have swept o'er Corinth ; yet she stands

A fortress formed to Freedom's hands.

The whirlwind's wrath, the earthquake's shock

Have left untouched her hoary rock,

The key-stone of the land "

> ■ tl

After half-a-dozen years of pleasant home service, during
five of which he had held an appointment on the Instructional
Staff, our Jingo found himself on the deck of a steamer,
speeding up the broad waters of the mighty St. Lawrence.
The grey citadel on the rock loomed dark against the flush
of sunset that turned to burnished copper the glittering tin
roofs and spires of the quaint old city of Quebec, and
transformed the tranquil river into molten metal, while the
ships and craft along the quays, and the tall buildings stood
in violet and purple shadows. The opposite shores of Levis
were flooded with a light which broke in a mad kaleidoscope of
■colour upon the crimson and green, scarlet and purple, and

\i\

348

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

golden foliage of a Canadian Autumn. There is but one
Quebec in the wide world.

But the British garrison was to be withdrawn from this
Gibraltar of America. It was the reign of King Cash-balance.
Quantities of guns, shot, and shell were sold to Yankee
contractors, the barrack furniture to Jews, and the very
sentry-boxes shipped home with the departing troops. The
flag, however, was not sold. It was handed over to Jingo.
The Canadian Government was called upon to form garrisons
" to provide for the care and protection of the forts, maga-
zines, armament, and warlike stores handed over to them.
It was further intended that these troops, in addition to per-
forming garrison duties, should serve as practical schools of
gunnery for the training of all ranks of the Militia
Artillery."

Captain Jingo, with the local rank of Lieutenant-Colonel,
had been selected to raise and organise such a garrison for
Quebec, while a similar duty was entrusted to another
Imperial officer — Colonel French — in the Province of
Ontario.

Twenty-one years after the birth of '* B " Battery Canadian
Artillery, when they came of age, they sent to their military
father a kindly Christmas greeting, a photograph of himself
as in the old days, when he was Inspector of Artillery for
the Dominion, and Commandant of the Citadel of Quebec.

From henceforth Gunner Jingo must tell his own
story.

The garrison of Quebec were the 6oth (King's Own
Rifles) and the Royal Artillery. Curious coincidence, more
than a century ago detachments of these two corps, forming
part of Wolfe's victorious arm}'^, were the first to enter
the city of Quebec and place the British flag where the
Fleur-de-lys had flown so long. The 60th were then the
Royal American Rangers, the old " Ubique " were the same.
To me, an officer of the latter corps, was confided the honour
of hoisting the old flag. When the last British Legionary
departed, mine was the task to form its first guard of
Canadian Artillery. The evacuation had been so rapid, only
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351

of the British garrison, scant time to enHst, arm, uniform,
and drill the first new guard ft^r the citadel.

The Dominion Government had made a good selection of
officers for me. Given a Canadian gentleman and you
generally have the making of a good officer, for, as a people,
they have military aptitudes of no mean order. I was
exceptionally fortunate in Captain Montizambert, Lieutenants
Duchesnay and Short, all men of soldier jhat. The two first
were of old French-Canadian stock, whose ancestors had
served in the British Army, and Duchesnay was descended
from de Salaberry, the hero of Chateauguay ; and in the veins
of Lieutenant Short, an English Canadian, ran the blood of
General Brock, slain at Queenstown Heights. Assistant-Sur-
geon Neilson also bore a name known in Canadian history.
For N.C. officers, rank and file, an ex-Sergeant of Artillery
(Lyndon) and a few old Canadian Riflemen formed a nucleus,
to which were added some Canadians and a young English-
man who had failed in an army examination. He became
Sergeant-Major Lavie of " B " Battery.

It did not take long to knock such good stuff into shape.
But where were the arms, ammunition, and uniform to come
from ? The difficulty was solved by taking possession of
those of the Quebec Volunteer Artillery, of which Captain
Montizambert was Adjutant. The Jews, to whom the Control
Department had sold the barrack furniture, even to the iron
bedsteads the men lay upon, came to claim their purchase.
But the gate was shut on the Hebrew nose, and they were
left to settle the matter with the Canadian Government, who
had not bought them, thinking the furniture would be left to
them with the forts, etc. The Dominion Government, per-
haps disbelieving that the English Government would take
so serious a step as the abandonment of the fortress of
Quebec before a garrison was formed, had taken no active
measure except my appointment and that of the officers
above named, as a temporary measure, pending their passing
a satisfactory examination after some months' instruction.
Other officers — Prevost, La Rue, Tasherau, Fraser, White,
Sheppard, Imlah, etc., were subsequently added as they
passed examinations after courses of instruction, in giving
which I was materially aided by Master-Gunner Donald-
son and Sergeant Clifford, R.A., when they arrived the
following Spring.

No man was ever served more loyally than I was. What

352

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

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the labour was, can best be judged by any professional
soldier picturing to himself the task of raising and training
an Artillery gaj^ison, and re-arming a fortress during the
severity of a G^nadian Winter, without experienced assist-
ants. The gu4s had been dismounted by the Royal Artil-
lery before embarking, that the Royal Engineers might
repair the platforms, and were deeply buried in snow drifts
before I could get at them with my Canadians, who made up
for lack of artillery training by the resourcefulness which
comes of life in the forest lumber camps. They handle
guns as deftly as they roll the huge logs. Ice and snow are
their roadways and allies. They were never beaten, not
even at Shoeburyness in the " Go-as-you-please " style of
gun mounting.

In mounting the iiopounder breech-loading guns, with
the thermometer 30 degrees below zero, the hooks of the
tackle would snap like glass, the fracture showing that the
fibre of the iron had crystallised with the intense cold.
Perhaps the breaking of the iron suspension bridge over the
falls of Montmorency was due to this cause. But the task
was finished without accident. Jingo, who did not feel the
cold — had he brought with him some latent heat from India ?
chaffed the Canadians on their muffling. But they turned
the tables. One blizzardy day, with the flaps of their fur
caps down, they could not hear even his stentorian com-
mands. So he got hot, despite the temperature, and told
them he would keep them on parade until they did drill pro-
perly. Being an Englishman he did not require ear-flaps.
After parade it was remarked — " Colonel, your English ears
are frozen," and a handful of snow had to be rubbed in.

One glorious morning in early Winter, before a flake of
snow had fallen, when the St. Lawrence glittered like a
mirror of polished steel, parade was impossible with such
skating prospects. We descended from our eerie to the
river below and spun along for miles against the wind, to
the musical ring of our skates, invigorated by the cham-
pagney feeling of the air. Miles were covered — under the
cliffs which Wolfe had scaled a hundred years before, past
the long wharves where the lumber of northern forests lies
piled in masses, until the wooded banks were reached and
the leafless trees of Spenserwood sparkled with the icicles of
a *' verglas " which coated every twig and made the forest
monarchs look like chandeliers turned upside down. On,

THE ICE CONE.

353

on, beyond the red rocks of Cap Rouge. The wind blew till
it caught one's breath and literally shut one's mouth by /
freezing moustache and beard together. Each looked at his/
neighbour for the dead white spot which indicates frost-bite
But none so suffered. Veering about before the wind, with
coats held open, sailwise, we shot back over our tracks with-
out moving a foot, at almost the velocity of an express
train.

Shouting and singing with the glee of a schoolboy, Jingo
did not at first hear the calls of his comrades, who could not
overtake him, but at length the breeze bore to him :

** For God's sake, hold on. Colonel ; see the air-hole ! "

And he noted the steel blue broken by the dark open
dancing water. Just in time he swerved from the
apparently inevitable. That night, snow fell a foot deep,
and never again to Jingo's vision did the St. Lawrence wear
its smooth steel face. Ever afterwards, broken in gigantic
hummocks with the flow and ebb of tides, it was all but im-
passable to the steam-ferries. Then the hardy voyageurs
launched their canoes for passenger traffic between the
shores of Quebec and Levis. Paddling through the open
waters until solid ice or floating field is reached, the active
fellows jump out, and slide along their canoe until another
opening is reached, while the freights sit cosily wrapped in
furs at the bottom of the canoe.

Towards the end of the Winter the ice cone had formed
at Montmorency. The falls are higher than Niagara, but,
of course, not so great a volume of water. The frozen spray
builds up a mountain, some 200 feet high, down which the
hardy natives toboggan very much as their Norse ancestors
did (before they left the Old World) down the Alpen slopes
on their broad shields, to terrify and defeat the Legions of
old Rome. The Battery marched out on their snow-shoes,
guno on sleighs, down the St. Lawrence to the foot of the
cone, where arms were piled, and the men broke off to
amuse themselves — the dangerous tobogganing was most
attractive. The Englishmen were taken down on the little
sleighs provided on the spot. The skilful " Monty," in
default of a girl, took down his chief in safety, remarking :

" There, Colonel, guess you couldn't do that on your own
lioo)', though Englishmen don't require ear-flaps."

The reply was the immediate ascent of the taunted
Englishman, climbing by footholes cut in the ice, and

A A

.:^^£^kdim&di^iSiii

354

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

dragging the sleigh after him. When the dome-roofed
summit is reached one has doubts as to which way the
downward sHde may come oft", away out into the sunshine^
over the level plain at the foot of the cone and half way
across the St. Lawrence, or back into the seething cauldron
of foam, where the river shoots with ceaseless thunder and
vibration over the edge of the precipice, while the mist rises
in rainbows and spans the black abyss. *' Facile de.census.^^
Jingo shot off into space from the summit, and felt his
heart in his throat, for the sides are so steep that the
sleigh touches nothing for several seconds. When it reached
the more gradual slope it swerved. He tried to rectify it
by steering with a heavy foot, where a feather-weight touch
would have sufficed. His inexperience sent the sleigh
spinning. An interval of unconsciousness followed. A cut
head and various contusions were the reward of rashness,
and the knowledge that there is a thing or two an English-
man cannot do impromptu. Nor is it to be supposed that
anyone not a native born could attain to the perfection of a
Canadian skater, practised in the art as they are from
childhood. The brilliant groups of masqueraders at Carnival
times in their waltzes and daring flights on their steel
blades exemplify the hackneyed phrase, " the poetry of
motion."

While the icy hand of Winter was on the land, paralysing
commerce, the business men joined the soldiers in a tandem
club, which might be seen spinning down the crooked
turnings of the sally-ports of the Citadel Hill, led in turn by
a civilian or military jehu. Fantastic feats were performed
in the narrow lanes of the old city, " foUcw-the-leader "
round lamp-posts, down snow-covered flights of stairs, and
up the Heights of Abraham by the road made since the
soldiers of Wolfe scaled the precipice on that eventful
morning that gave half a continent to Great Britain. The
tandem rendezvous was generally some quaint Canadian
village hostel, where the cargoes of rosy cheeks and bright
\ eyes were unloaded for the dance, which generally followed
a scratch meal, the music provided by the Battery band
sent on before, or a local fiddling genius. Then came the
spin home, the tinkle of sleigh bells and laughter, making
music under the pines, until the silver spires of Quebec
gleamed in the moonlight.

Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the diffi-

WINTER BIVOUACS.

W''

culties of invading Canada during the Arctic Winter,
which were exemplified when the American armies
of Arnold and Montgomery were driven discomfited
from the old rock fortress of Quebec, our tiny garrison
was familiarised with military operations in Winter.
Long snow-shoe marches were frequently made, and in
1873 the Battery bivouacked in the woods without tents.
A handful Qf hardy disciplined Canadian soldiers, equally at
home with axe and rifle, who can, on their
snow-shoes, move through the forest carrying
their own provisions, blankets, and ammunition,
and transporting their tents and light sheet iron
stoves on toboggans or Indian sleighs, would

make a serious diversion on
the flank of an invading
force confined to the tram-
pled high roads and incapa-
ble of deployment.

On another occasion the
left or French-Canadian
Division, men, for the most
part, who have served an
apprenticeship in the lum-
ber shanties, left Quebec
on February 26th at day-
break in heavy marching
order,' with blankets, three
days' j^t provisions, V [^snow-

■'^^5^S

356

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

shoes, and an axe replacing sword-bayonet in the waist
belt. Having, reached the north shore of a lake they
struck into the woods about twelve miles out, clearing
a road through the forest for the tent sleighs. Here they
were joined by Indian guides of the Huron tribe, under
Fran9ois Gros Louis of Lorette. Camp was pitched on the
picturesque shores of Lac Sagamite, which nestles amongst
the lower spurs of the Laurentians. In an amazingly short
space of time arms were piled, packs oflF, and the forest
ringing with the rapid strokes of their axes. Soon the blue
smoke curled from the canvas village and the savoury
steam of the soldier's supper soup mingled with the fragrant
sapin boughs which form the elastic bed of the wearied
hunter. Here is a Frenchman's description of an English-
man's winter bath : —

"Le lendemain matin, pour preparer son corps A de
nouvelles fatigues, le soldat bronzd des Indes e- rappelant
sans doute les joyeux dbats des nymphes et des naiades
dans les eaux bleuStres des lacs merveilleux qui nous
entouraient, se roulait comme un serpent, en cost:me
adamique, dans I'epais tapis, de neige ovi nous enfoncions
jusqu' aux genoux. Un moment, nous avons tous craint
que cet exercice refrigerant fQt dans I'ordre du jour, et

beaucoup d'entre nous tremblaient d^}k de

froid. Mais cet example n'etant suivi que par un seul
officier canadien, nous en avons etd quittes pour la
peur."

On the following day, the Right Division marched out in
the same order and encamped with their comrades. The
Field Battery was left as the Citadel guard under Captain
Short. The night was cold and clear. Huge camp fires
threw into fantastic light and shade the groups of soldiers
who disturbed the stillness w'th English songs and old
Canadian voyageur chansons. Next day was devoted to
practicing the men in snow-shoe attack, heavy marching
order. The programme anticipated an enemy from
Stoneham. Picked marksmen of the Battery, under the
guidance of their Huron ally, Francois, acted as scouts, the
position of the enemy being. supposed to give him command
of the open surface of the lake. A long flank march
was made through the woods and the line of attack and
supports formed on his flank, cutting him off his line of
retreat to Stoneham. The attack was delivered, to the

'%.

CANADIAN SEIGNEURS.

357

manifest alarm of the occupants of a log hut, who took
up a strong position under their beds and could not be
dislodged by force of British arms or the diplomacy of a
Schouvaloff.

On the return march a small river had to be crossed. The
Indian guide declared the ice to be unsafe, but the Force
passed on a couple of felled trees, Indian fashion (au pont
sauvage). The only mishap occurred to a field oflficer, a
heavy swell, who fell through the ice, attempting a passage
on his own account. He was none the worse, only wiser
for his ducking. Sound of firing now showed that the
camp had been occupied by an unexpected party of the
enemy. A second detour had to be made. The scouts
sent out reported the camp occupied and an ambuscade laid
by the hostiles, who had also sent out Indian scouts. After
some skirmishing the camp was taken from the rear, thus
cutting oft" the retreat of the defenders who, fortunately,
turned out to be friends from town, laden with a very
welcome supply of varied provisions, to which they helped to
do justice, in spite of the apparent treacherous designs so
happily frustrated. Friday was wild and stormy ; tents
were struck and the Force marched home, leaving a small
detachment under Captain Duchesnay to bring up the rear
on Saturday. Not a man fell out during the march and
the only casualty was a frozen nose of the Wellington type.
As the tents of the Militia Department had not been
available, the kind and liberal Seigneur of Lotbinidre lent
some light cotton ones and portable stoves used by his
lumbermen in their encampments. Each tent holds fifteen
men and with its stove only weighs 3 5 lbs".*

The mixture of -French and 'English lent a peculiar charm
to the society of Quebec. The seigniorial rights had "been
abolished by laws which could not do away with the kind

* It is curious and instructive to note that Arctic eampaigning.as practised on snow -
shoes by Canadian troops, is being taught to our Sepahisin the Chitral valleys and passes
byj^oung officers from the Military College of Canada— Lieut. Gnstave de Lotranierc,
R.E., and Lieut. Heniieker, Connau^ht Rangers, while on service on o(*r Lddak IrMitier
sent to Canada for snow-shoes, and instructed some of their men/ thus making' it: possible
to operate in winter over passes hitherto closed for eight months. The fighting men that
could be drawn from our vast Empire would be more' varied' than the 'auxiliaries of the
Roman Legions. Our very vastness gives us means of defence, had weonly the heart to
use them. Yet this is the Empire the little-hearted ones would have us cast away fill our
40,000,000 starve or eat each other when the world is closed to our trade. It is not the
masses alone but the classes that are at fault. The absence of conscription' severs o ur
universities from the army, which has sufiered in consequence. While Goldurih Smiths a nd
Gladstones are products only possible to universities without mtUtary thosght, could such
men be the out-put of German or French universities ? .,,.... , .-,

f! !

358

GUNNER JINGO S JUBlLKIi

hearts and genial hospitality of the few remaining
seigneurs. None who knew him will forget The Seigneur
Joly de Lotbini^re and his delightful family ; a Frenchman
by race, a loyal Englishman at heart. Sin*- he lilies were
withdrawn, the young men of their
under the British flag and shed their bl
other far off dependencies of our Empire,
doors of Point Platon, on the ? Lawrenc
and many a glorious day did Jii have
and his sons, tracking the cariboo
canoes on his rivers, when the d*
fields of logs to his mills. Strange

lave served

1 India and

e welcoming

re ever open,

the Seigneur

s or floating in

>ught down the

to note in what

perverted channels the fountains of imperial honour flow,
when directed by politicians. The Seigneur Joly de Lotbirjdre
had the confidence of both races, rendered eminent service
to his country, and yet, though descended from the French
noblesse, none of the easily acquired knighthoods showered
upon political adventurers has fallen upon him.

With the Canadian Spring, which bursts so suddenly into
Summer, tobogganing, skating, and sleighing came to an end,
but sugar-picnics to the maple groves began. The new
Govt -nor-General arrived and took up his residence in one
wing of the Citadel. The popularity of Lord and Lady
Dufferin was established at once, as it so readily is every-

rOBD^9>Pi)f^

LORD DUFFERIN.

359

!ur
an
:re
ed ,
nd

ng
;n,
ur
in
he
lat
w,
re
ce
ch
ed

where. But his social success was the least part of his able
administration. From the Atlantic to the Pacific his genial
presence and the oil of his eloquence tended to allay pro-
vincial friction in the young confederation of Canada. He
also saved from Vandalistic destruction and decay the
picturesque old gates and walls of Quebec. He not only
took an interest in the old fortress, but in the new garrison,
and became the first patron of the Dominion Artillery Asso-
ciation. He wrote : —

" Citadel of Quebec,

"23rd Sept., 1872.

" My Dear Colonel,

" I cannot quit the precincts of your fortress without ex-
pressing to you my sen.se of the kindness, c-'jrtesy, and
consideration which have been shown to Lady Dufferin and
myself by you and your officers during our stay. In a
hundred delicate ways we have been made to feel how
welcome we were amongst you, and how anxious you were
to render our residence pleasant and convenient. If we

come back here our neighbourhood to you and Mrs.

will be an additional attraction, as we shall feel we are
returning to the society of real friends.

" I am not sufficiently of a mihtary turn to be justified in
paying you a compliment on your men, except through
Colonel Fletcher, but in all those respects of which I can pre-
sume to judge, they seem to be in first-rate order. They
never have failed to show me every respect, the guard has
always turned out with the greatest smartness, and my eye
has never lit upon a drunken soldier.

" Next year I hope to stay on later in the season, when I
hope we may have many a brisk scamper together over
those posts and rails across the water.

j^ , • ; I "Yours sincerely,

" Dufferin." .

The hunt club (called Stadacona, after the Irdian name
of Quebec) had been established for military as well as
sporting reasons, to get the French-Canadian officers
accustomed to cross-country riding, and Lord Dufferin gave
it his patronage. Until hounds arrived from England the
hunt had taken the prosaic form of a paper steeplechase.
The long winters confined the hunting season to Spring and
Autumn. As at Gib., when the fleet came in, the soldiers

360

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

were put up>on their mettle by the reckless riders of the
Blue Jackets. Through the generosity and energy of
Captain Temple, the hounds arrived, but an unlucky accident
prevented his being their M. F. H., and the post was
offered to the Citadel Colonel. Shortness of purse com-
pelled him to decline, but the sporting merchants of the
lower town agreed to foot the bill. Captain Short was an
excellent whip, and the pack was maintained until *' B "
Battery was transferred from Quebec to Kingston. " Rey-
nard's Legacy " recalls most of the members of the old
Stadacona.

THE LEGACY OF THE PHANTOM FOX OF
STADACONA HUNT.

THE

Novir, alas ! my race is run.
There's an end to all my fun ;
No more I'll be a rover
By hillside or by cover,
For the ice king's come at last,
And my death is in his blast ;
' So I'i! even make my will
'Ere iry paw is frozen chill.

Tally ho 1 my boys, ye ho ! Hark away !

i 'I

To the noble British Peer,
With his hat upon one ear.
Come to rule us from afar.
Where men call him " Reen-a-var,"
Which means king of men they say.
For, by Jove, he leads the way.
So my honours and my fame
He may tackle to his name.
Tally ho 1 etc.

For the Guardsman* and his horse.
And the ex-Hussar of course.
With, their thorough-breds so hot.
As they bolted like a shot,

* Colonel Fletcher.

THE PHANTOM FOX.

Or a missile to a targe,
Or a Balaclava charge,
I have ordered lots of ice,
From old Gunter's shop so nice.
Tally ho ! etc.

There's a Bobby tight and true
As e'er wore the well-known blue,
And Jack Heigham is his name,
I will back him to die game
In upholding British law.
So I'll give to him my paw,
For he's huntsman and he's whip.
And collects for us the tip.
Tally ho ! etc.

Then a Major of Hussars,
Also nobly won his stars ;
Ferdy TurnbuU is his name,
If he is not known to fame,
Then by Jingo, sir ! he ought;
For the fox he nearly caught —
So I'll give to him my brush.
He may drown it in his lush.
Tally ho I etc.

There's a Gunner with a name
That I'm funkey to proclaim,
Montizambert 'tis in French, .
At battery or at trench
He would never slacken rein.
Though he does not want the brain
Yet I'll give to him my head
When this poor old body's dead.
Tally ho ! etc.

Between dashing Mrs. D

And the other ladies three
My fond heart I do divide,
I'd take any for a bride

361

;■

11^
'1

"( \

it!)

362 GUNNER jingo's JUBILEE.

If I was a Mormon bold ;
Sure to none could I be cold,
Of Diana's followers fair,
/" With their gold or raven hair.
Tally ho ! etc.

^ Td the subs of Battery " B,"

Short, La Rue and Duchesnay,
I would give a martingale,
For they never leave my tail.
When they should be holding hard ;
They decline to play that card.
Though Jack Sheppard rides as free,
He is cooler, don't you see ?
Tally ho ! etc.

Here's for you, Charley Gething,
So often at the death in.
My old whip, and spurs and cap.
For you never need a gap.
Nor the Stewarts, Gibb, nor White,
On his little nag so tight ;
Besides hosts of friendly names,
Sure I don't forget their claims.
Tally ho, etc.

To Desbarats and de Lery
So gallant and so cheery.
Like the chivalry of France
Who would smiling break a lance ;
To Dan DriscoU and his boys,
Who don't bother us with noise,
I give my land and estate
With my money and my plate.
Tally ho I etc.

There's a heavy man and horse
Goes thundering on his course,
In the legions he has served,
Whose banners never swerved
Where the British Tally ho !
Struck such terror in the foe.

'h-'r^H.

ELECTRICITY.

363

Him the friendly youngsters dub
" Pater Miles " of the club.
To him I leave my blessing,
'Tis all I'm now possessing.
Tally ho! etc.

Signed X Reynard,
his paw.
Witness, M. F. H., Jingo.

Huntsman, Jack Heigham.
Whip Primus, Charlie Short.
„ Secundus, C. Gething.

My official duties often took me to Ottawa. There, the
hospitable doors of Government House were ever open to
me in the regime of Lord DuflFerin, as well as of the Marquis
of Lome. The memory of that kindness is refreshing, for
1 know it was given to one who could render nothing in
riiturn. Moreover, they both helped me strenuously in
military organisation as far as is possible to the represen-
tatives of a Monarchy which reigns but does not rule.

In one of my Winter visits to Lord Dufferin there was an
illustration of the climatic influence that causes the difference
between the go-ahead push of the Transatlantic and the slower
but more solid progress of insular Englishmen. If it make a
difference in the temporarily-transplanted individual (who is
said to go up like a rocket and come down like a stick) — for
the suddenly-increased energy wears men out — reminding
one of Dr. Ox's experiment with ozone in a dull ' Dutch
village— what must be its effect on generations of men and
women ?

One night when the thermometer was below zero and the
electric aurora borealis was flushing outside, and making
the telegraph needle? dance, we sat in the warm drawing-
room of Rideau Hall.

'* Time for all good children to be in bed," said the sweet
hostess and mother, and the obedient little ladies Black-
wood -ame round to give their good-night kisses.

Lord Dufferin, who described America as the
obedient parents," maintained British discipline
The child drew back her head with a start, and 1
the tingle of the lips that virtue had gone out of me.

" Bless me I you must be the — the — Mephistopheles,

"land of
at home,
knew by

364

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

lit!

Colonel Jingo. There was a blue spark when you kissed
that child."

I offered to repeat the experiment with some of the
grown-ups, as a mere matter of scientific investigation, of
course. The challenge was not accepted.

" But I am sure you could light the gas with your
finger," said Lady Dufferin ; and I did. Then, taking her
hand and shuffling across the room together, to accumulate
frictional electricity — she also was able to light the gas.
Lord Dufferin and others followed suit after a little practice
and sufficient working up, much to their amusement and
the detriment of the carpet.

i'V

.♦

'\\

365-

ssed

the
n, of

y^our
her
ilate
gas.
:tice
and

(':- •5.

:• ■". ■:■■. >-.l!v 7 ■•-.:. ■■■;;:

'.I

CHAPTER II. - ^ -

The Tricolour and the Green^Goldwin Smith — Blue Blouse— An
Inquest — Captain Short — The Centenary of 1775 — Charles
Kingsley — The Marquis of Lorne and the Princess— Palliser
Guns — Mission to British Columbia — The Mormons— Lost Boun-
daries—Canadian Military College.

East and West, the services of the Battery were required.
On the 5th of August, 1872, they were called out on the
requisition of the Mayor and Sheriff, and very often after-
wards. In September, Lieutenant Tascherau and forty non-
commissioned officers ana men, with two 7-pounder rifle
guns, were sent to distant Manitoba, with a similar detach-
ment from " A " Battery, to keep the Half-breeds in order.

On the former occasion, the French and Irish Canadians
went at each other with rival tricolour and harp on green.
They were not content with stones and shillelaghs, but
revolvers began to play, and the bearer of the green flag
was shot dead. Plucky Captain Heigham, with his handful
of police, stood between the crowds in vain. It requires two
sides to fight. It was thought the Irish, being the most
truculent, should be first got rid of They were therefore
charged by the mounted men of the Battery, and thence-
forth formed no item in this disturbance. The Infantry
portion of the Battery, drawn across the street, effectually
prevented the French-Canadians, whose foes had been
discomfited, from following the Irishmen home as they
wished to do. They proposed to carry the tricolour through
the files of the Battery, and fired a few high revolver shots
by way of emphasis. The mounted officer in command
asked which of them meant to go and tell his wife that
they had shot him with their fooling. A good-natured
laugh showed the day gained, and the French-Canacians
retired with their flags to their own quarter, St. Roch's.

t I i

) I

i'l

11]

If f

198

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Shortly before this, two prophecies had been made.
Goldwin Smith, while my guest, informed me I was
on a fool's task in organising Canadian soldiers, in view of
the near annexation of Canada to the United States.
Twenty years have passed and his prophecy seems no
nearer its fulfilment, in spite of his " damnable iteration."
The second prophecy was mine. If it were not for
Canadian soldiers the French and Irish would be at each
other's throats. The sequel showed the true prophet. For
serious riots again broke out later on.

The Quebec Parliament was threatened by a mob, an
effort made to bi eak open the gaol and release the prisoners,
flour stores entered and partially plundered. On the arrival
of '• B " Battery, the marauders were quickly ousted, and
the troops drawn up to prevent a repetition. The mob
mounted the cliffs above St. Paul's Street, and thence
rolled down rocks and stones from the crumbling fortifica-
tions. Fortunately, the troops were kept beyond reach of
the heavy stones, but could scarcely be sheltered from the
shov/er of lighter missiles. The Mayor had ensconced
himself inside the store, whence he could safely survey the
cmeutc. As he would not give the order to act, the
Colonel invited his presence, that he might share in the
compliments which were flying. When he came, the
attention of the mob was turned from the soldiers to the
civil functionary. His return was barred by a file of sturdy
gunners, who stolidly said they had orders to let no one pass,
not even "his worship the Mayor." It was suggested he
should read the Riot Act, and he was provided with the
copy, fished out of the sabretache of the CO. Mumbling it
more quickly than a hungry friar would his grace before
meat, he gave the necessary authority to act, and was allowed
to retire. Captain Short was directed to clear the street
with the mounted men.

He did so with his usual impetuosity . A passing street-
car divided him from his detachment, and he was furiously
assailed, receiving a deep cut in the forehead. The horse of
a trooper slipping on the car-rails put another man at the
mercy of the mob. The Infantry portion of the Battery was
advanced to the rescue.

It was my habit when ordered on civil disturbance to fix
bayonets before leaving barracks, with the «^reble object of keep-
ing the fire low from the weight on the muzzle, producing the

BLUE BLOUSE.

367

salutary effect on the mob which steel always does, and
cheating the "penny-a-liner" of the opportunity of writing
that " Ht this point the blood-thirsty officer lost his head,
and ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge an
inoffensive crowd."

Bayonets being fixed, the advance of the men by sections
with trailed arms had all the effect of a charge, without any
of the inconvenience of giving such an order. The men,
who had long been exposed to the taunts and assaults of
the mob, broke into a double and the rioters fled before
them, seeking refuge down lanes and in doorways, whence
they emerged as soon as the retire was sounded. The CO.
was afraid of getting his men out of hand and had hitherto
refrained from opening fire for fear of injuring foolish
spectators who were not actually assaulting the troops.
Now was his opportunity. He had long noticed the ring-
leader, a man in the blue blouse of an ouvrier, fresh from
the barricades of the Paris Commune.

"En avant, mes enfants," he had been shouting, " Les
voila qui reculent. Je connais la trompette. Nous allons
les ecr-r-aser on leur a defendu de tirer ! "

This Communist was followed by only a few of the most
determined. I halted the rea'- section of eight men and
opened fire. Half-a-dozen men and a cab horse dropped.
Also the " blue blouse." Most of the others rose and
limped off, but the blue blouse remained on the pavement,
and a little red stream trickled into the gutter, a suitable
receptacle.

From that day to this no shot has been fired in the
streets of Quebec. A large force of Militia was sent from
Montreal next day, but it was not required.

But the Commanding Officer's difficulties were not over.
There was an inquest upon " Blue Blouse," who lay on a
deal table, with a small purple hole in the centre of his
forehead. Coroner and doctor were sympathetic. The
sapient opinion of the latter was that the dead man had
been shot by a revolver and the base of the skull fractured
by a heavy stone. I asked to see the bullet which he
purported to have extracted and found it to be that portion of
lead which divides the hollows in the front and base of
the Snider bullet. Upon it was the stamp of the broad
arrow. I was able to convince the gentlemen of the jury
that the missile was the regulation rifle bullet and not the

_ *

;i 1

'](

368

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

revolver bullet, which bears no such stamp. The Snider
bullet enters by a hole no bigger than its circumference but
flattens out on meeting an obstruction. In this case it had
shattered the base of the skull in its partial exit. The jury
were anxious to find a culprit of some sort, and having
been told that only one section of men had fired, they desired
to see that section in the uniform they had worn, with a view
to assuring themselves (so they said) that " B " Battery were
the executioners and no other corps. I sent a note to the
Citadel ordering down a section of men (" P.S. — Private.
Any of the actual firing party to be carefully excluded.")
When they arrived the coroner remarked, with evident
satisfaction :

" One of these men then must be the homicide who acted
on your order ? "

" Oh, dear no 1 None of the firing party are here. You
wanted to identify the uniform of the Corps. There
it is."

A verdict was then given in accordance with facts.

It is curious that the bugle notes which call Tommy
Atkins to his duty — it may be his death — have no spirit-
stirring war clang about them. The long-drawn plaintive
notes of the assembly rang out clearly over the snow-
covered hog's back of the Citadel parade-ground and
i-everberated through the casemates. The sulky soldiery
began to tumble out of their warm beds into the keen below-
zero night air. The pink flush of aurora borealis swept
softly upwards to the steel-blue zenith, putting out the stars
that scintillated so sharply in the still midnight sky. They
looked like glory holes in the firmament, giving glimpses of
an infinite radiance beyond.

" What's up now ? "

" Oh, goin' to blazes ! The old game, them bloomin'
French-Canadians burning up their blessed city again 1 "

The frequent terrible conflagrations in the stove-heated
wooden houses of the suburb of St. Roch's had turned " B "
Battery into an auxiliary fire brigade. To give the devil his
due, perhaps to the disgust of the orthodox angels, the
military fire-engine and their axemen were ever in the
thickest of it.

At last, Charley Short, as keen a soldier as ever drew
sword, coming unscathed from Indian bullets, gave his life,
and saved the city by blowing up a house, himself with it.

-\ 1

CAPTAIN SHORT.

369

His faithful Se'-^eant, Wallick, accompanied him to the
Valhalla of heroes. Their monument is the city. Yet
another " stands in the Comitium plain for all men to see."

This time, the alarm was not for St. Roch's. The Com-
mandant had had a shrewd suspicion that the breechloading
guns, mounted for the defence of the fortress, would not be
workable in severe frost He had reported accordingly, but
being only an artillery officer, his opinion, like that of Mr.
Toots on general subjects, was '* of no consequence." Officers
and men were at their alarm posts in double quick time, but
the breech screws were frozen solid, and the enemy was
requested to wait until fires had been lighted in the guns to
thaw them out. Then the old ladies in the city beneath
shook in their beds as the guns above them thundered out
into the .stillness, just as they had done a hundred years
before, dealing death to the rash American General who, at
midnight of that last day of 1 775, had tried to storm the
virgin fortress when she was wrapped in her mantle of snow.
Could he have deferred his attack for a century he would
have had a better chance.

But the angry citizens would not be placated by excuses
of military experiment, and the city Press declared that the
Commandant had fired a midnight /r// dc joie to celebrate his
acquisition of the new Boston waltz step. Unfortunately he
started another fire that was anything but joyous. The lamp
left burning on his study table, shaken by the reverberation
had ignited the papers. The enemy was repulsed, but the
C.O.'s quarters were in a blaze. In a few minutes, the officers
rushed to the rescue, and the married ladies, en deshabille,
but wrapped in martial cloaks, were deposited in comfortable
arm chairs, and their half-dozen little girls, enveloped in
blankets, were soon seated in safety on the mess-room table,
the whole party being comforted with mulled wine. The
conflagration was soon got under, the men from the guns
turned to the fire engine, and the vaulted casemates pre-
vented the fire spreading to the upper story.

During these years " A " Battery had been made equally effi-
cient under Colonels French and Irwin, at Kingston. There
being little prospect of active service in Canada, officers and
men of both batteries volunteered for service with the Imperial
army. Captains Wilson and Herbert, and Surgeon Neilson
were accepted for service in Egypt, and Herbert, a promising
young officer, died at Cairo.

B li

370

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

V »

The Literary and Historic Society of Quebec, celebrated irr
1875, the repulse of the American troops, commanded by
General Montgomery (whilom officer of the 17th Regiment
in the service of his Britannic Majesty George III.), who, on
the blusterous wintry morning of December 31st, 1775^
attempted an assault upon the redoubts and fortifications,
which at that time did duty for our present Citadel. The
General's intrepidity gave him a soldier's death. His want
of success rendered possible the loyal Canadian of to-day.
Thus, fifteen short years after the conquest, ere the
immortal Wolfe and Montcalm had returned to their dust,
Briton and Gaul were shoulder to shoulder repelling the in-
vader of our sacred soil. It is not generally remembered
that results as momentous to Americii. as the issues of
Waterloo to Europe, were decided on that bleak New Year's
Eve, beneath the beetling crags by the shore of the St.
Lawrence, where Montgomery found his winding sheet of
^^ snow. Then it was decided that for another

hundred years at least the New World was not
to be one huge Republic, and that the wills of
those who were determined to dwell under
the ancient institutions of their ancestors
must be respected or the issue again relegated
to the ultima ratio regis et populi.

The celebration of the Centenary of the
Literary and Historic Society was followed by
a similar demonstration at the Institut Canadien
of Quebec, on the 30th, which went off with great
eclat, and by a ball at the Citadel on the 31st,
given by the Commandant and officers. ** Again
soldiers and civilians in the costume of I775f
moved about in the old fortress, some in the
identical uniform worn by their ancestors at
the time of the memorable repulse," many of
whose descendants, both French and English,
are still in Quebec. A novel feature of the
entertainment was the midnight salute from the
Citadel guns. In view of uniting the sympa-
thetic patriotism of the two races, it is, per-
haps, a pity that the custom has been given up.
Among the many visitors from the Old
World to the Citadel, none appreciated its
associations and beauty more than Charles

THE MARQUIS OF LORNE AND THE PRINCESS.

371

Kingsley. As he stood on the ledge of rock that overlooks
the foaming cauldron of Montmorency, he was accosted by a
Yankeefied guide, who shouted in his ear statistics of the
number of cubic feet descending per second, etc., etc.

" C — c — confound the fellow I " said Kingsley, " I would
rather a man shouted at me in church."

The Marquis of DuflFerin was succeeded by the equally
popular Marquis of Lome and his amiable Princess. In the
long run, the sterling qualities and great ability of the Scot
were founds out and thoroughly appreciated — in Canada, at
least, where people were best able to judge.

During my experience of fifteen years in Canada, no
Governor-General ever gained so thoroughly the confidence
and affection of the people of Canada of both races. To his
grasp of the military situation (perhaps second only to that
of Sir Charles Dilke), Canada largely owes the establishment
of the small-arm cartridge factory and shell foundry at
Quebec, and had he been seconded by his Government,
Canada would long since have converted, in her own factories,
her mass of old smooth-bore 32-pounder guns into 64-
pounder rifles, on the Palliser principle, at a minimum cost,
affording a rough, serviceable armament for earthworks at
strategic points on her long frontier, quite equal
to anything that could be brought against them over-
land.

From the first his talented wife shewed herself a true
daughter of her Royal House. Her tact, generosity, and
large-heartedness, were shewn in a thousand ways in the
interest she took in "all .sorts and conditions of men." It
does not require the incident of her furnishing from her
private purse an ambulance for the help of the wounded in
the North-West Campaign to prove this. Unfortunately,
her time in Canada was cut short by a sleigh accident,
from which she suffered severely and long.

But absence from Canada has not cooled her kindly sym-
pathies with its people. After the Campaign in the North-
West, she made particular enquiries for those who had been
engaged there — among others, a young Canadian officer who
had been frequently on duty at the Citadel during the stay of
the Governor-General. Seeing no prospect of permanent
employment in the limited Canadian Service, he had come
to England in the hopes that his qualifications might obtain
him a commission in the British army. He was disappointed,

BB — 2

-* I!

372

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

i!:^l:

and enlisted as a trooper in a Lancer regiment. It was
mentioned to her Royal Highness, with an expression of
regret for his bad luck. She commented that it ought not
to be considered a misfortune to wear Her Majesty's uniform
in any rank.

" But he has no friends in this country, and is unlikely to
rise toa comn.*''sioned rank."

"But it's plucky of him," said the Princess, " and I
should like to see him. Couldn't he come to the
Palace ? "

" In the fairy tales, your Royal Highness, Princesses do
what they please, and everything comes right. But this is
the fag end of the nineteenth century."

The conversation was discontinued. But the full private
of Lancers was sent for to Windsor Castle by Her Majesty,
and informed that his advancement depended upon his merit,
and his being a Canadian born would prove no hindrance.

He went with his regiment to India, and five years, with
the approbation of his officers, brought him the desired
rank.

In 1877, Captain Edward Palliser visited Montreal to
inspect the means for the conversion of guns on his brother's
(Sir William Palliser) principle. The initial experiments
were carried out with complete success, but were dropped
on a change of Government. Sir WilHam Palliser never-
theless presented two 180-pounder guns, which cost £700
sterling. He had to buy them from her Majesty's Govern-
ment and pay Sir William Armstrong for their conversion.
The gift of Sir William reads like a bit of old Elizabethan
story, when English gentlemen fitted out warships at their
own charges to meet the Spanish Armada. The guns were
duly mounted in the Citadel of Quebec. Why this liberality ?
** Noblesse oblige." One of Sir William's ancestors was
Commodore of the Fleet which aided Wolfe in the capture of
the city.

The duties of Inspector of Artillery being combined with
those of Commandant of the Gunnery School, carried me
through the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince
Edward's Island, and Nova Scotia. They were lightened
with spells of splendid sport, salmon and trout fishing. The
generosity of Lord Lome gave me the freedom of the Risti-
gouche River for one season. These duties were subse-
quently extended over the whole Dominion, and I was sent,

|ji,:'X! I'

THE MORMONS.

373

in conjunction with two Royal Engineer officers — (Major
Hennell, of the Bombay Army, volunteered to accompany me)
to report upon the proposed defences for the Pacific coast,
and the best terminus, from a military point of view, for the
Canadian Pacific Railway.

As there was no C.P.R. in existence, we had to go
through the United States, via Mormonland, California, and
thence northward. The trans-continental journey was even
then luxuriously Pullmanised, and we had no incident beyond
carrying as a fellow-passenger a freshly-captured, wounded
" road-agent." The SherifTs men sat with drawn six-
shooters, and forewarned us in the event of their having to
open fire to " lie low." But the prisoner died of his wounds.

No need to dwell upon the picturesque Salt Lake City,
with its garden-surrotinded bungalows, in which each
wife has a separate door. Mormon industry has worked
wonders, irrigating the alkaline desert into fertility by
streams brought from the snowy summits of the Sierras. We
enjoyed a promiscuous bathing party, of which a stout old
German Jew, who had turned Mormon, was the head centre.

Surrounded by his numerous red-headed wives, the poor
man persisted in floating wrong end uppermost, due to the
extreme buoyancy of the Salt Lake and the accumulation of
adipose tissue at that end of his person. In vain the shrieking
women endeavoured to right him. I swam to his rescue,
and seizing a handful of tissue with the parti-coloured gar-
ment, produced a gurgling groan from the inverted Mormon,
who was, however, safely propelled to the steps of the pier
along which the bathing-boxes were arranged. Having had
quite enough aquatics, the extreme brine being very painful to
the eyes, I made for my bathing-box with the least possible
delay, but encountered a procession of Mormon ladies with
pink parasols. As my hired garments were scanty in the
extreme, the situation was highly unpleasant, especially when
aggravated by the giggles under the sunshades, which were
only lowered at the moment of passing. Inserting my hand
over the top of the door of my bathing-box, I maladroitly
knocked the key off the nail on which it had hung. My
companion had already reached the shelter of his box, and I
shouted to him to climb over the partition between the two
and open my door from the inside. " All right, old fellow,"
was followed by a crash of wood and the exit of the yelling
Mormon ladies from their own compartment, in extreme

lii

374

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

^c;f

lit;

i-8-rS-

ll* II

deshabille. My friend had scaled the wrong partition, which
had broken and precipitated him into the red-headed seraglio.

From this exhibit of aquatic Mormonism, w<' nsited the
successor of the polygamous prophet, who iield forth to us on
the manifest material advantages of the institution, as
evidenced by the marvellous industry which had converted
the alkaline desert into a garden watered by streams drawn
from the perpetual snows of the Sierras, " a work only
possible," he said, " to a redundant youthful population, the
product of polygamy, which," he added, " was a necessity in
a new and sparsely-settled country. A second wife was
required to look after the first, and do the housework during
illness," etc. In such countries, women will rarely, accept
the position of a servant, and prefer that of a supplementary
but acknowledged wife.

" But if the institution rests on purely material grounds
why drag in the authority of religion ? "

" Because it has Biblical authority."

" Certainly, in Patriarchal times it was permitted, but — "

" Since when did Jehovah change his morals ? "

" Well, since the coming of Christ."

" Will you kindly quote the text in which Christ forbids
polygamy ? "

I felt rather stumped, but as my interlocutor was a Bishop
I fired oflf at him the text — " A Bishop should be the
husband of one wife."

" Ah, Christ did not say that. It was that self-opinionated
person, Paul, who himself admits that he gave much
unauthorized advice on marital subjects. His followers call
their religion Pauline Christianity."

" Then, if you have the sanction of the Old Testament
and no contradiction in the New, why bring in the brass
plate business ? It won't go down in this century."

Here our relations became strained, and we took our
leave. The United States Government has declared polygamy
illegal — except as practised among Christians.

Passing through Oregon and Washington Territory, once
ours by actual occupation, we saw the forts of the old
Hudson Bay Company in the fertile provinces of the Pacific
Coast, which we abandoned to American bluster.*

' The average Englishman has not yet realised that we have lost Oregon, judging
an illustrated paper of the present date which locates Oregon " in the Far west
Canada."

LOST BOUNDARIES.

He who said, " I care not who writes the history of a
people provided I write its ballads," was justified by the ex-
position of American policy, as set forth by the sweet singer
of " Uncle Sam."

"If ] was legislator of these United States,
I'd settle the nsh question accordin' —
Give the Yankees all the meat.
And the British all the bones.

And put the boundary t'other side of Jordin."

But American cuteness has been abetted by British dull-
ness. It is said the English Commissioner reported Oregon
not worth keeping, because the salmon of the Columbia
River will not rise to a fly. Common rumour is not always
a common liar.

As we go north there is still a more painful object lesson
which the lovers of arbitration would do well to take to
heart, but, alas I " peace at any price " people are never
readers of history.

The last Treaty of Washington, 1 87 1, and the arbitra-
tion of the late Emperor William of Germany, lost us the
Rosario Channel and the island of San Juan, which render
insecure our ocean highway to the East from the termina-
tion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, still unfortified,
though an acre of plans and proposals, mine amongst the
number, have been submitted to and " approved " by
numerous committees. The subject is still bandied about
between the departmental officials of the Dominion and
Imperial Governments, through the Colonial Office, War
Office, and Admiralty, each, when found, like Captain
Cuttle, " making a note of it " ; and so it goes on in the
merry-go-round

As a guide to the future, it may be as well to take a
glimpse at the past, especially just now, when the claim of
the United State? to that part of the North Pacific called
Behring Sea is to be submitted to arbitration.* The
United States, in common with other powers, strenuously
opposed the similar claim of Russia, at the time she held
the whole coast of Behring Sea, but now they seem inclined
to go snacks.

* Since decided, on the Yankee all the meat, British all the bone principle.

III

ij^

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEH,

The boundary between Alaska and Canada had been pur-
posely kept unsettled, with the usual policy of establishing
a raw on the British Lion. The Government of Canada has
repeatedly asked for its settlement, knowing that further
gold discoveries, and the consequent rush of miners from
the United States, would make a boundary more difficult
to settle. A non-diplomatist is at a loss to discover wh}'
a settlement of the Newfoundland dispute was not insisted
upon lonr ago. The indisputable right to Madagascar, with
its splenuid harbour, we have yielded, giving the FVench
tlieir lorg-desired base of operations against our route to
India by the Cape.

It is painful to see how diplomatists have muddled away
what the sword had won, and what might have been a com-
plete Canada, instead of driving her nearly to the North
Pole. Is it to be wondered at that some Canadians desire to
return to warmer latitudes, at the price of expatriation or
annexation ?

It is not generally remembered that Wolfe was not the
first conqueror of Canada.

I. — Quebec was captured by English ships in 1629,
under Sir David Kertz (or Kirk), a French refugee, who
carried the Governor, Champlain, a prisoner to England.
A treaty with France, in 1632, restored to her Quebec,
Acadia (Nova Scotia), and Isle Royal (C j<c Breton) ;
Champlain returning to Quebec and resuming the govern-
ment, restored New France Toi- a *resh struggle between
the two great rival powers under Wolfe and Montcalm, who
might have spared their blood, i that of many brave
men, had they known that the verdict pronounced upon
their death in the "boudoir" of a French King's mistress,
" Nous avons perdu quelques arpcnts de neige en
Amerique," might in substance be re-echoed in a British
Parliament after the loss of Canada by those who
believe that commercial relations will remain when Empire
is abandoned.

We can aft'^rd no more messing and muddling of bound-
aries in the future. The loss of Canada would be the beginn-
ing of the end. Our most secure link with Australasia would
be broken, and Africa would follow. Canada is the longest,
strongest, and most important link in our chain of Empire
that girdles the globe.

2. — By the treaty of 1763, England acquired all the French

LOST BOUNDARIES.

377

possessions in America which hemmed in the thirteen
colonies from Acadia to Louisiana.

3. — By that of 178;;,, she abandoned to the United States
" immense tracts of territory, unsettled, and, in fact,
unknown." The boundary was fixed from the north-west
angle of the Lake of the Woods, due west to the source
of the Mississippi, an impracticable line, for the
sources of the Mississippi are many hundred miles to the
south.

4. — Consequently, by Jay's treaty of 1794, and the
Convention of 1815, the boundary was changed to the 49th
parallel of northern latitude, driving Western Canada
almost into the Arctic Regions, to be subsequently sand-
wiched by the purchase of Alaska from the accommodating
Muscovite.

5. — At the time of the Treaty of Ghent in 1814,
" England was actually in possession " (chiefly through
the gallantry of native Canadians) " of the fortress of
Mackinau, of Lake Michigan, of the site of the present
City of Chicago, and of a line of territory terminating at
the fort of Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi. She had
won back in fair fight, and held by right of war, the whole
of the territory conceded in 1783, that which now
constitutes Michigan, and the more Northern States of
Wisconsin and Minnesota." She held a fort 450 miles
down the Mississippi, captured and held by Colonel Mackay,
a Scotch-Canadian, and Captain Rollette, a well-known
French-Canadian adventurer, with a force of Indians,
i-Ialf-breeds, Orkney-men, and '* voyageurs." Yet by that
treaty the whole territory was ceded to the United States,
as was alho the State of Maine, ours " not only by the right
of war, but with the consent and content of the population,"
still largely French-Canadian. On tlie other hand, the
Americans gave up nothing, for they had nothing to give,
and " had not even a sentry on the Canadian shore."

Had it been otherwise, England retaining her conquests
for the cost of war, Canada would have had unfrozen sea-
ports on the Atlantic coast. And the Canadian Pacific Rail-
way going through British territory would have been much
shorter than the Inter-Colonial, which is forced to an
enormous detour by the wedge driven into our territory
by the State of Maine, approaching as it does to within
twenty miles of Riviere du Loup, where a few troopers in

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

a '-.ight-ride over the border could, with dynamite cartridges,
blow up bridges and culverts.

6. — The Ashburton Treaty of 1842, ratified these incon-
veniences. I have heard Americans boast of the smartness
of their Commissioners, who produced a forged map,
showing a different course for the head waters of the St.
John River, which was then agreed upon as the boundary,
Now we hear of a Russo-American official inserting false
statistics in the Behring-Seal-Fishery papers as data to be
arbitrated upon ; when found out he was of course promptly
disavowed.

The fiat for removal of " B " Batter}' to Kingston,
Ontario, to be replaced by "A" Battery in the fortress of
Quebec, was a source of great regret, especially to the
former. The officers and men being mostly French-
Canadians had few ties in Ontario, while they loved the
old city which had seen the birth of the military organi-
sation. The Batteries were transferred in June, and the
good people at King.ston soon made the new-comers feel
at home. The Commandant found Canadian cousins who
had emigrated from Scotland more than a century before.
The Battery occupied the Tete du Pont barracks and Fort
Henry. The Military College of Kingston had been estab-
lished under Colonel Hewitt, R.E.

A proportion of conrmissions in the British Army are
annually awarded to successful competitors, and in the
annals of our late little wars and explorations, the Canadian
cadet has writ his name large, which is not surprising, con-
sidering the solidity of the system there pursued compared
with the hustle and cram of Woolwich and Sandhurst. The
entrance to the Canadian College is not competitive. The
standard is only ufficient to secure the competency of the
candidate to proh by instruction. The young Canadian
comes with a good physique and a fallow brain. There is a
steady course of four years' training, as against eighteen
months or two years at Woolwich or Sandhurst. It is
unfortunate that Canada does not sufficiently utilise in her
own service the scientifically trained cadets of the Military
College.

We must not suppose the objection to their employment is
similar to that I once heard against West Point cadets when
inspecting that institution with visitors from Congress. A
Western senator remarked, " This, sir, is a useless institoo-

CANADIAN MILITARY COLLEGE.

379

remarked,
rate, they
account in
any

lie

tion, for the manufacture of a shoulder-strap airistocracy we

do not require on this continent." "But," I

" they do not all become soldiers, and, at any

make good citizens." " No, sir, they ain't much

civil life. You can't get a Westpointer to tell

way."

But, alas ! my interest in military matters was about to
receive a wrench, by my being placed under regulations
that had not been in existence when I embarked for Canada,
and were made retrospective, for my special benefit only,
and that of my comrade, Major-General Downes, R.A., then
serving in Australia. These regulations respecting retired
officers serving Colonial Governments have since been modi-
fied in their monstrous folly and injustice. Retired officers
serving the Colonies are now only deprived of a portion of
their pensions. Why should they be so mulct ? the colonial
pay does not come out of the British tax-payers' pocket, and
the pension is for past service to the Empire.

Tf'-]f

•\-

380

CHAPTER III.

Too Old to Soldier— Start a Ranche^-Blackfeet Neighbours-
Legal Difficulties— General Jingo's Hardest March — Crow-
foot AND Old Sun — Horse-thieves, Red and White — A 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.

{ '■

In 1 88 1, after thirty years' service in the Royal Artillery, in
which I was Colonel, I became entitled to a pension, but was
informed by the WarOflice that it would not be given tome
unless I resigned the service of the Dominion of Canada, and
further, should I do so and elect to return to England, I
would, in a few years be compelled to retire under the new
age clauses, with probably a less pension than that then
offered. A soldier of 40 is considered too old to lead 100
men, but an octogenarian is not too old to run or ruin an
Empire.

Under the circumstances, there was nothing for it but to
resign both Imperial and Canadian service to enable me to
draw my pension. Very much against the grain, and with
many unavailing remonstrances, I became a civilian.

Leaving my family at Kingston, Ontario, where I had
commanded, I started for the North-West to prospect for a
site for a horse or cattle ranche in the then little known
country near the base of the Rocky Mountains.

I had, as previously stated, passed through the ranche
country of the United States with my friend. Major Hennell
of the Bomba}' Army, when I was sent to report upon the
best terminus for the Canadian Pacific Railway from a
military point of view, and also to report on suitable coast
defences. I then had my attention drawn to the subject
of cattle and horse raising on the prairies.

There being, in 188 1, no Canadian Pacific Railway, I had
to travel through the United States to Bismark, where I

:.^i\\

['.■)■

START A RANCHE.

381

took the stern-wheel steamer up the Missouri River, on and
off mudbanks, to Fort Benton in Montana. Meeting with a
young EngHshman, who had been on a sheep station in
AustraHa, we joined forces and bought a prairie schooner (a
covered waggon) and four horses, loaded up with provisions,
and started North for Canada, along the base of the Rocky
Mountains, fording half-a-dozen rivers, more or less difficult
at that season of melting snows, and prospecting as we went
for about 200 miles.

We fixed upon a suitable site in the "Great Lone Land."
I applied to the Canadian Government for a grazing lease ot
70,000 acres, north of the Bow River, about 50 miles south-
east of where the town of Calgary now stands. It then con-
sisted of four or five log huts, />., the Hudson Bay Store, L
G. Baker's, the police palisaded post, and the police
officer. Captain Denny's house, where I was hospitably
entertained, as at every post of the North West Mounted
Police.

Seventy thousand acres was a large order, even in the
" Great Lone Land," and it was beyond my means, even
combined with those of my Australian companion to run such
a concern. But I had been in communication with friends,
officers in Canada, in England, and in India, to form a
Military Colonisation Ranche Company, to breed suitable
horses for the army, and to settle there when kicked out of
the service by new regulations.

It was necessary to secure the site by occupation. The
young Australian and myself drew up our waggon, picketed
our horses, and pitched our tent on the beautiful banks of
the swiftly-flowing Bow River, where the wooded islands
gave material for a log-hut. We started to cut down trees,
but neither of us being skilled axemen, progress was slow.
Though I had left Kingston before the snow was off the
ground, we had spent so much time prospecting, that Winter
was again approaching. My Australian companion thought
the cold climate would not suit his complaint, or perhaps —
well I something else.

Just at this juncture came the ordinance of the Canadian
Government, forbidding sheep to be raised north of the Bow
River, which was to be reserved for cattle on the advice of a
certain ranching senator, who subsequently changed his mind
and took his cattle south, when this monstrous restriction
was withdrawn — too late for me — but it decided my waver-

■'I

i '

,!»"■

Il|"-I

ill

1^^

38:

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

ing Australian companion to leave me, for he understood
nothing but sheep. I paid him back his share of investment
in waggon, team, and store of provisions, and found myself
alone in the " Great Lone Land," with no nearer neighbours
than the Blackfeet Indians, about ten miles off. I went to
them, and with the aid of Mr. Leheureux, the interpreter, and
by the kindness of the Indian agent, Mr. Pocklington, who
interceded for me with the Blackfoot Chief, " Old Crowfoot," 1
squared matters with him.

After a present and a " pow-wovv," he was very polite and
friendly, and permitted two Indians, " Old Brass " and " Cut
Face " — the latter so named because he had cut off his wife's
nose for infidelity — to come and help me to build a log-hut.
The Indians brought their " teepees " and squaws, but not the
lady minus the nose, who had been divorced after that opera-
tion. The Indians were fair workers when humoured, and
good axemen, and the women worked hard also, cutting light
poles and grass for the roof and afterwards mudding it and
the chinks between the logs. But, fortunately, I was not
dependent on them, for I got the assistance of a white man,
an excellent axeman and good fellow, who spoke a little
Blackfoot. He was a young Canadian, named Morris, the
son of a former Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba.

We were a curious crowd, but got on famously. I had the
good luck to shoot an antelope, and we had bacon, flour, tea,
and tobacco — what more does a fellow want, with good
company ?

The log-hut built, we entered into occupation on my birth-
day, the 15th of September, thus securing a homestead right
of settlement, and laid up provisions for the winter.

Unfortunately, nothing else was secure. My lawyer, who
had been employed to obtain the necessary Charter from
Government for the formation of the Military Colonisation
Company, informed me that the whole work had fallen
through because the young Australian, whose name had
been inserted with mine and others, in the application for
a Charter, had left the country, and that I must therefore
return at once to Canada, and start a fresh application, or
lose the claim for seventy thousand acres.

There was nothing for it but to go back immediately —
but how ? There was no railroad nearer than 300 miles or
thereabouts, and Canadian Winter was setting in. Just in
the nick of time a couple of visitors arrived. Two friends,

GENERAL JINGO S HARDEST MARCH.

383

young police officers, Perry and Provost, drove up in their
waggon on their way East — one to be stationed at Cyprus
Hills and the other going on leave. They offered me a seat
for part of the way, which was thankfully accepted. I left
the house, waggon, team, and provisions in charge of Morris,
and a thoroughly trustworthy fellow he proved.

We had not gone far when a terrible blizzard set in, snow
fell over a foot deep, in a few hours you could not see your
hand before you. Our waggon broke down, and there would
have been an end of the old officer and the young ones
also, but that they were overtaken by a survey party with
carts, also making their way East. Some of their horses had
died of hardship, for under the snow, which the warm
" chinook " wind soon melted, the country was found to be
burnt ; not a blade of grass for a hundred miles.

The devastation caused by prairie fires, partly accidental
but often deliberate on the part of Indians, as the best means
of relieving their country of white men and their herds, is as
hard to realise by dwellers in civilisation as is the heart-
sickening sight to a settler of " the pillar of cloud by day
and the pillar of fire by night," that when started late in the
Autumn means the slow death by starvation of thousands of
ranche cattle.

The difficulty of campaigning in such a country can be
understood. Fortunately, the Spring came soon after the
outbreak in 1885, and the fresh grass, growing like magic as
the snow melted, alone rendered possible the march across the
prairie of columns with the long convoys of provisions
necessary in a country which produces nothing but gophers,
co3'otes, and Indians. The coyote is a prairie wolf, and the
gopher a sort of ground squirrel, which burrows and makes
prairie galloping dangerous, especially when there has been
a .slight " flurry " of snow.

At last, after much hardship, we reached the terminus of
the C. P. R. on our feet. Of the few remaining horses that
dragged themselves and our supplies, (with, alasl much
cruelty, many oaths, and a little assistance from the men of
our party), there were more than one which had literally lost
their feet — the hoofs had dropped off from a disease peculiar
to the country, due to constant travelling in alkaline mud.

Next Spring the Military Colonisation Company was put on
a proper footing by the assistance of Messrs. Gunn and Benson,
Members of the Canadian Parliament, and the new Charter

■i !;

384

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

duly secured; I had furnished the initial expenses, and
taken the largest proportion of paid-up capital myself

I started back in the early Spring again, before the
snow had melted, taking with me my youngest son, Alec ;
the son of a brother officer, Falk- Warren ; and also, as
foreman, Mr. Hatton, an ex-Militia officer of ranche experi-
ence in Colorado. After leaving the C.P.R. we had about
300 miles to drive. We had purchased a waggon, teams, and
supplies, and, joining forces with Lord Boyle and his
brother, and Mr. Wilmot, for that part of our trail which
was common to both, we plodded on day by day through i
alkaline swamps that the melting snows had left almost
impassable.

We marched for near a month, and I do not remember a
day when we did not stick in a swamp, necessitating generally
the unloading of our waggon, and the carriage of the contents
on our backs to terra firma. As the foreman had sprained
his arm by an upset, and the two lads, only sixteen years of
age, were not game to shoulder sacks of oats and flour, this
duty devolved on ex-General Jingo, who was supposed to be
too old for military service, according to the wise warrants of
the War Office, introduced by the gentlemen who ride hobbies
and high stools.

This march also had an end. It was the hardest the ex-
General had ever made. There was no blazing camp fire,
no wood on the treeless plains. The monotonous tinned
meats, and greasy bacon, and chips of ship biscuits, soaked
in the fat of the latter, were gulped down with pannikins of
hotmilkless tea. When old Jingo rolled under the waggon,
sharing the limited space with his son, the foreman, and the
other boy, it was not often for deep sleep. His thoughts went
back to those happier days when even the sultry marches
of a hot-weather campaign in India could be lightened by
genial comrades. But those were the times when hope and
Jingo were young, when the laurel with the golden legend
of his grandfather seemed within grasp. Now — hope
was dead — Jing;" had long since discovered that that tree
(/oes only grow on the shady side of Pall Mall. There was a
grim consolation that though Royal Warrants considered
him unfit to command men, he could at least manage wild
horses.

As soon as the two boys were installed in the log hut,
built the previous fall, and a field for potatoes fenced, ploughed

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HORSE THIEVES : RED AND WHITE.

and sown, the *' Boss " and his foreman drove south into
the United States, purchased a band of a hundred brood
mares and three stalHons, hired a few cowboys, and drove
the horses back for 1 60 miles to Canada.

The rains had begun, and the buzz of the merry mosquito
was heard in the land. We had no tents, and nothing but
blankets and canvas sheets under and over for sleeping in.
Not that there was much sleeping done. For many nights
the mares had to be circled by mounted men to keep them
from breaking back to the country whence they had been
driven, where horse thieves abound, who would consider it
smart to stampede on their backtracks a band of horses just
bought by a "blarsted Britisher." And even after the mares
were on the ranche they had to be closely guarded from the
same gentry, who did succeed in running off a couple, by
hiring themselves on the ranche as cowboys, and then dis-
appearing with their mounts and one extra. It did not pay
the " Boss " to leave the " ninety-and-nine in the wilderness "
and go after " that which was lost," and to send anyone else
was as equally futile as to apply to the police.

From time immemorial the beautiful valley of the Bow
River has always been the home, the head-quarters of the
powerful and once warlike Blackfoot nation. It was here that
the election of their chiefs took place, a dignity for many
generations hereditary in the family of " Crowfoot." The
Sapo Mexico or Mecitlico is a strange compound of the old
French voyageur — Sabot-Shoe, and Mexico (Mecitlico) great,
an Aztec or Voltic word applied to Mexico, the Great or
Big Land. The name was won by an ancestor of Crowfoot,
who slew in battle the chief of the Crow tribe, a man of
gigantic stature, and the shoe or mocassin of the slain
warrior was long retained in the family of the conqueror as
a trophy. Hence the name, originally " Big Crow Shoe," was
corrupted to Crowfoot. Though they cherish the memory
of their past wars they are now peacefully settling down on
their Reserves. They are fed by the Canadian Government
as there are no buffaloes to hunt.
The nomadic teepee or lodge,
originally of buffalo skin, became ■
canvas, and is now rapidly giving
place to the log-houses of cotton
wood, built on their Reserves,
where farms are established

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

under the superintendence of the Indian Department. But
the braves do not take kindly to agriculture, they make the
squaw.s work. It would have seemed a more natural step if,
instead of farming, the Government had first given them
cattle to herd, that being the natural step between the war-
rior-hunter stage and the agriculturist.

The Blackfoot braves are tall and handsome, their flowing
blanket costume adding to their apparent height. They have
not the muscular development of a white man, as they have
never worked, nnd their buft'alo hunting was done on horse-
back Their aquiline beardless faces shew intelligence, and
their bearing is dignified and gentlemanly. The hair is left

long and tangled, only feathered upon
the warpath. Crowfoot, their chief,
was like a dark J)uke of Wellington
in feature, and he had something of
the level-headedness and shrewdness
of the Iron Warrior. He had the
wisdom from the first to see that the
true interests of his people lay in
friendliness to the white man. He
would, had he been left more power,
have checked the irregularities of his
headstrong braves.
" Old Sun," the second chief, a veteran warrior of
heavier build and physique, had not the acute brain of Crow-
foot, but had been a desperate fighter in his day. In his
lodge were said to be concealed the scalps of white men and,
slander added, longer and fairer tresses.

When my family came up to reside in the terra-cotta-
coloured mansion, *' Strangmuir," we were often surprised
by uninvited guests. The mocassined feet would be across
the threshold before a sound was heard, and the Indian
would quietly seat himself beside the piano, where the girls
were practising, ask for tobacco, light his pipe, and go on
smoking placidly, and listening while the governess repeated
the " one ! two I three !" with equal stolidity, though the old
warrior beside her bad an ominous disc of parchment
attached to his costume, from which still hung the now scanty
tuft of a pale scalp-lock.

Crowfoot and Old Sun were our most frequent visitors.
They would sit in the long room, which was school-room and
dining-hall, until dinner came up, brought in with much

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CROWFOOT ANIJ OLD SUN.

3«7

indignation by Debby, our Irish cook, a thorough aristocrat
like all her race when *' naygurs " are concerned ; moreover,
had not her uncle ousted Lord Listowel as mimber of
Parlimint for the Kingdom of Kerry ? To think that '* the
loikes of her should be cookin' Christian mate for durty hay-
thins in paint and blankets." Crowfoot's table manners were
those of the gentleman he was. He would gulp down
gallons of hot tea, and then cool himself off with the fan
provided by one of the ladies of the house. — Squaws and
Indians whose rank did not entitle them to enter, uninvited, ^
the house of the "white chief with one eye open," as they
called Jingo (from his watchfulness and his eyeglass) would
have to content themselves peering in at the windows of the
lower stor}'. At all hours the beady brown eyes of squaws
might be upon you. The braves rarely condescended to let
their curiosity get the better of their manners.

Old Crowfoot has passed away since the events
recorded took place and is probably sleeping on a raised
platform in the wooded islands of the Bow. The
corpse is not buried until the dry air has dessicated
it. It is startling to come upon the last lonely couch of a
dead warrior, covered by his blanket, his rusty gun and his
whip beside him. Of course one would never willingly
disturb such repose as it may be, but the first one I saw, I
raised (I hope with pardonable curiosity) the end of the
blanket and the skull rolled at my feet. I carefully replaced
it. I often again sought that resting place, it had a curious
fascination for me, but I never found it. Had his tribesmen
removed it for burial ?

The squciws are not so good-featured as
the men and do not do the same amount of
dressing up. That peacock-like part is assumed
b}' the brave, who naturally acquires and
attracts the greatest number of squaws. The
uncomely squaws are relegated to the hardest
labour. Long ages of this natural selection
and peacocking on the part of the men have ^
perhaps led to the striking difference in facial
beauty between the men and the women.
Both sexes disfigure themselves with red and
yellow paint.

The Blackfeet, through their chiefs Crow-
foot and Old Sun, who had solemnly sworn

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388

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

brotherhood with the white stranger, confirmed it over
many sacks of flour, pounds of tea, and tobacco given
by the latter. But their hearts were Indian all the
same, or else their young braves were uncontrollable in
their desire to steal horses, which, if they could not keep,
they might be rewarded for bringing back. The Military
Colonisation Ranche horses were closely herded. The
Blackfeet started a prairie fire. They took good care always
to do this with the wind in the direction to favour them, that
is, towards us. The fire stampeded the horses. To arrest
either the fire licking up the dried grass or the mad mob
of frenzied horses flying before it, was like trying to
stop a cyclone. On reaching the river the horses scattered
through the bush along the fringe, and many dashed into the
water and swam across to the Indian Reserve — as they were
meant to do. The poor mares lingered with their little ones
until their very tails were scorched. Some of the young
colts perished before reaching the river, and we found their
poor charred bodies on the blackened ground. We crossed
the river and recovered most of the horses ourselves. A
valuable mare was missing. The police will not allow
settlers to deal with Indians, and unfortunately do very
little in that line themselves.

Superir/iendent Steele was an exception. He sent a
sergeant and an interpreter, and I went with them accom-
panied by a ranche hand, Sinclair. The missing mare was
discovered, and given up by " Low-Horn," the minor chief
of the delinquent's camp. The latter rejoiced in the name
of " Dried-String-Meat." He certainly would have become
dried strung-up meat if Judge Lynch had had him on the
other ^ide of the line ; Mr. Dried-String-Meat resisted, but
in less time than it takes to tell, the native gentleman found
himself on the broad of his back with the sergeant's knee
on his breast and a dainty ppir of ruffles on his wrists,
before he knew where he war . Another native, Mr. " Red-
Meat," drew his knife on the sergeant, with the intention of
converting him into red-meat, but an old and more benevo-
lent Blackfoot arrested the hand of the would-be assassin
and the prisoner was irresistibly persuaded to take his seat
on the four-wheeled buckboard, to which he was secured by
the quiet sergeant, who bore the inappropriate name of
*i Fury."

A crowd of excited Blackfeet had surrounded the waggon.

A JUDAS KISS.

389

and the head Blackfoot soldier, a grenadier in a high goose-
cap head-dress, seized the horses' heads, but had to reUnquish
them on a smart appHcation of the whip across his face.
Having secured the M.C.R. horses, we drove through the
crowd of Indians. The prisoner was taken to the Ranche
where, like St. Paul, he was chained to an ever-vigilant
soldier, for the trusty sergeant had handcuffed him to him-
self. Thence he was conducted, with Red-Meat and the
grenadier, to the police barracks, to be tried on a charge of
horse-stealing and resisting the police, with the usual result
of acquittal. I have no recollection of an Indian ever being
punished for anything by the civil power until the rebellion
broke out. I went to Calgary to give evidence, but the re-
lease had taken place before my arrival, and the amiable
magistrate assured me that the prisoner was willing to give
me the kiss of peace, which he did, taking me unawares ! I
knew it was a Judas business, for my red friends are to this
day killing my son's cattle whenever they can get a chance of
doing so without detection.

The next year 350 head of cattle were bought in Idaho,
and my boy and Bob Newbolt, the son of a brother officer,
helped to drive them up. Timber was cut in the mountains,
floated down the Bow, and thus corrals and stables were
built. Subsequently 2,000 more head of cattle and 300
more mares were bought. The following Winter my eldest
son, Harry, then on the Dominion Survey, now in the Royal
Artillery, joined the M. C. C. Ranche with four other
youngsters, sons of officers.

Nearly two years had passed, working A'ith my men,
sharing their meals and a corner of a log hut with a mud
floor, but little more extensive than that shown at " Buffalo
Bill's." Our costumes too, resembled that of his picturesque
cowboys, but our occupations were rather more serious, our
fare harder, and our pay less. When I came back to
England after the North- West Campaign, I was surprised at
the ovation accorded to Buffalo Bill by Princes and swells of
sorts of both sexes.

A plan of a house had been sent east and the pieces for
its erection were forwarded back, window sashes and doors
complete, all rather like a Chinese puzzle to be put
together. Fortunately, we got the foundations dug, a cellar
excavated, and the baulks set up before the extreme cold
began. Sitting on the rafters shingling the roof, with the

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390

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

thermometer below the freezing point of mercury and four
reflected suns in the sky, with halos round them, such as you
see in pictures of Arctic regions, was extremely trying and
provocative of profanity, especially when the hammer lands
on the thumb. The house rested on a sill of squared logs,
the outer walls of two-inch planks, upriglit, fitted in a groove
in the sill. The outside had *arred yiaper and clap boarding
over all. Inside, there was an air space and an interior
lining of paper and tongued and grooved lumber. It was
two-storied, and contained ten rooms and a covered annex
in the rear. The whole was painted pale terra-cotta, so
soon as the weather permitted paint to remain liquid. As
everything above ground freezes, and to five feet belcw it,
root houses had to be excavated for the storage of potatoes,
etc. In like manner, poultry houses had to be dug out from a
bank in rear of the house. But the crowning terror was
sinking a well, which suffered a partial collapse. No one vv^as
down there, fortuna'^ely, to suffer premature burial. As you
cannot ask a man to do what you won't do yourself, the
clearing, after the first slip, had to be begun by my son and
myself. I began to think I'd almost as soon dig my grave as
dig a well Then stones had to be carted from the river
and the well lined. A garden was ploughed, fenced, and
planted. Words cannot describe the fantastic performances
of a pair or four bronchos, when hitched into a plough to
turn the primeval sod of cussed toughness. There are no
earth-worms in the prairie country to permeate and lighten
the soil, a ..ubject Darwin has omitted in his treatise.

House-building operations were varied with cattle herding,
for our amiable neighbours, the Indians, were ever on the
alert to kill a cow or a calf, though they were abundantly
supplied with beef by Government. The Bow River bounded
our ranche on the south, and when frozen was used by the
Indians as a highway in their journeys to Calgary, where
they and their squaws go ibr periodical devilments, and
returning hungry kill the settlers' cattle. On the opposite side
of the river was thei*- Reserve, and the boundary had to be
ridden along the bank to watch for tracks-- of passing cattle
over the frozen river. My son. Alec, when on his beat,
saw a party of Indians dismounted on the high bluff
above the river. This always means mischief. Withdrawing
quietly to watch them, he found they were driving cattle
down to the river, where another party of Indians we.e wait-

CATTLE KILLING.

ing to receive them. Alec made them move on to their
Reserve and leave the cattle. Following the trail to some
distance, he came to pony tracks mingled with those of cattle
and blood. The Indians had managed to drive off a couple
of steers before his arrival. He found where they had
killed, carried oft" the meat, and secured the hides with our
brand upon them. It v/a? nightfall. A blizzard had sprung
up, and he had to make his way to Pruen's, one of our military
colonists, and was lucky to get there. Next morning I followed
the tracks, and in'ormed the police, who found the stolen meat
and arrested the delinquents. This time the trial was of a
more formal character and, if possible, of a more unsatis-
factory result, the verdict of the Judge being, " Not guilty,
but don't do it again." Several years have passed, and my
son writes that " Lake Raiser " (the original cattle thief),
has just killed one of his best cows. The presence of the
police has alone prevented these matters being squared by
the sett'ers themselves, in the short and decisive way they
manage it over the border.

I had secured as foreman an ex-Canadian gunner, sub-
sequently in the North-West Mounted Police ; when his term
of police service had expired he had lived with the Indians.
An adventurous fellow was Jim Christie, a well-educated
Scotchman, a good shot and horsebreaker, and a kind-
hearted, cheerful chap, who neve had an enemy but
himself

On the great Canadian steppes, along the base of the
Rocky Mountains, lie the cattle ranges, huge unfenced
areas, leased from the Government at the rate of one cent,
per acre per annum. They are covered with short,
nutritioui; grass, which in the Winter cures into natural hay.
The snow seldom lies for more than a few weeks at a
time, owing to the warm Chinook wind of the Pacific,
which licks it up. Some years the Chinook wind cv.ases to
blow, the thermometer falls below zero, the snow accumu-
lates, and in bad years the cattle die in considerable
numbers. The horses do not so suffer, they paw themselves
pasture, which the cattle cannot do. Snow freezes in
the cleft hoof, and lames them. The helpless cattle drift
before the blizzards, and Hnding no shelter on the treeless,
prairie, they smother in the snow-filled coulees.

The herds of the various ranches get mixed, and every
Spring there is a "round-up" by the North-West Associa-

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GUNNKR JINGO S JUBILEE.

^tionoi Ranchers. Each sends representatives in proportion
to the number of stock, and the commissariat is carried in
prairie waggons. The cowboys scatter out and sweep the
country in such fashion that few animals escape. At the
conclusion when the scattered stock are assembled, comes
the cutting and branding of calves. This cruel, but
necessary, process is the only means of distinguishing one
man's cattle from another. The huge herd, by g** lual
pressure of cowboys riding round the flanks, are made to
circle. The calves stick to their mothers in a marvellous
manner amid the turmoil of shout and trampling hoofs.
As the different brands are recognised from the outside, a ^
cowboy will dash in and drive from the rest a cow with
her calf to a place allotted for a particular brand — a
difficult matter, requiring as skilful turning as that of an
expert polo player. And the cow ponies are something of
the same style.

The cow does her level best, by twisting and dodging,
to get back to the herd, and sometimes succeeds. Then it
all has to begin ovfer again, and so on until each brand
has been separated into a distinct mob, kept apart by the
owner's cowboys riding round.

Now comes the branding and castration of the calves.
The neighbourhood of a corral is generally taken advantage
of, but failing this, it has to be done on the open prairie.
The calves are made to circle, and a couple of good hands
with a lariat will almost simultaneously lasso hind and fore
foot. The pony knows his work as well, or better, than his
master, from whose hands the lariat is scarcely cast, before
the pony throws himself on his haunches to receive the strain.
When a full-grown beast has to be an-ested, in full career, it
takes the pony all he knows to keep his feet, but the weight of
the rider is added, and the strain always taken at the proper
angle — from the horn of the saddle. The calf, with his
legs whipped from under him, is operated upon and branded
with a hot iron. From daylight to dusk hundreds are
branded, the men working in the choking dust of the corrals
and the blazing heat of the sun. The scene becomes
almost as exciting as the arena of a bull-fight. In the
eagerness to get through the work quickly, men will tackle
and throw a fairly grown bull-calf, perhaps lassoed by only
one foot. Sometimes it is a toss-up which goes down.
Should the cow throw herself into the strife, the odds are

» I

BRONCHO-BUSTING.

393

badly against the man, who will have to clear the corral fence
as lively as a torero.

In the case of sales, where grown cattle have to be re-
branded or vented, to save time and labour, they are driven
into a long shoot, at the end of which is a sort of swing
fence hinged with raw hide to a post fastened horizontally
on the ground and gradually drawn to the opposite side by
a winch. It secures the animal during branding. The iron
is inserted between the bars of the shoot. With an
accompaniment of angry bellows and plaintive moans,
frizzling of burnt flesh, and a smell of singed hair, the cruel
operation is concluded. The branding of colts and horses is
somewhat similar, but more exciting and a trifle dangerous.
The broncho is handy with hoofs and teeth.

The bands of horses are reared on the prairie in perfect
freedom, the foals running with their mothers. These
bands are only approached on horseback ; in early
Spring the scattered groups are rounded-up and
driven into the home pastures. Thence they are driven
into the large corral, and selected mares into smaller corrals,
one at a time, to the sires. The geldings are drafted out,
and those chosen for breaking driven into the circular corral
a few at a time, where they are circled round until the
horse required is lassoed and a turn with the lariat taken
round the snubbing post, in the centre of the corral. The
rest of the geldings are then let out and the process of
"Broncho-busting" commences. Brutal work it is. But
time cannot be devoted to gentler methods, which would
produce a more tractable animal, and Western men are
wedded to their ways. The poor brute, having been first
caught round the neck, nearly chokes himself in his effbrts
to break loose, while he plunges ineffectually. A second
lariat takes the fore legs from under him, and down he
comes. A cowboy sits on his head, while another brings all
four feet together with the lariat, secures them, and a stout
halter is slipped over his head, when the rough process mis-
called " gentling " begins. The broncho is not naturally
vicious, but terror makes him use teeth and hoofs in a
dangerous fashion to those who are not accustomed to his
little ways. The best hands use a species of magnetic
influence, making passes and fixing the eye with your own,
until the hand is allowed to play about the nostril and head
and gradually over the neck. As long as you hold the

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394

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

broncho's eye and don't lose your self-confidence, you are
all right. But all men have not this mesmeric power, and
those who have not had better keep cleari The poor animal
is kept tied in the corral, he will not touch hay, nor will he
drink out of a vessel. Twenty-four hours tame him some-
what, but he has to be thrown again before he can be saddled
and bridled. The broncho-buster jumps on his back, and he
is let go. But he does not want to go, and commences the
buck furious and prolonged with all its variations of rearing
and sometimes lying down to try and roll over his rider, who
is off and on again and again. It is a case of which will
tire first. Generally the horse gives in and breaks into a
gallop across the prairie. Whip and spur are plied, and the
V^ poor animal comes back tired out, which passes for tamed.
With some the process has to be oft repeated, and many
horses become confirmed buck-jumpers. If sufficient time
and patience were possible, and the colt taken up and handled
younger, a gentle animal could be formed, but it is a
question of time, which out West, more than elsewhere, is
money.

The finest horse on the ranche was given up as
incorrigible, and condemned to be sold by the foreman for
what he would fetch. During the man's temporary absence
I took the animal in hand, and with patience and gentle
firmness, and lunging in the home fashion, I was riding a
quiet animal when the foreman returned at the end of the
week. " Sunbeam, " a brilliant chestnut, was my second
charger through the campaign, and eventually fetched a high
figure in the New York market.

In breaking to draught on the prairie there are no lamp-
posts, ditches to upset into, nor other vehicles to collide
with, nevertheless, you have your incidents — smashed
waggons and harness, if not damaged humanities.

Things were getting prosperous when the crash came —
news that the Indians and Half-breeds had broken out, and
had at Duck Lake successfully attacked the Police, who had
fallen back to Fort Carleton, which was abandoned and
burnt, and the Police shut up in Battleford and Prince
Albert. Inspector Dowling and five policemen only
were left to guard four prisoners and the Calgary
Police Barracks. In the district there were perhaps
2,500 mounted Indians, armed for the most part with
Winchester repeating rifles. There was not a Militia-man

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INDIAN STRENGTH.

397

within 800 miles. The settlers were unarmed, few in number,
scattered over the country, and panic-stricken. .,.{?/

INDIANS IN THE DISTRICT, EXCLUSIVE OF HALF-BREEDS.
NO. ON PLAN.

79 Near Gleichen- ----- 2,158 Blackfeet.

82 ,, Calgary ------- 436 Sarcees.

83 „ Morley ------- 597 Stoneys. ,

80 „ McLeod 2,589 Bloods. , 7

81 ,, McLeod- ------ 893 Piegans. '

72 „ Bear Hills ----- 690 Crees. .

73 „ Edmonton ------ 488 Crees.

„ Edmonton ------558 Assinboine.

70 „ Victoria- ------ 598 Crees.

„ Victoria- ------ 99 Chippewa.

69 „ Lac la Biche ----- 255 Crees.

,. Total - - - - - 9,361

Over the United States border are kindred tribes requiring
but little encouragement to join their kinsmen in a raid. The
United States authorities did not prevent " Sitting Bull" and
his tribe from crossing into our territory, and there was a
lawless frontier element ready for a row of any sort.

The following telegram came to me from the Hon. Adolphe
Caron, Minister of Militia for the Dominion of Canada : »,:

- > • I :- "March 29th, 1885. ^ -

♦•Ottawa.
"To Major-General Strange,

" Gleichen. ''■''■ ' -
'* Can you get up corps ? Would like to see you to the
front again. Trust you as ever. Arms and ammunition will
be sent up upon a telegram from you.
^ ' • ) "A. P. Caron." >

In raising and organising a North-West force it was an
immense advantage to me that so many officers, non-com-
missioned officers, and men who had been trained under my
own hand were now scattered through Alberta.

During the ten years I had held command of the Gunnery
Schools, not only Artillery, but Cavalry and Infantry officers

398

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILKE.

and men passed tlirough them annually in considerable
numbers. 2,700 had served in " B " Battery alone.

Officers from Gunnery Schools and R.M. College, Kingston,
in Alberta force :

Major Steele, N.W.P., commanding Scouts' Cavalry.

Major Cotton, N.W.P., commanding Fort McLeod.

Captain Perry, N.W.P., commanding Artillery Detach-
ment.

Major Walker, commanding Home Guards.

Lieutenant Coryell, Scouts.

Lieutenant H. B. Strange, A.D.C. ,

Major Hatton, Alberta Mounted Rifles.

Lieutenant Dunn, Alberta Mounted Rifles.

Lieutenant Valency, W.L.L

Lieutenant Alec Strange, Frontenac Cavalry ; and many
others.

While with General Middleton and Colonel Otter's Column,
were both Gunnery Schools, "A"and"B" Batteries, under
Colonel Montizambert, and the Infantry and Cavalry School
Corps.

When a permanent garrison was required for the Red
River District, after Lord Wolseley's expedition, a detach-
ment of officers and men volunteered for this service from the
Gunnery Schools.

Subsequently, when Colonel French, R.A., raised the
N.W. Police, he took many officers and men from the schools,
and each year non-commissioned officers and men who had
completed their term of one or two years' service, volunteered
for the Mounted Police, and afterwards became settlers.

Wherever I went I found old soldiers, who, I am happy to
say, kept a kindly recollection of me.

In crossing the Milk River from the United States, and
entering Alberta for the first time, I was driving a waggon
and four-horse team. We had passed no water during the
day, and my leaders stopped dead to drink, the wheelers,
equally eager, got their forefeet over the swingletrees of the
leaders. I was in a fix. A man on the opposite side
shouted :

" Howld on, Kurnel, and Oi'll be wid yez." He threw off his
buckskin shirt and schapps and v <ded into the river, which
was waist deep and running swiftly, with chunks of ice in it.

OLD SOLDIERS TURN UP.

399

He quieted the leaders, unhooked and rehooked the traces,
and shouted : " Let 'em go, and welt the divil out of 'em,
Kurnel. Oi'll jump up behind."

With a rusli and a scramble they were through the river
and up the opposite bank. I thanked my timely friend, and
said, " You seem to know me, but I can't remember where I
have niet you."

" Know yez, is it, bedad ? Sure, Oi knew yer voice from
the other side of the river I Ye was shoutin' and swearin' at
themhorses, just loike ye'd do at us on parade, and ye ought
to remember me, for, by the same token, ye gave me more
solitary confinement and bread and water than Oi ever want
again ; but Oi don't begrudge yez, 'twas the best thing for me.
Tip us yer , fist, Kurnel, for old toimes, and God be wid the
days Oi spint in " B " Battery."

I was only too glad to grip the honest hand of an old
soldier, whose only fault was drink. Soldiers never resent
just punishment from an officer they know. Bad discipline
nowadays exists where officers don't live among their men,
and are not known to them.

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II;

CHAPTER IV.

Storm Foreseen— Causes— Party Politics— Amnestied Rebel and
Murderer- Land Claims Unadjusted — Prairie Indians no Prac-
tical Grievance— Cattle Killing Impunity — Destruction of
Buffalo— Northern Indians — The Squaw and the Agent's Dog —
Annexation Scheme.

The storm had been long brewing, the cloud in the West
no bigger than a man's hand, that finally overspread Canada
had been seen by those most concerned, />., observers on the
spot ; but such men are never listened to by the political
administrators of Government by a party for a party,
especially if they have no votes, as was the case with settlers
in the North-West.

It must not be supposed that I specially blame the party
then in power ; the Opposition would have done no better,
probably worse, if we may judge by their subsequent con-
duct in trying to make political capital out of the just
condemnation to death of a twice-convicted rebel and
murderer, who had let loose the Indian on the war-
path against defenceless settlers, priests and missionaries.
That more atrocities were not committed cannot be placed to
the credit of Louis Riel, who was no ignorant fanatic, but a
well-educated man and a graduate of Montreal University.

His acts were the natural fruits of an amnestied rebel and
political murderer, and the Canadian ex-political leader who
moved a vote of censure against his execution has been elected
a member of the Imperial Parliament, to assist Mr. Gladstone
with his advice on Home Rule.

The first expedition which Riel instigated, with the help
of Fenian emissaries from the United States, necessitated
General Wolseley's Red River Expedition. It is scarcely
denied that Sir John Macdonald's Government winked at,
if they did not provide funds for, Riel's escape, and his
subsequent residence In the United States, though he had,

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AMNKSTIF.D RKBEl. AND MURDERER.

401

after a mock trial, ordered Mr. Scott, a loyal subject,
to be shot under atrocious circumstances. No man suffered
for that crime. About a dozen years later, Riel was
practically amnestied by Sir John Macdonald's Government
and allowed to return to Canada, where he openly held
seditious meetings among the discontented Half-breeds and
white settlers north of the Saskatchewan.

Both Half-breeds and white settlers had grievances
connected with the amazing dilatoriness of the Government
to settle their claims to a few insignificant acres in a
territory as vast as the Steppes of Russia, and about as
valuable. On the other hand, the Indians, and especially
those on the prairies, had no tangible grounds of complaint
beyond their natural dislike to seeing the white man occupy
their country. Ample Reserves were kept for them ; through
the liberality of the Canadian Government, lib. of beef and
^Ib. of flour were daily supplied for every man, woman,
and child, besides an annual allowance of blankets and a
small sum of money.

The evil was that they were not restricted to their
Reserves, but allowed to wander armed over the country,
and as they could not be followed by their ration issuers,
they killed the ranchers' cattle with comparative impunity.
It was difficult to catch them in the act, and still more
difficult to get them punished by the Police, whose presence,
fortunately, prevented the white men taking the law into
their own hands.

With all savages, leniency has no meaning but cowardice,
and is followed by contempt. Before the outbreak, cattle-
killing became common from impunity and the facility
with which it could be managed among the vast herds
scattered over wide tracts. Where fire-arms would be
heard, my men found cattle shot with arrows, the Indians
having decamped at their approach, before they could
remove the beef. On the other hand, the Indians suffered
most in their contact with the white men, through their
women, who became utterly depraved ; disease and
unspeakable evils were brought upon both races. From
the first I had implored the Government to appoint
doctors as Indian agents instead of the poor relations of
Members of Parliament.

The enormous expense of feeding the prairie Indians
was forced upon the Canadian Government by the

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GUNNER JINGO S JUBII.KK

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systematic destruction of the buft'alo, merely for its skin^
by the frontier white men of the United States. I have
seen miles of territory just south of the line, dotted with
carcases, from which nothing but the skin, and sometimes
the tongue, had been removed. Our Indianc in their day
had been reckless, but never to the same extent as the
white American, who exterminated the buffalo for the sake
o'' his skin, and deprived the Canadian Indian of his food, by
systematically burning some hundrt ds of miles of our
frontier every year to prevent the buflalo's return to Canada
after it had gone south. We hear a grc?t deal of Canadian
fishermen destroying seals — nothing is Zaid of the systematic
destruction of the buffalo by the frontier men of the United
States.

I'he Northern Indians, Wood C/ees, Chipwayans, and
others, mostly live on fish and game, and are not so
dependent on Government. Among them the revolt broke
out. They are said to have had some reasons for
discontent in the character of some subordinate Indian
agents. In Canada, all appointments are political, and a
large proportion of subordinates were o'' the Irish persuasion^
for the Anglo-Saxon does not usually strive for an ill-paid
Government billet.

The first outbreak of Indians was at Frog Lake. An
Indian had boeu imprisoned for stealing beef, said to have
been put in his way by an agent. While undergoing
imprisonment, his squaw became intimate with the
prosecutor. When the Indian had served his term of
imprisonment he returned, and the agent was shot. So the
massacre began. After the last fight the squaw was found
hung in our line of march, also the dog of the agent, and all
white prisoners were released. So it ended, as far as the
Indians were concerned.

Riel was allowed to remain for months among the Half-
breeds, fanning the flame of discontent. He had Fenian
assistance in his first rebellion, and during his long
residence in the United States, had been led b}' Celtic
eloquence to believe that, could he maintain a revolt for
some months, which was quite on the cards (the C.P. Rail-
way not being completed, it was thought that troops could
not be sent from Canada), the United States might be got to
acknowledge the Western States of Canada as belligerents
and accede to their request for admission into the Union,

ANNEXATION SCHEME.

403

with a debt to be paid out of the United States treasury, to
those who had brought about the happy result, either by
maintaining a status belli in the territory or by manoeuvring
the matter through Congress. Among Half-breeds and
Indians these wild projects obtained creoence.

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404

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CHAPTER V.

Telegram of Fight at Duck Lake — Burning of Fort Carlton and
Retirement of Police to Prince Albert — Blackfoot Scare at
Calgary — Raising Mounted Corps — High and Bow River and
Military Colonisation Ranche Patrols — Ordered to March to
Join General Middlston — Who Can Take Care of Himself —
Dancing, Raiding, 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.

Scarcelj' had the echo of the first shots, fired at Duck Lake
died away, ere the news was flashed to Ottawa that Fort
Carlton was burnt and the Police were retiring on Prince
Albert. The Government realised that the Civil Power was
unable to cope with the situation. The Minister of Militia,
Adolphe Caron,* a French-Canadian gentleman, young and
energetic, did not dread responsibility. He wisely confided
the executive to General Middleton, commanding Canadian
Militia, who acted with extreme promptness and decision.

Meanwhile a flood of telegrams reached me, mostly by the
hands of mounted Indians, who never failed to carry them
faithfully if paid half in advance and the remainder on
delivery.

In reply to that already quoted, in which the Minister of
MiHtia did me the honour to call for my services in flattering
terms, I put my fastest team into my buck-board (a light
prairie contrivance on four wheels, in which you can make a
bee-line anywhere, without reference to trails or coulees),
and drove to the nearest telegraph office, Gleichen, about 13
miles off".

Thence I wired that my services were at the disposal of the
Government, despite the knowledge that I was liable to for-
feiture of Her Majesty's pension for answering the call to

* Now Sir Adolphe Caron, K.C.M.G.

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BLACKFOOT SCARE AT CALGARY.

405

arms in support of Her Majesty's Government. But I had
already committed myself ere I left home, for as my half-
broken bronchos were plunging to be off, the foreman, Jim
Christie, making a long-forgotten military salute, put a paper
into my hand. Glancing at it I saw it was a list of volun-
teer troopers for the Alberta Mounted Rifles, to furnish their
own horses, arms, and appointments. Heading the list were
both ni}' boys, one of whom sat by me on the buck-board.
With a twinkle of a merry brown eye he said :
" It's all right, governor I The boys will stick to you. Every
man on the ranche is down." He let go the horses and I
shouted back :

" All right, boys ! Sergeant Christie, take charge."
On my way I was met by an Indian, who handed me the
following telegram :

" Gleichen, March 30th.
"To Genkral Strange.
" Latest report. Fort Carlton burnt. Crozier retiring to
Prince Albert. Slight skirmish. Two mounted police
killed, ten wounded, seven civilians, not known how many
Breeds. Great fright in Calgary, Sunday night. Report,
Blackfeet going to take the town. People all assembled in
Hall. Great excitement. Women very much frightened.
There will be a train going west to-night or early a.m.

"J. E. Fl.AHKRTY,

" Station Master."

While waiting for the train to L.lgary, to try to raise
troops of Scout Cavalry, came the following :

"To Major-Generai. Strange.
" Proceed with mounted corps organised by you to Qu'
Appelle and report 3'ourself to Major-General Middleton.

" A. P. Caron."
I answered thus :

" P.O., Gleichen.
" To A. P. Caron, Minister of Militia, Ottawa.
" No corps yet organised. Not sufficient arms or ammu-
nition or service equipment. Enrolment of men offered for
local service only, to protect this district, left destitute 't
Police. Bands of cattle and horses liable to be run off by
Indian emissaries of rebels."

I wrote to General Middleton, with whom 1 had served in
India, explaining the situation ; that the Cowboys, the only

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406

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

armed men in the district, could not be withdrawn from the
cattle country (which is in the heart of the Indian Reserves)
as that proceeding would offer to Indian raiders, horses and
cattle, both transport and supply, which would enable an
Indian rising to be prolonged indefinitely ; that the Canadian
Pacific Railway and Telegraph also required protection where
they passed through the Indian Reserves, otherwise the
transport of troops' equipment and supplies would be inter,
rupted by the burning of a few wooden bridges or culverts.
And I stated my requirements of arms and ammunition-
saddlery and equipment.
He wrote in reply :

"April 6th, 1885,

" Fort Qu'Appelle.
" My Dear Strange.

"Just received your letter, which explains a great deal I
wanted to know.

" I quite agree with you that you can do better service
where 3'ou are, and that I can take care of myself here.

" The fact is, everybody is scared and is losing their
senses. I do not believe I shall fire a shot, though I intend
being cautious. There has been an awful lot of mismanage-
ment somewhere. They are sending me 2,000 more men,
and 2 Catlings, besides the 1,000 I shall soon have, (at
present I have only 350 and no Cavalry). I have ordered
saddlery to be sent to you, so cannot authorise Mr.
Cottingham,* but if there is any hitch I will telegraph
authority to you to get saddlery from Cottingham. I shall
be at Touchwood to-morrow.

" Ever yours sincerely,

" Fred Middi.eton."

As regards the telegram from the station-master at
Gleichen, reporting the panic in Calgary, and dread of the
Blackfeet sacking the place, I never anticipated danger on
that score, though experience of the Indian Mutiny had
taught me to expect the unexpected. The noble red man
is not fond of fighting in the open, and never attacks a large

* I had asked authority to purchase the small stock of saddl. ly in the hands of th«
only local saddler in Calgary, and to start him niakini; more.

DANCING, RAIDING, AND PATROLLING.

407

settlement, or at a disadvantage. Anyway, my ranche lay
right on the trail to Calgary, between it and the Blackfoot
Reserve, and distant from the latter about seven miles. My
wife, three little girls, and a lady cousin were under the pro-
tection of my youngest son, only eighteen years of age, (my
eldest son was with me), and Jim Christie, the foreman, an
old hand with Indians.

I left directions with him to put things in a state of defence,
as well as he could, without alarming the family or letting
the Indians imagine we were afraid of them. He had six
well-armed men on the ranche, a host in themselves. He
judiciously loop-holed the cellar about the level of the ground,
under the plea of giving increased ventilation, for the upper
part of our dwelling house, being of plank lumber, was not
bullet-proof. The mens' quarters, being in two log houses
detached from ours, were more defensible. A band of
Indians having camped in the brush near the river, without
women or impedimenta, an attack was anticipated, or at
least an effort to run off our horses and cattle. The wily
Jim got the ladies and women-servants down to the men's
quarters under the plea of a dance and a supper after-
wards, while the patrols sneaked out at intervals. My
wife, an extremely nervous woman, who, with an access of
terror induced by a horse cocking an ear or his tail, would
irreverently compare me to the son of Nimshi, was aware of
the situation and took it with perfect .srt;/^/ro/V/, even when she
heard the shots exchanged by our men with the Indians
who, a quarter of a mile from the house, were trying to run
off with our horses. They did not succeed, however. One
of our men, named Cole, dropped the leading Indian from
his horse ; his companions stopped to pick him up and carry
him away, and our horses were left — being used to the
place they were difficult to drive away. The Indians subse-
quently made another effort, by driving them into a slough
were thirteen were smothered. It is a common device with
Indians to drive wild horses into a slough where, being
exhausted with their struggles, they can be caught and
mounted.

Before marching North, I removed Mrs. Strange and the
children from the ranche, and took a house for them in Calgary,
as soon as a garrison arrived. There they remained until the
close of the rebellion, while Jim Christie and his men,
including my boy, Alec, and Bob Newbolt, protected the

408 <

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

lit:

cattle and horses. Thanks to their vigilance \vc onh' lost
about forty head during the disturbance.

On reaching Calgary, I was cordially received by the
citizens, but the Mayor * and others did their best to pre-
vent the enrolment of men, telling them they would be
forced to march with me, while the town, left unprotected,
would be plundered and burnt by the Indians. But " in the
multitude of (town) councillors was no wisdom found." A
public meeting was called, and after a few words from me
the Western men began to enrol freely. Excellent stuff they
were, some of them young English gentlemen, who, if they
don't succeed as .settlers, invariably make first-rate soldiers.
The majority were cowboys out of a job ; unfortunately the
long Winter had obliged many of them to sell their horses
and saddles, though most of them had stuck to their Win-
chesters and six-shooters.

I was implored by some citizens not to enlist such
" rowdies " as they were pleased to call them. I was
informed that they would never submit to discipline, etc.,
but I had lived too long among them not to know their good
qualities as well as their little weaknesses. From stait to
finish they never gave me the slightest trouble, and were
the best-behaved men of the Force, always to the front, yet
never grumbling. They were not all British subjects, some
being citizens of the United States, and here I anticipated
a difficulty which never arose, for they took the oath of
allegiance to her Majesty without flinching, and served her
faithfully.

I found that the Minister of Militia had appointed Mr.
Hatton, formerly my foreman, ani^ an ex-Captain of
Canadian Militia, to the command of the Alberta Mounted
Rifles, and I was fortunate enough to enrol Mr. Corryell, a
land surveyor and ci-deiiaut cadet of the R.M. College of
Kingston, who subsequently became a Lieutenant of Steele's
Scouts, together with Captain Oswald, another ex-Militia
officer. Sergeants Dunn and Lauder, formerly of the
Mounted Police, were appointed Lieutenants, and my
eldest son (who, like Corryell, was a graduate of the Kingston
Military College, and ipso Jado held a commission in the
Canadian Militia) I made my A.D.C. and General Staff

' Hxuctly six inoiitlis later this gentleman, presiding at another public meeting, said
"at an early date of the events referred to lie had misunderstood the General, and
had been in the wrong— he took it all back."— " Calgary Herald," Oct. loth, ilJ8j.

RAISING MOUNTED CORPS.

409

Officer, as there was at the time no other person of military
education and experience available in the district. His
comrade volunteer troopers, who all knew him as a good
cowboy and good fellow, had previously petitioned to have
him appointed Lieutenant of the troop. I had myself
received a telegraphic order from General Middleton to
assume command of the Alberta District, and was re-
gazetted into the Canadian Militia. An infantry home
guard for Calgary was enrolled under Major Walker,
formerly of the Gunnery School and Mounted Police. The
ranche men all came forward. Stimson, Manager of N.W.
Cattle Company, Jenkins (late Rifle Brigade), Smith, and
others. The Pine Creek settlers were represented by
Godsell. Pruen, Newbolt, Goldfinch, and Gabbet, and the
men of the Military Colonisation Ranche, under the foreman,
Christie, as before stated, together with the Bow River
settlers, formed a chain of mounted patrols. Major Stewart,
formerly of Princess Louise's Ottawa Dragoon Guards, raised
the Rocky Mountain Rangers in the McLeod district and
patrolled the frontier.

The Alberta district is largely devoted to horse-raising.
Every ranche had its herd, but they were unbroken bronchos,
with the exception of a few in daily use. It was difficult
to suitably mount the Alberta Rifles and the Scouts. The
ranche companies did not like at first to supply horses on trust,
but the Military Colonisation Ranche came forward and met the
want on the written agreement of the troopers to repay the
amount from their pay as it became due. And in no instance
were they defrauded.

In the meantime, I had received neither arms, ammunition,
nor saddles, but had had intimation from the station master
at Gleichen that a large quantity of ammunition was con-
signed to a Half-breed trader on the Blackfoot Indian Reserve.
The Mayor and others were still opposing me in raising troops,
probably on the strength of the telegram from the Minister of
Militia ordering me to march, with what troops I could raise,
to the assistance of General Middleton, which not being in
cipher had leaked out, for nothing that will create a panic
or a scandal is sacred to a Transatlantic telegraphist. A
meeting of settlers at Fish Creek had expressed resolutions
in very strong Western terms against the Government, and
threatened a White Rebellion in addition to a Red one. I
had written to the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West

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GUNNKR JINGO S JUBILEE.

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Territory, asking him to assist me in these matters, and
complaining of a telegram he had sent the Mayor, as one likely
to encourage him in the line of opposition he had adopted.
Here is the Governor's reply :

" Regina, 2nd April, 1885. \_
" My Dear Strange.

" I have your letter of the 28th March. I presume you
refer to my telegram to Mayor , of Calgary.

" You are aware that I have no power to authorise Militia
Companies. It must be done through the Militia Depart-
ment. I presume by this time you and others interested in
raising Cavalry Corps have obtained from Ottawa the
necessary authority.

" I note what you say about , I will communicate with

the C. P. Railway and ask that no fixed ammunition be for-
warded to him, if they have the power to stop it, ivhich I doubt.

*' The messages we have from Crowfoot are of a very
friendly nature, and if we should require assistance from
him in the shape of men for scouts we can get them.

" I hope your family are well, and have not been frightened,
although the rumours reported to have been circulated have
been enough to frighten anybody. However, we shall soon
be in a position to handle matters here, and bring the trouble
to a speedy ending I trust.

ff ^F * TP * TF ^ *

" Yours very sincerely,

" E. Dewdney."

About the same time I received the above, the following
was brought to me by a courier, who at considerable risk,
had pushed through 200 miles from Edmonton to Calgary —
the mail waggon had been intercepted, and had ceased
running.

"Edmonton, 7th April, 1885.
" To General Strange.
" Have wired Sir John, Indians on the war path. Send
us men and arms immediately. Can't you help us at once ?

"J. McOougall, J. p.. Chief Factor, H. B. C*
"Geo. a. Simpson, J. P.
" Donald Ross, Chairman,

" Committee of Defence."

Hudson Bay Company.

RED MEN ON THE WAR PATH.

411

The settlers from the Red Deer River, about 100 miles
north, under the Rev. Mr. Gertz and Mr. Beatty, brought in
their families to Calgary, reporting their horses and stores
raided by Indians. I also had authentic information that
the Indians had destroyed farms, plundered the Hudson
Bay Stores, Indian Department officials and missionaries at
Bear Hills, Battle River, Peace Hills, and Beaver Lake, and
I received messages from all these quarters imploring assist-
ance, and yet another from the station master at Gleichen,
which is on the Blackfoot Reserve.

"Gleichen, 6th April, 1885.
" To Ge.neral Strange.
" You were speaking to me of sending some of your men
here, do you still intend doing so ? Employes are getting
very uneasy and threaten to leave. No arms or ammuni-
tion have arrived for us yet. Accommodation for your men
can be had as I told you, the only fear employes have is of
Crees coming — so many absurd rumours — cannot quiet them
any longer, please reply.

"J. E. Flaherty."

As the only consignment of ammunition yet notified was for
the Half-breed trader to sell to Indians, which the Lieu-
tenant-Governor doubted his power to intercept, while the
only arms were those in the hands of the Blackfeet,
(Winchester repeaters) there was a little excuse for the
station master's anxiety, though the Church of England
missionary, the Reverend Mr. Tims, stuck to his post on the
Blackfoot Reserve, and said nothing — officially, though
privately I knew he expected bad times.

Under the circumstances I was surprised (being a mere
soldier) at the " iioii possum lis " of the Lieutenant-Governor,
whose authority I had looked upon as reflected from the
Crown, and still more disagreeably surprised at the following
from the Minister : —

"Ottawa, April 8th, 1885.
" To Major-General Strange, Calgary.
" If these troops you are raising are for general service I
feel disposed to authorise and provide arms as soon as
possible.

"A. P. Caron.'"

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412

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

I wired : — .

" To Hon. A. P. Caron, Minister of Militia,

"Ottawa.
" One troop is enrolled for local service, another is being
enroUqd for general service.* The conditions for both being
those you sanctioned to Captain Stewart. If you decline to
furnish arms and equipment, please let me know at once
and authorise payment of expenses already incurred and I
will disband corps. Part are now guarding railroad at
Gleichen, rest at Calgary.

" T. B. Strange."

I sent copies of the Minister's telegram and my reply to
General Middleton. The threat to disband troops had the
desired result. It fetched them all round, backed as it was
by the Frog Lake massacre (nothing like a massacre for the
official mind).

The following was announced to me in cipher, which being
translated ran thus : —

" Touch Wood Hills, April 9th, 1885.
" To General Strange, Calgary.
" Terrible massacre at Frog Lake, near Fort Pitt. Consult
Lieutenant-Governor, and take what steps you consider
necessary.

"Fred Middleton, Major-General."

I had been doing my best in both directions, without much
result.

* As soon as a Militia garrison was sent for the district, both troops volunteered for
general service and marched with me.

*: ■ n

413

CHAPTER VI.

Letter to Lieutenant-Governor — Alarm of C.P.R. Employes-
Strike OF C.P.R. Workmen — 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 East— Ammuni-
tion Factories — Equipment and Supplies Take Time — A
Princess's Gift — " Owre Mony Maisters " — Police Placed
Under Military Law— Expense of Extemporising Transport.

On receipt of order to confer with Lieutenant-Governor
1 went for him thus :

"April 9th, 1885, Calgary.
•' To His Honour Lieut.-Governor Dewdney.

•' Sir,

" Having been placed in command of the troops in this
district by Major-General Middleton, and directed to confer
with you,

" I have to inform you that there are no troops in this
district except 35 men raised by myself, part of whom are
holding the railroad at Gleichen, the remainder at the police
post here, where there are only five policemen and four
prisoners.

" The only rifles supplied me are fifty long Snider rifles,
no use to mounted men.

•' You saw the dubious telegram of the Minister of Militia
in reply to my repeated requests to obtain rifles.

" You should be aware of the open declaration at a public
meeting of white men to join the rebellion.

" It is in my opinion necessary to proclaim martial law in
this district, the conditions of which are different from the
rest of the North- West.

" It may be necessary for me to move a force North (when
I get one). I cannot move without supplies, transport, and

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414

GUNNER .IINGOS JUBILKK.

an assured base. You will explain to General Middleton
the condition of things.

'* I have the honour to be, sir,
.. " Your m«)st obedient servant,

"T. 13. Stkanhe, Major-General."

On the same day that I got the station master's telegram
that the railway employes were likely to abandon their posts
unless protected, I sent a detachment of Alberta Mounted Rifles
to Gleichen to reassure them, and without further discussion
of powers I ordered the officer commanding the detachment to
seize the consignment of ammunition previously referred to,
as also that in the store of the Half-breed trader at Gleichen
on the Indian Reserve. Having had considerable experience
of Blackfoot scouting in the direction of -.tealing cattle and
horses I did not accept the Governor's proposed addition to
the Force.

The difficulties of the situation were increased b}' the
strike of the workmen who were building the C.P. Railway
through the mountains of British Columbia. The small
police force under Inspector Steele, an excellent officer,
trained in the Guimery School, and whom I wished to
accompany the Force, could not be withdrawn, as they were
required to protect the C.P.R. stores. Public necessity is
the noble working man's opportunity, he knows no country
and no law but his own temporary advantage.

The following telegrams sufficiently defined my command
for present purposes. It was afterwards extended over the
whole district of Alberta, a country rather .larger than
England and Wales. The Alberta Field Force subsequently
marched 700 miles from its southern base, McLeod, to nearly
the 60th parallel of northern latitude, i.e., farther north than
the southern end of Hudson's Ba}', and about the same
latitude as the South of Greenland.

Telegrams : —

" Camp, via Qu'Appelle,

"April 8th, 1885.
" To Major-General Strange, Calgary.

" Have ordered Militia to Calgary and McLeod. Authorise
you to assume command of all troops between Calgary and
McLeod and Gleichen. Report to me all movements.

" Fred Middleton,

" Major-General."

GENERAL MIDDLEION ORDERS UP MILITIA.

415

The Minister's answer to my suggestion to disband troops
ran thus :

•• (jttawa, April loth, 1885.
"To Major-General Strange,
" I authorise employ of troops you have raised. Will
send on arms.

" A. P. Caron."

And the Lieutenant-Governor at my request sent the
following in cipher :

" From Calgary,

"April loth, 1885.
" To General Middleton,
"General Strange powerless until Militia and arms are here.
He can act from here on Edmonton District. Strong force
should also work direct from Swift Current to Battleford in
connection with your troops, which will, 1 presume, concen-
trate at Clark's Crossing.

" E. Dewdney."

" Camp, via Qu'Appelle,

"April 9th, 1885.
" To Major-General Strange,
" Have ordered Colonel Ouimet with his Battalion to pro-
ceed to Calgary and report to you. Please arrange con-
jointly with Lieutenant-Governor Dewdney as to the best
point at which to place the troops.

" Fred Middleton,

" Major-General."

At this juncture telegrams were uncertain in reaching me,
as I had run downforaday or two to the Military Colonisation
Ranche to say good-bye to my family, and to make final
arrangements for their safety and that of the cattle and
horses, as well as to select horses to be sent up as mounts
for the Alberta Rifles and Scouts.

My second son I ordered to be put on scout duty near the
M.C.C. Ranche, and, with the other cowboys, he became
a home guard to look after the womenfolk until they were
taken to a place of safety.

I did not think it advisable to have all the family eggs in
one basket, as in the opinion of many, a " Custer " affair was
on the cards.

■S

f : J

416'

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

■ill

Shortly before starting, a friend of mine, an ex-officer of
the United States Army, sent me a book on the destruction
of General Custer and his force, possibly meant as a whole-
some warning. 1 need not say 1 had no intention of commit-
ting Custer.

On returning to Calgary I took up my headquarters at the
Police Barracks. Having previously arranged for Home
Guards and patrols of such mounted men as were available
for the Calgary and High River District, the following public
notice was issued :

"Calgary, April 9th, 1885.
" Major General Strange, having been authorised to assume
command of all troops in this District between Calgary,
McLeod, and Gleichen by Major-General Middleton, Com-
manding Forces, relies upon the cordial co-operation of all
rani's and all loyal citi/ens.

" FIEI.n FOkCE ORDERS.

" Commanding Officers of Corps will issue orders to their
Guards to fire upon all persons attempting to steal horses or
committing other depredations.

" Inhabitants are warned not to wander about after night-
fall, for fear of accident."

An attempt had been made to run oft' the horses of Major
Walker, commanding Home Guards, and his men were fired
at. Horses are not kept in stable, but allowed to graze free —
one or two only being stabled or corralled at night to drive
in the rest when wanted.

"Winnipeg, April 9th, 1885.
"To General Strange, Calgary.
" Ordered to report to you with my regiment (Winnipeg
Light Infantry) on arrival Calgary. Hope start Monday.
Good working Battalion 350. Two Gatling guns here. Try
send me orders get one for you also. Anything else you
want ? Delighted to be under you.

"W. Osborne Smith,

" Lieut-Colonel."

But it wis not so easy to get "anything else" one
wanted, as Smith's telegram below shows.

TWO RAW MILITIA BATTALIONS.

417

•'Winnipeg, nth April.
" To General Strange, Calgary.
" Red tape detaining me and want of great coats. Hope
start Monday. Requisition for ammunition according your
telegram refused here by Staff. Am telegraphing Ottawa
savagely. Ouimet left yesterday. Shall I take whole
Battalion, seven companies, to Calgary, or leave detachment
Gleichen ? Reply. Asked Police to send you my cipher.

" W. Osborne Smith."

This was an entirely new Battalion raised on the present
emergency by Osborne Smith, who had served in the
Imperial Army as a subaltern and subsequently in command
of Militia at Winnipeg after General Wolseley's expedition
to Red River.

The physique of the men, mostly western working men,
was far superior to that of a modern British regular
regiment, but the military training of officers and men,
exclusive of the Colonel and two or three others, was nil.
But they were willing and obedient and anxious to get to the
front.

In accordance with the following cipher telegram from
General Middleton, I communicated with Major Stewart,
who was raising the Rocky Mountain Rangers, and with
Inspector Cotton, North- West Police, who had placed Fort
McLeod in a state of defence as a refuge for families in
the neighbourhood, stationed couriers between McLeod and
Calgary, and had assisted me by every means in his
power, and who subsequently sent a rifled field gun
equipped as Horse Artillery, to join my Column, with a
picked detachment of North-West Mounted Police, who had
been trained at the Gunnery Schools. They were com-
manded by Inspector Perry, a graduate of R.M.C.

The subjoined show that at last troops were moving over
the vast theatre of war.

" To General Strange,

" Have complied with first part of your telegram with

regard to supplies. Cannot make out the latter part (cipher

referring to Cotton). Suggest when you are ready, arrange

to patrol between Cyprus Hills and Old Wives Lake.* Have

* About 350 miles of frontier patrolled by Major Stewart with his Rocky Mountain
Rangers.

III
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418

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

I i

' M

arranged with White (Controller North-West Police) to-
patrol east of your position to prevent Riel escaping
South.

" Fred MiDDLETON."

"Touchwood, April loth.
"To General Strange,
" Have ordered Colonel Ouimet and his Battalion to push
on with all possible speed to Calgary, and have instructed
Colonel Jackson to send 250 stand of arms for distribution
as required, also 20,000 more rounds ammunition.*

" Fred Middleton." ^

" Brandon, April 1 0th.
" To General Strange, Calgary,
" Please get billets for our corps (65th Montreal
Voltigeurs) 27 officers, 298 men, two horses. Is it expedient
that 1 should provide a pilot engine for the safety of oui'
train? "Ouimet, Lieut. -Colonel."

As this was the first train which had come West through
Indian territory, there were doubts as to its safe arrival.

The Canadian Militia Companies were only 40 strong, an
organisation which suits rural districts where 40 men are
about as many able-bodied volunteers as can be obtained in
a village. The officers and men are known to each other
and the battalion strength is only about one German or
French company. In large towns this organisation might
advantageously be modified, but the Canadian Militia are
organised on the principle followed by the classic scoundre!
who cut his men down to fit his bed.

The majority of the 65th Battalion were raw recruits, who
had never fired a rifle, as it had been found that the trained
men could not be taken from civil employ, and substitutes
had to be hastily recruited and clothed. How many men
of the London Post Office Volunteer Battalions could be
made to march on emergency without dislocating the postal
service — more important than that even of the men in the
field?

On the 1 1 th of April came a telegram from Colonel
Ouimet to say that part of their camp equipment had been

♦ Though arms were not forthcoming, long boxes containing looo young trees that I
had ordered for my place were sent north by some wiseacre, as cases of rifles.

COLONEL OUIMET'S TRIP EAST.

419

lost on Lake Portage, so I had to get them billetted by the
Mayor and rationed by the Hudson Bay Company. In
orthodox war there are depots for everything and matters
run in a groove. Out West there was nothing but brick-
making without straw, and before even a soldier had reached
me, came a telegram from Middleton : — " Move at once on
Edmonton with whatever force you can command. The two
regiments being hurried up with all possible speed. Do you
want more infantry, etc. ? Have no Toronto Field Battery,
only A. and B., one with me, the other with Otter. Will
send you a gun as soon as Battleford is relieved. Concur in
your proposed arrangements."

On the arrival of the 65th, I met them on the railway
platform. Colonel Ouimet, M.P., was commanding. After
explaining the situation and my intention to push forward
as soon as possible, he suggested that I should attempt
negociations through the Catholic Bishop at Edmonton. My
reply was that I was a soldier with orders to advance, nego-
ciating was the provinc" of the civil authorities. He said he
wished leave to return East for the following reasons : — 1st,
To look after the camp equipment, part of which had been
left behind, also that he could explain to the authorities the
absolute necessity for immediately forwarding the arms,
ammunition, and supplies, so often asked for but not yet
sent, and without which I could not advance ; that he would
be of more use to me at the base of supply than at the
front ; and 2nd, that his presence was required in Parlia-
ment, which was assembling, and that it was the custom of
the English army to give leave to an officer to attend legis-
lative duties ; and 3rd, that he was very ill, to which the
medical officer would certify.

With the fii-st reason I certainly concurred — as to the
second, 1 admitted the custom of the British army — the third
plea I left in the hands of the medical officer, who duly
reported Colonel Ouimet's unfitness for active service, and I
could see for myself that it was so. I gave him leave to go
East. I have given these details and cipher telegram in
justice to Colonel Ouimet and myself

" To General Strange, " Ottawa, April i6th.

" Papers discussing Ouimet's trip to Winnipeg. I take it
for granted he was on leave. Please let me know.

" A. P. Caron."
E E — 2

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420

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

" Ottawa, April 20th.
" To General Strange, Calgary.
** Saw Minister. All right. Must I go back at once, or
will you grant me leave to remain ? Please answer.

"J. A. OUIMET."

I was obliged to recall Colonel Ouimet as directed, and I
had the following communication from him :

" Montreal, April 21st.
** To Major-General Strange, Calgary.
** 111 with internal hemorrhage, but going immediately as
ordered.

"J. A. Ouimet."

He followed the Column to Fort Edmonton, where I left
him in command. He rendered great assistance in main-
taining the line of communication and supply at Edmonton,
as well as providing for the safety of the Lac la Biche District,
by sending fifty mounted men, under Captain des Georges,
65th.

His amicable relations with the Roman Catholic Bishop
were doubtless of advantage in keeping the French Half-
breeds of St. Albert on our side. But I did not concur with
his action of arming them before the English settlers, who
had previously garrisoned Edmonton, a course which he
subsequently explained.

The 9th Battalion, also French-Canadian, was subsequently
sent up under Colonel Amyot, and garrisoned the Calgary
District.

General Middleton wrote later to this effect :

" You will think me very selfish in sending you all the

French Battalions, If anyone can

manage them you can."

The sequel shewed that they were entirely reliable.

General Middleton had done all in his power to assist me,
but the Military stores in Canada, as in all Anglo-Saxon
parliamentary-governed countries, were kept at the lowest
possible figure. The Snider ammunition sent to my Force,
was eleven years old, and would have been rejected by any
commander taking the field under ordinary circumstances.
Having myself been an Inspector of war stores, I was quite
aware of the situation, but " faute de mieux," said nothing.

AMMUNITION FACTORIES.

421

My subordinates, as will be seen, were not so reticent.
When Inspector of Artillery for Canada, I had succeeded in
getting the support of Mr. Caron, Minister of Militia, for the
establishment of a cartridge factory at Quebec. By working
day and night, this factory now supplied the wants of the
Eastern Columns. Mine they did not reach. What would have
been the result had this factory not been established may be
left to the imagination. For, since the introduction of quick-
firing arms a reserve of ammunition in Europe for military
operations in America had not yet been tried. When in
Australasia, I urged on the Colonial Governments the
necessity of an ammunition factory on the spot. General
Edwards, of course, did the same. I don't know if one
has been established. Military reports are waste paper to
Governments carried on by oratory and votes.

The want of serviceable ammunition was, however, the
least part of the difficulty. The country about Calgary pro-
duced nothing but horses and beef on the hoof Further
north there were no food supplies, but the small quantities
stored at the Hudson Bay posts, which had been for the most
part already looted. I put myself in communication with Mr.
Hardisty, the H.B.C. Factor, who was willing to help me, but
wanted authority for disbursements. This was subsequently
given by Mr. Caron, who never hesitated when he saw his
way.

it is almost impossible for me to explain, or for the deni-
zens in civilised countries to understand, the difficulty of dis-
entangling a red tape knot 2,000 miles away. Before I could
touch a single policeman four departments had to be tackled,
as a selection of a few sample telegrams from the piles I
received will shew.

" Ottawa, April 12th, 1885.
" To Major-Genf.ral Strange.
" You can take Steele with you.

" A. P. Caron."

" Regina, April 1 8th.
" To General Strange, Calgary.
• • " With regard to moving the whole of Police from
the mountains, you must settle that with Government and C.
P. Railwa3^ You will be responsible for arrangements made
there.

" E. Dewdnev."

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422

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

'• Humboldt, April 15th.
" To General Strange,
" I concur with you about disposition of Police and Cotton.
Can't understand delay of Osborne Smith, and Winchester
rifles. Both ordered long ago.

" Fred Middleton." ^

"Ottawa, iith April.
"To General Strange,
"Have already transferred to Militia 1 50 Winchesters
we had at Winnipeg. I believe these are to be sent to
Calgary.

" F. White, Controller of Police." *

The cry was, " Still they come I " But they didn't.

The transport question was helped by my taking over the
carts and horses of the Government Survey, which had
wintered west of my ranche, under the " Boss," Mr. Lynham.
He and his men were willing, but permission had to be
obtained through many departments. Finally, from the
Lieutenant-Governor, came authority.

" Regina, April 1 3th.
" To General Strange,
" Caron informs, horses and carts at Lynham's to be held
for use at his department. You are authorised to use them
for transport north if necessary.

" E. Dewdney."

There were no ambulances, medical stores, or comforts,
but the senior Regimental Medical Officer, Surgeon-Major
Pennefather (retired), on his arrival with W. L. Infantry,
extemporised them, and they were supplemented in
accordance with the following : —

" Park Argassa, April i6th, 1885.
" To Major-General Strange, Calgary.
" Proposed to furnish your Column with field hospital.
What staff and appliances have you available so we can

Llli:

* Mr. White acted most loyally throughout in placing that splendid body of men, the
N.W. M. Police , at my disposal. In my long ana vaned experience in England and the
Colonies I never found another departmental official large-minded enough to subordinate
his department to the good of the State as a whole. An autocratic king is the only human
machine capable of wheeling departments into line. General Sir George Chesney's
scheme for a war minister for army and navy will only be a fifth wheel to the constitu-
tional coach.

A PRINCESS S GIFT.

423

•supplement and not duplicate. Reply immediately. Swift
Current.

" J. W. Laurie, Major-General."

In this connection it is not forgotten in Canada that the
Marchioness of Lome, then in England, equipped from her
private purse an ambulance with its staff of doctors, hospital
dressers, medical comforts, etc. She also provided, through
the Minister of Militia, a pipe and a plug of tobacco for
•every soldier in the Force. Not only Canadian ladies, but
an American, Mrs. Perry, sent warm clothing, etc. These
luxuries, however, did not reach the Alberta Force, but the
goodwill was appreciated all the same.

" Much of the material collected after great labour and
■cost never reached the poor fellows for whom it was
intended. It was stolen by the way, plundered, I am
.ashamed to say, by the teamsters, and some we are informed,
fell into the hands of ' Poundmaker ' and his braves, who
captured a convoy, and for days feasted gloriously upon
potted meats, preserved fruits, marmalade, jellies ; and held
high carnival with fine brandies and luscious wines intended
for the brave fellows shut up in Battleford." (Canadian Blue
Book, 1886.)

This was the only convoy captured by the Indians during
the campaign. The Alberta Field Force, whose communi-
cations were protected, lost none. When once the difficulty
of organising a military expedition to a wilderness 2,000
miles away from any populated country was realised, every-
•one was willing to help. But *"Owre mony maisters,' as
the taed said, when every tooth in the harrow made a tag
in his back." The experiment of rendering homogeneous a
Force composed of Police, Militia Volunteers, Scouts, Home
Guards and teamsters, was, I should say, entirely novel in
the annals of administration.

Nothwithstanding that total prohibition of liquor is the
law in the North- West, the evils of drunkenness were greater
than in any community among which it has been my lot to
live. A few days after the arrival of the Militia, a mounted
policeman, who was drunk, created a disturbance in 65th
•camp, and when arrested threatened to shoot the officer of
the guard. I applied to General Middleton to have Mounted
Police put under Militia Act, and the following correspou-
<ience resulted : —

424

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

f'4

" Clarke's Crossing, April igtli.

" To Majcr-General Strange, Calgary.

" Have telegraphed Caron about putting Police under
Militia Act. Remember you have no power to assemble
Court Martial, as you knoiv. Must arrange about that if
necessary. Have no troops for Crowfoot until affairs
develop, and if I had, have no officer to command transport
and commissary, no officer available just now. Don't
believe half the reports 1 hear. You have not reported how
it is that Colonel Ouimet had left you. Can hand Police over
to Civil power.

" F. Middleton."

But the Minister of Militia differed, and seemed as
ignorant as I was that I had " no power to assemble Court
Martial " after being re-gazetted into the Service and placed
in command of a District i,COO miles from everybody. He
telegraphed : —

" "Ottawa, April i8th.

'* To Major-General Strange,
" Every man on active service must be under military
discipline. You will be supported.

"A. P. Caron."

(Cipher telegram). "Calgary, April 19th.

" To General Middleton, Clarke's Crossing,
*' Please give me power for Courts Martial. Poiiceman
threatened to shoot officer, 65th. Handed over to Civil
power. Shall be beyond Civil power to-morrow, when I
march for Edmonton with iCo men, 65th Battalion, 20
Mounted Police, 40 Scout corps. Advanced scouts at 'Lone
Pine,' no obstacle but snow. Remainder of 65th, 160 men
follow (as soon as carriage can be got) with 20 Mounted
Police and field gun from McLeod. I have left orders for
Osborne Smith to follow with remaining four companies of
his Battalion, one was left at McLeod, one at Calgary, one
at Gleichen, with detachment at Crowfoot. C.P.R. handcart
supplied to enable officer to run down his whole Company
by rail to support detachment at Crowfoot I hope you
will not allow detachments to be removed from Calgary,
McLeod, and Gleichen during my absence. Osborne
Smith's advance, to follow me, delayed by want of saddlery

EXPENSE OF EXTEMPORISING TRANSPORT. 425

for Mounted Rifles, telegraphed for to Jackson and sanctioned,
not sent yet. Osborne Smith anxious to go on his own
hook to ' Sounding Lake.' I have no objection, if you
think fit, but I fear I should not be able to work East by
Saddle Lake with only 65th, after leaving garrison at
Edmonton and securing communications from Calgary."

General Middleton objected to my second in command
going on his " own hook."

Meanwhile I had been fortunate in securing as supply
officer, Sergeant Hamilton, North-West Mounted Police.
In conjunction with the Hudson Bay Company, he secured
sufficient supplies and waggons, in addition to the Govern-
ment survey carts before alluded to. But a heavy rate of
wages had to be paid, for settlers hiring teams for the
campaign would have to forego all hope of a crop, as plough-
ing was just commencing, and few had more than one team.
This, with waggon, they would not hire for less than five to
eight dollars per diem. Moreover there was the risk

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426

CHAPTER VII.

Ill

(it -J ,

Burnt Prairie and Severe Snowstorms — rj5TH Voltigeurs— Scout
Cavalry — Light Kit and Magazine Rifi.e Make Dr. Johnson's
Dragoon— Pope's Essay ON Man— Revised Version Buffalo Bill
Parade — A Protective Tariff on Saddles — First Advance — Snow-
blind Scouts — And Rev. Scouts — Amalgamated Police and
Military Code — A Brigade Major's Frictional Electricity — No
Climate — Sloughs of Deshond — Winnipec; Light Infantry —
Three Successive Convoy Columns— Camp Orders — Sporting
Medicos — Canadian Pioneers — Indian Sk;nalling — Peccant and
Penitent Indians — King Georgi Men — Fort Edmonton —
H.BC.

During the week which elapsed before sufficient transport,
supplies, ammunition, and forage could be collected, (for the
prairie had been burnt by the Indians for many miles along
the line of march, and a severe snowstorm had since covered
the country) the 65th Voltigeurs were encamped and drilled
incessantly. Musketry instruction and target practice,
skirmishing and outpost instruction were carried on, and
their arms, which were in bad order, were overhauled by an
armourer. The officers and men were cheerful and active,
as French-Canadian soldiers always are. They were armed
with Sniders and uniformed like the Rifle Brigade, except
that I got them supplied with the Western broad felt hat,
looped up to the left with the regimental button. It could
thus be worn to the sunny side at will, and had a smart
appearance, like the Bersaglieri without plume.

In ColonelOuimet's absence, the command devolved on Major
Hughes, while Lieutenant Starnes, a smart young officer, was
Acting-Adjutant. A troop of Scout Cavalry, the nucleus of
which were 20 Mounted Police drawn from the mountains,
under Inspector Steele, was rapidly got into shape by him, he
instituted a simple system of single rank drill by fours — every
fourth man a horse-holder. But as the horses steadied with
work, horse-holders became unnecessary. The men on dis-

•1 ■.

SCOUT CAVALRY.

427

mounting would throw the reins over the horse's head. A
severe Mexican bit, with a long whip-end to the bridle, was
used. If a horse in attempting to move trod on this he would
give his mouth a wrench, thus they soon learned to stand
still to let a man fire over the saddle. In fact, mo$t cowboys'
horses will do this.

The arms of the men were a short Winchester magazine
rifle and a six-shot revolver, and the only "arme blanche"
carried by my Cavalry was the doctor's cas',' of instruments.
(The lance is the queen of weapons for close Dursuit, as 1
have seen it used in India, but for the North-West Campaign
it was an impossible weapon.)* The rifles were very effective
up to 600 yards, and as Indians never showed them-
selves in the open, but waited until we were in the wooded
country, the range was sufficient. I am aware that it is
heresy to express the opinion that mounted Infantry do not
require a long-range cumbersome weapon, yet I don't know
many countries where one can often see further than 600
yards, certainly not in England, and even on the bald-
headed prairie there are undulations which will conceal an
Indian when he means mischief. The Indians also are
armed with Winchester repeaters, which they get from the
States, and they will sell anything, from medicine-pipes to
wives, for Winchesters and ammunition.

The cowboy, like the Indian, habitually carries his rifle
across the saddle, slipped through a leather loop on the
projecting horn of the Mexican saddle, from which his
lariat, serving as a picket-rope, also hangs ; even the
Mounted Police, though provided with a carbine bucket,
preferred to carry the rifle cowboy fashion, and as there
were no narrow gates on the prairie I did not interfere.
The cartridges were carried in the only reasonable fashion
for a fighting man — in belts — the 2nd reserve in holster-
bags, the 3rd in waggons.

Their kit, composed of a change of under-clothing, was
rolled in a blanket behind, with an extra blanket under
the saddle, while the waterproof coat was rolled
in front, and a tin pannikin was tied to the saddle-
horn. It is a great mistake to fuss: about changing clothes
when wet in the open, and a man generally gets chilled
through doing it in a wet tent. Keep moving until you

♦ A proportion of N.W.M.P. had been at one time armed with them.

428

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

can dry yourself at a camp-fire, for the warmth of your
yA body acts like the wet pack in hydropathic treatment. Of
course, this is always supposing there be woollen under-
clothing, which may even when damp be slept in with
impunity, provided one is wrapt round with a good blanket,
lined with supper, and consoled with a pipe and a tough
conscience. The uniform of the Scouts was the usual
prairie outfit — a broad hat looped at the side, woollen under-
clothes, buckskin shirt, and schapps, " chaparejos," long
leather leggings, a sort of trousers without a seat, as
described by Pope in his " Essay on Man," (revised
version) :

" Lo 1 The poor Indian, whose untutored mind
Covers him in front, but leaves him bare behind ! "

Only, the cowboy wears tweed trousers under his schapps,
instead of a breech-clout supplemented by leggings.

These details become a question of Cavalry efficiency.
If a dragoon of the Johnsonian type* is to carry a trousseau
on his horse, besides yellow, black, and white dirt (chrome,
blacking, and pipeclay), he must ride an elephant, and then
go at a walk.

I had left the Ranche in my everyday clothes, buckskin
shirt and schapps, for I had no uniform, and could get none
had I so desired. When we joined the Eastern Militia
F^orce, under General Middleton, I heard the men
remark :

" Hullo I Who's that fellow ? Guess that's the ' Buck-
skin Brigadier.* "

So I fished out an old stable-jacket and a pea-coat, gar-
nished with police buttons and shoulder-straps, and boots
and breeches. The Police were only too glad to leave their
white pipeclayed helmets in store, and the whole Force,
Infantry and all, were supplied with soft felt hats looped up
at the side, instead of the "coup de soleil," face-blistering,
frost-biting forage-caps they had arrived in. This, with the
scarlet uniform of the Winnipeg Light Infantry, gave them a
" devil-may-care" aspect, more in accordance with the regi-
mental character than the spiked pot we have copied from
the Prussians. The soft hat is also infinitely more com-

" A soldier who fights indiflerently on foot or horseback."

A PROTECTIVE TARIFF ON SADDLES.

429

fortable, for a man can sleep in it, and tie a haiitlkerchief or
muffler over it when the thermometer gets down about
zero.

Some dress distinctions of rank being necessary, these
were adopted — a twist of gold cord round the hat for
Captains, two for Commanders of Corps, and three for the
General. The police stores supplied these necessary
adornments. The scarlet tunics of the Mounted Police,
against the green, used to make my eyes ache when out
scouting, so my good friend, Steele, put them away under
the tents in the waggons, and the men wore serviceable
brown Montana canvas fatigue dress. He himself, a
splendid-looking fellow and a good soldier, could not give up
the swagger of his scarlet tunic, and I did not ask him to
make the sacrifice, though it would have cost him his life in
the first skirmish at close quarters, had he not been handy
with his six-shooter. His Scouts, about 40 Western men
(no tenderfeet), with their own horses, Mexican saddles, and
arms, were ready to start North with me, but the much-
telegraphed-for, long-promised saddles for the Alberta
Mounted Rifles had not arrived when I marched North, so, in
despair, I ordered fifty from the United States. The
Canadian Customs authorities detained them at Winnipeg
until the campaign was over.

I did not know the cause of delay until the 19th of May,
when I wrote :

lil

"Victoria, May 19th, 1885.
" To THE Hon. the Minister of Customs, Ottawa,
" Sir,

" I have tlie honour to bring to your notice the conduct of
some of your officials in Winnipeg in delaying the trans-
mission of a supply of saddles urgently required by the
Cavalry under my command, by declining to forward them to
Calgary on the grounds that I was not authorised to order
supplies for the Government.

"In the first place I submit they might have been sent to
Calgary in bond.

" In the second place, military equipment for the Govern-
ment should not be charged duty.

" The action of your subordinate has seriously crippled my
advance, which has been delayed waiting for saddles, not
anticipating such monstrous conduct on the part of an

430

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

official employed by the Government, at a crisis like the
present.

*' Such an individual is evidently unfit to occupy the
position he holds.

" I have to request the saddles be forwarded forthwith, if
it has not been already done.

" I have the honour to be, sir,

" Your obedient ser 'ant,

" T. B. Strange, Major-General,

" Commanding Alberta Field Force."

Meantime, those provided by the Militia Store Department
arrived after I left, and the Alberta Rifles, about 80, were at
last completely equipped. One hundred and fifty
Winchesters also arrived, with 15,000 rounds and 208,000
rounds Snider.

It is admitted that Buffalo Bill's circus as an exhibition of
" broncho-busting " was nowhere compared to the first few
parades of the Alberta Mounted Rifles, with the new saddles
supplied by the Militia Department— flimsy aft'airs, put
together with tin-tacks, which the bronchos bust up with
lightness of heart. The Mexican saddle is the only one in
use out West, and is the most suitable. I should not care
to ride across English country in one, nor to ride a broncho
in a hunting saddle — "autre pays, autre niceurs."

The men were good riders, but to sit a bucking broncho
is one thing, and to hold on the saddle also when the
girths give way is quite another. C-^>nsequent1y the prairie
was in a few minutes strewn with men, rifles, revolvers, and
relics o\ saddles, in which some horses were 'angled up,
while others careered around unti' they were lassoed by the
men with reliable saddles. The broken ones were patched
up, and afte" some severe marching and patrolling there was
no more equine exuberance. The Alberta Mounted Rifles
were uniformed in the same serviceable brown canvas suits
and slouch hats as the Police fatigue dress.

Three days after the arrival of the first detachment of
Militia at Calgary, the first advance was made, by pushing
forward an officer. Lieutenant Corryell, and 15 of Steele's
Scouts, with the Rev. Messrs. Gertz and Beatty, and
settlers from the Red Deer, who had taken refuge in
Calgary. I had armed them with the first lot of Snider rifles

Mil

FIRST ADVANCE.

431

received, and had transformed Mr. Beatty into Sergeant-in-
Charge.

FIRST ADVAN'CE.

Memo, of Instructions.

Calgary, April 15th, 1885.

To Lieutenant Corryell, Steele's Scouts.

(i) You will proceed as soon as you get the order from
Major Steele, in the direction of ^'"dmonton, in advance of a
party of Red Deer settlers, vrmed as Home Guards.
Sergeant Beatty is in charge of them. They are supposed
to defend themselves in case of attack. Your first duty is to
scout for them. They have^o7/r rations and supplies.

(2) Their destination and yours, for the present, is Red
Deer Crossing. Make arrangements to secure yourself.
Place the buildings in a state of defence as quickly as may
be, doing as little damage as possible. Knocking chinks out
between the logs will give you loop-holes.*

(3) Should you be attacked before reaching Red Deer, or
on arrival, you may conclude that the homesteads of the
settlers are occupied by the enemy, and your small force
would probably not be able to dislodge them. You will in
that case retire steadily, sending back word to Calgary,
which you would do in any case of armed resistance.

(4) If you cannot find two reliable men at MacPherson's
Coulee, to act as couriers you will have to use two of your
own men, sending one back to me to report arrival at
MacPherson's Coulee, and leaving the other there, if it can
be managed, to forward dispatches fi-om Red Deer River
to me.

(5) I hope that the whole or part of my force will be able
to move to MacPherson's Coulee on Monday morning.

Mr. G. B. Elliott had volunteered his services as office
clerk, but having had his feet frozen, he could not march,
and I was reluctantly obliged to dispense with his services.

Inspector Dowling, N.W.M. Police, left in charge of

♦ If you saw across logs making loop-holes you will have the house about your
ears.

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Police Barracks and Stores at Calgary, established a line of
couriers to follow my advance, but I felt a sense of relief
when 1 crossed the Bow River and left the telegraph behind.
Now there was no string holding me, to be jerked day and
night. I had cast myself loose at last I

As all the Mounted Police in the District had been placed
under my command, and put under the Militia Act and
Articles of War, thougli I ivas not delegated authority to hold
Courts Martial, I was made a Justice of the Peace, notwithstand-
ing that 1 had not the Shakespearean qualification, " a fair
round belly with fat capon lined." The Police Inspectors,
at my request, were given local rank of Captains in the
Militia to enable them to act with troops, and Steele that of
Major, and with this thoroughly illogical Anglo-Saxon com-
promise, we had to get along, and did so, because all hands
were anxious to do their duty. I have no recollection of
having to inflict any but minor punishments, from the day
we marched and left the transport officer dead drunk on the
bank of the first river — tlie Bow. The punishment in tiiis
case was a bucket of cold water over iiis head, but " he lay
like a warrior taking his rest, with his martial cloak around
him."

A pathetic telegram came from an old Indian comrade,
form^;rly Madras Fusiliers, asking to join my Force. I had
completely lost sight of and, I fear, forgotten him. He had
become a " Mossback," or Manitoban farmer. He made his
way up from Winnipeg, and as I rode out at the head of my
command, an elderly man, with a worn face, whom I did not
recognise, though wearing the Indian medal, took hold of m}'
horse's mane, and conjured me by the day we raptured the
Black Horse Battery, to give him one more chance of a fight
before he died. Made him baggage " boss " on the spot,
vice the transport officer, left drunk by the river. As he
performed the distressful duties of baggage and transport
officer satisfactorily, and as the only officer I had on the
StaflF was my son, who was A.D.C., I appointed my veteran
friend. Captain Dale, Major of Brigade. During the campaign
he shewed unwearying assiduity and pluck, though his
thoroughly old-time British-officer maimer of damning Militia-
men in general and Frenchmen in particular was productive
of a good deal of frictional electricity, which required all my
best French, and most oleaginous manner, to neutralise.

The Head-Quarter Staff was completed by my standard-

SNOW BLIND SCOUTS.

433

bearer and teamster, Wheeler Mickle, who carried in the
front of his waggon the only battle flag with the Force. It
was a sixpenny cotton pocket handkerchief printed with the
Union Jack. The excellent fellow carried it under fire at
Frenchman's Butte, having no weapon but his whip. But
the most important personage of the staff was the cook ;
with a collapsible sheet-iron stove, the chimney of which
went through a tinned hole in the tent, and telescoped for
carriage ; he performed miracles of culinary art out of pork
fat, tinned meat, and hard tack. Had any decorations been
awarded to my F^/rc*, I should have recommended him for
D.S.C. (Damn Smart Cook).

Obtained for Mr. Hamilton, Quartermaster >A Police, the
relative rank of Captain and Supply Officer, and as an army
really walks on it« belly and not on its feet, he worked
miracles in this respect, with the assistance of Mr. Hardisty,
■of the Hudson's Bay Company, who were my paymasters.
Colonel Forrest, the Paymaster to General Middleton's Force,
not being Sir Boyle Roche's bird, could not be in two places
at once. During the campaign I drew no pay for my son
or myself We had each selected two excellent chargers
from the M.C.C. Ranche and our personal wants were
supplied by the soldiers' rations of tinned beef and biscuit,
without grog, of which there was none, except in the form of
hospital comforts, upon which neither of us had occasion to
<iraw.

The men complained tl.it a long course of tinned Chicago
beef, from which Liebig's extract had previously been made,
produced only the results of chewing blanket. The entire
absence of vegetables, the hard tack washed down by thf
tannin of boiled tea, caused weakness of physique and irrit-
ability of temper. It was said that the General even
suffered from the latter, but as the StaflF complained that
their horses and themselves were worn out following him
incessantly from tail to head of the Column and vice versa^
both accusations can't be correct.

Tlir hundred miles of country to Red Deer, ttirough which
I he advance had tn work, is part of the last and highest
steppe of the prairie country before reaching the foot hills
of the Uinkies It is about 4,000 feet above sea level,
and the land gradually rises, until the great divide at
Lac la Biche is reached, where the waters of the Arthabaska
and many mighty rivers, unloosed by the short Summer,

F F

434

GtNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

flow into the Arctic Seas. The physical character of the
country, I have been told by the ubiquitous Russian officer,
exactly resembles that of the Siberian steppes. As to cli-
mate, the southern steppes of Alberta have none, only a wind
— the Chinook.* When that blows from the Pacific it is
temperate, irrespective of the season, and even warm in
Winter for a few days at a time. When that wind ceases,
the temperature will fall 30 below zero. In Summer the sun
is very powerful, but from the lightness of the air, due to
altitude, never oppressive.

The early Spring of 1885 was most unfavourable to the
advance. A few days' warm Chinook wind melted the
snows, flooded the rivers and coulees, and made swamps and
Sloughs of Despond as bad as Bunyan's, in every depression
on the prairie, in which the men sank to the saddle-girths,,
and waggons above the axle trees. Then the Chinook wind
ceased, the thermometer suddenly fell, and severe snowstorms
of a blizzardy type prevailed. The glare of the sun on the
snow produced snow-blindness, and Lieutenant Corryell and
seven of his troopers were so smitten. But, with a courage
and devotion that deserved recognition, he had a leading
rein attached to his horse and was led by a trooper, whose
sight was not affected, and so continued his advance. He.
however, did not go to his death, like the blind King of
Bohemia between his faithful knights, for the marauding
Indians had retired, and he occupied the .log houses at the
crossing of the Red Deer River, where he was ordered to
halt until overtaken by the first Column a few days after.

The Rev. John McDougall — a Methodist missionary, who
could ride and shoot as well as speak the truth, and was born
among the Stoney Indians, among whom his father had also
lived and died — offered, with four Stonies, to push through
to Edmonton and assure the settlers that I was advancing,,
with all possible speed, to their assistance.

To him I wrote thus :

" Calgary, April 1 5th.

"To THE Rev. John McDougall,
" Sir—

" I accept with satisfaction your loyal offer of assistance to
act eyes and ears to our forces with your faithful Stonies.

♦ "Wha,t sort of weather is it?" as the hunting man said to his groom. "Open the
shutters and see." — " Bedad, sorr ! the devil a climate at all, at all, have they in this be-
nighted land. Shure, its black dark and smells of onions and cheese, sorr! — He had
opened (he cupboard I

it!

AND REVEREND SCOUTS.

435

" You will be good enough to report to Lieutenant
Corryell, who commands detachment of settlers and Scouts,
and he will transmit information to me. You are at liberty
to push on as far as you like, keeping communication with
Lieutenant Corryell as far as practicable. You are aware
settlers are returning to Red Deer. I have armed them.
Lieutenant Corryell will move in advance of them, and
establish an outpost at Red Deer, so that you can fall back
on his party if pressed.

" You will not fail to communicate to Lieutenant Corryell
and Major Steele the dittinctive mark the Stonies will wear,
to prevent our men firing on them by mistake.* You are at
liberty to start as soon as you are ready. It would be best
not to be seen starting with I-ieut. Corryell or settlers."

On 17th April, Colonel Osborne Smith, with his Provisional
Battalion, Winnipeg Light Infantry, 326 of all ranks, arrived
at Gleichen on C.P.R. ; left Major Lewis and a company to
reli ve the detachment of Alberta Mounted Rifles, guarding
the railroad and watching the trails from the North, which
centre at Crowfoot, near Gleichen. Battalion reached
Calgary the same evening, and were put under canvas. Next
morning a company of W. L. I., under Captain Valency,
were ordered to march a hundred miles South, to garrison
Fort McLeod, from which a detachment of twenty Mounted
Police, with field-gun, under Inspector Perry, N.W.M.P., had
been withdrawn to accompany my Column to the North. An
officer's detachment of Alberta Mounted Rifles scouted for
the Infantry as far as High River, where they were met by
Mounted Police Scouts.

On the 1 8th April, left Colonel Osborne Smith, command-
ing Winnipeg Light Infantry, at Calgary, where he would
remain until such time as transport could be obtained for
the W. L. I. In my absence he was to assume command of
all troops south of my position, and endeavour to maintain
communication until re-united.

And on the 20th, I started with thefirst Column, composed
as follows :

SCOUT CAVALRY (under Major Steele).

20 Mounted North-West Police.
40 Mounted Steele's Scouts — Captain Oswald.

■r\

* A white scarf.

F F — 2

436

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Right wing of 65 th Voltigeurs.

Four companies (160 men)— Colonel Hughes.

Capt. Wright, 43rd Regiment, Supply and Transport Officer.

Medical Officer and outfit, Surgeon Pard.

Six stretchers.

, , SECOND COLUMN

When transport is available, under Captain and Inspector

Perry, North-West Mounted Police.

20 Mounted North-West Police, with field-gun.

Left wing of 65 th Voltigeurs.

Four companies.

Supply and Transport Officer, Mr. Desbrisay.

Medical Officer and outfit.

Six stretchers.

THIRD COLUMN

Under Colonel Osborne Smith, C.M.G., as soon as transport

is available.

Alberta Mounted Rifles, Major Hatton, who will, after the

passage of the last Column, leave a detachment under Lieut.

Dunn to patrol the trail between Edmonton and Calgary.

Four companies W. L. I.

Supply and Transport Officer, Captain Hamilton, N.W.M.P.

Medical Officer, Surgeon-Major Pennefather,

\nd outfit with 1 2 stretchers.

Orders had been given to fit up two waggons as
ambulances, but pressure on the Supply Officer prevented
its being done. The never-bare bone of contention —
officers' baggage — came up, but the limited transport
rendered it necessary to reduce it to a minimum. Of course
the orders were evaded with the usual artifice. As for the
men, knapsacks and blankets (light kit limited to one change
of underclothing and two blankets) were carried in
the company waggons, in which a certain proportion of the
officers and men were allowed to drive by reliefs
towards the end of each day's march, to get along as quickly
as possible. Each company had three 2-wheeled survey
carts, drawn by cayuses (prairie ponies), to carry tents,

SLOUGHS OF DESPOND.

437

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baggage and cooking outfit. The latter was carried separately
in charge of the company's cook.

The Column marched the first 200 miles at the rate of 20
miles a day, through swamp and difficult country without
roads, and towards the close of the campaign, when
toughened with work, the 65 th Voltigeurs did 35 miles in
one day. Inspector Perry conducted the march of his
Column and the crossing of the Red Deer River with com-
plete success, re-establishing the ferry at that place. He
proved a very able officer, as he knew the country well. He
was a graduate of the Canadian R. M. College, with a
year's service in the Royal Engineers.

And here I must correct an error in General Middleton's
report, which states the Column left Calgary on April 20th,
and reached Edmonton on May 5th, having made the march
of 194 miles in 15 days. My Order Book shows I reached
Edmonton on April 30th, having marched from Calgary in
10 days.

As we were entering a wilderness from which no supplies
could be drawn — the first 60 miles burnt prairie without a
blade of grass or a stick of firewood, the last 100 to Edmon-
ton with the trail running through hostile Indian territory, a
woody and swampy country of soft black soil — it was
necessary to carry fifteen days' provisions and forage, as well
as a reserve of ammunition, a condition of things that com-
pelled an enormous convoy. Out of all proportion to the
protecting force of 160 Infantry and 60 Cavalry Scouts were
the 175 waggons and carts, v/hich at times, from intervening
swamps and creeks, unavoidably extended a distance of one
and a half or two miles. The troops were raw and required
detailed instructions and constant watching by the Brigade-
Major and m3'self, the only two men with the Force who had
seen wai", hence the minutiae of the few sample orders
quoted, and the issue o( diagrams for the order of march.
The 65th was a French-Canadian Battalion, new to the
wrork, and mot familiar with English.

The mel' v ' the '-vinter -now had flood/-'! the rivers.
The first c--.~;__._ was ihe Bow Iviver, which in those days
boasmed neither bridge nor ftrry, and had to be f<ii ded. It
was three tV^et deep, vritli a very strong, icy-'old current.
Nose Creek, a tributar}', w&s a se-xmd obstacle Thus the
"first was enforcedly a short n irch, ut m any case, old hands
know that it is never t\ i<;abi to m.ike the first a long march.

438

GUNNER jingo's JUBILEE.

On April 20th we encamped shortly after crossing " Nose
Creek."

MEMO. OF ORDERS.

■;.V-|.

NT'

I. — The march of waggons will be regulated according to
contents. ,

2. — A bugler will be detailed from the rear guard for the
rear waggon to sound halt by order of the Transport
Officer, should the rear of the Column be delayed and
the front required to halt. These sounds will be
passed to the front by the other buglers. A bugler
will also be detailed with the advanced guard to sound
halt from the front. He will travel on the Staff
waggon in rear of the advanced guard and receive his
orders from Major Steele to sound halt or advance.
The sound to close up, in a similar way, will be
sounded from the front and passed to the rear.

3' — The waggons with reserve ammunition will be in charge
of the rear guard of Infantry.

4- — The non-commissioned officer in charge of rear guard
of Scout Cavalry will be responsible that no
waggons, carts, nor stragglers are left behind.

5. — The head of the Column will halt occasionally to allow
the rear to close up.

6. — Whenever the country admits of waggons and carts
leaving the trail, they will advance six abreast to
shorten column of route.

7. — Major Steele will make his own arrangements for
advance and flanking scouts, and the selection of a
suitable camping ground, with water, about four
p.m.

8. — As there is no wood for a distance of 60 miles in our
front, the Supply Officer will be responsible that no
wood is wasted. Sentries will be ordered to allow no
fires after supper.

9. — The grass being burnt in our front, hay must be econo-
mised, "Iso oats, of which the supply will be limited.
(As it was necessary to allow teamsters to carry oats
for their horses, restriction was difficult.)

CAMP ORDERS.

■439

10. — As the Column will not halt at noon to cook, each man
will carry a couple of " hard tacks "• in his haver-
sack.

1 1 . — The Supply Officer will be responsible that nothing is
left on the ground after marching off. From over-
weighted teams or breakdowns the loads may be
distributed in the knapsack waggons intended to
assist the Infantry.

12. — The tents, cooking utensils, and rations for immediate
issue on arrival in camp, will march at the head of the
supply column.

13. — Quartermaster-Sergeant Benn (late R.A.) will beat the
head of the Column at the time of halting, to issue
rations, and will direct the bugler to sound the ration
call for cooks' mates. When the issue for troops is
completed, a second call will be sounded for team-
sters, who should by this time have attended to their
horses.

14. — On arriving at camp ground, the teams will circle until
a complete corral is formed. No fires allowed
inside, and a sentry put on the ammunition
waggons.

15. — The Cavalry outposts and videttes will remain out until
relieved, and Infantry guards mounted immediately
on arrival in camp. Major Steele will make arrange-
ments every night for patrols to herd and guard his
horses, as well as those of the teamsters.

16. — Troops and teamsters will be specially careful that
unburnt prairie is not fired either in cooking or light-
ing pipes, and throwing away a lighted match. The
officer of rear guard will be responsible that no
fires are left burning.

On the 2 1st of April the Column marched to and camped
at McPherson's Coulee. A very heavy snowstorm came on,
which continued next day, but marching was not delayed.
The tents were frozen stiff, the ropes like rods, making them

'*' With the usual perversion of the Transatlantic tongue, a sailor's biscuit is called
" hard tack " and doughy, little, digestion-destroying buns are called "biscuits." Just as
the grouse is called "partridge," the deer an " elk," or an " antelope," the elk a "deer,"
in contradiction to naturalists of all nations.

440

GUNNER jingo's JUBILEE.

' i

1 1 I

h. 'i,

X '

■f\

difficult to pack, and the pegs had to be chopped out of the
frozen ground with axes. No Infantry reliefs could drive in
the waggons on account of the cold. The Force halted at
noon for forty minutes while teamsters fed their horses, and
the troops ate their "hard tack" from their haversacks.
No cooking could be allowed. Steele selected some good
Scouts who were sure of the trail, notwithstanding that it
was obliterated by snow.

The 22nd found the Column at Camp Scarlett, where
there was a halt of two hours from the time the head of the
Column halted. Fires were lighted and dinner cooked. As
we came into a brushwood country a number of white hares
appeared. In those regions

" The wild hare and the crow,
Whiten 'mid surrounding snow."

Our volunteer medical officers were the principal sporting
offenders. Their ardour had to be restrained, as indiscriminate
discharge of firearms might create a false alarm, or the firing
of the Scouts as alarm might be disregarded, under the im-
pression that it was a fusilade from the sporting medicos of
the Column. The regimental officers were looking after their
men and imparting what instruction was possible, even on
the march. At every halt, when the men laj' down tired, I
had the officers, instructing them in judging distance, and
adjusting sights upon our own flanking Scouts, or learning to
aim at the officer's eye in the old-established Hythe fashion.

Many of the men had never fired a shot until they joined
my Force. Most country-born Canadians are axemen ; can
build a house or make a toothpick with an axe. The 65th
were splendid bridge-builders. They did excellent service,
bridging creeks, corderoying * and bushing muskegs, and in
some places, cutting fresh roads through the woods. Ser-
geant Borrowdaile of the Scouts led the advance. We shall
hear more of him anon.

A party of six pioneer axemen (65th) and a Sergeant and
three Scouts started at 4 a.m., under command of Captain
Wright, for this work. They took firewood to last until
timber was reached, tools, arms, blankets, one tent, and two
days' provisions, with a few cooking utensils, oats, etc., all
packed into two waggons to enable them to push on
quick)}'.

* Corderoy is road made by laying tree trunks close together across a swamp.

^^^it.

■m

INDIAN SIGNALLING,

441

It was a service of danger, but had to be undertaken. The
heavy swamps through which the waggons had in some
cases to be partially unloaded and dragged by the men, as the
horses could find no footing, severely taxed the energies of
the 65th, cheerful workers as they were. The Indians were
Watching our movements. Their signal fires by night and
smoke signals by day were constantly visible. The latter
are produced by throwing green stuff on fires, the thick
smoke hence arising is manipulated by a blanket in such a
manner as to send up short and long clouds at intervals,
much as a steamer signals by long and short puffs of
steam, representing the dot and dash of the Morse
military system of telegraphy. There is nothing new under
the sun !

An Indian brave generally carries a looking-glass. I had
put his vanity down at the same level as that of Tommy
Atkins walking with his best housemaid, but the Indian
also uses his mirror for flashing signals, as we do the
heliograph. When reconnoitring with the advance Scouts,
I have, to my surprise, had the flashes turned upon me,
as from a distance, they probably mistook me for one of
their own scouts. I could not, of course, read the message,
bwt I could realise that the flashes were on the long and
short, or dot and dash system of our own service. I have
seen their videttes, on a rising ground, signalling our
advance by circling right and left, increasing or diminishing
the pace, etc., just a^ lid down in the Red B' 'ok.

The cooks of the ' 'th left th<Mr fires burning on leaving
camp on the 23rd, so hey were made to march on foot
under escort, and their carts were given to other- to drive.
It was found necessary to issue the 'oUowing

AFTER ORDER.

The Major-General Comni.i 'iding receives with regret
from the Supply Officer a rt port that sugar has b'en
stolen from the Stores. A repetition of the offence will
cause the sugar ration to be stopped from teamsters and
soldiers v.; 1 such time as the amount stolen has been made
good. Tlv '4ajor-General Commanding trusts that it will
not be reces^ary to punish the whole for the misconduct of
a few sneak thieves. He does not desire to increase the

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WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80

(716) 873-4503

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442

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

night duties of the troops by posting extra sentries, but will
be compelled to do so if stealing continue.

By Order,
H. Bland Strange, Lieutenant Field Force Staff.

Camp. " The Forks," Apri) 74th.

Reveille sounded at 4.30 a.m.

The proximity of the enemy rendered it necessary for the
rifles of the sentries to be loaded, yet teamsters and others
going to look after their horses, preferred the risk of being
shot to learning the countersign.

As we were passing through wooded country, the officers
had to keep the men on the alei t.

On the 25th, the Column reached Red Deer River, which
was much swollen by melting snows and the current was
strong. There had formerly been a ferry run across by a
wire rope, but this had been cut adrift in the recent
troubles.

We had at first passed through open rolling prairie,
intersected with coulees and sloughs in every depression, but
as we neared the Red Deer, poplar bluffs, or dense clumps of
poplar and alder appeared. On the north side of the river
the bank was wooded and the bush too dense for Cavalry to
scout with any effect. The 65th Voltigeurs were sent
across in wap^gons, which had to be raised on their axles by
blocks of wood, the river being from three to four feet deep
at the ford, which, as usual, crossed diagonally from point
to point of an elbow.

The 65th advanced in extended order, searching the
woods. They were not opposed, though the Indian signal
smokes showed our movements were closely watched. The
Cavalry, under Steele, forded next, then the baggage
waggons. A few carts only were swept away by the
strength and depth of the stream, but all were subsequently
recovered, though the provisions they contained were
damaged. It is curious that flour in sacks only wets to a'
depth of about an inch, the interior, from the caking or
pasting of the outside layer, remaining dry. No men nor
horses were drowned. One company was detailed as an
armed working party, vn addition to the six pioneers already
selected for road repairing. They passed the river in
waggons, carrying tents, blankets, cooking utensils, and two
days' rations. Two companies were extended as right and
left covering pai'ties, and the fourth company as a i ear-guard

■I

PECCANT AND PENITENT INDIANS.

443

and camp-guard. The covering companies carried their
day's rations and ten extra rounds of ammunition per man.
During my absence with the advance, Colonel Hughes was
left in charge of camp and guards. Quartermaster-Sergeant
Benn examined the stock in hand, calculating the amount
absolutely necessary for ten days' rations, so as to leave the
rest behind. The consumption of supplies had left many
of the waggons empty, and as the grass was now appearing,
it was no longer necessary to carry forage. And here, too,
we managed to get rid of some of the officer's smuggled
baggage, and all the teams not required returned to Calgary
for the use of the second Column.

April 26th. Camp. — Red Deer River. The two
companies of 65th, ordered as covering party, packed tents
and baggage, which were crossed in the course of the day.
A detachment of ten Scout Cavalry, under Lieutenant
Corryeli, led that advance, and showed ihem where to
camp on completion of work. A ferry-boat was on the
alert up-stream all the time in case of accident. An officer
and detachment of 65th were left in charge of stores and
ferry at Red Deer, when the left wing of th° Regiment
passed.

On the 27th, the camp was on the south bank of
Blindman's River. It is a deep but somewhat sluggish stream ;
the bridge across had been partially burnt by hostiles, but
repaired by the pioneer party. The men were divided into
three reliefs and rode in special waggons in turn. But the
marching was severe on the Infantry, wading through mud,
and the flanking parties struggling through bush and
swamps full of fallen trees and tangled brushwood I had
to forbid men slinging their arms on the waggons. A man
of the 65th did this, and the rifle dropped into about three
feet of water. I happened to see this incident and stood
by while the man took off his trousers and waded in, felt for
his rifle with his feet, and eventually picked it up. The
water had a thin coat of ice on it, and it was thought the
punishment was sufficient. It must be borne in mind that
the 65th were almost entirely recruits, but they were rapidly
becoming hard and disciplined soldiers.

On the 29th of April, Battle River was reached, where we
camped, and where Fathers Lacombe and Scullen met us.
They presented the peccant chiefs, Ermineskin and Bobtail,
who said they were repentant and wanted to shake hands.

444

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

W> )

I declined to receive them, and had them informed that I
would shake hands on my return, provided they
behaved themselves in the interim — otherwise — I left a
blank for their imagination to fill in ; but I was told the
Indians were not much impressed with my little Canadian
soldiers, who, they were quite sure, were not King George's
men, as they did not wear red coats, and talked French like
the Half-breeds. But when the Winnipeg Light Infantry in
scarlet marched through their Reserves they began to be
convinced that " the long arm of the White Queen could
reach them."

Mr. and Mrs. Glass and Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, con-
nected with the Protestant Mission, came into camp, the
latter reporting their property had been plundered by
Indians. The H.B.C. reported the same.

The Rev. J. McDougall, who had pushed through to
Edmonton, was also heard of here, but the dispatch alluded
to in the following letter did not turn up.

" Edmonton, April 25th.
., "To Lieut. Corryell, Commanding Advance Scouts.
" Dear Sir,
" I am sending the accompanying dispatch to the General,
please forward it by first opportunity.

" The hostiles are still at Frog Lake. The white women
are in their hands worse than murdered. This is the latest
Indian report. Sixteen days since, For*^ Pitt was still all
right, our (Mission) Indians at White Fish Lake and Saddle
Lake loyal, and this has influenced others to be so also. I
hope the advance will be quick to relieve Fort Pitt, and also
rescue prisoners. There is still a feeling of insecurity about
here. My regards to the boys.

" Yours truly,

"John McDougall.
" P.S. — If a freighter (Half-breed) should come for H.B.
Coy., freight, bacon, and flour, better let him have it; there is
a scarcity here, and I apprehend no danger between you and
here."

The freighter had not turned up either, but I received a
communication from Inspector Grisbach, N. W. M. P., that
Fort Saskatchewan, about twenty miles east of Edmonton,
which he held with ten Police, required assistance, that the
settlers from Beaver Lake, Captain Butler, formerly of the

EDMONTON.

445

British Army, with his wife and family, and a number of
others, had taken refuge within the stockade of the Fort.
This, with his few men, was indefensible. I sent a company
of the 65th to garrison it before crossing the Saskatchewan,
as the Fort was on the south side of the river.

As we neared Edmonton the settlers came out to meet us, .
driving teams to assist the Column, but the 65 th Voltigeurs
were, after their 200 miles of wilderness march, becoming
toughened. That the Force reached its destination in
safety was, I believe, due to the precautions taken, but
especially to the careful scouting of Major Steele's
Force, as a handful of Indians could have easily
stampeded horses not carefully guarded. The horses were
not picketted, but allowed to graze all night, being herded
by mounted patrols, otherwise they could not have stood the
work. Only hay enough to cover the distance of the burnt
prairie was carried. The Indians could also have inflicted
a heavy loss on a Force of 160 Infantry, who were trying to
guard a convoy of 175 waggons and carts, which often stuck
in the black mud or broke down, and at times extended a
distance of one or two miles through the swamps and forests
north of the Red Deer River.

The scattered Httle town of Edmonton, peeping through
clumps of pine and poplar, the blue sky and brilliant sun-
shine gilding the grey old stockades of the Hudson Bay
Fort, with its quaint bastions and buildings crowning the
steep bank over the broad swift sweep of the Saskatchewan,
navigable by the H.B.C. boats and steamers for 800 miles to
Lake Winnipeg, where it feeds the Nelson River on its
desolate way to the Arctic Ocean, made a picture that lingers
in the memory.

As I neared the opposite bank in the big scow that serves
as ferry, the white puffs of smoke wreathed from the little
guns of the Fort and the echoes of a salute reverberated
across the river. The dear old ensign floated out over the
grim citadel of the far North, its folds displaying the
wondrous letters "H.B.C," which are a whole history of
200 years of British pluck and trading energy.

" Hullo 1 What's them letters 'H.B.C on the flag?"
asked a young English scout near me.

"Why! I guess that's ' Here Before Christ,' " was the
ready reply of Y's Canadian comrade. .

hi!<

446

■ t
it' '

■;(■
if

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 Ap-
preciated — Sugsested Experiments Relegated to the Enemy-
Plan OF Campaign — " Ma Boule Roulant." — Edmonton Folk—
My Own Affairs.

The Force took time, but found no difficulty in crossing the
Saskatchewan by the large scow, used as a ferry. They
encamped under the Fort on May ist, and orders were
issued to ascertain the different distances of conspicuous
objects from various parts of the Fort, lists of the same
to be posted in each bastion, or other convenient places, for
the information of the non-coms and men. By this means a
very accurate fire could be obtained in case of attack. The
Scout Cavalry and one company of the 65th paraded for
target practice, the remaining two companies for skirmishing
drill. All sorts of expedients had to be adopted to steady
my wild horses and men. The Cavalry horses were brought
up gradually close to the firing, until the men could fire over
their backs. A pistol was fired as a signal for feed, with the
same object. I appointed Inspector Grisbach, N.W.M.P.,
late of H.M. army. Major in the Militia. He commanded
the troops in the Edmonton District on my departure, and
was responsible that communication was maintained with the
Column advancing, as also with Red Deer, and that supplies
were forwarded.

No sooner had the Edmonton Home Guards, who were
English, been disbanded at their own request, than, finding
only French-Canadian troops were to be left to garrison
Edmonton, they requested to be re-enrolled, and were
promised Sniders on the arrival of the first lot Colonel

ELASTIC BOAT BUILDING.

447

Ouimet, however, having thought it more desirable, first
armed some ot the St. Albert French Half-breeds, of whom
he had formed a troop under Captain de Georges, 65 th, and
they subsequently marched to Lac la Biche.

On the ^nd, the flat-boats which had been built were in-
spected. One large Hudson Bay boat, about lOO feet long
and 25 feet beam, built the previous Summer, and four
smaller scows were completed, for no time had been lost.
Extra hands were secured through the H.B.C. Factor, and
the work went on. To an Englishman's eye, the boats cer-
tainly looked cranky. They had not the stiff construction of
a British barge, and hardly appeared fit to carry a 9-pounder
gun and ammunition, to say nothing of the lives of men.
But the H.B.C. men explained that the construction was
made elastic, with a certain amount of give and take, for, as
the boats constantly ran aground on the shifting sandbanks
of the Saskatchewan, their double planks served better than
thicker single timbers, and wooden pins were mainly used
instead of nails.

The supplies, which had arrived by waggons, were un-
loaded and placed in H.B.C. mill, by the bank of the river
for transhipment to scows when ready. Extra oupplies and
forage were obtained by Captain Wright, Supply Officer, as
speedily as possible, but there was a very small stock of
provisions in Edmonton, H.B.C. Factor, McDougall, report-
ing that he anticipated a famine in the district and also far
North, as so many H.B.C. Stores had been raided, and
communication with northern points interrupted. Orders
were, therefore, sent to H.B.C, Calgary, for further
supplies.

Transport was reorganised, part being sent back to
assist the second Column on the march, and the remainder
prepared for forward march of Major Steele's Scout Cavalry
and two companies, 65th, under Captain Provost, towards
Victoria.

Considerable delay was caused on the evening of the 5 th,
when Major Steele's Column was preparing to move, by the
teamsters refusing to advance without arms — they knew
that General Middleton's teamsters had been supplied with
rifles. The difficulty was eventually overcome by the pro-
mise of some on ai:rival at Victoria, beyond which place
the teamsters positively declined to go unarmed. Arms
were expected, having been telegraphed for before leaving

Is ' 1 1

111 I

I 3-

ill'

If i?

448

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE,

Calgary. The Staff at Ottawa, Mr. Caron, Minister of
Militia, Colonel Panet, the Deputy Minister, Colonel Mac-
pherson, Store Department, and Colonel Powell, A.G., were
doubtless doing their best to help me, but Parliamentary
Governments never leave a margin for military epiergencies.

Colonel Osborne Smith lost no time in pushing forward the
march of the two remaining Columns, which were on the
road simultaneously. The bridging and road-repairing by
pioneers of the first Column facilitated the advance of the
remainder.

Inspector Perry arrived on the 5th, with the remainder of
the left wing, 65th Regiment, having left half a company at
Red Deer, where he had stretched a wire rope and repaired
suJRfiiciently the scow of the ferry to transport the 9-pounder
gun he had brought from Fort McLeod. As the Artillery
ammunition had been twelve years in store it was necessary
to try it, as well as to give the gunners some practice. It
proved serviceable, but the quantity of case-shot being very
limited, bags full of trade bullets were filled from H.B.C.
Stores, as a substitute. And they were found superior to
the Woolwich pattern.

After the transport teams had unloaded on the bank, ready
for transhipment to the boats, part was sent back to assist
the third Column, while the balance proceeded with the re-
mainder of the 65th to Victoria.

On the 7th, one company of the 6sth marched to Battle
River, and half a company to Peace Hill Fannj to watch the
Indians and guard the communications. Inspector Dowling,
N.W.M.P., had established regular couriers as the Columns
advanced, and arrangements were made for the completion
of the defence of Fort Edmonton, caulkers and boat-builders
being attached to the garrison.

On the 8th, Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes, with the re-
mainder of the 65th, marched towards Victoria, having been
preceded by Major Steele's Scout Cavalry. On that day and
the following the defences of Fort Edmonton were completed,
shelter trenches dug, and the balance of supplies and forage
drawn in, but as the grass was getting green, a few oats
only had to be carried, for the hardy bronchos get along with
what grass they can pick up at night while herded.

It is a proof of the astonishing rapidity with which news

. is conveyed by Indians that before hearing from General

Middleton of his engagement at Fish Creek, my Scouts

'. (

NEWSPAPER NEWS.

449

captured a Half-breed upon whom a letter was found, written
from Fish Creek by a Half-breed engaged there. He
detailed the position of Half-breeds and Indians, and in
boastful terms claimed a victory, declaring that fighting
white men was like shooting buffaloes. This, of course, I
discounted, but sent the letter to General Middleton, as the
details and method of their fighting would be useful to
know.

Subsequently I received a cipher telegram from General
Middleton.

" Fish Creek, 20th April.

"I had a (words unintelligible) and held my own

but had 6 killed and 50 wounded."

Papers also reached us which gave the situation from the
outside, thus : —

Montreal Daily Citizen, April 29th, 1885. — " The situ-
ation in the North West does not appear to be
very satisfactory at the present moment. When the battle
was fought at Fish Creek, 15 miles from Batoche, on Friday
last, General Middleton supposed apparently that the rebels
were without the means of crossing the river at a point below
Batoche's Crossing, and that they would therefore be compelled
to retreat upon that place. He then felt that it would be safe
to follow them up and intended doing so. It appears,
however, that the rebels, seeing that General Middleton had
brought across all the troops from the west bank of the river,
determined to embarrass him and they found the means of cross-
ing over to that side a few miles below where the fight
occurred. He cannot, therefore, with his whole Force move
upon Batoche, as that would expose his base and enable the
rebels to cut him off" from his supplies. He had calculated upon
the steamers Northcote and Minnow arriving at Clarke's Cross-
ing on Sunday morning, with the Midland Battalion, which
would have guarded the base and protected the transports. The
steamers have not arrived, having, it is feared, grounded at some
point on the river, and perhaps met with trouble from rebels who
are said to line the river banks at places where the brush is thick.
At any rate they had not arrived this morning, and, therefore
General Middleton is still tethered at Fish Creek. He might
send across the river the Second Division of his little Force, but
after the encounter of Friday, and in the face of the enemy open
as it would be to surprises from behind, this would be dangerous.
Probably, too, failing the arrival of the steamers, supplies are

G G

450

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE,

ri it

not too plentiful. Colonel Otter's Column is still at Battleford,
awaiting orders to march upon Poundmaker's Reserve. In
view of the indecisive result of the Fish Creek battle, and
with the rebels across the river, it would be dangerous to leaVe
Battleford, which would be on the rebels' line of retreat
bably, without strong protection. General Strange, \
right wing of his brigade, had arrived at Red Deer Ri
miles from Calgary, and about half way to Edmon
Saturday last. He will probably arrive thf>re to-moi
the next day. News of his arrival will not receivf
ever, until the end of this week or the beginn ' of '
will have to come by courier all the way."

Winnipeg Times, May ist. — "On to Bato^ general

Middleton decides to advance at once. Se\ engage-
ment expected within next few days. Colonel Otter not
yet started against Indians. Indians boldly stealing horses
round Medicine Hat. An uprising in the Edmonton district
prevented. There is no doubt, whatever, that Major-General
Strange's expedition to Edmonton has saved the 'istrict from
a serious Indian as, well as Half-breed uprising, the troops
arriving in the nick of time. At McLeod all the Indian
prisoners have been given their liberty. They have killed
cattle there and the authorities are afraid to prosecute them.
Indians have crossed over the border, it is said, for the
purpose of trying to induce their American brethren to take
up arms and come over and join them in helping Riel. From
Calgary, May ist. Colonel Ouimet of the 65th arrived here by
train yesterday afternoon. He started to join his battalion by
special conveyance this morning, accompanied by escort of
Alberta Mounted Rifles. They expect to overtake Colonel
Smith's force at Red Deer. Colonel Amyot, commanding 9th
Battalion from Quebec in garrison here, constantly drilling,
relieved detachments of 92nd W. L. I. at McLeod and
Gleichen, and Crowfoot. A portion of Captain Stewart's
corps are watching the Cyprus Hills' trails. They expect the
refugees from the North, rendered desperate by defeat, will
make for the wooded country of the Cyprus Hills. Captain
Cotton, North-West Mounted Police, at Fort McLeod, is
' now in command of all troops south of Colonel Smith's posi-
tion. Posts are being formed along the line towards Wood
Mountain."

Edmonton Bulletin, May 2nd, 1885. — " ' Blue Quill,'
Wood Cree Chief of Victoria, partially corroborates
the story of the taking of Fort Pitt. The Fort was
surprised by the Indians on the night of the 15th or i6th.
Two Police were killed, one wounded, and one taken

FORT PITT.

451

Ford,
In
and
eave
-ro-
le

\v-

o it

prisoner. No Indians were killed. Two persons who were in
the Fort, names unknown, made their escape by land. The
remaining policemen, partially clothed, succeeded in escaping
to the boats and got away under fire from the Indians, but the
latter thought -they would perish from cold before reaching
Battleford. The Indians secured a large amount of plunder in
the Fort, and 30 rifles, which were broken, and were probably
the number over the amount in use by the Police. J. McLean
factor, and Jas. Simpson, clerk to H. B. C, and their families
are prisoners in the Indian Camp, also a Half-breed from
Victoria, named Rabiscan ; John Prichard and family, and a
number of Half-breeds, probably traders. There has been no

murdering since the taking of the Fort. Mrs. is being

terribly used, being traded round among the Indians, and
cannot live long.''= The buildings were not destroyed, but
were wrecked, and a great value in furs destroyed. Twelve
days ago ' Big Bear' was camped on the east side of Frog
Lake, with 40 tents, awaiting the rettirn of his scouts, four of
whom went to White Fish Lake, six to Lac la Biche, and
fifteen southward. Unless he can largely increase his band he
will probably join Poundmaker.f Scouts from Poundmaker's
band arrived at Abram Sylva's settlement on Battle River,
on Tuesday of last week, driving a span of Police horses and
a buckboard. Their mission was to induco the Indians from
Bear's Hill to go East to join Poundmaker. They reported that
Poundmaker was camped thirty miles west of Battleford, with
200 head of cattle and 700 head of horses, and that they had
not seen a policeman outside of Battleford for a month, and
were elated at the general situation. The news of the near
approach of soldiers had a most quieting effect on Bear's Hill
band, butter would not melt in their mouths. One of the
ringleaders in raiding the H. B. Store was busy fixing his
whiffle trees to a plough to start ploughing. He wanted to
know if he would be interfered with by the soldiers if they
saw him at work as they passed along. Most of the former
hostiles had gone eastward, probably to join Poundmaker, the
leading Cree Chief of Battleford, who is putative son of Crow-
foot, head chief of the Blaokfeet. It is through this relation-
ship that liiel hopes to unite the Crees and Blackfeet in a
common cause, wherein our great danger lies."

Lieut.-Colonel Osborne Smith and the Winnipeg Light Infan-
try with the Alberta Mounted Rifles, and a further convoy of

' * This statement was happily not true. When released, the lady prisoners said they had
been well treated and protected by the Indian Chiefs.

t Fortunately he did not do so, probably the rough handling Poundmaker got from
Colonel Otter's Column decided him not to cast in his lot with him. He preferred to wait
for my weaker Force in a more inaccessible country.

G G — 2

'il-\

Hi*,

'it i

r
a

"^i,

452

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Stores arrived on May loth, at Edmonton, and on the follow-
ing day, the W.L.I, and Alberta Mounted Rifles carried on
target practice.

The whole of the troops under my command being
recruits, and the horses of the Cavalry unused to fire, it was
necessary to utilize any spare time by target practice and
drill, while boats were being built and supplies collected.

Chief Factor McDougall, H.B.C., rendered me every
assistance, but it was difficult to obtain reliable boatmen and
pilots.

I was compelled to discharge the first set hired, as they
allowed the boats to sink for want of baling. Half-breeds
were the only men acquainted with the river, but their friends
had established such a scare as to the certainty of the boats
and the men in them being destroyed by, the fire of
Indians from the commanding wooded banks, that it was diffi-
cult to obtain boatmen. Indeed, it was evident that in parts
where the river was narrow, a few trees felled into the water
and carried down by the current to some of the numerous
sandbanks and shallows, would effectually detain the flotilla
under fire. But the excellent scouting and the march of the
land Column along the north bank of the river, with which
they were kept in continual touch by Steele, prevented any
attack of the sort from that bank on which the Indians wei-e.

On one night only, when in the neighbourhood of •Saddle
Lake, were the boats fired jpon. The 65th landed to repulse
the attack, but as no " good Indians," i.e., dead ones, were
found next morning, and none of our men were hit, the
attack was not a determined one.

I had made the best provision I could against plunging fire
from the banks. The boats were not decked, but had a narrow
platform running round. Barrels of salt pork and beef, and
sacks of flour were arranged along the sides, above and below
the gunwale, giving a double tier of fire, loop holes being
formed by intervals between the sacks, and holes cut under
the gunwale. A high traverse of the same materials was
constructed along the centre of the boat.

,^4dt!i)i ctn^KSh^lour-cVi f»t In^ctni^

FLOUR-CLADS NOT APPRECIATED.

453

The gunboat to carry the 9-pounder was more solidly built,
with a platform of stout timber in the centre, and bales of
hay formed a musket-proof parapet. As there was not
space to allow full recoil, the gun was lashed, the whole
boat taking the recoil, the gun being traversed by pointing the
boat's head in the direction the gun was to fire. As I had
fired a 1 lo-pounder gun at Shoeburyness off a raft constructed
of casks, with a superstructure of planks, 1 had no doubts
about the boat bearing the recoil without injury. The horse
boat was also more solidly built than those for Infantry.

faction .f^«lAc jlour-daa^un-Wt-^^

^t£ti«u.<rK4«-cl()il Horse -Wi-x^?

Unfortunately my flour-clads, which were mainly carried
along by the current and steered by sweeps, did not inspire
the same confidence as did the steam flotilla of General
Middleton. To add to the difficulties of the situation, the
officer commanding W.L.I, forwarded to mean official letter,
condemning the construction of the boats, together with a
request for a Board to try experiments on the penetration of
flour sacks by rifle bullets, and finally a request to be allowed
to condemn a large proportion of the ammunition issued to
the troops, the defects of which had been brought to light by
target practice.

y'..

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454

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

The protests against the boats were met by ordering a
Board of Officers, (selected on the principle of a jury to
convict an Irish murderer,) to take evidence of experienced
H. B. navigators and the boat-builders themselves. The
experiments on the penetration of flour sacks were left to the
enemy, and officers objecting to the quality of the ammunition
were advised to restrain the fire of their men until they got
within short range of the enemy.

On the 1 2th, the Board reported the boats fit. Some few
additional ties had been added, and the troops were held in
readiness to embark.

The transport waggons and all horses, except six for
the gun team, were sent forward to Victoria under escort of
a detachment of N.W.M.P.

A Half-breed from the settlement of La Boucan was
arrested by Captain Constantine, W.L.I., who knew him to
have been implicated in Kiel's first rebellion. It was proved
that he had lately returned from Poundmaker's Camp, and
letters from Riel's Camp were found upon him. Subse-
quently another Half-breed, implicated by the examination of
the first, as in communication and sympathy with Riel, was
also arrested. Police Inspector Grisbach, with Major
Hatton's troop, was ordered to make further arrests at the La
Boucan settlement, but this was not effected, notice having
been conveyed to the suspected persons by Half-breed friends.

On the i3th, a heavy storm of snow, wind, and rain set in
and postponed the embarkation of the troops, but all stores
were embarked and arranged, as before described, to afford
as much protection as possible to the men. A ferry boat in
use at Clover Bar was purchased, with its wire rope,
windlass, and appurtenances. The wire cable could be
stretched across the river in narrow parts, thus establishing
an impromptu ferry, to be thrown across, enabling troops to
operate on either or both sides of the river, as might be
found necessary.

The general opinion was, that as soon as the Indian
scouts ascertained that I was committed to the north bank of
the river. Big Bear would join forces with Poundmaker and
fall upon my communications and the defenceless settlements
on the south shore. Poundmaker had already captured a
convoy of 30 waggons, destined for Battleford.

My plan of campaign was, that the Column, moving by the
north bank of the river, should, by means of the Scout

s I

PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.

455

Cavalry, keep communication with the boats, which carried
the bulk of the provisions, land transport being difficult. I
meant to effect a junction within striking distance of the
€nemy, yet not so near as to jeopardise the disembarkation.
My Force was to proceed eastward, and the Battleford
Column, supplemented by steamers which could go up stream
from General Middleton's Force, to come westward, until we
should open communication, and attack from both sides,
•either Poundmaker, or Big Bear, or both united, as the case
might be. This plan I had submitted to General Middleton,
and obtained his approval ; but the Hudson Bay officials,
who were undoubtedly the best judges of Indian habits of
thought, assured me that the Indians would inevitably attack s /
the French-Canadian column, whether it went by land or by
water. I had no intention of giving them the chance, and,
as I had ascertained by my advanced Scouts that there were
no "hostiles" in any numbers west of Victoria, I ordered the
land Column to halt at Victoria, to effect a junction with the
boats there.

My intention was to land the English troops (W.L.I.) at
that place, and embark the French-Canadians. But 1 kept
this to myself, knowing that my every movement was
reported by Half-breed sympathisers, and would be
published by Press correspondents in my own Force, if they
got the chance. Both were deceived by the manner in
which the Force left Edmonton.

The reasons given by the Hudson Bay officials for their
belief that the French-Canadians would be attacked in
preference was the belief before expressed : that the little
soldiers who spoke French like Half-breeds and did not
wear red coats (for even the Police wore scarlet), could
not be the Queen's men, and might possibly, from sympathy
with them, be half-hearted.

The result showed that they were mightily mistaken, as
I felt sure they would be.

As there was an openly-expressed opinion that the
flotilla would never reach its destination witliout disaster,
I embarked in it myself with the Staff". But I had no
intention of being caught in the boats wliile my Force was
<,'ngaged on shore.

On the 14th,, we dropped down the river with the
Winnipeg Light Infantry and the 9-pounder gun and
horses in five scows. Scouts in canoes leading the advance.

456

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

.Ii . a

The weather cleared, the tall pines rustled overhead, and
the swift, yellow, gold-bearing waters of the Saskatchewan
swirled beneath us for many a mile, for it was 300 to Fort
Pitt. There was a certain luxury in enjoying the " dolce
far niente " after our hard marching, though a sharp look-
out had to be kept, and the Winnipeg men pulled lustily at
the sweeps, cheered by the lively boat songs of the French-
Canadian pilots, with which one had become familiar in many
a lumber camp in days gone by. I had not the heart to stop
them, though they might have attracted the attention of a
prowling Indian scout ; still it cut both ways, raising the
confidence of my men, while it showed the Indians we had
no dread of what they could do. But it had to stop towards
dusk, in fact it died down of itself when the men knew it
was dangerous.

BOATMAN S SONG.

" C'est I'aviron, qui nous monte, qui nous mene,
C'est I'aviron, qui nous monte en haut.

** A la claire fontaine

M'en allant promener

J'ai trouve I'eau si belle

Que je m'y suis baigne.

II y a longtemps que je t'aime,

Jamais je ne t'oublierai.

*' Vive la Canadienne !

Vole, mon cceur, vole !

Vive la Canadienne !

Et ses jolis yeux doux,

Et ses jolis yeux, doux, doux, doux,

Et ses jolis yeux doux !

" Derrier chez nous, y a-t'un etang

Trois beaux canards s'en vont baignant,

Roule, roulant, ma boule roulant.
En roulant ma boule ! "

Da Capo,

I > •

EDMONTON FOLK.

457

Before leaving Edmonton, I received a deputation from the

: inhabitants requesting that a larger garrison should be left

f there, and wherever I went it was the same story of alarmed

citizens begging that I should still further reduce a Force

already inadequate to the task before it. ;/

To bear this statement out, I give an extract from the
V' Edmoutoii Bulletin, of May 15th.

"On Wednesday afternoon last, a deputation, consisting of
Messrs. J. Brown, J. Cameron, and J. A. McDougall, pre-
sented a petition to Major-General Strange, in command of
the Alberta Field Force.

♦ We, the undersigned inhabitants of E)dmonton District,
having heard of your determination to remove all the troops
stationed in Edmonton, except one company of the 65th
Battalion, beg to state for your consideration the following
facts : —

' 1st. — That this, the most important place, is the only
point along the whole North Saskatchewan River which has
not yet suffered attack ; 2nd. — That we are surrounded on
every side by numerous Indians, some of them already hostile
and others restive ; 3rd. — That, the Indians being accustomed
to a method of transmitting intelligence, marvellous for its
accuracy and rapidity, your departure and our defenceless
position will be at once known among them ; it is therefore
necessary, as a precautionary measure that more troops should
be left with us, and that we ourselves should be properly
armed and liberally supplied with fixed ammunition ; and this
not only for the protection of our lives and properties, but
that we may be auxiliary to such garrison as may be left here.
You, yourself, must be aware that the preservation of private
property means not only benefit to the owners thereof, but
also the cutting off of supplies from the enemy, and tends co
the more speedy crushing of the Rebellion. We, therefore,
beg earnestly to request (i) that, until the present troubles are
past, at least three companies of troops be left with us as a
garrison ; (2) and that we ourselves may be forthwith
furnished with proper arms and be liberally supplied with the
necessary ammunition therefor.

' For the people of Edmonton

(Signed) ' John Brown.
' John Camkron.
'J. A. McDoiGALL, J. P.'

458

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

" The deputation was well received by Major-General
Strange, and the following reply was received next day : —

1 1

' Gentlemen,
' I cannot cripple the expedition which I am ordered to
carry through, by leaving more troops at Edmonton. You
will bear in mind that, besides the company of the 65th and
the Edmonton Volunteer Company left in Hudson Bay Fort,
Edmonton, there is also another company of the 65th, with a
small detachment of Police at Fort Saskatchewan, as well as
a half company of the 65th at Government Farm. I have
ordered a detachment of Alberta Rifles, under Lieutenant
Dunne, to patrol in your neighbourhood until the arrival of
the 4th company, W.L.I., which are reported to have left
Calgary on the 7th, and they cannot now be very far from
Edmonton, and they are being followed by two companies of
W.L.I., to leaveCalgary with convoy of provisions to-morrow.
Since my arrival I have not ceased to telegraph, pointing
out the necessity of supplying arms to the citizens to
protect themselves. I have this day received by telegram
from General Middleton information that he has ordered .100
stand of arms for the Edmonton Home Guards. I have
improved, and given directions for still further improvement
of the defences of Fort Edmonton, which I hope you will
assist in carrying out. I notice with surprise and regret that feti>
of the names appended to this petition appear on the roll of the Home
Guard, as it exists at present. There are a few stand of rifles
still unappropriated, besides two cannon, which require gun
detachments, and for which Volunteers should offer and be
drilled. Those willing to assist in the construction of the
extra defences will, I trust, send their names to Major
Grisbach, N.W.M.P., an experienced officer, of local
knowledge, to whom is entrusted the command of the District
in my absence.

' I have the honour to be, gentlemen,

' Your obedient servant,

' T. B. Strange, Major-General,

' Commanding Alberta District.' "

Subsequently Colonel Ouimet arrived, and was in com-
mand. Captain Hamilton, Supply Officer, also remained at
Edmonton. While attending to other people's affairs I was

MY OWN AFFAIRS.

459

by no means at ease about my own, and wrote to my wife
from Edmonton : — •

" The Butlers are fugitives at Fort Saskatchewan, their
house gutted, ours may be next,

" I have information that there are eight lodges of Crees

camped and watching our place. I suppose Major has

not energy enough to make them leave. The first blow I strike
they will burn our house. I am glad you and the children
are safe in Calgary, though it will cost us a fortune. Send
the family papers in right-hand drawer of my writing-table at
Ranche House to be kept in Federal Bank vaults,

Kingston

"Yours, etc., T. B. Strange."

460

il1lll'

I II
i
II

CHAPTER IX.

^ Orders for Flotilla — Canoe Scouts — Fort Saskatchewan
Refugees — 5,000 Dollar Prisoner — Miscellaneous Volunteer Aids
— An Ex-Hussar — TheChurchMilitant — Fort Victoria — Protected
Communications — Pow-Wow — A Press Correspondent in the Ranks
— Scout Reports — Communication Opened with General Middle-
ton — A Letter to Big Bear — An Audacious Scout.

The following order was issued for the flotilla, which was
composed of eight large flat-bottomed boats with a Hudson
Bay pilot and assistant on each.

" Five Infantry boats, each containing a com-
pany with camp equipage, ammunition, and food
supplies.

" One gunboat, containing an Artillery detachment,
N.W.M.P., 9-poundergun, and ammunition.

" One horse barge, with forage, and carrying the
gun team.

" One ferry-boat scow, carrying stores and a coil of
wire rope, sufficient to span the river, thus creating,
in a few hours, a feny enabling the troops to act
on either side of the river."

The flotilla was preceded by river scouts, men of the type
one finds on all wilderness waterways of the West, Half-
breeds mostly, who can balance on a log going down a swift
stream, the only way to do which is, balance pole in hand,
to give the log a regular rotation with the feet, dancing in
fact, keeping time to their own wild chansons. In a birch-
bark canoe they will balance a portly Englishman playing a
salmon.

Whenever the boats were made fast to the banks by night
or day, pickets and sentries were of course posted, but landing
was seldom found necessary, as even the cooking was done
on board, stones being placed in the barges to support the

FORT SASKATCHEWAN REFUGEES.

461

stoves. Officers and men were divided into watches, as on
board ship, and there was no bugle-sounding, except on an
emergency, our object being i^ slip down the river attracting
as little notice as possible. In the event of being fired
upon the orders were — the flotilla was to keep on never
minding, without returning fire except by special order.
Incessant pumping and bailing were necessary, as the
boats were newly constructed, on the elastic plan of the
Hudson Bay Company's boats already alluded to, and leaked
considerably.

Passed Fort Saskatchewan on the morning of the 15th,
where prisoners were landed * and the Fort inspected.
There had been a heavy snowstorm the previous night and
early morning, and the snow lodged on our blankets while we
slept. The refugees within the palisades of the Fort were in
tents, and, as may be supposed, far from comfortable.
Amongst them I found Major Butler, his wife and children,
and governess,the latter the daughter of an old brother officer.
These delicately-nurtured ladies bore their hardships like
" thoroughbred 'uns " with gaiete de ccviir, in spite of the
deplorable fact that all their finery and adornments had been
thrown down a well for concealment, when their house was
looted by the Indians ; but they retained natural beauties
which compensated. Another lady, a bride, when told in the
hour of peril to secure what she valued most, promptly
threw her wedding dress out of the window into the waggon
which stood ready to start with the fugitives. She clung to
that garment through hurried flight by day and stealthy
bivouac by night, until she reached the shelter of the pali-
sades of Fort Saskatchewan, where it was spread upon her
lowly bed to make up for the blankets she had left to the

:i'

• The Half-breed prisoners before mentioned, who had been in comninnication with
Riel, and whom I had brought down the river with me, I handed over to Grisbach, with
the suggestion not to hurry the trial until the present troubles were over. These gentle-
men, on being amnestied, brought an action against me for false imprisonment, and
claimed 5,000 dollars damages, which, as the Imperial Government had deprived me of
my pension for taking up arms, I was scarcely in a position to pay, but as I had given the
prisoners over to the civil power, I was relieved of the responsibility. I never heart'
whether these rebels were compensated by the Government for the sake of the Half-breed
vote, which brought in their candidate. But I do know that while rebels were paid
large sums for losses, the consequence of their own misconduct, many loyal men were
not paid for services rendered. But this is a constantly recurring phase of Government
by votes. Among others I have just received a letter from Archdeacon (then Canon)
\IcKay, who states he had not yet received the pay of 360 dollars which I sanctioned for
his services as Chaplain, let alone interpreter and scout. But if the Canadian Govern-
ment were neglectful, the Church was not. The late Bishop of Saskatchewan assured
in reply to a letter of recommendation, that he would take the Canon's war service into
account by promoting him to the rank of Archdeacon.

462

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Indians. Pos.sibly she had had an idea that the garment
might soon come in handy again in those troubled days.

Major Butler bejged to accompany my Force, and as he had
some years' experience as a settler in the country, I put him
in charge of the road-repairing party, while the ladies
volunteered as hospital nurses to the Force ; in vain I
informed them that there were no becoming caps or aprons
amongst the medical comforts, and they only abandoned
their purpose when I assured them they were much too
attractive for the position.

The composite character of volunteer service offered to
me, was added to by the subjoined telegram from an ex-
Hussar, my old friend Captain Palliser, of the 7th, who
wired thus :

"Ottawa,
" Minister consents, am off to join you as captain, but will
serve with pleasure as full private.

(Signed) " Palliser."

He made his Wky to the front, sometimes riding couriers*
horses, which was rough on both parties, for he stood about
six and a half feet, and rode over fourteen stone. Finally, he
paddled down Hie Saskatchewan in a dug-out canoe, with a
Half-breed guide, and restored my communications, which
had been interrupted, thus rendering important service.

The church militant was strong in the force ; with the
leading Scouts, acting as interpreter, was Canon McKay, of
the Anglican Church. He, like the Rev. J. McDougall, who
had preceded me to Edmonton, and still accompanied me, was
born in the North- West. The son of an old Hudson Bay
official, he had a University education and the gift of tongues
Indian. The Rev. Mr. Mackenzie, a young Presbyterian
minister, marched from Fort McLeod with the Mounted
Police, and the 65 th had their faithful chaplain, whose name I
have forgotten. All these reverend gentlemen were well
armed and mounted, except the latter, who rode in an ambu-
lance and carried no weapon but a crucifix, with which he went
under firetoadminister the rites of his Church to the mortally
wounded.

Exception has been taken to the warlike character of my
reverend scouts, butit must be borne in mind that they were
men as well as missionaries, and, like others, eagerly desired to
rescue the Englishwomen from the hands of the Indians.

CHURCH MILITANT.

463

Canon, now the Venerable Archdeacon, McKay often went
alone in advance of my Scouts, and in the fight at Loon Lake,
heexposed himself recklessly with a white flag of truce, seeking
to obtain a parley for the surrender of the captives, who, as we
advanced, were carried further by Big Bear, through swamp
and "muskeg" to the impenetrable forests in his rear. All
attempts at truce or parley were vain. Canon McKay's Indian
neophytes would have none of him or his white flag, except
trying to shoot him.

On reaching Victoria, May 1 6th, I found an old Hudson
Bay Post, which I ordered to be put in a state of defence,
and a detachment of the 65th left as garrison. Settlers
coming in, having abandoned their farms, were enrolled as a
Home Guard under the Rev. Mr. McLachlan, Methodist
minister. The situation is best described by an extract
from a letter I wrote at the time.

" Victoria, May i8th, 1885.

" This is a very lovely place, an old H. B. C. Fort I am
trying to repair and garrison with settlers ; poor people, who
have been hiding in the woods, return when they see the
troops. The young children look especially miserable, and
many have died. I shall try and get food for them, and get
them all into the Fort. The country is in a terrible state —
no food — and ravaged by Indians and Riel emissaries. I can't

be everywhere at once. If the Government would

only send arms for settlers they could defend themselves.
General Middleton seems to be well supplied with regular
troops, artillery, and a steam flotilla. I wish you saw my
flotilla of flour-clads floating down the Saskatchewan. If it
were not for the amazing delay of the Militia Store Depart-
ment in sending arms, etc., and opposition from almost every
source, except the enemy, I would have been through this
business a fortnight ago, or at any rate, a good way through
it."

I have been blamed for weakening my Force by leaving .
too many detachments to protect my communications and
secondary base, but I was justified by the results. My long
line of communication, of about 500 miles by trail and river,
was never seriously interrupted, I never lost a supply train,
and in the end, Big Bear's band was dispersed, the white
captives set at liberty, and Big Bear himself and his sub-

464

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

chiefs, surrendered. And this was accomplished with a
minimum of casualties to my Force. On the other hand, the
loss of any of the ground which I had covered, would have
caused more serious panic to the settlers and encouragement
to the Indians than even the abandonment of Fort Carlton
and the loss of Fort Pitt and the captives there taken. More-
over, I had expected that the remaining companies of
W. L. I., the first of which should have reached Edmonton
the day after I left, \\ -'ild have been pushed on more
quickly than they were, followed by the 9th Battalion
Voltigeurs, Colonel Amyot, to be replaced by the Montreal
Garrison Artillery, Colonel Oswald, an excellent battalion of
blue-coated Infantry, who had formerly been under my
command, and were anxious to join me; they, however, were
kept at Regina.

But to return to the flotilla. The horseboat unfortunately
sank when starting from Fort Saskatchewan. The Artillery
drivers crossed in a small boat, towed the leading horse by
his picket cord, the rest followed, were secured by the
drivers, and, marching by land, joined the Force. The boat
having sunk near the shore, was raised by pumping out the
water, and was then towed in rear.

On the 17th, messengers came into my camp from
" Peccan," a chief of the Crees, who had resisted both the
intimidation and persuasions of Big Bear to make him
join the rebellion. As one of Peccan's men had killed
one of Big Bear's, he dreaded reprisals. Through my inter-
preter, the Rev. J. McDougall, I enquired if any of his men
would join us as scouts. He assured me that these Indians,
being under Methodist influence, could be trusted. It is a
fact, explain it how you' may, tha.: though Protestant
missionaries were plundered, Roman priests only were
murdered. The same day Steele, with Scout Cavalry, moved
out to Saddle Lake.

On the 1 8th, Peccan himself came into camp, and after
a " Pow Wow," replied that he must consult his band, if he
should actively assist us. Whilst awaiting his answer,
troops were instructed in attack formation, and a detachment
of W. L. I., under Lieutenant Alexander, in constructing
kedge anchors for boats (a framework of stout wood filled
with stones). Though the delay was irritating, 1 thought it
important to secure the assistance of Peccan's Indians,
who knew every step of the country, whereas my cowboys

A PRESS CORRESPONDENT IN THE RANKS.

465

were now on new ground, and in wooded country very
different from their own.

Heavy rain fell on the 19th, and the black mud was churned
up on the soft trails. Report came from Steele that the
advanced party of Scouts, under Corryell, had not been
heard of, and must be short of provisions. There was also
a report of their capture (not authentic), and no news of
Hatton's advance, with Alberta Mounted Rifles.

The dilatory Peccan came into camp on the 20th,
and said that his people Would not consent to act as
scouts. Hatton's Cavalry being reported close, I therefore
marched from Victoria with the Winnipeg Light Infantry
and 9~pdr. gun. The 65th, under Colonel Hughes, I
ordered to embark in the flotilla and drop down the river,
touch being maintained between the land and river Columns
by means of the Mounted Scouts.

In pursuance of my plan for keeping dark my arrange-
ment as to which party should go by the boats, I allowed
the English-Canadians to remain where they were, camped
close to the boats, and the French-Canadians in the camp
which terminated their march from Edmonton. At the last
moment the French Regiment was marched down to the
boats and the English remained with me.

I had in my camp what Lord Wolseley has called the
^' curse of modern armies," — Correspondents, but in one
instance only did I find them so. They were anxious to send
back by the last courier the final arrangements for my advance
and were very importunate for information. The duty of
misleading them I delegated to my Brigade-Major, a task
he performed con amore. But vials of concentrated wrath were
poured upon me by next mail. I was denounced as a madman,
who did notknowhis own mind for twenty-four hours, fatigue
and responsibility having reduced me to this deplorable condi-
tion ! The fact being, I did know my own mind, but took
care no one else did, as I had reason to believe that
information in the Winnipeg Press was conveyed to Half-
breeds by sympathisers.

The Methodist minister was utilised as a Captain of the
Home Guards {i.e. the enrolled settlers) and entrusted with
maintaining communication. The stores also were placed in his
charge, and he had to issue rations to the settlers and their
families while they were unable to procure food for them-
selves. He was shown how to construct a stockade bastion

H H

\6t

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

W>^'

fill

tfi

for an unprotected angle. A half company of the 65th was
left to garrison the Fort.

May 20th. — Marched to camp, Vermilion Creek, and
issued the following orders : —

Countersign — " Jeri».mo."

I. — No bugles will sound in camp except Reveilld.

2.— In the event of an attack, the men will extend, take the
best cover at hand, and open fire. Remaining in
compact bodies under fire is to be avoided.

3. — The outlying pickets will march in at Reveille, leaving
the sentries standing. The pickets having had their
breakfasts, the sentries will be relieved from their
pickets to enable them to obtain theirs. The sentries
will be finally withdrawn when the Column leaves the
camp, the outlying pickets forming the rear-guard.

I have come upon one of Steele's reports, which shows
the thorough way he did his work. He had previously
reported that the hostile Indians had left their Reserves near
Saddle Lake, and "cached" supplies, which he discovered.

"Camp, Saddle Lake,

" 20th May, 1885, 6 p.m.

"To Major-G ENERAL Strange, Commanding A.F.F.,

"Vermilion Creek.
" Sir,

" I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your
dispatch per Trooper McQuarry.

"I have received no news from the front so far. The men
who went out have still rations for one day. The scouting
party went out seven miles to-day to the front, E. and S.E.,
and have nothing to report.

"The working party of the 65th arrived here yesterday.
Sergeant Borrowdaile, of Scouts, who has been directing
them, reports the trail has been put in good order. They
are repairing the crossing of the creek in our front to-day
and for 10 miles east the trail is good.

" As the boats have orders to go on to St. Pauls by to-
morrow evening, I will have the country thoroughly examined
by scouts along their flank.

" We have collected the remainder of the barley to-day,

COMMUNICATION OPENED WITH GENERAL MIDDLETON. 467

about 550 bushels in all. The potatoes we have not touched,
not having bags to put them in.

" The old trail is impassable, the road which has been
repaired is the south fork, via the Indian Farm.

" There is excellent camping ground here for the whole
Column, water and wood convenient, and country pretty
open.

" I have the honour to be,

" Your obedient servant,

" S. B. Steele, Major,

" Commanding Cavalry."

Having camped at Vermilion Creek on the night of the
2 1st, Saddle I ake was reached next day. That evening
Corryell returned with Scouts and party of Cavalry sent to
get communication with the boats, and reported that 65 th
outposts had opened fire on some Indian scouts near the
bank.

One of my couriers carrying dispatches, (a brother of
Steele) also reported being fired upon, and he had a bullet
hole in his hat.

As I was anxious to open communication with Colonel
Otter's Column at Battleford, and thus with General Middle-
ton, who had arranged to send the first steamer available,
with troops up the river, to take Big Bear in reverse, while I
advanced from the west, I called for volunteers for this
hazardous service. Sergeant Borrowdaile and Scout Scott
volunteered to go in a canoe down the Saskatchewan to
Battleford, hiding themselves and the canoe by day in the bush,
and raddling at night. Sent by them a dispatch, detailing
my present strength and position, and saying that it was my
intention to push on to Fort Pitt as fast as possible.

The following long-delayed telegram in cipher came
round by Calgary and reached me by courier.

" Fish Creek, May 1st.
"To Major-General Strange, Commanding A.F.F.,

" Calgary.

** Carry out your original plan, release the poor women if

possible. Go to Fort Pitt and restore confidence. Until you

hear further do not move on Battleford. These raw

soldiers require whipping up at first when the fracas begins
-attack surround flying, {sic) We have 10 killed, and 40

H H — 2

3 1 : i:

k J

4^8.

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

to 45 wounded. The wounded are doing well. Steamer
Northcote with some supplies stuck, shall move in a day or

>two. ,,„ . , ,

"Fred Middleton."

Meanwhile, Fort Pitt had been abandoned by the Police
and burnt by the Indians.

My messengers duly reached General Middleton, without
mishap, except tha' Sergeant Borrowdaile had lost his pistol.

General Middl'^ton sent them back to me with a letter from
him to Big Bear, demanding his immediate surrender. On
Borrowdaile asking for a pistol to be issued to him out
of the store for the return journey, the General told him
it was not necessary, as he himself would go through
the country with a stick. When he did come, however, he
arrived with steamers, carrying a Battalion of Infantry, Gat-
ling guns, and Cavalry.

General Middleton's letter, addressed to Big Bear, for
various reasons — among others the deficiency of pillar post-
boxes — failed to reach that gentleman. As for that
audacious young srout, Borrowdaile, he was not crushed
by the General's joke about his wr!.iing-stick. He came
back to his comrades with the turned-up leaf of his
broad hat beanng the inscription : " I was not at F'sh
Creek— I was not at Batoche." I told him of Gential
Middleton's letter to Big Bear, and the Sergeant certainly
did his best to deliver the message — from his ifle — at Loon
Lake.

469

if. ,v

■1- (■■:•;■ ;.r-

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.

On May 22nd, the Column, after dinner at 1 1 a.m., struck
tents and marched at noon. We could not get off before, as
the grain and potatoes, abandoned by the Indians, and for
which there were no bags, had to be collected, stowed in the
waggon-boxes, and all other articles piled on top. The
pioneer detachment (65th) accompanied the advance guard,
carried provisions for three days, and had instructions to go
ahead whenever opportunity offered. Major Butler had
charge of this road-repairing party. The Winnipeg T.ight
Infantry formed advance guard, one company, without
flankers ; scouting and flanking being done by Steele's Scouts,
who kept connection with Infantry advance by connecting
files as usual. The Infantry advance guard was followed by
the gun, with ammunition waggons — as per diagram.

Order of March.

Major Steele's ft Cavalry.
Major Hatton's ft Cavalry.

Pioneers
Waggons

[] 65th Regiment.
I I to carry pioneers and tools.

470

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

Advance Guard

W. L. Infantry.

Empty Waggons | | to carry Infantry.

9-pounder gun. | | ^

»» ?+ (>

Artillery | | ammunition waggon.

Head Quarter Staff | | waggon.

^ Steele's | | waggons. ~'\

':'■ Hatton's I | waggons. •/

JHIi

Ifi

Infantry ammunition

Main body W. L. Infantry

Empty waggons
„ Hospital

Infantry tent and cooking

Supply

waggons.

under Colonel Smith.

to carry Infantry,
waggons. „

waggons.

ORDER OF MARCH.

471

W. L. Infantry 1 1 rear guard.

Empty waggons | | to carry Infantry.

Cavalry fttt rearguard.

„ Mounted Scouts.

tt Cavalry.

I I Advance and Rear Guards.

[] Pioneers.
I I Waggons.

iii Main Body.

'"'!-." ?-;v. '^ ■■''''-'. ,", Orders. ^;\w.'.'\.^V

As usual the waggons will be corralled as nearly as possible
in a circle. No waggon will be allowed out of the
circle, except the Gun, unlimbered, in a position to
obtain fire, but then as near as possible to Artillery
waggons. No tents, cooking or truck of any kind
allowed within the corral.

The different corps, Head Quarter Staff, etc., will pitch
tents in single line round the corrals, as near as
practicable to their own waggons. These orders to
be carried out as far as the nature of the ground
will permit. Herders will take charge of the
horses.*

In the event of attack on line of march, the waggons will,
if ground permit, drive into a circular corral under
Captain Wright, assisted by Mr. Allan, waggon
boss. Teamsters will defend the corral.

The long-expected rifles having arrived, the teamsters,
who were ali Western men and mostly accustomed to
handle a rifle, were issued arms as I had promised them.

When the supply waggons became empty, as they could
not return to Edmonton without escort and a certain
amount of food for teamsters and horses, they were used
to carry Infantry, which enabled the Force to move with
greater rapidity along the trails, now deep in mud from
incessant rain.

* Herders were well-armed cowboys.

472

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

r'tl

:;:y

■iMi

!i '

'i: "-l

The character of the country continued the same from
Victoria, undulating and intersected by creeks, lakes, and
swamps draining into the Saskatchewan, varied by thickly-
wooded poplar bluffs, interspersed with open patches of
,, prairie. The soil was a rich black vegetable mould,
doubtless very fertile if cultivated, but there were no signs
of such since leaving Victoria, except the patch of farm
cultivated for the Indians near Saddle and Frog Lake
Reserves.

On the 23rd, we camped east of Dog Rump Creek, and the
Alberta Mounted^ Rifles rejoined the Force. Inconsequence
of there being a scarcity of biscuits, they were retained for
emergencies, and the troops were warned to have bread
baked in anticipation of their requirements. The Western
cook with his collapsible sheet iron stove performs miracles
of baking, even on the march and under all sorts of
difficulties.

Camped at Moose Hill Creek, near Frog Lake, on the
24th.

The following is from an unknown correspondent to the
Press : —

"The Queen's birthday at Frog Lake. The Winnipeg
Light Infantry spent a unique Queen's birthday this year.
It dawned cold and rainy on them at Dogberry Creek, 45
miles west of Fort Pitt. Breakfast was taken in the rain
at 5 o'clock, after which General Strange made the following
address :

" He said : ' Colonel Smith, officers, and men of the
Light Infantr}'. You have marched admirably, and I am
proud of the stuff I command. This is the Queen's
birthday, without the Queen's weather. We cannot have
any fireworks to-day, Mr. Big Bear won't give us the chance,
but from information 1 have, we are close behind him, and
when the chance does come, I know you are the stuff to take
it. As this is the Queen's birthday, let us give her three
cheers.'

"The cheers were given and then, it being Sunday, the
first verse of the * Old Hundredth ' was sung, and the
march resumed. The rain came down steadily lill noon.
At about that hour it commenced to clear up, and by three
o'clock it was quite fine, and the sun shining brightly.
The Column camped for the night one mile from
Frog Creek, where the massacre occurred, strong pickets

FROG LAKE •MASSACRE.

473

and guards being on duty. After supper, several of the
officers and men walked to Frog Lake Settlement, and there a
terrible sight was seen. The settlement consisted of the
Roman Catholic Mission, a mill, and some eight or nine
settlers' houses. The Church, parsonage, mill, and every
settler's house was burnt and levelled to the ground, and
their contents strewn around. In the cellar of the parsonage,
and guided there by the terrible smell, one of the most awful
sights I ever beheld was witnessed. Four headless bodies
were found huddled together in a corner. Two of the bodies
had been Father Fafard and Father Marchand, another was
that of the lay brother, and the fourth, some one unknown.
The corpses were horribly mangled, all four heads were
charred with fire beyond recognition. The bodies of the
priests were recognised by their beads found in their pockets.
The remains of Delaney, Quinn, and Gilchrist were discovered
in tlie woods near by. A body, supposed to be that of Mrs.
Gowanlock, was found in a well, both legs were severed near
the thigh, and the arms above the elbows."

A report was made to me by W. B. Cameron, H. B. C, on
his release after the action at Frenchman's Butte. He had
been taken prisoner by Big Bear's Indians, April 2nd, at Frog
Lake, and related thus :

" At Frog Lake, Indian Agent Quinn, was killed by
'Travelling Spirit.' He fired the first shot. Next man to
fall was Charles Gouin, carpenter, standing beside Quinn ; he
was an American Half-breed, thought to have been killed by
* Manit-choose ' (the Worm). Delaney and Father Fafard
were first shot by * Pass-koo-gu-yoo ' (Bare Neck), being
only wounded then, but afterwards killed by * Pas-kea-ka-
wean's ' son, (the man who wins). Gowanlock was killed
by the Worm, Gilchrist and Dill tried to run, and * Apis-chis-
koose,' (Little Bear), after shooting Williscraft, shot Gilchrist
and fired at Dill three times. The last named was on horse-
back, the others on foot. Dill was finally shot by * Ka-we-
chat-way-mat,' (the man talking to another). Father Mar-
chand from Onion Lake, was killed by Travelling Spirit.
When news of Duck Lake reached the place, the Big Bear
Indians were loud in their assurances of friendship, but before
daylight they came in a body to Quinn's house, and two of
them went up into his bedroom, Big Bear's son, (Bad Child), or
King Bird, and another Indian, intending to shoot him, as he
lay in bed. He was married to a Cree woman. His brother-

474

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

in-law, ' Lone Man/ followed Bad Child upstairs and prevented
them. Meantime the Indians below had taken the three guns
from the office, and Travelling Spirit called out to Quinn to
come down, but Lone Man told him not to go. He went
down, however, with the others. The Indians took him over
to Delaney's house, threatening him. Before going into
Quinn's house, the Indians had taken all the Government
horses, and Lone Man and Travelling Spirit quarrelled
over the horses, and Travelling Spirit and the others then
went to Hudson's Bay store-keeper, Mr. Cameron, and
made him give them what ammunition there was in
stock. Big Bear now appeared, and said : ' Don't take the
things out of store, Cameron will give you what you want.'
After getting a few things they went out. Cameron was
ordered by Travelling Spirit to go to Quinn's house, and had
to obey. The other white men had been brought there, with
Pritchard, the Half-breed interpreter, and the priests were
there also. The Indians demanded beef. Travelling Spirit
afterwards took Mr. Cameron to the Roman Catholic Church,
saying ' all the white people are there.' It was Good Friday
and the priests were celebrating mass. Big Bear and
'Miserable Man* were standing near the door, while all the
others were kneeling. While service was going on. Travel-
ling Spirit entered, and knelt in mockery in the centre of the
church, rifle in hand, war hat on, and face painted yellow.
The priest finished service, and the people went to Delaney's
house. Mr. Cameron went to his own house, but Travelling
Spirit again came for him, ordering him to go to Delaney's
house."

Here the narrative was broken off as we had to march, and
it was never again resumed.

Camp Frog Lake, 25th May. — While the bodies of the
murdered were being hastily buried, a report came in from
Captain Oswald, commanding advanced Scouts, that the
Indians were in force near Fort Pitt, the ruins of which
were still smoking, and that he required immediate
assistance. I pushed on at once with Major Steele's Cavalr}',
Captain Perry's detachment N.W.M.P., horsed 9-pounder gun
and one company W.L. Infantry in waggons, leaving Colonel
Smith to follow with the remainder W.L.I, and supply
train. At the same time I sent orders to Colonel Hughes,
65th, to drop down in their boats parallel to us. Having

■■■■

FORT PITT. 1

475

. V^IXS^

OR BAD CHILD. THE

• id'* ■■'

BOY. CREIi CHIEF,

THE WORM.

started after noon, we reached Pitt (30 miles) the same even-
ing, finding Captain Oswald's party of Scouts posted in a
poplar bluff,* where they could observe the enemy without
being themselves discovered. Major Butler's pioneer party
were also fortunately undiscovered. The ruins of Fort Pitt
were still smoking, but the enemy had retired, leaving only a
small part of the buildings comparatively intact. The Force
camped for the night on the plateau above the remains of
Fort Pitt, throwing out pickets as strong as the small force
with me would permit.

Orders.

Fort Pitt, May 26th, 1885.
-A fatigue party, W.L.I. , with its officers, will parade at
once to clean out those buildings of Fort Pitt still left
standing, preparatory to their being put in a condition
of defence, in accordance with plans which will be
supplied to the officer in charge.

* Clumps of poplar treea are called blufis in Western parlance.

476

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

2. — Threequarter rations will be issued from this date. Any
person detected stealing rations, at a juncture like the
; present, when it is desired to rescue women and
' children from the Indians, is not worthy of the name of
man. He will therefore be considered a brute, and
will be flogged. The issue of rations to Headquarters,
Staff, and officers will be the same in quantity and
quality as that issued to the men.

By order, C. H. Dale,
, > Major of Brigade.

Though I had been denied authority to hold Courts
Martial, I had no notion of allowing disorder, and the above
order stopped thefts of provisions from the carts and waggons,
which had hitherto been difficult to prevent.

The neighbourhood ofthe fort was littered with the debris
of broken furniture and articles for which the Indian has no
use, with a mass of religious books and tracts, some of which
were in the sign language made for their use by the mis-
sionaries — among them a curious commentary on the Gospels.
It was the mutilated body of a N.W. policeman ; his heart had
been taken out and stuck on a pole close by !

Next day, after my Scouts had had a skirmish with the
Indians, I found another commentary written, this time by a
white man on a red one. It was the body of an Indian Chief
bereft of his scalp-lock. "A la guerre comme k la guerre."
None of my ecclesiastical scouts were with me at this time.
They had all betaken themselves to Battleford, for, not know-
ing in what direction Big Bear had gone with the lady
prisoners, whose whereabouts was my first anxiety, I had sent
the Rev. J. McDougall across the river with Captain Perry and
20 Mounted Police, with whom was the Rev. Mackenzie, to
search for traces of the white women. None had as yet been
found on this side, except the body ofthe murdered woman at
Frog Lake, supposed to be Mrs. Gowanlock, though there were
tracksof the late crossing of the river at Pitt, and a raft was found
concealed in the bushes. I knew that on the opposite bank
three trails diverged about ten miles from the river : one East
to Battleford and Poundmaker's Reserve, the second South-
West to Sounding Lake and Crowfoot on the Blackfoot
Reserve, and the third West, along the south bank of the
river towards the La Boucan Half-breed Settlement, and the

SCOUTS ON THE WRONG TRAIL.

477

Indian Reserves, where Big Bear's emissaries had already
been. The country, quite different from that on the North,
is fairly open on the south of the North Saskatchewan at this
part of its course. But Indians, moving in bodies, habitually
follow their old trails.

European ideas of strategy would presupfKjse that Big
Bear and Poundmaker would unite their forces rather than
allow themselves to be attacked in detail. It was not then
known that Poundmaker had been so severely handled by
Colonel Otter's Column, and that he had subsequently
surrendered to General Middleton, after the action at
Batoche and Kiel's capture. The question of supplies
would also have come in. The wooded north bank of the
Saskatchewan is not a cattle country, but Poundmaker was
reported to be well supplied with cattle, while Big Bear
was mainly dependent on the provisions taken at Fort
Pitt and Hudson Bay Stores for keeping his men together.
They were Plain Crees, Wood Crees, and Chippwayans,
with a mixture of a few Half-breeds and malcontents of all
sorts from the South. The Wood Crees and Chippwayans
could always subsist in their own country, but would be
helpless on the plains, where the mounted Plain Crees
would be quite happy raiding the southern ranche country,
were it only unprotected.

As the whereabouts of Big Bear's band was unknown, nor
whether a junction had been formed with Poundmaker,
scouts were sent in every direction. Captain Perry, with his
detachment of 20 Mounted Police, accompanied by Canon
McKay and the Rev. J. McDougall as scouts, who having
been born in the country could both track like Red men,
were ferried across the Saskatchewan. They reported a trail
which shewed the recent passage of the river and tracks of
Cree carts opposite Fort Pitt, and they found the prints of
white women's feet and slippers, and what appeared evident
signs of the McLean family having been taken across.

Immediate steps were taken to stretch across the
Saskatchewan the wire cable we had brought with us, and to
arrange the ferry boat with block and tackle to run on it, so
as to enable the whole or portion of the Force to cross,
should it be ascertained with any degree of certainty that
Big Bear had crossed with his captives. A severe storm
delayed the operations : Captain Perry was ordered to follow
the tracks he had found as far as the meeting of the three

.^'ali^gaaaJw^ttki^ii^ia^

478

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

trails, to make sure which trail the party had taken, what
force accompanied it, and then to return as soon as
possible with the information.

A party of Half-breed scouts were also sent across the
river, with orders to strike the trail running west and see if
any considerable force had recently followed it along the
south bank with a view to fall on our communications. A
third party. Major Steele's Cavalry, were sent on our side
of the river to reconnoitre West and North.

The Half-breed scouts returned at nightfall and reported
there were no fresh tracks on the western trail. Unfor-
tunately, Captain Perry took it upon himself to ride into
Battleford (90 miles), with his whole detachment, without
sending me any information and I neither saw nor heard
anything of him for nine days. He had become a nine
days' wonder to me I When he turned up, il was with
General Middleton and the steamers. Possibly he had
some vision of " Kudos,'' for opening communication with
General Middleton by his daring ride, but Sergeant
Borrowdaile had been before him, and if I had any
power of bestowing " Kudos," I should have been thankful
to anyone coming the other way. There were 300 well-
mounted Police at Battleford, any of whom, I am sure,
would have been glad of the job if they had been allowed to
undertake it. As it was, Captain Perry's absence deprived
me of my Horse Artillery detachment for the 9-pounder gun
at Frenchman's Butte, but luckily my A, D. C., Lieutenant
Strange, proved very competent to take his place, assisted by
Sergeant O'Connor, North-West Mounted Police, and a
volunteer detachment of Winnipeg Light Infantry, who were
hastily drilled to work the gun.

Major Steele and his party came upon a heavy recent
trail which first ran West, then North, and finally, after
circling for about thirty miles, they found themselves, after
nightfall, in thick brushwood on the river bank, within three
miles of Pitt.

Steele, six-shooter in hand, was himself leading, followed
close by one of his men, and so silent was the advance that
the Indians were uncertain as to the cause of the occasional
rustle of leaves. For there is no silly jingle about the
accoutrements of a Western scout ; no clattering of steel
scabbard, he has no sword, even his horse's feet seem
muffled in the soft soil, and to use a Hibernicism, his very

•• f

--i>-

.i!

: 1'
1 «

ih'

STEELES FIRST SKIRMISH.

481

Stirrup-irons are wood, and his head collar chain a hair-rope
or raw hide. The movements of the Indians are equally
noiseless, only more so.

Both parties had closed to within a *ew feet, when an
Indian softly challenged, not knowing friend from foe in the
gathering darkness.

The white Scout with Steele (Sergt. Butlin) answered as
quietly, in Cree, " Keeka ! " (wait). But the native gentleman
would not wait, fired at Steele, missed him and received Major
Steele's bullet and the Scout's through his body. Some
scattering shots were exchanged, probably without effect in
the twilight and gloom of the bush, and the Indians retired.
Two of their ponies were captured, not a difficult task, as
the Indian cayoose, beau ideal for a mounted foot-fight-
ing man, always browses while his master fights : any other
sort of rest only makes him tired, as an American officer
put it.

The fallen Indian was the Chief who had started the out-
break at Saddle Lake. Upon his breast he wore the Queen's
medal, supplied by the Canadian Government, an ornament
about the size of an agricultural trophy for a prize pig.
These medals are solid silver, and naturally much valued by
the Chiefs, who hand them down from father to son as proofs
of loyalty. One often sees them bearing the image and
superscription of good King George III.

Next morning, on passing the spot .vher.' he fell, I was
struck by the tall athletic figure of the dusky warrior as he
lay, like a bronze statue overthrown by some iconoclastic
hand, and clothed only v/ith a grim smile and a breech clout,
the usual summer fighting full dress uniform of the Red man.
He had lost his medal and his scalp !

On receiving intelligence of this skirmish from Major
Steele, on the 27th, that the enemy were in his front, and
that the Scouts had counted 187 lodges, I immediately
marched with all the troops at my disposal, leaving a com-
pany of the 65th under Captain Giroux to fortify and protect
what remained of Fort Pitt. Camp equipage and stores I
left behind, dispensing with tents. I had only three days'
rations, no supplies having reached me since 1 left Edmonton.
The Force was already on reduced allowance. A proportion
of the supplies had to be left in the boats for the 65 th
Regiment. There had not been time to bring the beef casks
ashore.

482

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

My Force consisted of: —

1^7 Infantry — rank and file ;

27 Cavalry ; deducting the detachment taken to Battleford'
by Captain Perry, and the Scouts with Major Steele ;

One 9-pr. M.L.R. Gun, under Lieutenant Strange, with
volunteer deta^iment W.L.I.

Wishing to advance quickly, ! used all available waggons
to carry the W. L. Infantry detachment, and sent 65th
detachment, under Colonel Hughes, down the river in the
boats, with orders to effect junction with me when within
striking distance of the enemy.

On reaching Major Steele, the waggons were corralled
under Captain Wright. I could not spare a guard to leave
with ihc^m, but the teamsters were mostly armed. Advancing
about fo ir miles, through somewhat difficuli' country, I found
the enemy occupying a very advantageous position on
the slopes of a thickly-wooded ridge, interspersed with
ravines.

The summit of the ridge away to our left was bare ; upon
this I could plainly see a considerable number of their mounted
men moving about. Some were circling exactly as laid down
in the Red Book, eviucudy signalling our approach to those
below, at the same time displaying themselves in a way very
unusual with the Indians, but perhaps with the intention of
drawing us off the main trail of their line of retirement,
which I was followin,:^ with the directing centre of my
Force.

Lieutenant Strange quickly brought his gun into action,^
and with a few admirably-directed rounds of shrapnel shell,
cleared the ridge.

/ Major Steele, with N.W.M. Police and Scouts, and one
company of the W.L.I, extended to the left, advanced and
cleared the wood, without loss on our part.

The remainder of the W.L.I. , under Colonel Osborne
Smith, were extended to the right, and a'so advanced through
thick woods without encountering any serious opposition.

It was very difficult to mainta'n connection in so small and
widely-extended a Force, in the dense bush in which we
found ourselves. Small trees, not much thicker than a man's
wrist, grew close together, making it difficult for a man on
foot, and more so for a mounted man to make his way.

I fear I should have lost my small army in this very big
country, had it not been for the exertions of Captain Constan-

FRENCHMAN S BUTTE.

4S3

tine, Adjutant of the W.L.I, , who managed to keep touch
with both wings of his regiment and with me.

At the commencement of this, our first engagement, I had
told him I should be found, not as Dundee said, " where the
dead are lying thickest," but where the tracks of the
"trfcvois"* were thickest.

My A.D.C. had become Commandant of Artihery, and
fortunately, he was an excellent shot, having won the
Dominion Artillery Association prize, and my only other
Staff Officer, the Brigade-Major, like an old sleuth-hound,
had followed the firing to the extreme le'"'"

The 9-pounder gun was the only portion of my army
which could not break away from me. It had to follow ihe
travois trail.

As it was late in the day before the enemy showed them-
selves, I was not able to wait for the junction of the 65th,
under Colonel Hughes, who had left their boats and advanced
with alftcrity on tlie first sound of the firing, leaving their
uneaten dinners behind them.

I followed the enemy's *rail until darkness was approach-
ing, through very dense w ")od and difficult country, where
we could scarcely find space to corral "^^he waggons, which
had been brought up by Captai 1 Wright. After scouting a
short distance in advance, the 7orce bivouacked round the
corral, under arms ; extinguishing fires after cooking, posting
a circle of sentries and picketting the horseij. The 65th had
neither blankets, greatcoats, nor rations, having left every-
thing in their boats, and their comrades of the W.L.I, had
but short rations to share with then;.

The darkness of the night, and the black shadows of the
forest which surrounded the corral to within a few feet of
its circumference, rendered objects invisible at a short dis-

* !n travelling, the Indians always carry their impedimenta on " travois." The teepee
or lodge poles, are divided into two bundles, one on either side the horse, like shafts,
the butt-ends trailing on the ground, and the small ends joined on the horse's withers, in
front of the saddle, where the squaw sits, perhaps with comfort, but not with dignity.
Armed in peace time with a quirt, a thong of platted hide, used as a whip ; on the war-
path she carries the primitive we ipon of pre-Adamite man, a kelt : a split stick, in which i&
inserted and secured an axe-shaped stone. This is occasionally used to batter the head of
a wounded enemy, when she is mercifully disposed. The ends of the " travois" are kept
from spreading by two pieces of transverse wood lashed across, between which the cover-
ing of the t^.it forms a bag. Here her household §ods are carried, including papooses and
dried meat and puppies. The transport is further increased by miniature " travois," drawn
by dogs. But the Crees with whom we were lighting, were also .-upplied with two-
w'heeled Red River carts, which will go anywhere, being elastically kept together by raw-
hide lashings instead of nails,

I 1—2

484

GUNNER jingo's JUBILEE.

<rr«

' i

tance, except at the bivouac fires, and these were promptly
extinguished after cooking.

Bivouac, May 27th. — The men extended in single rank,
to cover the whole circumference of the corral, lay under
the waggons, so as not to be trodden upon by the horses.
Sentries were posted by corps to cover their own front
inside the corral, and horses were turned into the corral
about midnight, and tied up to the waggons. In the event
of attack the men were cautioned against wasting their
ammunition. Night firing is not effective, except occa-
sionally on friends. Scouts patrolled during the night round
ihe camp.

On the morning of the 28th, the Force was roused without
sound of bugle, and at daybreak, after a scanty breakfast,
again moved forward towards Frenchman's Butte, the
Winnipeg Light Infantry sharing their half rations with
their comrades of the 65 th. The advance was led by
Major Steele's Scouts, dismounted, extended in front, and
flanking each side of the trail. The Infantry advanced
guard under Colonel Hughes, of the 65th, the pioneer bridge
party was in rear of the 6sth ; they and W.L.I. , under
Colonel Osborne Smith, formed the main body.

Lieutenant Strange, with the 9-pounder, followed the
Infantry ; the rear half-company was told off as an escort
to the gun, and after them came the inevitable train of
waggons, gun, and Infantry ammunition reserves, etc.
The absence of tents and baggage, and the scant supplies,
reduced now to two day's rations for half the Force, con-
siderably diminished what had been an unwieldy length of
wheeled column, which was of course absolutely confined to
the narrow trail, where a single breakdown would, in most
places necessitate cutting a fresh track through the bush to
enable the remaining waggons to pass.

Suddenly we came to a comparatively open space, to
which numerous trails converged from every direction.
It was the encampment where the braves had held- their
last sun-dance ; the poles of the great Sacred Lodge still
Btood, with the leafy garlands hanging from the central one,
showing how lately a batch of young warriors had been
made, under the usual circumstances of self-torture, to
prove manly endurance, while the old warriors had
recounted their prowess, mostly in horse-stealing and
murder. I was once present at a sun-dance of the Black-

FRENCHMAN S BUTTE.

485

feet, where the most applauded warrior wore a policeman's
old tunic, on the back of which was chalked a representation
of himself firing into a teepee of sleeping enemies. The
horses also were depicted in convenient proximity for removal
after this glorious feat of arms. Youths and veterans worked
themselves into war frenzy with dances and incantations. A
very limited number of squaws are allowed to be present on
these occasions, and those chiefly old women, who are there
to supply tea and surgical appliances to the self-wounded.

The immense number of lodge circles, with the central
mark of their fires, confirmed the report of the Scouts, that
we would probably be opposed by about 7CK) braves. I had
discounted their previous reports, as Steele informed me that
the Half-breed Scouts had got a bad scare the day previously.
The Indians had cut them off from the main body, and they
had only escaped by hard-riding and good luck — one of the
most advanced, John Whitford, barely saving his scalp, and
losing his hat.

I was riding with the advanced Scouts, when we came upon
a camp fire still alight, with an abandoned dough cake in the
ashes. It was at the edge of an abrupt descent, down the
wooded slope of which ran the trail, leading apparently to
what seemed to be the proper left of their position. Streamers
of red and white calico, the spoils of Fort Pitt, hung from
the branches of trees on the opposite crest of a bare glacis
slope. The valley, here about 500 yards across, was inter-
sected by a sluggish creek, widening into a swamp, and
fringed here and there with willows. The hill was salient
! tbe swampy stream, a tributary of the little Red Deer

ivc-,', followed (like a swamp ditch to a natural fortress),
.t>r ...'Uine of the foot of the slope, eventually to join the
c;:-;U-At< 'lewan, which I knew to be about five miles to the
rigl.' . I'he crest of the hill was thickly wooded, and with
field-glii .;ies could be detected what appeared to be long
lines of rifle pits along its edge. They were skilfully con-
cealed, however, even the loose red earth dug out in their
construction had been hidden by broken branches of trees
stuck into it, to represent a living growth. There was not a
sound nor sign of any movement, the very streamers drooped
in the still morning air. '

Steele and his men were close behind, but withdrawn
from the brow to avoid observation ; the ground on our side
jf the valley was hemmed in with thick bush, leaving little

486

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

^^ l]'^

\;f<}'

}%':

i ll

room for formation, except a small space to the right rear,
which was concealed from the enemy by bush. Here the
waggons were subsequently corralled.

Nothing more was to be learnt from this side, so I
descended to reconnoitre with Scout Patton. We had reached
the bottom of the valley and were close to the little stream,
when his horse suddenly sank to the girths. I reined back,
and he scrambled with difficulty to solid ground, saying it
was useless to proceed further, as it was evident our horses
could not cross there. We returned to the crest of the
hill without being fired upon. The enemy evidently wished
to draw us into an ambuscade, and calculated that 1 would
go blundering on wit • •'* Force. I subsequently found that
the attracting streame. .- '-h I had distrusted as being so
at variance with the Ub., > of Indian war, would have
enticed us into the re-entering angle made by their main
line of rifle pits. A long and deep shelter trench, admir-
ably constructed and concealed, gave a flanking fire on the
left face of their position, into which the trail led.

The field gun was ordered up, and opened fire from the
edge of the descent, which quickly drew a heavy response.
I deployed the small Force at my disposal, ordered Major
Steele's Police and Scouts to extend to the left, dismount and
descend the hill to a fringe of willow bush along the edge of
the creek. The 65th, under Colonel Hughes and Major
Prevost, went down the hill at the double and extended along
the creek on the right of the dismounted Cavalry, and the
Winnipeg L.I., under Major Thibeaudeau, on their right
again, took what cover they could get in the v/illow bushes
at the edge of the swamp. Two companies, W.L.I., under
Colonel Osborne Smith, were held in support on the hill,
while Major Hatton's Alberta Mounted Rifles were dis-
mounted, and ordered to cover the right flank, where the
wood was thickest.

As I rode along the ridge, an admirable view of the entire
position was gained. No sooner had my men extended,
than the whole line of rifle pits from the opposite summit
opened fire for about a mile. But it was without much effect,
as the range was about 400 yards and my men had taken
all the cover they could get in the willows,
and very steadily returned fire. Lieutenant Strange
had got the exact range — 600 yards — of the pits,
with a few preliminary common shell and percussion fuzes.

• \i

FREN'CHMAN S BUTTE.

487

He then tried shrapnel, evidently without much result, as
the fire from the pits did not slack. The range was too
short tor time fuzes to be accurate and, in any case, the
bullets seemed only to cut about the branches of the trees
without reaching the occupants of the pits who had also got
the range of the gun with long-range Sharpe's rifles — (a
■considerable quantity of empty cartridge cases from this
weapon were found in the pits) — and the wicked "ping-ping"
•of the bullets made it desirable to order the gun detachment
to lie down, No. 2 sponging and ramming home while
kneeling.

The officer alone stood to watch the effect of his fire.
There was no cover for the gun, and it could not be
withdrawn without losing its coign of vantage, though its
position was changed once, so as to enfilade in succession
both faces of the salient line of the rifle pits. On the failure
•of shrapnel, a few rounds of the special case with leaden
balls were tried, with no better result, and Lieutenant Strange
again had recourse to common shell with percussion fuzes.
These, bursting in the loose earth thrown up in front of the
pits, exploded in them, and, as we afterwards ascertained
from Indians who surrendered, killed one and severely
mangled three others in one of the large pits, or shelter
trenches. The Indians bolted from some of the pits thus
-enfiladed and retired to the woods, from which they kept up
-a desultory fire.

Meanwhile, I observed some of the Infantry endeavouring

to cross the swamp and the creek. They sank waist high

in black mud, and even had they succeeded in crossing,

. there was before them only the open slope of gradual glacis,

swept by the fire from the pits.

As I saw the advance checked, I rode along the ridge to
■ the left, and descended to the position occupied by the 65th
and Steele's Scouts. Being the only mounted man in the
valley, the enemy honoured me with a special salute, and I
dismounted, not wishing to draw fire, but also to test the
situation for myself, which had to be done on foot. I found
Steele and asked if he could get his men across. He .said
he thought it impracticable ; .several of them had tried and
had sunk to the waist. Constable McRae was here wounded,
receiving a bullet in the left leg. He objected to be
removed until he had used up his cartridges on the " d — d
Redskins." •

488

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

I could see that my men were at a great disadvantage,
being overlooked by the enemy, who could see almost every
man as they lay, whereas mine could only judge of their
whereabouts from the smoke of their rifles and so could
produce very little effect on the enemy by their upward rifle
fire on men in pits who were careful not to expose themselves.
I determined to try a turning movement round the enemy's
right. Direct frontal advance, even if practicable, would, I
was sure, entail very severe loss while' crossing the swamp
and open glacis, under the Winchester magazine-rifle fire of
the enemy from their pits. An attack on their left flank,
which they seemed to invite by their streamers and war-
whoops, would, I judged, lead me into worse difficulties,
and a subsequent examination of the ground proved the
truth of my supposition. Moreover, I wished, if it were
possible with my small Force, to push the enemy towards the
river, up which I was hourly expecting the advance of
General Middleton's. Force with steamers, rather than allow
the Indians to break North, where, if he could only get food
for his band. Big Bear might travel unmolested until he
reached the Great Fish Lakes — or the Pole for that matter.

I ordered Major Steele to retire his men to their horses on
the ridge, mount, and make a detour under cover of the
bush to our left, to see if he could find a place to cross the
valley and turn the enemy's position, while their attention
was occupied in front. For this purpose the 65th were
further extended, to fill ihe space previously held by the
dismounted Police and Scouts. The Infantry kept up a
slow but steady fire, as had purposely been the fire of the
9-pounder gun, for only twenty-two rounds of common
shell (the only projectile we had found effective)
remained.

Major Steele, having been absent a considerable time
without sending back a report, I told the Half-breed Scout,
John Whitford, who had remained behind, to lead me on the
trail of Steele's men. I thought I might, at no great distance,
find an opening on the wooded ridge along which they had
started, from which it could be seen if they had effected a
crossing. But he led me in a circle through the wood, and I
shortly found myself back again in the spot whence I had
started. He said he had lost his way, a statement I did
not credit, but I could waste no more time in the effort.

Shortly afterwards, Steele reported that the enemy's

the

'\4 ,■"■ -.

■■^■^1:.-

I
•1

FRENCHMAN S BUTTE.

491

position extended about a mile and a half, * that he could
find no way of turning it, and that their strength was six or
seven hundred. I therefore sent an order for him to return.
After the event, he informed me that he might have crossed
his men on foot, if he had had a company of Infantry to
guard his horses, but there was not force available to have
detached any for such a purpose.

By this time. Major Hatton reported the enemy on our
right, circling round our rear, and firing into the corral. The
thick bush which stretched from the enemy's left round to
our right and rear, formed an impenetrable screen for
their movements. I ordered the corral to be retired out of
fire. This was steadily done by the teamsters under Captain
Wright ; Major Dale directed Hatton, with the Alberta
Mounted Rifles, to cover the retirement in front, rear, and
•exposed flank.

Lieutenant-Colonel Osborne Smith came to me, and
expressed his opinion as to the hopelessness of further
advance — there being no open space on the opposite side to
maintain ourselves for the night, should we succeed in reach-
ing it — and plunging into the dense forest with the handful
•of men at our disposal. We could neither abandon our
waggons nor cross them to the other side. The Force had
■eaten nothing at all since 3.30 a.m., and but little for the
last twenty-four hours and the horses had not been
unharnessed for about eight hours. We had, moreover, only
one day's rations for the Force.

1 did not think it advisable to sacrifice men for more than
doubtful results. The affairs at Duck Lake, Fish Creek, and
Cut Knife made- me cautious. I was hourly expecting rein-
forcements from Battleford, or an advance from that direction
In the enemy's rear, when a complete capture might have
been effected, which it was impossible for me to accomplish.
I was more impelled to this course, being assured by Steele
that the Half-breed guides (upon whom we were dependent
for a knowledge of the Indians in these parts) were confident
that they would not evacuate the position unless surrounded,
as they had the food supplies captured at Fort Pitt, and
pasture for their horses. They would await, rather, a second

' ♦ In reality I believe the Indians kept following Major Steele's movements to fjrevent
his outflanking them, and subsequently retired in that direction, taking the prisoners
with them. Some carts were seen in the distance moving that way, and the o-pounder
gun stopped the rear cart with a shell, but, thinking they probably contained women,
possibly white ones, the fire was stopped.

1. ^

492

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

attack ; which might be delivered under more favourable
conditions.

Besides Constable McRae, N.W.M.P., Privates Lemai and
Marcotte were reported seriously wounded. I sent Brigade-
Major Dale to look for Captain Robdrt, the Adjutant, 65th,
and enquired whether the wounded of this regiment had
been brought up. Major Dale brought me the Adjutant,
but no information could be extracted from him. I then
applied to another officer of the 65th, more directly con-
cerned, who informed me that all the wounded had been
brought up except Lemai, who would die anyway, and that
the stretcher-party refused to go to the advanced position
where he had fallen. I pointed out to him that he was
responsible for his men, as I was responsible for him, and
asked him if he expected me to go on the quest myself — the
naivete of that officer's reply, as he turned on his heel, was
too funny ; I simply laughed. It was : " General, I have
been shot at quite enough to-day, and I am damned if I go
down there again."

Under the circumstances there was nothing for it but to
accept the role so impolitely left to me. Ordering my son
to open a sharp fire of case-shot to cover the advance of
my stretcher-party, I went to Dr. Par^ (65th), who came
with alacrity, as well as the stretcher-party. Father
Prevost, Chaplain to the 65th, also followed me, crucifix
in hand, to administer the last rites of his Church.
We found the man well to the front, lying in an exposed
position, and I must admit some impatience, which the good
Priest did not seem to share, during the confession of sin,
and suggested to the brave Padre the desirability of lumping
the lot, which he did ; and putting the d3'ing man into the
stretcher, under Dr. Park's direction, the party moved up
the hill, and I brought up the rear with the man's rifle.
The fire grew hotter as we ascended the hill ; the rear man
dropped his end of the stretcher, and I took his place.
Thus General Jingo, who finished his first fight by kicking
his General, met a just retribution in having to carry his
wounded off" his last field.

All the wounded were put into the ambulances and moved
quietly to the rear.

The waggons forming the corral had retired some time
previously, under escort of Major Hatton, v ith orders to halt
at the first open ground, and were now followed by the re-

FRENCHMAN S BUTTE.

493

mainder of the Force, the guns covering the movement, though
there was no molestation from the enemy. The rifle pits
had nearly ceased fire. Major Steele's Scouts dismounted
and extended in rear, and a small party was left to watch
the enemy. Major Dale, who was suffering from bronchitis,
pluckily stuck to his work until it was finished, when he had
to be carried off the field in an ambulance.

The Force reached open ground about six miles distant,
where the waggons were corralled, the horses turned out to
graze, and the men allowed to cook. The 65 th had had but
little food or rest since leaving their boats the day previous.
They had, moreover, to march down to them and embark
before nightfall. But, on reaching the river, the boats could
not be found. The pilot, on hearing the sound of heavy
firing, had dropped behind an island for concealment, and had
not been able to return against the current. Eventually they
were compelled to go with the current to Battleford, taking
our remaining stock of provisions with them. The homeless
65th returned to me, without food, blankets, or even great-
coats, and though the men never complained, there was
nothing for it but to return to Fort Pitt, about five miles
distant.

1 Jeutenant-Colonel Osborne Smith also urged an imme-
diate return on behalf of his men, who were suffering from
want of tents during the rainy season which was then pre-
vailing.

At Fort Pitt, too, I could better dispose of the wounded,
and get the hourly-expected communication from Battle-
ford, and the first convoy of provisions from Edmonton,
which was also long due. It fortunately arrived next day,
under the escovt of Captain Dudley Smith's Winnipeg Light
Infantry. ..*;':

494

.K'l'

'■'■y.

CHAPTER X.

Non-returning Messensers — First Provision 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— Chippwavan Surrender- -General Middleton
comes to Beaver River— Pow-Wovv — Colonel Williams at Frog
Lake — More Boat Building— Colonel Osborne Smith crosses to
Cold Lake— Captain Constantine scouts East — McLeans traced
TO Lac des Isles — Mr. Bedson Meets Them — Force Broken up—
Causes of Muskegs — Mv Old Opponent and Myself both suffer
— Conclusion of Official Dispatch.

On arrival at Pitt, I sent two Scouts in canoes to look for
the barges of the 65th, which had a sergeant and 12 men on
board, as well as our remaining stock of provisions. Hitherto
all the messengers I had sent to General Middleton, and
those who, like Captain Perry and his 20 Police, went on
their own account, remained with hin, preferring to come back
with the steamers. Meanwhile, I was left without intelli-
gence. A communication had long ago reached me from
General Middleton through Colonel O. Smith, that he would
send the first steamer available with troops from Battleford,
to take Big Bear's band in rear. Subsequently I received a
letter to say that as Poundmaker had surrendered, he did
not think it necessary to send either steamer or troops, but
when my last two couriers had arrived within forty miles of
Battleford, they met a steamer coming up with a contingent
of newspaper correspondents, Mr. Bedson, Supply Officer,
and provisions, but no troops.

In my dispatch I had asked General Middleton to land a
Force at the mouth of English River, where there was a land-
ing in rear of Big Bear's position. Whether there was

H -M i

NON-RCTURNING MCSSENGERS.

495

ammunition on board the steamer I cannot say, but I was
running short of it, and had reported the fact by those
couriers who were taken on board and carried back to Battle-
ford. This was the third time 1 had opened correspondence
with General Middleton without any response. My couriers
were like the ravens which were sent out from the Ark —
they never came back.

On the 29th of May, as previously stated. Captain Dudley
Smith, W.L.I., arrived with a convoy of supplies from
Edmonton, which set me at ease on that score. The Half-
breed Scouts, under orders given to Steele, were directed to
watch the enemy, but he reported that this duty was
negligently performed.

May 30th. The Force again marched East towards French-
man's Butte, camped, and sent out scouts. A limited number
of tents had to be taken, as the rainy season was severe,
but all extras in the way of tents and baggage were left at
Pitt.

May 31st. Divine Service. Very heavy rain. Scouts
reported Indians in vicinity of camp.

June 1st. The Force moved on to Big Bear's trail — the
Scout Cavalry in advance, under Major Steele. We camped
about two miles north of the enemy's old position after mak-
ing a detour to avoid the swampy ground. At the end of the
valley of the tributary to Little Red Deer, we found ourselves
in a cul-de-sac, surrounded by dense forest, impassable to our
supply waggon train, and which could only be traversed by
our Scout Cavalry in single file. On going over the ground
at Frenchman's Butte, over 300 rifle pits were counted. The
large trenches on the enemy's left flank commanding the
trail approaching their position, formed a formidable ambus-
cade, they were admirably constructed, being about fifty feet
long and eight feet deep, and aftbrded perfect cover. We were
afterwards told that the prisoners had been safe-guarded in
these pits, but removed the day before our attack. Aline of
fire was got by a banquette, and loop-holed logs for head
cover, the whole concealed by branches stuck in the loose
excavated earth. It was here the flags and streamers
had been principally displayed, to induce us to attack at this
point.

It would require time to construct, and 500 men to defend,
such a lin^^ of works, evidently not meant to be hastily
abandoned, ^rom what I saw I could well believe the

^1/ h

496

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

statcinent of my Half-breed Scouts, who were personally
familiar with some of the defenders, that many of them had
experience in Indian wars against United States troops.
About 25 waggons and 40 carts had been abandoned by Big
Bear in his flight. Tools, sacks of flour, furs, odds and ends
of all sorts, the plunder of Fort Pitt, were strewn about and
were collected by our fatigue parties.

June 21.U. E.xamined the trails by which the ''nemy had
dispersed. We traced no less than seven, undoubtedly
meant to baffle pursuit, as they eventually coK^'erged into
two. Along one of these we found traces of Mr. McLean
and the ladies of his family, evidently left for our guidance.
Bits of coloured worsted were knotted to twigs along the
trail, and a piece of paper had been left, saying they were
all well, but were being cairied north-west. These, with
true woman's wit, they had contrived to drop beside the
trail.

At this juncture, I received a message from General
Middleton that he had passed up the River to Fort Pitt, and
would be in my camp next day with reinforcements, which
was tantamount to an order to me personally to halt. But I
sent on all my Cavalry with Major Steele, who was naturally
eager, as all were, to follow Big Bear's trail and rescue the
McLean family, the ladies of which, as well as others, must
have been exposed to great suffering, in being dragged
through forest and muskeg.

In order to push on with the utmost speed possible, Steele's
command carried nothing but ammunition, tinned meat, and
biscuits in their saddle-bags and haversacks.

McKay, H.B.C., with ten Alberta Mounted Rifles and
Scouts, foUov.'ed the other trail and released Mrs. Gowanlock
(who, we were thankful to find, had not been barbarously
murdered as we had supposed), also Mrs. Delaney and other
prisoners, taking them, with about thirty-six of Big Bear's
band, to Fort Pitt.

It is pleasant to be able to say that these ladies, as well as
those of the McLean family, told us they had suffered neither
indignity nor ill-usage at the hands of their Indian captors.
The chivalrous treatment of their lady prisoners speaks
volumes in favour of the Canadian Red man, as compared to
his brother across the boundary, perhaps because neither the
Government of King George nor of Canada has ever broken
faith with the Indian. Pity it was that the land claims of the

GENERAL MIDDLETON WITH REINFORCEMENTS.

497

French Half-breeds were ignored until discontent f.rew into
rebellion — but white settlers have been treated in similar
fashion as regards homestead claims.

On the 2nd of June, Brigade-Major Dale brought reuased
prisoners into camp — the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Quiney, Messrs.
Cameron, Halpin, and Dufresnd, and five Half-breed families.

June 3rd. — General Middleton arrived in my camp with
some 200 mounted men. In reporting that I had sent Major
Steele with all my Cavalry, about 70, in pursuit of Big Bear,
I urged that he should be supported and asked to be allowed
to take on some of the newly-arrived Cavalry, who had only
marched from Pitt that' day, but General Middleton did not
think it necessary, and said he would wait until he had heard
from Steele. I obtained permission, however, to send my
Infantry and waggons by a trail towards Onion Lake, which
turned nearly parallel to that on which my Cavalry were
moving, and had a cross trail connecting the two, but
I myself stayed in General Middleton's camp to get com-
munication with Steele.

At 2 a.m., a courier arrived from him, reporting engage-
ment and asking for ambulance for three wounded men —
Sergeant-Major Fury, N. W. M. P., and Scouts Fisk and
West. I gave Steele's dispatch to General Middleton, who
decided to follow Steele with his Cavalry of about 2CX) men, some
Infantry, and two Gatlingguns. The Infantry, however, had
to return as delaying the advance. I followed my own Infantry
and overtook them at Stony Camp, having sent an ambulance
by the cross trail to Steele, and on the 5th, I marched on to
Frog Lake. I had directed Major Steele with his Cavalry
to rejoin me by the cross trail, but General Middleton had
taken all my Cavalry with him, leaving me only 15 mounted
men with which to scout and keep up communication — as he
informed me in the following :

" Camp, 8 miles from your last Camp,- June 4th.

" To Major-General Strange,
" Sir,

" I am going to take Major Steele and his men nn with me
to try and catch Big Bear. I am "^ending all my Infantry back
as the roads are too bad. I have sent Major Steele's three
wounded men into Fort Pitt.

'» Fred Middleton,

" Major-General, Comg."

K K

1 1

498

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Subjoined is Major Steele's report of Scout Lake, which I
forwarded to General Middleton. The site of this affair had
been miscalled Loon Lake.

■te I

m -i ' i

** Camp, Scout's Lake,

" Big Bear's Trail, 5th June, 1885.

" To Major-General Strange,

" Commanding Alberta Field Force.
"Sir,

" I have the honour to inform you that, in accordance
with instructions, I scouted for the trail of prisoners, Mc
Lean.

" This I found i mile N.W. of Camp, leading north-
westerly, and following the trail found at first Indian camp,.
10 miles, a note from McLean stating, ' All's well. May
27th, going N.W.' Have been informed by the escaped
prisoner, Quiney, that Big Bear's party, with the McLean
family, had separated from the other bands, and was only
50 fighting men strong.

" I hurried on, camping at noon 25 miles N.E. While
at dinner we were alarmed by two shots fired by McKay
at Indian scouts, who unfortunately escaped.

" McKay had gone on in advance of Sergeant Butlin's
party without my knowledge. These scouts waited in
ambush and shot Scout Fisk of the advance party, breaking
his arm. The main body was dismounted and extended at
once, and rushed through the brush, but no Indian was
seen.

"We advanced without further mishap, to-night camp 45
miles N.E. on Big Bear's trail. Fisk rode on pluckily
without a murmur. The trail showed a large party to be
in front and about one day old.

" Found a second note from McLean, stating, ' All's well.
May 28th,' and found signs left by him on the trail.

" Marched at daylight and advanced party under Sergeant
Butlih, arrived at hill commanding Indian camp of previous
night. Two teepees standing and occupied, a few head of horses
and oxen, the remainder moving towards and crossing a ford to
island or point, about 1,200 yards in advance. At the pre-
vious camp to this, we found 53 camp-fires, and therefore,
knowing them to be too strong in numbers, it was only my
intention to parley with them through Mr. McKay, if
discovered.

"Their picket, hidden within a few yards of the
advanced party, however, discovered them, and fired the
alarm.

STEELE S FIGHT.

" Seeing them retiring to an apparently impregnable position
on this island,* I put the horses in cover and extended on
the brow of the hill to punish a few of them. Their Chief
called out to his men to ' go at us, that we were only six.'
They commenced crawling up the hill, under cover of the
brush, the leader getting to within lo feet of Teamster
Fielders, who had volunteered to join us. Fielders killed him
and puffs of smoke immediately appeared from clumps of
brush all through the bottom and hills surrounding their camp.
My Scouts killed two more running from us, then fired a
volley into the teepees and at the Indians taking to cover,
killing one from the teepee. The line then rushed to the
bottom under strong fire, then divided, the left charging the
hill commanding the position, and turned their position, bring-
ing heavy fire on them, the right taking the swamp along the
lake. Squadron-Sergeant-Major Fury was with the left, and
was shot, by a man with a Sharp's rifle, through the right
breast, while going up the hill. The Scouts were on the brow
in a few minutes. The Indians retired as our men advaniced
on the run and lying down fired a volley, when the Indians
attempted to make a stand. We had cleared the whole rdge
half-an-hour after firing commenced. The right cleared the
swamp, killing 5 Indians, and losing none. The left shot 7
who were retiring through the brush to the ford, about 600
yards from the hill, and wounded one — the last seen attempt-
ing to cross. The right then retired to protect the horses and
flanks, and I had a white flag hoisted to parley. Mr. McKay
told them to give up the prisoners —the answer "as a volley
from the island.

" A second attempt met with no better result, and this time we
asked them to allow McLean to speak to us. They then called
out that 'they would fight us and clear us out,' and ' .;
Chief attempted to rally his men to recross the ford, calling
them cowards for running from so few of us. We then con-
tinued to exchange shots until a buckboard was fitted to carry
Fury.

" The left had one more wounded in Scout West of
Edmonton, who was shot in the leg, ball entering at knee-cap
and remaining in thigh. He rode his horse, however. We
destroyed the ammunition found in teepees, and then burnt
them, with their contents.

" Mr. McKay collected four horses and two colts, which
we brought with us, I kept a fire on the island until the
wounded were well-retired, and then retired 12 miles. Fury

♦ Peninsula.

K K-

500

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE,

1 i^

showed wonderful pluck and determination. After halting
two hours, we moved on 12 miles further, to first feeding
ground for the horses, camping for the night at 11.30 p.m.

" The horses were terribly played out, having travelled 80
miles on very little feed since morning of previous day, over
a much worse trail for muskeg and brush than that between
Vermilion Creek and Sucker Creek.

" I moved on at 3 a.m. again, meeting ambulance from
General Middleton's column, at 8 a.m., 10 miles from our
camp.

" On the previous night I had sent on Messrs. McKay and
Gisborne, with Sergeant Butlin and Fielders, into camp to
report, and fetch ambulance for the wounded. They arrived
and reported to General Middleton at 12.30 p.m.

" I camped at this place, sending on the wounded to
Fort Pitt. Fury still keeping up well. Doctor reported his
recovery safe, unless internal bleeding commenced. He
dressed Fisk's arm, one bone of which was shattered — the
bullet was easily extracted from West's leg.

" On my arrival at this camp, I received orders from
General Middleton to send on my sick horses and men to
Fort Pitt, and return with the remainder with his command,
to the pursuit of Big Bear. Fourteen were returned, unable
to go on with us. Remained in camp with remainder of
Scouts and Hatton's command to-day. Orders to march
to-morrow.

" I did not receive your dispatch until two hours ago —
courier's excuse being that he had lost it in lining of his
coat. The N.C.O. and men behaved with great steadiness in
the fight of the 3rd ; Captain Oswald and Lieutenant Corryell
set their men an excellent example, and the Rev. Mr. McKay
risked his life to a considerable extent.

" I thank you for the kindness in sending us the ambulance,
tents, and rations.

*' I have the honour to be, sir,
" Your obedient sei' ant,

" S. B. Steele,
"Commanding C avalry, A.F.F."

June 6th. — Marched and camped at Duck Lake. Scouts
reported Indians at H.B.C. Store, near Beaver River, towards
which it was thought Big Bear was making, as he must have
been running short of provisions, having abandoned so
much in his flight, and this Store was the last at which he
could hope to get supplies. But my Infantry were de.iH beat

THE SHADE OF MALBROOK.

50I

from
our

:!' ■' ■ ■ ?

from marching in rain and through awful mud. The 65th,
who had borne the brunt of the marching for 5<X) miles,
having been in the first advance, had tramped the soles off
their boots — some were literally barefoot, others with muddy
bloodstained rags tied round their feet.

And yet Goldwin Smith, Professor of Accurate History (I),
writes : ** No French tegiment went to the front ! "

Their commanding officer told me the men could march no
more, and wanted to know when they would be allowed to
go home. I outwardly thanked that officer for his informa-
tion, and rode up at once to the battalion. They certainly
presented a pitiable spectacle in their tattered uniforms.
The misery of our march through swamp and forest had been
added to by the mosquitoes and horse flies, which were
almost unbearable.

Addressing the battalion in French, as was my habit, I
said :

"Mes enfants, votre commandant me dit que vous
demandez quand vous pouvez retourner chez vous. Mais,
je n'ai qu'une reponse — c'est celle-lk de votre ancien
chanson :

' Malbrook s'en va-t-en guerre — a !
Ne sait quand reviendra ! '"

It had the desired eftect, the weary little French-Canadians
shouted i

" Hourra! pour le general! En avant I Toujours en
avant ! "

And they stepped out to the refrain of their ancestors :

"Malbrook s'en va-t-en guerre — a I

Mironton, mironton, mirontaine,
Malbrook s'en va-t-en guerre — a,

Ne sait quand reviendra ! "

Queer whirligig of time ! That an English General
should be cheering the soldiers of New France by a couplet
in which their ancestors of Old France unconsciously
enshrined the memory of Marlborough I *

♦ Since writing tlie above I liave read with pain that three young officers, 65th Regi-
ment, have tarnished the fair fame of this gallant corps by a puerile attempt to blow up
with dynamite Nelson's Monument in Montreal.

502

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE,

•.'■■ i f

. But, alas I I knew that the shade of Marlborough could
not carry my exhausted Infantry (to say nothing of a
9-pounder gun) through some thirty miles of swamp and
forest in time to head off the swiftly-moving remnants ot
Big Bear's band, who were making for the H.B.C. Provision
Store on the banks of the Beaver River.

So I left orders with Colonel Osborne Smith, whose men
were in better condition than the 65 th, and who had
also apparently been supplied with better boots, to push on
after me as fast as he could. But the 65th would not be
outmarched by their English-Canadian comrades. Captain
Perry, who had returned to me with his detachment of
Police-gunners, reported that the 65th not only kept up, but
dragged the gun and horses with drag ropes through a long
and heavy muskeg.

The Infantry marched all night, and overtook me at day-
break next morning at the first Hudson Bay Store near the
Beaver River, which I had reached the previous evening by
riding ahead with my Staff and fifteen mounted men, who
were all I had, as the remainder were with General
Middleton.

We reached it just in time to secure the provisions,
consisting of eighty sacks of flour and a supply of bacon. It
was nightfall when we arrived, and we saw a part)' of Indians
who were making for the same goal, but they turned and
went back into the woods, while we indulged so frqely in a
supper of fried bacon and dough cakes, that I for one fell
asleep on the floor of the H.B.C. Storehouse, pipe in mouth,
and was waked up by my A.D.C., to whom I had set fire as
well as to myself. The sentries seemed to have been more
vigilant, for we were not molested by the Indians.

Next morning, June the 7th, the Infantry having rejoined,
I left a party of the W.L.I, to guard the provisions and
watch the trails, and moved on to reconnoitre the banks ot
the Beaver River, following the trail of those Indians we had
seen the previous night. They were Chippwayans from Big
Bear's band, and had just crossed the river in the canoes with
which they were provided, this being their own Reserve, to
which they had just returned after Frenchman's Butte.

The Roman Catholic Church and Mission had been more
or less plundered, and the priest. Father Le Goff, had been
carried off by them when they went to join Big Bear at Fort
Pitt and Frenchman's Butte.

-sasi:

CHIPPWAYAN SURRENDER.

503

At a second H.B.C. Store, near the Mission, another
hundred sacks of flour were secured, and a couple of boats
which had been concealed on the other bank were brought
over by two Scouts who had crossed. General Middleton's
orders were not to cross the river.

On the 8th, the whole of the Infantry had arrived at the
Mission, and strong pickets were posted, to watch the river
bank and the Chippwayan trail on our side through the
woods from the East. Captain Palliser, who had cu route
restored my interrupted communication with Edmonton, now
reached me and joined my Staff, of which he was a most
cheerful member, ready, as he said himself, for any duty from
full private to Commissary-General.

• June 9th. — The Roman Catholic priest, Father Le Goff,
arrived in camp, having been prisoner with Big Bear. I sent
him back to the Chippwayans with an order for them to come
into camp and surrender unconditionally, laying down their
arms. If the order were not complied with within twenty-four
hours, they would see the smoke of their log-houses, as I
would burn every house on the Reserve, except the Chapel,
the Priest's house, and the H.B.C. Store. Father Prevost,
Chaplain of the 65th, accompanied Father Le Goff.

The Chippwayans surrendered themselves and tVieir arms,
and came into camp within the given time — 33 men with
rifles and guns. The women and children, with 1 1 more braves,
came into camp afterwards. The arms surrendered were, of
course, not the best they had, H.B.C. muskets being made to
do duty, with a few Winchester repeaters they had got at
Fort Pitt. The stocks of the Winchesters had been broken
by the Police before they had abandoned the place, but the
wily Indian had ingeniously repaired them with raw hide,
which, when dry, tightens like an iron band. The Chippwayans
were not so well armed as the Plain Indians who had
Winchester magazine-rifles. The Wood Indians prefer shot
guns as more useful for game, which when cliarged with
slugs or H.B.C. trade balls, are not bad weapons at close
quarters in a thickly wooded country.

On the iith, I ordered a Court of Enquiry on the
Chippwayan prisoners. Father Le Goff was the principal
evidence, backed by Messrs. Halpin and Cameron. The
former, with true pastoral love of his flock, would gladly
have exonerated them, but the evidence was too strong, and
eight were found guilty of being ringleaders, plundering,

504

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

; '>

and inciting to rebellion. All the young men had fought
against us. No punishment, however, was awarded by
by General Middleton, who subsequently held a Pow-Wow.
Thej- were told not to do it again. The majority had acted
through fear of Big Bear, and some by the temptation
of sharing in the plunder of Fort Pitt. But the most
curious thing revealed by the Enquiry was that the Indians
were largely swayed by the belief that North-West Canada
would be sold to the United States, and only those who
joined in the outbreak tending to such a result would receive
any portion of the purchase-monej'. They combined the
wisdom of Goldwin Smith and Wiman, the renowned advo-
cates of annexation or sale of Canada to the United
States.

Some of the Chippwayans whom the priest declared to be
reliable, were sent down the Beaver River in canoes to
report any signs of Big Bear's crossing, or of the McLean
family, whom it was thought Big Bear would carry North
with him to Lac des lies, where ihe supply of fish was
abundant at that season.

The surmise proved to be correct as regarded the McLean
prisoners, who were taken there by the Wood Cree section
of Big Bear's band, but he himself, abandoning his prisoners,
turned in his tracks, after being pressed at Scout or Loon
Lake. At this place General Middleton also was obliged by
impassable muskegs, to abandon the pursuit, and he returned,
following my trail to the Beaver River, which he reached
with his Cavalry and mine on the 14th.

He had sent Colonel Williams with the Midland Battalion
to join my Force. They were detailed to watch the trails
which converged about Frog Lake. Meanwhile a detachment
of Winnipeg Light Infantry, under Lieutenant Alexander,
had been repairing the boats on the Beaver, and constructing^
a large scow and four other boats. The task was difficult
without nails and proper tools, but wooden pins were used,
and the omnipotent Canadian axe, wielded by the handy
men of the Winnipeg Light Infantry, produced wonderful
results. In these boats, I proposed with a small Force to
descend the Beaver River to where the Wood Cree trail
crossed it, and to follow it to Lac des lies. Colonel Osborne
Smith volunteered to cross the Beaver and reach Cold Lake^
whence there is canoe communication to Lac des lies.

COLONEL OSBORNE SMITH CROSSES TO COLD LAKE. 505

" C'est Taviron, qui nous monte, qui nous mene I
Cest I'aviron, qui nous monte en haut !"

as the voyageurs still sing, for the cance is the true trans-
port of the extreme North-West Canadian wilderness, inter-
sected as it is by water-ways and short portages. To go up
the cataracts of the Nile with sot disant Canadian voyageurs
was found to be a very diflFerent affair. The conditions were
different ; a fancied resemblance cost us Gordon.

I obtained permission from General Middleton for Col.
Osborne Smith, vith lOO men of the W.L.I. , to go to Cold Lake
with provisioned canoes, and the Rev. Mr. McKay as guide.' A
detachment were preparing to start forLacdes lies, in pursuit
of the McLean family, as our Scouts had told us that the
Wood Crees were willing to surrender themselves and their
prisoners, when Mr. Bedson, General Middleton's Supply
OfiRcer, met them (the McLeans) as they came by another
route and conveyed them to Fort Pitt. There they found
well-earned repose and sympathy for the heroic courage with
which they had endured their privations.

Captain Constantine, Adjutant of the W.L.L, had, with
four men, scouted along the Chippwayan trail in search of Big-
Bear and the McLeans, until his provisions had run short
and he had with difficulty made his way to Fort Pitt.

The Infantry were employed cutting out the trail of the
Chippwayans, in case the Force had to move in that direction.
The weather was hot by day, and the mosquitoes terrible,
but at night there were sharp frosts, though it was
midsummer, shewing the country unsuitable for general crops^
though cattle could be reared on the abundant natural
hay.

In spite of their privations, the health of the troops was
excellent, but the horses, through marching incessantly
through swamps, contracted a disease of the hoof, causing it
in some cases to drop off. The muskeg character of the
country is due to that emblem of Canadian industry — the
beaver, which, cutting down trees with his teeth, causes
them to fall across streams to make his dams and dwellings.
The courses of innumerable streams are thus stopped,
and they expand into swamps and numerous lakes.
The exceedingly gradual slope of the watershed to the Arctic
Ocean drains slowly. The embouchures of the great rivers
are frozen for eight or nine months of the year, while the

5o6

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

I! I

^»

headwaters flow from warmer latitudes. The whole Northern
Region has become a vast net-work of lakes and swamps,
connected by sluggish streams. The growth of timber is
dwarfed but dense. Forests are sometimes drowned by the
spread of waters. They stand, bearded with moss, dead and
grim, until they decay and fall into the swamp, making an
inextricable tangle of stumps and stems, all but impassable.

The soil is rich black vegetable mould, but there is no
miasma, the Summer is too short to develop pestilential
decay, and the rigour of a long Winter makes those solitudes
healthy to their only human denizens — the wandering Indian
and the fur trader.

I was waiting for the surrender of the Wood Crees, but
General Middleton, satisfied with the surrender of all the
prisoners, ordered the return of the Force, which started for
Frog Lake-crossing on the 24th, where they embarkf.d for
Fort Pitt in steamers.

The Force was broken up, except the Winnipeg Light
Infantry, who remained at Fort Pitt, under Colonel Osborne
Smith. The Cavalry, under Major Steele, with Transport
Train.commenced to retrace their long march back to Calgary,
via Edmonton. I, myself, was obliged to go to Winnipeg
down the Saskatchewan in the long-unaccustomed luxury of
a steamer, with the hopes of settling the claims for supply
and transport service. But I was obliged eventually to go
on to Ottawa to see the Minister of Militia on that subject.

Alas I seven years have gone by, and I am still applied to
for unadjusted claims. A Claims Commission, sitting in a city,
can very deliberately criticise in cold blood the expenditure
of money made under the pressure of rebellion over vast
areas of territory, accentuated as it was by plunder and
massacre.

On my way down, at Battleford, I saw my old enemy, Big
Bear, in durance vile, and I can honestly say I personally
felt no animosity towards him ibr the many weary miles he
had led me.

After evading all the Columns sent to intercept him, by
turning in his tracks, travelling almost alone, and covering
his own trail, he made his way down to Fort Carlton, where
he was arrested by Sergeant Smart, of the North-West
Mounted Police, about the only man in the Force who had
never gone after him, as he had been left in charge of the
ferry across the Saskatchewan at Fort Carlton.

,''"•." , *■

\ .,

■ti! *

MY OLD OPPONENT AND MYSELF BOTH SUFFER.

509

The accompanying map shows the marches of the Alberta
Field Force, after Frenchman's Butte, of General Middleton's
Cavalry and Colonel Otter's Column, from Battleford, and
Colonel Irvine's N.W.M.P., from Carlton. It will be seen
that Big Bear was headed off from all sources of supply, and
eventually made a dash for the settlements. Big Bear's
appearance indicated natural intellect ; he l.ad a massive
head, and his own people said of him that he had a big head
and a small heart. *

After trial, Big Bear was sentenced to imprisonment for
life for having made war upon her Majesty's Govern-
ment.

Without trial, I was sentenced to deprivation of a pension
[gained by thirty years' military service, for taking up arms
at the bidding and in defence of her Majesty's Government.
About the same time that my old opponent, Big Bear, was
set at liberty by her Majesty (the King of kings gave him a
fuller release), I was also restored to my long-forfeited
pension, and awaitmy fuller release, when we shall, perhaps,
botli find out wherein we both erred.

" The Irony of Fate " is a favourite phrase — the humours
of a " Roi faineant," or, as we call it, a constitutional
monarch, who, theoretically, can do no wrong, are, at least,
as oiartling.

In this recital I have been compelled to use the egotistical
pronoun more than I liked, but lest I should be thought to
imagine that mine was a one-man army, I quote the conclu-
sion of my official dispatch to General Middleton.

" Where all ranks did their duty it seems invidious to select,
but it is manifest that the success of a General is mainly due
to his Staff and commanding officers.

" I, therefore, especially bring to notice Major Dale, late
Madras Fusiliers, Brigade-Major and Quartermaster-
General ; Lieutenant Strange, A.D.C. ; Captains Hamilton,
N.W.M.P., and Wright, 43rd Regiment, Supply and Trans-
port Officers at the base and with the Force, vigorously
seconded as they were by Colonels Ouimet and Amyot,
commanding respectively at Edmonton and Calgary, and by
Messrs. Hardisty and McDougall, H.B.C. ; Major Steele and his
Cavalry, with Captain Oswald and Lieutenant Corryell, who
were the eyes, ears, and feelers of the Force, and who, in their
spirited pursuit' of Big Bear, crowned with success the long
and weary march they had protected, and to a certain extent

Sio

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

I 1

guided ; the Rev. J. McDougalland Canon McKay were, from
their long and intimate knowledge of the country, usefully
connected with this Force. The steady endurance of the
Winnipeg Light Infantry, under Lieutenant-C-^lonel Osborne
Smith, C.M.G., and the cheerful alacrity of the 65th Battalion,
under Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes, happily illustrated the
military instincts of the two warlike races composing the
Dominion of Canada. That the 9th BattaHon were not more
actively employed in no way detracts from the honour due to
soldiers who did their duty at their appointed posts.

" Had a larger Force been available to protect my base, and
the 9th Battalion deployed on the slope of Frenchman's Butte
beside their comrades of the 65th, the campaign would have
been materially shortened, and the results more satisfactorily
decisive.

" I have the honour to be, sir,

" Your obedient servant, ; ,

"T. B. Strange, Major General,
" Commanding Alberta Field Force."

.■iV'-

I ^V- :■

vr ..

:>^"

M'- I i

\ It

\ I

511

CHAPTER XI.

ColonelMontizambert's Report on
Short's Home Coming.

A " AND " B " Batteries — Major

i88i — Major-Generai Luard, Commanding Canadian
Militia, in his report, says : " The Royal School of Gunnery
at Kingston loses its Commandant by the attainment to the
rank of retired Major-General of Colonel T. B. Strange, the
able and well-known officer of Royal Artillery who has devoted
ten of the best years of his life and has been like a father to the
Artillery of Canada."

Perhaps the above will excuse pride in my military children,
and permit a short account of their share in the North- West
Campaign, though not under my personal command.

1885 — On the evening; of the 28th of March, a detachment
of " B " Battery, R. C. A., consisting of 8 officers, and 106
non-commissioned officers and men, with two g-pounder field
guns and 18 horses left Kingston for the West under com-
mand of Colonel Montizambert, with orders to meet " A "
Battery at Renfrew, and proceed with the least delay possible
per C. P. R., via the north shore of Lake Superior, to report to
the General Officer Commanding at Winnipeg for orders.

At 9 p.m. the same evening. Captain Peters joined at Ren-
frew with 5 officers and 107 non-commissioned officers and
men, 2 guns and 18 horses of " A " Battery, R. C. A., from
Quebec.

Colonel Montizambert reports : " We went on then at once
via the C. P. R., and after passing Biscotasing we arrived at
west end of track (Abbott's division) about 5 p.m. 30th ;
everything that gentlemen and all the C. P. R. officials could
do to help us was done. Here began the difficulties of passing
the gaps on the unccnstructed portion of the road, between
the west end of track and Red Rock or Nepigon, sixty-six
miles from Port Arthur. About 400 miles had to be passed

512

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

u
.a

by a constantly varying process of embarking and disembark-
ing guns and stores from flat cars to country team sleighs, and
vice versa. There were sixteen operations of this nature in
cold weather and deep snow. On starting from west end of
track on the night of the 30th, the roads were found so bad
that it took the guns seventeen hours to do the distance, thirty
miles, to Magpie, and from there to east end of track by teams,
and march twenty-three miles further on, then on flat cars for
eighty miles with thermometer at 5"" below zero. Heron
Bay, Port Monroe, McKeller's Bay, Jackfish, Isbester, and
McKay's Harbour, were passed by ahernate flat cars on con-
struction track and teams, in fearful weather round the north
shore of Lake Superior, the roughest region in the world, and
Nepigon, or Red Rock, was reached on the evening of the
3rd of April. The men had no sleep for four nights. This
command was the first thaf passed over this route from the
East.

" On reaching Winnipeg, I found orders from the Major-
General Commanding to proceed to Qu'Appelle with both
Batteries, and leaving Major Short and * B ' Battery there
for orders, to at once bring ' A ' Battery up the trail to join
his Force, consisting of the Winnipeg Field Battery and the
goth Regiment, both from Winnipeg, going North to attack
Riel.

" ' B ' Battery, under Major Short, was a few days after-
wards ordered to Swift Current to join Colonel Otter's column,
about starting to the relief of Battleford.

" On reaching the General's column the march to Clark's
Crossing was made, and a good deal of hardship cheerfully
faced by the men, ' blizzards ' and muddy swamps, where
the guns and teams sunk up to their axles, having to be
encountered.

*' Here the column was divided, one half crossing under my
command, and going down the left bank of the river : com-
munication was kept up between the two columns by tele-
graphing by bugle sound.

" I had the Winnipeg Field Battery, under Major Jarvis, 35
of ' A ' Battery, Scouts, and the Royal Canadian Grenadiers
(Colonel Grassett).

" On the morning of the second day, the 24th April, General
Middleton's column, on the right bank, was attacked at Fish
Creek.

COLONEL MONTIZAMBERT S REPORT.

513

" A " Battery. — Fish Creek.

" Here ' A ' Battery particularly distinguished themselves.
Captain Peters and Lieutenant Rivers led the garrison
division down the coul6e, and attacked the rebels in their pits,
at close quarters. Captain Drury and Lieutenant Ogilvie,
with the field guns, took up difterent positions during the action,
at times under heavy fire at close quarters. They shelled houses
occupied by the rebels, setting one house and one hay-stack
on fire. To get the garrison men out of the coulee. Lieutenant
Ogilvie ran a gun up to the edge of the ravine, and fired case-
shot point blank at the pits at the bottom, within 20 yards.
Two men were struck at their guns when sponging. ' A '
Battery had 70 men engaged, and lost three killed and twelve
wounded.

"B" Battery. — Cut Knife.

" Major Short's command of ' B ' Battery, Service Detach-
ment, joined Colonel Otter's column, and after the long
march up the trail from Swift Current to Battleford, was
engaged with that Force at the action at Cut Knife on the
2nd May, against the large band of Poundniaker, with
Stonies, Sioux, and Crees. They had two 7-pr. guns, and a
gatling, under Captain Rutherford ; Captain Farley with
Lieutenants Prower and Pellitier having charge of the
garrison men. Lieutenant-Colonel Otter's report mentions
this corps in the highest terms, with especial mention of the
conspicuous gallantry of Major Short. In this action
Lieutenant Pelletier, Sergeant GafFney, Corporal Morton,
and Gunner Reynolds were severely wounded.

"A" Battery — Batoche.

May 9th, loth, nth, and 12th.

•• After 13 days unavoidable delay at Fish Creek, the Force
marched on Batoche, and early on the morning of the 9th, the
welcome command came, ' Guns to the Front.' A three-mile
gallop brought us there, and the 2 guns of • A ' Battery came
at once into action. Major Jarvis' guns present in reserve. A
rush was made on the guns by the Breeds and Indians, and
here Lieutenant Rivers* gatling, which had accompanied us,
was of signal service, in the absence of any Infantry escort,
which we had necessarily left far behind. Captain Howard
{an American volunteer) acting as a gun number, turned the

L L

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

crank, and poured in such a fire as enabled the guns to be
limbered up, and retired without serious loss. Again, after
the Infantry came up, the guns attempted the shelling of the
pits from the same point, but the nature of the ground, con-
sisting of rolling prairie and heavy bluffs, made it necessary to
come to too close quarters for effective work ; on this morning
Gunner Phillips was wounded at the edge of a ravine occu-
pied by the enemy, and rolled down into it. Here Gunners
Coyne and Beaudry coolly went down the ravine and brought
up their comrade, who was lying in front of the rebel pits not
I oo yards off; poor Phillips was shot the second time, and
killed, while being carried up ; the rescuers escaped unhurt.
They were recommended for the Victoria Cross.

" During the two next days an incessant Infantry duel went
on, the guns going in and shelling when opportunity offiered.

'• On the morning of the fourth day, when the decisive affair
took place. Captain Drury had been out on a reconnaissance
with General Middleton, with one gun, and when the action
began, I left that gun with the reserve force in the
* zareba,' and took up the other three and the gatling. All
four were in action during the whole of the engagement.
Major Jarvis, with the Winnipeg Battery guns, and
Lieutenant Ogilvie with one of ' A's ' did capital service in
keeping down the galling flank fire of the rebels from houses
and pits on the opposite side of the river, and also preventing
the enemy's communications by the scow. Captain Coutlee,
Winnipeg Field Battery, and the gatling, under Lieutenant
Rivers, were sent up to the high ground on the right of the
Infantry attack, and took the ravines and pits occupied by the
enemy in enfilade, doing splendid service. It is more than
doubtful that the brilliant charge would have been the success
it was, had this not been done. From subsequent conver-
sations with some of the Breeds who had been fighting
against us, I learned that the wholesome awe they had of the
big guns, ' which fired once and made the shot run after them,
and fire again,' was immense. The sound of the gatling also
struck terror, but I could not ascertain that it did so much
execution. The houses fired at on the other side of the river
were found afterwards to have been completely wrecked on
the inside by the bursting shells, though from a distance the
effect was not visible, owing to the thinness of the walls letting
the shells through like a pane of glass.

*" A ' Battery had, during the fighting at Batoche, one man
killed and four wounded, one of whom, Driver Charpentier,
afterwards died ; also one horse killed and one wounded. I
wish to particularly mention the services of Captain Young,

s I

COLONEL MONTIZAMBERT'S REPORT.

515

Winnipeg Fd. Battery, who, both while with the guns and
later on as Brigade Major to Lieutenant-Colonel Straubenzic,
commanding the Infantry Brigade, did excellent work.

" From Batoche, the Batteries went on with General
Middleton's Column, via Gardupuy's Crossing, where Riel
was taken, to Prince Albert, being here in particular, as they
always were, of great assistance to the Columns in making
roads, bridges, etc. Almost everyone had to come to the
gunners for horse-shoeing, collar-making, tailoring, cobbling,
etc.

" The surrender of the Indian Chief, Poundmaker, and his
band, at this time, is a matter of history.

. Fort Pitt. ., ' •'

" Big Bear had still to be disposed of, and General Middleton
left Battleford with a flying column, taking with him, of the
Artillery, only Major Short, Captains Peters and Rutherford,
Lieutenant Farley, with the gatlings and about 50 N.-C.
officers and men from the two Batteries. This Force, forming
a junction with the Alberta Field Force, and making Fort
Pitt their base, hunted Big Bear round Loon Lake and down
the Beaver River ; they crossed some most difficult country,
full of swamps and muskegs.

" The guns and Batteries were left at Battleford under my
command, but very shortly afterwards left with Col. Otter's
Column (consisting of • C ' Company, under Captain Sears,
and the ' Queen's Own,' Col. Miller), going across the
Saskatchewan, and heading due North with orders to patrol
Squirrel Plains.

" I took with me, under Captain Drury, Lieuts. Ogilvie
and Prower, 2 field guns, and 27 N.-C. officers and
men.

"This Expedition lasted three weeks, and on the 27th of
June the Artillery left for Battleford, reaching the north bank
at 10 p.m., 28th.

- 1»

LL — 2

516

GUNNER JINOO S JUBILEE.

" Major Wilson, Captain Pages, and Lieut. Imlah also
served in the North West.

*' In October my detachment left for Qu'Appelle, by route
marching.

" This was a prairie march of 300 miles, and was accom-
plished in 10 days, including the crossing of the South
Saskatchewan, which took one whole day.

" It gives me great pleasure to testify to the good conduct
of all ranks, and the cheerful way in which duty, sometimes
of the most arduous nature, was performed, and hardships
made light of. There was almost a total absence of crime,
and I never heard a grumble.

" I have the honour to be, sir, ' •

" Your obedient servant,

*' C. E. MONTIZAMBERT, Lt.-Coloucl,

" Commdt., R.S.G., Quebec."

From the '• Kingston Whig."

" Home Coming of a Popular Officer — Battery Welcome.

if \

" Carried into thb Barracks — Sdrroundsd by Friends who Gazb on
HIS Bronzed Face and Threadbare Clothes — Driven to his Home—
Throcgh THE Fight — IitciDENTs by the Way. ; .

"A dozen cabs, a score of dogs, a crowd of boys, a group of
military men, a bevy of ladies, a large number of battery men
and citizens were seen about the K. and P. R.R. station last
evening. The animate portion were anxiously waiting for the
train to arrive. It came in at 5.50 o'clock. The first person

\ I

■\ V

MAJOR short's home COMING.

also

route

corn-
South

517

seen was a ' B ' batteryman wearing a forage cap made out
of a portion of an oat bag, and a gray coat, belted with a
piece of cloth of a different colour. His shoes were yellow and
well worn. The bronzed face of the soldier was suffused
with smiles on viewing home once more.' He stood in the
baggage room door. The batterymen who had been marched
out to the track cheered with a gusto at the sight of Major
Short, who dashed out of the car and greeted the company.
He kissed his wife, and had only performed such successfully
when the batterymen encircled him, hoisted him in the air,
and amid shouts of rejoicing carried him through the
ponderous gate and archway of T6te du Pont Barracks.

'• THE MAJOR S APPEARANCE.

'* The crowd of boys, soldiers and women followed, and the
' beau ideal of an officer,' as Col. Otter described him, shook
hands with the many friends who pressed about him. The
Major's face was brown, very brown, so brown that it
glistened in the sun. His tunic was a half grey and nearly
threadbare, the red and gold trimmings, begrimed and dull,
stood out in bold comparison with the polish and finish of
his brother officers. The Major's eyebrows, moustache and
parts of his hair were of a very light brown — the sun had
taken all the colour out of them. During his tourings he had
grown a beard, but this he had removed as soon as he reached
the abodes of civilisation. Upon the Major's head was the
Battery fatigue cap, wedge shaped. It was well worn and
the formerly bright red was very dingy. Just above the brass
• B ' was a hole, into which was fixed a mink's tail. A big
rent on the opposite side was sewn as only a bachelor or a
grass widower could sew it. The big aperture had been made
by a bullet at Cut Knife Creek battle. The usual glittering
sword belt and fixings were gone, a shoulder strap of tanned
leather alone held up the sword. The luggage of the Major
showed evidences of hard usage. A big buffalo coat, he had
annexed, was a source of comfort, and was regarded with
envy by the less fortunate officers. It had been the Major's
companion in his nightly bivouacs. The batterymen led in
two strong Indian dogs, secured at Frog Lake. They were
intelligent looking and exact counterparts of the pictures
seen in books of Esquimaux dogs drawing sleighs across
the ice. They had the bushy waving tails, the high ears and
sharp noses.

" As soon as Major Short had shaken hands with his friends,
a line of men attached to the carriage of John Carruthers,

'■■{

\ ^!

!'&

518

GUNNER jingo's JUBILEE.

Esq., drew up at the guard room and halted while the Major's
horse, • King Tom,' was brought over for inspection. The
animal neighed a welcome, and demonstrated his gratitude
by rubbing his nose about his master's person. Then the Major,
Mrs. Short, and Miss Carruthers stepped into the carriage,
and the fifty batterymen trotted out into the street and
proceeded to the Major's residence. As the cavalcade passed
through the streets hundreds halted and lifted their hats to
the gallant soldier, whose home-coming was a source of
gratification.

••chatting with ThE MAJOR. -"

•' This morning Major Short, in civilian dress, was found in
the barracks. He told the reporter that the trip across the
C.P.R. gaps on the way out, was the most awful journey any
body of men could have made. They rode for nights, many
of them falling off their horses, so tired and sleepy were they.
For days they wore frozen clothes. Several times they lost
their way. The only other experience that reminded him of
the journey across the frozen wastes was the hunt after Big
Bear and the walk through muskegs. They were only a day
behind Big Bear when they came to an impassable muskeg,
and were reluctantly compelled to turn back.

" The last work the Major did was to visit the Reservations
with Colonel Herchmer, and bring in prisoners. The Indians
were particularly penitent. Over all the encampments the
white flag of peace fluttered.

•' CUT knife creek.

v:h

W '

'. •' The battle of Cut Knife Cieek was a severe one. The men
fought bravely, and secured the key of the position when the
Forces were recalled. Afterwards they had to take the same
point over again. The Indians had been driven from the
right, from the front, and into a coulee on the left and could
have been swept out of existence had not the recall sounded.
The leason for the retreat has never been announced. The
Major told how he shot the Indian who pierced his cap.
He said that a score of Stonies were driven off" on the run,
when a big brave deliberately turned and fired at him. He
(the Major) was twenty feet away from his men urging them
forward. The shot pierced his cap. At once he grabbed the
rifle from a soldier, tried to fire, but the cartridge would not
go off^. He flung the rifle aside, drew his revolver, and hit the

MAJOR SHORT S HOME COMING.

519

Indian in the side. He rolled over, jumped up, and tried to run,
but could not. An excited French Canadian batteryman, see-
ing the Indian's attempts, rushed forward, saying ' He alive !
he alive ! ! ' and fired, but missed. The Indian then dropped
down, and drew his blanket over his head, and a moment
afterwards a blow from the butt of the rifle in the French-
man's hands sent him to the happy hunting grounds.
Major Short afterwards took a bowie knife from the fallen
brave's belt. The Major's charger, « Jack the Barber,' was
shot on the field."

No more loyal soul than Charley Short has it ever been
my lot to meet, and he went up in the conflagration at
Quebec like Jim Bludso in the smoke of the Prairie
Belle. ^ .

" He weren't no saint — but at judgment
I'd run my chance with him.

He seen his duty, a dead-sure thing —

And went for it thar and then ;
And Christ ain't a-going to be too hard

On a man that died for men."
■_^.: (Pike County Ballad.)

§m

'^ 1

'\ I

r- 1

CHAPTER XII.

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.

" I'm off by the morning train,
To cross the raging main,

Hi! Ho!"

On our return from the campaign, my son found an order
awaiting him to join without delay the Royal Artillery at
Woolwich. He had been appointed to Jinr^ Vs dear old
corps, having previously qualified for a coii ssion at the
Canadian Military College. His appearance in Woolwich in
buckskin shirt and schapps would have been too startling
an innovation, and tailors are few and far between in the
"Wild West." We got him rigged put as soon as possible
for the voyage, but he was specially ordered to visit the
family tailor in London before putting in an appearance.

A lovely bright morning in the Fall could not altogether
dispel the tinge of sadness with which I parted from my boy,,
to surrender him to the traditional career of his family. As
we rattled over the prairie towards Gleichen railway-station,^
the awful pillar of cloud, indicating the birth of a prairie fire,
drove all else out of our heads. Soon the pillar wreathed
itself into a black pall across the sky, the familiar rush and
roar were heard, and tongues of flame seen, as we neared our
terrible foe. It had evidently been started by the Indians
from their Reserve, knowing that the wind would sweep it
down on our devoted Ranche. They had openly sworn to be
revenged upcn me for leading the troops against them. Here
was the first instalment of its fulfilment. I and my boys were
alone in the waggon. There was a chance. A tiny stream
trickled in the bottom of the next coulee, and the grass was
green along its margin. We might meet it here. The whole
force of the men from the Ranche would be on the spot
in a short time to assist us.

■■J- •

"♦

MY SON TO THE OLD CORPS.

f»f

Jumping out we wetted in the stream the horse blankets,
which lay on the bottom of the waggon. We began to fight
the fire in the intervals between the little pools wherever
there was a chance of its crossing. I know no more
depressing task, for it is rarely, if ever, successful, and yet
one has to fight on, beating the flames with the wet blanket,
stifling and faint, mouth and throat parched, hair and clothes
singed and blackened. And so it goes on, sometimes for a
whole day and night, with the miserable, haunting thought
of blackened acres spreading hundreds of miles away to the
first large river, the moans of starving cattle, and possibly a
burnt-out homestead, with all one's belongings gone in one
fell swoop.

The men did not come. My boy pulled out his watch.

" Father, I must leave you. If 1 miss this train I miss the
next boat for a week. You know my orders."

" Do you mean to leave me on this burning prairie ? "

" It was you who taught me to obey orders."

He mounted the waggon and drove away, leaving me
about as sick at heart as ever I had been in the course of a
long life. His reward, in addition to a good conscience
toivards his Queen, was the forfeituiT of his pay for the
period during which he had been engaged at the front against
her enemies, being ignorant of his appointment, for no War
Office foolscap could reach him. He had overstayed the date
on which he had been ordered to join at Woolwich.

Old Jingo's reward was to come soon.

It was getting dusk, and the pillar of cloud by
day was changed to a pillar of fire by night. To me, in the
wilderness, the words always came with an ever-recurring
horrible irony.

The men came at last, and the fire was stayed by heading.
it at the source of the little stream which ran into the Bow.

The first stage of the Indian revenge being fire, the second
was cattle-killing and driving oflf horses. In the latter they
could not succeed successfully, as the horses, many of them
bred on the range, could not be driven away. 1

tried to give the men a
Indians selected it as their
boundary riding on Sunday,
rider's report was : ** Band of
by Indian pony tracks." To

rest on Sundays, so the
day of woik. I took the
One Saturday night the last
horses driven north, followed
head oft' a couple of hundred

horses is not easy. Harry was gone ; Alec on the other end

ml'

522

GUNNKR JINGOS JUBILKE.

of the range, twenty miles off. So I asked for assistance
from the household. With the promise of quiet horses I got
two lady volunteers. Had to take an unbroken broncho my-
self, which had only been backed a couple of times. It was
necessary occasionally to do so, for example's sake, as the
men, if allowed, would ride the old horst > to death rather
than be always at the " Buffalo Bill " business, which palls
upon one terribly, especially when there is no gallery.

Following the tracks, we turned our horses for a minute
to look at the long wavy line of the Rockies, the snow-peaks
flushing and changing in mingled metallic lustre and mist,
the rays of the setting sun glorifying the dull prairie into red
radiance, while in the purpie distance it seemed to reach the
actual feet of the walls of rock and snow,

« » * * Where the mandate of God,

Into cloudland and glory transfigures the sod."

" Why pine for the hedgerows of England ? "
At this moment one of the ladies dropped her whip, I
dismounted to give it to her. After remounting, my "blamed"
broncho began a circus of bucking. Though he did not
succeed with me, he bucked my hat off, and I had to dismount
again to pick that up. Between irritation and the force of
military habit, I carelessly took a lock of the mane and the
bridle, without the precaution of keeping the horse's head
close to my shoulder. He plunged, got his head away, and
delivered a kick which broke my leg below the knee in two
places. Where I fell was in a hollow, where a man's bones
might bleach before he was found, so I requested the lady of
the dropped whip to stay with me as landmark, the other
to ride to the Ranche and bring assistance.

Alas I she took the wrong direction. Shouts failing to arrest
her, my companion rode after her, but fearing to lose track
of me, returned without succeeding in overtaking her. Tliere
was nothing for it but to let her go also to the Ranche. The
Chinook breeze was blowing. I told her to keep it on her
right cheek, and to bring it back on her left. Then she
shot away into the gloom ; hairpins would not stand
the pace, and the last thing I saw was a flash of stream-
ing golden hair. It was difficult to make oneself com-
fortable, for the huge Mexican spur bent up the foot in
the wrong direction ; putting the broken leg over the other

A BROKEN LEG. -' i

523

gave comparative ease. Pipe after pipe was smoked watch-
ing the stars come out. The long low howl of the capote
began to be heard. They circled round nearer and nearer,
until I could see the gleam of red eyes. In spite of shouts,
for I had no revolver, the circles were growing smaller. It
was only four hours in point of time, but it seemed eternity
before my ear, close to the ground, caught the rattle of
wheels and the thud of hoofs on the prairie. My messenger
had been successful in again finding me, and had brought
men with waggon and litter. " Mexican Jack " slit up the
boot and breeches Jettly, put the leg in splints, and the good
fellows carried me gingerly. But the jolting of that litter was

. The other lady, fortunately, hit upon the railway,

and riding to a station telegraphed to a doctor, who turned
up the next day from Calgary, about fifty miles off.

Recovery was tedious, foi, when the bandages were
removed, the leg broke again. It had barely re-united when
again the fire-fiend appeared, this time from the C. P. Rail-
way. The sparks from the passing engines light the dry
prairie grass and conflagration is inevitable. Year after year
the C. P. Railway has been permitted to devastate enormous
tracts — one of the main causes of the slow development of
the North-West Territory. Lately the Company has been
compelled to plough a fire-break. Ploughing turns the sod
over, and prevents the fire spreading. Had this been done
seven 3'ears ago, many men would have been saved from
ruin, and thousands of cattle from starvation.

On this occasion the hands were all out, and the house
itself was not secure. Seizing the crutches I went on with
the womenfolk to guard the patch by which the fire could
reach the house, fell, and again wrenched the damaged leg.

But the troubles, which seemed about as bad as they coi Id
be for old Jingo, were unexpectedly lightened by the camarr-
derie which seems incredible to a civilian. Colonel Hennell,
who was at home on leave from India, crossed the Atlantic
to come and help me. He took my place in the management
of the Ranche, until a telegram told him that his regiment was
going to the front in Burmah. Without a halt he reached it,
and well earned the decoration he wears. But before his
departure he helped us through with our Christmas
festivities. Pleasant gentlefolk neighbours from the Old
Country came from a distance. There were theatricals,
and the rafters of the long dining-room rang to the music

524

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE,

of " Cowboy Cole," who was as handy with the fiddle
as the rifle. He became master of the ceremonies, and indi-
cated many novel movements in the mazy by singing his
instructions, "hands down the centre and back, twist your
partners, swing your ladies, set," and so forth. But the Red
River jig in costume fairly brought down the house, from
ladies to cowboys.

Of course Jingo could only look on — a proceeding he was
not much accustomed to. But his enjoyment was dashed by
a long b' letter to the effect that, having accepted service
under a Colonial Government during the North-West
Campaign, he thereby forfeited her Majesty's pension, of
whic]i he would be deprived. He was directed forthwith to
refund the amount paid to him from the time of his taking
the Peld up to date. Jingo declined to refund anything,
and informed her Majesty's Government that, as they had
deprived him of his pension, they could recoup themselves.
When applied to, H.R.H. the Commander-in-Chief expressed
regret that financial matters were not in his province. As to
appealing to her Majesty, under a Constitutional Government,
one might as well appeal to the Merovingian dynasty. Our
electoral " maire du palais " at this time was Mr. Gladstone.

Deprivation of pension at this juncture was to Jingo a
serious thing. Ov of 2,ooo, not a single head of cattle re-
mained on the blackened Ranche. It had been necessary to
drive them across the river, and trust them to fate and the
tender mercies of cattle-stealers, red and white. Jingo lay
with a broken leg, nearly as helpless as when, fifty years
ago, he was born into the service of her Majest}'.

And this was GENERAL JINGO'S JUBILEE !*

But there were consolations. When his old Scouts, now
disbanded, saw him limping about the Calgar}- streets, they
planked down their dollars and sent him a gold-headed ebony
walking-stick, with an inscription, and an address ; while
the teamsters of the Force subscribed and presented him
with a silver-plated tea-service, with an inscription duly
setting forth confidence and loyalty. This was accompanied
by an illuminated address, designed by an artistic Transport
Officer.

During the five years I was a i-ancheman, I had become

♦ At the same time he was officially requested by His Excellency the Lieutenant-
Governor to collect subscriptions for Her Majesty's Jubilee, He borrowed five dollars
and Headed the list with it.

CONSOLATION.

52s

known to the settlers in Alberta. I was asked tc stand for
Parliament, but had no politics, only patriotism. The Con-
servative party leaders would have none of me, they preferred
a member of the principal trading firm, an ex-member of
the United States army, and I could not endorse the vote of
the Liberal leader, Mr. Blake, against hanging Riel.

Mr. Blake is now assisting Mr. Gladstone to hand over
Ireland to other ex-rebels.

" Pecks' bad boy " describes the situation thus :

" ' Father, who is that very tall man with the fur cap ? '

"'That, my son, is Major-General Strange. He was in
command of the Alberta Field Force during the late Rebellion,
but he got no credit for what he did, and he is now seeking
parliamentary honours for Alberta.'

" 'Does he stand any chance of being elected, father ? '

" 'Yes, my son, if Hardisty, or the half-dozen others who
are running, do not get the majority of votes.'

" 'Will he make a good representative, father ?'

" ' Yes, my son, but he will not be liked by the party in
power. He will be like a hornet's nest in the House, and the
Government will want to shelve him before his first Session
is over.'

" ' Will he go to Heaven, father ? '

" 'Yes, my son, if he does not get into an argument with
Peter at the gates.' "

After many months, his forfeited pension was restored
to Jingo. The Marquis of Lome, ci-devant Governor-
General of Canada, exerted himself, and a brother officer,
the late Colonel Duncan, R.A., M.P., threatened to ask ugly
questions in Parliament if the Government persisted in
depriving a retired officer of his pension as a penalty for
serving in the field. ■'

Perhaps last, but not least, the Liberal party was no longer
in power. Though it really matters little which party is in
office. The permanent Secretaries govern the Empire with-
out responsibility — they have no soul to save, no corporate
body to be kicked.

Soon after my restoration to pension the children went home
with their mother for their education. I remained for some
time longer to wind up affairs and hand over the Ranche to

* His epitaph does not lie, when it says, " Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends." — Parliament killed him.

526

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

another manager, a Yankee, an excellent manager — for
himself !

Aften ten years service to the Empire in Canada, I left
it with a deep affection for the Canadian people as a whole.
Their manly virtues, their amiability, their clear intellects
and honest instincts are their own. The only thing bad
about them is the political system which we gave them. It
produces worse results than with us, inasmuch, as they have
no less than nine talking-houses (Parliaments) for a popula-
tion a little over that of London. When we make every parish
Council an embryo Parliament, we shall be worse off than
they are. In Canada there are too many loaves and fishes,
incitements to political corruption, to be divided among so few,
and the French and Irish races, largely represented in Canada,
are less suited to parliamentary institutions than the English
and Scotch.

The French habitant is a fine, moral, hard-working, good-
tempered peasant ; but when not under the influence
of the priest, he falls under that of the blathering young
political avocat who talks tricolour, wants to dynamite
Nelson's monument, and dreams of an independent New
France. England, the best hated country in the world, has
been more generous to conquered races than any other nation
in the pages of history. The French-Canadian, the Irish,
and the negro multiply more quickly than the prudent
Anglo-Saxon.

We have given them the franchise, and they will vote us
out of our own territory, as the millions of Hindostan will do
if we let them. It is as if the lions had given the franchise
to the rabbits. But there are other virile races besides our
run the rabbits less mercifully. If Canada
to the United States, the French-Canadian
would disappear, as the Frenchman of Louisiana disappeared.

The French-Canadian hierarchy know it, and are not eager
for annexation to the United States.

The avocat Rouge party are quite willing to borrow money
from old France, but to be a French colony, or to suppose
that the United States would allow a New France, even if we
were weak enough to do so, they know is beyond the possi-
bilities.

Apart from their politics, there are no pleasanter people to
live among than Canadians, and the memory of many kind-
nesses remains to me.

own who will
were annexed

527

CHAPTER XIII.

A Gun with a Soul — Hawaii rot'xo anij I^st — The GiRi>f,j? or
Empire — Nigger Butcher (jv Hero -American pATkioTn»4»-
AusTRALiAN Natives Olp (lofx^NisTs Germany and Russia tv
THE Pacific — Colonial Governors — Democracy — Inter-Imperial
Free Tkaue — Postal Muuolks — The British Disunited States
— Australian Heptanarchy A Peripatetic Council— United
Empire.

Satan's occupation again — "going to and fro in the earth
and walking up and down in it." Jingo's companion this
time was a gun with a soul. He had found that a man who
can't ride encumbers the prairie. His leg had been set four
time-., and was now a modified S. In London, he came
acr'yss Hiram Maxim, who fascinated him with his invention,
and then put a good thing in his way.

" Gi>ess 3'ou couldn't make a gun like that, though you are
a General I But you know how to fight it. Write us a
chapter on the tactical use of the gun and then take it round
the world for us." The temptation to such a trip was
irresistible.

I .spent a few weeks in the Maxim-Nordenfelt workshops
and then, with the gun, started and made no halt until half
the circumference of the little globe was covered, save the
few hours when the vessel coaled at the Paradise of the
Pacific, those islands which more than a century ago — 1778,
when the United States of America was an infant Republic
— that inordinate Jingo, Captain Cook, discovered. He named
them after the F"irst Lord of the Admiralty, but the liquid-
tongued Islniidei h have long since abjured the ugly name for
the soflci- Mounding "Hawaii "

The year after Conk's death, Kamelianieha, the warrior
King, subjugated the Island group. Captain Vancouver, of
the British Navy, some years later, visited the Island.'^, and
established friendly relations with the King and his subjects,
teaching them how to build coasting vessels.

528

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

■A'

In 1 8 19, Kamehameha the Second, a weak prince, came
under the influence of the English and American
missionaries. Idolatry was abolished. In 1824, the King
and Queen visited England, and died there of measles. This
sad event had a sinister effect on the suspicious minds of the
natives.

In 1843, the King ceded the Islands to a British Naval
Officer, Lord George Paulet, who appointed a commission for
their government. The act was disavowed by Great
Britain, which had just begun to grow little.

The French naval officers then stepped in, and took high-
handed measures, establishing the Roman Catholic religion
in islands that had been mainly under the influence of
Protestant missions.

The King appealed to the Powers, and in 1844, the inde-
pendence of the Islands was guaranteed by England, France,
America, and Belgium.

The direct Royal line becoming extinct, the representative
of a collateral branch, Kalakaua, was elected King by ballot.
He was a man of fine physique, but his features gave one tlie
impression that a dash of negro blood ran through his veins,
imparting to his character the inordinate vanity peculiar to
that race.

He was very intelligent and well educated, but played
" poker " to such an extent with his friends that he made
ducks and drakes of his finances. He was tolerated and
even popular, for much the same reason as old Rowley
(Charles II.) i.e., he was a good fellow and not likely to
increase the Royal prerogative to the detriment of the white
adventurers, who really governed the country, while they
played poker with the King.

When I visited Honolulu, the capital, in November, 1888,
the genial King, Kalakaua, was extending his hospitality to
an American base-ball team. The beautiful scattered town,
in its gardens of tropical greenery, was en fete, the sans
souciant population, white, black, brown and yellow, were
garlanded with flowers, redolent of perfume, and vocal with
the liquid monotony of native love songs.

The King was to give a Hawaiian feast in the Palace
Gardens. During the day I had gone to pay my respects to
the British Consul, some members of whose family I had
known in other lands.

It was the hour of siesta, but as 1 was anxious to be

HAWAII FOUND AND LOST.

529

presented to the King and see the novel fete, I called, and
found the representative of the British power was an amiable
gentleman of delicate health, whose life was being pro-
longed by residence in a mild climate. He disliked public
functions, at which, he informed me, the order of precedence
given to him was not in accord with the dignity of the
country he represented. The American Consul, having been
styled by his Government, " Minister Plenipotentiary,'' took
the lead, and the British representative habitually absented
himself. On this occasion he proposed that I should be
presented by the United States Consul, an honour I
declined.

Going alone, my card got me past the sentry, and an
A.D.C., a strikingly-handsome Hawaiian, educated at an
Italian Military School, presented me to his Majesty.

He and his Court gentlemen locked cool and picturesque
in white linen coats f iid trousers, a pale blue silk sash giving
a touch of colour.

The Princesses were spoilt by wearing Parisian costumes,
which did not suit them. The full, graceful forms of the
younger native women of lower rank were draped in white
tea gowns of classic simplicity, which harmonised admirably
with lights and music, but appeared incongruous when worn
riding en cavalier.

The Palace gardens were flooded with electric light, in
which the feathery foliage of the tall palms gleamed a shim-
mering silver, while the dark avenues of denser trees were
scarcely illuminated by the soft effulgence of many-coloured
Chinese lanterns.

The King had a very fair band, somewhat addicted to
Offenbach, but the interludes were filled up with Hawaiian
love songs. They seemed to have no other, except the
Missionary hymns, which would hardly lend themselves to
festivities of this sort, unless manipulated by Salvation
lasses, who had not as yet invaded this last Eden of the
earth.

The feast was held in a huge tent, decorated with flags of
all nations, palm branches, and roses. The tables were
boards on the ground, covered with white damask ; the
guests sat cross-legged on strips of matting, a sadly-cramp-
ing position for an unaccustomed European, who, when he
found himself garlanded with flowers, felt like a sacrificial
victim, though, fortunately, he had to eat, instead of being

M M

S30

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

Ti '■

eaten in the old island fashion. A brown beauty stood
behind him in a white tea-gown, gently cooling his bald
head with a long-handled feather fan.

The feast looked prettier than it tasted — tropic fruit and
flowers, mysteries of raw shark, roast dog or pig, which wa.s
it? wrapped in plantain leaves. But the guest was bound to
finish off with the finger-dipping " Poi," for which it were
better for you to use your own finger, or
may use hers and expect you to suck it.
looked and tasted like sour pink paste,
pagne to wash it down.

I did not stay to witness the " Houlah-Houlah " dance of
native women, probably more suggestive than graceful. These
old-world dances still linger, in the new, among primitive
races.

The love dance remains, though the war dance is
forgotten.

the lady next you

This favourite dish

There was cham-

They have the Pyrrhic dances yet ;
The Pyrrhic phalanx they forget.

The following day I had a private chat with his very intelli-
gent Majesty, who was much interested in the Maxim auto-
matic machine gun, of which he had read. He wished to
possess one, to reinforce his small army of about lOO men.
" An Iron Battalion," he called it, " requiring neither pay,
rations, nor uniform, only cartridges, and one cool head and
loyal hand to guide it." Under such auspices, revolutions
would cease to be rose water.

He saw very clearl} that his royal rights would be more
respected by the Protectorate of a Monarchical Government
like England — whose consideration for the native Princes of
India he recognised — than by a Republic, and that " Hawaii
for the Hawaiians " might have a better chance of being a
fait accompli.

But he had no son, and his practical politics were apres uioi
le deluge.

His sister, the lately deposed Queen Lilinokalani, is the
widow of an American ; her niece, Kaialani, is a pretty,
clever girl, being educated in England. In restoring her to
her rights, President Cleveland has acted like a gentleman
and a statesman, for the annexation of Hawaii to the United

THE GIRDLE OF EMPIRE.

531

States would have been a stultification of their political
principles. The natives are against annexation to the United
States, and the white population not unanimous.

The English and Germans in Hawaii out-number the
citizens of the United States, while the French are few.
There is a large Chinese population. On my voyage home
from Australia I again visited the Island, and saw the King
Kalakaua and his sister, the deposed Queen, a fine woman,
dressed « la Worth. Her manner was simple and gracious,
in conversation she was au fait with current events.

It is unfortunate that, though we found, we seem to have
practically lost Hawaii, for it is the first stage in the com-
mercial highway between Canada and Australasia, and would
be a coaling place for a line of mail steamers between our
two greatest Colonies, who have hitherto been dependent on
the American line.

Unfortunately, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company,
absorbed in its efforts to secure a monopoly by ousting the
Allan Line steamers from Halifax, has failed to establish a
line of steamers to Australasia.*

Without such communication, and a Pacific cable,
Western Canada is a "cul de sac," breaking the girdle of
British colonial commerce, for the line from Vancouver to
Japan is an outlet to a foreign country, with which the
trade of Canada is as nothing, compared with what it would
be with Anglo-Saxon Australasia.

On intimate trade relations, and communication between
Canada and Australasia, rest the future continuance or
break-up of the British Empire.

The commerce of Canada is closed to the south by the
hostile tariffs of the United States, as well as by the
Canadian protective duties, neither likely to be entirely
removed. Communication and trade eastward with
Australasia, and westward with England, would give new life
to Canada, and make her a long line of commerce, the
longest ani stroi^esc link in die chain of a Fedrr«tcd
British Enrpire — inst^d nf driving her into annexation with
the United StaHEs. for the sake of a commen ial outlet.

Once Canada leaves us, the girdle of Empire is broken,
and Australasia must rollow ; then South A*"rica, and with-
out the last, India.

* Since this was in tiie prtMer's bands the lung laUMdc* haal

I partly acoompUthed.
M « — 2

■ i

i;ii

' 1

I'i

532

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

The indefatigable Canadian engineer, Sandford Fleming,
four years ago brought the Pacific cable before the Colonial
Conference, who approved, but her Majesty's Government
turned a deaf ear.

Instead of an alternative line, we have been multiplying
Eastern extension cables, all running through that narrow
neck of debatable land, the Isthmus of Suez, where, if there
were twenty cables, they could all be cut in an hour.
During the late crises in Egypt, telegraph communication
was interrupted.

In the Russian War scare, of 1885, the Eastern Telegraph
communication was broken 30 times' in the space of four
months, causing panic in Australia and raising rates of
insurance on shipping. The Eastern cable passes from
Australia to Java, a Dutch possession, on to the Malay
Peninsula, across India and Egypt (that bone of European
contention) ; thence it lies in the shallow waters of the
Mediterranean (where it is subject to interruption), and again
emerges on foreign soil ; and yet a General of Royal En-
gineers, for some time Acting Agent-General to the Colony
of New South Wales, has put it above his signature in The
Times, that a Pacific cable is of " no strategic importance ; "
and as Parish Councils are more imp)ortant than Imperial
matters, we have permitted the Governments of Queensland
and New South Wales to hand over the key of the Pacific
cable to the French in New Caledonia.

The C. P. Railway telegraph already runs from ocean to
ocean through Canada. If we had one from Ireland to
Canada and another across the deep undredgeable Pacific, by
the Sandwich Islands, Fiji, and the Fanning Islands to
Australasia, we should have an electric girdle round the
globe, nowhere touching on foreign soil.

But if Hawaii once became a portion of the United States
there would be a broken link in the Imperial chain of com-
munication, for, though one of the last acts of Lord Salisbury's
Government was, faute de mieux, to annex a played-out
guano island, it could scarcely be considered a suitable
station for the Pacific cable.*

Four years ago I saw in the harbour of Tasmania a British
man-of-war, which had completed the survey for the

* since this was written we have allowed our colonies to give the other end of the
cable to France, in New Caledonia.

NIGGER BUTCHER OR HERO?

533

Pacific cable route. They had found no insuperable diffi-
culty, yet we have no alternate line, not merely to
Australasia, but to India. The energetic American has
pushed across the Pacific in summer steamers — boats
like those which shoot so swiftly along his lakes and
rivers — floating hotels with palatial saloons and bridal
cabins, all white and gold Cupids. The practical side is that
they carry mails, cargo, and strong American sympathies to
Sydney, that home of the blatant Bulletin newspaper, which
neither fears God nor regards man. It is unfortunate that
the Review of Reviews publishes his monthly caricatures as
the index of public opinion in Australia.

I saw in Melbourne a statue lately raised to Gordon. New
South Wales had sent her contingent to his rescue and then
repented of her generous act. I read in the Bulletin that
Gordon was "a sainted nigger butcher," deserving no statue.
Which is likely to be the true expression of the generous
heart of Australia ? " De mortuis " is no concern of the
Bulletin, the Boomerang, and such like rags. When the
Honourable Mr. Dalley died (he had been the Prime
Minister who instigated the Australian contingent for the
relief of Gordon), the Bulletin suggested the monument of an
ass in a lion's skin. England has placed a memorial to the
Australian Statesman in Westminster Abbey. Which treat-
ment of her son does Australia really desire ?

The effusions we have quoted are the natural result of
American editorial influence in Australia. Every hour that
the monopol}' of communication has been left to the United
States line between San Francisco and Australasia, it was
sapping British trade, British connection, and British senti-
ment in favour of the United States. Naturally so ;
and who can blame the patriotic energy of that country of
which every citizen is an active patriot at home and abroad,
by sea or shore. It cannot be denied that many colonists
have republican sentiments, and look to the United States
for protection. No doubt, Jonathan is preparing to pick up
the pieces of the Empire John Bull seems determined to
throw away, and is aiming at the leadership of the English-
speaking race. But how would the race fare under
Jonathan ? Would he protect countries which make hostile
tariffs against him, while he admits their products duty free,
as easy-going John Bull does? While the Americans advise
us so sympathetically to let Ireland go, their treatment of

534

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

,H«!

secession in the Southern States is something for the
colonists to consider in the event of their throwing in their
lot with them, and is an example to us of the virility of the
younger branch of the Anglo-Saxon Race.

I spent a blazing Christmas in magnificent Melbourne,
where the profuse Australian hospitality substitutes cham-
pagne for more welcome afternoon tea. Made a member
of every club, plutocrat and Bohemian, the Englishman
feels ashamed when, in his own clubs in London, he finds
it difficult to get Colonists made members, or to reciprocate
the welcome which was lavished on him at the antipodes.
For one English globe-trotter who visits Australia, a
thousand come to London, and in the tear of social life
and business they are overlooked. I found their hospitality
not confined to club life. Everywhere, in New Zealand,
Tasmania, and each Australian colony, I met with kindly
reception, both in the mansion of the squatter and the
farmhouse of the free-selector.

In New Zealand, the Britain of the Southern Seas — which
produced the finest of native races — there is every reason
to believe the Anglo-Saxon will not degenerate. Of all
our colonies, the first emigration to it has been the most
systematic and select — and it has borne fruit in producing
the most kindly, genial, and unpretentious society it has
been my lot to meet. Tasmania, though less fortunate in
its early settlement, and with less of life and enterprise than
New Zealand or Australia, is not behind-hand in the char-
acter of its gentle-folks. In fact, go where you will through
vast Anglo -Saxondom, be it India, Canada, America,
Australasia, or Africa, if you seek the widest, most self-
reliant type of Englishman, you will find him beyond the
narrow seas. We need not fear a Federated Empire if
we, the noble parent stock which produced these offsets,
would only look beyond our islands.

During the year I was in Australia, I read and listened to
debates in every colonial legislature, and had the good
fortune to make the acquaintance of their talented and genial
public men. Almost all, except those of the inevitable Irish
persuasion, were favourable to British connection, but it is
not a question which will come to the polls, and we shall
drift apart unless the mother-country takes the initiative.

It is true the Imperial Federation League is dead, with a
joke as its final utterance. " Having accomplished the object

OLD COLONISTS.

535

for which it was formed, it has dissolved." It deserved to
die, for it never had the pluck to put forth a programme ; but
the idea is not dead, and will not die.

Perhaps the noisiest share of the clamour for separation
is due to the use made by politicians of the " Australian
Natives Association." Its very name proclaims ignorance of
the outside world. The black fellow is irresistibly recalled to
the mind of the Anglo-Saxon by the ill-t liosen title of the
associated Australian born, from the nature of things, young
men.

When they were debating on some new emblematic bird
of the Spread Eagle kind for their new society, some one
suggested the laughing jackass.

Upon these unimaginative, ignorant people, designedly
ignorant of history, which is not taught in the State Schools
of Victoria, and but little in others, depends the future rela-
tions of their country to ours. The old colonist is passing
away, and is succeeded by his sons, who talk as if they and
not their fathers had built up the marvellous growth of the
antipodes. Let them see that they are fit to stand in their
fathers' shoes.

There are few grander men, mentally, morally, and
physicall\ , han the old Australian colonist. He is the survival
of the fittest, for the weak went to the wall. Generally of
good birth, sometimes of humble origin, but with solid
schooling from the old country, especially the Scotch, they
have further educated themse'' ' s at many a lonely (nitpost
of civilisation. I have heard "ni sneerf^d at by separatist
compatriots as bucolic intellects They ar», the reverse, and
form, all over Australasia, a natural aristocracy, without an
exact counterpart in any part of the world. Ihey know that
union is strength, and are. as far as 1 have se^n, at heart
United Empire Loyalists. Bu» they are outvoted bv their
own shepherds and the mechanics of the towns, am they
believe that England has thrown up the game of Enipire.
The people of Great Britain must an-wer this question
before the race of old colonists dies out, or United Empire
will never be.

That Australia has real grievances there is no denying. The
hauling down of oj. ^ag under the late Lord Derby Admin-
istration was a bill V humiliation and a tangible injury
to the Australiansr, wlrch they felt though we did not. This

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principal cause of indifference to the unity of the Empire, as
well as the belief that we are a decaying people in the old
land.

The home system of defence by large maps has not
prevented the angry colonists from seeing how the Dutch
possessions — Java, Sumatra, and their chain of islands —
trend to New Guinea. The Dutch have 30,000 Sepoys in
Java and their Indian possessions. When they are under
"pickel haube" how long will it be before German influence
works its way into the unoccupied continent of Australia ?

The larger portion of New Guinea being German, gives a
base' of operations to the strongest military power
in the world (rapidly becoming a naval power)
upon an island larger than Great Britain, and as
close to Queensland as Liverpool is to Dublin,
German patriotic spectacles see when opportunity offers.
They discovered when Schleswig-Holstein should be
absorbed, when Elsace and Lothringen had to be restored,
when the Teutonic Boers required support and sympathy by
extension of German influence in Africa. When the young
Queen of Holland requires protection, they will then
incorporate the only maritime people who ever " swept the
chops of the Channel with a broom." France may be
quieted with Belgium and the Congo. People do not realise
that Holland stands next Great Britain as a colonial power,
holding 688,000 square miles of territory, with 26,841,000
inhabitants. France comes as a poor second with 8,723,000
inhabitants and 382,700 square miles, as Dr. Geffcken
wrote in his " British Empire " before the late scramble for
Africa, and our laissez /aire policy to France in Siam.

Yet another great military power may dispute the
German share of influence at the antipodes — Russia, to
check whose advance treaties are about as futile as agree-
ments with a glacier. The consolation is, the glacier is
likely to melt under the sun of Hindostan, gleaming on a
hundred thousand British bayonets and twice that number
of the most warlike races of India, our allies. We have
lately patched up some sort of treaty with the Ameer of
Kabul — an ally we nearly lost by our policy of wobble.
If Russia ever does, through our imbecility, overrun India, the
restless Sikh and Moslem, under Muscovite officers, may
appear on the Queensland coast to share in the scramblr for
the golden continent. " Not

in our time, O Lord 1 " I hear

( (

COLONIAL GOVERNORS.

537

the

it said. If he goes, he goes to stay, for t'le climate suits the
native of India. Let not any confident Queenslander imagine
that the disciplined Sikh Infantry and the Musselman
Irregular Horse, with Russian leading, would not be a match
for the best bush chivalry of Australia.

The Australian colonies were formerly largely governed
by ex-soldiers, but of late the antipodean democrat requires
a lord, and in one instance has been so uncivil to him that
urgent private affairs brought home the representative of the
Sovereign.

An Australian writer tells us, " Colonial Governors are by
nature, habit, and training, fervent advocates of Imperial
Federation." I am inclined to qualify this statement by
a short Saxon word of three letters. He must know that the
modern Colonial Governor strictly conforms to the type he
is sent to represent, a constitutional Rot faineant, and is never
a fervent advocate of anything ; as to their habit, nature, and
training, it is often Radical. A Conservative Government
gets rid of a troublesome opponent by making him a
Governor ; while a Liberal Government, more consistently,
appoints one of its supporters. The speeches of Colonial
Governors steer very clear of Imperial Union, but rather lean
towards prophetic pictures of colonial independence in the
near future, pleasing to the super-fervid patriot of the
Sydney Telegraph type, who, nevertheless, is not satisfied ;
for appetite grows with feeding, while the undemonstrative
believer in British connection goes home from a public
function depressed with the feeling " that there is no King in
Israel, and every man does what is right in his own eyes."
Not a comforting feeling for the student of Scripture, who
remembers the events which led to the sacred writer's
remarks.

One of the most popular of Colonial Governors, a man who
despised sentries and the usual paraphernalia of ia prancing
pro-consul, and who never had his hospitable doors shut ex-
cept to a " brick-fielder " (hot wind) found himself invaded
by an antipodean politician in a hurry, who, seeing a neat
damsel coming down the great staircase inf the coolest of
simple costumes, beckoned her, said :

" My dear, I am in a hurry to see your master," and
slipped a coin into her hand.

With perfect composure she conducted him to the study
door, which she threw open.

538

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

" Bob, here is a gentleman very anxious to see you. He
has just given me a half-crown."

" Si non es vero, ben trovato."

The dread of the oemocratic element, which would be
introduced if the Colonies had a share in the government of
the Empire, is a deterrent to the older Conservative party of
Great Britain, but as Federation would be limited to foreign
policy, defence, and commerce, there is no place for social
<questions in such a scheme.

Besides, democracy is about as practically triumphant in
England as elsewhere, and a United Empire would be very
much to the interest of the over-crowded British working
man, if he had the brains to see it and prevent himself and
his work from being excluded from the Colonies, as they are
from the United States. When once a British workman turns
colonist he becomes a rabid protectionist and an opponent to
immigration, and as he is the Government he does as he
*' D " pleases. Instead of developing the interior of
Australia, considerable portions of which irrigation will
facilitate, one third of the population of Victoria (a
territory as large as England) is centred in Melbourne,
making strikes, bank failures, shoddy clothes, bad boots,
and indifferent machinery, to the comparative neglect
of agriculture. The legislation against squatters has
forced them to buy huge tracts, to try and exclude the free
selector, exactly opposite to the result expected, which was
to encourage agricultural settlement. Of the pure
Australian wine, comparatively little finds its way direct to
England ; a good deal is shipped to France to supply the
loss of the vintage from phylloxera. It pays duty, is
French-labelled, and made into Bordeaux for the English
market. Next to none finds its way into digestion-
destroying tea, coffee, and whiskey-drinking Canada, of
which the districts under the tyranny of legal
prohibition are naturally the most drunken and destructive
of police morale.

Tinned salmon from the factories on the banks of British
Columbian rivers, where the huge stern wheels of the
steamers kill the crowding salmon, I have seen on
Australian tables. It had journeyed across the continent
of America and the Atlantic to London, and thence to New
Zealand by the Cape of Good Hope. Good for the C.P.R.
and the shipping trade, bad for the pocket and palate of the

INTER-IMPERIAL FREE TRADE.

539

fi:v-

Australian consumer, and the profits ofthe British Columbian
producer.

In the event of inter-Imperial Free Trade, with
protection against countries that refuse us fair trade, being
established, not only would the stream of commerce flow
westward to the British Isles, like the ceaseless ocean-
current of the Atlantic, and of the Pacific to Canada from
Japan, but also inter-colonially eastward, as the long tea-
trains of the C.P.R. already do. I saw on the wharves of
Tasmania pine lumber from Norway and the Baltic shores.
Fourteen thousand miles across two oceans it had been
carried, round the Cape of Storms, while about one-third
the distance over the milder Pacific, the gigantic pines of
British Columbia wave in millions of murmuring acres along
endless fiords, waiting to be felled into the sea ready for ship-
ment ; while from the opposite shores of the Pacific the mag-
nificent hard woods of Australasia (the Kauri pine is nearly
exhausted) would find a ready market in Western Canada,
where literally for 1,300 miles, from Vancouver to Winnipeg,
no hard wood grows from which you could cut an axe-handle.
When ordering the repair of gun carriages in British
Columbia, suitable wood had to be sent from England ; before
the C.P.R. was built, every rifle, every bullet, every soldier's
button was sent round Cape Horn to British Columbia.

The antipodean seasons being exactly the opposite of the
northern, their fruit harvests ripen in our northern Spring.
Into the lap of the short Canadian Spring couid the golden
bananas, pine-apples, and oranges of Australasia be poured,
for across the 1,000 miles of prairie and sterile north shore
of Lake Superior, almost until you reach the fertile peninsula of
Ontario, no orchard fruit will grow. A small quantity of
Ontario orchard fruit finds its way into the North- West Pro-
vinces, often to be frozen in transit. Many a barrel of apples
have I had destroyed through their being left on a railway
platform twenty minutes, with the thermometer below zero.
Australian fruit, arriving in early Summer, would not be
subject to destruction by frost in transit across Canada.

The supply of orchard fruit from British Columbia is very
limited ; that from California ripens at the wrong season for
distribution in Canada, and is also subject to duty. To the
uninitiated these ^nay seem trivial details, but to the people
•of a prairie province fruit is not merely a luxury but a
necessity, and tasteless dried apples, imported from the

S40

GUNNER jingo's JUBILEE.

United States under duty, form part of the daily ration of a
rancheman.

Of course, the importation of fruit into Canada would be
a trifling item compared to wool, hard wood, wine. New
Zealand flax, and other raw products, but few Australian
manufactured goods would be wanted in Canada or anywhere
else.

Next to telegraphy postal communication is the life-blood
of empire. Let us hope the efforts of Henniker-Heaton
to overthrow the dogged dulness of the Post Office in
favour of an Imperial penny post, may be crowned with
success. I may, however, give him some experiences of my
own, which will show the necessity for some better under-
standing between different parts of the Empire. Tliey may
supply him on occasion with useful arguments. I was
refused a money-order from Tasmania to my son in Canada,
because the only arrangements for postal communication
between Australasia and Canada were through the United
States Post Office. The post-masters of the United States
were thus able to dictate to British colonists through what
post-offices alone money-orders could be sent in Canada. I
began to doubt whether Canada was British territory.
After personal appeal to the Postmaster-General of Tasmania,
the money was sent on my assurance that there was such a post
town as Calgary, and that there was a British province named
Alberta, about three times as big as Tasmania. He had in
his office no list of Canadian post towns, except that issued
by the United States, which arbitrarily lays down what
are to be, what they term, " international money-order
offices." My son's acknowledgment of the money took six
months to reach me, because the post-master in Calgary did
not know the postage for Australia, and my son's letter being
one cent under-stamped was sent to the dead-letter office, by a
barbaric rule of American post-offices that insufficiently-
stamped letters go to the limbo of the dead-letter office.

In short, there is no end to the mischievous and wasteful
pranks of the Lord of Misrule in the British Disunited
States.

These disunited states of Great Britain stultify themselves
and each other in every relation in which they come in
contact, for lack of some central authority, definite bond of
union, or some platform where the representatives of the
various states could meet to discuss their relations, learn to

THE BRITISH DISUNITED STATES.

541

know and respect each other, and understand something of
the great Empire, of which they are a fraction. Such a
meeting, to be of any use, should be held alternately in the
capital of each state.

Everywhere we are struck with the anomaly of the
intense individuality of a race which has built up a vast
Empire, but seems to lack the power of organization to hold it
together. The spectacle is appalling. In Australasia, a
heptanarchy of Anglo-Saxons are fighting each other and the
mother country with hostile tariffs. In South Africa and British
North America there is something similar, with the additional
complication of an element of French and Dutch origin. And
yet, surely, order could be evolved out of chaos, if Englishmen
would only look beyond the fog of their island at their glorious
Empire, and insist on politicians (for we have no Statesmen),
dealing with the mighty constructive problem it presents,
instead of striving for further disintegration. Now would
seem the accepted time. If the imaginary document called
the British Constitution is to be torn into shreds for the
triumph of Home Rule in Ireland, why not extend the
principle so as to diminish the evil, for the Irish would not
hold the balance of power in a federated Empire. It would be
an easier task for the wit of man to evolve a new constitu-
tion embracing an Empire, as has been done by the younger
branch of the Anglo-Saxon race in America and kindred
Teutons in Europe, than to provide for Irishism ruling
Ireland without its ruling England also. Fools rush in
where angels fear to tread. Jingo knows he's not an angel,
but hopes he's not a fool, and having had a wider personal
experience of the Empire than falls to the lot of most soldiers,
ventures to express a few opinions on Imperial matters.
Wordy conferences in London, to which the Press is not
admitted, and whose proceedings are only published in Blue
Books no one reads, lead to poor results. To the average
Englishman a lamp-post in Piccadilly is more important than
half a continent o\'er sea. The problem must be solved by
the head taking the initiative. It is a bad business when the
tail wags the dog. The prerogative of the Crown, which has
been insidiously and unchivalrously abstracted while it has
been worn by a greatly beloved and conscientious Queen,
must be restored. The Government of Oceana should be
settled from the deck of a man-of-war, visiting alternately
the various states it is proposed to federate. Royal Com-

542

GUNNER JINGO S JUBILEE.

mission is a synonym for how not to do it, or I would use
the words here. The choice of a figure-head to the
peripatetic council is not of vital importance. A Russian
diplomatist describes Lord Salisbury as a wooden figure-
head painted to look like iron on the bows of the iron-clad
Conservative ship of State. Lord Rosebery might be
described as an iron figure-head to the rptten old wooden
ship of Radicalism.

If the genial and talented heir-apparent cannot be spared
from laying foundation-stones, there are other princes of the
blood Royal — one a practical sailor, one a practical soldier ;
and one of Her Majesty's sons-in-law has shown himself a
practical Governor of a great colony (is that why he was
given no second chance ?) — a legal luminary might be spared
froni the Divorce Court to clothe the edicts of common sense
in the jargon of the law. Add Sir Charles Dilke r.nd Lord
Brassey to assist in solving the numerous Sphynx riddles
they have started in the books they write while out of office.
Season with an Anglican Prelate, a Roman Cardinal, and
a Nonconformist light. The Australian colonists are
very hard up for loans, and talk less about " cutting the
painter " than in days of greater boom. They might just
now listen to reason for their own advantage.

Starting from London at the beginning of the year, the
Committee (if they would only commit themselves to
anything) might advantageously spend three months in
Canada, while the Legislature meets at Ottawa ; go on to
Australasia for the Antipodean Winter ; then cross India
in the cool season, returning by the Cape of Good Hope.
They would be in a position to offer terms to Colonial
Governments and to lay their views before the English Parlia-
ment, which, with one in Dublin and one in Edinburgh,
becomes a local legislature. The Federal Council to be
evolved for matters purely Imperial, should contain but
few members, being more executive than " talky-talky,"
if that be possible in the palavering present. The number
of representatives from each State to be proportionate to the
amount of revenue paid for Imperial purposes, or popula-
tion, if preferred.

In an evil hour we gave to colonists the possession ot
continents of which they only occupied the fringe,
demanding nothing in return, not even that they should
treat our commercial exports exactly as we treated theirs.

^ '

UNITED EMPIRE.

543

and

the

This is the crux of the problem. It may be solved by
England becoming a protectionist country, except as regards
her colonies, and vice versa, thus securing to her a supply of
food and raw material for manufactures, from Imperial ports
instead of from foreign countries, who might at any time
form a commercial ring for our starvation. A combined
Russia and America, who are our principal purveyors of
grain and meat, could in this fashion bring us to our knees
without firing a shot.

In dealing with the practically independent states we
have created by giving responsible government to some of
our colonies, while they would have to bear the cost and
consequences of war in which they have no voice, we
are face to face with the old problem of taxation without
representation, the non-solutioh of which cost us the
thirteen colonies of America. We do not now propose
arbitrarily to tax our colonies, we let them tax us, while we
promise to defend them. With calm reliance on the dull
amiability of England, they propose to retain the connection
and such protection as it involves, until they are able to
stand alone. We are told this is the view of many colonists.
Then the old country will be invited to " step down and
out," to become a second Holland, or What she will, to
devote herself to the cultivation of orchids in lieu of
tulips.

It is useless to ask the colonies to give up any of the
self-government we have given them. They must meet us
now as equal states. If they give up the right to tax our
manufactures they must get a quid pro quo.

The problem for us is — nigh forty millions on these
islands incapable of raising one-half their food supply, the
necessity for emigration imminent ; on the other side,
continents we own requiring population for their develop-
ment. In such countries men are too scarce to admit of
professional soldiering, and volunteers require professional
leaders. The senseless rule forbidding retired officers
serving Colonial Governments, except with loss of pension,
has, without observation, done as much for the effacement
of our Empire as the edict which caused the tea to be
thrown into Boston Harbour. The prohibition has pre-
vented the settlement of such officers in the colonies, where
they would have formed a loyal link for British connection.
Lending a few officers for a short period to the colonies

Ii \]

S44

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

does not produce the same result. As soon as they have
grasped the situation, and made themselves acceptable to
colonial volunteers, they are withdrawn, and replaced by a
man who has to begin all over again. ^

ft '

T! .

\itl

. (<

■\ \

»»"•'->

'\ i

545

(tt

:; CHAPTER XIV.

. , ^ ;.s •■^. FINIS.

In America are the children of many nations, yet they are
all Americans. The strife between Democrats and Repub-
licans is accentuated by the quadrennial scramble for office,
from Postman to President, but the road to political prefer-
ment never lies, as it sometimes does with us, in the repudia-
tion of national rights or national honour.

With Americans the maintenance of such rights is
" patriotism," with us it is " Jingoism."

American cities shew as many church steeples as factory
chimneys, yet you never hear American Statesmen quote
maudlin Christianity about turning the national cheek to the
smiter, in war or tariff. " He that has no sword let him sell
his garment and buy one," was the last advice of the Prince
of Peace to his followers.

If we mean to maintain an Empire we must first be
strong — by sea and land. Strength by sea is an unknown
quantity. For half-a-century there has been but little to
guide us, and that little is not encouraging to the theory that
our shores are inviolable.

The task of our navy is a gigantic one. They cannot
safeguard our food supplies and commerce if detained round
our coasts to protect forts and harbours which should be made
able to defend themselves. Nor can we send our ships across
the Hindoo Koosh or the Rocky Mountains.

Our small regular army must be free to strike anywhere,
leaving to the Constitutional Force, a conscripted Militia,
with exemption for efficient Volunteers, the task of forming
our last line. Then let an enemy land upon our shores, and
it will be an easy task to count those who return.

If compulsory education and compulsory drill went

N N

"' 1

' i

i I

546

GUNNER JINGOS JUBILEE.

together^ six Summer months in a Militia camp would be
suflficient for disciplined efficiency. Such service would be a
boon, mentally, morally, and physically to every English-
man from 20 to 21, upon whom the lot fell, or who did
not prefer exemption by becoming a genuinely-efficient
Volunteer, as most of the urban population would.
University students, shop assistants, mechanics, would
prefer to qualify as Volunteers, and volunteering would
not be the slipshod thing it now is, for any man
who failed in discipline, or to qualify by attending
a certain number of drills and rifle practices, would be
returned as liable for Militia Conscription. There should
be no exception for peer or peasant. The mere existence of
such a law would make the Volunteer a genuine soldier : the
difference between the two being, the Volunteer criticises, the
soldier obeys. The strain of future wars will be such that
the disciplined rank and file must respond to, and believe
in, the skill of his officer.

Do these conditions exist in our Militia and Volunteers,
who, if they ever face a foe, it will be the picked soldiers of
systematically trained and disciplined Europe ?

The existence of the "bogie," conscription, would at
least stop the influx of the miserable aliens who, in seeking
to avoid it in their own country, compel the exodus or
degradation of the poor of our great cities, whom our only
other " General '' is proposing to lead into the wilderness, in
search of another Canaan. He has found that the colonial
working-man objects to the importation of the spiritual
loafer.

Among us the Salvation Army is more en evidence than
the Army proper. Yet, which is the better training for a
man; — to learn soberly and self-restrainedly to do his duty,
to defend his country, and die for it if needs be ; or to pass
life without other labour than singing hymns of a sort (not
such as the old Cameronians sang), beating big drums before
dancing girls, flaunting banners, and counting converts to
that Kingdom which, we are told, " cometh not with
observation."

FINIS.

camp would be
rvice would be a

every English-
ell, or who did
nuinely-efficient
ulation would,
chanics, would
nteering would

for any man

by attending
tices, would be

There should
ire existence of
ine soldier : the
er criticises, the
I be such that
o, and believe

nd Volunteers,
fed soldiers of

ion, would at
ho, in seeking
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hom our only
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It the colonial
the spiritual

evidence than
training for a

do his duty,
e; or to pass
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g converts to
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CONTENTS.

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^^^^^>^^^'M»

■^f.,:

CHAPTER I
Th« Immbdiatb Necessity of Establishini

CHAPTER IL
Thb Manifest Duty of the United Si

Question , , , ^'

CHAPTER IIL
The Evidence that the Icelanders I)isc
€0f»"^ in thb Tenth Century . ^^^

s ; CHAPTER IV.

RoMAir Catholic Cognizance of the Fact
OF thb Icelandic Discovery .

CHAPTER V;
All thb Motives for the Concealment a

CHAPTER VL
Columbus* Visit to Iceland.

CHAPTER VIL
Thb Soandinavxan Koiit« and Spain Qom