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The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exempt ro filmi fut r^^produit grAce d la g^n^rosite de: BibliothAque nationaie du Canada Las images suivantes ont 4t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soir, compte tenu de la condition at de la nettet« de I'exemplaire film«, et en conformity avec i.oo per vo!. The Day's Work, with eight fuii-page iiius- trations. Crown 8vo, Cloth, gilt top, $i..o- Paper, 75c. *- •*' 5 » AT ALL BOOKSELLERS OR POST-PAID FROM George N. Morang & Company, Limited to ve [r. SOLDIERS THREE THE STORY OF THE GADSBYS IN BLACK AND WHITE Soldiers Three The Story of the Gadsbys In Black and White By Rudyard Kipling A$Ukor 0/ "The Day« Work." "The Seven Se««." •' The Jungle Booke," etc. TORONTO GEORGE N. MORANG & COMPANY, Limited Nbw York DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO. "899 ■ CONTENTS Tm God raoK thb MAoanra ... '*" Or Thobb Callbd * Pbitam Lbabotd'i Stobt , ,* ^ Th» Bio Drukk Dka»' . .* ,* *' Thb Wkbck or thb Vmiooth .[.[*'' ^ Thb Solid Mdldoon ... With thb Maik Guabd . .* .' ** Iw THE Matter or a Pbitati ...*'**' *^ Black Jack . , ^^ PooB Deab Mamma . , ' ^ The Wobld withodt , * • • • . Ill The Tehts op Kbdab . .' ! *^ With Ant Amazembnt . ! [ *^ The Qabdbn or Eoiir , . ^*^ Fatima ... ^^* The Vallet or the Shadow .',[''' ^^^ TiTE Swbllimo or Jobdah . . ^^ I>iUT Waba Yow Dbb ,'.[[*''' ^^ The JoDOMBirr or Ddkoaba , ,* ^^^ At Howli Thaka . . Gemini ... At Twenty-Two , . ^ Ik Flood Timb . , **' Thb Sendiho or Daha Da . * ' * * * ' *^^ Om the City Wall . *^ . 2» IS 1 t J f THE GOD FROM THE MACHINE Hit a man an* help a woman, an' ye can't be far wrong anyways. — Maxims of Private Mulvaney. "J^waya. The Inexpressibles gave a ball. They borrowed a seven-pounder from i^-^ Gunners, and wreathed it with laurels, and made ix.o dancing-floor plate-glass, and provided a supper, the like of which had never been eaten before, and set two sentries at the door of the room to hold the trays of programme-cards. My friend, Private Mulvaney, was one of the sentries, because he was the tallest man in the regiment. When the dance was fairly started the sentries were released, and Pri- vate Mulvaney went to curry favour with the Mess Sergeant in charge of the supper. Whether the Mess Sergeant gave or Mulvaney took, I cannot say. All that I am certain of is that, at supper-time, I found Mulvaney with Private Ortheris, two-thirds of a ham, a loaf of bread, half a pdtS-de-foie-gras, and two mag- nums of champagne, sitting on the roof of my carriage. As I came up I heard him saying — ^Praise be a danst doesn^t come as often as Ord'lv- room or, by this an' that, Orth'ris, me son, I wud be the dishgrace av the rig'mint instid av the brightest ]ool in uts crown. ' ^^Sand the Colonel's pet noosance,' said Ortheris. "Ut wot makes you cui-se your rations? This 'ere hzzy stuff's good enough.' B I f 1 THE GOD TROM THE «.. ■''?™'»' /What i. „t r '^--"''^ 3iok wid •;";:'-, J ^oose liver ' T -^ ^i^^ge, for I t„' ^^^^ olimhing on the top of th« ^^ulvaney than fL '* '^''^^ better to L ^^''■ TV ,. *^ ^''ince manv r7o ®^*= out with (^oose liver is „f o , . -^ ^^^ces. '*^^^^ He ,vud ffiv^ il ''*•>'« "« warm an' tT " ^*"' '''^ -• "I » lu STT ' '"- - L '''';^t1"'""• °■^''e-».etendr c"b f " ^" *«'• »"• itr »««-• Von 1^ ^""'"''^ water-butte fl ^'''' '"^^ *«» M..a„5r--.,.„,,,„,-^^a^God^^^ ^ Say you so? Now T' ' trouble wid »t^!u^' '*'^'>sn't wy own bnf r . , ■nessin' wid f f""" "^ "* ^aaf ^' , * ^'-^^ "ore siin -fciear ampagne we're '^"- 'Tisthis ather in it. j ^^d it in the 'P of the car- sit out with 'I^aith, I'n, 'r to cut up undher his Ji§;hts chilJ. 'Tis he sez ;id that he ^^k as iver elf in the 'e was too >d-fearing ' you did, 'uel hard ' him in they are the peg on av a fious Who; se ^ more ^way, Hear THE GOD FROM THE MACHINE 3 now!' He settled himsfelf at ease on the top of the carriage. 'I'll tell you all about ut. Av coorse I will name no names, for there's wan that's an orf'cer's lady now, that was in ut, and no more will I name places, for a man is thracked by a place.' 'Eyahl ' said Ortheris lazily, 'but this is a mixed story wot's corain'.' 'Wanst upon a time, as the childer-books say, I was a recruity. ' 'Was you though?' said Ortheri«; 'now that's extry- ordinary I ' ^ j 'Orth'ris,' said Mulvaney, 'av you opin thim lips av yours again, I will, savin' your presince, Sorr, take you by the slack av your trousers an' heave you.' 'I'm mum, ' said Ortheris. 'Wot 'appened when you was a recruity?' 'I was a betther recruity than you iver was or will be, but that's neither here nor there. Thin I became a man, an' the divil of a man I was fifteen yeurs ago. They called me Buck Mulvaney in thim days, an', begad, I tuk a woman's eye. I did that! Ortheris, ye scrub, fwhat are ye sniggerin' at ? Do you misdoubt me ? ' 'Devil a doubt! ' said Ortheris; 'but I've 'eard sum- mat like that before!' Mulvaney dismissed the impertinence with a lofty ■wave of his hand and continued—- 'An' the orf'cers av the rig'mint I was in in thim days waB orf'cers — gran' men, wid a manner on 'em, an' a way wid 'em such as ia^i^t made these days — all but wan — wan o' the capt'ns. A bad dhrill, a wake !r!V^' ^ ^"^^ leg — thim three things are the signs man. You bear that in voui- mind, O me son. your ris. ? li ll P"yavmen like the CaDt'tf T ""^^ ^» 'he natol -« to her, though thet^;-J»J« ^ "«ti„. ;;"™? Stop a minute, Mulvanev ^ 'T *^^»' ^^n child. ' , . ' Up my back, an' in ^ ""i leel/ Av coorsA ^f- av the nect _;C Whl tt^' ''"' « ">« «C ;™ o" duty an' the reg'CZJ "^^ ""^'y^ ^Wn fi«t I^an „e eye ovl .~ " r""^" "^"i "1^11 -Tn' wV** t rct:^^:Tr»* "« c-e tot:!!^.^f "' "- -4^van4:n^JS-e«-aveo<,*Crre^ ^ndLlnrtra:TSt\rr1"^^^^^^^ -' "an- ' f e, poor innocint, lookS" !,ft.*^'''°''«''» ''""ghter an' » av a black moustache. n.n' k. !1^. "* ^^hl% little ' - "- ^v^^stea an' turned 8- daughter— ■up-an'-cany- ^ the natural tastin' payin» we an* over, But he niver he throuble, ;n child.' 'u the world a scornful ''s pleasure I'ninst me, ^ou to pick Av coorse the short ejes whin Know! rreat dale 6 the use t^et-nurse w a bad in' whin ' Militia hill"__ 8 combs Terence ^' blan- ker, an' ssariat ^little urned THE GOD PROM THE MACHINE 5 ivry wurrd he used as av he found ut too sweet for to spit out. Eyahl He was a tricky man an' a liar by natur'. Some are born so. He was wan. I knew he was over his belt in money borrowed from natives; beside^ a lot av other matthers which, in regard for your presince, Sorr, I will oblitherate. A little av fwhat I knew, the Colonel knew, for he wud have none av him an' that, I'm thinkin', by fwhat happened aftherwards! the Capt'in knew. * Wan day, bein' mortial idle, or they wud never ha' thriedut, the rig'mint gave amsure theatricals— orf'cera an' orf'cers' ladies. You've seen the likes time an* agm, Sorr, an' poor fun 'tis for them that sit in the back row an' stamp wid their boots for the honour av the rig'mint. I was told off for to shif ' the scenes, haulin* up this an* draggin* down that. Light work ut was, wid lashins av beer and the gurl that dhressed the orf'cers' ladies -but she died in Aggra twelve years gone, an' my tongue's gettin' the betther av me. They was actin' a play thing called Sweethearts, which you may ha' heard av, an' the Colonel's daughter she was a lady's maid. The Capt'n was a boy called Broom — Spread Broom was his name in the play. Thin I saw — ut come out in the actin' — fwhat I niver saw before, an' that was that he was no gentleman. They was too much together, thim two, a-whishperin 'behind the scenes I shifted, ar' some av what they said I heard; for I was death — blue death an' ivy — on the comb-cuttin'. He was iverlastin'ly oppressing her to fall in wid some sneakm' schame av his, an' she was thi-yin' to stand out against him, but not as though she wa.s set in her will. I wonder now in thim days that my ears did not grow a yard on mo head wid list'nin'. But I looked straight « THE GOD FROM THE MACHDJE fominst me an' hauled up this an' .Iragged down that notner, thinkin I was out av listen-reach: "Fwhatan 'Wasn't till the dhresstw ^that T^s^t evJon • ''" *""" '^' ''^— ''''d P"' "P » 'A what?' said I. I c'anTT/? I ^^'''* ^™ <"*" "» ^'^P^-^i^t. E-yasion an' prol 'h""' '""'P'?' "'^'° '"^ "S''' »' natu^ chiwT ' 'f 7™°g »°' dhirty to steal a man's wan Saiinf n"ft p""'"', ""^ """ "•'"<»■ There IZZ sargmi in the Comm'ssariat who set my faee uno^ e-v^io„s. I'll tell you about that '^ ^° Orthert-P*' ""'""'"' ^"P*^'"'' Mulvaney,' said urthens; Comm'ssariat Sargints is low.' Muljaney accepted the amendment and went on:- thaf Z f T *\"* *' ^°'°"^1 ^^ "» f"0l. any more an the Colonel was the best orf 'cer command in' in ' w;abe^i.^;:^Lrr:^.-^----^^^^^^ But I nxyer sthruok. niyer ntised me hand on m^Thu- THE GOD PROM THE MACHINE 7 ^Mhtf r "' "'"' ^-^ ^ '"^™'-- J -e to 'Mulvaney, the dawn's risin'/ said Ortheri, '»n' we're no nearer 'ome than we ^as at the be"nnin' Lend me your pouch. Mine's all dust. ' ^ " ^^Mnlvaney pitehed his pouch over, and filled his pipe I it cttiourr'f 'T:'.""™^ '» "" -<'' '">'. bel^aze was em ous, I stayed behind whin the soene-shifti,.' was ended, an' I shnd ha' been in barrieks, yt • t fl t a. a toad under a painted cottage thin^ Thev wL If ^"1^^^^^ ""• »he was Ihiverin' an' Ipl^ like a fresh-hukked fish "a,.^ gaspm hangavthe manewvet ?"sez hJ ^ ""! ^"" ™ ^"^ *« o « "lauewvers r sez he, or wurrds to t.hnt pfFo^.' as the coort-martial se.. "Sare as death!^ ez she "b„; I misdoubt 'tis cruel hard on my father" " n! fathpr " Q^-, 1,^ •'^ Adiner. Damn your lather, sez he, or anyways 'twas fwhat he thought the arrangement is as clear as mud. Jungi w 11 df vt ™ ^wr;or's:^^!t[t^'.";h"t r"" -"--^ "thin fi.^ . . . ^iiitn. thmks I to mvself thrn there s a ayah in the business tu I " A powerful bad thins is a nvnt, r.„ u have any thruek wid wiS Thlt .^"" * y""""^"' her, an' all the orf'cersi' »fW lad&'^r ' put out the lights. To exok n T. If '' "" ^''^^ «^ they say at MusktLv '"^ "'' """"s''*' afther this^^.,1"* i'Z:/.™ '"™' ""^erstand that anther little birx^—::ix;r^^ av couple or another. The gnrl was fc:ti„' irt^L but the trl^kit a 7''T' ^'^ '" "> *" ^^ I' lo ^,uri s Kit at the end av the fir^^^ -,v_„ ,rp ^, J^itthat flnsthered me, for I kn^foCcJrt: go^ 8 THE OOD PROM THE MACHINE nCil^v"' ""' ''"'"™ ^"* *« ^'^ knew what ay a• Whin a Zr, mrned, all her kit an' 'contrements are tru.o, fh ch manes wedd.n'-portion. An' 'tis the same whin she's Ar^; Lir ^^^" "'<• '"« "S^-* blackguard on tie 'So I made my plan av campaign. The Colonel's house was a good two miles away. "Dennis '' eez I to mycolour-sargint, "av you love me lendmey;u kya:^ knt ^ wS ''*T' "* ">« «»«•" An' Dennis shafts. Whin they was all settled down to their SweHheart.hr the first scene, which was a long wan I slips outo.de and into the kyart. Mother av S bu I made that ho.«e walk, an' we came Into the Co onel's compound as the divil wint through Athlone sTrvintrat°V'^- . ^"^.'^'^ "° °"« *«™ -"ipt the gW's Sa^ "" ™"'"' '^ '^'' '^"'^ '^' ^"""^ the th»7t'''*°'' ^r^^" J«^«hel," sez I, "sellin' your mas- thers honour for five rupees -pack up all the mL bahib^ kit an' look slippy, Oa/t'n SaL'> oZ,"Z laid rnvfi^ ! '**""" """ "«'" I ««^' »»' ^id that I ner I wi"^'' *" ""^ '"^'' ^' '~'^«'J *''« ^''hamin' sin- "'^ote a.%," says she; so I knew she was in the learnt in the bazars on to this she-buUock, an' prayed av her to put all the oniek =!>■. tn— ;-,t- tZ ■,■ - -J — «.,«. ,j,^,^ Bjicw into tne tJiiii^. THE GOD FROM THE MACHINE 9 While she packed, I stud outside an' sweated, for I was wanted for to shif the second scene. I tell you a young gurl's e-vasion manes as much baggage as a rilf. mint on the line av march I "Saints help Dennis's Tl'u u ^°^' '' ^' ^ ^""^^'^ *^^ «t"ff i^to the thmp, for I '11 have no mercy I " ^ *"I'm comin' too," says the ayah. *"No. you don't," sez I, " later -;,..Ay/ You baito where you are. I'll pechy come an' bring you sarL along with me, you maraudin' "-niver mind fwhat I called her. *Thin I wint for the Gaff, an' by the special ordher /T T';.^^' ^ ^^ ^°^"' ^ g°°d ^o^k you will ondersthand, Dennis's springs hild toight. "Now whm the Capt'n goes for that kit," thinks I, "he'll bl throubled.'' At the end av Sweethearts off the Capt'n runs in his kyart to the Colonel's house, an' I sits down on the steps and laughs. Wanst an' again I slipped in to see how the little piece wa^ goin', an' whin ut was near endin I stepped out all among the carriages an' smgs out very softly, "Jungil" Wid that a carr'^e began to move, an' I waved to the dhriver. « Sitherao ' " sez I, an' he Mtheraoed till I judged he was at proper distance, an' thin I tuk him, fair an' square betune L eyes, all I knew for good or bad, an' he dhropped wid a guggle like the canteen beer-engine whin ut's runnin' low Thm I ran to the kyait an' tuk out all the kit an' piled It into the carr'ge, the sweat runnin' down my face indhrops. "Go home," sez I, to the sais; "you'll find a man close here. Very sick he is. Take him T^r ^\,^7yo^ iversay wan wurrd about fwhat you've dekkoed, I'll marrow yon ti'll ^^ovr owr -v^'a - ' ■ , J-- ^"^ J '^r own wue won c sumjao who you are I Thin I heard the stampin' ay feet at 10 THE OOD PROM THE MACHINB heLu r^ .^"^ "" """^ °"t the gurl thried to hide herael behind wan av the piUare, an' uoz •' Jungi " ;„ , vo.ce that wouldn't ha' scared a hare. I run ove to an'i^v:'u;'rirh:tr ' "■^ ^^^' - -« - -^ <«rf r*?"'''^".?' '■■ "»°'"S *» *e station? (?«„- cam *yaAi6'« order " an' wiflrMif „ • i . ^ all among her own ki^ "^" "*" ^"'"^'^ '" oeiore the Colonel was there, an' she screamed an' I thought she was goin' off. Out comes the avTh s»vin» a sm^ av things alK,ut the Capfn havin' Zt ITZ icitan gone to the station.' « ^ur me mu2f;our'"' '"'''^'' ^°" *^^" ^ !• "" ra 'The Ughts av the thraps people oomin' from the an that, the way thim two women worked at the bundles an thrunks was a caution I I was dvin' to iJTh, seein' I didn, want to be known, Is^'^dlhe Lke' rr: tttts^^ ""' ''"^'' "^^ '-"^ *--« '^ JuLtofbut r '".*' ^""^ "S"'"' ^ "^'^ '"ted for Xrl ^™'' tomenjus in the opp'sits way from the other carr'ge an' put out my lighte PresintlV^ ^dl Jrt ?V^" ^ suspicioned Providence was lir/ ^"^^ *** "«•"• 'Twas Jungi, his nos^ smashed m flat, all dumb sick as you please^ Dennta's man m„3t have tUted him out av the ftrap. Wh"n he ome t», "HuttI" sez I, but he be<,a„ tn h^^j ^^ THE GOD FROM THE MACHINB n *»- You black lump av dirt," I sez, " is this the way you dhnve yonv gharri? That tikka has been THK OOD FROM niF. MACHINB And then ' said OrtherU and I together. That was all ' sai.l M„lv.„ey; .„tyoT another word TJ "''' *" "'""" *'"«• All I know ZZ. there was no e-vasion, an' that was fwhat T^n^d ^ow, I put ut to you, Sorr, is ten days' C B a fit^^'' r„ir.i-\,^r' "*"* *^'""'™' ''"s^n't this 'ere Co onel s daughter, an' you wa. bla.in' copped when you tried to wash in the Fort Ditch ' •That,' said Mulvaney, finishing the champagne 'is a Bhurarfluoue an' impert'nint observation.' ^ '*:w OF THOSE CALLED 1 We were wallowing through the China Seas in a dense fog, the horn blowing every two rainutoH for the benefit of the fishery craft that crowded th*> waterways. From the bridge tlie fo'c'sle was invisible; from the hand-wheel at the stern the captain's (abiii. The fog Jield possession of everything — the pearly white fog. Once or twice when it tried to lift, we saw a ,'limpse of the oily sea, the flitting vision of a junk's sail spread in the vain hope of catching the breeze, or the buoys of a line of nets. Somewhere close to us lay the 1 md, but it might have been the Kurile Islands for aught we knew. Very early in the morning there passed us, not a cable's-length away, but as unseen as the sprits of the dead, a steamer of the same line as ours. She howled melodiously in answer to our bellowing and passed on. 'Suppose she had hit us,' said a man from Sa cron. * Then we should have gone down,' answered the liief officer sweetly. "Beastly thing to go down in a ; .g,' said a young gentleman who was travelling for pleas- ure. ' Chokes a man both ways, y' know.' We were comfortably gathered in the smoking-room, the weather being to. cold to venture on the deck. Conversati .n naturally turned upon accidents of fog, the horn toot- ing significantly in the pauses between the tales. I 18 14 OF THOSE CALLED heard of the wreck of the Eric, the cutting down of the Strathnairn within half a mile of harbour, and the sSnTHoot ''^ '^" ''''-' ^^ *^^ '^^^•--^ -*■ 'It is astonishing,' said the man from Saigon, 'how many true stories are put down as sea yarns. It makes a man almost shrink from telling an anecdote.' 'Oh, please don't shrink on our account,' said the smoking-room with one voice. 'It's not my own story,' said the man from Saigon. A fellow on a Massageries boat told it me. He had been third officer of a sort on a Geordie tramp-one of those lumbermg, dish-bottomed coal-barges where the machmery is tied up with a string and the plates are rrvetted with putty The way he told his%ale was othei with a chart ten years old and the haziest sort of chronometers when she got into a fog- just such a fog as we nave now.' ° . ?r'i *^",,«"^«ki"^-room turned round as one man, and looked through the windows. ,w^^ f f^^^^'« own words, "just when the fog was thickest, the engines broke down. They had been doing this for some weeks, and we were too weary to care. I went forward of the bridge, and leaned over the side, wondering where I should ever get something that I could call a ship, and whether the old hulk would fall to pieces as she lay. The fog was as thick as any London one, but as white as steam. While they were tinkering at the engines below, I heard a voice in the fog about twenty yards from the ship's side, calling out, ' Can you climb on board if we throw you a rope?' xudL 8„„..vx^{i me, beuiiusu a lauciea we were going to OF THOSE CALLED ^^ be run down the next minute by a ship engaged in res- cuing a man overboard. I shouted for the engine-room whistle; and it whistled about five minutes, but never the sound of a ship could we hear. The ship's bov came forward with some biscuit for me. As he put it into my hand, I heard the voice in the fog, cryin^ out about throwing us a rope. This time it was the boy that yelled, 'Ship on us I ' and off went the whistle again while the men in the engine-room - it generally took the ships crew to repair the ffespa^s ^nainesl tumbled upon deck to know what we were doing. I told them about the hail, and we listened in the smother of the fog for the sound of a screw. We listened for ten minutes, then we blew the whistle for another ten. Then the crew began to call the ship's boy a fool, mean- ing that the third mate was no better. When thev were going down below, I heard the hail the third time, so did the ships boy. 'There you are,' I said, 'it is not twenty yards from us.' The engineer sings out, 'I heard it too! Are you all asleep?' Then the crew began to swear at the engineer; and what with discussion, argument, and a little swearing, — for there 18 not much discipline on board a tramp, ~ we raised such a row that our skipper came aft to enquire I the engineer, and the ship's boy stuck to our tale! ZTr\T '^''''''' '^'^ *^^ ^"P*^^"' '3^«^'d better patch the old engines up, and see if you've got enough steam to whistle with. I've a notion that we've got into rather too crowded ways.* '"The engineer stayed on deck while the men went down below. The skipper hadn't got back to the chart-room before I saw thirty feet of bowsprit hang- ing over the break of the fo'c'sle. Thirty feet of 16 OF THOSE CALLED ^rexlTL'T'' f ""^ *° ""y*""S '"^^ -«« the seas except a sailing-ship or a man-of-war. I specu latcd quite a long time, with my hands on the M warks. as to whether our friend wa^s soft wood » sS plated. It would not have made much difference to us anyway; but I felt there was more honourTn ZZ rrr-.""r;ene?oy '^iT ^ ^^ " " -we opened out. si^fe TUZtr'rf:^^ 8h,p on us two-thirds through, a little behind the bTak of the fo'c'ele. Our decks split up lengthways. Thr her ihin^n^ w"/''P "'" " *°S-horn. I remem^ her thmkmg, as I tqok water from the port bulwark that th>s was rather ostentatious after she had done ^1 sea, trying to go to sleep as hard as I could. Some one caught hold of my hair, and waked me up fZ hanging to ^hat was left of one of our boats under The lee of a large English ironclad. There were two men with me; the three of us began to yell. A man on"he 5 ;Z rK^'" ^°" f"^" o- "^""-i « - *row you a rope ? They weren't going to let down a fin„ new man-of-war's boat to pick up^hree half drowned - rats. We accepted the invitation. We climbed -I ater the fog cleared entirely; except for the half of to nron'tr '° f' f °^' *''^™ "^ °^'*« «'-t nor stmg on the sea to show that the Mespa had been cut m-^froml^o: """ '"^ " "'^' "-^' ^^-^ ^^ PRIVATE LEAROYD'S STORY And he told a tele. _ ChmnMes of Sautama Buddha. Fae from the haunts of Company Offloera who insist upon k.t..„specti„ns, far from keen-nosed Sergrnts X smff the pipe stuffed into the bedding-roll, two miles from the tumult of the barracks, lies fhe Trap. Tt is did Private OrtU:iIrC:„;Cmra;^S for such possessions, dead and living/as couldnotSy be introduced to the barra^k-room. Here weregattetd HoudinpuUets and f„x.terrie:« ot undoubted peK inveterate poacher and pre-eminent among a regiment of neat-handed dog-stealers. ^ regiment Never again will the long h,zy evenings return wherein Ortheris whist ing softly, moved sur|eon.wise among the captives of his craft at the bottom of the 3 when Learoyd sat in the niche, giving sage coin i on the management of 'tykes,' and Mulvaney, from the boots in benediction above our heads, delighting us with tales of Love and War «n^ .t™„ ""gming us of cities and men ' ''"""«" experiences tS'^^^t ~ '*"^'^ *' ^ " *« ' l'"'e stuff bird-shop • .__ ^„..r „^ux xuiigeu; i^earoyd — back a^ain in the smoky, stone-ribbed North, amid the clang of the 17 18 PRIVATE LEAEOYD'S STORY If' n II > Bradford looms ; Mulvaney ~ grizzled f fin^«. a Trap I ^ ^ ^ ''*™ *<"'S°"«" "Id days in the nice. But she » "" .^'P* "" Sooin- his roundr^: ^^rl^a iZlTl "" '* ""^ ^'"' fl^g^gnaUin' ^ f and ttiXn , ' ^ Z' 'tC "c"„ir^ ««'»■' ^»'' ^o«, ^ „s noa wonder yon laady, Mrs. DeS^l^a; 5r, and very f a Central lays in the than other ut a Hew- bit doosky a carriage, ed as you I rings an' un 'a' cost igh o' one was Mrs. id wi' her est picter He could -^aady set Christian. England, in' as be- habit o' t' plaice a round r twice, nds, wi' n' to t' ank yo', c^as noa clipper 'eSussa, PRIVATE LEAROYD'S STORY jn Should t«k a fancy tiv him. Theer's one o' t' Ten Com- mandments says yo maun't cuvvet your neebor's ox nor his jackals but it doesn't say nowt about his tarrier dogs, an happen thot's t' reason why Mrs. DeSussa cuvveted R^, tho' she went to church r^lar along Tr her husband who was so mich darker 'at if he hedn't such a good co^t tiv his back yo' might ha' called him Jlt^^'l '^^.f ^' *'" ' ^'' °^^^^«^- They said he addled his brass i' jute, an' he'd a rare lot on it! Well, you seen, when they teed Rip up, t' poor awd lad didn t enjoy very good 'elth. So t' Colonel's Laadv sends for me as 'ad a naame for bein' knowledgeable about a dog, an' axes what's ailin' wi' him. *V/hy,' says I, 'he's getten t' mopes, an' what he wante IS his libbaty an' coompany like 1' rest on us' wal happen a rat or two 'ud liven him oop. It's low' mum,' says I, *is rats, but it's t' nature of a dog • an' soas cuttm' round an' meetin' another dog or two an' pa^sin' t' tune o' day, an' hevvin' a bit of !Zlup Z him hke a Christian.' ^ So she says her dog maunt niver fight an' noa Chris- tians iver fought. to her t contra,ry qualities of a dog, 'at, when yo' coom to thmk on%^ one o' f curuseat things as is. Fo^ WW ' '^'^™ *''''"'"^ '"^« S»*'^'°«'' <»^n. fit fn r / """^P'-y -*hey tell me f Widdy herself ^ fond of a good dog and knaws one when she sees it as well as onny body: then on f other hand a-tewin' ™nnd after cats an' gettin' mixed oop i' aU manne^o' blaekguardly streetnrows, an' killin' rats, an' fi.hti^' „i,e diviis. ' ~° — "^^ T Colonel's Laady says : -•Well, Learoyd, I doan't i I 11 80 PRIVATE LEAROYD'S STORY F' ' an- weld a b t „f .T"' "" ^ "="*«' « 1°* »' «•»« cua get t cat agaate o' runnin' 2^a a„. we wXuibfr.uTdTrr^^^^^^^ an when we loots up there was Mr, " P™"^"™''' paraael ovver her sbo'u.der/a.rtch"''^ ZyV she mngs out; 'there's that lovelee dog- Would h« let me stroke him, Mister Soldier ? • ^ ' ^ ^^ 'Ay, he would, mum,' sez I, 'for he'<. fnn^ „• i j . ooompany. Coom here Rin »„• , '"^^ * laady; An' RiT iTe^n' W .t° 'P"*'*^ *» ^^is kind clean awaar, cooms un Hke t' T"^"T ''«'* ^*° a hauporthX oHkTo!^ ^'°*'^""" ''^ '^"' ""-^ 'Oh, you beautiful -you prettee dog I' she sa™ ^^rtc:r-;---t:d:;£-^^^^^ JLtl^Lut":^ " sense mebbe thinks nowt on, __ „„.^„ ^„ „^. i-yajjoji o his breedin'. PRIVATE LEAROYD'S STORY 3I An' then I meks him joomp ovver my swagger-cane an' shek hands, an' beg, an' lie dead, an' a lot o' them tricks as laadies teeaches dogs, though I doan't hand with it mysen, for it's makin' a fool o' a good dog to do such like. An' at lung length it cooms out 'at she'd been thrawin' sheep's eyes, as t' sayin' is, at Rip for many a day. Yo* see, her childer was grown up, an' she'd nowt mich to do, an' were alius fond of a dog. Soa she axes me if I'd tek somethin' to dhrink. An' we goes into t' drawn-room wheer her 'usband was a-settin'. They meks a gurt fuss ovver t' dog an' I has a bottle o' aale, an' he gave me a handful o' cigara. Soa r coomed away, but t' awd lass sings out -- * Oh, Mister Soldier, please coom again and bring thatprettee dog.' I didn't let on to t' Colonel's Laady about Mrs. DeSussa, and Rip, he says nowt nawther; an' I gooes again, an' ivry time there was a good dhrink an' a handful o' good smooaks. An' I telled t' awd lass a heeap more about Rip than I'd ever heeared ; how he tuk t' fost prize at Lunnon dog-show and cost thotty- three pounds fower shillin' from t' man as bred him ; 'at his own brother was t' propputty 0' t' Prince o' Wailes, an' 'at he had a pedigree as long as a Dock's. An' she lapped it all oop an' were niver tired o' admirin' him. But when t' awd lass took to givin' me money an' I seed 'at she were gettin' fair fond about t' dog, I began to suspicion summat. Onny body may give a soldier t' price of a pint in a friendly way an' theer's no 'arm done, but when it cooms to five rupees slipt into your hand, sly like, why, it's what t' 'lectioneerin' fellows calls bribery an' corruption. Specially when Mrs. De- 22 I I :i PRIVATE LEAROYD'S STORY an- thim fine »il~ I '^^ ,. ^^ *" ""*' good Shrink lime-kilns, and noS T T ,*^'-"»'' as drjr as "Twasadhirtythriek J , ' ''"* ^""*«^° P'^g- should yonrWdthf''^-? * "'""""'«' *»' ^V «.;>;l av an^bod; ^ho thS in^utr ^^ "»' ^^^ -ow .Hue a f d'::^^^^^^^^!!!'.- journey.' ' ' ^^- ^^' * gentleman this M^DesIl ,'T;'Tr7 ""'J^'P ""' - S- to ™r a bit Th^'at fost '"tt""™-^". " «tainger she f*. an' yo- 4 bel::^ .^lU: J^ t"!^ M-'vaney lass wal she let out 'at she wanted to tek^ ^'"^ her to Munsooree Pahar. T^"! K?l-^n--^*, "^'^ ^ i,^„iyanujr changes liis lid soon be in we was B Rip any )e kind tiv lale thro', >s,' says *t my frind 11 save ye Jman, an' e wurrds ?gin' his 1 dhrink here an' dry as in plug, for why he butt not the t's like 'get no > kshire- n this oes to er she vaney i' awd ay wi' es his PRIVATE LEAROYD'S STORY 23 tune an' axes her solemn-like if she'd thought o' t' con- sequences o' gettin' two poor but honest soldiers sent t' Andamning Islands. Mrs. DeSussa began to cry, so Mulvaney turns round oppen t' other tack and smooths her down, allowin' 'at Rip ud be a vast better off in t' Hills than down i' Bengal, and 'twas a pity he shouldn't go wheer he was so well beliked. And soa he went on, backin' an' fillin' an' workin' up t' awd lass wal she felt as if her life warn't worth nowt if she didn't hev t' dog. Then all of a suddint he says : — * But ye shall have him, marm, for I've a feelin' heart, not like this could- blooded Yorkshireman ; but 'twill cost ye not a penny less than three hundher rupees.' * Don't yo' believe him, mum,' says I; 't' Colonel's Laady wouldn't tek five hundred for him.' 'Who said she would?' says Mulvaney; *it's not buyin' him I mane, but for the sake o' this kind, good laady, I'll do what I never dreamt to do in mv life I'll stale him I ' ^ 'Don't say steal,' says Mrs. DeSussa; 'he shall have the happiest home. Dogs often get lost, you know, and then they stray, an' he likes me and I like him as I niver liked a dog yet, an' I must hev him. If I got him at t' last minute I could carry him off to Munsooree Pahar and nobody would niver knaw.' Now an' again Mulvaney loolced acrost at me, an' though I could mak nowt o' what he was after, I con- cluded to take his leead. 'Well, mum,' I says, 'I never thowt to coom down to dog-steealin', but if my comrade sees how it could be done to oblige a laady like yo'sen, I'm nut t' man to hod back, tho' it's a bad business I'm thinkin', an' three 24 PRIVATE LEAROYD^S STORT li 'II ii ill that "' thei::Kf rH''"'^ .**■'' «'p'« — « -liar again f u^, Z^U^Ztt H """ » '"™' was to be t' day she set offT ^ ''" ""'"• «'Wch 'Sitha, Mulvaney,' ays r l^™"""*" ^'"'"• '.^Ve nive. goiAr J; C V!' '^^ °"'^""" he^theraU CetS"' ^ P°" o^.o^aar says 'An- wheer's he to come tkough?' says I ■^made av duff. Isn't oitCTol^' ^T ""'"^ ""3t, an' a rale artist wid h"s nt^f^T" ^*^'''^'- An' what's a Taxidermist but "' '"'"'* ""^'^^ shkins? Do ye mind^llv. . ""'" ^'«' <=»" thrate Canteen Sar/ntZd'c!: t rim'"£ Itlh'l- T *° *« h« time an- snarlin' the res " R» \ n V' '"'' '"^f ?«<« now; an' do ye mLd tw ?. **" "« '"«* &' «We an- size av the cl„»r k^'' ""• ^^'^ «?'* » , an inch too W In? h^/'^'^' '»™' that his toil is diva^ifies the rf e Kip an^hfT "" *^ "'"''" *•>»' B-asther an' wor«e. B^t W "'^'' '^ *^' "^ '"» tail? An' fwhat M = V • '' *" '"* »» a dog's ringstraked'lit CT;™"' ' ^f"'™ '^ " ^- at all, at all.' ' ''""^' »° white ? Nothin' ^wJ^a^rCeThr^'^r r« -n. bein' "inute. An' he went <■„ ? ''°"^'' *' '"^"^^ m a -. -t day. ^^^^or^'T:^^^^^^ a PRIVATE LEAROYD'S STORY 26 an' then he drored all Kip's markin's on t' back of a white Commissariat bullock, so as to get his 'and in an' be sure of his colours ; shadin' off brown into black as nateral^ as life. If Rip hed a fault it was too mich markin , but it was straingely reg'lar an' Orth'ris set- tied himself to make a fost-rate job on it when he got baud o t Canteen Sargint's dog. Theer niver was ^ch a dog a^ thot for bad temper, an' it did nut get no better when his tail hed to be fettled an inch an' a half shorter. But they may talk o' theer Royal Academies as they hke. / niver seed a bit o' animal paintin' to beat t copy as Orth'ris made of Rip's marks, wal t' picter Itself was snarlin' all t' time an' tryin' to get at Rip standin' theer to be copied as good as goold. Orth'ris alius hed as mich conceit on himsen as would lift a balloon, an' he wor so pleeased wi' his sham Rip he wor for tekking him to Mre. DeSussa before she went away. But Mulvaney an' me stopped thot, knowin' Orth'ris's work, though niver so cliver, was nobbut skin-deep. An' at last Mrs. DeSussa fixed t' day for startin' to Munsooree Pahar. We wa« to tek Rip to t' stayshun i' a basket an' hand him ovver just when they was readv to start, an' then she'd give us t' brass -as was agreed upon. ^ An'^ my wodi It were high time she were off, for them air-dyes upon t' cur's back took a vast of paintin' to keep t' reet culler, tho' Orth'ris spent a matter o' seven rupees six annas i' t' best drooggist shops i' Calcutta. An' t' Canteen Sargint was lookin' for 'is dog every- wheer; an', wi' bein' tied nn. f» K^opt'c 4.,v_._ ^. waur nor ever. 26 PRIVATE LEAROYD'S STORY few of her relatione ,.n' f -T' ^" °°°'"8 "P » su Jt^ I that 'TerirdX' s' ^'"i.^r ^^ '--^ the nick av time an' Or^? ^T"' ' ^°« J"'* '° that ™ade a w»k tv art ouTaTth ?' T'- ^" ^'""«' nature. Yet W ». T *"*' "^'j piece av iU- led into fe! n 'LT,;;,: *r^7f «"»• that I was not beggin' for.' ""^ *^' P"" P«»P'« he's always But me an' Orth'ris, he bein' n..,-_, • "o -win vjugjuiey an 1 bein' PRIVATE LEAROYD'S STORY 27 pretty far north, did nut see it i' t' saame way. We'd gotten t' brass, an' wo meaned to keep it. An' soa we did — for a short time. Noa, noa, we niver heeard a wod more o' t' awd lass. Our rig'mint went to Pindi, an' t' Canteen Sargint he got himself another tyke insteead o' t' one 'at got lost so reg'lar, an' was lost for good at last. li Iffl I THE BIG DRUNK DRAP» Our ship IS a« the shore, Ho I H™ * '°°^« t>a°k no mork ^'/'^"^y^^g^^eve forme, My lovely Maiy Ann, For I'll marry you yet on a f ourp'ny bit As a time-expired ma-a-an I ^ "^ ""♦ ■Barrack-room Ballad. not ve.y long ago. has come ba^k to T" ^""^-^.^P'"-"' It was aU Dinah Shadd's fault Shi T. " "™"""' the poky little lodgings and ^h/ "'*."''* """ ***'«' Abdullah n,ore thaf "^rd t„W tdP Th'"/r "' ceSTnit:,:nd°:::rtUrr »' ^-"^ "- coo4 fo^ oldTak',^X'"~"'""' "' " ^"^ "^ rupees a n.onth. and Dil" Sha"^; S S i?^*^ did not accept she would mnto »,• rr ^ Terence ians,' which w»« , ™"'vaneys came out as 'civil- 'Ker'nel on the ra.i.4 "- -^ ^'"^ *■"" '"' ™« . -iLi..a/ „„„, an a oonsequinshal man.' THE BIG DRUNK DRAF^ 29 He wrote me an invitation, on a tool-indent form, to visit him ; and I came down to the funny little ' con- struction' bungalow at the side of the line. Dinah Shadd had planted peas about and about, and nature had spread all manner of green stuff round the place. There was no change in Mulvaney except the change of clothing, which was deplorable, but could not be helped. He was standing upon his trolly, haranguing a gang- man, and his shoulders were as well drilled, and his big, thick chin was as clean-shaven as ever. ' I'm a civilian now,' said Mulvaney. * Cud you tell that I was iver a martial man ? Don't answer, Sorr, av you're strainin' betune a complimint an' a lie. There's no houldin' Dinah Shadd now she's got a house av her own. Go inside, an' dhrink tay out av chiny in the drrrrawin'-room, an' thin we'll dhrink like Christians undher the tree here. Scutt, ye naygur-folk I There's a Sahib come to call on me, an' that's more than he'll iver do for you onless you run ! Get out, an' go on pilin' up the earth, quick, till sundown.' When we three were comfortably settled under the big aisham in front of the bungalow, and the first rush of questions and answers about Privates Ortheris and Learoyd and old times and places had died away, Mul- vaney said, reflectively — 'Glory be there's no p'rade to-morrow, an' no bun-headed Corp'ril-bhoy to give you his lip. An' yit I don't know. 'Tis harrd to be some- thing ye niver were an' niver meant to be, an' all the ould days shut up along wid your papers. Eyah! I'm growin' rusty, an' 'tis the will av God that a man mustn't serve his Quane for time an' all.' He helped himself to a fresh peg, and sighed furiously. *Let your beard grow, Mulvaney,' said I, *and then so THE BIG DRUNK DBAF' Z Z^^^""^ ^"-^ ^''^ -t-s. You,, be a Dinah Shadd had told mp in fT,« ^ minted wid an ontr»ii7*t . Z^"^' ^ '^"'^ •« ^r- un<^er the chin Ye^'j'jf ^f^'^^''^'.^''* "^^S'""' Dinah Shadd? By thHame toT "' '^''"^ '""''^'• after old cCe::^:;^-" '"'^'' ■" -''-s light^whteyoutct,?^""'' "^ ^^''^"" "^ *>>« Oay. 6 " »»iiiu jfuu ao come — an iinQpffir.' t"^ . « "^ wid your nonsense about -labontftl J^'^^'f' ^^^ forgotten. He bein' a .1 -i *'* """''' ^>^^ aught else. Can Z notl^!^ T' *"* ^"" "'™^ ™ good for Terenc"^ '' *''' Amny rest? >Tis not templrof hJ;f;^ '*"'™"«^' ^» ^^-^ Shadd has a 'Letbe_letbe,'saidMulvaney. "T;, „„i m a way I can talk about the ould davs , '"" V*°" -'Ye say Dhrumshticks is well .TV T 7 *° ""'= niver knew how I liked th g^y ' ^J" ,/t ^ *"l ' mr 1,;, > A . . &^*j K^irron till 1 wns ah"* -. .^ -u. ^.a. _ •i.hrumshtioks • was the nicknam; THE BIG DRUNK DRAf' 31 of the Colonel commanding Mulvaney's old regiment. — 'Will you be seein' him again? You will. Thin tell him' — Mulvaney's eyes began to twinkle — •tell him wid Privit ' 'Mister, Terence,' interrupted Dinah Shadd. 'Now the Divil an' all his angils an' the Firmament av Hiven fly away wid the "Mister," an' the sin av making me swear be on your confession, Dinah Shadd! Privit, I tell ye. Wid Privit Mulvaney's best obedi- ence, that but for me the last time-expired wud be still pullin' hair on their way to the sea.' He threw himself back in the chair, chuckled, and was silent. 'Mrs. Mulvaney,' I said, 'please take up the whiskey, and don't let him have it until he has told the story.' Dinah Shadd dexterously wliipped the bottle away, saying at the same time, "Tis nothing to be proud av,' and thus captured by the enemy, Mulvaney spake : — "^ "Twas on Chuseday week. I was behaderin' round wid the gangs on the 'bankmint — I've taught the hop- pers how to kape step an' stop screechin'— whin a head-gangman comes up to me, wid about two inches av shirt-tail hanging round his neck an' a disthressful light m his oi. " Sahib, " sez he, " there's a reg'mint an' a half av soldiers up at the junction, knockin' red cinders out av ivrything an' ivrybodyl They thried to Jiang me m my cloth," he sez, '^an' there will be murder an' rum an' rape in the place before nightfall! They say they're comin' down here to wake us up. What will we do wid our women-folk ? " '"Fetch my thi-oliyi '" sez I; "my heart's sick in ray ribs for a wink at anything wid the Quane's uniform on ^^W^f i i i r, S -Si^ m 82 THE BIG DRUNK DRAF' fu% *"'' '^^ "^^ "°**'' '*''* ^'"^ S'^*'l "P'oaot- ' 'Twas to do honour to the Widdy. I cud ha' don« fel '."^r ' ''*'"• ^"^ '""'* youf digreS into" fere wid the cooi.e av the narrative. Have you iver consadhered fwhat I wud look like wid me W sWd aswelj as my ch.n ? You bear that in y„„r mind, Dinl^ thIJ Zi'^ft^ "P ''^ "■""'• *" *° ^«' " ^Muint at ttat draf . I *„.„ -t^^ ^ spring draf ' goin- home, for there s no ng'mmt hereabouts, more's the pity. • Praise the Virgial ' murmured Dinah Shadd But Mulvaney did not hear. " •^naaa. jjut 'Whin I was about three-quarteis av a mile off the J^^t^amp powtherin- along fit to bun.t, I heard the noise av tie men an', on my sowl, Sorr I cud catch the voice av Peg Barney bellowin' like a bison widte Comp ny_a red, hairy sciaun, wid a scar on his law? Peg Barney that cleared out the Blue Lights' JuUke meeting wid the cook-room mop last year? Thin I knew ut was a draf ' of the ould rig'mint an' I was conshumed wid sorrow for the bhoy thaTw^t charge We was harrd scrapin's at any fime DM ? iver toll you how Horker Kelley went into clink nakid as Phoebus ApoUonius, wid the shirte avthe Co^^rft But rm'd " V >"^Z' ^°' *' -- « -M »- But I m digreshin'. 'Tis a shame both to the ris' min^ and the Arrmy sendin' down little orf 'cer bhoys wid a draf' av strong men mad wid lio-. .ran' th„ .1,..!! av gettin- shut av India, an' „.W « pmUkm^;^^ THE BIG DRUKK DRAB" 33 fittoie given right down an' away from oantonmint, to the time, I m undher the Articles ay War, an' can te mv time 7' \^^ '" *"• ^"' -'>'° ^'^ -™«^ my time, I m a Reserve man, an' the Articles av War haven t any honld on me. An orf cer can't do anytw" to a time-expired savin' confinin' him to barricts. 'Tis a wise rig lation bekaze a time-expired does not have any barricks; bein' on the move all the time. 'TisI Solomon av a rig'lation, is that. I wud like to b^ inthroduced to the man that made ut. 'Tis easier to get eolts from a Kibbereen ho.e-fair into Glir;!: to take a bad draf over ten miles av country. Consi- qumtly that rig'lation - for fear that the men wud te ^1' 'VT '^''''' '""'y- No matthei^ The nearer my throUy came to the rest-camp, the woilder was the shine, an' the louder was the voice av Peg Barney. "Tis good I am here," thinks I to mysell' for Peg alone 13 employmint for two or thiee." He beii. , I well knew, as copped as a dhrover. w»', »n"t ***' '•'tTP ""^ * ''Sht! The tent-ropes the men -fifty av Uum-the scourin's, an' rinsin's, an' Divil s lavm's av the Ould Rig'mint. I toll you, Soi^, they were dhrui.„ .■ than any men you've ever seen in your mortial life. So. does a draf^get dhruTk How doesafroggetfat? They sukutin through their shkins. „h J ""^ l'^ Barney sittin' on the groun' in his shirt -wan shoe off au' wan shoe on-whackin' a tent-peg over the head wid his boot, an' singin' fit to wake the dead. 'Twas no clane song that he sung, tnuugii. xwas me Divil's Mass.' * What's that?' I asked. ii ii'i; 34 THE BIG DRUNK DRAF' *Whin a bad egg is shut av the Army, he sings the Divil's Mass for a gpod riddance; an' that manes swear- in' at ivrything from the Commandher-in-Chief down to the Room-Corp'ril, such as you niver in your days heard. Some men can swear so as to make green turf crack I Have you iver heard the Curse in an Orange Lodge? The Divil's Mass is ten times worse, an' Peg Barney was singin' ut, whackin' the tent-peg on the head wid his boot for each man that he cursed. A powerful big voice had Peg Barney, an' a hard swearer he was whin sober. I stood forninst him, an' 'twas not me oi alone that cud tell Peg was dhrunk as a coot. *"Good mornin' Peg," I sez, whin he dhrew breath afther cursin' the Adj'tint Gen'ral; "I've put on my best coat to see you. Peg Barney," sez I. *"Thin take ut off again," sez Peg Barney, latherin' away wid the boot; "take ut off an' dance, ye lousy civilian I " * Wid that he begins cursin' ould Dhrumshticks, being so full he clean disremimbers the Brigade-Major an' the Judge Advokit Gen'ral. '"Do you not know me. Peg?" sez I, though me blood was hot in me wid being called a civilian.' 'An' him a decent married man I' wailed Dinah Shadd. '"I do not," sez Peg, "but dhrunk br sober I'll tear the hide off your back wid a shovel whin I've stopped singin'." '"Say you so. Peg Barney?" sez I. "'Tis clear as mud you've forgotten me. I'll assist your autobiog- raphy." Wid that I stretched Peg Barney, boot an' all, an' wint into the camp. An awful sight ut was ! 'Where's the orf'cer in charge avthe detachment?" i(t THE BIG DRUNK DRAF' 35 sez I to Scrub Greene — the manest little worm that ever walked. '"There's no orf'cer, ye ould cook," sez Scrub; we re a bloomin' Republic." ;"Are you that?" sez I; «thin I'm O'Connell the Dictator, an' by this you will larn to kape a civil tongue in your rag-box." '" Wid that I stretched Scrub Greene an' wint to the orf cer's tent. 'Twa^ a new little bhoy - not wan I'd iver seen before. He was sittin' in his tent, purtendin' not to 'ave ear av the racket. 'I saluted -but for the life av me I mint to shake hands whin I went in. 'Twas the sword hangin' on the tent-pole changed my will. ^ *"Can't I help, Sorr?" sez I; "'tis a strong man's job they ve given you, an' you'll be wantin' help bv sundown. ' He was a bhoy wid bowils, that child; an' a rale gmtleman. *" Sit down," sez he. *"Not before my orf'cer," sez I; an' I tould him iwnat m}' service was. '"I've heard av you," sez he. "You tuk the town av Lungtungpen nakid." ^ '"Faith," thinks I, "that's Honour an' Glory"- for twas Lift'nint Brazenose did that job. "I'm wid ve Sorr sez I, "if I'm av use. They shud niver ha' seni you down wid the draf. Savin' your presince, Sorr," I sez, tis only Lift'nint Hackerston in the Ould Kig mint can manage a Home draf." '"I've niver had charge of men like this before," sez he, playm wid the pens on the table; "an' I see by the Rig'lations " -^ '"Shut your oi to the Rig'lations, Sorr," I sez, "till 8B THE BIG DRUNK DRAF' the throoper's into blue wather. By the Rig'lations you've got to tuck thim up for the night, or they'll be runnin' foul av my coolies an' makin' a shiverarium half through the country. Can you trust your non- coms, Sorr?" '"Yes,"8ezhe. '"Good," sez I; "there'll be throuble before the night. Are you marchin', Sorr?" '"To the next statioii,' sez he. ll'Better still," 867 1; "rSere'll be big throuble." '"Can't be too harr' m a H me draf," sez he; "the great thing is to get I iT>i '"n-ship." '"Faith you've larnt the iialf av your lesson, Sorr," sez I, I' but av you shtick to the Rig'lations you'll niver get thim in-ship at all, at all. Or there won't be a rag av kit betune thim whin you do." "Twas a dear little orf'cer bhoy, an' by way avkapin' his heart up, I tould him fwhat I saw wanst in a draf in Egypt.' 'Whauwas that, Mulvaney?' said I. 'Siyin an' fifty men sittin' on the bank av a canal, laughin' at a poor little squidgereen av an orf'cer that they'd made wade into the slush an' pitch the things out av the boats for their Lord High Mightinesses. That made me orf'cer bhoy woild wid indignation. '"Soft an'aisy, Sorr," sez I; "you've niver had your draf in hand since you left cantonmints. Wait till the night, an' your work will be ready to you. Wid your permission, Sorr, I will investigate the camp, an' talk to my ould frinds. 'Tis no manner av use thryin' to shtop the divilmint wow." 'Wid that I wint out into the camp an' inthrojuced mysilf to ivry man sober enough to remimber me. I J THE BIG DRUNK DRAP» 87 was some wan in the ould days, an' the bhoys was glad to see me -all excipt Peg Barney wid a eye like a tomata five days in the bazar, an' a nose to match Ihey come round me an' shuk me, an' I tould thim I was in privit employ wid an income av me own, an' a drrrawin -room fit to bate the Quane's; an' wid me lies in wan way an' another, knockin' roun' the camp. Twas Jac? even thin whin I was the Angil av Peace. 1 talked to me ould non-coms - ^.^ was sober ^ an betune me an' thim we wore the draf over into their tents at the proper time. The little orf 'cer bhov he^comes round, decint an' civil-spoken as might be. Rough quarters, men,"sez he, "but you can't look IL^ ? ««^fo^table as in barricks. We must make the best av things. I've shut my eyes to a dale av dog's tricks to-day, an' now there must be no more av ut.'' ^on " T^ r ""'"• ^^^'^ ^"' ^^^« ^ Shrink, me son sez Peg Barney, staggerin' where he stud. Me little orf 'cer bhoy kep' his timper. Sl2ll\^ sulky swine, you are," sez Peg Barney, an at that the men in the tent began to laugh Itouldyoumeorf'cerbhoyhadbowils. He cut Peg Barney as near as might be on the oi that I'd squshed whin we fii^t met. Peg wint spinnin' acrost the tent ^ Peg him out, Sorr," sez I, in a whishper. Peg him out! " sez me orf 'cer bhoy, up loud iust I,«T' °™r'^ '"'' ^*S Barney -a howlin' handful Clown, riorht-nhrow'n '\r V'- i. ' r «onK o ' o:-*^ -nT"""!! — on his stummiek, a tent-peg to each arm an' leg, swearin' fit to turn a naygur whife. 88 THE BIG DRUNK DRAF' *I tuk a peg an' jammed ut into his ugly jaw — "Bite on that, Peg Burney," I sez; "the night is set- tm' frosty, an' you'll be wantin' divarsion before the mornin'. But for the Rig'lations you'd be bitin' on a bullet now at the thriangles. Peg Barney," sez I. * All the draf ' was out av their tents watchin' Barney bein' pegged. ^ *"'Ti8 agin the Rig'lations I He strook him!" screeches out Scrub Greene, who was always a lawyer; an' some of the men tuk up the shoutin'. '"Peg out that man I" sez my orf'cer bhoy, niver losin' his timper; an' the non-coms wint in and pegged out Scrub Greene by the side av Peg Barney. 'I cud see that the di»af ' was comin' roun'. The men stud not knowin' fwhat to do. *"Get to your tents I" sez me orf'cer bhoy. "Sar- gint, put a sintry over these two men." 'The men wint back into the tents like jackals, an' the rest av the night there was no noise at all excipt the stip av the sintry over the two, an' Scrub Greene , blubberin' like a child. 'Twas a chilly night, an' faith, ut sobered Peg Barney. 'Just before Revelly, my orf'cer bhoy comes out an' sez: "Loose those men an' send thim to their tents I" Scrub Greene wint away widout a word, but Peg Bar- ney, stiff wid the cowld, stud like a sheep, thryin' to make his orf'cer understhand he was sorry for playin' the goat. 'There was no tucker in the draf whin ut fell in for the march, an' divil a wurrd about "illegality" cud I hear. 'I wint to the ould Colour Sargint and I sez : — "Let me die in glory," sez 1. "I've seen a man this day! " THE BIG DRUNK DRAF 39 *"A man he i8,"sez ould Hother; "the draf 's as sick as a herrin'. They'll all go down to the sea like lambs. That bhoy has the bowils av a cantonmint av Gin'rals." '"Amin,"sez I, « an' good luck go wid him, wher- iver he be, by land or by sea. Let me know how the draf gets clear." 'An' do you know how they did? That bhoy, so I was tould by letter from Bombay, bullydamned 'em down to the dock, till they cudn't call their sowls their own. From the time they left me oi till they was 'tween decks, not wan av thim was more than dacintly dbunk. An', by the Holy Articles av War, whin they wint. aboard they cheered him till they cudn't spake, an' that, mark you, has not come about wid a draf in the mim'ry av livin' man I You look to that little orf'cer bhoy. He has bowils. 'Tis not ivry child that wud chuck the Rig'lations to Flanders an' stretch Peg Barney on a wink from a brokin an' dilapidated ould carkiss like mesilf. I'd be proud to serve ' 'Terence, you're a civilian,' said Dinah Shadd warn- ingly. ' So I am — so I am. Is ut likely I wud forget ut ? But he was a gran' bhoy all the same, an' I'm only a mudtipper wid a hod on my shoulthers. The whiskey's in the heel av your hand, Sorr. Wid your good lave we'll dhrink to the Ould Rig'mint — three fingers — standin' up I' And we drank. i "I h :' M THE WRECK OF THE VISIGOTH » ' Eternal Fatlier, strong to save, Whoso arm hath bound the restless wave. Who bidst the miglity ocean keep Its own appointed limits deep.' The lady passengerB were trying the wheezy old harmonium m front of the cuddy, because it was Sunday night. In the patch of darkness near the wheel-grat- mg sat the Captain, and the end of his cheroot burned like a head-lamp. There was neither breath nor motion upon the waters through which the screw was thudding. They spread, dull silver, under the haze of the moon- light till they joined the low coast of Malacca away to the eastward. The voices of the singers at the harmo- mum were held down by the awnings, and came to us with lorce. * Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea.' It was as though the little congregation were afraid of the vastness of the sea. But a laugh followed, and some one said, ' Shall we take it through again a little qmcker? Then the Captain told the story of just such a night, lowering his voice for fear of disturbing the music and the minds of the passengers. 'She was the Visigoth, -^ve hundred tons, or it may have been six, -in the coasting trade ; one of the best steamers and best found on the Kutch-Kasauli line. i Copyright, lbin«« +V.rx;« — ,, i.-t • • hand, taking off their nose-rings and earrings, and 42 THE WBECK OP THE VISIGOTH thrusting em upon me to buy just one chance for life. If I hadn t been so desperately busy, I should have thought It homble. I put biscuits and water into the boat, and go the two ladies in. One of 'em was the CaptX^ wife. She had to be put in by main force. You've no notion how women can struggle. The other woman was the wife of an officer going to meet her husband; and there were a couple of passengers beside the las- cars. The Captam said he was going to stay with the t?,\Jn r *?' "^' " *''*^« "ff"™' I believe, is that the Captam has to bow gracefully from the bridge and go down. I haven't had a ship under my charge wrecked yet. When that comes, I'll have to do lie the others. After the bbats were away, and I saw that there was nothing to be got by waiting, I jumped over- board exactly as I might have vaulted over i^to a flat green field, and struck out for the mail-boat. Another officer did the same thing, but he went for a boat fuU of natives, and they whacked him on the chest with oars, so he had some difficulty in climbing in. ' It was as well that I reached the mail-boai,. There was a compass in it, but the idiots had managed to fill the boat half full of water somehow or anoLr, and none of the crew seemed to know what was required of them. Then the rielgoth went down and took every one with her -ships generally do that; the corpses dont cumber the sea for some time. headed into the track of the coasting steamers. The aggravating thing was the thought that we were close to land as far as a big steamer was concerned, and in the middle of eternity as far as regarded a little boat. — o „..., i^^.^ nugeuUM uig irom a boat at night.* THE WRECK OP THE VISIGOTH 43 'Oh, Christ, whose voice the waters heard And hushed their ravings at Thy word, Who walkedst on the foaming deep And calm amidst its rage did keep, — Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea I ' sang the passengers cheerily. 'That harmonium is disgracefully out of tune,' said the Captain. ' The sea air affects their insides Well as I was saying, we settled down in the boat. The Captain s wife was unconscious ; she lay in the bottom of the boat and moaned. I was glad she wasn't thresh- ing about the boat: but what I did think was wron^, was the way the two men passengers behaved. They were useless with funk - out and out fear. They lay in the boat and did nothing. Fetched a groan now and again to show they were alive; but that was all. liut the other woman was a jewel. Damn it, it was worth being shipwrecked to have that woman in the boat ; she was awfully handsome, and as brave as she was lovely. She helped me bail out the boat, and she worked like a man. 'So we kicked about [he sea from midnight till TtT T^r^* ''^'''^^^' ^^^ *^^^ ^« «^^ a steamer. "~r ; ^r^ ^'"""^ anything I'm wearing to hoist as a signal of distress," said the woman ; but I had no need to ask her, for the steamer picked us up and took us back to Bombay. I forgot to tell you that, when the day broke, I couldn't recognise the Captain's wife -- widow, I mean. She had changed in the night as if fire had gone over her. I met her a long time after- ^.„- „...! ^.^ex. i^ncxi she aadnt lorgiven me for put- ting her into the boat and obeying the Captain's orders. M THE WKECKOP THE VISIGOTH But the husband of the other woman-he's in the Amy - wrote me no end of a letter of thanks. I don't sun- enl 'h tT"'r' *■?* '''' ""^ ''■' ^' "^ha'd wL enough to make any decent man do aU he eould. The other fellows, who lay in the bottom of the boat and b M to V Tr.r- ,°""'' """^ *»• Should"" wit 1 *° «■» "f ^ did. And that's how the Vmgoth went down, for no assignable reason, with eighty bags of maJ, five hundred souls, and not a single paekft insured, on just sueh a night as this.' ^ ' Oh, Trinity of love and power, Our brethren shield in that dread hour Prom rook and tempest, fire and foe, ' Protect them wlieresoe'er they go. Thus evermore shall rise to Thee Glad hymns of praise by land and sea.' •Strikes me they'll go on singing that hymn all night. Imperfeet sort of doctrine in the last lines don't you thmk? They might have run in Z xT™ verse specfymg sudden collapse - like the Vuigom. th^Gu! "*'^''"'^^'°""- «-*-^>>V-id And I was left alone with the steady thud, thud of ftescrew and the gentle creaking of the boats at the That made me shudder. THE SOLID MULDOON Did ye see John Malone, wid his shinin', brand-new hat? Did ye see how he walked like a grand aristocrat ? ?ho^ ^^^^ *''' ^^"^^"^ ""*'''"' ^'^^' ^''' ^^^^^ *^^ «^*yl« ^ere But the best av all the company was Misther John Malone. John Malone, lb SEE had been a royal dog-fight in the ravine at ihe back of the rifle-butts, between Learoyd's Jock and Ortheris's Blue Mot — hoth mongrel Rampur hounds, chiefly ribs and teeth. It lasted for twenty happy, howling minutes, and then Blue Hot collapsed and Ortheris paid Learoyd three rupees, and we were all very thirsty. A dog-fight is a most heating entertain- ment, quite apart from the shouting, because Rampurs fight over a couple of acres of ground. Later, when the sound of belt-badges clicking against the necks of beer-bottles had died away, conversation drifted from dog to man-fights of all kinds. Humans resemble red- deer in some respects. Any talk of fighting seems to wake up a sort of imp in their breasts, and they bell one to the other, exactly like challenging bucks. This is noticeable even in men who consider themselves supe- rior to Privates of the Line : it shows the Refining Influence of Civilisation and the March of Progress. Tale provoked tale, and each tale more beer. Even dreamv Learovd'a pv^a hprtan f/^ k^c^i,* — ,_j i ^ burdened himself of a long history in which a trip to 46 46 THE SOLID MULDOON Malham Cove a girl at Pateley Brigg, a ganger, himself and a pair of clogs were mixed in drawling tangle. An so Ah coot's yead oppen from t' chin to t' hair, an he was abed for t' matter o' a month,' concluded Learoyd pensively. Mulvaney came out of a reverie -he was lying down -and flourished his heels in the air. 'You're a man, Learoyd said he critically, * but you've only fought wid men, an' that's an ivry^ay expayrience; but I'fe stud up to P^ ghost, an' that was not an ivry-day expayrience' ' No / said Ortheris, throwing a cork at him ' You git up an address the 'ouse -you an' yer expayriences. Is It a bigger one nor usual ? ' tf j ^«- ' 'Twas the livin' trut' l'' answered Mulvaney, stretch- ing out a huge arm and catching Ortheris by the collar. Now where are ye, me son? Will ye take the wurrud av the Lorrd out av my mouth another time?' He shook him to emphasise the question 'No, somethin' else, though,' said Ortheris, making a da^h at Mulvaney's pipe, capturing it and holding it at iTm'e go^I^' '^''' '''"'^ '* '''°'*^'^ ditch If you'^ion't ^Youmaraudin'hathenl 'Tis the only cu.ty I iver iunah H f : '" "^^ '^'' ^^^^^ ^- --* tl nullah. If that poipe was bruk - Ah I Give her back to me, oorr I Ortheris had passed the treasure to my hand. It was an absolutely perfect clay, as shiny as the black ball at rool. 1 took it reverently, but I was firm. ; Will you tell us about the ghost-fight if I do ?' I said. J Is ut the shtory that's troublin' you? Av course I wi^. - mint to all along. I was only gettin' at ut my THE SOLID MULDOON 47 own way, as Popp Doggie said whin they found him thrymg to ram a cartridge down the muzzle. Orth'ris tall away I * * He released the little Londoner, took back his pipe, filled It, and his eyes twinkled. He has the most elo- quent eyes of any one that I know. 'Did I xver tell you,' he began, 'that I was wanst the divil av a man ? ' 'You did,' said Learoyd with a childish gravity that made Ortheris yell with laughter, for Mulvaney was always impressing upon us his great merits in the old days. 'Did I iver tell you,' Mulvaney continued calmly, that I was wanst more av a divil than I am now ? ' ' Mer-ria ! You don't mean it ? ' said Ortheris. 'Whin I was Corp'ril -I was rejuced aftherwards- but, as I say, whin I was Corp'ril, I was a divil of a man ' He was silent for nearly a minute, while his mind rummaged among old memories and his eye glowed He bit upon the pipe-stem and charged into his tale 'Eyahl They was great times. I'm ould now: me hide s wore off in patches ; sinthrygo has disconceited me, an I m a married man tu. But I've had my dav - .J!M^^ ^^^' ^""^ ^^*^"^' "^" *^k« ^^^y the taste av that Oh my time past, whin I put me f ut through ivry hvm wan av the Tin Commandminte between Revellv and Lights Out, blew the froth off a pewter, wiped me moustache wid the back av me hand, an' slept on ut all as ^ quiet as a little child I But ut's over -1 ut's over an twill niver come back to me ; not though I prayed Ould Rig mint to touch Corp'ril Terence Mulvaney whm that same was turned out for sedukshin ? I niver 48 THE SOLID MULDOON ll! ■5! met him. Ivpr ,Toman that was not a witch was worth the runmn- afther in those days, an' ivry man wMmv dearest frmd or -I had stripped to him'^an' we k„"^ which was the betther av the tu 'Whin I was Corp'ril I wud not ha' changed wid the Colonel -no, nor yet the Commandher-in-Chief I wud be a Sargint. There was nothin' I wud not be I Mother av Hivin, look at me I Fwhat am TL7 We was quartered in a big cantonmint-'tis no manner av use namin' names, for ut might give the Earth ; "'^'^P'"'"— >»' I was the Imperof " : the Earth to my own mind, an' wan or tu women thought the same. Small blame to thim. Afther we had uFn there a year, Bragin, the bolour Sargint av E CompW wmt an took a wife that was .ady's^ .d to soZbig L'd vu r; ^""''^ ^""^ "0^ i^ Annie Bngif -died m chUd-bed at Kirpa Tal, or ut may ha' b.L Almorah -seven-nine yea« gone, an' Bragin he l,ke Zr *" ""f ™'°"' ^'"''y- She had efes like the brown av a buttherfly's wing whin the sun oa ches u^an' awaist no thicker than my arm, an' a h tie sof' button av a mouth I would ha' gone through all Asia bnsthn wid Imy'nite to get the Iriss av. 1? her hair was as long as the tail av the Colonel's charger -forgive me mentionin' that blunderin' baste in tZ s^e mouthful with Annie Bragin-but 'twas all shpun gold, an time was when a lock av ut was more than ^ mon J to me^ ^ere was niver pretty womanTe W Ue^ thruck wid a few, cud open the door to'A;^e " Twas in the Cath'lio Chapel I saw her first, me ol roUuiB round aa nant,! in o„„ «_i,.i ^ . y' ° "" .- ,„ „„„ inuai, was to be seen. THE SOLID MULDOON " ""'™ '00 good for Brarin, my Iovb " rti^t t . mesilf, "but that's a mistake I c2„?7t ^^ ^ *" name is not Terence Mulvaney " ^ ""^''*' " "^ doorstep. 'Twas so we found O'h! I ". ^^' ""^^ ' ordLr. did F^tTm'iix^rt .rt^^""' vamty av the sect," sez I to mesUf »„' ^ P^'" another cook on my head T,,' «T • ,,? *^™ "^ ""P - 'twas the back ay a DW MaS^ °'^ "^ ''** wiut off as tho- 1 did nnfVI .^!"'''' *08e days— an' Married QuarteraWhl' i"'''' ""^^ ^^^^ '" "-e bhoys«..I'm?h?nliv^ th.t """ P«'^>>"»ded - most cud'stand agal^fZ 7y I h l7„~nr T "•'"'^" had reason far thinkin' that taT-ln f' ^T ' Bragin. way — tiU I met Annie 60 THE SOLID MT7LD00N such things; but I thought thim all the same. An' that, mark you, is the way av a man. 'Wan evenin' I said: — "Mrs. Bragin, manin' no disrespect to you, who is that Corp'ril man " — I had seen the stripes though I cud niver get sight av his face — " who is that Corp'ril man that comes in always whin I'm goin' away ? " ' " Mother av God I " sez she, turnin' at, white as my belt ; " have you seen him too ? " * " Seen him ! " sez I ; " av coorse I have. Did ye want me not to see him, for " — we were standin' talkin' in the dhark, outside the veranda av Bragin's quarters "you'd betther tell me '-^"ted. »>>• was agli?^^ wid me," she sez. ..Look! He's comin' 'She pointed to the veranda, an' by the Height ay B2 THE SOLID MULDOON Impart'nince, the Corp'ril man was comin' out av Bra- gin's quarters. * " He's done that these five evenin's past," S3z Annie Bragin. » Oh, fwhat will I do I " '"He'll not do ut again," sez I, for I was fightin' inad. 'Kape away from a man that has been a thrifle crossed in love till the fever's died down. He rages like a brute beast. 'I wint up to the man in the veranda, manin», as sure as I sit, to knock the life out av him. He slipped into the open. "Fwhat are you doin' philanderin' about here, ye scum av the gutter?" sez T polite, to give him his warnin', for I wanted him ready. * He niver lifted his head, but sez, all mournful an' melancolius, as if he thought I wud be sorry for him : "I can't find her," sez he. I "My troth," sez I, "you've lived too long— you an' your seekin's an' findin's in a dacint married woman's quarters I Hould up your head, ye frozen thief av Genesis," sez I, "an* you'll find all you want an' more I " *But he niver hiM up, an' I let go from the shoulder to where the hair is short over the eyebrows. ' " That'll do your business," sez I, but it nearly did mine instid. I put my bodyweight behind the blow, but I hit nothing at all, an' near put my shoulther out. The Corp'ril man was not there, an' Annie Bragin, who had been watchin* from the veranda, throws up her heels, an' carries on like a cock whin his neck's wrung by the dhrummer-bhoy. I wint back to her, for a livin' woman, an' a woman like Annie Bragin, is more than a p'rade-grouu' full av ghosts. I'd never seen a woman THE SOLID MULDOON «« f«nt before, a,,' I stud like a el.tuck calf, askin' her whether d^ was dead, aa' prayin' her for 'theWe av me, an the love av her husband, an' the love av thi Vugm, to „p.„ her blessed eyes again, an' calliu' mesUf a Ithenamesuudherthe canopy av Hivin for plaTuT" her w,d „,y m,serable moor> whin I ought to ha' stud •I misremimber fwhat nonsinse I said, but I was not so far gone that I cud not hear a fut on tko dirt Zide was comin to. I jumped to the far end av the veranda M. Qui" If "n" """"'' ■"^'' - "^ mouth t Mrs. Qumn, the Quarter-Master's wife that was had tould Bragin about my hangin' round Annie 1 m not pleased wid you, Mulvanev » «p^ r^„ • un ucklin. his sword, for hj ha'd beenT^'utr ""' "Thats bad hearin'," I sez, an' I knew that the pickets were dhriven in. "What for, Sargit " se. I o«idth^tri'"'ffrr ',"''"* "'^' ^'"p"^ »« "one ''o d^ I golt^df^lt '"" *"■"• '^•'" ■"« "-• '"^^ 'He was a quick man an' a just, an' saw fwhat I wn,1 mi^ht r. :^'' f™- ^^"^'"'^ '-band," si'he He Zfhim noTng^^ "^ "''"' "'^' ^^^^ '"''* ^ "''<• 'We wint to the back av the araenal an' I stripped to h.m an' for ten minutes 'twas all I cud do to pre vent h.m killi„. himself against my fistes. He wa^ S as a dumb dog- just frothing wid rage; but h^ h^ else. " ^" '■'' *^"^"' oi' learning or anything I it I, 84 THE SOLID MULDOON "* Will ye hear reasqn?" sez I, whin his first wind was run out. »"Not whoile 7 can see," sez he. Wid that T gave him both, one after the other, smash through the low gyard that he'd been taught whin he was a boy, an' the eyebrow shut down on the cheek-bone like the wing av a sick crow. Will you hear reason now, ye brave man? " sez I. ;"Not whoile I can speak," sez he, sutggerin' up blmd as a stump. I was loath to do ut, but I wint round an' swung into the jaw side-on an' shifted ut a half pace to the lef '. '"Will ye hear reason how?" sez I; "I can't keep my timper much longer, an' 'tis like I will hurt you." '"Not whoile I can stand," he mumbles out av one corner av his mouth. So I closed an' threw him — blind, dumb, an' sick, an' jammed the jaw straight. ' " You're an ould fool, Mister Bragin," sez I. "'You're a young thief," sez he, "an' you've bruk my heart, you an' Annie betune you I " 'Thin he began cryin' like a child as he lay. I was sorry as I had niver been before. 'Tis an awful thing to see a strong man cry. ' " I'll swear on the Cross I " sez I. ' " I care for none av your oaths," sez he. '"Come back to your quarters," sez I, "an* if you don't believe the livin', begad, you shall listen to the dead," I sez. 'I hoisted him an' tuk him back to his quarters. " Mrs. Bragin," sez I, "here's a man that you can cure quicker than me." ^'« You've shamed me before my wife," he whimpera. ' Have I so? " sez I. - By the look on Mrs. Bragin's THE SOLID MULDOON face I think I'm for a dhressin' down worae than I gave you. ® *An' I wfwl Annie Bragin was woild wid indi^na- tion. There was not a name that a dacint woman cud use that was not given my way. I've had my Colonel walk roun' me like . .oper roun' a cask for fifteen rainuts in Ord'ly Koom, o^kaze I wint into the Corner bhop an unstrapp d awua c ; but all that I iver tuk from his rasp av a ^uT1a.e was ginger-pop to fwhat Annie tould me. A.' that, mark you, is the way av a woman. * Whin ut was done for want av breath, an' Annie was bendin' over her husband, I sez : " 'Tis all thrue an' I'm a blayguard an' you're an honest woman ; but will you tell him of wan service that I did you? " * As I finished speakin' the Corp'ril man came up to the veranda, an' Annie Bragin shquealed. The moon was up, an' we cud see his face. *"I can't find her," sez the Corp'ril man, an' wint out like the puff av a candle. '"Saints stand betune us an' evil I" sez Bradn crossin' himself ; " that's Flahy av the Tyrone." '"Who was he?" I t.ez, "for he has given me a dale av fightin' this day." ' Bragin tould us that Flahy was a Corp'ril who lost his wife av cholera in those quarters three years gone an' wint mad, an' walked afther they buried him! huntin' for her. '"Well," sez I to Bragin, "he's been hookin' out av Purgathory to kape company wid Mra. Bragin ivrv evenin' for the last fortnight. You may tell Mrs. Quinn, wid mv love, for J Vnnw th°* "1^"-''' i»— -"^-ii- ' y .. _ „ J/Jiteu OiiU B UCUIi 1/UrXK.iIl to you, an' you've been listenin', that she ought to 66 THE SOLID MULDOON ondherstand the differ 'twixt a man an' a ghost. She's had three husbands," sez I, "an' you\^ got a wife too good for you. Instid av which you lave her to be boddered by ghosts an' -an' all manner av evil spirruts.^ I'll niver go talkin' in the way av politeness to a man s wife again. Good-night to you both," sez I ; an wid that I wint away, havin' fought wid woman, man and Divil aU in the heart av an hour. By the same token I gave Father Victor wan rupee to say a mass for Flahy's soul, me havin' discommoded him by shtickmg my fist into his systim.' . * Tour ideas of politeness seem rather large, Mul- vaney,' I said. ^ 'That's as you look at ut,' said Mulvaney calmly; Anme Bragm niver cared for me. For all that, I did not want to leave anything behin'me that Bragin could take hould av to be angry wid her about -whin an honust wurrd cud ha' cleared all up. There's nothing Ike opm-speakin>. Orth'ris, ye scutt, let me put me oi to that bottle, for my throat's as dhry as whin I thought 1 wud get a kiss from Annie Bragin. An' that's four- teen years gone I Eyahr Cork's own city an' the blue sky above ut-an' the times that was -the times that was 1 WITH THE MAIN GUARD Der jungere Uhlanen Sit round mit open mouth /- While Breitmann tell dem stdories ^i nghtm' in the South ; Und gif dem moral lessons, How before der battle pops, Take a little prayer to Himmel Und a goot long drink of Schnapps. Hans Breitmann'' a Ballads. ' Maby, Mother ay Mercy, fwhat the divil possist us lVt2T '^'^ '"^'-"•'- counthry /rt: It was Mulvaney who was speaking. The time wao one o'elook of a stifling June night, and the pla"e ZZ at tW I "^ '° ^'^'^- ^l'"* I ™ doing there at that hour is a question which only concerns M'Grath Th^ Xard'li ,ft 'n' '" " 'huparfluous necLity. ihis gyardU shtay lively till relieved.' He himsel' sTad''''!, •*"•*•'' ™'^'= ^«"''y<' »» the next bed stead was dnppmg from the skinful of water wh ch Orthens, clad only in white trousers, had just sluted over h,s shoulders ; and a fourth private was mutrr .ng uneasily as he dozed open-mou^hedtn Z Z^ol the great guard-lantern. The heat under ^^- ? "t * archway was terrifying. ""''"'" 67 58 WITH THE MAIN GUARD '"! The worrst night that iver I remimber. Eyah! Is all Hell loose this tide?' said Mulvaney. A puff of burmng wind lashed through the wicket-gate like a wave of the sea, and Ortheris swore 'Are ye more heasy, Joek?'he said to Learoyd. Jut jer ead between your legs. Ifll go orf in a 'Ah don't care. Ah would not care, but ma heart « plaayin- tivvy-tivvy on ma ribs. Let me die! Oh, leave me die I groaned the huge Yorkshireman, who^was feehng the heat acutely, being of fleshi; a„Jt!-''',T'' "^f"" *''" '*"*""' "™«d *» " -"oment tin P ^ T" "^ ^' '"'°^- - ' ^'^ »on t tantalise wid talkin' av dhrink, or I'll shtuff you into your own breech-block an' -fire you off I' grunted Mulvaney. ^ ^^ ^ Ortheris chuckled, and from a niche in the veranda produced six bottles of gingerade. ^ vaZ^'^'T^'^ ^V ^*' ^' Machiavel?' said Mul- vaney. ' Tis no bazar pop. ' ' 'Ow do m know wot the Orf eera drinV 9 • »„ j Ortheris. ' Arst the mesa-man/ ^"'^ ' ""'''''''* 'Yell have a Disthrict Coort-martial settin' on ve yet, me son ' said Mulvaney, .buf -he opened a bo^ tie - .1 will not report ye this time. Fwhafs in the war orf T.""^ Here's luck! A bloody thin! -he waved the innocent 'pop' to the fn,,,^ quarters of Heaven. .Bloody war! North eZ ^o«^. ». West, Jock, ye Uln' hfyrifk, fot^ 8a^ed*inTh7'^ t" ""'^ ^'*'' ""« ^«" »* O''^*!' Pre- saged n the swelling veins of his neck, was ne Ji„» his Maker to strike him dead, and fightingr moff °? between h s prayers. A second time^'orth^rs dZehtd An Ah divn t see thot a mon is i' fettle for sooin' 7^:^:i^^ ^vn't see thot there is^^Xr t' livin' for. He lads! Ah'm tired — tired. TVi^^^' 1.1 ' "*' ii^nm tired — tire There s nobbut watter i' ma bones. Let me die T' 60 WITH THE MAIN GUARD III The hollow of the arch gave back Learoyd's broken ^rbut I " "T- . ''•^™"^^ """^- «* - hope" noon in the bank^ „° thit SrSdToTnt d been „ed by the .kllful .agicirM^ltX.'' Talk, Terence I I said, ' or we shall have Learovd aimgmg loose, and he'll be worse than 0,2.7 ^ Talk I He'll answer to your vofce ' '"^■ riflt'Tthe'flr i'^'^'m", '•'"' '^**'y ^l^^"™ '^l ae Mes of the Guard on Mulvaney's bedstead, the Irish- mans voice was uplifted as that of one in ihe middJa of a st^.y, and, turning to'me, he said- rig'minrf thVy"! "' !*' "^ ^'^ ^^' ^orr. an Oirish rig mint is the dml an' more, '^is only fit for a young man wid eddicated fisteses. Oh the orame av disruption is au Oirish rig'mint. an' rippin' t^' J ragm' scattherers in the field avwar! My first ™'' mmt was Oirish - Faynians an' rebils toThe hcL f^ their marrow was they, an' so they fought for tte wTddl ^.tW than most, beiu' contrair^-o'irish. ThTy tt the Black Tyrone. You've heard avthim, Sorr'' Heard of them I I knew the Black T^ne for the choicest cdlection of munitigated blackguarfs doj ttr Ind " rf 'r°"'^' --Ito- of in^otft S H»,f F '''''^. ''"""^ ''^'oes in the Army t ^r^,^'""^ ""'' '»'»'* Asia has had c^^--. to teZp ? ''"^ Tyrone-good luck be with thej '^2 tered Colours as Glory has ever been I ihey was hot pickils an' einffer' T n„* head tu deep wid my belt in ^hf J ' " "^"^ o„> t.1, ■^ '" t"^ days av my vouth an, afther some circumstances which I will obmh r' ate, I came to the Ould Ri^'min* ^-I- T • WITH THE MAIN GUARD gj acter av a man wid hands an' feet. But, as I was goin to tell you, I fell acrost the Black Tyrone agin wan day whin we wanted thim powerful bad. Orth ri8, me son, f what was the name av that place where they sint wan comp'ny av us an' wan av the Tyrone roun' a hill an' down again, all for to tache the Paythans something they'd niver learned before ? Afther Ghuzni 'twas.' w "^""j;'*.^''^'^ ^^'''^ *^^ ^^^^^'^^' Paythans called it. We called it silver's Theayter. You know t^.at, sure ' ' 'Silver's Theatre-so 'twas. A gut betune two hills, a. black as a bucket, an' as thin as a girl's waist. There was over-many Paythans for our convaynience m the gut, an' begad they called thimselves a Reserve - oem impident by natur I Our Scotchies an' lashins av Gurkys was poundin' into some Paythan rig'mints, I think twas. Scotchies an' Gurkys are twins bekaze they re so onlike, .f they get dhrunk together whin God plazes. As I was sayin', they sint wan comp'ny av the Quid an' wan av the Tyrone to double up the hill an clane out the Paythan Reserve. Orf'oers was scarce in thim days, fwhat with dysintry an' not takin' care av thimselves, an' we was sint out wid only wan orf cer for the comp'ny ; but he wa^ a Man that had his feet beneath him, an' all his teeth in their sockuts.' 'Who was he?' I asked. 'Captain O'Neil-Old Crook - Cruikna-bulleen - him that I tould ye that tale av whin he was in Burma.i Hah ! He was a Man. The Tyrone tuk a little orfcer bhoy, but divil a bit was he in comma. . , as I'll dimon- strate presintly. We an' they came over the brow av ^ Now first of thfi fnoTTlOTj r^t p«U T*_ m. Wa8 Captain O'Neil of the Blac!^ Tyrone. Tke Ballad of Boh Da Thone. 62 WITH THE MAIN GUARD !,'■ ' M the hill, wan on each side av the rmf o«» i t.at o^^cint Wve wait J ritC^^rr ^ twinty bowlders an' tZ P ^^ ^'^ """^ *»" BweJi^e^^ whin .h„ >^ f""'/"^ ''S™™' l« Tvmn» ■ ^ "■'f' "'"'" ™e little orfcev bhoy nv the lyione , u'laeato out 8..Tost the valley :-" Fwhal T. men? Do yt, cot see they'll stand'" ° «"^ my "Nh^r;!!inftt« '"^^P•"'"^' ^'"""'^^ Crook. ' ' There's damned little suffar in nf f » =o, rank man ; but Crook heard ''' ^"^ '^^^- at the rIT »: "^^ ''"^- ^^^^oyd bein' sick at the Base he av coorse, was not there/ c were mere. J^what I was thinkin* nfr »t^ his stomach meditatively. ^^ WITH THB MAIN GUARD gg ''Twas no place for a little man, but wm little man' ~J^^Z:ir ^' "^"^ "" ^^''""'^ shoulder - saved the life ay me. There we shtuok, for divil a b^ d.d the Paythans flinch, an' divil a b t da^ we our business bein' to clear 'em out An- fitT I exthryordinar' thing av all Z Ctlr^^J^, rushed into each other's arrums, an' there was no fiZ for a long time. Nothin' but knife an' bay'nit when wf cud get our hands free : an' that was not oftel w! was bxeast-on to thim, an' the Tyrone was yelpTn' behmd av us in a way I didn't see the lean av at &s? But I knew later, an' so did the Paythans. wM^r *\^°'«'" »i°8rs out Crook, wid a laugh whin the rush av our comin' into the gut shtopZ an he was huggin' a hairy great Paythan^eitherS Breast to breast I " he sez, as the Tyrone was pushm' us forward closer an' closer ' "Thank ye. Brother Inner Guard," sez Crook cool ^ a cucumber widout salt. "I wanted that tom.'' An he wint forward by the thickness av a man's bodv thThelTr *'l.''r'"' ""'^''^' '>-• The manlf^ the heel off Crook's boot in his death-bite. beZs P' r ' " '" ?°"^ "^"^'•' y« PaP«r-backed beggars! he sez. "Am I to pull ye through'" So a" 2 Ir b" ^'f '• ^"' "^ »-""^' -' — e an' God C .. f ''*P'''^' ""'• ^''^' ^-Jdu't bite an God help the front-rank man thit ».>* do— -^^l 64 WITH THE MAIN GUABD Ave you ever bin in. the Pit hentrance o' the Vic on a th,clc night?' interrupted Ortheris. 'It Z worse nor tl,at, for tliey was goin' one way an- we wouldn't -ave it. Leastaways, I 'adn't much to 2.' iaith, me son, ye said ut, thin. I kep' the little man betune my knees as long as I cud, but he was pokm' roun' wid his bay'nit, blindin' an^ stiiHn' feT" shus The devil of a man is Orth'ris in a ruction - aren't ye ? ' said Mulvaney. ' Don't make game ! ' said the Cockney. ' I knowed I wasn't no good then, but I guv 'em compot from Se lef flank vvhen we opened out. No I' he said, bring- bav'nt'™ I" ""^ T'* "■ *•'"'"? °" *« bedstead, ?« bay nit am t no good to a little man-might as weU ave a bloomin' fishin'-rodl I 'ate a clawiV, mauC mess, but gimme a breech that's wore out a bit, an' hamminition one year in store, to let the powder kiss the bullet, an put me somewheres where I ain't trod on by nlkin swine like you, an' s'elp me Gawd, I ..ould bowl you over five times outer seven at height 'undred. Would yer try, you lumberin' Hirishman.' Sw- f .y^^:. ^'™ '"'" y" ^0 "*■ I say there's nothm better than the bay'nit, wid a long reach, a double twist av ye can, an' a slow recover ' 'Dom the bay'nit,' said Learoyd, who had been 1 stening intent y. 'Look a-here 1 ' He picked up a rifle an inch below the foresight with an underhand dagger "' ^^^°*'^ "' * "'*° ^"''^ ^"^ » 'Sitha,' said he softly, 'thot's better than owt, for a mon can bash t' faace wi' thot, an', if he divn't, he can breeak t forearm o' t' gaard. 'Tis not i' f books though. Gie me t' butt.' ^ WITH THE MAIN GUARD gg *Each does ut his own way, like makin' love,' said Mulvaney quietly; ' the butt or the bay'nit or the bullet accordin' to the natur' av the man. Well as I was sayin', we shtuck there breathin' in each other's faces and swearin' powerful; Orth'ris cursin' the mother that bore him bekaze he was not three inches 'Prisintly he sez ;-«Duck, ye Irmp, an' I can get at a man over your shouldher ! " ' " You'll blow me head off," I sez, throwin' my arm itl!' !? *^''^f T^'' ""'^ "^"^-Pi*' y^ bloodthirsty little scutt," sez I, "but don't shtick me or I'll wrin^ your ears round." ^ 'Fwhat was ut ye gave the Paythan man forninst me, him that cut at me whin I cudn't move hand or toot f Hot or cowld was ut ? ' ' Cold,' said Ortheris, ' up an' under the rib-jint. 'E come down flat. Best for you 'e did.' 'Thrue my son I This jam thing that I'm talkin' about lasted for five minates good, an' thin we got our arms clear an' wint in. I misremimber exactly f what I did, but I didn't want Dinah to be a widdy at the Depot. Thin, after some promishkuous hack. ^ we shtuck again, an' the Tyrone behin' was callin' us dogs an cowards an' all manner av names; we barrin' tneir way. -;Fwhatail8 the Tyrone ?" thinks I; "they've the makin s av a most convanient fight here." * A mar: behind me sez beseechful an' in a whisper • - " Let me get at thim I For the Love av Mary give me room beside ye, ye tall man I " '"An' who are you that's so anvinns to b- ^--i^?" sez I, T. -dout turnin' my head, for the long knive'swas .♦:;«**'•<■ 66 Wrr»I 'iliiij MAIN GJABD t^l I f dancin* in front like the sun on Donegal Bay whin ut*8 rough. *"Wo\c seen our dead," he sez, squeozin' into me; " our dead that was men tv ' .. . ^^,,ne I An' me that was his cousin by blood could not bring Tim Coulan oflPI Let me get on," he sez, "let me get to thim or I'll run ye through the back I " **'My troth," thinks I, "if the Tyrone have seen their dead, God help the Paythans this day 1 " An' thin I knew why the Oirish was ragin' behind us as they was. ' I gave room to the man, an' ho ran forward wid the Haymakers' Lift on his bay iiit an' swung a Puythan clear off his feet by the belly-band av the brute, aa' the iron bruk at the lockin'-ring. ' " Tim Coulan '11 slape easy to-night," sez he wid a grin; an* the next minut his head was in two halves and he wint d«jwn grinnin.' by sections. ' The Tyrone was pashiii' an' pushhi' in, an' our men was swearin' at, thim, an' Cr ok was workin' away in front av us al. his ^vvord-arm swingin' like a pump- handle an' his revolver spittin' like a cat. But the strange th -'ng a- t was the quiet ,'lat lay upon. Twas like a fight in a drame -except for th'"m that was dead. ' Whin I gave room to +^ i Oirishman I was exphided an' forlorn in my inside. is way I have, . ivin' your presiroe, Sorr, in action. -Lc. me out, bhoys," se.. 1, backin' in among thim. "I'm goin' to be nwelll" Faith they gave me room at the wurrud, though they would not ha' given room for all HeU wid the chiU off. When I got clear, I was, savin' your presince, Sorr, outrama sink hfitaz^ T harl AV,^f,^\, ^xca V - \iu.aii "" u.u>y( WITH THE MAIN GUARD ^ jWell an' far out av harm was a Sargint av the Tyrone sntm' on the ittle orf 'cer bhoy who Ld stopped bhoy, an the long black curses was slidin' out av his innocint mouth like mornin'-jew from a rose I *"iwhat have you got there?" sez I to the Sargint. "® ««ri^^'!.''J ^^"^ "'•''^'*^^'' ^^""^^"^^ wid iiis spurs up," sez he. "He'sgoin'toCoort-martialme." ^ '"Let me go I" sez the little orf 'cer bhoy. "Let me go and command my men I " manin' thereby the Black Tyrone which was beyond any command lav even av they had made the Di vil a Field-orf 'cer. „^^» father howlds my mother's cow-feed in Clon- mel sez the man that was sittin' on him. " Will I go back to hs mother an' tell her that I've let him throw ''7^' away Lie still, ye little pinch av dynamitZ <^oort-martiaI me aftherwards." likes av the Commandher-iu-Chief, but we must pre- off your revolver hke a child wid i cracker; you cau make no play wid that fl„e large sword av yoL ■ an" r^rSe.r"'' ''' - ' ■• °" ^ '-^ -'"«^' insolint!""'"'^ *" '"" •'"""P'^y-" »«^ ^e; "you're '"AH in erooJ timp." as? T mu,,*. t>ii i i^ ■ - ^.g^» •-• ^ "«2 -> Buu ill aave a dlirink i 1'^ 68 WITH rUE MAIN GUARD * Just thin Crook comes up, blue an' white all over where he wasn't red. * - Wather I » sez ho ; " I'm dead wid drouth I Oh, but It's a gran' day I " ' »He dhrank half a skinful, and the rest he tilts into his ch.st an' it fair hissed on the hairy hide av him. He sees the little orf'cer bhoy undher the Sargint. ' " h what's yonder ? " sez he. -Mutiny, Sorr," sez the Sargint, an' the orf'cer bhoy begins pleadin' pitiful to Crook to be let go : but divil a bit wud Crook budge. ;"Kape him there," he sez, "'tis no child's work this day By the same token," sez he, "I'll confish- cate that iligant nickel-plated scent-sprinkler av yours, tor my own has been vomitin' dishgraceful I " 'The fork av his hand wa« black wid the backspit av the machine. So he tuk the orf'cer bhoy's revolver. Ye may look, Sorr, but, by my faith, there^s a dale more done in the field than iver gets into Field Ordhers f -'Come on, Mulvaney," sez Crook; "is 'this a Coort^martial?" The two av us wint back together into the mess an' the Paythans were still standin' up. They was not too impart'nint though, for the CoXn ^^^ '^""'' '^^'^ *"" ^''''*^'' *° '^°^i"^ber Tim ' Crook stopped outside av the strife an' looked anx- ious, his eyes rowlin' roun'. an;;'!;'?" '^ "'' «-^" - I' "can I get ye ' " Where's a bugler ? » sez he. 1. ^^.^ft'?*"" *^® crowd -our men was dhrawin' breath behm' the Tyrone who was i ,htin' like sowls m tormint-an' prisintly I came acrost little Frehan, WITH THE MAIN GUARD ijrj" '"""."'"' 5'°""'" ^^''»* y°»'"> paid for ve limb / • ,ez I, catchin- him by the scruff. ^ "Come out rrtTi^r '--- ''"'^'" ^ -- •>- ^^^c ' "I've got wan," sez he, grimiin', "big as vou M„1 Tf' "■' /»f yi - ugly. Let me go^tt To'tl^r " 'I was dishpleased at the personability av tha ri, mark so I tucks him under my arm an' carrTes Wm to cufffhim LIT Tr'"'.""" *« ««»' -•" ^"ook cuffsjum tUl the bhoy cries, an' thin sez nothin' for a 'The Paythans began to flicker onaisv, an' our X '""t; , "k?"'" "^'"'^^ ' D°""e I "^'ez Crook a'™;, '"•""' "°" '"' '""^ ■•o-" - the B^lSsh ' That bhoy blew like a typhoon, an' the Tyrone an' we opmed out as the Paythans broke, an' I saw tW what had gone before wud be kissin' an'Tuggt' to fwhat was to come. We'd dhruv thim ^to » broad part av the gut whin they gave an' thh^ w! opned out an' fair danced dow/ tCla, " dtiv^' thim before us. Oh, 'twas lovely, an' stiddy tool There was the Sargints on the flanks av what wa left av us kapin' touch, an' the fire was runnin' frZ flank to flank, an' the Paythans was dhropZ' Z opmed out wid the widenin' av the valleyf an' wWn on atdv'sT""''? "' ^"^"^ ''^'"" '"^^^^^ ^^^ on a lady s fan, an' at the far ind av the gut where they thried to stand, we fair blew them off fheir feeT for we had fivpiprlnri ,,«„„ n-^xi. . . . "^'^ ^^®^» av the kuifework:™ '"^ """ '"°'""""""° •»? ^»«o° I 70 WITH THE MAIN GUARD Hi used thirty rounds goin' down that valley,' said Or hens, 'an' it was gentleman's work. Might V done It m a white 'andkerchief an' pink silk stockin's, that part. Hi was on m that piece.' .n-'/rr"'** '"'' ^'^'^ """ '^y""^ y«"i»' ^ mile away,' ^idMulvaney, 'an' 'twas all their Sargints cud do to get thim off. They was mad-mad-madl Crook sits down m the quiet that fell whin we had gone PruL! ™"'?;' '"' ''"™'' ^'' ^^ ^^ his hands. Prismtly we all came back again accordin' to our natures and disposishins, for they, mark you, show through the hide av a man in that hour ' " Bhoys ! bhoys I " sez Crook to hunself. " I mis- doubt we could ha' engaged at long range an' saved betther men than me." He looked at our dead an' said no more. '"Captain dear,'' sez a man av the Tyrone, comin' up wid his mouth bigger than iver his mother kissed ut, spittin' blood like a whale; "Captain dear," sez ^'a fr" °^, *'"' *° *''" **»"' have been discom- Roshus '^^ """^ ^"^"^"'^ ** performinces av a 'Thin I knew that man for the Dublin dock-rat he was wan av the bhoys that made the lessee av Sil- vers Theatre gray before his time wid tearin' out the bowils av the benches an' t'rowin' thim into the pit So I passed the wurrud that I knew when I was in the 'W'lwh" ^'",^"''lin. "I don't know who twas, I whispers, "an' I don't care, but anyways I'll knock the face av you, Tim Kelly." '" Eyah ! " sez the man, " was you there too ? We'll cdlut Silver's Theatre." Half the Tyrone, knowin' ft ould place, tuk ut ud : so wa ooV^a ,,4- o:u.^_,_ t„ . WITH THE MAIN GUARD ^j ;The little orfcer bhoy av the Tyrone was threm- tials that he talked so big upon. « Ye'U do well later," sez Crook, very quiet, "for not bein' allowed to kUl yourself for amusemint." bhly/'"" ^ ^^'^^'^^^d «^a^ J " sez the little orfcer ' " Put me undher arrest, Sorr, if you will, but bv my sowl, I'd do ut again sooner'^than face your mother wid you dead," sez the Sargint that had sat on his head, standin' to attention an' salutin'. But brXT^ ''''' ""^'^ ""''^ '' *^°' ^' ^^'^' ^«^r* ^as 'Thin another man av the T;yTone came up, wid the fog av fightin' on him.' ^ ' The what, Mulvaney? ' lovJ°ftTt^''""\ '^°" ''"'""' ^»"' *at. like makin' loje, nt takes each man diff'rint. Now I can't help bem powerful s,ck whin I'm in action. Orth'ris, here mver stops swearin' from ind to ind, an' the only time' that Learoyd opms his mouth to sing is whin he is mcss^n' wid other people's heads; for he's 1 dWrty fighter .8 Jock. Recruities sometime cry, an' sometime they don't know fwhat they do, an' sometime they are aU for cuttin' throats an' such like dirtiness ; but some men get heavy-dead-dhrunk on the flghtin'. This man W w. "r'^^Sgetin', an' his eyes were half shut, an we cud hear h,m dhraw breath twinty yards wi!, r .1? ^™™^ '° '''™'"- " BJo"-! tt« young whelpl he sez; "blood the yonng whelp"; an' wid tiiat he threw up his arms, shmm rn„«' ,„' j^ j , our feet, dead as a Paythan,^an' there' ^^s "^^ llgn jt-:l im hill llli III m f J 72 WITH THE MAIN GUARD or scratch on him. They said 'twas his heart was rot- ten, but oh, twas a quare thing to see I ' Thin we wint to bury our dead, for we wud not lave thim to the Paythans, an' in movin' among the haythen we nearly lost that little orfcer bhoy. He was for givin' wan divil wather and layin' him aisy against a rock. " Be careful, Sorr," sez I ; « a wounded Paythans worse than a live wan." My troth, before the words was out of my mouth, the man on the ground fires at the orf'cer bhoy lanin' over him, an' I saw the helmit fly. I dropped the butt on the face av the man an tuk his pistol The little orf'cer bhoy turned very white for the hair av half 'his head was singed away. I tould you so, Sorr ! " sez I ; an', af ther that, whin he wanted to help a Paythan I stud wid the muzzle contagious to the ear. They dare not do anythin' but TTl 7t^ ^'T ""^^ ^'°'^^^"' ^^^ dogs over a bone that had been taken away too soon, for they had seen their dead an' they wanted to kill ivry sowl on the ground. Crook tould thim that he'd blow the hide off any man that misconducted himself; but, seeing that ut was the first time the Tyrone had iver seen their dead, I do not wondher they were on the sharp. 'Tis • a shameful sight I Whin I first saw ut I wud niver ha given quarter to any man north of the Khaibar- no nor woman either, for the women used to come out afther dhark — Auggrhl ' Well, evenshually we buried our dead an' tuk awav our wounded an' come over the brow av the hills to see the Scotchies an' the Gurkys taking tay with the Paythans ^n bucketsfuls. We were a gang av dissolute ruffians for the blood had caked the dust, an' the sweat nad cut the cake, an' our bay'nits was hangin' like t WITH THE MAIN GUARD 73 butchers' steels betune ur legs, an' most av us were marked one way or another. an' tz*'" wf r.' "''":, '^'"^ '"' " ^^^ "*^^' "^«« "P an sez : What damned scarecrows are you ? " '"A comp'ny av Her Majesty's Black Tyrone an' wan av the Ould Rig'mint," sez Crook ve^ry quiet givin' our visitors the fiure as 'twas thlt^^ete:;;^' '" '''^ ""''"'"^ "^^^ ^-- ^^'^'^^ I" No ! "sez Crook, an' the Tyrone laughed. Ihin fwhat the divil have ye done? " STl'^^'T^ ""''" ''' ^'""^' ^^' ^^« ^^°«k us on, but not before Toomey that was in the Tyrone sez aloud his voice somewhere in his stummick : " Fwhat in the name av misfortune does this parrit widout a tail mane by shtoppm' the road av his betthers ? " ^ 'The Staff Orf'cer wint blue, an' Toomey makes him an sayin "Come an' kiss me, Major dear, for me hus- ^Th ^l ITr^' ^'"^ ^" "^"^^ ^* ^^^^ I^^P6t." ine btaff Orf cer wint away, an' I cud see Crook's shoulthers shakin'. 'His Corp'ril checks Toomey. "Lave me alone," sez Toomey, widout a wink. "I was his batman bl fore he was married an' he knows fwhat I mane, av society. D you remimber that, Orth'ris I ' ' Hi do. Toomey, 'e died in 'orspital, next week it was,^se I bought 'arf his kit; an' I remember after ' Gu^ RED, TURN OUT ! ' The Relief had come; it was four o'clock. 'I'll ca^exx a ^yart for you, Sorr,' said Mulvaney, diving 74 WITH THE MAIN GUARD hastily into his accoutrements. ' Come up to the top M'Grl'^lt we'll pershue our invistigations into M Grath s shtable.' The relieved Guard strolled round the main bastion on its way to the swimming-bath, aiid Learoyd grew almost talkative. Ortheris looked into the Port ditch and across the plain. ' Ho I it's weary waitm for Ma-ary I ' he hummed ; ' but I'd like to kiU some more bloomin' Paythans before my time's up War! Boodywar! North, East, South, and West ' Amen, said Learoyd slowly. wbif^WT ^r^' f ^ M^l^^^^y' checking at a blur of white by the foot of the old sentry-box. He stooped a^d touched It. 'It's Norah-Norah M'Taggart I Why, Nome darlin', fwhat are ye doin' out av your mother's bed at this time V ^ The two-year-old child of Sergeant M'Taggart must have wandered for a breath of cool air to the very ve^e of the parapet of the Fort ditch. Her tiny night.shfft was gathered into a wisp round her neck and she moaned T^^'tT^. 'S^^ there I' said Mulvaney; 'poor Iambi Look at the heat-rash on the innocint skin av her. ' Tis hard--crool hard even for us. Fwhat must it be for these ? Wake up, Nonie, your mother will be woild about " yo^ Begad, the child might ha' fallen into the ditch ' ' He picked her up in the growing light, and set her on his shoulder, and her fair curls touched the grizzled stubble of his temples. Ortheris and Learoyd followed snapping their fingers, while Norah smiled at them a sleepy smile Then carolled Mulvaney, clear as a lark, dancing the baby on his arm — ' If any young man should marry you, Say nothin' about the joke ; That iver ye slep' in a sinthry-box, Wrapped up iu a soldier's cloak.' 'Though, WITH THE MAIN GUARD 76 on my sowl, Nonie,' he said gravely, « there u won't friends much„„„ _^^^. ^^ dhress like this ten years to come, an' run along to your mother.' will'tf; ''* "It f"' *" '^' ^^^"^^ Q"^^*^r«' nodded with the quiet obedience of the soldier's child bnf I! she pattered off over the flagged path, held J her'l p to be kissed by the Three Musketeers. Ortheris winfd mentaly; Learoyd turned pink; and the two walked away together. The Yorkshireman lifted up hi! voice and gave m thunder the chorus of Tke Sentr^Bo^JZl Orthens piped at his side. Ar'™!" *° ^ "."'""'"' ^'"g-«»n?. you two?' said the Artilleryman, who was taking his eartridge down to the Morning Gnn. • You're over merry for these dZed ' I bid ye take care o' the brat, said he, For It comes of a noble race,' mStr^"^'- ^'^ '"""^ '"'' -' - ">« -- spl^h' 1?°"' '' ^ '"'''' ''^PP'"^ '"to Mulvaney's Tongue r ''' ^"'^ ""'"''' '"'^ y"" t'^''* '""ve the hea"' anfhf f ""' ""T"^ ' ^'' '^'^ ^«^« ^-k ^ Ms :"fSisfj--t:S^he^:^:r Way."'' ""' '"^"""' °* P»t-Amara broke the piti- iii" IN THE MATTER OF A PRIVATE Hurrah I hurrah I a soldier's life for me ! Shout, boys, shout I for it makes you jolly and free. The Bamrod Gorpa. People who have seen, say that one of the quaintest spectac es of human frailty is an outbreak of hysterics on a hot afternoon, among the elder pupils. A girl ^ggles till the giggle gets beyond control. Then fhe throws up her head, and cries, ^Monk, honk, honH,' like a wild goose, and tears mix with the laughter. If the mistress be wise, she will rap out something severe at this point to check matters. If she be tender-hearted, and send tor a drink of water, the chances are largely m favour of another girl laughing at the aiHicted one and herself oollai^ing. Thus the trouble spreads, and may end in half of what answers to the Lower Sixth of ' a boys school rocking and whooping together. Given a week of warm weather, two stately promenades per ^em, a heavy mutton and rice meal in the middle of the day, a certain amount of nagging from the teachers. It le JT f'T ""•"' =""""'"« ^ff««t« -i-velop Now Mm 7^' f^ '''^^^° ''^^^ ^^^ experience. Colono of a British Infantry Regiment would be justly shocked at any comparison being made between their respective charges. But it is a fact that, under certain je IN THE MATTEB OP A PRIVATE 77 Circumstances, Thoma« in bulk can be worked up i„t„ chtthermg ripphng hysteria. He does not weep, bu he Sito'VeT"' ""■"'^'^'""y- -1 the cons' uenct get nto the newspapers, and all the good people who hardly know a Martini from a Snider say: 'Sawav the brute's ammunition I ' J' ^ase away look after the vn-tuous people, demands that he shall have h,s ammunition to his hand. He doesn't wear sUk Si thTL P "■ '" '''P''''' ^'' OP'"'™^ ■■ but, for all that, he ,s a great man. If you call him ' the heroic defender of the national honour ' one day, and 'a S ^I'^Z ^ ' "P™ yo" ^'th suspicion. There is nobody to speak for Thomas except people who have theones to work off on him, and nobod/undettands Thomas except Thomas, and he does not'^wa™ know what .s the matter with himself. '^ That is the prologue. This is the story : — jy. K'.fJ^'""' ™ ""g^S^^ to be married to Miss Jhansi M'Konna, whose history is well known in the regiment and elsewhere. He had his Colonel's pej^! 8.o„ and being popular with the men, every amZ inent had been made to give the weddi;g what Se Orthens called ' eeklar.' It fell in the hfart of the tt weafter, and after the wedding, Slane was going up to the H.11S with the bride. None the less, Slfne's griev" ance was that the affair would be only a hired-carrill wedding, and he felt that the 'eeWar' of tha twS meagre. Miss M'Kenna did not care so much tZ IT*!!^ "1*" ^- "^'P™^ "- to »ake her weddfn; -.-., „.. .„„ was very busy. Slane was, just thei. ft 78 IN THE MATTER OF A PRIVATE the only moderately contented man in barracks. All the rest were more or less miserable. And they had so much to make thera happy, too. All their work was over at eight in the morning, and for the rest of the day they could lie on their backs and smoke Canteen-plug and swear at the punkah-coolies. They enjoyed a fine, full flesh meal in the middle of the day, and then threw themselves down on their cots and sweated and slept till it was cool enough to go out with their ' towny,' whose vocabulaiy contained less than SIX hundred words, and the Adjective, and whose views on every conceivable question they had heard many times before. There was the Canteen, of courae, and there was the Temperance Room with the second-hand papers in if but a man of any profession cannot read for eight hours a day m a temperature of 96° or 98"' in the shade, run- ning up sometimes to 103° at midnight. Very few men, even though they get a pannikin of flat, stale, muddy beer and hide it under their cots, can continue drinking for SIX hours a day. One man tried, but he died, and nearly the whole regiment went to his funeral because It gave them something to do. It was too early for the excitement of fever or cholera. The mea could onlv wait and wait and wait, and watch the shadow of the barrack creeping across the blinding white dust That was a gay life. They lounged about cantonments - it was too hot tor any sort of game, and almost too hot for vice — and fuddled themselves in the evening, and filled themselves to distension with the healthy nitrogenous food provided for them, and the more they stoked the less exercise they took and more explosive they grew. Then tempera =a" too. IN THE MATTER OF A PRIVATE 79 began to wear away, and men fell a-brooding over insults i^t h r. ^^^,rP^^^^« «^^"g«d, and instead of say- ing ligh^heartedly : 'I'll knock your silly face in,' men grew laboriously polite and hinted that the c^nton^ ments were not big enough for themselves and thdr enemy, and that there would be more space for one of the two in another Place. It may have been the Devil who arranged the thing but the fact of the case is that Losson h^ad for a long time been worrying Simmons in an aimless way. It gave him occupation. The two had their cots side by side, and would sometimes spend a long afternoon swearing at each other; but Simmons wfs afraid of Losson and dared not challenge him to a fight. He thought over the words in the hot still nights, and half ^e hate he felt towards Losson he vfnted on the wretched punkah-coolie. Losson bought a parrot in the bazar, and put it into a little cage, and lowered the cage into the cool darkness 01 a well, and sat on the well-curb, shouting bad Ian- guage down to the parrot. He taught ic to sav : . Sim- mons,ye .»-»»r,' which means swine, and several other things entirely unfit for publication. He was a bij ^3s man, and he shook like a jelly when the parrot had the sentence correctly. Simmons, however, shook with rage, for aU the room were laughing at him -the parro was such a disreputable puff of green feathers and It looked so human when it chattered. Losson used to sit, swinging his fat legs, on the side of the cot and ask the parrot what it thon^ht of Simmons. The parrot would answer: ' Sirrur.cns, ye ,<«»..' "Good ,. „„„„ ,... caj, Bcra jDing the parrot's head; if II 80 IN THE MATTER OF A PRIVATE (I i *ye ear that, Sim?' And Simmons used to turn over on his stomach and make answer : ' I ear. Take 'eed you don't 'ear something one of these days.' In the restless nights, after he had been asleep all day, fits of blind rage came upon Simmons and hold him till he trembled all over, while he thought in how tuany different ways he would slay Losson. Sometim.-s he would picture himself trampling the life out of the man, with heavy ammunition-boots, and at other> smashing in his face with the butt, and at others jumping on his shoulders and dragging the head back till the nec\bone cracked. Then his mouth would feel hot and fevered, and he would reach out for another sup of the beer in the panr"" in. But IK v.acy that came to him most frequently and stayed v; fix him longest was one connected with the great roll .>f fat under Lesson's right ear. He noticed It first on a moonlight night, and thereafter it was always before his eyes. It was a fascinating roll of fat. A man could get his hand upon it and tear away one side of the neck ; or he could place the muzzle of a ifle on it and blow away all the head in a flash. Losson had no right to be sleek and contented and well-to-do, when he, Simmons, was the butt of the room. Some day, perhaps, he would show those who laughed at the * Simmons, ye ao-oor ' joke, that he was as good as the rest, and held a man's life in the crook of his forefinger. When Losson snored, Simmons hated him more bitterly than ever. Why should Losson be able to sleep when Simmons had to stay awake hour after hour, tossing and turning on the tapes, with the dull liver pain gnawing into his right side and his head throbbing and aching after Canteen? He thought over this fo- many many IN THE MATTER OP A PRIVATE tobacco; aad all the "hUe h"'"' "° ^'"' '■^'^ """ made a mock of him ^ "™' *»"'»'* "' ""d The heat coutmued and tho i quickly than before A s! : " ''"™ '"'"y ""«« ni:^^it!i:S?~ti:?ti: waitirinThe'dlnT'lT """'"^' """^ *« ■"- were when limn.* ':' T^.:'""fT ">' '^-' W took out his pZLa'u /V'*' *'"" °* •■'» bed. bang that eohooTthroulrT '.'''' '^"^'^ ^'«' » crack of a rifle o, "^ •, ^ ^'"^'''''' ''*™«k "ke the have taken" onoSebuTtr*"^' '"^ "'^" -"«" fiddle-strin,.3 TW ),. ^" ''"'™' ^^'^ ^^'ted to Clattered .nio th!trrS:lXl'fi7 s" '""" kneeling by his box ^ ^""^ Simmons H^cztoTLii::::-"--"-- you Ihfnk r "hf said TI" 1? ^""^ • ^"-^ -"^^ "■"kes went on; 'to HeU t th ^ .Tf '"*° '"'"^"^^ »« be • Simmon ye ir* Tu'f> ^' ""^'^ 'P^' mnda aleepilVf recollsin! f nf P"™' *" *e ve- that waa abso'lnt^lyfr ^ "'"'"'"''"''' ™''=»- Now ^cl'ddtoir^'lh ""^ "™ '^" "^""^ o" *e arm- I mm^K^^mm K^ ^ V IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) ^ A ^/ 1.0 I.I mm, 125 ^ m ■2.2 £ us 12.0 IL25 mil 1.4 RnllilB ill 1.6 i IJUU-^dplULi Sciences Corporation r<\^ \ <^ N' 23 WBT MAIN STRKIT WEBSTM.N.Y. 14510 (7l6)a73-4S03 ^2^% // A• B.a.es .W come out^'^w: h^ur nt'" cZ'"'' ^t me. Jo„ daren-, ,ou bloomin'- do,'t:ter P "^ "" *You lie, you man^ticker. You sneakin' qk ^Don-t misname me,' shouted Simmona, firing as he oke. The shot missed, and the shont-r M.-5^^- . -w his rifle down and rushed at SI.; tVZ s lf rage 86 IN THE MATTER OF A PRIVATE m protection of the well. Within striking distance, he kicked savagely at Slane's stomach, but the weedy Cor- poral knew something of Simmons's weakness, and knew, too, the deadly guard for that kick. Bowing forward and drawing up his right leg till the heel of the right foot was set some three inches above the in- side of the left knee-cap, he met the blow standing on one leg — exactly as Gonds stand when they medi- tate — and ready for the fall that would follow. There was an oath, the Corporal fell over to his own left as shinbone met shinbone, and the Private collapsed, his right leg broken an inch above the ankle. ; 'Pity you don't know that guard, Sim,' said Slane, spitting out the dust as he rose. Then raising his voice — Come an' take him orf. I've bruk 'is leg.' This was not strictly true, for the Private had accomplished hi. own downfall, since it is the special merit of that leg-guard that the harder the kick the greater the kicker's discomfiture. Slane walked to Jerry Blazes and hung over him with ostentatious anxiety, while Simmons, weeping with pain, was carried away. -Ope you ain't 'urt badly, Sir,' said Slane The Major had fainted, and there was an ugly, ragged hole through the top of his arm. Slane knelt down and murmured: «S'elp me, I believe 'e's dead, well. If that am t my blooming luck all over ! ' But the Major was destined to lead his Battery afield for many a long day with unshaken nerve. He was re- moved, and nursed and petted into convalescence, while the Battery discussed the wisdom of capturing Simmons, and blowing him from a gun. They idolised their Major, and his reappearance on parade brought about a scene nowhere provided for in the Army Regulations. IN THE MATTER OP A PRIVATE gj Great, too, was the fflorv that f^ll f« gi » , puff him UD. Wh«„ fK "lu i^^® **""^ ^»d not LnK th/Vi 'C™1 She™ """'T "'"' aside tlie other B„f !,» i! j "'* °™ "'"' P»t prefaced it with ma^v a^R. • " '!''""'* *" ■""''« ""^ ^ "^ excessively 80. It was a gorgeous wedding. ^ # * but I wasn't go „. to C Th ".""r'^ *" '"* "*• Blazes ? Tf I - 1 .. . , ""®'' turn-out. Jerry W hi ? T " * " *""""' something, Sim miJhl ha blowed JeiTy Blazes' blooming 'ead into H^^rfl stew for aught I'd 'a' cared.' «'«' 'nto Hirish And they hanged Private Simmons -hanged hir , high as Haman in hollow souare of tl,„ • the Colonel said it was Drink and th/r^""?"*' " sure it was the DavI . T\ %'■ ^ Chaplam was both Lft. . 1 .! , ' "'' S'-nmons fancied it was both, but he didn't know, and only hoped his fZ would be a warning to his companions -and half ^ ' !| 'ii| 'i BLACK JACK To the wake av Tim O'Hara Came company, All St. Patrick's Alley Was there to see. Hobert Buchanan. As the Three Musketeers share their silver, tobacco, and liquor together, as they protect each other in bar- racks or camp, and as they rejoice together over the joy of one, so do they divide their sorrows. When Or- theris's irrepressible tongue has brought him into cells for a season, or Learoyd has run amok through his kit and accoutrements, or Mulvaney has indulged in strong waters, and under their influence reproved his Com- manding Officer, you can see the trouble in the faces of the untouched two. And the rest of the regiment know that comment or jest is unsafe. Generally the three avoid Orderly Room and the Corner Shop that follows, leaving both to the young bloods who have not sown their wild oats; but there are occa- sions For instance, Ortheris was sitting on the drawbridge of the main gate of Fort Amara, with his hands in his pockets and his pipe, bowl down, in his mouth. Lea- royd was lying at full length on the turf of the glacis, kicking his heels in the air, and I came round the corner and asked for Mulvaney. Ortheris spat into the ditch and shook his head. 88 i BLACK JACK 80 .V cfr!;1Cr."»'^''-*0 O^"-. 'Vs a Woo™. step that I could havT idTlffi i T' " '»«'>»»'ed army. There were two^v nfn '" "'" "■"'"P "* ■» and then twenty ZJl^l '"^"^ "'"'"^'' "^ ?"■"«. -/.pra^c:rHrr;rw-,^^-: Mulvaney was doine pack-drill that is to say, to walk un „n!V T ~. ^'^ «'™pelled, in full mJoiZolr'^J'u^ '^TV" "'"■"" ''">"« «on, knapsack. ^a„r:^,:^fjt;d'"3;on^r™™'^ being dirty on naradpf t 7 . offence was Ditch witlf asLCn't a„d:m;r/''« '''' the smartest man that ever mmmS f" Mulvaney is that's wot 'e is.' ' ^ ^'^^ ^^**^« Pigscraper, 'What did Mulvaney say? He'« nnf .i, man to take that quietly.' """^ *^^ '"^^^ «* * Said I Bin better for 'im if '«M .i, * v Lord, 'ow we laughed I « W f » ? ""* '' "^^"*^- I'm dirty. Well '? sez 'e .fT ' ' ''^' "^« «'^y blow yo/r own teylrsllt;^^^^^^^ "^'M?^ ^^ wot dirt is Yn„'„ I,- •'^""i*^"' perhaps you'll know sez -e, an" tten 1™. ."^™'^*''"y «'^'J'™t«d, Sar«rint.^ en ...„„.„. iiui after p'rade,'e was up 90 I?/ BLACK JACK an Mu ms was sweariu' 'im«elf black in the face at Ord ly Koom that Mulvaney 'ad called 'im a swine an' Lord knows wot all. You know Mulling. 'E'll 'ave iH ead broke in one o' these days. 'E's too big a bloomin har for ord'nary consumption. " Three hours' can an kit, 'sez the Colonel; "not for bein' dirty on p rade, but for 'avin' said somethin' to Mullins, tho' I do not believe, "sez 'e, "you said wot 'e said you said." An Mulvaney fell away sayin' nothin'. You know 'e never speaks to the Colonel for fear o' gettin' 'imself iresh copped.' Mullins, a very young and very much married Ser- geant, whose manners w6re partly the result of innate depravity and partly of imperfectly digested Board School, came over the bridge, and most rudely asked Urtheris what he was doing. 'Me?' said Ortheris. ^Owl I'm waiting for my C mission. 'Seed it comin ' along yit ? ' Mullins turned purple and passed on. There was the sound of a gentle chuckle from the glacis where Learoyd lay. » 'E expects to get 'is C'mission some day, ' explained Orth ris; 'Gawd 'elp the Mess that 'ave to put their ands into the same kiddy as 'imi Wot time d'you make it. Sir? Fowerl Mulvaney '11 be out in 'arf an hour. Youdon'twanttobuyadorg, Sir, doyou? A pup you can trust - 'arf llampore by the Colonel's grey- ound. ^ -^ 'Ortheris,' I answered sternly, for I knew what was in his mind, 'do you mean to say that ' nil ^'."^".^Tf" *"" ^'''' ^^''^y °' y''''^ any'ow,' said Ortheris; 'I'd 'a' sold you the dorg good an' cheap, but—but-I know Mulvaney'll want somethin' after BLACK JACK 91 he held the Londoner over the dif,.|. -n \,- ^\ f b«««s,' Orth-ris. ma eo AhL i'^"""^ ''"' eight an„„* „f „,» ^wn • h1 „, , ^"' °"* "''"'« -placed 0..the..U IX arl^:^^' "'"'" """ mi^s or three or Wr,- Lr/ortUr ""'-''^"' unde„^ .talked into the sunshine Z 'ht'd^w lean upon thl nT T' '""""^ '"''"''« "« horses of the^-^h °"r' f ^ '^"""^ ■""» -"tched thel^;re, a1:l th?;Tai,f "Tr**'" «™" ^"'""^^ ""I -""" oS out ?or; T^^ """'* '"*"''■'» ■" *■«' »« they W "m; eVhedm'"" *^'' ''"•^ -^- m ttie belt of trees that fringes the low land by the !^ I 02 BLACK JACK Vii I followed slowly, and Hightod them-du«ty, aweat- mg, but still keeping up their long, swinging tramp — on the river bank. They crashed through the Forest Reserve, headed towards the Bridge of Boats, and pros- ently established themselves on the Ijow of one of the pontoons. I rode cautiously till I saw three puffs of white smoke rise and die out in the clear evening air, and knew that peace had come again. At the bridge- head they waved me forward with gestures of welcome, lie up your 'orse,' shouted Ortheris, * an' come on, Sir. We re all goin' 'ome in this 'ere bloomin' boat.' From the bridg-j-head to the Forest Officer's bunga- low 18 but a step. The mess-iuan was there, and would see that a man held my horse. Did the Sahib require aught else -a peg, or beer? Ritchie Sahib had left half a dozen bottles of the latter, but since the Sahib was a friend of Ritchie Sahib, and he, the mess-man, was a poor man I gave my order quietly, and returned to the bridtje. Mulvaney iiad taken off his boots, and was dabbling his toes in the water; Learoyd was lying on his back on the pontoon; and Ortheris was pretending to row with a big bamlwo. *rm an ould fool,' said Mulvaney, reflectively, dhraggm you two out here bekaze I was undher the Black Dog-sulkin' like a child. Me that was sol- dierin when Mullins, an' be damned to him, was shquealm' on a counterpin for five shillin' a week- an that not paid I Bhoys, I've took you five miles out av natural pevarsity. Phew I' 'Wot's the odds so iong as you're 'appy?' said Or- theris, applying himself afresh to the' bamboo. 'As well 'ere as anywhere else.' BLACK JACK teen, «.l ...on, »■ M„,v,:;"^. ut „ j h. ^ '' '""• ye did not_r,w til ^tl Tf ■" '""'■""' """^ '{ lcno,v betther. Hu TwTu d? ""' ""'" """"S'"" buSw;:j:tl"''''''^- , ^•"^ """- "f ""> Forest Si./ said o^ii f:LXri%^r''rT- nies8-man: 'Easy wiH, th.rl lu . ^'*'^" ^ ^^'« thouSffie^ ^y "^^ -"^^ ""-^ -^ we weTrw^;i:.^^l~i„.r«':T i- "-t --^^'^^^ times _ nor >e ainVflf , *; * ^^ "* 'P''''» '" "i^e takes 'im tm 'e i" • *" ''*^' *'°°« ""'^er. So we tHe^st:!^ .r^ ^;!. "^^^ -!'. '.'«-<' »trai,ht into !'■ i 94 BLACK JACK 'if! I had my Uj „,t, an' MuUins came round the comer, an' he looked m my face an' grinned dishpiteful. " You can t blow your own nose, " sez he. Now, I cannot tell fwhat Mulhns's expayrience may ha' been, but, Mother av God, he waa nearer to hU death that minut' than I have iver been to mine -and that's less than the thick- nussavahair!' 'Yes,' said Ortheris calmly, ' you'd look fine with all your buttons took orf, an' the Band in front o' you, walkm roun' slow time. We're both front-rank men me an Jock, when the rig'ment's in 'oUow square Lord toketh awa.,_Heasy with that there dropl- Blessed be the naime o' the Lord,'" he gulped in a quamt and suggestive fashion. 'Mullinsl Wot's Mullins?' said Learoyd slowly. Ah d take a coomp'ny o' Mullinsos _ ma hand behind me. hitha, Mulvaney, don't be a fool.' Jou were not cheeked for fwhat you did not do, an' made a moek av afther. 'Twas for less than that the Tyrone wud ha' sent O'Hara to hell, instid av lettin' ' That ould fool who's sorry he didn't stick the pig Mullms.' His head dropped again. When he raised It he shivered and put his hands on the shoulders of ills two companions. ' Ye've walked the Divil out av me, bhoys,' said he. Ortheris shot out the red-hot dottel of his pipe on the ttt . ^\^'^ t'- ' ^"^y '*y 'E"'» "to than that, said he, as Mulvaney swore aloud. be BLACK JACK 95 be wamed so. Look vondfirf ' i.^ - ,. ■, rij to a ™,„ed J^fe -'• m1 a .^^ • ^'1-^ wton H. made a bloomin' show o' myself. You in^ rtrri"Vott:ta.7;": «' - o„viiX o- yourself now ' * "^'^^'^ "<»'"'"' «>>»" ' Don't mind him, Mulvanev ,' I said- ' n;«o». ai, jj won't let you hang you^elf yl aJhll and ^ dt •* ntod to t,yit either. ..efs he., ab^ut the T^ne t ? wT- .^^'^y ^''»' •"'» f» fooling wuni wife. What happened before that" «"'*'>'>« There's no fool like an ould fool. You know von can do anythin' wid me whin I'm talkin'. oTd I say I wud like to cut MuUins's liver out? I deny the -C Y<;u" dT ''"' .*'^'''™ "-« -<^ -P"t - ouiet litHr ! "' ''"° *« "™'' ^"d y"? Sit quiet, little man. Anyways, MuUins is not worth the troub e av an e.try p'»de, an' I will tj; Um wW outrajis eontimpt. The Tyrone an' O'H^al fVwT took into the mouth, but they're always inside thf Followed a long pause. 'O'Hara was a Divil. Though I saved him. for the honour av the rig'mint, from hif death that ti^e I say Jt^now. He was a Divil -a long, bould. black'O. 'Which way?' asked Oitheris. 'Women.' 'Then I know another.' 'Not more than in reason, if yo„ m»n» "-» a walkin'^htick. I have been young:-;r.''fo7wvSd 96 BLACK JACK 3» V M Corpnl, use the me av my rank -wan step an' that taken away, more's the sorrow an' the fault av mel- to prosecnt* a nefarious inthrigue, as O'Hara did? Did I whin I was Coqi'ril, lay my spite upon a man an' make his life a dog's life from day to day? Did I Z as O'Hara lied, till the young wans in the Tyrot' Demes? I did not! I have sinned my sins an' I have made my oonfesshin, an' Father Victor knows the woi«t R»/"; . ^ ""^ '"^' ^^""^ ^^ ""d "pake, on Rafferty a doorstep, an' no man knows the wors av him. But this much I know! 'The Tyrone was recruited any fashion in the onld aays. A draf from Connemara-a draf from Ports- mouth-a draf from Kerry, an' that was a bla.in' bad draf -here, there and iverywhere - but the We av !^0^^ "^? ~ ^^'^^ ^''''^ Now thei^ are Oirish an Oinsh. The good are good as the best, but the bad are wurrst than the wurrst. 'Tis this way. Thev olog topther in pieces as fast as thieves, an' no wan knows fwhat they will do till wan turns informer an' mL^'^ll ^ . ^"' "' ^^"^ *g*'»' <" day later, meetm in holes an' corners an' swearin' bloody oaths an shtiokm' a n.an in the back an' mnnin' away, an' thin waiW for the blood-money on the reward papera _ to see If uts worth enough. Those are the Black Oirish, an tis they that bring dishgrace upon the name av Orreland, an' thim I wud kill -as I nearly kiUed wan wanst. ^ ^"leu 'But to reshume. My room -'twas before I was married — was wid twelve av the scum av the earth ^ BLACK JACK nlCu^^i.Vtii.'T-r''' ™" *•«'' -0 »hud The^thri:d'leTvS2rt™h' T " "" but I dhrew a line round mvL » ' J "''' °" '°'' thransgressed ut wint into hZitel for fh r"" *=" ' O'Hara had put hia sdL „Ttt "^^ ^"^^ «'"'<'• Colour Sargintian^'irnCdrrtotr^H-^ I was younger than I am now an' T f„t , ? •""• the way ay daessing down Id^„„ f "'f* ' «"* '» •ny tongue in my cheek R.t^-f^^""""^''"" "'^ othe«, L why /eltt aay, exdpUhae ""* "'•* *"^ their ohune torf^/.^t;4lr^%r^^^ av thim oursin- O'Hara in chorus ^~" ""''" Let him go. HeUlt!t « T^ T^ '" *« ^'"W? our Wiment X::J L?^'""' ^ ^^'^ ^oul an' "'Wewm«««lethimgo,"sez"they. '"Thin fake him," sez I "an' » ^ ., j you will get for you; tCuble '' ^""'^ ^' ^'"'^ ^^r'':Zt,T'"'''"'*^' '''™^" -d Slimmy's * " That's thrue," sez T. *"I ^^1 br^ak his head upon his shoulthers av he i if II 98 BLACK JACK puts hand on me," sez I. « I will give him the lie av he says that I'm dhirty, an' I wud not mind duckin' him ni the Artillery troughs if ut was not that I'm tbrym' for my shtripes." ' " Is that all ye will do ? " sez another. « Have ye no more spunk than that, ye blood-dhrawn calf?" ' " Blood-dhrawn I may be,'' sez I, gettin' back to my cot an' makiu' my line round ut ; « but ye know that the man who comes acrost this mark will be more blood-dhrawn than me. No man gives me the name in my mouth," I sez. « Ondersthan I, I will have no part wid you m anythin' ye do, nor will I raise my fist to my shuperior. Is any wan comin' on ? " sez I. * They made no move, tho' I gave them full time, but stud growlin' an' snarlin' together at wan ind av the room. I tuk up my cap and wint out to Canteen, thinkiu' no little av mesilf, and there I grew most ondacintly dhrunk in my legs. My head was all reasonable. ' " Houligan," I sez to a man in E Comp'ny that was by way av bein' a frind av mine ; "I'm overtuk from the belt down. Do you give me the touch av your shoulther to presarve my formation an' march me acrost the ground into the high grass. I'll sleep ut ofP there," sez I ; an' Houligan — he's dead now, but good he was while he lasted — walked wid me, givin' me the touch whin I wint wide, ontil we came to the high grass, an', my faith, the sky an' the earth was fair rowlin' undher me. I made for where the grass was thickust, an' there I slep' off my liquor wid an easy conscience. I did not desire to come on books too frequent ; my characther havin' been shpotless for the good half av a year. * Whin I roused, thfi Hhrinlr vv«>ci /!,,;«' «„f : » BLACK JACK 99 I felt as though a she-oat had littered in my mouth T had not learned to hould my li.uor wircomfort in thim days 'Tis '.ttle betther I am now. "I wTu "t ean take the blame av ut for the backsUdin' hound he gong fwhat 13 the blame that this young man moot 'I turned on my belly an' crawled through the grass a bit at a t.me, to where the spache came f^n! S was the twelve av my room sittin' down i„ a iS patch, the dhry grass wavin' above their heads an' the smav black murdherin their hearts. I put the stuff aside to get a clear view. M. -u,^: f ys Vulmea. "You're a nice hand to y pb ! As I said, Mulvaney will take the blame - av ut comes to a pinch." wame — ""Tis harrd to swear a man's life away," sez a young wan. •'' ^^ * '"Thank ye for that." thinks I. "Now, fwhat the diyil arc you paraginsconthrivin' against me?" lis as easy as dhrinkin' your quart," sez Vulmea "At seven or thei^on, O'Hara will come acrost to tie Married Quarteis, goin' to call on Slimmy's wife! the swine I Wan av us'U pass the wurrd to fhe room an' we shtart the divU an' all av a shine -la„^^ a^' craekm' on an' t'rowin' our boote about. Thin O^I" ....1 come tu give us tue ordher to be quiet, the more by token bekaze the room-lamp will be knocked oveTL 100 BLACK JACK the larkin'. He will take the straight road to the ind door where there's the lamp in the veranda, an' that'll bring him clear against the light as he shtands. He will not be able to look into the dhark. Wan av us will loose off, an' a close shot ut will be, an' shame to the man that misses. 'Twill be Mulvaney's rifle, she that is at the head av the rack — there's no mistakin' that long-shtocked, cross-eyed bitch even in the dhark." *The thief misnamed my ould firin'-piece out av jealousy — I was pershuaded av that — an' ut made me more angry than all. » But Vulmea goes on : « O'Hara will dhrop, an' by the time the light's lit again, there'll be some six av us on the chest av Mulvaney, cryin' murdher an' rape. Mulvaney's cot is near the ind door, an' the shmokin' rifle will be lyin' undher him whin we've knocked him over. We know, an' all the rig'mint knows, that Mulvaney has given O'Hara more lip than any man av us. Will there be any doubt at the CoortrMartial ? Wud twelve honust sodger-bhoys swear away the life av a dear, quiet, swate-timpered man such as is Mul- vaney — wid his line av pipe-clay roun' his cot, threat- enin' us wid murdher av we overshtepped ut, as we can truthful testify?" *"Mary, Mother av Mercy I" thinks I to mesilf ; "it is this to have an unruly mimber an' fistes fit to use 1 Oh the sneakin' hounds I " * The big dhrops ran down my face, for I was wake wid the liquor an' had not the full av my wits about me. I laid shtill an' heard thim workin' themselves up to swear my life by tellin' tales av ivry time I had put my mark on wan or another ; an' my faith, they was few that was not so dishtinguished. 'Twas all in the I BLACK JACK 101 way av fair fight, though, for niver did I raise my hand excipt whin they had provoked me to ut. *"Tis all well," sez wan av thim, "but who's to do this shootin' ? " '"Fwhat matther?" sez Vulmea. "'Tis Mulvaney will do that — at the Coort-Martial." *"He will so," sez the man, "but whose hand is put to the trigger — m the room?'' »" Who'll do ut?" sez Vulmea, lookin' round, but dml a man answeared. They began to dishput- till Kiss, that was always playin' Shpoil Five, sez: "Thry the kyards I " Wid that he opined his tunic an' tuk out the greasy palammers, an' they all feU in wid the notion. ' « Deal on I " sez Vulmea, wid a big rattlin' oath, "an' the Black Curse av Shielygh come to the man that will not do his duty as the kyards say. Amin I " *« Black Jack is the masther," sez Kiss, dealin'. Black Jack, Sorr, I shud expaytiate to you, is the Ace av Shpades which from time immimorial has been inti- mately connect wid battle, murdher an' suddin death. 'Wanst Kiss dealt an' there was no sign, but the men was whoite wid the workin's av their sowls. Twice Kiss dealt, an' there was a gray shine on their cheeks like the mess av an egg. Three times Kiss dealt an' they was blue. "Have ye not lost him?" sez Vul- mea, wipin' the sweat on him ; " Let's ha' done quick ! " "Quick ut is," sez Kiss t'rowin' him the kyard; an' ut fell face up on his knee — Black Jack I *Thin they all cackled wid laughin'. "Duty thrip- pence," sez wan av thim, "an' damned cheap at that price!" But I ''pd °op fh"" uli 'i^-. -. ■••f' I -- 1 — ij i .,usi ,>,^e \jii\jj ail ixuruvv a iitEie away from Vulmea an' lef him sittin' playin' wid the kyard. 102 BLACK JACK I i Vulmea aez no word for a whoile but licked his li™ cat-ways. Thin he threw up his head an' made t^ men swear by ivry oath known to stand by ht Z '"11'' 7": 'n' t f' Coort-Martial that wast set on m«/ He tould off five av the biggest to stretch my rifle V^ ^"'Z"' '^"^ "f '' »"' J"^' »"<'"'«' *» load my rifle He wud not do that himself • an' th»f ™o„ quare for 'twas but a little thing con^derfn" "^ Ihin they swore over again tliat they wud not be waTf two" rr- ''a *'"^' °"' "^ *^ s'- '" "«'n^ ways, two by two. A mercy ut was that they did not come on me. I was sick ,wid fear in the pH av mv st„mm.ck -sick, sick, sick 1 Afther they wL all go"e I wmt back to Canteen an' oaUed for a quart to put » thought :n me. Vulmea was there, dhri.lin' heav^"an' pohteful to me beyond reason. "Fwhat will I^o- fwhat wJI I do ? " thinks I to mesilf whin Vulmea It 'Presintly the Arm'rer Sargint comes in stiffin' an' crackm' on not pleased wid any wan, beka.e the MarZl Henn be.n' new to the rig'mint in those days we used to play the mischief wid her arrangemints^ ^TwTa long time before I cud get out av the way av thrv^to P«ll back the backlight an' turnin' her over afthTrfiri^ — as if she was a Snider. seJth!t^.''"T""" ^'' '^"^^''^ ""« *° ™'k wid?" Ta tIbtT,Tw^'"*- " ^''''' ""g""' h- nose flat ^ a table, la^d by for a week, an' ivry Comp'ny sendin' their arrums in knocked to small shivreens." FVhat's wrong wid Hogan, Sargint?" sez I. Wrong! sez the Arm'rer Sargint; »I showed lum. as though I had been his moLri the ^^it BLACK JACK 103 ^^R ! '''''u'' ^' '^'^"P ^'' °l^^« «"' easy. I tould him to put her to again an' fire a blank into the Wow^it to show how the dirt hung on the groovin' He did that, but he did not put in th! pin av t'e ZZl b ock, an av coorse whin he fired he was strook by the block jumpin' clear. Well for him 'twas but a blank - a tull charge wud ha' cut his oi out." ^I looked a thrifle wiser than a boiled sheep's head. Hows that, Sargint ? " sez I. - ;"This way, ye blundherin' man, an' don't you be dom ut,' sez he. Wid that he shows me a Waster action -the breech av her all cut away to show the in- !w7rw?I^'''^^^ '"^^ *° ^'""^^^^ *hat he dimon- strated fwhat Hogan had done twice over. "An' that comes av not knowin' the wepping you're purvided wid, sez he. -'Thank ye, Sargint," sez Ij "I will come to you again for further information." J."? "Ii^ T''\''' ^'' "^^P« y«"r clanin'-rod away from the breech-pin or you will get into throuble." I wmt outside an' I could ha' danced wid delight for the grandeur av ut. « They will load my rifle, good luck to thim, whoile I'm away," thinks I, and bafk I wmt to the Canteen to give them their clear chanst. The Canteen was fiUin' wid men at the ind av the day. I made feign to be far gone in dhrink, an', wan by wan, aU my roomful came in wid Vulmea. I wint away, walkin' thick an' heavy, but not so thick an' heavy that any wan cud ha' tuk me. Sure and thrue, there was a kyartridge gone from my pouch an' lyin' snugmmy rifle. I was hot wid rage against thim all, an I worried the bullet out wid m,r +«ofi, „„ r^.x _ x cud, tJie room bein' empty. Then _ tuk my Doo„ an' 104 BLACK JACK I 'I block. Ol,, uvm music when that pin rowled on the fluro! I put ut into my pouch «„• stuck a dab av dTrt " TW lt„' '" ^K ''•'"''• P"""'' *''^ f-'ll'^'-Wock back. tou a ;• T r; r '" "" ""^ '='"=^' ^^ ^^"^^ «'->» av d,vl ! ^'"' ^'"' *" ™y '»^<"» f" the biggest divas hat ivcr cheated halter." I wud have no mfrcy onVulmea. H.s oi or his lite - little I cared I 'At dusk they came back, the twelve av thim an' hi'cot Wa*"^" ''""''"'• ^--^O-niin-srepon T t ,,IT r" '^'"' ""'^'''^ '" the veranda. Whin he whishtled they began' to rage roun' the room an" carry on tremenjus. But I niver want to hear men ja'cktls^ ^ ^^ <»iU bo hurt. I ,lo not know " ,oz I IZh r ?' ' ''"°"' """ y-"' «'""">t commit myhrd offX;: r,: r- '.»-• :-• you can uow a Lg time, c:' Ve tender?" ""' '"""" '"""«"• *"- 'Next mom the news was through all the ritr'mint an there was nothin' that the men id not t U. O'Ham reports fa.r an> easy, that Vnlmea was come to gZl through tamperin- wid his rifle in barricks all fo! f„ tri^inrt""'"':^- .^"' 'y "^ -wi,Te'rd"t, 'i:. partninee to say that he was on the shpot at the time an cud cert.fy that ut was an accidint I Vou mSit ha' knoeted my roomful down wid a straw whin h"fh Lrf tnrym to find out how the new rifle was made, an' a lot av gri 1' r: "" Ir "^'"' *^ P"" "^ ''^^'^^^ nlafZ tl^ 'If' P"' "^ *•'« '°»k that showed I will not have this foolishness I " sez the Colonel sal'L X ; ""' "^ ''"""''' ' " ^' ''«■• •'»* -h^ . ■ ms will "Make him an early convalescint," sez he t« the Doctor, an' Vulmea was m'ade so for a wIrnTn' H^ big bloody bandages an' face pu.kered up to wan sfde om-fnend, who U» come to spend the day eit- t^ngon the M, narapulatvng the lodle of a ZtooL frock and a hunch ofartijicial lUie> of the valley. nZ 6^0 P.M. on a hot May afternoon. ^ ' tret r, ^''^r^^- A°d '« said: •! shall never for- you be so sdlyl Do you think he meant anything, Miss Threegan. iExtraeting l^ lavender silk >t^^n,from the ruUuh.-) You know hin, bett than Miss D Oh, do be sympathetic, Minnie I I'm mre Miss T. I suppose so. How does one manage to stTe uYrf,^^^^^^^^^ Lookatthisl^I^t-: inspection.-^ ^ ^ ^tock^ng.heel on open hand for Miss D. Never mind that I You 111 can't mend it. Jf I HI If : ■ ■5? ' 'N^S 112 POOR DEAR MAMMA Help me with this hateful bodice, IVe run the string so, and I've run the string so, and I can't make the ful- ness come right. Where would you put this ? ( Waves lilies of the valley.') Miss T. As high up on the shoulder as possible. Miss D. Am I quite tall enough ? I know it makes May Olger look lop-sided. MissT. Yes, but May hasn't your shoulders. Hers are like a hock-bottle. Bearer. {Rapping at door.) Captain Sahib ay a. Miss D. (Jumping up wildly, and hunting for body, which she has discarded owing to the heat of the day ) Captain Sahib I What Captain Sahib? Oh, good gra- cious, and I'm only half dressed ! Well, I sha'n't bother. Miss T. (Calmly.) You needn't. It isn't for us mt's Captain Gadsby. He is going for a ride with Mamma. He generally comes five days out of the seven. Agonised Voice. (From an inner apartment.) Minnie, run out and give Captain Gadsby some tea, and tell him I shall be ready in ten minutesj and, O Minnie, come to me an instant, there's a dear girl T Miss T. Oh, bother I (Aloud.) Very well Mamma. ' Iladt, and reappears, after five minutes, flushed, and rubbing her fingers, MissD. You look pink. What has happened ? Miss T. (In a stage whisper.) A twenty-four-inch waist, and she won't let it out. Where are my bangles ? (Rummages on the toilet-table, and dabs at her hair with a brush in the interval.) Miss D. Who is this Captain Gadsby? I don't think I've met him. POOR DEAB MAMMA jjo sef Tvl' , "^"TttT- "" ^^""^^ *° *■»« "Ta^r him He s a big yellow man, just like a newly-hatched ckcken, w,th an e-normou. moustache. He walks like this CtmMe, Cavalry magger), and he goes 'Ha- Hmmml deep down in his throat when he can't think of anything to say. Mamma likes him. I don't tache? ■ ^^*'*"^^'''2'-) Does he wax that mous- ^MissT. (_Bmy with powder-pnff.y Yes, I think so. MissD iBendiry over the bodice and »emng fun- ously.) Oh, nothing — only EmZ ^" ^*'"''^-^ ^'^y ''^" O"' ™th it, Miss D. Well, May Olger-she's engaged to Mr ^Zr '^~^««« myself . What are they afaer''^' '^^'^^ -^""'"•'"^- (^»'''-) And that's Miss T. ^Ande.) Oh, bother! he'll think I'm fish- mg fo^comphments (^AloM.y No, Peliti's of con^e. these How ,^^"'*«r*r"^0 Not to compare with these. How dyou make them? I can't get my aa«a. .«A^to^u„dei.tand the simplest thing ^yonl'^Z MiS8 T. Yes ? I'm not a hhamamah you know Perhaps you frighten him. You should niver frighten' Oapt.G. He's so awf'ly stupid. Miss T. iFoUing her hands in her lap) Yo„ shouHcal^bim quietly and say: ^O Hansa^l Z?' ».APT. Or. (G^eWzwy interested.-) Yes? r^siW. ^ S'lmv^MoodtVrr^'^''* '='^°^' "^ **— .;«e to my bloodthirsty Mir Khan! Mt'-''' T ?Ji' ^ "^'' "P^"^ *« vernacular. HigiS; slnaifatT::^!'-' ^°" ^'-"'^ ^^^ *"« 116 l!ii POOR DEAR MAMMA Capt. G. I have, but I don't seem to be any the wiser. Are you ? Miss T. I never passed the Higher Standard. But the khansamah is very patient with me. He doesn't get angry when I talk about sheep's topees, or order maunda of grain when I mean seers. Capt. G. (Aside, with intense indignation.") I'd like to see Mir Khan being rude to that girl! Hullo! Steady the Bufifs I (Aloud.) And do you underatand about horses, too ? Miss T. A little— not very much. I can't doctor them, but I know what they ought to eat, and I am in charge of our stable. * Capt. G. Indeed! You might help me then. What ought a man to give his sais in the Hills? My ruffian says eight rupees, because everything is so dear. Miss T. Six rupees a month, and one rupee Simla allowance —neither more nor less. And a grass-cut gets six rupees. That's better than buying grass in the bazar. Capt. G. (^Admiringly.) How do you know? Miss T. I have tried both ways. Capt. G. Do you ride much, then? I've never seen you on the Mall. Miss T. (Aside.) I haven't passed him more than fifty times. (Aloud.) Nearly every day. Capt. G. By Jove! I didn't know that. Ha- Hmmm! (Pulls at his moustache and is silent for forty seconds.) Miss T. (Desperately, and wondering what will hap- pen next.) It looks beautiful. I shouldn't touch it if I were you. (Aside.) It's all Mamma's fault for not coming before. I m7^ be rude I POOR DEAR MAMMA jjy Capt G. ^Bronzing under the tan and hnnging down hs hand very quicMy.^ Eh I Wha-atI Oh, yes I Hal A I i^r^^f ^^«««%.) ^Aside,-) Well, of all the dashed cheek I I never had a woman say that to me yet. bhe must be a cool hand or else — Ah I that nursery-tea I Voice FROM THE Unknown. Tchkl Tchk! Tchkl Capt. G. Good gracious I What's that? MissT. The dog, I think. ^Aside,-) Emm^ has been listening, and I'll never forgive her I rli''^l\ ^Ir.i^'"'^''^ '^^'y ^°^'* ^^^P ^°gs here. (AloudO Didn't sound like a dog, did it ? Miss T. Then it must have been the cat. Let's so into the veranda. What a lovely evening it is I Steps into veranda and looks out across the hills into sunset. The Captain follows. Capt. G. (Aside.) Superb eyes I I wonder that I never noticed them before I (Aloud.) There's goinff to be a dance at Viceregal Lodge on Wednesday. Can you spare me one ? j «« MissT. (Shortly.) No I I don't want any of your char,ty.dances You only ask me because Mamma told you to. I hop and I bump. You know I dot «>, tr;^*/^''^'-^ ^^"^'^ *^^^' b^* little girls shouldn t understand these things. (Aloud.) No! on my word, I don't. You dance beautifully. Miss T. Then why do you always stand out after Capt. G. It wasn't a fib, believe me. I really do want the pleasure of a dance with you. MissT. (WicJcedly.) why? Won't Mamma dance with you any more ? f i m Wftm rr 118 POOR DEAR MAMMA Capt. G. (mre earnestly than the necessity de- mands.) I wasn't thinking of your Mother, reside.) You httle vixen I Miss T. (Still looking out of the window.) Eh? Oh, I beg your pardon. I was thinking of something else. ® Capt G. (Aside.) Well I I wonder what she'll say next. I ve never known a woman treat me like this be- fore. I might be -Dash it, I might be an Infantry subaltern I (Aloud.) Oh, please don't trouble. I'm not worth thinking about. Isn't your Moiher ready yet? -^ Miss T. I should think ko ; but promise me, Captain Gadsby, you won't take poor dear Mamma twice round Jakko any more. It tires her so. Capt. G. She says that no exercise tires her. MissT. Yes, but she suffers afterwards. Fow don't know what rheumatism is, and you oughtn't to keep her out so late, when it gets chill in the evenings. Capt. G. (Aside.) Rheumatism! I thought she came off her horse rather in a bunch. Whew I One lives and learns. (Aloud.) I'm sorry to hear that, ohe hasn t mentioned it to me. Miss T. (Flurried.) Of course not! Poor dear Mamma never would. And you mustn't say that I told you either. Promise me that you won't. Oh, Captain Gadsby, promise me you won't I Capt. G. I am dumb, or — I shall be as soon as youve given me that dance, and another— if you can trouble yourself to think about me for a minute. Miss T. But you won't like it one little bit. You'U be awfully sorry afterwards. Capt. G. I shall like it above all things, and I shall POOR DEAR MAMMA 119 only be sorry that I didn't get more. CAside.) Now what m the world am I saying ? Miss T. Very well. You will have only yourself to thank if your toes are trodden on. Shall we sav Seven ? "^ .u ^^'^''- ^- ^"^ Eleven. (Aside.) She can't be more than eight stone, but, even then, it's an absurdly small foot. (Looks at his own riding boots.) Miss T. They're beautifully shiny. I can almost see my face in them. Capt. G. I was thinking whether I should have to go on crutches for the rest of my life if you trod on my toes. Miss T. Very likely. Why not change Eleven for a square ? Capt. G. No, please! I want them both waltzes. Won t you write them down ? Miss T. / don't get so many dances that I shall confuse them. Tou will be the offender. Capt. G. Wait and see ! (Aside.) She doesn't dance perfectly, perhaps, but Miss T. Your tea must have got cold by this time. Won t you have another cup ? Capt. G. No, thanks. Don't you think it's pleas- anter out in the veranda? (Aside.) I never saw hair take that colour in the sunshine before. (Aloud.) It's like one of Dicksee's pictures. MissT. Yes I It's a wonderful sunset, isn't it? (Bluntly.) But what do you know about Dicksee's pictures? ^ Capt. G^ I go Home occasionally. And I used to ^aow the Galleries. (Mrvously.) You mustn't think me only a Philistine with — a moustache. 1 120 POOR DEAR MAMMA Miss T. Don't I Please don't I Fm so soriy for what I said then. I was horriblt, rude. It slipped out before I thought. Don't you know the temptation to say fnghtful and shocking things just for the mero sake of saying them? I'm afraid I gave way to it. Capt G. iWatching the girl as she flushes.-) J think I know the feeling. It would be terrible if we all yielded to it, wouldn't it? For instance, I might Poor Dear Mamma. (^Entering, habited, hatted, and hooted.) Ah, Captain Gadsbyl 'Sorry to keep you waiting. Hope you haven't been bored. 'My little girl been talking to you T' Miss T. (^Aside.) I'm not sorry I spoke about the rheumatism. I'm not I I'm not I I only wish I'd mentioned the corns too. Cavt.G. dAside.) What a shame I I wonder how Old she IS. It never occurred to me before. (Aloud.) We ve been discussing ' Shakespeare and the musical glasses in the veranda. Miss T. ^Aside.) Nice man! He knows that quo- tation He isn t a Philistine with a moustache. (Aloud.) Good-bye, Captain Gadsby. (^Aside.) What a huge hand and what a squeeze I I don't suppose he meant it, but he has driven the rings into my fingers. Poor Dear Mamma. Has Vermillion come round yet? Oh, yes I Captain Gadsby, don't you think that the saddle 18 too far forward? ^They pass into the jront veranda.) Capt. G. (^Aside.) How the dickens should I know what she prefers? She told me that she doted on horses. (iAloud.) I think it is. into front veranda.) Oh I /■ n -•.. \\^ufning out POOR DEAR MAMMA 121 Bad Buldoo I I must speak to him for this. He has taken up the curb two links, and Vermillion hates that. (Pa««e« out and to horse's head.) Capt. G. Let me do it I MissT. No, Vermillion understands me. Don't you, old man? (Loosea curb-chain skilfully, and pats horse on nose and throttle.) Poor Vermillion I Did they want to cut his chin off? There I Captain Gadsby watches the interlude with tm- disguised admiration. Poor Dear Mamma. ^Tartly to Miss T.) YouVe forgotten your guest, I think, dear. MissT. Good gracious I So I have I Good-bye. (^Retreats indoors hastily.) Poor Dear Mamma. {Bunching reins in finger% hampered hy too tight gauntlets.) Captain Gadsby I Captain Gadsby stoops and makes the foot-rest Poor Dear Mamma blunders, halts too long, and breaks through it. Capt. G. {Aside.) Can't hold up eleven stone for ever. It's all your rheumatism. {Aloud.) Can't im- agine why I was so clumsy. {Aside.) Now Little i^eatherweight would have gone up like a bird. They ride out of the garden. The Captain falls back. Capt. G. {Aside.) How that habit catches her under the arms ! Ugh I Poor Dear Mamma. ( With the worn smile of sixteen seasons, the worse for exchange.) You're dull this after- noon, Captain Gadsby. Capt. G. {Spurring up wedrily.) Why did you ^. ,,.^. TTciiviii^ a\J lung t M ccetera, et ccetera, et ccetera. ■^ tal 122 POOB DEAE MAMMA (AK lOTBEVAL OF THREE WEEKS.) Hall) Hul o, Gaddy 1 'Been trotting out the Gorgon- »^olaI We all thought it was the Goi^ you're ml- o* u f ^^ir?* ^ ^'^^ 'dithering emphasis.') You youna cub I What the does it matter to you? ^ Proceeds to read Gilded Youth a lecture on dis- cretion and deportment, which crumbles latter like a Chinese Lantern. Departs fuming, (FURTHER INTERVAL OF FIVE WEEKS.) Scene. _JKr^,nor of New Simla Library on a foggy evening. Miss Threegan and Miss Deercourt meet among the 'rickshaws. Miss T. is carrying a bundle of looks under her left arm, MissD. (Level intonation.) Well? Miss T. (Ascending intonation.) Well ? Miss D. (Capturing her friend's left arm, taking away all the books, placing books in 'rickshaw, returning to arm se^nng hand by the third finger and invesl gatmg.) Weill You Ja^ girl! And you n.t,.r told Z^^lJl-!''''-' He^he-heonlyspokeyes. «rf ?! f • v^^T ^''"' ^'^' ^""^ ^'"^ *« b« bridesmaid Z L " ^''^"^ ^'''' promised ever so long ago. Miss T Of course. I'll tell you all about it to- morrow. ( Qets into 'rickshaw.) O Emma ! MissD. (With intense interest.) Yes, dear? POOR DEAR MAMMA 123 Miss T. (Piano.) It's quite true — about — the — egg- Miss D. What egg? Miss T. (Pianissimo prestissimo.) The egg with- out the salt. ( Forte.) Chalo ghar ho jaldi, jhampani ! (Go home, jhampani.) m THE WORLD WITHOUT Certain people of importance. 10.30 P.M. of a auffy night in the Saim. I'our men du>per»ed in picturesque attitude, and ea>y. ch„r> To these enter Blaykk of the Irregular Moguh, in evening drett. BtAr™. Phew! The Judge ought to be hanged m his own store-godown. Hi, ihitmatgar/ Poora whi8key-peg, to take the taste out of my mouth Ctotiss. (^Royal ArtUlerg.) That's it, is it ? What t.t:7oZT """ """^ "' '""^ •'"^^^'^ ' ^- ■^■'0- Ch?h Tf ■ ,.,7''°"S'" " """Wn't be worse than the Club, but I'll swear he buys ullaged liquor and doctors .t with gin and ink Rooking round TLl" Is this all of you to-night? ^ di^er""lVf^^-T^-^ ^"""""y "'^ o^U^d »«t at dinner. Mingle had a pain in his tummy. fh« r"™'- f'^^^ ^^ °* »'''"»'' ""ee a week in •GooflMe'h ^' V™f "" "'"'""'^^^ - between Good^httle chap, though. Any one at the Judge's, Blaym! Cockley and hU memsahii looking awfully white and fagged. 'Female girl -couldn't Lch the ..„„„_„n her way to the Hills, under the Cockleys' THE WORLD WITHOUT 125 Time, Four d easy- "regular hanged Poora th. What L know- in the r and roorri). )ut at ek in ween, edge's, v^fully h the kleys' charge — the Judge, and Markyn fresh from Simla — disgustingly fit. CuRTiss. Good Lord, how truly magnificent I Was there enough ice ? When I mangled garbage there I got one whole lump— nearly as big as a walnut. What had Markyn to say for himself ? Blayne. 'Seems that every one is having a fairly good time up there in spite of the rain. By Jove, that remmds me I I know I hadn't come across just for the pleasure of your society. News I Great news I Markyn told me. DooNE. Who's dead now ? Blayne. No one that I know of ; but Gaddy's hooked at last I DKOPPma Chorus. How much? The Devil I Markyn was pulling your lag. Not Gaddy ! Blayne. (Eumming.^ 'Yea, verily, verUy, verily! Verily, verUy, I say unto thee.' Theodore, the gift o'God! Our Phillupl It's been given out up above. Mackesy. (Barrister-at^Law.') Huh I Women will give out anything. What does accused say ? Blayne. Markyn told me that he congratulated him warily— one hand held out, t'other ready to guard. Gaddy turned pink and said it was so. CURTISP. Poor old Gaddy ! They all do it. Who's she f Let's hear the details. Blayne. She's a girl — daughter of a Colonel Somebody. DooNE. Simla's stiff with Colonels' daughters. Be more explicit. Blayne. V/ait a shake. What wa% her name? Three — something. Three 126 THE WORLD WITHOUT m B™' t^' P'**P'- "^-^y '^"-^-^ ««« brand. Blavne. Threegan- Minnie Threegan. rrfrhraj^T^^^^"' ^»'' «^- Wo bit of a m^«^/r™A.W....) Eh? Whales that? Z^'^ht^ says "'^'^ S*"^'^ "°S''S«'l, so Blayne ^TlJ-^r/^-^ Engaged-engaged! Bless n^T scuu Im gettmg an old man! Little Minnie Ihieegan engaged. It was only the other dav I Cnt home with then, in the Surat-L, thelL^f/jTa she was crawling about on her haads and knees amZ because I showed her my watch. And that waa in it » oZ~"°'f '™°*^L ^^^ «<"''J>'>-tin.e flies" 1 m an old man. I remember when Threegan married Miss Derwent-daughter of old Hooky DefwenT-bnt that was before your time. And soLSbabyt MACKiav. Gadsby of the Pink Hussars. Jebvoise 'Never met him. Threegan lived in debt at tmTtoo.''''"'' '" -oney-lucky devil. Plac« I THE WORLD WITHOUT j27 DooNB. He comes of first-claas Stock. 'Can't quite understand his being caught by a Colonel's dauX ^^ilooUry eauUou>ly round room) Black Infantry a that 1 No offence to you, Blayne. Blayot. ^Stiffly.-) Not much, tha-anks. OUBTISS. (.Quoting motto of Irregular MogulB.-) 'We are what we are,' eh, old man ? But Gaddy was sucL superior ammal as a rule. Why didn't he go Home and pick his wife there? Mackesy They are all alike when they come to the irsieTof ^itintr;-!""* '"^^ ^ -» ^-- - morntor" ^' "' '''' '*'™'' muttony-ohap in the MACKESY. If a man's once taken that way nothing wiU hold him. Do you remember Benoit of your ser! vice Doone ? They transferred him to Tharanda Zn his time came, »nd he married a platelayer's daughter or rSac? ''"' '"'■ ''^ "■" ^"^ -'^ f-^« a^:: Doone Yes, poor brute. That smashed Benoit's chances of promotion altogether. Mrs. Benoit used to ask: ' Was you goin' to th -mce this evenin'?' CuBims. HangitaJlI Gaddyhasn't married beneath hun. There's no tar-brush in the family, J suppose tovoi^E. Tar-brush! Not an annll Y^Zm fellows talk as though the man wa, doing the L Z honour m marrying her. You're all too%once!ted- nothing's good enough for you. ner at the Judsre's. and a St.«f,-or> «« „;^ui_. _.. , .^ . You're quite right. We're a set of Sybarites. 128 THE WORLD WITHOUT iiii ■"■Iffi.i DooNE. Luxurious dogs, wallowing in CuRTiss. Prickly heat between the shoulders. I'm covered v th it. Let's hope Beora will be cooler. Blayne. Whew I Are you ordered into camp, too ? I thought the Gunners had a clean sheet. CuRTiss. No, worse luck. Two cases yesterday — one died— and if we have a third, out we go. Is there any shooting at Beora, Doone ? Doone. The country's under water, except the patch by the Grand Trunk Road. I was there yesterday, looking at a hund, and came across four poor devils in their last stage. It's rather bad from here to Kuchara. CuRTiss. Then we're pretty certain to have a heavy ^luV,*'. ,-^^'^^'' ^ ^ shouldn't mind changing places with Gaddy for a whUe. 'Sport with Amaryllis in the shade of the Town Hall, and all that. Oh, why doesn't somebody come and marry me, instead of letting me go into cholera-camp ? Mackesy. Ask the Committee. CURTISS. You ruffian I You'll stand me another peg for that. Blayne, what wiU you take ? Mackesy 18 fine on moral grounds. Doone, have you any preference ? •> j Doone. Small glass Kiimmel, please. ExceUent carminative, these days. Anthony told me so. Mackesy. (%w% voucher for four drinhs. ) Most unfair punishment. I only thought of Curtiss as Actseon being chivied round the billiard tables by the nymphs of Diana. Blayke. Curtiss would have to import his nymphs by train. Mrs. Cockley's the only woman in the station. She won't leave Cockley, and he's doing his oest to get her to go. THE WORLD WITHOUT ^29 CTOTIS8. Good, indeed I Here's Mrs. Cockley's health. To the only wife in the Station and a damned brave woman ! Omnbs. iLrinhing.^ A damned brave woman I BLAYNE. I suppose Gaddy will bring his wife here at the end of the cold weather. They are going to be married almost immediately, I believe. ^ « "« CuETiss. Gaddy may thank his luck that the Pink Hussars are all detachment and no headquarters this hot weather, or he'd be torn from the arms of his love as sure as death. Have you ever noticed the thorough- minded way British Cavalry take to cholera? It's because they are so expensive. If the Pinks had stood fast here, they would have been out in camp a month ago. Yes, I should decidedly like to be Gaddv Mackesy. He'll go Home after he's marri;d, and send m his papers — see if he doesn't. Blayne. Why shouldn't he? Hasn't he money? Would any one of us be here if we weren't paupers ? DooKE. Poor old pauper I What has become of the SIX hundred you rooked from our table last month ? Blayne. It took unto itself wings. I think an Zf7'^^ tradesman got some of it, and a shroff gobbled the rest — or else I spent it. his^H ™' ^''^^^ ''^^^' ^^^ '^^^^'''^' ^'^^ ^ '^'''ff i^ DooNE. Virtuous Gaddy I If / had three thou- sand a month, paid from England, I don't think I'd deal with a shroff either. Mackesy. iYawr^ing.^ Oh, it's a sweet life I I wonder whether matrimony would make it sweeter ^UETiss. Ask Cockley — with his wife dying by 130 THE WORLD WITHOUT you ? You haven't a I ito a running Blayne. Go home and get a fool of a girl to come out to — what is it Thackeray says? — 'the splendid palace of an Indian pro-consul.' DooNB. Which reminds me. My quarters leak like a sieve. I had fever last night from sleeping in a swamp. And the worst of it is, one can't do anything to a roof till the Rains are over. CuRTiss. What's wrong with eighty rotting Tommies to t^ stream. DooNE. No: but I'm mixcQ boils ^nd bad lan- guage. I'm a regular Job all over r.iy body. It's sheer poverty of blood, dnd I don't see any chance of getting richer — either way. Blaynb. Can't you take leave ? DooNB. That's the pull you Army men have over us. Ten days are nothing in your sight. Fm so important that Government can't find a substitute if I go away. Ye-es, I'd like to be Gaddy, whoever his wife may be. CuRTiss. You've passed the turn of life that Mack- esy was speaking of. DooNB. Indeed I have, but I never yet had the brutality to ask a woman to share my life out here. Blayne. On my soul I believe you're right. I'm thinking of Mrs. Cockley. The woman's an absolute wreck. DooNB. Exactly. Because she stays down here. The only way to keep her fit would be to send her to the Hills for eight months — and the same with any woman. I fancy I see myself taking a wife on those terms. Mackesy. With the rupee at one and sixpence. THE WORLD WITHOUT jm The little Doones would be little Deh.a Doones, with a fine^Muaaoone cU-oU anent to bring home foT th^ Ctotiss And a pair of be-ewtiful mmlhur-ho^n for Doone to wear, free of expense, presented by-!! izz^i:;:r ""'' "™"^ lu^^ if~' CuBTiss. Surely a third's loss enough. Who gains by the arrangement ? That's what I wLt to know Blaynb The Silver Question! I'm going tlbed InZv T T'"'^''^- '''«'"'' «'"«'°« here's Anthony —lookmg like a ghost. -ffnter Aothoky, Indian Medical Staff, very white and tired. " Anthony. 'Evening, Blayne. It's raining in sheets ^^ypeg lao, kUtn^atgar. The roads are^somethtg CuETiss. How's Mingle? Anthony. Very bad, and more frightened I handed h.m over to Fewton. Mingle mifhtlus as Toix^r ^ ^'-" '" ^''^ «- p'-. i-s :? hegrtMstir:' " "^"""' ""'« ""^P- "^^^ ^ Anthonj. 'Can't quite say. A very bad tummy and a blue funk so far. He asked me at once if Twas cMera, and I told him not to be a fool. That sootM CuRTiss. Poor devil! The funk doe- h-'f -h. business in a man of that build ~ Anthony. {.UgUvng a cheroot.) I firmly believe 132 THE WORLD WITHOUT m the funk will kill him, if he stays down. You know the amount of trouble he's been giving Fewton for the last three weeks. He's doing his very best to frighten himself into the grave. General Chorus. Poor little devil I Why doesn't he get away ? Anthony. 'Can't. He has his leave all right, but he's so dipped he can't take it, and I don't think his name on paper would raise four annas. That's in con- fidence, though. Mackesy. All the Station knows it. Anthony. ' I suppose I shall have to die here,' he said, squirming all acrosi the bed. He's quite made up his mmd to Kingdom Come. And I know he has nothing more than a wet-weather tummy if he could only keep a hand on himself. Blayne. That's bad. That's very bad. Poor little Miggy. Good little chap, too. I say Anthony. What do you say ? Blayne. Well, look here — anyhow. If it's like that — as you say — I say fifty. CuRTiss. I say fifty. Mackesy. I go twenty better. DooNE. Bloated Croesus of the Bar 1 I say fifty. Jervoise, what do you say ? Hi I Wake up I Jervoise. Eh ? What's that ? What's that ? CuRTiss. We want a hundred rupees from you. You're a bachelor drawing a gigantic income, and there's a man in a hole. Jervoise. Whatman? Any one dead? Blayne. No, but he'll die if you don't give the hundred. Here I Here's a peg-voucher. You can see what we've signed for, and Anthony's man will THE WORLD WITHOUT 133 come round to-morrow to collect it. So there will be no trouble. Jeuvoise. (Signing.) One hundred, E. M. J There you are (feebly). It isn't one of your jokes, is it f Blaynb. No, it really is wanted. Anthony, you were the biggest poker-winner last week, and you've defrauded the tax-collector too long. Sign I Anthony. Let's see. Three fifties and a seventy -two twenty -three twenty -say four hundred and twenty. That'll give him a month clear at the Hills Many thankr. you men. I'll send round the chaprassi to-morrow. CuRTiss. You must engineer his taking the stuff, and of course you mustn't Anthony. Of course. It would never do. He'd weep with gratitude over his evening drink. Blaynb. That's just what he would do,' damn him. Oh I I say, Anthony, you pretend to know everything. Have you heard about Gaddy ? Anthony. No. Divorce Court at last? Blaynb. Worse. He's engaged I Anthony. How much? Rq can't he I Blaynb. Re is. He's going to be married m a few weeks. Markyn told me at the Judge's this evening. i-Xi S pUiCKCIi. Anthony. You don»t say so? Holy Moses I Iherell be a shine in the tents of Kedar. CuRTiss. 'Regiment cut up rough, think you? Anthony. 'Don't know anything about the Regi- ment. xTiAv^xvc^i. ii, IS bigamy, then? Anthony. Maybe. Do you mean to say that you i til ■ ■;' 134 THE WORLD WITHOUT men have forgotten, or is there more chaHty in the world than I thought ? DooNE. You don't look pretty wlien you are trying to keep a secret. You bloat. Explain. Anthony. Mrs. Herriott I Blayne. (^After a long pause, to the room generally.) It s my notion that we are a set of fools. Mackesy. Nonsense. That business was knocked on the head last season. Why, young Mallard Anthony. Mallard was a candlestick, paraded as such. Thmk awhile. Recollect last season and the talk then. Mallard or no Mallard, did Gaddy ever talk to any other woman? CuRTiss. There's something in that. It was slightly noticeable now you come to mention it. But she's at Naini Tal and he's at Simla. Anthony. He had to go to Simla to look after a globe-trotter relative of his — a person with a title. Uncle or aunt. Blayne. And there he got engaged. No law pre- vents a man growing tired of a woman. Anthony. Except that he mustn't do it till the woman is tired of him. And the Herriott woman was not that. CuRTiss. She may be now. Two months of Naini Tal work wonders. DooNE. Curious thing how some women carry a Fate with them. There was a Mrs. Deegie in the Central Provinces whose men invariably fell away and got married. It became a regular proverb with us when I was down there. I remember three men des- perately devoted to her, and they all, one after another, vwjk Wives. THE WORLD WITHOUT 185 was But CuRTiss. That's odd. Now I should have thouglit that Mrs. Deegie's influence would have led them to take other men's wives. It ought to have made them afraid of the judgment of Providence. Anthony. Mrs. Herriott will make Gaddy afraid of something more than the judgment of Providence, I fancy. Blayne. Supposing things are as you say, he'll be a fool to face her. He'll sit tight at Simla. Anthony. 'Shouldn't be a bit surprised if he went off to Naini to explain. He's an unaccountable sort of man, and she's likely to be a more than unaccountable woman. DoONE. What makes you take her character away 80 confidently ? Anthony. Primum Umpm. Gaddy was her first, and a woman doesn't luiuw her first man to drop away without expostulation. She justifies the first transfer of affection to herself by swearing that it is for ever and ever. Consequently Blayne Consequently, we are sitting here till past one o'clock, talking scandal like a set of Station cats. Anthony, it's all your fault. We were perfectly respectable till you came in. Go to bed. I'm off. Good-night all. CuRTiss. Past one I It's past two, by Jove, and here's the kUt coming for the late charge. Just Heavens ! One, two, three, four, five rupees to pay for the pleasure of saying that a poor little beast of a woman is no better than she should be. I'm ashamed of myself. Go to bed, you slanderous villains, and if " • ^^ ^^-^^a «,u-xiiuiiu\v, uo preparea lo iiear I'm dead before paying my card account I it ") THE TENTS OF KEDAR Only why should it be with pain at all, Why must I 'twixt the leaves of coronal Put any kiss of pardon on thy brow? Why should the other women know so much And talk together : ~ Such the look and such The smile he used to love with, then as now. Any Wife to any Husband. Scene. -^iVam Tal dinner for thirty-four. Plate wines, crockery, and kkitmatgara carefully calculated to scale of Rs, 6000 per mensem, less Exchange. Table split lengthways by bank of flowers, Mrs. Heeeiott. (^After conversation has risen to proper pitch.:, Ah I 'Didn't see you in the crush in the drawing-room. (i8otto voce.-) Where have you been all this while, Pip? Captain Gadsby. {Turning from regularly ordained dinner partner and settling hock glasses.) Good even- mg.^ iSotto voce.) Not quite so loud another time. J^ouve no notion how your voice carries. {Aside.) So much for shirking the written explanation. It'll have to be a verbal one now. Sweet prospect I How on earth am I to tell her that I am a respectable, engaged member of society and it's all over between us ? Mrs. H. I've a heavy score against you. Where were you at the Monday Pop? Where were you on luesday? Where were you at the Lamonts' tennis? 1 was loftlrmnr «^ro|'-«rTi.f>./^«^ THE TENTS OP KEDAB 137 and. ■*latei lated Table n to h in you ined me. So lave irth ged lere on lis? Capt. G. For me I Oh, I was alive somewhere, I suppose. (iABide.-) It's for Minnie's sake, but it's going to be dashed unpleasant. Mrs. H. Have I done anything to offend you? I never meant it if I have. I couldn't help going for a ride with the Vaynor man. It was promised a week before you came up. Capt. G. I didn't know Mes. H. It really was. Capt. G. Anything about it, I mean. Mrs. H. What has upset you to-day ? All these days ? You haven't been near me for four whole days -•nearly one hundred hours. Was it Jcind of you, Pip ? And I've been looking forward so much to your coming. "^ Capt. G. Have you? Mrs. H. You ^wom» I have I I've been as foolish as a schoolgirl about it. I made a little calendar and put It in my card-case, and every time the twelve o'clock gun went off I scrritched out a square and said : ' That brings me nearer to Pip. My Pip ! ' Capt. G. {With an uneasy laugh.^ What will Mackler think if you neglect him so ? Mrs. H. And it hasn't brought you nearer. You seem farther away than ever. Are you sulking about something ? I know your temper. Capt. G. No. Mrs. H. Have I grown old in the last few months, then? ^Reaches forward to bank of flowers for menu- card.') Partner ON Left. Allow me. (Hands menu-card. .t_.,^,{E ,,. , „,, ,„ „t^n,t{, sirevcnjor i/iree seconds.) Mrs. H. {To partner.) Oh, thanks. I didn't see. h-j m 138 THE TENTS OP KEDAR (Turns right affain^ Is anything in me changed at Capt. G. For Goodness' sake go on with your dinner I You must eat something. Try one of those cutlet arrangements. (Aside.) And I fancied she had good shoulders, once upon a time I What an ass a man can make of himself I " .2^^^: ^' /^"^^^'^^ ^^^*^^/ *^ « paper frill, seven peas, some stamped carrots and a spoonful of gravy,) That isnt^an answer. TeU me whether I have done any- Capt. G. (Aside.) If it isn't ended here there will be a ghastly scene somewhere else. If only I'd written to her and stood the racket-at long range I (To Khitmatgar.) Han! Simpkin do. (Aloud.) mt^U you later on. v y ax ten Mbs. H. Tell me now. It must be some foolish misunderstanding, and you know that there was to be nothing of that sort between us. We, of all people in the world, can't afford it. Is it the Vaynor man, and don t you like to say so ? On my honour Capt. G. I haven't given the Vaynor man a thought. MRS. H. But how d'you know that /haven't ? CAPT.G. (Aside.) Here's my chance and may the Devil help me through with it. (Aloud and Las- uredly.) Believe me, I do not care how often or how tenderly you think of the Vaynor man. Mrs. H. I wonder if you mean that. — Oh, what is the good of squabbling and pretending to misunder- stand when you are only up for so short a time ? Pip don't be a stupid I ^' Follows a pause, during which he crosses his left ^ — — , ,^,n. „„t^ vaniifiaeis nis aimier. THE TENTS OP KEDAR jgg Capt. G. (/„ answer to the thunderstorm in her eyes. ) Corns — my worst. Mrs. H. Upon my word, you are the very rudest man m the world I I'll nmr do it again. Capt. G ^Aside.) No, I don't think you will- but I wonder what you will do before it's all over! iToKhtmatgar.) Thorah ur Simpkin do. gis^badmanr^ Haven't you the grace to apolo- T?..tr'^' ^^f^"'^ I "mustn't let it drift brckno«.. won^s~''' ^''"^ ^' ^^'""^ ^' ^ ^^' ^^^^ «he Mrs. I'm waiting: or would you like me to dictate a form of apology? Mtf'w* ^^.'f'-^^'^y'^ By all means dictate. «p. I'nu • 5^^^^^'^ ^^^^ '^«"- Rehearse your several Christian names after me and go on : 'Profess my smcere repentance. Capt. G. 'Sincere repentance.' Mrs. H. ' For having behaved * «bp^t7\^' ^^''^''^ ^^^^^^^ I wish to Goodness shed look away. 'For having behaved'-a^ I have stkTf ;r f i^T *^'* ^ "^ thoroughly and heartily sick of the whole business, and take this opportunity forwl r^ tr "^^ ^^*'^'^'^ "^ ^^^^^ i*' ^«^' ^hence- forward, and for ever. (^Aside.^ If any one had told me I should be such a blackguard ! l.fT. ^' S^^f^^ « 'P^'^^'M of potato chips into herplate.^ That's not a pretty joke Capt. G No. It's a reality. (^«erf,.) I wonder If smashes of this kind are always so raw. Mrs. H. Really, Pip. you're a.«ff;„a. v - . everyday. -« o-^—g -«rc «usuru pi pi 140 THE TINTS OP KEDAR t I •3 fnn^ff'-i?' ^°^. ^'^^ P^Vs sake don't do that. It's too terrible, even in fun. Capt. G. I'll let her think it over for a whilp But I ought to be horse-whipped. "' yof s'aid fust Lr* '^ ''^" "'^* ^^^ --^* ^^ -^^^ Capt. G. Exactly what I said. No less. " wfrA^Idone'r'^* '^^^ ' '^^^ *^ ^-- ^^^ me^T^/o^;. ^^/^"^ J' '^' '^'y ^«^d^'t look at me. (Aloud and very slowly. Ma eyes on his plaU ^ D you remember that evening in July, before the Ra^s broke, when you said that the end would have to come sooner or later-and you wondered for which of us il would come first ? " Mrs. H. Yes I I was only iokin^ Anri ^«„ swore t,,, as long as there was bLrrn^ufbody"^^^ should never come. And I believed you. ^ That^'^all.^* (^»^i^^r% ^.nz^.a.c?.) Well, it has. A long pause, during which Mrs. .H. hows her head and rolls the hread-twist into little pellets : Or. Stares at the oleanders. naturally.^ They tram ns women well, don't theyTpio' as ttf ■ ^*"""'"^' ""'*»^ •*-*-«'«''•) So for as the expression goes. (^,«,.) n J.j ;„ '" nature to take things quietly. Theie'U be an Lplst eve?B;d\ii!^lr„ *f*:-l ^^-^ ^- «-•>"' i -.^^.ic tu vvxiggie wiieu they're THE TENTS OF KEDAR 141 being tortured, I believe. (iSlips fan from girdle and fans slowly: rim of fan level with chin.) Partner on Left. Very close to-night, isn't it ? lov find it too much for you? Mrs. H. Oh, no, not in the least. But they really ought to have punkahs, even in your cool Naini Tal oughtn't they ? (Turns, dropping fan and raising eye- orows.) ^ Capt. G. It's all right. (Aside.) Here comes the storm I Mrs. H. (ffer eyes on the tablecloth : fan ready in right hand.) It was very cleverly managed, Pip, and I congratulate you. You swore -you never contented yourself with merely saying a thing-you more that, as far as lay in your power, you'd make my wretched life pleasant for me. And you've denied me the con- solation of breaking down. I should have done it — indeed I should. A woman would hardly have thought of this refinement, my kind, considerate friend. (Fanr guard as before.) You have explained things so ten- derly and truthfully, too I You haven't spoken or written a word of warning, and you have let me believe m you till the last minute. You haven't condescended to give me your reason yet. No I A woman could not have managed it half so well. Are there many men like you in the world? rJ^'^r'^' 1'°^ sure I don't know. (To Khitmatgar.) Ohel SimpUndo. ^ ^ Mrs. H. You call yourself a man of the world, don t you ? Do men of the world behave like Devils when they do a woman the honour to get tired of her? — — "- *-" °^^ ^ auui. iuiow. Dout speak so loud I '^ L,l 142 THE TENTS OF KEDAK happens !'*'Do''„7h"'/Tt'"'' "^ ^'°'^' ^^hatey^r rlwL ' **™"* "' "y compromising you. Itou ve chosen your ground far too well and vZ been properly brought up. (Lowering ^0 Ljt you ang p.ty, Pip, except for yourself to sw tha?r ^""'"f '* "^ ^"'^^ impertinent of me to say that I'm sorry for you ? iod pTn T ^"^S/^'y ""CM of my feelings. My ^od Pip, I ^as a good woman once I Yon Baidl wl You've made me what I am. What are you goLgt do w,th „e? What are you going to do wHh me? of ^t7'»*^' / *"'t"'"'^ ^'"' y""' '* yo" ^ant th« pity 4^f;haf:rai^i:rcC:rour-''^- °° What uhS. j^;r vrcalrth-r'^ '^" ^- that? ^ysQii. J^ou cant think worse than Mrs. H. Oh, yes, I can I And now, will vou t^ll me the reason of all this? Remorse? Has ^Baya d been suddenly conscience-stricken? ^ Capt. G. (.Angrily, Mb eyes BtUl lowered.) No I Th« ^^has come to an end „„ my side. ^faU IS! MBS. H. 'That's all. Majkchr As though I were' speeler ^"'"""''"- J"" ""^^ *» -ake'preS speeches. D you remember when you said ? OAPT. tr. For Heaven's sake don't bring that back I It t i""^ ^"" ^^' "'"^ I'll ''d«'it i' -— -BS. ... But you don't ciue to be reminded of old 1 THE TENTS OF KEDAR ^43 lies? If I could hope to hurt you one-tenth as much as you have hurt me to-night -No, I wouldn't -I coulan t do it — liar though you are. Capt, G. I've spoken the truth. Mes. H. My dear Sir, you flatter yourself. You have hed over the reason. Pip, remember that I know you as you don't know yourself. You have been every- thmg to me, though you are- (Fan-guard.) Oh, what a contemptible Thin, it is ! And so you are^^erely tired of me ? -^ - YeT* ^* ^'""^^ ^^"""^ "^^'^^ "^^"^ ""^ repeating it Mrs. H. Lie the first. I wish I knew a coarser word. Lie seems so ineffectual in your case. The fire has just died out and there is no fresh one ? Think tor a minute, Pip, if you care whether I despise you more than I do. Simply Mafiach, kit? Capt.G. Yes. (Aside.) I think I deserve this. MRS. H. Lie number two. Before the next glass chokes you, tell me her name. Capt. G. (Aside.) I'll make her pay for dragging Minnie into the business I (Aloud.) Is it likely? Mrs. H. Veri/ likely if you thought that it would flatter your vanity. You'd cry my name on the house- tops to make people turn round. A^Tl^\ ^ "^'"^ ^ ^^^' ^^^^« ^o^d liave been an end of this business. Mrs. H. Oh, no, there would not — And so you were going to be virtuous and blas^, were you ? To come to me and say : 'I've done with you. The inci- dent IS clo-osed.' I ought to be proud of having kept such a man so long. ^ ^ CAPT.G. (Aside.) It only remains to pray for th^ 144 THE TENTS OP KEDAR :/[ rfiS!*^'" ^^'■""'•^ You know what I thini »„f ^\u: ,^^ "'' ** 0% person in the world you ever * thmk of, and as I know your mind thorouX I do. You want to get it aU over and dh j Pin t?t/°" '"'' ' ^."' ^""'" Soing - think of i^ Pip - to throw me over for another wonan And vJ swore that all other women were— Kp mv Pini She ™» t care for you as I do. Believe mef she ca.^? Is It any one that I know ? Cam G. Thank Goodness it isn't. (Aside ) I expecte, . cyclone, but not an earthquake. "^ MBS. H. She can't/ ,l8 there a-ythine that I ytf i ! Do f ' *™""' ""^^ y°"' ''"•'-'"? -hat you are ! Do you despise me for it ? ^amr Its entirely a work of charity on your Mesh Ahhh! But I have no right to resent it -Is she better-looking than I ? Who L it sa'd— ^ Cam. G. No — not that I n„^'f' ^,' ^'",'™ """^ ™'"'=''f»l than you were Don t you know that all women are alike' Cam. G. (Aside.) Then this is the exoention that proves the rule. exception Mks^ H. ^« of them ! PU teU you anything yt.„ like. I will, upon my word 1 They only want tZ adm:raticn-from anybody-no master ^hl-afy moZ L * *''''' ^ "^^y^ ""^ "*'' that they care for fioe aU the others to. Oh, rf« listen! IVe kept the Vaynor man trnttin™ aff«r -,-<. '•■ „ ^ u..g alter me xme a poodle, and he THE TENTS OP KEDAR ^^ believes that he is the only n,an I am interested in. 1 11 tell you what he said to me. «^vt;i„\'^*'^ ■'""• ^^•■^^•> ' -»de, .hat what an idiot heT„ 'ts' '" "' ""' ^"" '=''° -« 6^ G ;^ ? t ^*'■5'* ^^"^ 'countenance.^ vXa';,, (^'^*«'"»%-) He doesn't look urettv W^^d.dn't you wait till the spoon wa« out'oTg^ ti„!f ^nf' "■ ^" tT™^ y°"- '^''«'" °>ak« an exhibi- Plafn as 'heno^nday L""k'u"ui t TJ.'*'! " and t„,d lies and .IdeT" JT/W': tL" I e:'""} never made a fool of you, did I ^ ^Capt.G. (^«e,^,.) What a clever little woman it Mrs. n. Well, what have you to say ? Capt. G. I feel better. ^ Mrs. H. Yes, I suppose so, after I have come down to your level. I couldn't have done it if 7 hadl't Mt! x7' }i ''^''' * ^^*^^ *^« situation. MRS. H. iPassionately.) Then she ha. snid fhat .hucaresioryoul Don't believe her, Pip. Yt^^ ^Z — as bad as yours to me I ^ -ii s a lie 146 THE TENTS OP KEDAR Capt. G. Ssssteady! I've a notion that a friend of yours is looking at you. Mk8. H. He I I hate him. He introduced you to me. Capt. G. (Aside.) And somo people would like women to assist in making the laws. Introduction to miply condonement. (Aloud.) Well, you see, if you can remember so far back as that, I couldn't, in com- mon politeness, refuse the offer. Mrs. H. In common politeness I We have got beyond that! Capt. G. (Aside.) Old ground means fresh trouble. (Aloud.) On my honour Mrs. H. Youi- what? Ha, ha! Capt. G. Dishonour, then. She's not what you imagine. I meant to Mrs. H. Don't tell me anything about her 1 She won't care for you, and when you come back, after hav- mg made an exhibition of yourself, you'll find me occu- pied with Capt. G. (Insolently.) You couldn't while I am alive. (Aside.) If that doesn't bring her pride to her rescue, nothing will. Mrs. H. (Drawing herself up.) Couldn't do it? If (Softening.) You're right. I don't believe I could — though you are what you are — a coward and a Har in grain. Capt. G. It doesn't hurt so much after your little lecture — with demonstrations. Mrs. H. One mass of vanity I Will nothing ever touch you in this life ? There must be a Hereafter if It's only for the benefit of But you wiU have it wU to JUUUOCUt THE TENTS OF KEDAR j^^ of^hT?'"' ^^'^'^-^-^^^*--) Are you SO certain J2.fJS. '"^ ''' "^"^ ^" ^'^^ "^^ '• -^ ^* Capt. G. But tlie admiration that you insisted on so strongly a moment a^.-.^ (Aaid, .^ ''l '"'f ^^ "» brute ! '^^ (.^«2are.) Oh, I am a enough even L mLeven or 1 ;rrd 'v "' n "^^ less. That's anothe,- punishmenT. ' '' ' "" """ yournk!"- ^""^^"^'^ 0'>— e..rn,n„tsoW.« Mm. H. Not now, perhaps, but you will be. Oh that you would not do H t ^ ' """^ °° ""'™"''«« without knowLVthat , """^^ ^ '"o^" ^^ - '""^ andrdo:?t see'^C iXuM ^ t" T^""' ^'^^- countu n,yhol44t4u':.~---" MM. H, If you denied everything you've said thi. evenmg and declared it was all in fnn r!; f I'd trust you. Not otherwil Tuf Jk tiT^^l her my name. J>lea.e don't. A man ^t ^t I nfCroflSl^ ven't fbf ^f' *'^™''^" rv«»r...*„j .:..., ,."'^™°' I behaved beautifully? 148 THE TENTS OP KEDAB sex, haven't I ? (Ai gh Vrranffing gloves pray t' at she'll know y.m some day as I know you now. I wouldn't be you then, for I think even your conceit will be hurt. I hope slio'll pay you back the humiliation you've brought on me. I hope — No. I don't. I can't give you up ! I must have something to look forward to or I shall go crazy. When it's all over, come back to me, come back to me, and you'll find that you're my Pip still I Capt. G. (iVery clearly.-) 'False move, and you pay for it. It's a girl I ^ Mrs. H. {Rising.) Then it was truel They said but I wouldn't insult you by asking. A girl! / was a girl not very long ago. Be good to her, Pip. I daresay she believes in you, aoes out with an uncertain smile He watches her through the door, and settles into a chair as the men redistribute themselves. Capt. G. Now, if there is any Power who looks after this world, will He kindly tell me what I have done ? {Reaching out for the claret, and half aloud.) What have I done ? v / ?^l! you WITH ANY AMAZEMENT And are not afraid with ^y amaz< .v,nt-. Marriage Service. Scene.- ^ hachelor^s ^.^roo^.^toilet-table arranaed mth unnatural neatne.. Captain Gadsby aXt and snonnff heavily. Time, 10.80 a.m. -a gloZ 0U8 autumn day at Simla. Enter delicately Captain MArPLiM of Gadsby's regiment. Look! at^eeZ <^nd BhaJces hiB head murmuring ^ Poor Qaddy: kr. forms violent fantasia with hair-hrushes on chair-hack. Capt. M. Wake up, my sleeping beauty I (i?,a...) 'Uprouse ye, then, my merry merry men I It is our opening day I It is our opening daray I ' Gaddy, the little dicky-birds have been biUine and coomg for ever so long ; and Tm here I Capt. G (^Sitting up and yawning.-) 'Mornin' This » awHy good of yon, old feUow Most aX good of yon. -Don't know what I should do witlont n^^ht. "^ """■• ' '*'"''*• '^^«"'* «1«P* - wink "i Capt m. I didn't get in till half-past eleven Had a look at yon then, and you seemed to be sleeZ as soundly as a condemned criminal. ^^ Capt. G. Jack, if you want to make those disgust- Y" j^-'^^.juuuueccergoaway. (Withvor. tentou, gravity.-) It's the happiest day in my Itfe 149 160 WITH ANY AMAZEMENT ' I I i< Capt.M. iChucUmg grimly.^ Not by a very long chalk, niy son. You're going through some of thf most refined torture you've ever known. But be calm, /am with you. 'Shun I l)re%%l Capt. G. Eh I Wha-at? Capt M. Bo you suppose that you are your own master for the next twelve hours? If you do of course {Makes for the door, ^^ A ^T:.\ ^f ' ^°' ^""^"^^«' «^^«' °ld ^a^' don't do that! You'll see me through, won't you? I've been mugging up that beastly drill, and can't remember a line ot it. Capt.M. ^Overhauling G:^ uniform.:, Go and tub. Don t bother me. I'll give you ten minutes to dress in. Interval, filled by the noise as of one splashing in the oath-room. Capt G. (Emerging from dressing-room.^ What time is it? Capt. M. Nearly eleven. Capt. G. Five hours more. O Lord I Capt. M. {Aside.^ 'First sign of funk, that. 'Won- tlkfl! '"'^ *^ ^^"^'- ^^^^"^•> Come along to bre^akSt.''- ' "''* "* ^"^*'^°^- ' ^^'^ -"* -^ r.dr*T^-/^'^''^"^ ^'^^^-^- ^^^'^^'^ Captain Gadsby, I order you to eat breakfast, and a dashed «ood breakfast, too. None of your bridal airs and gmces Leads G. downstairs, and stands over kirn while he eats two hops. Capt. G. (Who has looked at his watch thrice in the last Jive minutes.) What t me is it? WITH ANY AMAZEMENT 161 Capt. M. Time to come for a walk. Light up. Capt. G. I haven't smoked for ten days, and I won't now, {TakeB cheroot which M. has cut for him, and blows smoke through his nose luxuriously.^ We aren't eoine down the Mall, are we? r ?.^T. ^- ^^*^^^-) They're all alike in 1 hese stages. iAloud.:^ No, my Vestal. We're going alona the quietest road we can find. Capt. G. Any chance of seeing Her ? Capt.M. Innocent! No I Come alo g, and, if you want me for the final obsequies, don't cut my eye out with your stick. Capt. G. (^Spinning round.^ I say, isn't She the dearest creature that ever walked? What's the time? What comes after * wilt thou take this woman ' ? Capt. M. You go for the ring. R'clect it'll be on the top of my right-hand little finger, and just be care- ful how you draw it off, because I shall have the Verger's fees somewhere in my glove. Capt. G. (^Walking forward hastily.) D the Verger I Come along I It's past twelve and I haven't seen Her smce yesterday evening. ^Spinning round again.) She's an absolute angel. Jack, and She's a dashed deal too good for me. Look here, does She come up the aisle on my arm, or how ? Capt. M. If I thought that there was the least chance of your remembering anything for two consecu- tive mmutes, I'd tell you. Stop passaging about like Capt. G. (^Halting in the middle of the road.) I say, Jack. ^ Capt. M. Keep quiet for another t^n minn+oa ,-f „^„ can, you lunatic; VLiidwalk! W '1 162 WITH ANY AMAZEMENT The two tramp at Jive miles an hour for Meen minutes. , ''^ J^T'^\ ^^-t'^ th^ time? How about that cursed weddmg^ake and the slippers ? They don't throw™ m about m church, do they? his^'C*'- '''•™™"^- The Padre leads off with t^T^?' ,*^™l''"''^ y°»'' 'My soulf Don't ujake fun of me. I can't stand it, and I won't ! Capt M. iUntrovhUdry Sokk,o, old horse I You'll have to sleep for a couple of hou« this afternoon (.APT. G. (^Spinning rouud.-) I'm not goine to ha treated hke a dashed child. Understand thfj^ Whal^I-^y wefe'ti.?;? T? '° ''"'"-^^g^- ^ n ' I -^ , I , ""g ' ( Tenderly pvMing U» hand onGs shoulder.) My David, howlong have you knTn "vou'lt ' Z^"^' ' ""'"' "P "-« *» -^^e a 0^ ot you — after all these years ? hv^\Z\^' ^^r^fy-') I know, I know, Jack - but I m as upset as I can be. Don't mind what I sav .'":Sin™" *'~"«- ^"^ -^^ -^ - « ^'ve it ' To have and to hold for better or worae, as it was in nd^fhT^' Vr r'' ^™^ ^•^l >»' world wXit end, so help me God. Amen ' jTlnt^att."'""' ''^ ^' °' "• ™ P--P* « ?- Capt.G. iEameMy.-) Yes, you'll stick by me Jack won t you ? I'm awf 'ly happy, but I don't mid teS you that I'm in a blue funk I *^ Capt. M. (ffmi,«;y.) Are you? I should never have noticed it. You don't ?»<,* like it. """"•* °'™' WITH ANY AMAZEMENT ^^ at^e a^,el that eve. caZZn^^^ttr^^l mt a woman on earth fit to speak to Her. of U2L a^ltT>' ' '^'''' "^ y- -M -- theX^^ ~n ^°" r- -»^^ -" for y'know ^' ^°° "'" * «"''« ■"»™«'l yet. : .t7-^\?!:;,efJt:-tor i^'^t- and trv 'em nn ? /-& • J^ ^®^^ Sfo home miry em on I (ffurries forward.^ thatt-at;o':t'"'*^^"^--'>-foran,tH., your brutal r..Zl7l7J!''V:ZT^rT. about vou Yon'ra +i,« u ! ^ "^"^^^ ^ ^^^y One fault don't kL..^t\"^i'iteiortr:^^^^^^^^ JS- ('^'•'*«^- '*—«.) Ya-as. Whose Capt. M. (ffums,)-^ '^*.wu ''""^ ""^^y ^^^^'^ ^e drank only ffinger bepr Faxth, there must ha' been some stingo Sgin^:;'/ Come back, you manian. T'm «.,v- x. , , Home, and you're going to lie'do^:""^ " "^' ^'" a 154 WITH ANT AMAZEMENT ^^ Capt. G. What on eaxth do I want to Ue down ^^ Capt. M. Give me a light from your cheroot and /-*rSw;etSK"°''"' '"'''' '* " '-"^- ^^Capt.M. Yonare. I'U get you a peg and you'll go CAPT^r^ 'T? ?f ^; <"'»'^«»* " Mr-finger peg. anot" ■ ^ '"'■"'"• I"i make me as d™„k ^ Capt. M. 'Curious thing, 'twon't have the slightest :X:i'^;-e.c " ""• -"-"■^ ~" ^---" sha*;^? ®" ^''' '"*"'^- ^ ^"^^'^ »•««?• I *»»» I SalUmUheavy doze at end of >even mimie,. capt. M. watches Urn tenderly. off itf ■ \ f""" °^^ ^'■^^y ' I'™ ^^ » few turned off before but never one who went to the gallortn It s the thoroughbreds that sweat when they're baeked mo douUe.harness._And that's the man'^ho went ^Lr^ ^^'""*» ""«'• «•) But this is wo,«e than the guns, old pal _ worn than the guns, isn't it? (G tmZ .» h. sleep, and M. toucAe. L clumsily ontheZe- W.) PoordearoldGaddyl Going like the re.tTf cW fC^ b' '}: ^' »f 'en. -Friend that stioketl eloser than a brother _e:ght jears. Dashed bit of a foend A rj^' ^^*^' And-where's your fnend ? ^Smokes duconsolately till church cUek strikes lie down root and I tuning- '■ou'll go ger peg, runk as lightest a there, know I tinuies. turned ows in fiough. Dacked ' went isessed an the . turns J fore- eSt of cketii i of a youi- trikea WITH ANY AMAZEMENT Capt. M. Up with you! Get Capt '^ 155 into your kit. soon Already '. better have a shave? Capt. M. M/ You're all right. (Aside ^ H«'H chip his chin to pieces. ^ '^ ^^ ^ Capt. G. What's the hurry ? Capt. M. You've got to be there first. Capt. G. To be stared at ? sha'lTo that /„f:f -^ '^^' ' •» <— ^* you onoose to clean your spurs, you're under m^, orders. OAPT M. (finUcaUy,walUn0 round.-) M'yes vou'll do. Only don't look so ir.» a criminal. Ringrfove lightup. Lerhnti, Le"s— """"• "^'^ * Good — peo — pie — all Toprayers — wecali.' vo,?'^/- T^^^^g- the bells! Come on -unless you d rather not {They ride oif,-\ Bells "^'^ * We honour the King And Brides joy do bring — Good tidings we tell, And ring the Dead's knell.' 166 ^ITH ANY AMAZEMENT liiiM Capt. G. iDismounUng ,t the door of the Chwrch ^ I say aren t we much too socu? There are no end >f people mside. I say, aren't we much too late? Stick by me, Jack ! What the devii do I do ? Capt M. Strike an attitude at the li. vl of the aisle pontion hejore three hundred eyet ) tSV: ^; (■^™^'<'™i'*) Gaddy, if you Wc me. for p,l^ a BaJ.e, for ti,e Honour of the Regiment sfend up ! Chuck you, elf ,ato yon.- uniform ! Look like a man I I ve got to 'lijesE i» tiie Padre a minute. fG «««i, «to a gmle y.npiraion:) If you wipe vour face 111 «„.. be your best man again. Stand "«;,/ (Ct. trembles vmihlij,} ^ Capt. M. iBetummg.-y She's coming now. Look ^nf?e steps out of WicJcshaw at Church door. G catches a glimpse of her and takes heart. Organ. — 'The Voice that breathed o'er Eden, That earliest marriage day, The primal marriage-blessing, It hath not passed away.' r„%^^^.' SZ'^'f^^ ^''^ ^yJ«^«^ HeeUooking well. 'Didn't think he had it in him. ^ Capt. G. How long does this hymn go on for ^ CAPT. M It will be over directly. ^Anxiously Be^miing to bleach and gulp? Hold on, Gaddy, a-i think o' the Regiment. Capt. G (Measwred\ I say, there's a big ^ ^ ^ .,n lizard crawlmcr nn that ™oii ° Church.') end of '? Stick the aisle him into love me, at statid )k like a te. (G. pe your md up! ' Look 1 begin- •on G. ooking ousli/ ly, ar.Mi WITH ANY AMAZEMENT 157 Capt. M. My Sainted Mother I The laat stage of collapse 1 Bride comes up to left of altar, lifts her eyes once to G., who is suddenly smitten mad. Capt. G. {To himself again and again.') Little Featherweight's a woman — a woman I And 1 thought she was a little girl. Capt. M. (/w a whisper.') Form the halt — inward wheel. Capt. G. obeys mechanically and the ceremony proceeds. Padre. . . . only unto her as long as ye both shall live? Capt. G. (Eis throat useless.) Ha — hmmm! Capt. M. Say you will or you won't. There's no second deal here. Bride gives response with perfect coolness, and is given away by the father. Capt. G. (Thinking to show his learning.) Jack, give me away now, quick/ Capt. M. You're given yourself away quite enough. Her right hand, man I Repeat ! Repeat I * Theodore Philip.' Have you forgotten your own name ? Capt. G. stumbles through Affirmation, which Bride repeats without a tremor. Capt. M. Now the ring I Follow the Padre ! Don't pull off my glove I Here it is I Great Cupid, he's found his voice I G. repeats Troth in a voice to be heard to the end of the Church and turns on his heel. Capt. M. (Desperately.) Rein back! Back to your troop I 'Tisn't half legal yet. Padre. . . . joined together let no man put asunder. 168 WITH ANY AMAZEMENT 7 I If wtr^T ^,^^*^*W On your own front -one length. Take her with you. I don't come. You've nothing to say. (Capt. G. jingles up to altar.) I.APT. M. (7w a piercing rattle meant to he a whis- per^ Kneel, you stiif-necked ruffian I Kneel I ^r. u^'a ' ' ' '''^°'® daughters are ye so long as ye do well and are not afraid with any amazement. ^ CAPT.M. Dismiss! Break off! Left wheel! n.^ TIT T.. ^11 troop to vestry. They sign. Capt. M. Kiss Her, Gaddy. ^ ml^M ^^""^^'"^ '^" """^ ''''' ^'' ^^''''^ ^^^ Ishair^' (^«^%o/ie>^a.e^o^nWO If you don't, Capt G. (Interposing an arm.) Not this journey ! General kissing, in which Capt. G. is pursued by unknown female. 4"yft^f:r^^^^-^ This is Hades! Can I Mendelssohned out of Ohurch to house, where usual tortures take place over the wedding- «xn»T**' ^^'"'*^-> Up With you, Gaddy. They expect a speech. "^ ^ Capt. G. (After three minutes' agony.-) Ha — hmmm. (Thunders of applause.) Capt.M. Doocid good, for a first attempt. Now go and change your kit while Mamma is weeping overl 'the Missus.' rCAPT. G /^^V-^-^^- ^.-- ^, ''^'' WITH ANY AMAZEMENT 159 up tearing Us hair.) It's not ha^ legal. Where are the shoes ? Get an ai/ah. Ayah. Missie Captain Sahib done gone band karo all the jutia. Capt. M. (Brandishing scahbarded sword.} Woman, produce those shoes I Some one lend me a bread-knife. We mustn't crack Gaddy's head more than it is. (Slices heel off white satin slipper and puts slipper up his sleeve.-) Where is the Bride? (To the company at large.) Be tender with that rice. It's a heathen cus- tom. Give me the big bag. ********* Bride slips out quietly into 'rickshaw and departs towards the sunset. Capt. M. (/w the open.) Stole away, by Jove! So much the worse for Gaddy! Here he is. Now Gaddy, this'll be livelier than Amdheran! Where's your horse ? Capt. G. (Furiously, seeing that the women are out of earshot.) Where the is my Wife? Capt. M. Half-way to Mahasu by this time. You'll have to ride like Young Lochinvar. Morse comes round on his hind legs; refuses to let G. handle him. Capt. G. Oh you will, will you ? Get round, you brute — you hog — you beast I Get round / Wrenches horse's head over, nearly breaking lower jaw; swings himself into saddle, and sends home both spurs in the midst of a spattering gale of Best Vitna. Capt. M. ^or your life and your love — ride, Gaddy ! — And God bless you I Throws half a pound of rice at G., who disappears, 160 WITH ANY AMATIEMENT I bowed fortva ' on -It saddle, in a cloud of sunlit dust. Capt. M. I've lost old Gaddy. (^Lights cigarette and strolls off, singing absently') : — 'You may carve \i on his tombstone, you May cut it on his card, That a young man married is a young man marred 1 ' Miss D^ucrcotjkt. (^From her horse.) Really, Captain Mall'inl You are more plain spoken than polite I Capt. M. (Aside.) They say marriage is like cholera. ' W onder who'll be the next victim. White satin slipper slides from his sleeve and falls at his feet. Left wondering. THE GARDEN OF EDEN And ye shall be as -- Gods I Scene. -- Thymy grass-plot back of the Mahasu ddk- bungalow, overlooking little wooded valley. On the left ghmp..ofthe Lead Forest of Fagoo ; on the righi Simla mils. In background, line of the Snows. Captain Gadsby, now three weeks a husband, is smok- mg the pipe of peace on a rug in the sunshine. Banjo and tobacco^pouch on rug. Overhead the Fagoo eagles. 4RS. tr. comes out of bungalow. M.S. G. My husband! Capt. (^Lazily, with intense enjoyment.^ Eh wha-at? y that again. ' ^l\ ?• JT '^"**^'' ^"^ ^^"'^^ ^»d told her that we shall be back on the 17th. Capt. G. Did you give her my love ? Mrs. G. No, I kep^ all that for myself. (Sitting down by his side.-) I thought you wouldn't mind. Capt. G. (With mock sternness.) I object awf'lv. How did you know that it was yours to keep •? Mrs. G. I guessed, Phil. f/^'r.^' r (^«^*"''^"«^y-) I^it-tle Featherweight I bad W * ""''''^ ^^ ""^"""^ *^°'^ ^P°''^"^ P®* °^°^^«' Capt. G. You'll be ailed anythini? I choose. Has ever occurred to you, Madam, that you are my Wife? « 161 lU 162 THE GARDEN OF EDEN Mrs. G. It has. I haveii't ceased wondering at it Capt. G. Nor I. It seems so strange ; and yet somehow, xt doesn't. ^Confidently,^ You s^e, it oo^uld have been no one else. MB8.G iSoftly.-) No. Nooneelse-formeor Z^\w^ T' ^"^ ^^'^ "" '"•""'8^'J *'■»■» Ihe begin- kn^^T ■ ^-"^ •'°"''' I help it? You were ^<,«, you ^Mm.G. Did you ever want to help it? Speak the .t ^^tr^fi *^; ^i '*"'"*'' •'" *'■' '^'•> ^ d'''- doling, just ».w!' *^\ ^?*'"^ *™ *y '*" "x-M^^a^Ae «»rf making hmutup.-) 'A-little-beastI> Stop laughing over your cnme I And yet you had the -the - awful eheek to propose to me I Capt. G. Fd changed my mind then. And you weren't a little beast any more. ^ ^aI^^c ^j!^^\y«^"'SirJ And when was I ever? CAPT. G Never! But that first day, when you gave me tea m that peach-coloured muslin gown thing, you looked --you did indeed, dear-such an absurd little mite. And I didn't know what to say to you. Mrs. G (iTwisting mouBtaehe.-) So you said 'little beast Upon my word. Sir ! /called you a ' Crrrreat- P.t! ^^''^'^r ^ ^'^ '^"^^ y«^ something worse. UAPT. G. (^Very meekly.-) I apologise, but you're hurtmg me awf'ly. ilnterlude.y You're welcome to torture me again on those terms. THE GARDEN OF EDEN 163 Mrs. G. Oh, w;% did you let me do it? Capt G. (iLookmgacroB8 valley.) No reason in par- ticular, but -if it amused you or did you any good — you might - wipe those dear little boots of yours on me. MRS. (t. {Stretching out her hands.) Don't I Oh don 1 1 Philip my King, please don't talk like that! It s how / feel. You're so much too good for me. So much too good I Capt. G. Me I I'm not fit to put my arm round you. (Puts it round.) do^T' ^' ^^^' ^°'' *''®* ^"^^ ^~" "^^^^ ^^""^ ^ ^^^^ Capt. G. Given me a wee bit of your heart, haven't you, my Queen ? Mrs. G. Thafs nothing. Any one would do that. Iney cou— couldn't help it. Capt. G. Pussy, you'll make me horribly conceited. Just when I was beginning to feel so humble, too. Mrs. G. Humble I I don't believe it's in your character. "^ Mrs. G. Ah, but I shall, shan't I, Phil ? I shall have time in all the years and years to come, to know everything about you; and there will be no secrets between us. .T,^""^;.^*,^'*/" "^'^^^ I believe you know me thoroughly already. Mrs. G. I think I can guess. You're selfish ? Capt. G. Yes. Mrs. G. Foolish? Capt. G. Veru. Mrs. G. And a dear ? 164 THE GARDEN OF EDEN if A.: ir Capt. G. That is as my lady pleases. Mrs. G. Then your lady is pleased. (J. pause.^ D'you kuow that we're two solemn, serious, grown-up people Capt. G. (^Tilting Tier straw hat over her eyes.") You grown-up ! Pooh ! You're a baby. Mbs. G. And we're talking nonsense. Capt. G. Then let's go on talking nonsense. I rather like it. Pussy, I'll tell you a secret. Promise not to repeat ? Mrs. G. Ye — es. Only to you. I lo\re you. Re-ally I For how long? For ever and ever. That's a long time. ■ 'Think so? It's the shortest I can do Capt. G. Mrs. G. Capt. G. Mrs. G. Capt. G. with. Mrs. G. Capt. G. Mrs. G. You're getting quite clever. I'm talking to you. Prettily turned. Hold up your stupid old head and I'll pay you for it ! Capt. G. (^Affecting supreme contempt.') Take it yourself if you want it. Mrs. G. I've a great mind to — and I will ! (^Tdkes it and is repaid with interest.) Capt. G. Little Featherweight, it's my opinion that we are a couple of idiots. Mrs. G. We're the only two sensible people in the world ! Ask the eagle. He's coming by. Capt. G. Ah I I daresay he's seen a good many sensible people at Mahasu. They say that those birds live for ever so long. ■»*• — r\ lUXkS. vx. TT xauvv iOng ? THE GAEDEN OF EDEN ^gg StrG* l\"^^;^^-^*^enty years. MRS. Or. A hundred and twenty years I O nh f toSnt?"""' '"^•'* '""^' - '-^ - we are yofrndLSf''^™™''^^*""^*-) '^^'^ Only until the e7d ^^^77- '^ "^^"^^ ^^^O' "'^e world , tne end. (^Seea the line of the Snmiii % w«„ v and,u^et.hehilM„,,^,,^^^ /eCnd'tha'rel^^Jl^: ^^ '- P«'-'»I,. Mrs. G. ^Drawing nearer to Um^ Yes now hnf afewarda What, that little black L oXTnTw OAPT. Ct. a snowstom, forty miles awav You'll see It move, a. the wind carries it across the face of tha spur, and then it will be all gone Capt G. (^„:n„«,j,.) .Not chilled, pet, are vou? Better let me get your cloak. ^ MBS.G. No. Don't leave me, Phil. Stay here I beheve I am afraid. Oh, why are the hilkso Z'J, Pbl. prom,se me, promise me that you'll Za^X.'. Capt. G. What's the trouble, darlins? I can't promise any more than I have- hnl T'li • ? again and again if you like. ' ' ^"""'•' *'"'* laugh. iRecoverir^.) L hnstad v„7' ^^ ''°. "^ little goose. nnsband, you ve mamed a «,i,o+ ~ "^ v'--j ^t^/wt-rfy.; Havel? lamcontpnf whatever she is, so long as she is mine. 166 THE GARDEN OP EDEN Mes. G. (^Quickly. ^ Because she is yours or because she is me mineself ? Capt. G. Because she is both. (^PiteouBly.) I'm not clever, dear, and I don't think I can make myself understood properly. Mrs. G. I understand. Pip, will you tell me something ? Capt. G. Anything you like. (^Aside.^ I wonder what's coming now. Mrs. G. (^Haltingly^ her eyes lowered.') You told me once in the old days — centuries and centuries ago — that you had been engaged before. I didn't say anything — then. Capt. G. (^Innocently.) Why not? Mrs. G. (Raising her eyes to his.) Because — because I was afraid of losing you, my heart. But now — tell about it — please. Capt. G. There's nothing to tell. I was awf'ly old then — nearly two and twenty — and she was quite that. Mrs. G. That means she was older than you. I shouldn't like her to have been younger. Well ? Capt. G. Well, I fancied myself in love and raved about a bit, and — oh, yes, by Jove I I made up poetry. Ha! Ha! You never wrote any for me! What Mrs. G. happened ? Capt. G. went phut. I came out here, and the whole thing She wrote to say that there had been a mistake, and then she married. Mrs. G. Did she care for you much ? Capt. G. No. At least ahe didn't show it as far as I remember. THE GARDEN OF EDEN jgy Mrs. G.- As far as you remember I Do you remem- dark and dismal tragedy? up m any cil'i % Vr "*" ■""„**"• ^^^^^^f^y- P''^P^ "1 tell. Mes. G. Good Heavens, Phil ! I never knew that- you could speak in that terrible voice .et^al ti^r:: "^Z^ Tr=f fnT?^ t;:,X7 ' "^^ " -^ "-'■ ^°" - ««'"^ - in tw f H ' °*™'^ y°" •''»•« to speak to me in that tone, whatever I may do ' ins^r„'v?; ^P°» '"tie love! Why, you're shak- mg all over. I «» so sorry. Of course I never meant Zl''\ ' ''" r -y"'-^- I'- a brur a mn ' ^°" "'" '' """* ^ ^''" *«" - There was M^'g' r?"'''V ^"^the.^? Lucky man I for h^ ■ <^» " «'*-i'^'--) And I thought I oared Capt. G. StiU luckier man ! Well? didn^t'' ^'a t^^ ^ ''"'"S''' ' •"''^'i *<»■ him -and I It V. ^° y"" came-and I cared for you very »,, much indeed. That's all. (Fa.e Md^eiy yZ aian t angry, are you ? / ^ uu Cap'\ G. Angry? Not in fi^o i.„„^ ^ >. . Ciood Lord, what have I done to deserve this angel"? 168 THE GARDEN OF EDEN w,ai I Mrs. G. (Aside.) And he never asked for the name! How funny men are! But perhaps it's as well. ^ Capt. G. That man will go to heaven because you once thought you cared for him. 'Wonder if you'll ever drag me up there ? Mrs. G. (Firmli/.) 'Sha'n't go if you don't. Capt. G. Thanks. I say, Pussy, I don't know much about your religious beliefs. You were brought up to believe in a heaven and all that, weren't you ? Mrs. G. Yes. But it was a pincushion heaven, with hymn-books in all the pews. . ^^^^- ^' (J^<^99ing Ms head with intense convic- tion.-) Never mind. There is a pukka heaven. Mrs. G. Where do you bring that message from, my prophet? Capt. G. Here ! Because we care for each other. So it's all right. Mrs. G. (As a troop of langurs crash through the branches.) So it's all right. But Darwin says that we came from those ! Capt. G, (Placidly.) Ah! Darwin was never in love with an angel. That settles it. Sstt, you brutes ! Monkeys, indeed ! You shouldn't read those books. Mrs. G. (Folding her hands.) If it pleases my Lord the King to issue proclamation. Capt. G. Don't, dear one. There are no orders between us. Only I'd rather you didn't. They lead to nothing, and bother people's heads. Mrs. G. Like your first engagement. Capt. G. (With an immense calm.) That was a necessary evil and led to you. Are you nothing? xvc. Kji. xTfui, BO very muen, am 1 '{ THE GARDEN OF EDl^N 169 Capt. G. All this world and the next to me. Mrs. G. iVery softly.^ My boy of boys I Shall I tell you something ? Capt. G. Yes, if it's not dreadful— about other men. Mrs. G. It's about my own bad little self. Capt. G. Then it must be good. Go on, dear. Mrs. G. (Slowly.) I don't know why I'm telling you, Pip ; but if ever you marry again (Interlude.) lake your hand from my mouth or I'll bite/ In the future, then remember — I don't know quite how to put it I Capt.G. (Snorting indignantly.) Don't try. 'Marry agam,' indeed I "^ Mrs. G. I must. Listen, my husband. Never, never, never tell your wife anything that you do not wish her to remember and think over all her life. Be- cause a woman— yes, lama woman — can't forget. Capt. G. By Jove, how do you know that? Mrs. G. (Confusedly.) I don't. I'm only guessing. I am - 1 was - a silly little girl ; but I feel that I know so much, oh, so very much more than you, dearest. To begin with, I'm your wife. Capt. G. So I have been led to believe. Mrs. G. And I shall want to know every one of your secrets — to share everything you know with you. (Stares round desperctely.) Capt. G. So ycAr. Bh^il, dear, so you shall— but don't look like that. Mrs. G. For your own sake don't stop me, Phil. I shall never talk to you in this wav again. You mmi not tell me I At least, not now. Later on. when T'ta an old matron it won't matior, but if you love me, be 170 THE GARDEN OP EDEN rli! ?. T ™ ^ "^^ y" underetand? vet Z" ^ *'''°'' '"' *""*• Have I said anything yet that you disapprove of ? ^ ^ Mrs. G. Will you be very angry? That fT.«f MBS. G. And «^<,«'9 why you shouldn't have told "'e I You must be the judge, and, oh, Pip, deaX a, T love you, I sha'n't be able to help voul I .htH-^ you, and you must judge in spiteTm" I ^"'^^ Capi. G. (Meditativel^.y We have a great manv i-ussy-but we snail understand each other bette' every da ,„j j ^^.^ ^,^ or bette. How an the world did you come tolnow^ust t^ajpo" tance of gmng me just that lead ? ^ Mrs. G I've told you that I don't know. Onlv somehow it seemed that, in all this new life, I w^ befnt guided for your sake as well as my own ^ t„„ ?■ *^^"'*-^ Then Mafflin was right t Ther know, and we_we're blind-all of m. (Li„mu) Getting a littte beyond our depth, dear, aren't w^fru . , f.l ^'^ There shall be no punishmeut. We'll start .m. hfe together from here-yo„ and I-and no 1 Capt.G Andnooneelse. (A pause.:, Your eve-' S aSu1;i "''-' ' ^- ''-'-- -»> « ^ -^^ before'' ^' ^"^ *"" '^'' '""^ "°°'«™' l^ed THE GARDEN OF EDEN iji 'Tisn't what we say, it's what we don't say, that helps. And It's all the profoundest philosophy. But no one would understand - even if it were put into a book. Mrs G. The idea! No -only we ourselves, or people hke ourselves -if there are any people like us. Capt. G. {Magisterially.^ All people, not like our- selves, are blind idiots. Mrs. G. {Wiping her eyes.^^ Do you think, then, that there are any people as happy as we are? Capt. G. 'Must be — unless we've appropriated all the happiness in the world. Mrs. G. {Looking towards Simla.') Poor dears I Just fancy if we have ! Capt. G. Then we'll hang on to the whole show, for Its a great deal too jolly to lose — eh, wife o' mine? Mrs. G. O Pip ! Pip \ How much of you is a solemn, married man and how much a horrid, slanev schoolboy ? ^"^ Capt. G. When you tell me how much of you was eighteen last birthday and how much is as old as the Sphinx and twice as mysterious, perhaps I'll attend to you. Lend me that banjo. The spirit moveth me to yowl at the sunset. Mrs. G. Mind I It's "not tuned. Ah I How that jars. Capt. G. {Turning pegs.) It's amazingly difficult to keep a banjo to proper pitch. Mrs. G. It's the same with all musical instruments. What shall it be ? Capt. G. ' Vanity,' and let the hills hear. {Sings throuah the first an/7. Ttalfni^i^t,.. o^^^^j ^^^. m . _ Mrs. G.) Now, chorus! Sing, Pussy! I I 173 THE GARDEN OF EDEN Both Together. (^Gon brio, to the horror of the monkeys who are settling for the night,-) — 'Vanity, all is Vanity,' said Wisdom, scorning me - I clasped my true Love's tender hand and answered frank and free — ee : — ' If this be Vanity who'd be wise ? If this be Vanity who'd be wise? If this be Vanity who'd be wi— ise? {Crescendo.) Vanity let it be I ' Echo. (From the Fagoo %^ur.) Let it be I II I'* %\ FATIMA fhoM^Ar'' Tl ^"^ ^*° ^""^"^ '""'^ °* ^^^ ^ouse and see everything Scene. — The Gadsbys' Jww^aZoM. m the Plains. Time, 11 A.M. on a Sunday morning. Captain Gadsby in his shirtsleeves, is bending over a complete set of Hussar s equipment, from saddle to picheting-rope, which IS neatly spread over the floor of his study He IS smoking an unclean briar, and his forehead is puck- ered with thought. Capt.G. (To himself , fingering a headstall) Jack's an ass. There's enough brass on this to load a mule — and, if the Americans know anything about anything, It can be cut down to a bit only. 'Don't want the watermg-bridle, either. Humbug I - Half a dozen sets o. c.^,ins ma pulleys for one horse ! Hot! (^ atchina his head.) Now, let's consider it all over from the ^?TT .r^J '^'''' ^'^" ^«^^«<^^^ th^ scale of weights! Ne'er mind. 'Keep the bit only, and elim- inate every boss from the crupper to breastplate. No breastplate at all. Simple leather strap across the ofT^'I? ^ ^^^ ^'''''^"'' ^'' J^^k °ever thought 7 ^T S: C^^fering hastily, her hand bound in a t Zl S: ?' -^'y^ ^^^^^^^ P^y ^*"^'-'<-y-Minnie,IreaUy Mrs. G. You want me to go ? Capt. G. Yes, dear, for a little while. This tobacco will hang m your dress, and saddlery doesn't interest you. Mef G. Everything you do interests me, Pip. «ll r*. . ^''' \^''''''' ^ ^"^'^' ^^^^- I'll tell you tWnt T V^" ^"^ ^^'" ^'^'^ P"* ^ h^-d on this tmng. In the meantime Mrs. G. I'm to be turned out of the room like a troublesome child ? Capt. G. No-o. I don't mean that exactly. But. you see I shall be tramping up and down, shifting these thmgs to and fro, and I shall be in your waT Don't you think so? ^ ^ r^r^ "?• ^^^'* ^ ^'^' '^'"^ ^^°^*^ ^'^ ^- try. {.-Reaches forward to trooper's saddle.) Y^Ju\ ^: ^°°^,/^^^io^«' child, don't touch it. i^ouU hurt yourself. (Picking up saddle.) Little girls aren't expected to handle numdahs. Now, where would you like it put? CSolds .aAM. .•,»., 4 \ _ ^T MRS. G. (^ JrmAr m her voice.) x^owhere. Pip, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // y 1.0 1.1 ■ la i2.0 IL2^ HD 1.4 1.6 Sciences Corporation 23 \VBT MAIN STRIfT WIBSTIR.N.Y. USfO (716)872-4503 176 4 I 1 1 ! FATIMA how good you are - and how strong I Oh, what^s tiiat ugly red streak inside your arm? Capt. G. ^Lowering saddle quickly.) Nothing. Itsama^kofsorts. iAnde.-) And Jack's coming to wan with ht» notions all cut and dried I Mes. G. I know it's a mark, but I've never seen it before. It runs all up the arm. What is it? Capt. G. a cut — if you want to know. Mrs. G. Want to know I Of courae I do I I can't have my husband cut to pieces in this way. How did it come? Was it an accident? TeU me, Pip Capt. G. iarimly,-) No. Twasn't an accident. 1 got It — from a man — in Afghanistan. MRS.G Inaction? Oh, Pip, and you nmr told me I Capt. G. I'd forgotten all about it. Mrs. G. Hold up your arm I What a horrid, ujrlv scar I Are you sure it doesn't hurt now I How did the man give it you I Capt.G. iDesperately looking at his watch,) With a knife. I came down -old Van Loo did, that's to say - and fell on my leg, so I couldn't run. And then this man came up and began chopping at me as I sprawled. rr e> « *» x Mrs G. Oh, don't, don't I That's enough I - well, what happened? Capt. G I couldn't get to my holster, and Mafflin came round the corner and stopped the performance, belferh^'did^^"' Hes such a lazy man, I don't ^tT?' P°"'*y««? I don't think the man had much doubt about it. Jack cut his head off MR8.G. Cut -his- head -off I * With one blow,' as they say in the books ? Oh, what's that FATIMA 177 never told me I ^uTl ^■""o'f"'^- I ''M too interested in my. Tff «^/r"T """'' ""f"' "^ ^"y'""'' »!>« head wi off, and Jack was punching old Van Loo in the ribs to Td Lt"— "''■ ^"" ^°" ''""" "^^ *"»"' •*• <^««' MES.G. You want me to go, of courae. Yoa never told me about this, though I've been manied to Z Lr.7 /• ""^ ^°" "°™^ '"'"''<' '"'ve told me if I hadn t found out; and you never do tell me anythins Ltrlrn™^"' "' '''^ ^°" ^o- - ">-' you ^e'af MRS. b. Always m my pocket, you were going to a^yLmTe/"" *"' ""' ^°" "'« «lwar *»lv Capt. G. (2VytV^ to hide „ m&.) Am I? I wasn t aware of it. I'm awTly sorry. MBS.G CPiteou,-,:,.) Ob, don't make fun of me! Pip. you know what I mean. When you are reading strrbTyf ' '"""" "^ " » ^^- '^^ of » Never'^,-?^/™'"v™'""'»"''-'»5'-*"'''»yAuntI Wever mind, dear. You were going to say ? Mrs. G. It doesn't matter j you don't care for what 1 say. Only -only you get up and walk about the room, stanng in front of you, and then Mafflin comes in von l"d V ; u' ''■" '° *'"' ""'^"S-^o"' I can hear thmgs I can t understand, and - oh, I get u tired and feel ,, lonely !_I don't want to complain and tea trouble, Pip J but I do _ indeed I do I l^APT. G. Hy poor darling I I never thought of 178 MTIMA ll il toner J^""' '*°°'' ^"" ""^ """" "'"O P^OPI" » <» Hnl'^'f**" '^rn'^' Where am I to find them? K ou know I only want j/ou. M^^'i?' A"*^ ^'"' '*!"'^ "* '"■^'ly- Sweetheart? intJf^oufiife?'"'" "•"' ^^-O^'^-'tyo- <»te me ^^Capt.G. More than I do? That would be difficult, Mrs. G. Yes, I suppose it would _(» you. I'm no haveHsT~"° """"P*""" *« yo»! ""id you Uke to M^'c' ,tr''-'"'"z'' "*"" "'^^o-'^ble. Pussy? MB8.G. (Stamptng her foot.) I'm the most re^n- abk woman .n the world - when I'm treated properly. imprt^erly ■? ^"' """ "'*" ""^ ^ **'" '«"'«''» y- *I"of havt'"""' - ""' """^ *^ '»^'"" ^->" U^'^' /p''"",'-' '""' ^'""^i"»g to be convinced. MRS. U. iPomtmg to mddlery.') There I Capt. G. How do you mean? to ""told? )^^f«'<««»»««'™a"'? Why am I not w) De told / Is it so precious ? Capt. G. I forget ite exact Government value just MRS. Ct. Then why do you touch it? Capt. G To make it lighter. See here, little love agreed that all this equipment is about thirty pounds ^o heavy. The thing is how to cut it down"^ weakening any part ol it, and, at the sam« t-rro all— FATIMA 179 o» ort S <'»7.«™'y*i„g he wante for hU own JMbs. G. Why doesn't he pack them in a little ih^J^' %S^"'''^ ««''0 Oh, you darling I Pack hitr^frcLS'""^"" *""^ " "-'' "^ nofa'tier^"'^"^""' J'"^ bother about it? You're » J"*"""- ^" ^°' ''"* ^ """"nand a few score of him • tha^l^?; ^'J'^\ Of """^e not; but it's a matter that I m tremendously interested in, because if I or Jack, or I and Jack, work out some sort of lighter sad f5j' all that, it's possible that we mg^^ge^t Mes. G. How? -.2f^' ?'^ ^^"of^on*^ «t Home, where they will -^ake a sealed pattern -a pattern that all the saddC MRS. G. And that interests you? Capt. G. It's part of my profession, y'know, and my profession is a good deal to me. E^^thing in a so dier's equipment is important, and if we 1 imp ov that^equipment, so much the better for the soldie J^ and Mrs. G. Who's 'ub»? radical. Whats that big sigh for, Minnie? MRS. G. Oh, nothing^ and vnnVo u..^ „n xt..._ a secret from me I Why? "'"' '^ ''"^' "" '"* 180 FATIMA •ill ! i .'( «wt"'**>: *'°' »»«<"«'. '"'aotly, dear. I didn't 8av anything about it to you because I didn't think it would amuse you. Mrs. G And am I only made to be amused? .^.u*^- ; ' "* '"'""*• I "«"•«>? mean that it couldn't interest you. Mrs. G. It's your work and — and if you'd let me Id count all these things up. If they are too heavy you know by how much they a,^ too heavy, and yTu I'^ilSlV.!!:' "^'"^ "^^ -' *» ^- ^-•-^ l.«S^T ?^. '.'"'? «^' *"* ^"^ 8<"newhere in my healln f ^"t *° **" '"'" '«'" y°» <""» "ate a modtl Lf ""'""'*' ""'" ^"""^ -""^y "ad a Mks. G. But if you read out the list, I could copy ^down and pin it up there just above your tebk Wouldn't that do? ' r^lTL ^" • ^* '"'"'^ ^ "'^^y »'<«'' dear, but it would be giving you trouble for nothing. I can't work scale of weights, and the other one-the one that I'm trying to work to -will shift and vary so much that I couldn't be certain, even if I wrote it down. Mrs. G I'm .0 sorry. I thought I might help. Is there anything else that I could be of use in' nf.tf'fJ:*^' uo work Mbs. G. MaiBin's better, then, isn't he ? Capt. G. (Raiht^.y of courae he is. Jack and I have been thinking along the same groove for two or three yeara about thU equipment. It's our hobbrand It may really be useful some day. ^' havTta^- fro^f :; t """''^ ^""^ ^^'^ "» *at you Capt. G It isn't very far away from you now Take oa.« the oil on that bit doesn't eome oi/on ^Z hetZ^' T^jf*~/ "^^ ''° •""«'' "«" I «»»!<> really S/ ; [ ^ r* ^ """"d - « I left the room. But tnats aot what I mean would go. (Almd.) I assure you you can't do anv- h ng f» me, Mmnie, and I must J^y settie down I this, where s my pouch? Be^r""' WhaA^''***'^ '' ^nY%-^ai?,.) Here you are, V; ^^** * "^««« yo" keep your table in I m^rit^' ^' ^r'' *^"'^ ^*- ^^''^'^ » "method in V madness, though you mightn't think of it. MR8.G. (^^«,.) I want to look Do vo keep accounts, Pip? y^"- you^^;.^/-^''^*'^ '''" *^^^^^'*^-> Of a sort. Are careful ^^"^ ""'^"^ *^' ^^^'^P W««? Be .if I wS^' ..' ^\"'* '^«*"^^ -y^^-^- Good gracious I I had no idea that you had anything to do with so many sick horses. ^ ^ Capt. G. 'Wish I hadn't, but they in^i^f .^ f„n:._ B^cic. Minnie, if I were you I really should ;otin;;2 182 FATIMA !! i u .1 gate those papers. You may come across something that you won't like. Miis. G. Why will you always treat me like a child ? I know I'm not displacing the horrid things. Capt. G. (^Reiignedly.-) Very well, then. Don't blame me if anything happens. Play with the table and let me go on with the saddlery. {Slipping hand into trousera-poeket.^ Oh, the deuce I Mrs. G. (Her back to G.) What's that for? Capt. G. Nothing. (Aside.:) There's not much in it, but I wish I'd torn it up. Mrs. G. (Turning over contents of table.') I know you'll hate me for this ; tut I do want to see what your work is like. (A pause.) Pip, what are ' farcy-buds ' ? Capt. G. Hah I Would you reaUy like to know ? They aren't pretty things. Mrs. G. This Journal of Veterinary Science says they are of ' absorbing interest.' Tell me. Capt. G. (Aside.) It may turn her attention. Qives a long and designedly loathsome account of glanders and farcy, MrSc G. Oh, that's enough. Don't go on I Capt. G. But you wanted to know— Then these things suppurate and matterate and spread Mrs. G. Pip, you're making me sick! You're a horrid, disgusting schoolbo". Capt. G. (On his knees among the bridles.) You asked to be told. It's not my fault if you worry me into talking about horrors. Mrs. G. Why didn't you say — No ? Capt. G. Good Heavens, child I Have you come in here simply to bully me ? Mrs. G. I bully you? How could II You're so II i FATIHA 183 •trong iSyrtericaUy.-) Strong enough to pick me ui> tj^yZr^^ the door and leavele thle "1^ rne^Sb,^- ;^';r,u1te':er ^""'"' "^ ^™"°-' Mrs G. Do Hook ill? iBetuming u table.} Who » your lady friend with the big gray envelope and the fet monogram outside? •"'" uie Capt. G. (4«rf,.) Then it wasn't locked up con- found .t. iAlou.1} . God made her, therefo^ le her P^^s fora woman/ You remember what (arcy-buds a™ dowftWi' (*^«"'»^. """^'oi-'O ThU has nothing t» dowith«Aem. I'm going to open it May I? rfMn w^ .. °*'^!,"'y' '' yo" w»nt to. I'd sooner you ^foeetcXrl ' "' *° '°°' "' '"" ""'*" '^ Mbs. G. You'd better not. Sir I (?«*« ;««,r/r fr;"u"dir' ' "^^'"'" "' •'"^"•— ^ -p^-o th^ Mrs. G. (^Furiously.) Pin. T hat^ vnn f T\.i • bad as those idiotic 'ad'dle-b^ron thTfl J'^r mmd whether it would please me or not, you ought to have given it to me to read. * youralli^' '*<"»"««*» the same thing. You took it Mbs. G. Yes, but if I hadn't taken it, you wouldn't 186 FATIMA ■| ; 1/ ' |i I have said a word. I think this Harriet Herriott- it's like a name in a book — is an interfering old Thing. Capt. G. (Aside.) So long as you thoroughly understand that she is old, I don't much care what you think. (Aloud.) Very good, dear. Would you like to write and tell her so ? She's seven thousand miles away. Mrs. G. I don't want to have anything to do with her, but you ought to have told me. (Turning to last page of letter.) And she patronises me, too. Pve never seen her 1 (Reads.) ♦ I do not know how the world stands with you ; in all human probability I shall never know ; but whatever I may have said before, I pray for her sake more than for yours that all may be well. I have learnt what misery means, and I dare not wish that any one dear to you should share my knowledge.' Capt. G. Good God I Can't you leave that letter alone, or, at least, can't you refrain from reading it aloud? I've been through it once. Put it back on the desk. Do you hear me ? Mrs. G. (Irresolutely.) I sh— shan't I (LooJes at G.'s eyes.) Oh, Pip, please! I didn't mean to make you angry — 'Deed, I didn't. Pip, I'm so sorry. I know I've wasted your time Capt. G. (Chimly.) You have. Now, will you be good enough to go — if there is nothing more in my room that you are anxious to pry into ? Mrs. G. (Putting out her hands.) Oh, Pip, don't look at me like that! I've never seen you look like that before and it hu-urts me I I'm sorry. I oughtn't to have been here at all, and — &nd — and —(sobbing). Oh, be good to me I Be good to me I There's only you — anywhere I Breaks down in long ^hair, hiding face in eushiom. FATIMA m Capt. G. (Ande.) She doesn't know how she flicked me on the raw. (Aloud, bending over chair^ 1 didn t mean to be harsh, dear^ I didn't really. You can stay here as long as >ou please, ai.d do what you please Don't oiy like tliat. You'll make you4if sick. (^«rf,.) What on earth has come over her? (Aloud,) Darling, what's the matter with you *> Mrs. G. (^Her face Hill hidden.) Let me go -let me go to my own room. Only -only aay you aren't angry with me. Capt.G. Angry with yoM, love I Ofcouraenot. I was angiy with myself. I'd lost my temper over the sad- dlery-Don t hide your face, Pussy. I want to kiss it. Bendi lower, Mrs. G. slides right arm round his neck. Several interludes and much sobbing. Mrs. G. (In a whisper,) I didn't mean about the jam when I came in to tell you Capt G. Bother the jam and the equipment I (Interlude.) ^ .n^^A ?• S^f '"'"* ^'''''^^^•^ ^y finger wasn't scalded at all. I- 1 wanted to speak to you about — about — something else, and- 1 didn't know how. X U/!' ^^^^ ^"^^y^ *^^"- Crooking into her eyes.) Eh! Wha-at? Mimiie! Here, don't go away I You don't mean? ^ Mrs. G. (Hysterically, hacking to portiire and hid- tng her face in its folds.) The - the Almost Inevitable Consequences I (Flits though portiire as G. attempts to catch her, and bolts herself in her own room.) ^ Capt. G. (ffis arms full of portiire.) Oh I (Sit- %ng dowr. heavily in chair.) I'm a brute — a pig -a Mly, and a blackguard. My poor, poor little darling I aiade to be amused only ? ' THE VALLEY OP THE SHADOW Knowing Good and Evil. Scene -- The Gadsbys' hungalow in the Plains in June M^eoolies asleep in veranda Jr h^^^^ Gadsby 18 walkina «« n^^ ^..... t._^ . "^^^ ocTOR's trap generally and ^„^^^jj „^ veranaa Gadsby is walking up and down^ the— room — and — Hfifi h^r. ci. Junior Chaplain. Let me do mv work r.^ .. stop a minute I (^-.„.•», .■_,^ , . - --'<- \^--?n-.uff ijttu veranda.) IVa 188 THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 139 given him a stiff brandy-peg. He wants it. You've ;s^o'r '-' ''' '-' '- ^-- -^ - wo^ti: G, enters bedroom, which is lit ly one nighUamp. Ayah on the floor pretending to he asleep. Jhl?'i^ ^f 7 t ^'^'^ ^^^ ^^^^ '^^ street ^ BMcA bonfires I ^yaA, go and put them out ! (Appeal ^rwly^ How can I sleep with an installation oftht elsel'-^ZaTn/ ^^ ^ ^•^•^- Something lie^^^;» * /^'^'''^ f '"'^'"''^ ^*'^ ''''''^ Minnie, I'm VoJ. ^L-"l ' Phil -it's your husband. Voice {Meehamcally.) It's me - it's Phil - it's your husband. Capt. G. She doesn't know me I -It's your own husband, darling. ^ ^^° Voice. Your own husband, darling. «f«tJ-''°' i/r*^^ '*'' inspiration.-) Memsahib under- Btandmg all J saying. A^!^ ^- i^a^e her understand me then -quick I Catl%ah'f W~ ^^^- ^-'^/-^-^O MemsaUb! mlTseet'^" '^- ^"^^^^''^"^•^ I W I'm not bretk^^h. ^^^^''^ '^ ^-^ '^^ '-^--' -- - we^t^day^?' ^°°^"°'°"^^^' li*<^l« ^oman. How are PhlTf?f ™' Poor old Phil. (F?.-..«?y.) PhJ, you fool, I can't see you. Come nearer. - — i-*— . xT^xxiHioi Its me— you know me t 190 THE VALLEY OP THE SHADOW 1 P H ' i ! ' ijiil il'i.j Voice, imchmgly,-) Of course I do. Who does not know the man who was so cruel to hrwife- almost the only one he ever had ? Capt. G. Yes, dear. Yes -of course, of course But won't you speak to him ? He wants to speak t" you so much. ^ Voice. They'd never let him in. The Doctor would give darwaza bund even if he were in the house. He'U "clTc (f2^:"'^'^0 O Judas I Judas I Judas' W. ^ I ,*'''*''" was in the house. Oh, my love— don't you know me? ^ rtJT" i^r " ^"'-^ '*""'•> ' A""! i' «»>»« to pass at the eleventh hour that this poor soul repented ' It knocked at the gates, but they were shutitSi as a plaster - a great, burning plaster. They had nasted made of red-hot iron-people really ought to be mZ careful, you know. "omore armt.) Minme I speak to me— to Phil Voice What shaU I say ? Oh, tell me what to say before it's too late I They are aU going away and I can't say anything. ^ ^ Capt. G. Say you know me 1 Only say you know me 1 Doctor (Who has entered quietly,) For pit/s sake don't take it too much to heart, Gadsby. It's this way sometimes. They won't recognise. Thev say all sorts of queer things - don't you %ee f J:^tr' ^' . "^^ ''^^'- ^^ ''^^'^ ^« away now; she 11 recognise me ; you're bothering her. She must ■ "1 \io m v siie ' THE VALLEY OP THE SHADOW 191 Have I your leave Doctor. She wiU before to try. ? aiow me. Its only a question of — hours isn't it? J:T- ^^r^--^^^-) While theXliet^^^^^^^^^^ hope, y'know. But don't build on it. Ust^^ Vfr'*- ,^^^^«^*«g«therif it'spossible. iAside.:^ What have I done to deserve u.s^ I sLn^l^PhM^ to-morrow. You must take it, or 1 Shan t let Phil see you. It isn't nasty, is it ? Voice. Medicines I ^/t.ay« more medicines I Can't you leave me alone? Capt. G. Oh, leave her in peace, Doc I ^iv^nTr;ef''^^"^ *-^,->a.-^.) May I be for- srouLtlr'^T; ^"^'^"^-^ In a few minutes sue ought to be sensible ; but I daren't tell vou to look for anything. It's only ^eu vou to Capt. G. What? Go on, man. clT^r ^;!;rf^'^^^"> Forcing the last rally. OAPT. G. Then leave us alone. Doctor. Don't mind what she says at first, if you can They-they-they turn against those they love most sometimes in this. - It's hard, but Capt. G. Am I her husband or are you ? Leave us alone for what time we have together. Voice (OonfidentiaU^.) And we were engaged tWhf ;>'; ^""" ' ^^^'^^^ ^- *^^* I never thought of It for a moment; but, oh, my little Mel -1 dont know what I should have done if he hadn't proposed. '^^ , ,, v'; "^^ ^^" thinks of that Deercourt ffirl befow* she thinks of me. dAloud.:) Minnie I ^^'^ ^"*«'« !l!!l 192 TEE VALLEY OP THE SHADOW Voice. Not from the shops, Mummy dear. You can get the real leaves from Kaintu, and (laughing weakly) never mind about the blossoms - Dead white silk IS only fit for widows, and I wonH wear it. It's as bad as a wmding sheet. (^ long pause.-) Capt. g. I never asked a favour yet. If there is anybody to listen to me, let her know me — even if I die too I Voice. {Very faintly,-) Pip, Pip dear, Capt. G. I'm here, darling. Voice. What has ha opened? They've been bother- ing me so with medicines, and things, and they wouldn't let you come and see me. I was never ill before Am I ill now? ' Capt. G. You — you aren't quite well. Voice. How funny I Have I been ill long ? 1-..^^ ^' ^"""^^ ^^^^'' ^^* y^^'ll b« all right in a little time. Voice Do you think so, Pip ? I don't feel weU and -- Oh I what have they done to mv hair ? Capt. G. I d-d-don't know. Voice. They've cut it off. What a shame I Capt. G. It must have been to make your head cooler. Voice. 'Just like a boy's wig. Don't I look horrid? , F^r: % ^^''^'' ^^^^^^ P""^**^^^ i^ yo"^ life* ^^ '"- ' -y >ove .' ZZ\Jt, *'""^'" '"■ "^"^y O'-^'t you tell nae Capt. G. What? Av!^m" '!"*/''"«»•*' You shan't. the punkah.) ^ ^'^'^''ah chor do 1 (Stop pulling Voice. It's hard Pin c„ one year-just one year cIt"'''."'? ^'^^ ^^'^^ twenty, MoBt 1\1T\S '^'""^'^ And I'm only Can't Ly do XL^^^^^ ^™^^ -* twenty"^ ^^ y do a;^^^^^^ to help me ? I don't want to Capt. G. Hush, dear. You won't Baby thing died" 7Zl Pd tiStT' ^^ *^' ^o"^'' ^l^i tr£aFir "-^^^^^^^^^ Pip, don't you die too ^"'' ' ^"°"^^ ^^'^^d^' Capt. G. I wish I dared. Voice. It says : ' Till Death do us part ' ATnfi,- after that — and so it would h« nl ^ t ^°^^ff the dying. TF^, does T^^' Z7' On ^'^'l '* ^*^' ''<*' Anythmg but that, Min I I \i " I (Pi m 194 THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW Voice. Because you'll forget and I'll forget. Oh, Pip, don't forget I I always loved you, though J was cross sometimes. If I ever did anything that you didn't like, say you forgive me now. Capt. G. You never did, darling. On my soul and honour you never did. I haven't a thing to forgive you. Voice. I sulked for a whole week about those petunias. (With a laugh.) What a little wretch I was, and how grieved you were I Forgive me that, Pip. Capt. G. There's nothing to forgive. It was my fault. They were^ too near the drive. For God's sake don't talk so, Minnie ! There's such a lot to say and so little time to say it in. Voice. Say that you'll always love me — until the end. Capt. G. Until the end. (Carried away.) It's a lie. It must be, because we've loved each other. This isn't the end. Voice. (Relapsing into semi-delirium.') ilfy Church- service has an ivory-cross on the back, and it says so, so it must be true. 'Till Death do us part.' — But that's a lie. (With a parody of G.'s manner.) A damned lie I (Recklessly.) Yes, I can swear as well as Trooper Pip. I can't make my head think, though. That's because they cut off my hair. How can one think with one's head all fuzzy ? (Pleadingly.) Hold me, Pip! Keep me with you always and always. (Relapsing.) But if you marry the Thorniss girl when I'm dead, I'll come back and howl under our bedroom window all night. Oh, bother I You'll think I'm a jackal. Pip, what time is it ? ae — until the THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 195 molr '■ '""^'' "'"« ^ ""^' •- "^'» time to- crearL Tn T '''°"''* ^^^« ^^ "P«et the cream-ice all over his trouafira of ^u V^ tennis? trousers at the Gassers' Capt. G. Yes, dear. tha^'^Y**" I'^T'^) No. I don't think he'd like that. 'Your head comfy, Sweetheart? Gracious. Pip, when did you shave last? Your eh! ?, vT^' rr ^ ^ ~ ^ «*° * •>«'? it. dear. V, (G- »*!»«)•».) /wanttosini?. •Mnme bake, oaten cake, Mimie brews rie, All because her Johnnie's coming !,„„, fc„„ ^e «a. (Ihat's parade, Pip.) And she grows red as rose, who was so pale; And - Are you sure the nhiirnh-«!oc1r ! «°" i . 1. ^socK guc3 f says she.* (Pe«.%.) I k„ew I oouWt take the last note. 196 THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW How do the bass chords run ? (^Puts out her hands and begins playing piano on the sheet.) Capt. G. (Catching up hands.) Ahh! Don't do that, Pussy, if you love me. Voice. Love you? Of course I do. Who else should it be? (A pause.) JoiOF. (Very clearly.) Pip, I'm going now. Some- things choking me cruelly. (Indistinctly.) Into the dark — without you, my heart. — But it's a lie, dear — we mustn't believe it. - For ever and ever, living or dead. Don't let me go, my husband — hold me tight. — They can't — whatever happens. (A cough.) Pip -wyPipI Notforalways-and-so-soonI (Voice ceases.) Pause of ten minutes. G. hunes his face in the side of the bed while Ayah bends over bed from opposite side and feels Mrs. G.'s breast and forehead. Capt. G. (Rising.) Doctor Sahib ho salaam do. Ayah. (Still by bedside, with a shriek.) Ai I Ai ' Tuta—phuta! My Memsahibf Not getting — not have gotl—Pusseenaagyaf (The sweat has come.) (Fiercely to G.) TUM Jao Doctor Sahib ko jaldi! (You go to the doctor.) Oh, my Memsahib / Doctor. (Entering hastily.) Come away, Gadsby. (Bends over bed.) Eh! The Dev-What inspired you to stop the punkah? Get out, man -go away- wait outside I Go/ Here, Ayah I (Over his shoulder to G.) Mind, I promise nothing. The dawn breaks as G. stumbles into the garden. Capt. M. (Reining up at the gate on his way to parade and very soberly.) Old man, how goes ? — ' -^' v^w^pw-v -i auuu quite inow. btay a THE VALLEY OP THE SHADOW jgy bit. Have a drink or something. Don't run awav You're ju8t getting amusing. Ilal Hal ""y- w;^";f ^^"'''•^ What «m I let in for? Gaddv has aged ten yeara in the night. ^ Yor^ZJt-Jf^'' ^"'"""^ "^'■^^^'' *-''•''"«•) (mI^{ f , n°K",''- ^"* " ''""^ht, will you? ^ r.p 'p" ^''"* *<»• P*™*!^- Poor Gaddy ««<*>«% .,ioml gravity, tramp. i/u>d good chance - No you don't go in. We'll pull her through yet I pr^^i" 2 my reputation -under Providence. ScndTman ^1^^ T^ u'r^'^- ^'"' ^""^ •««or tin one ^^.S""' W«puU her round. (^..Ji Ibur-b*^h '^^..'""^^"'"^"f^'^-'harger.y Jack/ H.7 r.^T*' ^" Soing to make a bub -bub — bloody exhibitiod of byself. Tif; V^^'"^''*' ^ ■> •'omg it already. Old bad what cadi y, Vb as pleased as -Cod « you' Gaddy 1 You're one big idiot and I'b adother fpZ JTOioE Chaplain, awho .-- ^e ;„ «, i,„^^. 198 f: II Hi 1 ^ :! 1: hi i THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW We — we are only men in these things, know that I can say nothing now to confidence.) Gadsby. I help Capt. M. (Jealously/.} Then don't say it I Leave him alone. It's not bad enough to croak over. Here, Gaddy, take the chit to Single and ride hell-for-leather. It'll do you good. I can't go. Junior Chaplain. Do him good I (SmiUnff.) Give me the chit and I'll drive. Let him lie down. Your horse is blocking my cart —please / Capt. M. (Slowli/ without reining hack.) I beg your pardon — I'll apologise. On paper if you like. Junior Chaplain. {Flicking M.'s charger.) That'll do, thanks. Turn in, Gadsby, and I'll bring Single back — ahem -—' hell-for-leather.' Capt. M. {Solus.) It would have served me right if he'd cut me across the face. He can drive too. I shouldn't care to go that pace in a bamboo cart. What a faith he must have in his Maker— of harness I Come hup, you brute! {aallops off to parade, blowing hi» nose, as the sun rises.) (interval op pivb weeks.) Mrs. G. ( Verg white and pinched, in morning wrap, per at breakfast table.) How big and strange the room looks, and oh how glad I am to see it again I What dust, though I I must talk to the servants. Sugar, Pip? I've almost forgotten. {Seriously.) Wasn't I very ill ? Capt. G. flier than I liked. {Tenderly.) Oh, you bad little Pussy, what a start you gave me I Mrs. G. I'll never do it again. •^^ir^. °"'" "" letter. .t|;^r^r^i--r;rs M. You look awfly serious. Anything wrong? ^- Depends on your view entirely I sav T„ 1, you won't think more hardly of me thl ^' u ' will you? Come farther tlwaT Th«7 T^^'F' matter is fhaf tn.o j ^' ~~ ■*^^^® ^*°* of the A^o — only married. ^14 u j :'i'' j ! \l i Hi! 1 :' 202 THE SWELLING OF JORDAN M. Look here! What's the meaning of it all ? You never intend to leave us. You can^L Isn't he b^st squadron of the best regiment of the best cavaS in a the world good enough for you ? G. (Jerkinff his head over his shoulder.-) She doesn't ThTi:.^7 i" *"' ^P^o-^ken counti^y.and ther:> TbeButeha to be considered and all that, you know. U. Does she say that she doesn't like India ' leaV- ' ""^ """* "' '*• '■'^ ^»"'' *» *- "* M. What are the Hills made for ? G. Not for ray wifo, at any rate. M. Yon know too much, Gaddy, and— I don't HIta you any tie better for it I iaontlike G. Never mind that. She wants England, and The ^tcM would be all the better for it.S'm gol to chuck. You don't underetand. ^ ^ M. Cffotl!/.) I understand this. One hundred and &rT™'' '"""'' *° '"' "«t«d into shape somehow before Luck comes round again; a hairy-heeled draft who 11 give more trouble than the horaes ; a camp next cold weather for a certainty; ourselves tLe ZZnZ roster ; the Russian shindy ready to come to a head at five minutes notice, and you, the best o{ us all, back- fai^ly.^Zi! """^ "^ ^""^ <'"««' ^---J^ his ni^^; »L''T1"' * "*"' *''""St- who told me, the night after Amdheran, when we were picketed under Jaga, and he d left his sword -by the way, did you C ''thS* ".t "'='* ^-"'J?-- - Utmanzai's neaa — that man told me thaf. haM af;„i, u , ., — I don't like towards hia THE SWELLING OP JOBDAN jOS Pinks as long as he lived. I don't blame him for not sicking by me -I'm not much of a man -but I 1 blame h.m for not sticking by the Pink Hussa:. th.„ ^'^T''^-^ ^« '^^^ little more than boys then. Can't you see, Jack, how things stand ' 'tS as If we were serving for our bread. We've all of 1 "ore or less, got the filthy l„ere. I'm luckierlhl' some, i^rhaps. There's no .all for me to ser™ on. Rerimefr 'if '' "f ^f"/"" »' for „s, except the coto"" ^^"^ '*°" * "^"^^ *" '">«^or to that, of ^.?\ """'^ ^ ^ ^^^ 0" * ">»". You know that a ot of us only take up the thing for a few Z^ fj M. Not lots, and they aren't some of U, Or. And then there are one's affaira at Home to h« considered-my place and the i^nts, andTthaf I don t suppose my father can last much long»^ and ttat means the title, and so on. ^ ' ***' M. 'Fraid you won't be entered in the Stud Rn„i, correctly unless you go Home ? Take six montfe fhen and conie out in October. If I could slayX b™the; or wo, I s'pose I should be a Marquis of sor^ Z" fool can be that; but it needs ».«, Gaddy - „;„ tke you to lead flanking squadrons properl/ Don"t vou delude yourself into the belief that yL're goWHome to take your place and prance aboutLongTnlnosed het.^ r iTt S. "^^ "" "^« - ''^^^"^ - M. No — Draisfi ho fn P».^ — :a , .. two women who have had the good sense toZlme W. 204 THE SWELLING OP JORDAN m n I m Q. Then you don't know what it is to go into vour own room and see yonr wife's head on the pillow 1" when everything else is safe and the house shu T; f" ^ ^a''At """"^ ""^"^^^ *"' ™°'-'^'"- -"Ce • S„^; ^^r'''*'^ Revelations firat and second I rAloud.) and^;„„L .T " ""'? '"'"' «<" '1"% "' 0"^ Mess once and confided to me that he never helped his wife on to her horse without praying that sheVl break her neck l^fore she came back. All husbands aren't aUke. you G. What on eartii has that to do with my case? Th. man must ha' been mad, or his wife as bad'aa thly' vof»» ^^'v '■^. '?" *""" °* y"^ ^ e"h» weren't all you say You've forgotten tie time when you were msane about the Herriott woman. You alwa™ weTH good hand at forgetting. CAloui.y Not LT^ r T J roof-beams are sound enough. ^- That was only a way of speaking. I've been uneasy and worried about the wL evfr sinle th" awful busmess three years ago -when -I nearly lost her. Can you wonder? uoariy lost nWe *^yJ '''""/«™^ '»"^ t«^-=e in the same place You ve paid your toll to misfortune - why should your Wife be picked out more than anyWy do?; „lr f'*,^'""* *' reasonably as you can, bat you acre's Ttr«",r^°"r.''""'' ""-J^-^tand. And then tteres The Sutoha. Deuce knows where the Ayah takes h,m to s.t in the evening I He has a bit of a cough. Haven't you noticed it? ■L. THE SWEtLWO OP JORDAN 2O6 M. Bosh ! ^ The Brigadier's jumping out of m skin mth pure conibon. He's got a muzde like a rose-leaf and the chest of a two-year-old. What's demoralised jruu . F„!k !*''"*• "^^^'^ *^' '""S »■«* *« stort of it. M. But what 18 there to funk ? G. Everything. It's ghastly. M. Ah! I see. You don't want to fight, And by Jingo when we do, YouVe got the kid, you've got the Wife, You've got the money, too. That's about the case, eh ? G. I suppose that's it. But it's not for myself. It's because of am. At least I think it is h^^A ^^\f VT • ^°°^^"^ ^* *^« "tatter in a cold- blooded light, the Wife is provided for even if you were wiped out to-night. She has an ancestral home tTZ to, money, and the Brigadier to carry on the illustrious name. G. Then it is for myself or because they are part of 7it i!T. ';r "' ''' ""' ^^'^'« «° ^-^' - pi~ underl^dt ' "''* *° "^'^ '' ^"^^^ '^'^' ^^'^ y- asfhey5;t t ^.^^^-"^ Orf'cer's charger,' G. Andl have everything to my hand to make it nnf J "" «^^^/ *1^« «<^rain and the worry for their sakes out here; and there isn't a single real difficulty to pre- vent my dropping it altogether. It'll only cost me - Jack, 1 hope you'll never knnw flio .i.» ^u-x t, been gomg through for the past six months. 206 THE SWELLING OF JORDAN 1 ■H'l i'i« ^. (^Laughing bitterly.) Has h«9 ixri, . , call craninff over fo «,«« £u ^^^* ^o Jou M In ir •! ^^^""^ ^°"^ ^«*^-f ore lands ^ ^vi. m my case it means thaf T »,o« u Considerable Bend anH^. ^""^ ^'^^^ «^^ the M. (ffraoe^j,.) Heaven forbid » A m»n ri, can't be as bad as that A f»ii • ■ ° '"^^ y" never gives it a"h„uS.t " "" '""^ '""& >"" »"« «_tbe squadron behind ilT^Z^^Zt^^ ^ out, and y'ou can alwa^'pLw^rr*^ ■^"^^'F- >r. haven't the dust to tofht r I tT7 ""^ " '''^• Whoever h.rd of a horse ste^i^' ^ fn.^ "-• ^"^ open ouXTorErr^trn^ '"'° ^^"^ «"* ""^ ""^r M. Oh, this is childish! yoL'rfddl Van'urT*r ^*- ^ ''™'' -™- pick his wa;-Xpecfa,; Jhen^ ^^^ »* "-'« *" column of t^op 4h .^yl^ ZV ' "' '" M. Once in a Blue Monn ^ „ . . ,,„ „.p gallop in column of THE SWELLING OP JORDAN troop and then only to save time. Aren't three enough for you ? G. Yes — 207 lengths full developi quite enough. They just allow for the pment of the smash. - „. ^,„„j, ,„,« a cur 1 icnow: but I m you that, for the past three Laths I ve felt every hoof of the squadron in the small of tv' back every time that I've led. ^ M. But, Gaddy, this is awful ! rtfp- 1'°,^' '' '°™'y- ^''''* '* "y^? A Captain of th%^'"'^ °'^^- .?' «1"«>«h«d like a »„„„,*, and ae Troop^ei^ant-Major cocked his eye at me You W old Haffys eye. I was affaid to^o'^H M. I should think so. That was the best wav m ruptu,. old Van Loo's tummy, and ma^e m^'ormpk you up. You knew that. crumple G. f *dn't care. It took the edge off him. M. 'Took the edge off him'? Gaddy, you- vou -you «.«,«„•<, you know I Think of the men ^itheytnolf *""« ' """ '''^^ »*• ^'you sk^m ^tti^T '"" V "'.f *,''^'™ ^'"^y l''^^ to »P»t send t^ W f u"^ 1 *''"* ''"''• ®^« ^"'0' old »»«, send the Wife Home for the hot weather and come to cross the Rhotang- shoot ibex or loaf -which vmi ple^e. Only come/ You're a bit off your olts IZ you're talking nonsense. Look at the cZel- C bellied radical ^hat h'^ - TT- i •- swag- ua- .iidi; ne xo. Hu has a wite and no end of a bow-wmdow of his own. Can any one of „s ride ro^^J Hi i 1 ; (•■ ;!■ 'i ; 1 ■ 1 v.il; ■" ■ f 1 lll ! 1 'I ![ it ' 208 THE SWELLING OP JORDAN him— chalkstones and all? I can'f an^ t *i,- i r shove a crock along a bit. ' ^ ^ *^'°^ ^ °»^ Gr. Some men are difffiiAnf t t. ,. , Lo.d help „e, I have:? the Lvelr™V^ ""^''- hole and a half f^. «..f T ^ ^® **^en up a I can't Zpt^ rm s "? ^"/I "'" """^^ *« ^""^t^- me. OnT soul i luff "u ""^'^^S ""Wening to agat owfup"""' *■""• ' """""J -- >»- the eour- jufi Argr„rt o^thrhi"^,-^,-:^" l'^- Jack, you won't v — R„f t i "^ ^ ^*^"' °^^ "»»»• G. Eh I Wha-at? came to U8. ^ ^"'^^ «™'' "nee she mL ''''"'' *" *""'• ^°"'' *»k that. It's all M. What does she say' bes?Uttl'^;^lrth?w».V'r't"" "«'• «^«'^ *"« she wouldn't ~el a rn,' "l*t '"'' '^^ *"'-•"« came hetweeu Zt^Z' 11^*1 ^Ll^ " '' turn a? ' "' *'"""^'' '*■ »>>«'» «ve times eleverer ^a^^jf^rcr^^oSr G. (Absentlu.) I sav. ^^ ,,«„ ^p,__. , ^*•^^• - -^j — ^„„ aespise me? >r have the cour- THE SWELLING OF JORDAN 209 ..^A .w ""'' "^^^ ^^ P"**^°^ '^' Have you ever been utf^ttrrr^ Thin.an.nute. WtTns^wS G. So bad as ^^a«? I'm not entitled to expect anv aU^umfo™ and „o riding, I MU>ye/^^7l'~ G. Thirty-three. I know it's flft^' ^n **"*^ ^°"'" ■* * *"»■ 0* a J.P. landlord At ^fyyou'U own a bath-ohair, and The BrirdYer if he You ve managed it in thirty-three. "^ G. Don't make me feel woree than I do Will if rtfraiZdr^-^-'^-"^- ^1 Itn'tilkXuYikfU titrt^". ^'"^ Wed down. You n> J^^t tot alirivl^-tf vmi Of 7' ^^^ ' ""^ """" ^ sliaU do without you. Of^ course, you've got the n.oney and the pC /S'i 210 THE SWELLING OF JORDAN ^ :: it iiiSI G. 'Doesn't make it any the sweeter T'm 1.0 i • out I Irnnw T ^^ r ^ »weeier. im backinop -.. . w. w, ,. wta „^ ,1 1- ;■;;; « M. (Aside.) /Couldn't conceive any woman ,r«ff MRS. (x; (pmiw^ down veranda.) What are vn„ waggmg your head over, Pip ? ® ^'^'^ M. C2^^m% ^^,e,%.) Me, as usual. The old ser rTed IZ "''°'u" —--ding me to g mat ned Never saw such a one-ideaed man I Mrs. G. Well, why don't vnn? V a would make some wom'an v^ry Ll ' '""^^ ^^^ 1. A ^ ' THE SWELLING OP JORDAN 2II G. There's the Law and the Prophets, Jack. Never O Lord I ^^'°'^''*' Make a woman happy. (Aside.:^ M. We'll see. I must be off to make a Troop Cook desperately unhappy. I won't have the wily Hussar fed on Government Bullock Train shinhones -.(Hastily.) Surely black ants can't be good for The Brigadier. He's pickmg em off the matting and eating 'em. Here, Seflor Comandante Don Grubbynose, come and talk to me. CJAftsG.JumoRin his arms.) 'Want my watch ? You won t be able to put itintoyour mouth, but you can try. ((t. Junior drops watch, breaking dial and hands.) Mrs G Oh, Captain Mafflin, I am so sorrv I Jack, you bad, bad little villain. Ahhhl M. It's not :he least consequence, I assure you. He d treat the world in the same way if he could get it mto^his hands. Everything's made to be played with audbroken, isn't it, young 'un?' Mrs. G. Mafflin didn't at all* like his wLh being broken, though he was t«o polite to say so. It was entirely his fault for giving it to the child. Dem little puds are werry, werry feeble, aren't dey, my Jack-in-de- box? (ToG.) What did he want to see you for? G. Regimental shop as usual. MRS.G. The Regiment! Always the Regiment. On my word, I sometimes feel jealous of Mafflin. G. (Wearilt/.) Poor old Jack? I don't think you need. Isn^ it time for The Butcha to have his nap? Bring a chair out here, dear. I've got something to talk over with you. ^ And this is the End of the Story op the Gadsbys. li M mt ■f.-r !■ * 13 5 i m '-Ill L'ENVOI What is the moral ? Who rides may read. When the night is thick and the tracks are b'ind. A fnend at a pinch is a friend indeed ; But a fool to wait for the laggard behind : i^own to Gehenna or up to the Throne He travels the fastest who travels alone. White hands cling to the tightened rein, Shppmg the spur from the booted heel, Tenderest voices cry, * Turn again,' Red lips tarnish the scabbarded steel, High hopes faint on a warm hearth-stone ^ He travels the fastest who travels alone. One may fall but he falls by himself — Falls by himself with himself to blame : One may attain and to him is the pelf, Loot of the city in Gold or Fame : Plunder of earth shall be all his own Who travels the fastest and travels alone. Wherefore the more ye be holpen and stayed - btayed by a friend in the hour of toil, Smg the heretical song I have made— ' His be the labour and yours be the spoU. Wm by his aid and the aid disown — He travels the faateaf. wlin ffOTr^i^ -i-i-ia 212 i DRAY WABA row DEE <^X''^'^,^'^:'.X r ■■ «■-'»« -e ^ not opare in Almonds and raisins. Sahib? Grape, from Kabul? me. He is thirteen three, Sahib dIrvh r,ni« • cart, carries a lady and -HnltT ^^^ ^J ' ^°®' '"^ * Imams it i« Ta q I ulT ^ Kurshed and the Blessed xmams, it is the Sahib himself I Mv heart im r«o^ /^ and „,y eye gla^. May you neverZ ti ed, aTuIh I^ ' A^d rf :," " '"^ ^'^•" "^ " friend toa?^ "euii, bahib, you know the 8ayine_'R„f» »,« *r men and trulls the women.- It wl !„ orS Ahool An order IS an ordfir fin ««« • ^ ^^oi : Anooi obey. O my brotter O T/' 1™"^ T"«^'' *» «''»- I am to go with you? Your favour is oreat Will htresTdlhf Td, '" ":f """P""""' ^^™ tie norses and the bundles and the horsp hn^ njr Xr^ **"' tte police here h' d m^'a hotS' What do these Lowland bastards know of hoi^Hhi ts ? Do you remember that time in Peshawur when S hammered on the gates of Jumrud - mo^ntSnk tta he was — an A liu^A .tu. -n , ,. . """i-yoanK tnat niffht? Ka^y- T r"" "^"'^^^^^ Worses all in one night? Kamal is dead now, but his nephew has taken 818 Ij in ,11 : » la m 4 214 DRAY WARA YOW DEE up the matter, and there will be more horses amissing if the Khaiber Levies do not look to it. The Peace of God and the favour of His Prophet be upon this house and all that is in it I Shafizullah, rope the mottled mare under the tree and draw water. The horses can stand in the sun, but double the felts over the loins. Nay, my friend, do not trouble to look them over. They are to sell to the Officer fools who know so many things of the horse. The mare is heavy in foal; the gray is a devil unlicked; and the dun — but you know the trick of the peg. When they are sold I go back to Pubbi, or, it may be, the Valley of Pe- shawur. O friend of my'heart, it is good to see you again. I have been bowing and lying all day to the Officer- Sahibs in respect to those horses; and my mouth is dry for straight talk. Auggrhf Before a meal tobacco is good. Do not join me, for we are not in our own coun- try. Sit in the veranda and I will spread my cloth here. But first I will drink. In the name of Qod returning thanks, thrice/ This is sweet water, indeed —sweet as the water of Sheoran when it comes from the snows. They are all well and pleased in the North — Khoda Baksh and the others. Yar Khan has come down with the horses from Kurdistan — six and thirty head only, and a full half pack-ponies — and has said openly in the Kashmir Serai that you English should send guns and blow the Amir into Hell. There are fifteen tolls now on the Kabul road; and at Dakka, when he thought he was clear, Yar Khan was stripped of all his Balkh stallions by the Governor I This is a great iniustice. ■" j.m.uix* Ao uKjii wii/ii rage. And of the others: DRAY WARA YOW DEB 215 Mahbub Ah 18 still at Pubbi, writing God knows what, lugluq Khan is in jail for the business of the Kohat Folice lost. Faiz Beg came down from Ismail-ki- Dhera with a Bokhariot belt for thee, my brother, at the closing of the year, but none knew whither thou hadst gone: there was no news left behind. The Cousins have taken a new run near Pakpattan to breed mules for the Government carts, and there is a story in Bazar of a priest. Oho I Such a salt tale I Listen Sahib, why do you ask that? My clothes are fouled because of the dust on the road. My eyes are sad be- cause of the glare of the sun. My feet are swollen because I have washed them in bitter water, and mv cheeks are hollow because the food here is bad. Fire burn your money I What do I want with it? I am rich and I thought you were my friend; but you are like the others -a Sahib. Is a man sad? Give him money, say the Sahibs. Is he dishonoured? Give him money, say the Sahibs. Hath he a wrong upon his fi! c x..?'"'^ ^'"^ "'^"^J^' «^y t^e Sahibs. Such are tne feahibs, and such art thou — even thou. Nay, do not look at the feet of the dun. Pity it is that I ever taught you to know the legs of a horse Footsore? Be it so. What of that? The roads are hard. And the mare footsore? She beara a double burden, Sahib. And now I pray you, give me permission to depart. Great favour and honour has the Sahib done me, and graciously has he shown his belief that the horses are ^olen. Will it please him to send me to the Thana? To call a sweeper and have me led away by one of these hzard-men? I am the Sahib's friend. I have dm nk water m the shadow of his house, and he has blackened ■ » I i Nl 216 DRAY WARA YOW DEE ! " I my face Remains there anything more to do? Will the Sahib give me eight annas to make smooth the in- jury and — complete the insult ? Forgive me, my brother. I knew not - 1 know not Zt':n VT Y^«' I 1-d to youl IwTpu dust on my head-and I am an Afridil The horses have been marched footsore from the Valley to thL want'oT.!""^ '^'! ''' 1^°^' '^^ ^y ^°^^ ^'^'^ f«- the want of sleep and my heart is dried up with sorrow and shame. But as it was my shame, so by God thi Dispenser of Justice -by Allah-al-Mumit- it shal bemy own revenge I We have spoken together with naked hearts before thl ^l « *,° ■"' "" "^ ''™*«^- Therefore I pay thee back with hes and ingratitude - as a Pathan L.sten nowl When the grief of the soul is too heZ for endurance it may be a little eased by speech; and! pebble of confession dropped therein sinks and is no mo.^ seen From the Valley have I come on foo\ league by league with a fire in my chest like the fire of the Pit. And why? Hast thou, then, so quieWy forgo.ten our customs, among this folk who sell their wives and their daughters for silver ? Come back with me to the North and be among men once more. cTme t^^' "^Tr T "^'^V' '^"""Pli^ed and I call for V»T. I ^ ■" "^ *''" peach-orchards is upon all the valley, and here is only dust and a great stink. There IS a pleasant wind among the mulberry trees, and the streams are bright with snow-water, and the caravans go up and the caravans go down, and a hundred fires sparkle in the gut of the Pass, and t«nt.n„„ ,„. "1 x'^5 "-"o \T ci.a DBAT WAEA TOW DEB glT hammer-nose, and pack-horse squeals to nack h„r«„ across the drift smoke of the eveling. It Tg^Z the North now. Come back with me Let us ~to^ to our own people I Gomel Whence is my sorrow? Does a man tear out his heart and make fritters thereof over a slow fire for augh for Vour'tir°Tl 1° "°* '^'•^'•' *'»"' '^tef I came up ire.rhadL"^^'^""^''''^-''^-^'-"^ A girl of the bazar said that he would po to Nnw thee/ And she said: 'Even so.' I said- 'I wonld fein see h m. for we be friends parted for ^wo Z^. stutter Id T'-,^' •'" f ' ''"''^'''^ "f *« ^'ndow S said VpTJi' ""f 1".^'^ '"'■»'"?•' And the gin said. O Pathan, look int» my eyes I' And T turned, leaning upon her breast, and lo^oked into he ^yes, swearing that I spoke the yeiy Truth of God But she answei^d: 'Never friend wTited friend wUh 1 would hav^ n4-»«^~i-ji ji . . , - wo_iu uav^ „..a«giuu tnai; gui but for the fear of DRAY WARA YOW DEE g^l she leaned over the win^S^.; ? . *""* departed, and -e down the s ^et HeTtme" •a%'''^''* ''°'' "'-■^«'' We made nay account wTthT ™""'- "«''>«" I Peshawurand-herTovr^thin r° \^'" '«""•" 'o her beauty, sake ^ TaU " tT ^ "° """^ ^" the cripple among trees Ho Hoi /rr,,''"' ^*' At Peahawur I bourf.f th' J^ ^* *''*" «he I*' the almond, and dried't^t iTtC" ^^^' """^ wanderings might be op™ to the A """"''' "^ "^ that there mieht be im hin!? Government, and When I camefo^t^hetl^:: IZ ^ T '^"* ^S^ fVoiLis r '-' '~-«-^^^^^^ the hoies. AlTniX ft fl» "^ '"? ^ ^ ^'^P' ='"'™ff not cease torn SrinrT"^ '''"*'''''* "<""^ sleeping as the DeWbsTeeTand •7'" T" "^ '^"y' the Voice was thllteVa ' T ^"' ''^''° '•«* south, and thou Shalt Ze upon Danish h "t- '^» my brother and ohiefest am^ong friend ii,,'"?"'?' the tale a Ions one ? Thint i, /"®»«s — hsten ! Is have t^dden^evZ leSifof'T '* "? ^« *» »«• I this place; and Jm t^" tl^v /"" ''"'"" '^ Voice and the lust of ven„^ ^'"''' "^^ °»'y tl" me^" H:.''Hot A^tan'm ^' "^ "" "-"-- '<> even in his trouble tZ Sk? ""^ """^ '--' cle) to me; and I heard th»v ! "° """"^ ("^sta- the waters beating on^hetLT "^^^ *« ""'^^ »* right. • So I wZ to PiL^ ^. u*' '"^'"S^ '0° to the sleep was uClt t '^£^i' '"'V" *""« "'y^ "^ woman of the Aha^aTw^ J^T^ ^ ^an^-^^^^^^^ P V- \m I r. 222 DRAY WARA YOW DEE as it had fallen between my feet. Dmy wara yow dee ! Dray wara yow dee! Fire, ashes, and my couch, all three are one — all three are one I Now I was far from the winter path of the dealers who had gone to Sialkot and so south by the rail and the Big Road to the line of cantonments; but there was a Sahib in camp at Pindigheb who bought from me a white mare at a good price, and told me that one Daoud Shah had passed to Shahpur with horses. Then I saw that the warning of the Voice was true, and made swift to come to the Salt Hills. The Jhelum was in flood, but I could not wait, and, in the crossing, a bay stallion was washed down and drowned. Herein was God hard to me — not in respect of the beast, of that 1 had no care — but in this snatching. While I was upon the right bank urging the horses into the water, Daoud Shah was upon the left; iov — AlgUas! Alghiasf — the hoofs of my mare scattered the hot ashes of his fires when we came up the hither bank in the light of morning. But he had fled. His feet were made swift by the terror of Death. And I v/ent south from Shah- pur as the kite flies. I dared not turn aside, lest I should miss my vengeance — which is my right. From Shahpur I skirted by the Jhelum, for I thought that he would avoid the Desert of the Rechna. But, presently, at Sahiwal, I turned away upon the road to Jhang, Samundri, and Gugera, till, upon a night, the mottled mare breasted the fence of the rail that runs to Mont- gomery. And that place was Okara, and the head of the woman of the Abazai lay upon the sand between mv feet. Thence I went to Fazilka, and they said that I was mad to bring starved h( 4-1, »»» A he Voice was DRAY WARA YOW DEE 223 the sand, and I have seen them pass before my face There are no Devils, say the Sahibs? TheyZ vT^ -ho.'r "'s.fr.'r ''" *'"^ abo„t'dri.r^ man IS set upon one thing alone, he fea.« neither God ot jjaoud Shah. What love so deep as hate ? Do not speak. I know the thought in your heart Is the white of this eye clouded? How does the t,^ beat at the wrist? There is no madness n t n^f South of Delhi I knew not the country at all. There- mZl^r' 71 "''^ ' "'"*' ''"' I P=««^d though many cities. I knew only that It was laid „n„„ ? go south. When the hoLs co^rmarl T r^ "^ toew myself upon the earth, and waited till the Sy There was no sleep with mn in th-t it,-,- • j that was a heavy burden. Vo.t ^^ ^nZ^Xr^ '■ 'I'J 11 I €1 DRAY WARA YOW DEB mine, the evil of wakefulness that cannot break — when the bones are sore for lack of sleep, and the skin of the temples twitches with weariness, and yet — there is no sleep — there is no sleep ? Dray wara yow dee ! Bray wara yow dee! The eye of the Sun, the eye of the Moon, and my own unrestful eyes — all three are one — all three are one I There was a city the name whereof I have forgotten, and there the Voice called .11 night. That was ten days ago. It has cheate ' me K-resh. I have come hither f ,m a pl^ce called Hamirpur, and, behold, it is my i';.t- *hut I should meet with thee to my comfort, and the increase of friendship. This is a good omen. By the joy of looking upon thy face the weariness has gone from my feet, and the sorrow of my so long travel is forgotten. Also my heart is peaceful ; for I know that the end is near. It may be that I shall find Daoud Shah in this city going northward, since a Hillman will ever head back to his Hills when the spring warns. And shall he see those hills of our country? Surely I shall overtake him I Surely my vengeance is safe I Surely God hath him in the hollow of His hand against my claiming. There shall no harm befall Daoud Shah till I come; for I would fain kill him quick and whole with the life sticking firm in his body. A pomegranate is sweetest when the cloves break away unwilling from the rind. Let it be in the daytime, that I may see his face, and my delight may be crowned. And when I have accomplished the matter and my Honour is made clean, I shall return thanks unto God. the Hnldfir nf i\ifi Roa^a r.f +li« J ^^. — J t -v-h reak — when 3 skin of the — there is no ' dee ! Dray I eye of the tiree are one DBAY WARA YOW DEE ^^^ trouble ma. ''""^ ' ""^ »» •I'eam shall I re forgotten, hat was ten I Hamirpur, I meet with friendship, oking upon ly feet, and itten. Also the end is I ij in this city r head back shall he see 11 overtake y God hath y claiming, ill I come; ^ith the life is sweetest n the rind. is face, and ber and my lanks unto -,_J T _T-_n ,1 THE JUDGMENT OF DUNGARA •■^ See the pale martyr with his shirt on fire. — Printer's Error. They tell the tale even now among the groves of the Berbulda Hill, and for corroboration point to the roofless and windowless Mission-house. The great God Dungara, the God of Things as They Are, Most Terrible, One-eyed, Bearing tha Red L.aphant Tusk, did it all; and he w*ho refuses oo believe in Dungara will assuredly be smitten by the Madness of Yat — the madness that fell upon the sons and bhe daughters of the Buria Kol when they turned aside from Dungara and put on clothes. So says Athon Daz6, who is High Priest of the shrine and Warden of the Red Elephant Tusk. But if you ask the Assistant Collec- tor and Agent in Charge of the Buria Kol, he will laugh — not because he bears any malice against mis- sions, but because he himself saw the vengeance of Dungara executed upon the spiritual children of the Reverend Justus Krenk, Pastor of the Tubingen Mis- sion, and upon Lotta, his virtuous wife. Yet if ever a man merited good treatment of the Gods it was the Reverend Justus, one time of Heidelberg, who, on the faith of a call, went into the wilderness and took the blonde, blue-eyed Lotta with him. 'We will these Heathen now by idolatrous practices so dark- ened better make,' said Justus in the early days of his career. 'Yes,' he added with conviction, 'they shall 226 RA ''s Error. ) groves of Dint to the The great Are, Most lant Tusk, 1 Dungara Yat — the ughters of 1 Dungara :^, who is f the Red mt Collec- 1, he will ainst mis- igeance of ren of the tigen Mis- F the Gods eidelberg, ^vilderness im. 'We 5s SO dark- ays of his ;hey shall THE JUDGMENT OP DUNGARA <» good and shall with tho,-.. i, a a" Sood Christianrl?: ;^''?''\*„7»>^ '-™- ^^^ more modest even than that of an Fn vT, " '"P'"'' Justus Krenk kept house fapv^Lir ^"'' '"y-reader, of Malair, beyond the R^Kri^^?*""'" •"<• *« gorge of the blue hZ^Panth : "'t ^""^ "'""« "" *« '»»' Temple of DnnllTiZ^^'' «•">""" stands the the Buria Kol-^r naked / *" """"''y "^ shameless, lazy Buria Kol «"""'-'«"'P™d. timid. est station f o which 6^™™^^ """ "' *"« «-"- .solation that weighs uZ the >,"'"'' '""* y""- drives you by fore! headlo" g tto't"! K^''''^ "'"' *>y. There is no post lit • '^'""'^ »* 'he colour to speak to, tC'a,e?„ " T T "* ^o" °^" food to ke^p you'aSbTt i "t; T" "' '"*«''• and whatever of good oi tea,, ft „ ! P'""*°' 'o «»'.' your life, must come frl^;„",^^:iV:*n *"* " '" may be planted in you ^ ""**" *"<* the grace that ver^trSl'^ tr'*^' "^ r ^-*' *"« oon- the ve«mda. You mitt -T" '' •"' *"°P "P "> and, above all, cW^ ' htd .""''^ '^""' "'"» P""^"*. simplicity of ch Zofthe' ^°" ''"'" ^"l- 'he thesubtletyofth savage yT"'"''' °* "*°' ""O hundred material wante to h«? T^'^*'°" ^^^ » you, as you belie^T 1 """^'^ered, and it is for your Maker, to Ik out^ofV'^"'^' responsibility to grain of sp ritu! it Vfh,. ' flouring crowd any oure of soul 7u ltd tttrbod' *"'""• '' '» *"« all the more im..^ i^lCL^Tj. l^'^:" -" he VWim any and everv.r.«^ *™":r:':'" ""=. ""aimea will II J- 1:1 every creed for the sake of healing, and 228 THE JUDGMENT OP DUNGARA 111 will laugh at you because you are simple enough to believe them. As the day wears and the impetus of the morning dies away, there will come upon you an overwhelming sense of the uselessness of your toil. This must be striven against, and the only spur in your side will be the belief that you are playing against the Devil for the living soul. It is a great, a joyous belief; but he who can hold it unwavering for four and twenty consecu- tive hours, must be blessed with an abundantly strong physique and equable nerve. Ask the gray heads of the Bannockburn Medical Crusade what manner of life their preachers lead; speak to the Racine Gospel Agency, those lean Americans whose boast is that they go where no Englishman dare follow; get a Pastor of the Tubingen Mission to talk of his experiences — if you can. You will be referred to the printed reports, but these contain no mention of the men who have lost youth and health, all that a man may lose except faith, in the wilds; of English maidens who have gone forth and died in the fever-stricken jungle of the Panth Hills, knowing from the first that death was almost a certainty. Few Pastors will tell you of these things any more than they will speak of that young David of St. Bees, who, set apart for the Lord's work, broke down in the utter desolation, and returned half distraught to the Head Mission, crying: * There is no God, but I have walked with the Devil!' The reports are silent here, because heroism, failure, doubt, despair, and self-abnegation on the part of a mere cultured white man are things of no weight as compared to the saving of one half-human soul from a THE JTOOMENT OF „i;^OARA ^ Wati"!* '" '^-''■»^'^'''' «»""« Of the .00.. a!! Jong in the distnoHnd the L'T-,' ,"" ''"'' ""^^ brought him offering of, 'Xr!"™f''l 'oved him and dim moist heart of the foXfa anH ' °"^.'''' *""" *e «ouM eat. r„ return, he 'v;7. *" """'' ^"o <« he Athon Daz«, the H.Vh pSf "" l"''"'"^' »" «°"»"y.' 0"ed as good as anotW ^'2"" ^" '^ «"<» ™« anoe in my power of .1^ , ^"^ y"" ■>" the assist- Koi. ^*» -» the their souls. On ly do^„°t t, ^ "'"'* y°" '" <»o for *d, or I'm afnUdMt ctr "" ^""^ P'^''^''''^" 'And that?'said Lotta ^ !^f *f "'"^ y" "fe.' of t«a. ^""^ ^t"^'?. handing him a cup ' He went up to the Temple of n„„ he was new to the country -and ^^^T - *» >« ™™ Dungara over the head wUh an Ih "Jr ''*"""«""? old Kol tamed out and hamm red Z"" "''= ^» t^e Buria was m the district, and he 1. 1 1!**^'! '"^S^'y- I - »aying= .-Persecuted fo-r ..r^X ^^^^ 230 THE JUDGMENT OP DUNGARA wmg of regiment." The nearest troops were about two hundred miles off, but I guessed what he had been domg. I rode to Panth and talked to old Athon Dazd like a father, telling him that a man of his wisdom ought to have known that the Sahib had sunstroke and was mad. You never saw a people more sorry in your Ufe. Athon Daz^ apologised, sent wood and milk and fowls and all sorts of things; and I gave five rupees to the shnne and told Macnamara that he had been inju- dicious. He said that I had bowed down in the House of Rimmon; but if he had only just gone over the brow of the hill and insulted Palin Deo, the idol of the Suria Kol, he would have been impaled on a charred bamboo long before I could have done anything, and then I should have had to have hanged some of the poor brutes. Be gen- tle with them, Padri—but I don't think you'll do much.' ♦ Not I,' said Justus, * but my Master. We will with the little children begin. Many of them will be sick — that is so. After the children the mothera; and then the men. But I would greatly that you were in inter- nal sympathies with us prefer.' Gallio departed to risk his life in mending the rotten bamboo bridges of his people, in killing a too persistent tiger here or there, in sleeping out in the reeking jungle, or in tracking the Suria Kol raiders who had taken a few heads from their brethren of the Buria clan. He was a knock-kneed, shambling young man, naturally devoid of creed or reverence, with a longing for abso- lute power which his undesirable district gratified. *No one wants my post,' he used to say grimly, »and my Collector only pokes his nose in when he's quite certain that there is no fever. I'm monarch of all I survey, and Athon Dazd is my viceroy.' THE JBDGMEOT OF DWGABA ,„ theory beyond his ow„-h?L^ T"' '*'^"<'«<' *« to the Mission witla iVh" ^^"''^ ^^'ty miles 'addie-bo^. * '"•y '»^'™'° girl-baby on his Ko.f iii: rrSii" r.- ^^'"'' -■■^ >•«• 'The why they shouTdnT^t y^" *° *"• 'O""'* "ee picked it np beyond tt'LTuIdTLri*''' "''^- ^ that the mother has been fnlll ^""^ " "otion woods ever sinee.' "'"""^^ ""« "^o-gh the 'It is the firet of the fnW • o.-j » oaught up the sore^ltl-^f^T'^"^ ^°'*» hushed it craftily; while as T^!* ^ ' *""""» and Matui, who had borne 11^ ^ ''""«" ^ the field, law of her tribe rare^'l iTr;"**""* with the and footsore in the baXTll '' P^**** weary with hung^motheri^"'^",^™^ '"!^^'^ the house AssUtant Collector ZT' wT'ld re" ftfl"' """'P"*^"' black coat eat b«r dam,I>t., T "^^ ™a° '" the white woman, the nCT^.^SLTTJ"'^ " ^-^^ and in her arms was Mate's l!^t 'f'* never seen, raiment. Lotta k^JumZ^^^^^'"^ '"«P»tless Kol, but when mothrca t^ *f^*°"S"« "* *« Bn^a oUow. By the hanc^^sttlTti'drrV" "^^ '» her gown, by the passiorte ™i i^ *° *« l"*™ of «yes, Lotta underato^ l"f^ f ""^ *'"' the longing Matui took her:hra;^l'j:trd'L'''' '» ''«'^- «« a slave, to this wonderful whTt^t.:^.! ^«!T'' «-» tr^l. woula recogn^, her no ■nore.^'MaZZ:^ il 232 THE JUDGMENT OP DUNGABA with her exhaustively, after the German fashion, which includes much blowing of the nose. * First the child, then the mother, and last the man, and to the Gloiy of God all,' said Justus the Hopeful. And the man came, with a bow and arrows, very angry indeed, for there was no one to cook for him. But the tale of the Mission is a long one, and I have no space to show how Justus, forgetful of his injudi- cious predecessor, grievously smote Moto, the husband of Matui, for his brutality; how Moto was startled, but being released from the fear of instant death, took heart and became the faithful ally and first convert of Justus ; how the little gathering grew, to the huge dis- gust of Athon Daz^ ; how the Priest of the God of Things as They Are argued subtilely with the Priest of the God of Things as They Should Be, and was worsted; how the dues of the Temple of Dungara fell away in fowls and fish and honeycomb; how Lotta lightened the Curse of Eve among the women, and how Justus did his best to introduce the Curse of Adam; how the Buria Kol rebelled at this, saying that their God was an idle God, and how Justus partially over- came their scruples agauist work, and taught them that the black earth was rich in other produce than pig-nuts only. ♦ All these things belong to the history of many months, and throughout those months the white-haired Athon Dazd meditated revenge for the tribal neglect of Dungara. With savage cunning he feigned friendship towards Justus, even hinting at his own conversion; but to the congregation of Dungara he said darkly: *They of the Padri's flock have put on clothes and worship a busy God. Therefore Dungara will afiSict 1, which be man, lopeful, y angry i I have \ injudi- busband led, but bh, took ivert of uge dis- God of 3 Priest bnd was p^ra fell V Lotta md how Adam; at their ly over- em that pig-nuts I many e-haired gleet of endship rersion ; darkly : bies and L afflict THE JUDGMENT OP DUNGARA 233 them grievously till they throw themselves, howling, into the waters of the Berbulda.' At night the Red Elephant Tusk boomed and groaned among the hills, and the faithful waked and said: *The God of Things M They Are matures revenge against the backsliders. Be merciful, Dungara, to us Thy children, and give us all their crops I ' Late in the cold weather, the Collector and his wife came into the Buria Kol countiy. *Go and look at Krenk s Mission,' said Gallio. * He is doing good work in his ow- way, and I think he'd be pleased if you opene.t i^B bamboo chapel that he has managed to run up. ..t any rate you'll see a civilised Buria Kol ' Great was the stir in the Mission. * Now he and the gracious lady will that we have done good work with their own eyes see, and -yes — we wiU him our con- verts in all their new clothes by their own hands con- ' structed exhibit. It wUl a great day be -for the Lord always,' said Justus , and Lotta said ' Amen.' Justus had, in his quiet way, felt jealous of the Basel Weaving Mission, his own converts being unhandv; but Athon Dazd had latterly induced some of them to hackle the glossy silky fibres of a plant that grew plen- teously on the Panth Hills. It yielded a cloth white aaid smooth almost as the tappa of the South Seas, and that day the converts ware to wear for the first time clothes made therefrom. Justus was proud of his work. Ihey shall in white clothes clothed to meet the Col- lector and his well-bom lady come down, singing « I^ow thank w. all our Qodr Then he will the Chapel open, and— yes — even Gallio to believe will begin. Stand so, my children, two bv twn. svnA t«**" --u- j- ^^ thus themselves bescratch ? It is not seemly to wriggle, t I 234 THE JUDGMENT OP DUNGARA I Nala, D / child. The Collector will be here and be painod.' The Collector, his wife, and Gallio climbed the hill to the Mission-station. The converts were drawn up in two lines, a shining band nearly forty strong. ' Hah ! ' said the Collector, whose acquisitive bent of mind led him to believe that he had fostered the institution from the first. ' Advancing, I see, by leaps and bounds.' Never was truer word spoken I The Mission was advancing exactly as he had said — at firat by little hops and shuflSes of shamefaced uneasiness, but soon by the leaps of flynatung horses and the bounds of mad- dened kangaroos. From the hill of Panth the Red Elephant Tusk delivered a dry and anguished blare. The ranks of the converts wavered, broke and scattered with yells and shrieks of pain, while Justus and Lotta stood horror-stricken. ' It is the Judgment of Dungara I ' shouted a voice. * I burn I I burn I To the river or we die I ' The mob wheeled and headed for the rocks that over- hung the Berbulda, writhing, stamping, twisting and shedding its garments as it ran, pursued by the ^.hunder of the trumpet of Dungara. Justus and Lotta fled to the Collector almost in tears. *I cannot understand! Yesterday,' panted Justus, *they had the Ten Commandments. — What is this? Praise the Lord all good spirits by land and by sea. Nala I Oh, shame I ' With a bound and a scream there alighted on the rocks above their heads, Nala, once the pride of the Mission, a maiden of fourteen summers, good, docile, and virtuous — now naked as the dawn and spitting like a wiiU'cat. ij/ ( re and be d the hill awn up in . 'Hah!' mind led ition from luds.' ssion was > by little it soon by 3 of mad- the Red led blare. scattered ^nd Lotta I a voice. bhat over- iting and I ^jhunder >ta fled to L Justus, is this? I by sea. i on the B of the I, docile, ting like THE JUDGMENT OP DUNGARA 235 ' Was it for this I ' she raved, hurling her petticoat at Justus; 'was it for this I left my people and Dungara -for the fires of your Bad Place? Blind ape, little earthworm, dried fish that you are, you said that I should never burn ! O Dungara, I burn now I I burn now! Have mercy, God of Things as They She turned and flung herself into the Berbulda, and the trumpet of Dungara bellowed jubilantly. The last of the converts of the Tubingen Mission had put a quarter of a mile of rapid river between herself and her teachers. A ' J®^*®^^*^'' gulped Justus, 'she taught in the school A, B, C, D. — Oh ! It is the work of Satan ! ' But Gallio was curiously regarding the maiden's petticoat where it had fallen at his feet. He felt its texture, drew back his shirtsleeve beyond the deep tan of his wrist and pressed a fold of the cloth against the flesh. A blotch of angry red rose on the white skm. ' Ah! ' said Gallio calmly, ' I thought so ' 'What is it? 'said Justus. 'I should call it the Shirt of Nessus, but — Where did you get the fibre of this cloth from ? ' 'Athon Daz6,' said Justus. 'He showed the boys how it should manufactured be.' ♦ The old fox ! Do you know that he has given you the Nilgiri Nettle— scorpion— Girardenia heterophylla — to work up? No wonder they squirmed! Why, it stings even when they make bridge-ropes of it, unless It's soaked for six weeks. The cunning brute ! It would f,ak« aHnnf \\n^f Q»% 1^-^— 4-- 1 -t , , . ,,..^,.i„ xitsxi an noui tu uum inrough theii* thick hides, and then 1 ' 236 THE JUDGMENT OP DUNOARA Gallic burst intp laughter, but Lotta was seeping in the arms of the Collector's wife, and Justus had cov- ered his face with his hands. * (Hrardenia heterophylla I ' repeated GaUio. ' Krenk, why didn't you tell me? I could have saved you this. Woven fire ! Anybody but a naked Kol would have known it, and, if I'm a judge of their ways, you'll never get them back.' He looked across the river to where the converts were still wallowing and wailing in the shallows, and the laughter died out of his eyes, for he saw that the Tubingen Mission to the Buria Kol was dead. Never again, though they hung mournfully round the deserted school for three months, couid Lr tta or Justus coax back even the most promising of their flock. Nvi ! The end of conversion was the fire of the Bad Place -- fire that ran through the limbs and gnawed into the bones. Who dare a second time tempt the anger of Dungara? Let the little man and his wife go else- where. The Buria Kol would have none of them. An unofficial message to Athon Daz^ that if a hair of their heads were touched, Athon Daz^ and the priests of Dungara would be hanged by Galiio at the tem- ple shrine, protected Justus and Lotta from the stumpy poisoned arrows of the Buria Kol, but neither fish nor fowl, honeycomb, salt nor young pig were brought to their doors any more. And, alas I man cannot live by grace alone if meat be wanting. *Let us go, mine wife,' said Justus; * there is no good here, and the Lord has willed that some other man shaU the work take — in good time — in His own good time. We will go away, and I will — yes — some botanv bestndv.' eepmg in had cov- *Krenk, you this, uld have I'lI never THE JUDGMENT OF DUNOABA 237 the" "^esr iiTt":: T"'* '"^ ^"'^ ^o' •^-h. since faUan backlt t^lt^^ ""' '°'°'" ""^^ '»"» converts ows, and that the )und the r Justus ik. No I Place - - into the mger of go else- m. An hair of I priests he tem- stumpy fish nor ught to live by s is no e other [is own — some AT HOWLI THANA Hifl own ahoe, his own head, — Native Proverb. As a messenger, if the heart of the Presence be lOved to so great favour. And on six rupees. Yes, Sahib, for I have three little little children whose stomachs are alwayb empty, ai.d corn is now but forty pounds to the rupee. I will make so clever a messen- ger that you shall all day long be pleased with me, and, at the end of the year, bestow a turban. I know all the roads of the Station and many other things. Aha, Sahib I I am clever. Give me service. I was afore- time in the Police. A bad character? Now without doubt an enemy has told this tale. Never was I a scamp. I am a man o^ clean heart, and all my words are true. They knew this when I was in the Police. They said : ' Axzal Khau is a true speaker in whose words men may trust.' I am a Delhi Pathan, Sahib — all Delhi Pathans are good men. You have seen Delhi ? Yes, it is true that there be many scamps among the Delhi Pathans. How wise is the Sahib ! Nothing io hid from his eyes, and he will make me his messenger, and I will take all his notes secretly and without osten- tation. Nay, Sahib, God is my witness that I meant no evil. I have long desired to serve under a true Sahib — a virtuous Sahib. Many young Sahibs are as devils unchained. With th 288 1 •!_ vSv oaniuS 1 wOuici ta.^0 no . U x-1- )S are as take no AT HOWII THAKA 239 service-not though all the stomachs of mv Htfl, K-, dren were crying for bread ^ ""^ '='"'■ tar^ATe^inirto^th^T?''"' ' ^"' ^P-'' »- Havildar, and mZI Ball 7^ ^'"" ^''''«'>' *h« Bhim Singh and Su™i M r"'"'/,''*^^"* ^'"» ""d for a spact and sf S "1^X1^" '^ ^ '"« ^•''" ^o;f:^i^:r^^^^^^^^^^^ all brave men -Rustums. WherefLp 1 "^^'^ no further touble It r "it T'"^ *'''^' ^« ™^de can a man dot! hX" ""l^theThT . '''''* stronff—ishe P..ar. ,• "^ . ^ Sahib who is so an f ir-;:^rsrtKe :^;r Tiiat was the work of ih^. Wa -i^ . °^ P®^^^- w.^ r c u-i. , . ^^® Havildar who was faf w« f Ho I Sahib, he is now getting thin in thl i ' carpets. The Havildfr saM : ^Gi^e us no ' '^.'^ *''' we will give you no trouble. AtT Ld of t^ ^^^ mg send us a man to lead before tt / ""'^P- infirm mind ae-ain^f- wt! I J""^^^' ^ ^^^ of break down S l-H trumped-up case will foil XI, , -^^"^ we shall save our honour ' T« ^i.- talk the dacoits agreed, and we had noTouble 't ..'' Tbana, and could eat melons in peace sLw ^^ charpoys all dav loner q ^ ^ ' *^^^ ^P°^ our melons of HowH. ^* """"' "' '"^^^"^^^^ ^^^ the Now there was an assistant commissioner « ^f, * Sahib, m that district, called Yunkum ^17 .^''* He was hard ^hard e^n asis rhT'T/^t _.^^^^ ^ouot, Will giye me the shadow TAY '^'0^^ 240 AT HOWLI THANA Many eyes had Yunkum Sahib, and moved quickly through his district. Men called him The Tiger of Gokral-Seotarun, because he would arrive unannounced and make his kill, and, before sunset, would be giving trouble to the Tehsildars tliirty miles away. No one krew the comings or the goings of Yunkum Sahib. He had no camp, and when his horse was weary he rode upon a devil-carriage. I do not know its name, but the Sahib sat in the midst of three silver wheels that made no creaking, and drave them with his legs, prancing like a bean-fed horse — thus. A shadow of a hawk upon the fields was not more without noise than the devil-carriage of Yunkum Sahib. It was here: it was there: it was gone: and the rapport was made, and there was trouble. Ask the Tehsildar of Rohestri how the hen-stealing came to be known. Sahib. It fell upon a night that we of the Thana slept according to custom upon our charpoys, having eaten the evening meal and drunk tobacco. When we awoke in the mornmg, behold, of our six rifles not one re- mained I Also, the big Police-book that was in the Havildar's charge was gone. Seeing these things, we were very much afraU, thinking on our parts that the dacoits, regardless of honour, had^ come by night, and put us to shame. Then said Ram Baksh, the Havildar: * Be silent I The business is an evil business, but it °^y yet go well. Let us make the case complete. Bring a kid and my tulwar. See you not now, O fools? A kick for a horse, but a word is enough for a man.' We of the Thana, perceiving quickly what was in the mind of the Havildar, and greatly fearing that the service would be lost, made haste to take the kid into the inner room, and attended to the words of the Hav- quickly riger of nounced •e giving No one a Sahib. reary he ts name, : wheels bis legs, low of a lise than here: it .s made, Rohestri la slept ig eaten B awoke one re- 1 in the ngs, we that the fht, and ivildar: , but it •mplete. ) fools? lan.' was in hat the id into le Hav- AT HOWLI THANA ^41 wf I;kinrhr'' ^T''' ''"^''' «^^^ *^« Havildar, and cus^o n ?Th ' ''^'^'"^ "^*^^ ^^^ according o 'and oi u. ""'"" ' ^'^^* ^^*^*'' «^id the HavUdar window z::czrT ^tr- ^^'^ ^- ^^^ and, O .en, ^, 1^'^y^^Z^ ^ '''' '^ in the b;'": ^he ti r aS' I f ^'^^^^ ^^^^« and the ffoat was «!«,•« „ a " . *^" ^^ tue Ihana, forearm in tho fnf a«^ ^i iigntiy on the on the ba^k h eh" d t'^ T uV^^' ^°'* ^ *'"''' till the blood car^e ; and S Bui '' "'*' "" "* ™ the others, took out u^uch hS O 'sah°lb nf *''" earth. oreaking and blood and trampled ho^^'tX'sw's^S' ' "'' ^''^ """^'J*'' 't° the dacoity Do you aUo o ^f ,T7 *'^ ''^'^^ "* '^^ take heed that^youte ltd f""'™ "'^™' ^°<1 your lu.con.„/»rbrd tmt 'ZVt ^1^ ^ - »tay and .„d a straight reporVto-'Ii^Di;; 342 AT HOWLI THANA Sahib, and we will :iatch certain that ye know of, villa- gers, 80 that all may be ready against the Dipty Sahib's arrival.' Thus Maula Baksh rode and I ran hanging on the stirrup, and together we came in an evil plight before The Tiger of Gokral-Seetarun in the Rohestri tehsil. Our tale was long and correct. Sahib, for wo gave even the names of the dacoits and the issue of the fight and besought him to come. But The Tiger made no sign, and only smiled after the manner of Sahibs when they have a wickedness in their hearts. ' Swear yo to the rapport ? ' said he, and wo said : ' Thy servants swear. The blood of the fight is but newly dry upon us. Judge thou if it be the blood of the servants of the Presence, or not.' And he said : » I see. Ye have done well.' But he did not call for his horse or his devil-carriage, and scour the land as was his custom. He said : ' Rest now and eat bread, for ye be wearied men. I will wait the coming of the Dipty Sahib.' Now it is the order that the Havildar of the Thana should send a straight report of all dacoities to the Dipty Sahib. At noon came he, a fat man and an old, and overbearing withal, but we of the Thana had no fear of his anger ; dreading more the silences of The Tiger of Gokral-Seetarun. With him came Ram Baksh, the Havildar, and the others, guarding ten men of the village of Howli — all men evil affected towards the Police of the Sirkar. As prisoners they came, the irons upon their hands, crying for mercy — Imam Baksh, the farmer, who had denied his wife to the Havildar, and others, ill-conditioned rascals against whom we of the Thana bore spite. It was well done, and the Havildar was proud. But the Dipty Sahib of, villa- j Sahib's X on the it before •i tehsil. ive even ght and no sign, len they to the 3 swear, pon us. \ of the iTe have e or his custom, wearied Lb.' ) Thana to the L an old, had no of The le Ram ben men towards ime, the — Imam to the against U done, Y Sahib ■AT HOWLI THANA «n< e«oU«d the HaviCv.:, f^^htf ^"^"^ nis long chair. • Have fh„ „"*""" ^«^'^ % stiU in S"'"". 'Aye. and can ' edtrrM "'" ^""'""» D'ptySttI,ib. 'Theui! ! •*" «v,ldoer»,' said the Take horse -ride ;, ' ,'7, ""^-J '" ^^r charge 'Truly there be mo." !^, *''' T'" °' ""^ SirkaH S«Wb,. but there r^o air "''""'''' «''''' bunkum with me.' '"<>^-'^ of a horse. Come all men I saw the mark nf » .» • Baksh. Does the Presence^"" ^V^^P'*" "* I""" Cold Draw? I sat 1 "' ""T *''« '"rture of the «okral-Seetarun,X :';„ 1^""'' "^ ^he Tiger 'tf stood back ready for whit Tt , f "P™ '»• ""'l I Sahib, that I did thMhfn "t ^'*"- ^"^ '' *'■«. fhe door of his bath-room and .""^ ^^^"^ ""'"^''^O lay the six rifles and tZ bL P„l f ' ™'^- "»^i""» of Howli I He had come bS n°t":^} "^ "•« Thana that is noiseless as a ghoul * ^ '" *' <'«"l.oarriage asleep, had taken awaytoth'thf """"^ "'"""S "^ Twice had he come tTthe Th ^™, '""^ '''^ '«'°ki three rifles. The liver of he »!"•.. "^ ''"'' "»« water, and he fell scrihw; "avildar was turned to of Vunkum SahT . e W- /"f « •»-' about the booL And I? Sahih T ^^ *™ "»"y-' ' -anwithlitfl f bill:: "Th^'n^t'"'"'"'' » yo™? the compound. I ran to'), ^''^ "avildar's mare was in of the ^rkar was Chindtra'd"l V ''^ "^^'^ ^^^ to go. Till she drooned -.Ta'a^ } ""' °°t whither and by the blessi^^f q*"/ *''* ^ ""J" the red mare ,• the side of all justlen J^l "."^ r*"""" ^oubt on -"V. wie resfc are now in jail. "'~ ""' ""^ wavildar » !jir 244 AT HOWLI THANA I am a scamp? It is as the Presence pleases. God will make the Presence a Lord, and give him a rich Memmhih as fair as a Peri to wife, and many strong sons, if he makes me his orderly. The Mercy of Heaven be upon the Sahib I Yes, I will only go to the bazar and bring my children to these so-palace-like quar- ters, and then — the Presence is my Father and mv Mother, and I, Afzal Khan, am his slave. Ohe, Sirdar-ji! I also am of the household of the Sahib. M \ 1 81 P 368. God im a rich ly strong >f Heaven the bazar ke quar- and my ■d of the GEMINI lie. -t^J^S^ °^ ^^ W^ite Man.gr.^.r the power of a Jrat^^rbat/tyr^^ ^^^^^^ of the Poor. sticks^heaVsteVr laTa"'"' "^ ^^*- -*^ no justice in Courte P°'' °^*°' ^^^ *here is There were two of ns ««/? birth, but I swear to yoHutT T' ""^ "^ <>°« astrologer said so.Cd Tu 1^''' ■^"" "'«"«»• The the ho^scope of Durgl D^,'^'^" "" "^ horoscope- But we were alike — I .„,] ™„ ., .. beast without honour _ so aUkef), f'' ^'"' » " gether or apart, which wmDnrl n ''T ^'"^' *°- m of Pali L Marwar a^^an J.^ f"'' ^ """ " ^aha- talk. When we JI« ^en 1 . T ""'°- ^hisistrue Pali, and went toX p2l 'f °»^«»a»'s house in ■nud-heads and sons ^^^'''1^7 f «>« P-P'e are Isser Jang -I and mTh .?^^ *""'' '"""P together in where the^ Gove'or's ^^^'t '' ~ ™" ""« ""^ ^«U Dass, who is without tr^r^.r""' '"'*°^- «"* Ka" we were divided He C' .? t 1""™' ^'* ""' ■»<» bis Mark, and beoa™ TLn^at^'"^ '," P"**' """ the long street of Wjanrne';;;tr°.T '"''"- ^ road thateoes to M„„^ .3 °f ' ™ gateway of the we pulled-each otier'stoS" "a^^ m l"^ ^*"" ««" m "• * **'^i"n of Pali, 246 GEMINI Now no man, not even the little children, could at one glance see which was Ram Dass and which was DurgaDass But all the people of Isser Jang-may they die without sons I -said that we we.^ thieves They used much bad talk, bat I took money on thS bedsteads and the.r cooking-pota and the standing oZ the gate of the Montgomery road. They were fools, rem Zfrr^' *" ""' *« *<•«-"» 'f '^ Marwari tremPali. I lent mopey to them all. A little, very httie only-here a pice and there a pice. God is Z wjtue^ that I am a poor man I The money is aU with Ram Dass- may his sons turn Christian, and his daughter be a burning fire and a shame in the hou^ fnd bfr .? *° f "^™*'»°' May she die unwed, and be the mother of a multitude of bastards I Let the hght go out m the house of Ram Dass, my brether. TLs'tZ f^'ly t'™"--* offerings and charms. Thus the trouble began. We divided the town of aTndrS r° If - 1 ""-i "y brother. There was a andholder beyond the gates, living but one short mile out, on the road that leads to Montgomeiy, and h« name was Muhammad Shah, son of aNawab He was a great devil and drank wine. So long as there were women m his house, and wine and money for th! Ram Di^s lent him the money, a lakh or half a lakh- *ri i^l'"'''""™'* ™ '""g ^ *« "oney was lent, the landholder cared not what he signed. 1 ^\f"^^^f ^'""' "^""g '^"'^ "y portion, aud the landholder and the out-town was the n„rti„„ „f p!^ GEMINI 2i7 *d what I could. butRam T? ^T ^^'^'"'i wealth, i out the door of the j^.^ V^- '"' ""'y *» ^"i* with- '«" ^temps ">a«go.tree by mang"trfe J t " '^ "^ ^'''*' """ ■nhisownmen-debtor^f ^ " ^^ "'«"•• P"Wins -to cultivate the croo^ "'i^^'"'^'"'^" °* ^»»«' ^4 '^d. for he had the p^j, !nd thr^' "^ ""^^ »h? emment was across the^sto^^ m T" "^ "'^ ®»^- craps for him on aU sides of Th!V l" "'° ^^'^ the andholder. It ,,3 weU done . 17 t '°T °' *" holder saw these things he Z. t ^^'^ **« ^an* Bam Dass aft«r the mSne, Tth^Z T^ "^ °™«1 And thus the landholT Muharamadans. laughed and claim Td tl™ /u ""'''' '^"' «"- D*''' the bonds. This::^rthem1nnTH"^'"^""P°° my horse and went out to 1??? f '*«^°- ^ took lac-bangles upon the "lid Zt , f' ""*° '^'•° """^^^ hcoanse he owed me a Tbt -^I. '"* *" Montgomery, upon his ho»e, my broker fif n"^ '" '«"" "^ 4 «aw me. he tu^ed STu^ 1 r. ''''' ^"""^ '«' here was hatred between Z Ind t'^ "T' '«°''""'' ioan>e to the oran^.h,,...?;..^."''.^ ^^"t forward tffl - hats were flyi^.«-rS.e-—-M^^^^^^ 248 GEMINI h . t' I m do™ upon the^land. Here met me four men-swash, bucklers and MuWadans-^th their faces bound up laymg hold of my horse's bridle and crying out: ZeT't" T' ^r"' M^l'^y beat with their staves -he..vy staves bound about with wire at the end, suoh weapons as those swine of Punjabis use- td^ having cned for mercy, I fell down senseless. But these shameless ones still beat me, saying: 'O Ram Dass, th« .3 your interest- weU weighed and counted .nto your hand Ram Dass.' I cried aloud that I was not Ram Dass but Durga Dass, his brother, yet they only beat me the more, and when I could make no ?r/""'T,*i'^.'f^' ""'■ ^"' I ^^ their faces. There was Elah. Baksh who runs by the side of the landholder s white horse, and Nur ^ li the keeper of the door and Wajib AU the very strong cook, a^ Abdul La^f the messenger -aU of the household of the land- nolder. These things I can swear on the Cow's Tail sw^r •'f'/"'-^' ^'^■~^' bas been already m^' ""^ ^ *■» a poor man whose honour is lost. TtZn *""' ^ »°°' away laughing, my brother Ram Dass came out of the crops and moulded over me as one dead. But I opened my eyes, and prayed him to get me water. When I had drunk, he carried me on ais back, and by byways brought me into the town of laser Jang. My heart was turned to Ram Dass, my brother, m that hour, because of Us kindness fid I lost my enmity. U.^1^»T^t '! * "^•" ™ '' ^ ^''^' »"d a i:*.'- is a liar tiU the Judgment of the Gods takes hoi ' of his heel. I was wrong in that I trusted my brother -the son of my mother. When we had come to his house and I w»» « i:»ifl GEMINI 249 ^Stored r told him my tale, and he said: 'Without Mw Courts are open, and there is the Justice of Z wherth^' f ' ""^ *" *"« ^''^ Courts iToi go when this sickness is overpast.' ^ tl.»™T,7^? "' *'^" ''^^ '«*' P»« in the old yeara about ZT:- 7 f *^1"'^"l between us twam came vnth the beatmg,and much bruised even to the pouring of blood from th. mouth. When I had two days" S ness the fever cam. upon me ; and I set aside the f^ver to tte account written in my mind agamst the Zl » J""' T""^"*''? "* ^^^ •^^''S »"•« »« the sons of Belial ^stimontr ^t*7 ^" ''^ ^'^ witnesses bea^'g testimony unshakingly whatever the pleaders mavsav shluld jr "; ^'^""^ "^ "^^ ^ -■ -d eaoh^ S 7r A vf T x*"''*""'^' °°* ^"'y against Nur Ali, Waiib Ah Abdul Latif and Elahi Baksh, but ...-.insme land holder, saying that he upon his wiite hoChad clued" his men to beat me; and, further, that they had robW me of two hundred rupees. For the latter testiW I would remit a little of the debt of i„> man whHoW money into my hands, and had sfiAn fJ^- «^uu„:_ r_ atar, but, being afraid, had run '■■^■tjuxsi.y iium aw&y. This plan I tol4 ?fVi 260 6EMIXI to my brothei- Ram Dass ; and he said that iho arran e- ment was good, and bade me take comfort and make swift work to be abroad again. My heart was opened to my brother in my sUkness, a x i I told him the names of those whom I would call as witnesses -- all merj in my debt, but of that the Magim^te Sabib ^^ould have no knowledge, nor the landholder, T1-. fever stj.yed ^ith -e, and after the fever, I was taken whh colic, and grip, ogv veij trjoble. In that day I thought that my end ms ai, band, but I know now that she who gave ma .ha meiicines, the sister of ray father — a widow vnUi a widow's heart — had broiu/ht about my second sickness. Ram Dass, my brother, ..aid that my house was shut and locked, and brought me the big door-key and my books, together with all the moneys that were in my house — even the money that was buned under the floor; for I was in great fear lest thieves should break in and dig. I speak true talk; there was but very little money in my house. Perhaps ten rupees — perhaps twenty. How can I tell? God is my witness that I am a poor man. One night, when I had told Ram Dass all that was in my heart of the lawsuit that I would bring against the landholder, and Ram Dass had said that he had made the arrangements with the witnesses, giving me their names written, I was taken with a new great sickness and they put me on the bed. When I was -^ Uttle re- covered— I cannot tell how many days af vards— I made enquiry for Ram Dass, and the sister .. ^iy father said that he I >■' gone to Montgomt. :.:... ,i a lawsuit. I took medicit nd slept very heavily -liriout waking. When my eyes were opened, there was a ■ oat stillness m the house pf Ram Dass, and none aiiSM^ - etl when I id make opened e names men in Id have ' sthyed >h colic, fht that he who iher — a •out my hat my the big moneys lat was lar lest e talk; !*erhaps ? God was in ast the I made e their ckness, btle re- 'ds—I father iwsuit. 'aking. illness rhen I GEMINI 261 called --not even the sister of my father. This filled me with fear, for I knew not what had happened. Taking a stick in my hand, I went out slowly, till I came to the great square by the well, and my heait was hot m me against the landholder because of the pain of every step I took. ^ I called for Jowar Singh, the carpenter, whose name was fii.t upon the list of those who should bear evidence against the landholder, saying: 'Are all^tlungs ready, and do you know what should be Jowar Singh answered: » What is this, and whence do you come, Durga Dass ? ' I said: 'From my bed, where I have so long lain sick because of the landholder. Where is Ram Dass, Z tt .'' '/ c '' ^"^^ "^^^^ *^« arrangemen Then Jowar Singh said: 'What has this to do with A i J , ^^""^ ^''''^ ^^*°^ss and I have been paid, and the landholder has, by the order of the Court paid both the five hundred rupees that he robbed from Ram Dass and yet other five hundred because of the great injury he did to your brother.' The well and the jujube-tree above it and the square of Isser Jang became dark in my eyes, but I leaned on my stick and said: 'Nay! This is child's talk and ^dholder, and I am come to make ready the case. Where is my brother Ram Dass?' But Jowar Singh shook his head, and a woman cried: *Whathftis horo9 wru^4. i i , «„vi> 7 ~" ' """"" 4"«"oi haa tiie landholder with you, bmma f It is only a shameless one and one m *^ ^""P'" "^ *« Blue-throated Maha- deo, I and I only was beaten _ beaten to the death I Let your talk be straight, O people of Isser Jang, and stnni r\^' "l" ^''™^»^''-' And I tottered where I stood, for the siekness and the pain of the beating were neavy upon me. ^ rt Jlir,,^.'" ^'"^'"' ''''° ^^ ^^ «"P«t spread under the jujube t^e by the well, and writes all letters for the men of the town came up and said : • To-day is the TdT™ the"* t" f " ^"^ '"^«"^' -^ -- 'hi Zfstent Po"''' "^ been judged in the Court, and the Assistant Commissioner Sahib has given it for your bother Ram Dass, allowing the robteiy, to which,^ I bore witness, and all things else as the witnesses saW rhere were many witnesses, and twice Ram Dass became Stunt Sahib- the baia Stunt Sahib-gare him a chair ^forc all the pleaders. Why do you howl, DurgL D^? These things fell as I have said, wi it nft And Jowar Singh said: 'That is truth. I was there, and there was a red cushion in the chair.' fh„ f ^rJ^T" '"'•' '■ ' '^'■"'* '^^'^^ bas come upon the landholder because of this judgment, and fU mghjs anger. Ram Doas and all his house have gon" ^t 1 f^u ''*""'"* "' *'«'' y»" "'»» ^ go- first, the enmity being healed between you, to open a shop ,„ Pali. Indeed, it were well for yo^u tLat yTu "o even now, for the landholder has sworn that if he catfh any one o. your house, he wiU hang him by the heels I '« GEMINI 263 from the well-beam, and, swinging him to and fro, will beat him with staves till the blood runs from his ears. What I have said in respect to the case is true, as these men here can testify - even to the five hundred rupees.' ^ I said : ' Was it five hundred ? ' And Kirpa Ram, the ^a^, said: 'Five hundred; for I bore witness also.' And I groaned, for it had been in my heart to have said two hundred only. Then a new fear came upon me and my bowels turned to water, and, running swiftly to the house of Ram Dass, I sought for my books and my money in the great wooden chest under my bedstead. There remained nothing: not even a cowrie's value. All »>ad been taken by the devil who said he was my brother. 1 went to my own house also and opened the boards of the shutters; but there also was nothing save the rats among the grain-baskets. In that hour my senses left me, and, tearing my clothes, I ran to the weU-place, crv- mg out for the Justice of the English on my brother Kam Dass, and, in my >>iadness, telling all that the books were lost. When men saw that I would have jumped down the well, they believed the truth of my talk; more especially because upon my back and horum were still the marks of the staves of the landholder Jowar Singh the carpenter withstood me, and turn- ing me in his hands -for he is a veiy strong man- showed the scars upon my body, and bowed down with laughter upon the well-curb. He cried aloud so that all hea:d ,nm, from the well-square to the Caravanserai of the . .Igrims : ' Oho ! The jackals have quarrelled, and the gray one has been caught in the trap. In trutn, this man has been DriflvnnfliTr k«„<.„^ ,j^j r- brothc- has taken the money which the Court decreedl _/.^^^'4 264 JEMINI :ii Oh, bunnia (Ui^ shall be told for years against you I The jackpJ:, have quarrelled, and, moreover, the books are burnel O people indebted to Durga Dass — and I know that ye be many — the ^-^\ rre burned I ' Then ail Isser Jang touk up the cry that the books were hmned — Ahif Ahi! that in my folly I had let that escape my mouth— and they laughed throughout the city. They gave me the abuse of the Punjabi, which is a terrible abuse and very hot; pelting me also With sticks and cow-dung till I fell down and cried for mc rcy. Ram Narain, the letter-writer, bade the people cease, for fear that the nfews should get into Montgomery, and the Policemen might come down to enquire. H*. daid, using many bad words : ' This much mercy will I do to 70U, Durgd, Dass, though there was no mercy in your dealings with my sister's son over the matter of the dun heifer. Has any man a pony on w^inh he sets no store, that this fellow may escape ? Tf the landholder hears that one of the twain and God knows whether he beat one t ^»oth, \\xt th man is certainly beaten) be in the city, there will be a murder done, and then will come the Palace, making inquisition into each man's house and eating the sw^et-seller's stutf all dav long.' ^ Kirpa Ram, the jat, said : * I have a pony very sick. But with beating he can I la to walk foi two miles. If he dies, the h.ie-seller 41 we the body.' Then Chumbo, the hide-aeller, said : ' I wiP ay three annas for the body, and will walk by this man's side till such time as the pony dies. If it be more than two miles, I will pay two annas only.' Kirpa Ram, said ; * Be it so.' Me" ^' ViVfU rJl^i- <...!. ^1. is' UUu uliU GEMINI 255 pony, and I asked leave to draw a little water from the well, because I was dried up with fear. Then Ram Narain said: ' Here be four annas. God has brought you very low, Durga Dass, and I would not send you away empty, even though the matter of mv sisters son's dun heifer be an open sore between us. It is a loiig way to your own country. Go, and if it be so willed, live; but, ^ove all, do not take the pony's bridle, for that is mine.' ^ ^ And I went out of laser Jang, amid the laughing of the huge-thighed Jats, and the hide-seller walked by my side waiting for the pony to fall dead. In one mile it died, and being full of fear of the landholder, I ran till 1 could run no more and came to this place. But I swear by the Cow, I sweai- by all things whereon Hindus and Musalmans, a,xd even the Sahibs swear, that I, and not my brother, was beaten by the lar 'holder. But the case is shut and the doors of the La^. Courts are shut, and God knows where the haha Stunt Sahib --the mother's milk is not yet dry upon his hairless lip -is gone. Ahi! Ahi! I have no witnesses, and the scars will heal, and I ar- a noor man But, on my Father's Soul, on the oath of a^ llahajun 1 ?i i^i'' : ^""^ °°* ^^ ^'^*^^^' I ™ beaku by the landholder ! ■^ What can I do ? The Jusfice of the English is as a great nver. Having gone forward, it does not return. Howbeit do you. Sahib, take a T.en and write clearly what I have said, that the Dipty Sahib may see, and reprove the ^tunt Sahib, who is a colt yet unlicked by the mare, so youag i. he. I, and not my brother, was beaten, and he i . gone to the weaf-, — I A^ «ot kr-^ where. ' -- i ^^ ..ot J^nvw 256 GEMINI But, above all things, write -so that Sahibs may read, and his disgrace be accomplished — that Ram Dass, my brother, 8on of Purun Dass, Mahajun of Pali IS a swine and a night-thief, a taker of life, an eater of flesh, a jackal-spawn without beauty, or faith, or clean- linesb, or honour I AT TWENTY-TWO Narrow as the womb, deep as the Pit, and dark as the heart of a man. — - Sonthal Minerva Proverb. *A WEAVER went out to reap but stayed to unravel the corn-stalks. Hal Ha! Hal Is there any sense in a weaver?' Janki Meah glared at Kundoo, but, as Janki Meah was blind, Kundoo was not impressed. He had come to argue with Janki Meah, and, if chance favoured, to make love to the old man's pretty young wife. This was Kundoo's grievance, and he spoke in the name of all the five men who, with Janki Meah, com- posed the gang in Number Seven gallery of Twenty- Two. Janki Meah had been blind for the thirty years during which he had served the Jimahari Collieries with pick and crowbar. All through those thirty years he had regularly, every morning before going down, drawn from the overseer his allowance of lamp-oil — just aa if he had been an eyed miner. What Kundoo's gang resented, as hundreds of gangs had resented before, was Janki Meah's selfishness. He would not add the oil to the common stock of his gang, but would save and sell it. ' I knew these workings before you were born,' Janki Meah used to reply : ' I don't want the light to get my coal out by, and I am not going to help you. The oil if mine, and I intend to keep it.' S 267 258 AT TWENTY-TWO iarv t>4 A strange man in many ways was Janki Meah, the white-haired, hot-tempered, sightless weaver who had turned pitman All day long^except on Sundays and Mondays when he was usually drunk -he worked m the Twenty Two shaft of the Jimahari Colliery as cleverly as a man with all the senses. At evening he went up in the great steam-hauled cage to the pit-bank, beast, nearly as old as Janki Meah. The pony would come to his side, and Janki Meah would clamber on to Its back and be taken at once to the plot of land which be, like the ether miners, received from the Jimahari Company The pony knew that place, and when, after SIX years the Company changed all the allotments to Tnl M t '"'''''' ^''°' ^'^"^""^ proprietary rights, Janki Meah represented, with tears in his eyes, tha were his holding shifted, he would never be able to find his way to the new one. ' My horse only knows that place pleaded Janki Meah, and so he was allowed to keep his land. On the strength of this concession and his accumu- lated oil-saymgs, Janki Meah took a second wife -a giri of the Jolaha main stock of the Meahs, and singu- larly beautiful. Janki Meah could not see her beauty : wherefore he took her on trust, and forbade her to so down the pit. He had not worked for thirty years mthe dark without knowing that the pit was no place for pretty women. He loaded her with ornaments - not brass or pewter, but real silver ones -and she rewarded him by flirting outrageously with Kundoo of JVumber ^even gallery gang. Kundoo was reallv the gang-head, but Janki Meah insisted upon all the work being entered in his own nama ar^A ^u i-u ., , " — "'? '-"^ wiiwoc wiu iu" 1 mat AT TWENTY-TWO 269 he worked with. Custom — stronger even than the Jimahari Company — dictated that Janki, by right of his years, should manage these things, and should, also, work despite his blindness. In Indian mines where they cut into the solid coal with the pick and clear it out from floor to ceiling, he could come to no great harm. At Home, where they undercut the coal and bring it down in crashing avalanches from the roof, he would never have been allowed to set foot in a pit. He was not a popular man, because of his oil-savings ; but all the gangs admitted that Janki knew all the Mads, or workings, that had ever been sunk or worked since the Jimahari Company first started operations on the Taraohunda fields. Pretty little Unda only knew that her old husband was a fool who could be managed. She took no inter- est in the collieries except in so far as they swallowed up Kundoo five days out of the seven, and covered him with coal-dust. Kundoo was a great workman, and did his best not to get drunk, because, when he had saved forty rupees, Unda was to steal everything that she could find in Janki's house and run with Kundoo to a land where there were no mines, and every one kept three fat bullocks and a milch-buffalo. While this scheme ripened it was his custom to cbop in upon Janki and worry him about the oil-savings. Unda sat in a corner and nodded approval. On the night when Kundoo had quoted that objectionable proverb about weavers, Janki grew angry. * Listen, you pig,' said he, ' blind I am, and old I am, but, before ever you were bcrn, I was gray among the coal. Even in tho d^'^^a -nrVior. *-\^r^ t^,, — j... ti 77 ■» -— — — — J.. ,, ,.._.ii t.ii^j JL wcujyj -X vvu icriaof, was unsunk and there were not two thousand men here, 260 AT TWENTY-TWO ■11 ' 3 I was known to have all knowledge of the pita. What *W.s there that I do not know, from the botto?: the shaft to the end of the last drive? Is it the Ba- romba iAad, the oldest, or the Twenty-Two where libu 8 gallery runs up to Number Five ' ' Unda. . No gallery of Twenty-Two will cut into five More he end of the Rains. We have a month's soM coal before us. The Babuji says so.' 'Babuji I Pigjii Dogjil What do these fat slugs from Caleutta know? He draws and draws aS draws and talks and talks and talks, and his maps are all wrong. 1, Janki, know that this is so. When a man has been shut up in the dark for thirty years, God g„es him knowledge. The old gaUery tha T.bus gang made is not six feet from Number Five.' Without doubt God gives the blind knowledge,' said Kundoo, with a look at Unda. ' Let it be as yoi Ttu ' . "^ P""*' ^° ""' ^"'^ "^O'^" lies the gallery of Tibu s gang, but I am not a withered monkey who needs oil to grease his joints with.' Kundoo swung out of the hut laughing, and Unda giggled Janki turned his sightless eyes toward his wife and swore. 'I have land, and I have sold a great deal of lamp-oil,' mused Janki ;' but I was a tool to marry this child.' A week later the Rains set in with a vengeance, and ihen the big mine-pumps were made ready, and tie Manager of the CoUiery ploughed through the wet towards the Tarachunda River swelling between ite soppy banks 'Lord send that this beastly beck doesnt misbehave,' said the Manager nin.jslv .„^ v.. 3. What )ottom of the Ba- 'o where dding to nto Five ih's solid 'at slugs ws and is maps When Y years, fy that r Five.' ;vledge,' as you gallery ey who I Unda ard his sold a was a 36, and banks, id thd e wet en its beck AT TWENTY-TWO 261 went to take counsel with his Assistant about the pumps. But the Tarachunda misbehaved very much indeed. After a fall of three inches of rain in an hour it was obliged to do something. It topped its bank and joined the flood water that was hemmed between two low hills just where the embankment of the Colliery main line crossed. When a large part of a rain-fed river, and a few acres of flood-water, make a dead set for a nine-foot culvert, the culvert may spout its finest, but the water cannot all get out. The Manager pranced upon one leg with excitement, and his lan- guage was improper. He had reason to swear, because he knew that one inch of water on land meant a pressure of one hundred tons to the acre ; and here were about five feet of water forming, behind the railway embankment, over the shallower workings of Twenty-Two. You must un- derstand that, in a coal-mine, the coal nearest the surface is worked first from the central shaft. That is to sa3^, the miners may clear out the stuff to within ten, twenty, or thirty feet of the surface, and, when all is worked out, leave only a skin of earth upheld by some few pillars of coal. In a deep mine where they know that they have any amount of material at hand, men prefer to get all their mineral out at one shaft, rather than make a number of little holes tn tap the comparatively unimportant surface-coal. And the Manager watched the flood. The culvert spouted a nine-foot gush ; but the water still formed, and word was sent to clear the men out of Tw3nty-Two. The cagas eame ud cr-ammprl and crammed again with the men nearest the pit-eye, as M^ m AT TWENTY-TWO they caJl the place where you can see daylight from the bottom the main shaft. All away a/d !way up the long black galleries the flare-Jamps were winW a„d dancing hke so many fireflies, and the men and the cages to come down and fly up again. But the out workings were very far off, and word could not t passed quickly, though the heads of the gangs and stuifibled. The Manager kept one eye on the great troubled pool behind the embankment, and prayed thai the culvert would give way and let the water t^oul n time. With the other eye he watched the ca^s come up and saw the headmen counting the roU of the gangs. With all his heart and souf he swore It the winder who controlled the iron drum that wound up the wire rope on which hung the cages. beMnd the eT '^r ""'^ " ''°*»-d'aw in the water behind the embankment -a sucking whirlpool aU yellow and yeasty. The water had sfuashedZUh the skin of the earth and was pouring into the dd S- low workmgs of Twenty-Two. Deep down below, a rush of black water caught the last gang waiting for the cage, and as they clambered xn, the whirl was about their waists. The cage re^hed the pit-bank, and the Manager called the foil The g7: rh?„^ '"T"''* ''^"^ '""'''' ''^''^ Mogul, and t.ang Rahim, eighteen men, with perhaps ten baiikpt rarif t^r ''" ""'•'»'» theLleC^arrtSs" that ran on the tramways of the main gaUeries. These ganp were in the out-workings, thrl-quarters f a mito away, on the extreme fringe of the mine. Once more the case went dnwn k.,* ,„:ii, -^, , _ " AT TWENTY-TWO 263 men in it, and dropped into a swirling, roaring current that had almost touched the roof of some of the lower side-galleries. One of the wooden balks with which they had propped the old workings shot past on the current, just missing the cage. ' If we don't want our ribs knocked out, we'd better go,' said the Manager. 'We can't even save the Company's props.' The cage drew out of the water with a splash, and a few minutes later, it was officially reported that there were at least ten feet of water in the pit's eye. Now ten feet of water there meant that all other places in the mine were flooded except such galleries as were more than ten feet above the level of the bottom of the shaft. The deep workings would be full, the main galleries would be full, but in the high workings reached by mclines from the main roads, there would be a certain amount of air cut off, so to speak, by the water and squeezed up by it. The little science-primers explain how water behaves when you pour it down test-tubes. The flooding of Twenty- Two was an illustration on a large scale. ********* ' By the Holy Grove, what has happened to the air ! ' It was a Sonthal gangman of Gang Mogul in Number Nine galle^^y, and he was driving a six-foot way through Ihe cc.i. Then there was a rush from the other ga.lor-p,s, and Gang Janki and Gang Rahim stumbled « Meah basket- women. There .s a very bad air here because of the ' P"t "icm out,' said Janki : ' » h v ^„ AT TWENTY-TWO gfi'' rtteVTark ^ZlTT """* '^' """P'»y «" »'"' ^ «I inrover tL T ""^^ ~' l^'^''^ '^'1 ^egan walk- air'fve^JLr ''""''°- '«-<•'«-- die. The feet. ^® ^^^^^ ^ose to their calTsef a'ndT T "" . "^'''^^^ *^^ ^^-P« y- tC I and I — I am always seeing,' said Janki Then he paused, and caUed out- 'Oh von w/l been in fy^^ „„4.x- * ^"' 7^^ who have pwTot..^''M'' "^^^^^^d*^^ Sonthal who had com- piamed of the vileness of the air ' Again,' said Janki. *Bullia"sRoom.' ' Then I have found it,' said Janki ' T},. onl^^had slipped ., .e.o.,. TibutgaJ^X; the ledge." " -""^^^ ^ '"^^ ='""«'»' scrambled up 266 AT TWENTY-TWO mi' *4a ' Who?' cried Janki. , ' I, Sunua Manji.* ♦ Sit you down,' said Janki. ' Who ne\t ? ' One by one the women and the men crawled up the ledge which ran along one side of ' Bullia's Room.' Degraded Muhammadan, pig-eating Musahr and wild Sonthal, Janki ran his hand over them all. 'Now follow after,' said he, 'catching hold of my heel, and the women catching the men's clothes.' He did not ask whether the men had brought their picks with them. A miner, black or white, does not drop his pick. One by one, Janki leading they crept into the old gallery—^ six-foot way with a scant four feet from thill to roof. ' The air is better here,' said Jasoda. They could hear her heart beating in thick, sick bumps. ' Slowly, slowly,' said Janki. ' I am an old man, and I forget many things. This is Tibu's gallery, but where are the four bricks where they used to put their huqa fire on when the Sahibs never saw ? Slowly, slowly, O you people behind.' They heard his hands disturbing the small coal on the floor of the gallery and then a dull sound. • This is one unbaked brick, and this is another and another. Kundoo is a young man — let him come forward. Put a knee upon this brick and strike here. When Tibu's gang were at dinner on the last day before the good coal ended, they heard the men of Five on the other side, and Five worked their gallery two Sundays later — or it may have been one. Strike there, Kundoo, but give me room to go back.' Kundoo, doubting, drove the pick, but the first soft crush of the coal was a call to him. He was fighting AT TWENTT-TWO 267 for his life and for Dnda - pretty little Unda with rings on all her toes -for Unda and the forty rupees. The women sang the Song of the Pick - the terrible, slow! h„T7 "tl^ r* *•■« "'""^'•«'' ohorus that repeate Kundoo smote :n the black dark. When he could do no more Sunua Manji took the pick, and struck for Z hf and h.s w:fe, and his village beyond the blue hUh ana then the women cleared away the coal • ' V*i*'f ' "■*" ^ *''°"S'>''' ^''''i Janki- 'The air IS very bad ; bnt strike, Kundoo, strike hard.' For the fifth time Kundoo took up the pick as the Sonthal crawled back. The song"^ had scared^ doo that echoed down the gallery: 'J>ar Aua.' Par kua! We are through, we are through ! ' The imnris- oned a.r in the mine shot through the open ng Cd the women at the far end of the gallery heari the ;rtor rush though the pilto of ■ BuUia's Room • andToa agamst the ledge. Having fulfilled the law under wmon It worted, it rose no farther. The women screaked and pressed forward. ' The water ^ comT- we shall be killed ! Let us go.' a«come — Kundoo crawled through the gap and found himself m a propped gallery by the simple process of hitting his head against a beam. ''"ung •Th?/-^ ■'"""^tho pits or do I not?' chuckled Janki. This IS the Number Five ; go you out slowly, giv: mg me your names. Ho! Rahim, count your gaLl !!7J1T ^° ^»-"''' -^l" -'C'-g ""Old o'f tha^Zer They formed a line in thr darkness and Janki led ^^K^' 268 AT TWENTT-TWO IS ' r:!' 1 1^ :i|i them— for a pit-man in a stran^ro pit is only one degree less liable to err than an ordinary mortal underground for the first time. At last thev saw a flare-lamp, and Gangs Janki, Mogul, and Rahim of Twenty-Two stumbled dazed into the glaio of the draught-furnace at the bottom of Five ; Janki fe' ling his way and the rest behind. 'Water has come into Twenty-Two. God knows where a e the others. I have brought these men from Tibu's gallery in our nitting , making connection through the north side of the gallery. Take us to the cage,' said Janki Meah. ♦♦«*«*♦♦* At tho pH-bank of Twenty-Two, some thousand people cfaraoured and wept and shouted. One hun- dred meti - one thousand men — had been drowned in the cuttiiig., They would all go to their homes to- morrow. Where were their men? Little Unda, her cloth drenched with the rain, stood at the pit-mouth calling down the shaft for Kundoo. They had swung the cages clear of the mouth, and her only ai swer was the murmur of the flood in the pit's eye two hundred and sixty feet below. * Look after that woman I She'll chuck herself down the shaft in a minute,' shouted the Manager. But he need not have troubled ; Unda was afraid of Death. She wanted Kundoo. The Assistant was watching the flood and seeing how far he could wade into it. There was a lull in the water, and the whirlpool had slackened. The mine was full, and the people at the pit-bank howled. 'My faith, we shall be lucky if we have five hundred hands on the place to-morrow I ' said ^he Manager. AT TWENTY-TWO 289 There s some chance yet of running a temporary dam across that water. Shove in anything - tubs and bul- lock-carts if you haven't enough bricks. Make them work now if they never worke<^ before. Hi I vou gangers, make them work.' Little by little the crowd ^^ broken into detach- ments, and pushed towards the water with promises of overtime The dam-making began, and when it was fan ly under way, the Manager thought that the hour ha< 3ome for the pumps. There was no fresh inrush into the mine. The tail, ro I, iron-clamped pump-beam rose and fell and the pumps snored and guttered and shrieked as the first water poured out of the pipe ' We must run her all to-night,' said the Manager wearily, 'but there's no hope for the poor devils down below. Look here, Gur Sahai, if you are proud of your engines, show me what they ean do now.' Gur Saliai grinned and nodded, with his right hand upon the lever and an oil-can in his left. He could do no more than he was doing, but he could keep that up till the dawn. Were the Company's pumps to be beaten by the vagaries of that troublesome Tarachunda River ? Never, never I And the pumps sobbed and panted : Never never !» The Manager sat in the shelter of the pit-bank roofing, trying to dry himself by the pump-boiler fire, and, in the dreary dusk, he saw the crowds on the dam scatter and fly. 'That's the end,' he groaned. "Twill take us six weeks to persuade 'em that we haven't tried to drown GeordSr'' '''' ^'''^''''* ^^' ^''" ^ ^'''^*' "^*^^^^1 But the flight had no panu in it. Men had run over trom Jive with astounding news, and the foremen could 1 •■-.■•/? IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) i// ^ 1.0 1.1 £ Hi £ ISi 12.0 125 111 1.4 IJ£ 1.6 6" FhotQgr^DiiJc ^Sciences Corporation 23 WfST MAIN STRIIT WIISnt,N.Y. 14SM (716)172-4303 270 AT TWENIT-TWO not hold their gangs together. Presently, surrounded by a clamorous crew, Gangs Rahim, Mogul, and Janki, and ten basket- women, walked up to report themselves, and pretty little Unda stole away to Janki's hut to pre- pare his evening meal. ' Alone I found the way,' explained Janki Meah, ' and now will the Company give me pension ? • The simple pit-folk shouted and leaped and went back to the dam, reassured in their old belief that, whatever happened, so great was the power of the Company whose salt they ate, none of them could be killed. But Gur Sahai only bared his white teeth and kept his hand upon the lever and proved his pumps to the uttermost. i i *I say,* said the Assistant to the Manager, a week later, *do you recollect Germinal f ^ * Yes. 'Queer thing. I thought of it in the cage when that balk went by. Why?' * Oh, this business seems to be Germinal upside down. Janki was in my veranda all this morning, telling me that Kundoo had eloped with his wife — Unda or Anda, I think her name was.' ' Hillo I And those were the cattle that you risked your life to clear out of Twenty-Two 3 ' *No — I was thinking of the Company's props, not the Company's men.' 'Sounds better to say so now; but I don't believe you, old fellow.' IN FLOOD TIME Tweed said tae Till : • What gars ye rin sae still ? » Till said tae Tweed : •Though ye rin wi' speed An' I rin slaw — Yet where ye droon ae man I'lroon twa.' ThlvZ ft"°f h 7 r" t "'^' *°-"'SH Sahib, ^ney say th , a bullock-cart has been washed down ab^ady, and the ekka that went over a half hour ^Z you oame has not yet reached the far side. 17^ show him «f \""' t^^" '"' -'""'-lephant Lt show him. Ohe, mahout there in the shed I Brinir out Ram Perehad, and if he will face the curren 1^ An elephant never lies, Sahib, and Ram PeS U^^ rated from his friend Kala Na,r H« t/ -^ '^ oroM t/^ *!,.> *. -J ™ „ ^' "*' *°°< wishes to ^r L w„T "^T- ""'*°"«'''' *"<» »"« '''»t the nversays. Well done. Ram PershadI Pearl «m™„ fool I Was the goad made only to scratch thy own ht back with, bastard? Strike I Strike I What Z the boulders to thee, Ram Per^had, my Rustum, my mout tain of strength? Go in I Go in I ' "»/ ^oun- No, Sahib I It is useless. You can hear him trumpet He IS telhng Kala Nag that he cannot oo.r... .J! I I iie has swxmg round and 871 ^ , »^* . ►JO shaking his head. He IS 'I ' 272 IN FLOOD TIME no fool. He knows what the Barhwi means when it is angry. Aha I Indeed, thou art no fool, my child I Salaam^ Ram Pershad, Bahadur I Take him under the treee, mahout^ and see that he gets his spic"«j. Well done, thou chiefest among tuskers. Salaam to the Sirkar and go to eleep. What is to be done? The Sahib must wait till the river goes down. It will shrink to-morrow morning, if God pleases, or the day after at the latest. Now why does the Sahib get so angry? I am his servant. Before God, / did not create this stream I What can I do? My hut and all that is therein is at the service of the Sahib, and it |s beginning to rain. Come away, my Lord. How will the river go down for your throwing abuse at it ? In the old days the English people were not thus. The fire-carriage has made them soft. In the old days, when they drave behind horses by day or by night, they said naught if '^ "iver barred the way, or a carriage sat down in the 1. It was ihe will of God — not like a fire-carriage which goes and goes and goes, and would go though all the devils in the land hung on to its tail. The fire-carriage hath spoiled the English people. After all, what is a day lost, or, for that matter, what are two days? Is the Sahib going to hid own wedding, chat he is so mad with haste ? Ho I Ho ! Ho ! I am an old man and see few Sahibs. For^ give me if I have forgotten the respect that is due to them. The Sahib is not angry ? His own wedding I Ho I Ho I Ho I The mind of an old man is like the numah-tveQ. Fruit, bud, blossom, and the dead leaves of all the years of the past flourish together. Old and new and that which is gone out of remembrance, all three are there I Sit on the bedstead, J tns when it is i, my child I im under the ipic^*}. Well laam to the ; wait till the V morning, if b. Now why 'ant. Before it can I do? arvice of the le away, my 5ur throwing people were em soft. In jes by day or I the way, or I ihe will of ind goes and I in the land I spoiled the lost, or, for hib going to haste? Hoi Jahibs. For- latis due to The mind of )ud, blossom, past flourish gone out of he bedstead, IN FLOOD TIME 273 i c^t^ J^ ""f • ^' ~ """l'' ">« Sahib in truth of Nuklao My 8on, who is i„ service there. sentUt^ Te'tu^" Th's-Vt*!".'- " """ "^"O" "»- *» hVn'U^ W I, , w7 ^'"'' '^^^ " ■"'« » Musalman. Wah I I": HoT ^01 TH^^.^J"'"' «" ownwedlt no I Hoi Hoi The Sahibs says that there is no wed- ding m the matter at all? Now i. it likely that ofj Sah,b would speak trae talk to me who am onTv a black man? Small wonder, then, that he is in haste." Thirtv Clt::islt" '"'r^ "" "^' fordXt^'e':^ «- very lon^ time. Thirty years ago this fmrl was on the track of the bunjara», a.nd I ha™ seen tw^ thousand pack-bullocks cro^ in 'one night Now tZ a hundred lakhs of maunds slide across that big br d™ It «. very wonderful; but the ford is lonely now Z there are no iu^fara, to camp under the treel ofthefLt A ,j ^ Thirty years on the banks fort 14? ^" °" """• ■"» ^ -'»—''- « the c-l Tr* ***** ♦ • ^i^'our pardon, but, because of mv years T «lnJl zfitr ^--f "".^ r --^ *o^^1 274 IN FLOOD TIME .,' i will not shrink because of the anger in your eyes, and it will not be quiet on account of your curses. Which is louder, Sahib — your voice or the voice of the rivor ? Call to it — perhaps it will be ashamed. Lie down and sleep afresh, Sahib. I know the anger of the Barhwi when there has fallen rain in the foot-hills. I swam the flood, once, on a night tenfold worse than this, and by the Favour of God I was released from Death when I had come to the very gates thereof. May I tell the tale ? Very good talk. I will fill the pipe anew. Thirty years ago it was, when I was a young man and had but newly come to the ford. I was strong then, and the hunjaras had no doubt when I said * this ford is clear.' I have toiled all night up to my shoulder-blades in running water amid a hundred bullocks mad with fear, and have brought them across losing not a hoof. When all was done I fetched the shivering men, and they gave me for reward the pick of their cattle — the bell-bullock of the drove. So great was the honour in which I was held I But, to-day when the rain falls p.nd the river rises, I creep into my hut and whimper like a dog. My strength is gone from me. I am an old man and the fire-carriage has made the ford desolate. They were wont to call me the Strong One of the Barhwi. Behold my face. Sahib — it is the face of a monkey. And my arm — it is the arm of an old woman. I swear to you. Sahib, that a woman has loved this face and has rested in the hollow of this arm. Twenty years ago. Sahib. Believe me, this was true talk — twenty years ago. Come to the door and look across. Can you see a thin fire verv far awav down the stream ? That is the our eyes, and rses. Which of the rivor? Lie down and I the Barhwi ills. I swam han this, and I Death when I will fill the )ung man and strong then, 1 * this ford is oulder-blades ks mad with J not a hoof, ing men, and : cattle — the he honour in rain falls and limper like a n an old man jolate. They le Barhwi. )f a monkey, aan. I swear face and has ;y years ago, twenty years m you see a That is the IN FLOOD TIME 275 but it is hidden by a bend of t^I' "l'**^ "*^"' to swim, Sahib? V„„U ° tke r *."'/" and adventure? Yet I swim tT P.* ^"""^ "^"^^'^ ^- »an, «mes, and thm^Mrr r the headman-rhorhold ,1 ''" T° '"^ ^hey of t» when She ^Z^" ^ Zlr'^^l- *" ^"^ upon the wheels nf th^ u ii , ^"^®^ ^^^^s were What was it to me whe^e^lk fZ S' o^f "* ' rnS'^^CmlttleLn^"^^^^^ Nine Bars savs thaf 1 ^ ^® Seventh of the "*'» *»»*y8 mat a man may . mai^^ ««« a .-, Idolaters? Is that truth? Both ■^hlT^ T ^^ *'"' say that a Mn»alm»n „. . *"*"" """J Sunnis tera? Is the slr^ ""^ "'" "»"y <»>« «* the idola- much? I^u'^u'' * P™** !^' *■"' ''^ '""»-" "o know. Th^is L^r, rf "^ "•" ""^ "'"^^ "»' nor idolater ?nW»dt^fN"V""'''' *°'''"''«° little fagote'that t^Ce ot We'ttX^ '"' "'"^ In truth, I would have taken STr^^^ v ''"'*^- »• beyond, for heTo^,t;f'""'" '"' '«<"•'"•'» -^ from the hillsides r I^a u^ ^' """ ^^y "'"'keu but er« I had ^rehed the sL w.' '^ "™' """»? "o. beat, as it were^^ hi 1? ^ ' *' P"' '- "* *« "''eam shoal was ^n^'ard rrodeT/^r""^.'*"''' '«'«"<'• '>'<' that ran frfm Zk to tetk ^he V^T °' " ""^^ oast into much w»ter th^Tu, ^ ®*'"'' '"^^ been use his limW :^ 1. ^u "f ""' "»' '«' " "">« seemed asToLh thl' "^ ^"^ "P"" «"> ""ter. it world's end ri th! r T "^"S*" ''"' '"'ter to he A man La very utaHh *™ "l'''"' '«« ''^ft-»'i- And m floorthoi'h T v"^ '" ""' "^''y of a flood. Flood about wMfh""mt'JrsTin ""^T *"" «"'»' solved and I lay like a W . ^^ ''™'' ''»» ^- of Death. The^ were 1 °Lr '"''■^^ '" *« '«« ip„ „„j 1.-..,. ''*'^® """Sr thrngs in the w«w „-,. -.. ^"-wang grievously -beasis of the hr^iZ 378 IN FLOOD TIME ill cattle, and once the voice of a man asking for help But the rain caino and lashed the water white, and I heard no more save the roar of the boulders below and the roar of the rain above. Thus I was whirled down- stream, wrestling for the breath in me. It is very hard to die when one is young. Can the Sahib, standing here, see the railway bridge ? Look, there are the lights of the mail-train going to Peshawur ! The bridge is now twenty feet above the river, but upon that night the water was roaring against the lattice-work and against the lattice came I feet first. But much drift- wood was piled there and upon the piers, and I took no great hurt. Only the river pressed me as a strong man presses a weaker. Scarcely could I take hold of the lattice-work and crawl to the upper boom. Sahib, the water was foaming across the rails a foot deep I Judge therefore what manner of flood it must have been. I could not hear. I could not see. I could but lie on the boom and pant for breath. After a while the rain ceased and there came out in the sky certain new washed stars, and by their light I saw that there was no end to the black water as far as the eye could travel, and the water had risen upon the rails. There were dead beasts in the driftwood on the piers, and others caught by the neck in the lattice-work, and others not yet drowned who strove to find a footr hold on the lattice-work — buffaloes and kine, and wild pig, and deer one or two, and snakes and jackals past all counting. Their bodies were black upon the left side of the bridge, but the smaller of them were forced through the lattice-work and whiried down-stream. Thereafter the stars died and the rai came down afresh and the river rose yet more, and I felt the bridge sking for help, er white, and I [lore below and whirled down- It is very hard iahib, standing B are the lights The bridge is ?on that night btice-work and it much drift- and I took no } a strong man e hold of the m. Sahib, the deep I Judge have been. I but lie on the 8 came out in their light I c^ater as far as isen upon the ftwood on the i lattice-work, to find a foot- cine, and wild I jackals past ipon the left a were forced i-stream. ! came down elt the bridge IN FLOOD TIME 279 that I wa, not afrajj n,'™', ' ,f '^' ^ «™'»- to you limbs. I knew that hoSotd" till", r:"'" "^ r.:::tr'^"^-"----- bridge lifted its flank to hf rush of tit ™'°' ""'' "» the right lattice dipped und ta^ aL th^'f f." """ clear. On mv Iwmrf ts»i,;i, r ^"^ *™ the left rose Aa a Mir^anore It L ^ "" ''P""'""» ^'''''s truth! I slid from the b^m i2l '" "° "*''"' ""'»»«■•• came the wave "of'T ZllZ:^^' ^htllT vo.ce and the scream of the middle wrt of th„ K^ "^ >t moved from the pier, and sank a^n ,1*''° ^"^^ "« till I rose in the mid.ll. „f »T. ' ' '^"*"' »" ""ore take no harm • and T f «,;o<. j ,, ^ ®®® ^^^'^ and the man, f o^ i was fl! .^"^ ^ "i"^" '° ""o ""'»* down thesf^amrielT'!,^ "^"l *°«''*<" "« *«"* ing that hel/HhouM have sun^ /he'^ """^- ^'«=''- marrow, and my flesh Z TbLd .„d ' .7" '" "^ bones. But he had no fea7 Jh„ h 71 '^''*" "" "^ most of thepowerof the" an^l wT '"" "'*«" he chose. At last we «^me i'n^l °' '"" 8° '^'■««' ournmt tJ.«f .„* .„ *.. l:^"^ '".'» *•■« P^er of a side- '- -" "&™ oank, and I strove with my ft 4 '! 280 IN FLOOD TIME I i| feet to draw with it. But the dead man swung heavily in the whirl, and I feared that some branch had struck him and that he would sink. The tops of the tamarisk brushed ray knees, so I know we were come into flood- water above the crops, and, after, I let down my legs and felt bottom — the ridge of a field — and, after, the dead man stayed upon a knoll under a fig-tree, aud I drew my body from the water rejoicing. Does the Sahib know whither the backwash of the flood had borne me? To the knoll which is the eastern boundary-mark of the village of Pateeral No other place. I drew the dead man up on the grass for the service that he had done me, and also because I knew not whether I should need him again. Then I went, crying thrice like a jackal, to the appointed place which was near the byre of the headman's house^ But my Love was already there, weeping. She feared that the flood had swept my hut at the Barhwi Ford. When I came softly through the ankle-deep water, She thought it was a ghost and would have fled, but I put my arms round Her, and — I was no ghost in those days, though I am an old man now. Hoi Hoi Dried corn, in truth. Maize without juice. Hoi HoP I told Her the story of the breaking of the Barhwi Bridge, and She said that I was greater than mortal man, for none may cross the Barhwi in full flood, and I had seen what never man had seen before. Hand in hand we went to the knoll where the dead lay, and I showed Her by what help I had made the ford. She looked also upon the body under the stars, for the latter end of the night was clear, and hid Her face in Her ' I grieve to say that the Warden of Barhwi Ford is responsible here lor two very bad puns in the vernacular. —B.K. Is responsible here IN FLOOD TIMB Beloved; andThe »M .-TCr f "1 "L"" ""^f" "^ de-ost life in the world to .ny Lf 5° '"«:'»-<"' ".. cannot 8t«y here, for that woul, Ih. .""* "'" '«"• ^e The body waa not a gunlXl'S^f tZ" ''"°" ■""•' ghat, do thou and Lc^XsLu? ?." """ '"'™"'«- him adrift into the BooiX'L T "•' .^^ ^ ««' to the open, ever wagginrht'Zt W TJ"""" ""t pnest under the pulp^bofrd And I ^"^ '** » Himam Singh. ^ ' '»«' "o more of Before the breaking of the d»v » . I moved towarda such of th« 1 T " '"'' P*ted, and With the full lighrw wha, /hLT/'" "'"«»'"»«'»• neas, and the bones of 17^/ ^""^ '" the dark- fleoh, for the™ ral tl L*^^ ''^^ '"««'»'«' in my the village of Pateem Id th , ^'"« '""*'• "»tween wd. in a.e middle, The it f.t °* "«' ^^ I^nk. showed lite broken tlethTthe it ^'"'' «""«• Nor waa there any life UDon th. I "^ *" "'"* »«>• nor boa^. but oily » "aCy!"; ZZj.T''"'' ""^ ocka and horses and men -anJ^r *"'«' - ''"'■ than blood from the clav „f tl, * t "™' *«« ™« "ny fmgmente of Egyptian nhf ? ^* ^""^ ' ^ok Vedas as had been translated ,W ^ "*"y °^ ^e and talked of all the Z^m^I'T'' " ^"«'"''' of what is left of the Zend^Z L "''" "'™'°™ Gray and Black Magic ino^J^ '-"onraged White, miatrv f-.-4.- . .- s'o. includino- anii-it,,»!:.„ , -^J, luitune-teuing bv oarr)» i,„» ,*•—• •-"■■i.s.m, pal- S oy ^, hot ohestnute, double- !.f. V'ffi i« ii I 284 THE SENDING OF DANA DA kernelled nuts and tallow droppings; would have adopted Voodoo and Oboe had it known anything about them, and showed itself, in every way, one of the most accommodating arrangements that had ever been invented since the birth of the Sea. When it was in thorough working order, with all the machinery, down to the subscriptions, complete, Dana Da came from nowhere, with nothing in his hands, and wrote a chapter in its history which has hitherto been unpublished. He said that his first name was Dana, and his second wm Da. Now, setting aside Dana of the New York Sun, Dana is a Bhilname, and Da fits no native of India unless you except the Bengali D^ as the onginal spelling. Da is Lap or Finnish ; and Dana Da was neither Finn, Chin, Bhil, Bengali, Lap, Nair, Gond, Romaney, Magh, Bokhariot, Kurd, Armenian, Levantine, Jew, Persian, Punjabi, Madrasi, Parsee, nor anything else known to ethnologists. He was simply Dana Da and declined to give further information. For the sake of brevity and as roughly indicating his origin, he was ^fi'?/ ^^^ ^^*'''®-' ^^ "^'^^^ ^^^« ^en the original Old Man of the Mountains, who is said to be the only authorised head of the Tea-cup Creed. Some people said that he was; but Dana Da used to smile and deny any connection with the cult; explaining that he was an ' Independent Experimenter.' As I have said, he came from nowhere, with his hands behind his back, and studied the Creed for three weeks • sitting at the feet of those best competent to explain its' mysteries. Then he laughed aloud and went away, but the laugh might have been either of devotion or dension. When he returned he was without monev. hn.\ hi^ THE SESDKO OF DANA DA ™, taught Wn..^^'?„f~»^ Earth than those Zl altogether. " """'""naoy was abandoned His next appearance in Duhlin iif» ment in Upper India, and L 1 1''*' "' * "« •'^'°°- with the helpof three lea' rd"" '*"'"^ *°^"°«» better fortunes when he wj!., ^'T P""'" »« ^W -hiskey, but theln^rh.^;^-/.'-!' a bottle of opmmwe.^quiteworththemonevHl '"'*'* on the oireumstances. Amono' othl. ' , , '"^ '° reduced nne of an EnghS who Vr^'" ""^ '"1'' *« fort. » the Simla Creed Tut tlo*? T' ''''"' '"'^'^^ted and forgotten all hk oldTn^' .^' °''' '**<' ""^d babies and things. The E„»l T ^^ " *''' ''""^^ »' toteUa fortunffor ch,ril^^,^,r» """^^d ^ana Da rupees, a dinner, and some tld ^1 *""* «*^« ''™ ^^o eaten. Dana Da Xrjiatud?''", ^'"'" ''^ ''="» --n,thinghe could doCrhrlfn'^it '^.ti: Th'eXrhm\TCd*u! Tf 'r'' '»''• °»°« Da. ^g ber name into the J ' "'"* '*'* "° '^^^re to "book his head. "ourersation. He therefore Th^E^Kshman Tam'ttat'^a '""''' '""^ """^ D"- ^hom he hated detply ^''^ """' »«^«»1 men 'Very good," said Dana Da im„„ v and the opium were begLningTj Tn'^^ ""^^"y their names, and I wUl ,lJZ,u o °"'y »'''e me aud kill them.' ^''P"'*'' » lending to them ^ow a Sending is a hoi^ble ar»ngement, ^, ,,. r''^ ' 1 ^i f 286 THE SENDING OF DANA DA vented, they say, in Iceland. It is a Thing sent by a wizard, and may take any form, but, most generally, wanders about the land in the shape of a little purple cloud till it finds the Sendee, and him it kills by chang- ing into the form of a horse, or a cat, or a man without a face. It is not strictly a native patent, though cha- mars of the skin and hide castes can, if irritated, de- spatch a Sending which sits on the breast of their enemy by night and nearly kills him. Very few natives care to irritate chamara for this reason. 'Let me c'espatch a Sending,' said Dana Da; »I am nearly dead jow with want, and drink, and opium; but I should like to kill a man before I die. I can send a Sending anywhere you choose, and in any form excopt in the shape of a man.' The Englishman had no friends that he wished to kill, but partly to soothe Dana Da, whose eyes were rolling, and partly to see what would be done, he asked whether a modified Sending could not be arranged for — such a Sending as should make a man's life a burden to him, and yet do him no harm. If this were possible, he notified his willingness to give Dana Da ten rupees for the job. ' I am not what I was once,' said Dana Da, ' and I must take the money because I am poor. To what Englishman shall I send it ? ' ' Send a Sending to Lone Sahib,' said the Englishman, naming a man who had been most bitter in rebuking him for his apostasy from the Tea-cup Creed. Dana Da laughed and nodded. ' I could have chosen no better man myself,' said he. 'I will see that he finds the Sending about his path aucl aoouii nis oed. li'i THE SENDING OP DANA DA 287 He lay down on the hearth-rug, turned up the whites lives. ^ '"'^" "'■'«•■« ^one Sahib .»I^'''^'"°,'"^ **" ™P««^'' '"^d Dana Da wearilv and wnte a letter to Lone Sahib, telling him,Z;u who believe with him, that you and a friend^U • a power greater than theirs"^ They wffl 1 TL "^ are speaking the truth.' ^ "■*' y°" He departed unsteadily, with the promise of .„m. in whaf f! "" T ! '''*«' *" ^»°« Sahibfcouched rirJ^ H ''■"''"'^^d of the terminology of the so deeply mysterious that the recTpLt rf 2',^»^ could make neither head nor toil rfTan/ **' «onately impressed; for he fanld ha l^enTra^- become a .fifth-rounder.' When a man is a ffl^^ crH::d.'^"^"'^"-°'««--«"'^-„dHoS W Sahib read the letter in five different f».i,- and was beginning a sixth inte^^ wtn h^' ttid t' '"f Tf '"^ ™"^ *"='* *- ~t on the bed. Now if there was one thing that Lone S»1^K hated more than another, it was a caf. He seoTdedl! s^rJrr' '"'■"'"^ ■' °"' of *•>« tousf The Wr said that he was afraid. 4 II tu- -i-, *• - - had l^n shut th^ughout-ito^t- ^orZ" ■ t0^ " ' 288 THE SENDING OF DANA DA could possibly have entered the room. He would pre- fer not to meddle with the creature. Lone Sahib entered the room gingerly, and there, on the pillow of his bed, sprawled and whimpered a wee white kitten ; not a jumpsome, frisky little beast, but a slug-like crawler with its eyes barely opened and its paws lacking strength or direction — a kitten that ought to have been in a basket with its mamma. Lone Sahib caught it by the scruff of its neck, handed it over to the sweeper to be drowned, and fined the bearer four annas. That evening, as he was reading in his room, he fancied that he saw something moving about on the hearth-rug, outside the circle of light from his reading- lamp. When the thing began to myowl, he realised that it was a kitten — a wee white kitten, nearly blind and very miserable. He was seriously angry, and spoke bitterly to his bearer, who said that there was no kitten in the room when he brought in the lamp, and real kittens of tender age generally had mother- cats in attendance. *If the Presence will go out into the veranda and listen,' said the bearer, *he will hear no cats. How, therefore, can the kitten on the bed and the kitten on the hearth-rug be real kittens ? ' Lone Sahib went out to listen, and the bearer followed him, but there was no sound of any one mewing for her children. He returned to his room, having hurled the kitten down the hillside, and wrote out the incidents of the day for the benefit of his co-religionists. Those people were so absolutely free from superetition that they ascribed anything a little out of the common to Agencies. As it was their business to know all about the Agencies, they were ou terms of almost indecent „l THE SENDING OP DANA DA ^-Xid S"r :-;. °' --y ^'"^- r.2 Spirits used to sq^Tte L :^T"°''^'"'^''-''"« bound to do, and append JrJ^t'., ^^r^" '' because it was the niMt mv-f! • ?"S'">»uan's letter have had a bearin7uponTvthr' "tr^"' ""^ "'ght next. An outside! woKt!^ '", *'' ^"^ "^ the thus : ' Look out I You 1,. T *""'»'**»d »" the tangle I - going to n.ake J^uslr? "' "' ''"''^' ""<' "»- huf Zr'SrSnef 1 f ?* "-""^ '" ''' -ords. They held Isedett " h"" "' ^""-yU^hle tremulous joy, for, in sp te J.!' , """^ ''"«<' ^"h the other worlds and^cies W .f""*^ '^*'' "J' aweof thing, sent from GWl!/ i. ^ ''"'^ '""»»" Sahib's rooS in sh^udfd ^^"^ ^^"^ "«* '" I-one their conclave wasZf,;''^^"^ 'T "^' «'<">■»' ''"d Photo-frames on the mt^telin^ * f "^'"^ """""S 'he nearly blind, was loopW ^d -t""' "^''^ '''"^n, .«>« clock and th^Slr "t! M' ""'"«"" investigations or doubting H " '*°PP«d »« tion in the flesh. It w^ Tf "'™ '^^ *he Manifesta- of purpose, but itlT.J^T r"''"*»^«»> "^^void authenticity. ' Manifestation of undoubted bac^^ifofol; f radt"" t ^"^ ^"^"■"' -• 'he the Creed to e,pla7X& '" '''^ '^"^-^'^ °f between the embodimm.t !f » ? '"*' ''"^- connection fl have forgotten ;rn:i™OTtian Cod „,„,,,, ^hey called the kitten Ba.rTothorT""""**'"''- u ' ^^ ■^°'^"» oi rum, or some- fW ilr 290 THE SENDING OF DANA DA II il li thing; and when Lone Sahib confessed that the first one had, at his most misguided instance, been drowned by the sweeper, they said consolingly that in his next life he would be a 'bounder,' and not even a 'rounder' of the lowest grade. These words may not be quit« correct, but they accurately express the sense of the house. When the Englishman received the Round Robin — it came by post — he was startled and bewildered. He sent into the bazar for Dana Da, who read the letter and laughed. ' That is my Sending,' said he. ' I told you I would work well. Now give me another ten rupees.' ' But what in the world is this gibberish about Egyp- tian Gods ? ' asked the Englishman. ' Cats,' said Dana Da with a hiccough, for he had dis- covered the Englishman's whiskey bottle. ' Cats, and cats, and cats ! Never was such a Sending. A hundred of cats. Now give me ten more rupees and write as I dictate:' Dana Da's letter was a curiosity. It bore the English- man's signature, and hinted at cats — at a Sending of Cats. The mere words on paper were creepy and uncanny to behold. 'What have you done, though?' said the English- man ; ' I am as much in the dark as ever. Do you mean to say that you can actually send this absurd Sending you talk about ? ' * Judge for yourself,' said Dana Da. ' What does that letter mean ? In a little time they will all be at my feet and yours, and I — Glory I — will be drugged or drunk all day long.' Dana Da knew his neonle. THE SENDING OF DANA DA ^M . ^V ™° ''■"o J-ates cats wakes .m i *.. •ng ajd finds a litUe squirming Wtten „f V t" '"°™- puts his hand into hi« „Z , °° ^ '"«'«'. or halMead kitten whet htlJT 1 """^ «"<^ " '"«« ii« trunk and flnravUekittn ''"""j' '^' " °P«™ or goes for a long ri^e wlh W , T^ ^ dress^hirts. his saddle-bow anY hakTa h L *"f '"^ ^'""PP^-^ °» its folds when he oZ^H T '^''^"^^S kitten horn finds a little blind kitl „n^ ^T °"" *" *»°«'- ""d home and finds a wr^ wL tt' ''^'' " "^^^^ »' 'higgling among ^is S or^ ""•'''' *'"' 1»i". or ™«is. in his tobfcco-lar or iL,,^ ^"!^' ^"^ <'''^°- in the veranda,- ww' 1^ ^ "*"«'"•* ^y^^ ^^^^ neither more nir let 11 -? ""^ """^ ''"'' '^'t'^''- titten rightly could:; huld ^h"* ^'-^^ ^''«™ »» When he dare not murder 1 H i *! """""'^^ "?»«'• believes it t*. be a MaSwi ^^i^^ 'rove because he iment, and half a d»el 0^°";^ ^™^'^' "^ E"""-!. nl" oou«e of natuw he t ^^u"^ ""* °* *« '«»- actually distressers^me^frne^^^Kr*'- "« ^» ;«t« thought that he wH hlhl vfi"'^ co-religion- but many said that it hi ^'fY ""'^^ individual; with prober r^^ot'L^ sllTrll"^' '''^^ naoherib Embodiment-Til fV f ^^.^^'h-Ra-Tum-Sen- averted. They compa^.^^i^. .f r""" '"'^^ •««" but none the LZ^^Znd o/ v""'^ **""'>-• the Englishman who had sent 2 m T """^ ^"""^ "* did not call it a SenlnVrcat "^f <«J"''°"- ^"-^^ not in their program.^ Icelandic magio was niglff^rlr wfrTret;: *" "^ "^'^^ ^ '<"- ™p^. the .actTthXlSrUt"-^' ^"^'^ -."-a by a letter-it came fl^ng thro^I ^^Z 292 THE SENDING OF DANA DA «. |ir< li'! I III ' ! :li i III 1 — from the Old Man of the Mountains — the Head of all the Creed — v>xplaining the Manifestation in the moat beautiful language and soaking up all the credit of it for himself. The Englishman, said the letter, was not there at all. He was a backslider without Power or Asceticism, who couldn't even raise a table by force of volition, much less project an army of kittens through space. The entire arrangement, said the letter, was strictly orthodox, worked and sanctioned by the highest Authorities within the pale of the Creed. There was great joy at this, for some of the weaker brethren seeing that an outsider who had been working on independent lines could create kittens, whereas their own rulers had never gone beyond crockery — and broken at best — were showing a desire to break line on their own trail. In fact, there was the promise of a schism. A second Round Robin was drafted to the Englishman, beginning: » O Scoffer,' and ending with a selection of curses from the Rites of Mizraim and Memphis and the Commina- tion of Jugana, who was a * fifth-rounder,' upon whose name an upstart * third-rounder ' once traded. A papal excommunication is a billet-doux compared to the Com- mination of Jugana. The Englishman had been proved, under the hand and seal of the Old Man of the Moun- tains, to have appropriated Virtue and pretended to have Power which, in reality, belonged only to the Supreme Head. Naturally the Round Robin did not spare him. He handed the letter to Dana Da to translate into decent English. The effect on Dana Da was curious. At first he was furiously angry, and then he laughed for five minutes. *I had thought,' he said, 'that they would have come lid havfa come THE SENDING OF DANA DA 293 At n '8"'* ■"« *«» niore rupees.' ins lesf r„^t "^'t'r "'" ^"eUshmm wrote „„th- be from your hand, thenfet it g" /„ ZtTlT tens an^ threefo^lrf 'nt^ Tjl X "" ^'^r*' ""^ judge between us ' TM. , ""^ P'°P'^ "hall Ud penr.r„d ^ :r:,rrd ai"*"" "-• ™'"' laugnea at them some years aeo It «,»= „«! ■ ,7 nouneed that the Old Man ofthe iT T ^ ^ *"■ treat the matter with contempt Da^an"^- ''°"''' Independent Investigator S„;. °"?* °» '«'"g » the back of him R^f rt^j-j ''"^'^ '""°'** «' They wanted to'see a £ Tht '"*" "" '^'''■ for all their spirituaU^. L ne sU'l ™'^ '"'""'" beins worn oi,f wfh i •*. "''• ''''» ^^ really fete He ?elt tLTf *T'.' '"'"""**<• ""^^kly to his »W3. xie leit that he was beine ' kiti^Ann^ f« ^t. power of Dana Da,' as the poetfays ''"'"' *''* When the stated day dawned, the shower of kittens ug, three m his bath-room, and the other six 9fU THB RRNDINO OF DANA DA ■II ii turned up at intervals among the visitors who came to see the propht y break down. Never was a more satis- factory Sending. On the next day there were no kit- tens, and the next day and all the other days were kittenless and quiet. The people murmured and looked to the Old Man of the Mountains for an explanation . A letter, written on a palm-leaf, dropped from the veil- ing, but every one except Lone Sahib felt that enters were not what the occasion demanded. There should have been oats, there should have been cats, — full- grown ones. The letter proved conclusively that there had been a hitch in the Psychic Current which, collid- ing with a Dual Identity, had interfered with the Per- cipient Activity all along the main line. The kittens were still going on, but owing to some failure in the Developing Fluid, they were not materialised. The ah- was thick with letters for a few days afterwards. Un- seen hands played Gliick and Beethoven on finger-bowls and clock-shades; but all men felt that Psychic Life was a mockery without materialised Kittens. Even Lone Sahib shouted with the majority on this head. Dana Da's letters were very insulting, and if he had then offered to lead a new departure, there is no know- ing what might not have happen ««n. l.^_. —.- iA. J « THE SENDING OV DANA DA •and i^'ri w„rr. t?' '"" °-' "« '«-%. The suve.tLt:K s ^r"::'" "'^" '■ ■ng with Death. Hia hand oW-i > " """ "sht- he smiled a grim smi^e P"" "" """"^y »»<» ' Bend low,' he whispered. The Vn-i- 1 (peddler) — Cevlon n<,»ri ™ ,1^^^^ — '"'x-tcallah lish education louloSa„^"'r'" "'"«' «»»• ^r hTrhihr^rr tti -r -'>'-- «tt.e, little oat' ^iZo^zti: ::r" '"'r- very clever man. Very hwvL^L^^ *'^' '" »'>»»*- Ask Lone Sahib's swee^^s Ji;^^""' "°" " """ *«■- lan/wi^^vrbe^t^rr ""' ''"''' -«y »*- and the making of new.ii'^'''? T "" ">»«•• nations nnt „ -J ; ^ creeds is d scouraired But consider the gorgeous simplicity of U aUI i ON THE CITY WALL Then she let them down by a cord through the window ; for her house was upon the town-wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. — Joshua ii. 15. Lalun is a member of the most ancient profession in the world. Lilith was her very-great-grandmamma, and that was before the days of Eve as every one knows. In the West, people say rude things about Lalun's profession, and write lectures about it, and distribute the lectures to young persons in order that Morality may be preserved. In the East where the profession is hereditary, descending from mother to daughter, nobody writes lectures or takes any notice ; and that is a distinct proof of the inability of the East to manage its own affairs. Lalun's real husband, for even ladies of Lalun's profession in the East must have husbands, was a big jujube-tree. Her Mamma, who had married a fig-tree, spent ten thousand rupees on Lalun's wedding, which was blessed by forty-seven clergyman of Mamma's church, and distributed five thousand rupees in charity to the poor. And that was the custom of the land. The advantages of having a jujube-tree for a husband are obvious. You cannot hurt his feelings, and he looks imposing. walls, and Lalun's house was upon the east wall facing 296 ON THE CITY WALL 297 the river. If you fell from the broad window-seat you dropped thirty feet sheer into the City Ditch. But if you stayed where you should and looked forth, you saw all the cattle of the City being driven down to water, the students of the Government College play- ing cricket, the high grass and trees that fringed the river-bank, the great sand-bars that ribbed the river, the red tombs of dead Emperors beyond the river,' and very far away through the blue heat-haze, a glint of the snows of the Himalayas. Wall Dad used to lie in the window-seat for hours at a time watching this view. He was a young Muhammadan who was suffermg acutely from educa- tion of the English variety and knew it. His father had sent him to a Mission- school to get wisdom, and Wali Dad had absorbed more than ever his father or the Missionaries intended he should. When his father died, Wali Dad was independent and spent two years experimenting with the creeds of the Earth and reading books that are of no use to anybody. After he had made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the Roman Catholic Church and the Presbyterian fold at the same time (the Missionaries found him out and called him names, but they did not understand his trouble), he discovered Lalun on the City wall and became the most constant of her few admirers. He possessed a head that English artists at home would rave over and paint .amid impossible surroundings—- a face that female novelists would use with delight through nine hundred pages. In reality he was only a clean-bred young Muhammadan, with pencilled eye- brows, smaii-cut nostrils, little feet and hands, and a very tired look in his eyes. By virtue of his twenty- ill i«« 4 1 A. i i 1 ll i 1 ^fi.^ i i, 298 ON THE CITY WALL two years he had grown a neat black beard which he stroked with pride and kept delicately scented. His life seemed to be divided between borrowing books from me and making love to Lalun in the window- seat. He composed songs about her, and some of the songs are sung to this day in the City from the Street of the Mutton-Butchers to the Copper-Smiths' ward. One song, the prettiest of all, says that the beauty of Lalun was so great that it troubled the hearts* of the British Government and caused them to lose their peace of mind. That is the way the song h- «ung in the streets ; but, if you examine it carefully and know the key to the explanation, you will find that there are three puns in it — on 'beauty,' 'heart,* and 'peace of mind,' — so that it runs: 'By the silbtlety of Lalun the administration of the Government was troubled and it lost such and such a man.' When Wali Dad sings that song his eyes glow like hot coals, and Lalun leans back among the cushions and throws bunches of jasmine-buds at Wali Dad. But first it is necessary to explain something about the Supreme Government which is above all and below all and behind all. Gentlemen come from England, spend a few weeks in India, walk round this great Sphinx of the Plains, and write books upon its ways and its works, denouncing or praising it as their own ignorance prompts. Consequently all the world knows how the Supreme Government conducts itself. But no one, not even the Supreme Government, knows everything about the administration of the Empire. Year by year England sends out fresh drafts for the first igiiLilig-iine, wiiiCii iS GinCliii.iy Cailcu Wic xuuluxx v^iYii Service. These die, or kill themselves by overwork, or ON THE CITY WALL 299 are worried to death or broken in health and hope in order that the land may be protected from death and sickness, famine and war, and may eventually become capable of standing alone. It will never stand alone, but the idea is a pretty one, and men are willing to die for it, and yearly the work of pushing and coaxing and scolding and petting the country into good living goes forward. If an advance be made all credit is given to the native, while the Englishmen stand back and wipe their foreheads. If a failure occurs the Englishmen step forward and take the blame. Overmuch tender- ness of this kind has bred a strong belief among many natives that the native is capable of administering the country, and many devout Englishmen believe this also, because the theory is stated in beautiful English with all the latest political colour. There be other men who, though uneducated, see visions and dream dreams, and they, too, hope to ad- minister the country in their own way •— that is to say, with a garnish of Red Sauce. Such men must exist among two hundred million people, and, if they are not attended to, may cause trouble and even break the great idol called Pax Britannic, which, as the newspapers say, lives between Peshawur and Cape Comorin. Were the Day of Doom to dawn to-morrow, you would find the Supreme Government * taking measures to allay popular excitement' and putting guards upon the graveyards that the Dead might troop forth orderly. The young- est Civilian would arrest Gabriel on his own responsi- bility if the Archangel could not produce a Deputy Commissioner's permission to 'make music or other noises ' as the license says. Whence it is easy to see that mere men of the flesh II 'J! \h ::! » I 300 ON THE CITY WALL who would create a tumult must fare badly at the hands of the Supreme Government. And they do. There is no outward sign of excitement ; there is no confu- sion ; there is no knowledge. When due and sufficient reasons have been given, weighed and approved, the machinery moves forward, and the dreamer of dreams and the seer of visions is gone from his friends and following. He enjoys the hospitality of Government ; there is no restriction upon his movements within cer- tain limits ; but he must not confer any more with his brother dreamers. Once in every six months the Supreme Government assures itself that he is well and takes formal acknowledgment of his existence. No one protests^ against his detention, because the few people who know about it are in deadly fear of seem- ing to know him ; and never a single newspaper ' takes up his case ' or organises demonstrations on his behalf, because the newspapers of India have got behind that lying proverb which says the Pen is mightier than the Sword, and can walk delicately. So now you know as much as you ought about Wali Dad, the educational mixture, and the Supren-* Government. Lalun has not yet been described. She would need, so Wali Dad says, a thousand pens of gold and ink scented with musk. She has been variously compared to the Moon, the Dil Sagar Lake, a spotted quail, a gazelle, the Sun on the Desert of Kutch, the Dawn, the Stars, and the young bamboo. These comparisons imply that she is beautiful exceedingly according to the native standards, which are practically the same as those of the W^fiat. TTftr PVPSl nrA Want an/1 \\a-n VioiT. I'a W«/^l^ «»> J .. ^j — , „ — — ...... ttriivt xs.\jj. ixtcii io tjxauiL, aixU. her eyebrows are black as leeches ; her mouth is tiny ON THE CITY WALL 301 and says witty things ; her hands are tiny and have saved much money ; her feet are tiny and have trodden on the naked hearts of many men. But, as Wali Dad sings : ' Lalun is Lalun, and when you have said that, you have only come to the Beginnings of Knowledge.' The little house on the City wall was just big enough to hold Lalun, and her maid, and a pussy-cat with a sil- ver collar. A big pink and blue cut-glass chandelier hung from the ceiling of the reception room. A petty Nawab had given Lalun the horror, and she kept it for politeness' sake. The floor of the room was of polished chunam, white as curds. A latticed window of car^ ed wood was set in one wall ; there was a profusion of squabby pluffy cushions and fat carpets everywhere, and Lalun's silver huqa, studded with turquoises, had a special little carpet all to its shining self. Wali Dad was nearly as permanent a fixture as the chandelier. As I have said, he lay m the window-seat and meditated on Life and Death and Lalun — specially Lalun. The feet of the young men of the City tended to her door- ways and then — retired, for Lalun was a particular maiden, slow of speech, reserved of mind, and not in the least inclined to orgies which were nearly certain to end in strife. ' If I am of no value, I am unworthy of this honour,' said Lalun. ' If I am of value, they are un- worthy of Me.' And that was a crooked sentence. In the long hot nights of latter April and May all the City seemed to assemble in Lalun's little white room to smoke and to talk. Shiahs of the grimmest and most uncompromising persuasion ; Sufis who had lost all belief in the Prophet and retained but little in God ; wandering Hindu priests passing southward on their way to the Central India fairs and other affairs j Puu- fc'i Mty \ 302 ON THE CITY WALL dita in black gowns, with spectacles on their noses and undigested wisdom in their insides ; bearded headmen of the wards; Sikhs with all the details of the latest ecclesiastical scandal in the Golden Temple ; red-eyed priests from beyond the Border, looking like trapped wolves and talking like ravens $ M.A.'s of the UnJ- versity, very superior and very voluble — all these peo- ple and more also you might find in the white room. Wall Dad lay in the window-seat and listened to the talk. 'It is Lalun's salon,' said Wali Dad to me, »and it is electic — is not that the word? Outside of a Free- mason's Lodge I have never seen such gatherings. There I dined opce with a Jew — a Yahoudil' He spat into the City Ditch with apologies for allowing national feelings to overcome him. * Though I have lost every belief in the world,' said he, *and try to be proud of my losing, I cannot help hating a Jew. Lalun admits no Jews here.' ' But what in the world do all these men do?' I asked. ' The curse of our country,' said Wali Dad. » They talk. It is like the Athenians — always hearing and telling some new thing. Ask the Pearl and she will show you how much she knows of the news of the City and the Province. Lalun knows everything.* 'Lalun,' I said at random — she was talking to a gentleman of the Kurd persuasion who had come in from God-knows-where — 'when does the 175th Regi- ment go to Agra? ' ' It does not go at all,' said Lalun, without turning her head. 'They have ordered the 118th to go in its stead. That Regiment goes to Lucknow in three months, unless they give a fresh order.' Ill ON THE CITY WALL 303 *That is so/ said Wali Dad without a shade of doubt. ' Can you, with your telegrams and your news- papers, do better? Always hearing and telling some new thing,' he went on. *My friend, has your God ever smitten a European nation for gossip-* ag in the bazars? India has gossiped for centuries — always standing in the bazars until the soldiers go by. There- fore — you are here to-day instead of starving in your own country, and I am not a Muhammadan — I am a Product — a Demnition Product. That also I owe to you and yours : that I cannot make an end to my sen- tence without quoting from your authors.' He pulled at the huqa and mourned, half feelingly, half in earnest, for the shattered hopes of his youth. Wali Dad was always mourning over something or other — the coun- try of which he despaired, or the creed in which he had lost faith, or the life of the English which he could by no means understand. Lalun never mourned. She played little songs on the iitar, and to hear her sing, '0 Peacock^ cry again,' was always a fresh pleasure. She knew all the songs that have ever been sung, from the war-songs of the South that make the old men angry with the young men and the young men angry with the State, to the love-songs of the North where the swords whinny- whicker like angry kites in the pauses between the kisses, and the Passes fill with armed men, and the Lover is torn from his Beloved and cries, Ai, Ai, Ai! evermore. She knew how to make up tobacco for the huqa so that it smelt like the Gates of Paradise and wafted you gently through them. She could embroider ovicsiigt; vniiiga ill gUlU. axiU 311 VCr, clUU. UUXlUe iOltly Wltu the moonlight when it came in at the wirdow. Also 304 ON THE CITY WALL '7^ 18 ".ore of the secretoof tt r "*"•'* •""™«' »<»« '.eart of some o L " » ""t ""'"'"'«"«<' ^'^ "'d 'Sahib,'he Tsed to 1 T""" T '"^ "'*«'«d "• Parape , 'when I ^SI' '^^"^ '"" ^*'<''' "S^^^*^ the LuL'd ho' I'enh/cZfo^rof rr °* "^^"'^ round the plain' here S^hT i ,*'"' ^''^ •"«• ™de Ho'n^irt rrt'tMur !z "*" ^'^^" "« ^o- said the SubaJterT ^ '""^'"^ " ^''^ ^'^'^' 'Yes, to you, only to you. Sahib,' said Khem Sin^h To you because you are of a nln, J„t 1. ^"• my turn comes again lahibrr-l ""•"'• " out your throat.' ^ '"'" ■"" ^•*''S ?»» ■><>' alon^the^ Une' of" *"' l"''"*™ ^^«'y' ^ ^^ 'ootod „„_!._. .''^°' «""» that could pound tl,» ni.„ ." i^wwucr m nalt an hour tr^4. ' . ' — ' -5^ *"" ^*^^- ^et us go into our own ON THE CITY WALL 309 Khem Singh would sit on his own cushion at the Subalterns feet, drinking heavy, scented anise-seed brandy in great gulps, and telling strange stories of Fort Amara, which had been a palace in the old days, of Begums and Ranees tortured to death -aye, in the very vaulted chamber that now served as a Mess-room ; would tell stories of Sobraon that made the Subaltern's cheeks flush and tingle with pride of race, and of the Kuka rising from which so much was expected and the foreknowledge of which was shared by a hundred thou- sand souls. But he never told teles of '57 because, as he said, he was the Subaltern's guest, and '57 is a year that no man, Black or White, cares te speak of. Once only when the anise-seed brandy had slightly affected his head, he said: * Sahib, speaking now of a matter which lay between Sobraon and the affair of tha Kukas 1 was ever a wonder te us that you steyed your hand at all, and that, having stayed it, you did not make the land one pnson. Now I hear from without that you do great honour to all men of our country and by your own hands are destroying the Terror of your Name which is your strong rock and defence. This is a foolish thing. Will oil and water mix ? Now in '57 ♦ ' I wa^ not born then, Subadar Sahib,' said the Subal- tern, and Khem Singh reeled to his quarters. .t^h^n^^^'^7^"f^-''^^ ™^ °* '^''' conversations Bnfw "n^ ^^- ^''''^ *°''' ^^'"^ S^°g^ increased. But WaJi Dad, sitting in the window-seat of the house on the aty wall, said that it would be a cruel thin^ to do, ana i.aiun pretended that 1 preferred the society of agnzzled old Sikh to here. If 1 %'i: M f ' ill |l 310 ON THE CITY WALL self T Jii 7fi *^^' ^''^' *bove all, here is mv- ^-^n one .U ,. he^^anrCtu^r^ -^Xt nice man. He cM^^T T ^^P**" '^ "<>' » he^^^e, the. . a «.„te t^ ^ ^ol'': ^; ^r] black vt'm^'^r'th^r'r'^t" *" ■"*"• ««»« Fifteen v^a™ lJf„ T . °'^ gentleman's feelinm. in„.j «uo-uiterns are promoted to Captaincies.' '' many friends 1» here is my- u songs, and in your ears, mal yonder? ay such and of wonderful me, and the > the chill of the flight of ort returned ingh accord- i was not a lich, besides ace. 3s to watch Subaltern, is way, but 36, poor old guards in brows, ike, these lem Singh 's feelings, ht for the a sort of ■ But he p^earn. and ON THE CITY WALL 311 *The Captain-pig is in charge of the Fort?' said Khem Singh to his native guard every morning. And the native guard said: 'Yes, Subadar Sahib,' in defer- ence to his age and his air of distinction ; but they did not know who he was. In those days the gathering in Lalun's little white room was always large and talked more than before. ' The Greeks,' said Wali Dad who had been borrow- ing my books, Hhe inhabitants of the city of Athens, where they were always hearing and telling some new thing, rigorously secluded their women— who were fools. Hence the glorious institution of the heterodox women — is it not? — who were amusing and not fools. All the Greek philosophers delighted in their company. Tell me, my friend, how it goes now in Greece and the other places upon the Continent of Europe. Are your women-folk also fools ? ' 'Wali Dad,' I said, 'you never speak to us about your women-folk and we never speak about ours to you. That is the bar between us.' ' Yes,» said Wali Dad, 'it is curious to think that our common meeting-place should be here, in the house of a common — how do you call her?' He pointed with the pipe-mouth to Lalun. ' Lalun is nothing but Lalun,' I said, and that was perfectly true. ' But if you took your place in the worid, Wali Dad, and gave up dreaming dreams ' ' I might wear an English coat and trouser. I might be a leading Muharamadan pleader. I might be received even at the Commissioner's tennis-parties where the Eng- lish stand on one side and the natives on the other, in order to promote social intercourse throughout the Em- 312 ON THE CITY WALL thou art a King. ^The slhTh' T ^ "^ " ^^-^^^ ""d thfa lucrative Government !°i? ^°" *'"^^ '^ ^o shaU his pay be ? . ""'^'" appointment? Lalua, what thel"ltto\':rof'::2 '"" ^-^ ~* -" ^ ^me or WaU Dad. Then 1! « " ''°''"^ ""'^^^ f'"" her to quote Pe:«ian7oety 47: f"T^ *"' """^^ >««- line. Some of it wLnoT ,t .^^'^ P"° '" ^^^'^ »th»r very funny, and itZy camrt!'"™7' .'"' " ^^ "^^ son in black, with «,IH !" ^""^ ''''^''' » &* Pei- I-alun, and wS Daf dC7m ^".' "^/^ ""^ *° night t» walk in a W^f T '"'° *^« twinkling about KehgionanVolZr;",-^'-,''' ''^-- life. "^cura ana a man's career in MuiiS'nritLf^tVrr-"-' "* ">« Wali Dad said abTut XTo-^ I' T^- *' '^"S^ *h»' secured his expulsion boIT, ^^'"T """^^ '"'^e soot. There were t^e Zblr ^'i""^"^ *''»«" above us, and from every qu^^tjlfrn' '"^ ''^" boom of tte bis Mohnrr,.^ ? *® *^"y "a"* the t^at the City if ZZZ S-e "^7 """' ''"°- between the Hindus and th» m ^ , '"*" P™P°rtions both creeds belon.™ :^L%.^''"^'^'^' »nd where = - -. ^„u„g races, a big religious ON THE CITY WALL 313 i career in festival gives ample chance for trouble. When they can -that is to say when the authorities aie weak enough to allow it-the Hindus do their best to arrlnge some minor feast-day of their own in time to clash wifh the period of general mourning for the marty™ Hasan and Huesam, the heroes of the Mohurrum. Gilt and painted paper pr^entations of their tombs are borne with shoutmg and wailing, music, torches, and yells through the principal thoroughfares of the City which fakement are called ta^ia>. Their passage is rLrt y l^d down beforehand by the Police, and detathmente of Pohce accompany each taiia, lest the Hindus should tW bricks at it and the peace of the Queen and le MohtrrL r "^ '"«^r *»"W thereby be broken. and not the notera are held responsible. The foi-mer must foresee everything, and while not making their precautions ridiculously elaboi^te, must see Ihft they are at least adequate. ^ hpli'^^'^.r ""^ '^"'"' ' ' "^^ "^"^ ^^ ' That is the Hn^ *i:- t^ P^opl^-^mpty and makmgmuch noise. How, thmk you, wiU the Mohurrum go this year' I think that there wiU be trouble.' •^f^'"- J- tl,f .V"™*'!,'''"'? * «ide.street and left me alone with fte sUr, and a sleepy Police patrol. Then I went to bed and dreamed that WaU Dad had sacked the City :^k'ofTfficr '''"^'' "''' ^"^-'^ «"- %« '» All Aiy the Mohurrum drums beat in the City, and aU d^y deputations of tearful Hindu gentlemen beSeged „j v.om.uissioner witli assurances that thev would be murdered ere next dawning by the Muharama- ^*>-^.;. «%,•- *■ • . #IJ .. « »* ' -■ 1? - KW ^ . •^V-,- r '-,., hfe^;. ' >\ .. .- mm " -tiL u J'*- ■ -vl- ^■° 1P^^ ^■- >v. ^"^i-.*; (:-'^\ . '^<..., l£t ■ -C*'"^ ^v' T ;;.- 1 -•1 ;".,■ " '"■; ! t f 314 ON THE CITY WALL ant. I think we can arrange a lltfle surprise for Cm I have given the heads of both Creeds faHIrnW n ^^ey ehoose to disregard it, so n>uch th~t J^ nitt7:en"'fLffhl"^ '" ^*'""'» ""^ *»«* ztndn£HSr^--= ing each «« march rtolcenXZ™ """"T"^' the plain outoide the Citv ^™ . S»tl»ering-place in Phant re.nt^ rn^ci^^'I' ^irS? ^alinfth; mov^off .• said Wali Dad. looking I'^e'^lL'"^" '" departed. "P^<= eight. The company rose and *Some of them were men from Ladath > ^.iA t i when the last had eone ' ThT ,^^*f *'' »^^^ ^^alun, r -3- «-^-i, -"at" ^* r-^: Cke tea'^ ""' '"'"' '''"' *« English Men^lZ wL'^D^tllr ;''!1'!*^ T"- " - finished --^^_„_.., „„,„^ ,„po j^j^^ stroets. »I am ner, in con- f indication Bs unpleas- 5 for them, arning. If worse for house that afore, if I fold pinee- re bitterly han I had sy cutting ould hear company- . g-place in 3ir trium- AU the rt Amara le in the azia has *ince-nez. ^ose and t Lalun, )rick-tea Pesha- msahibs Snished ^I am ON THE CITY WALL 315 nearly sure that there will be trouble to-night,' he said. ' All the City thinks so, and Vox Populi is Vox Dei, as the Babus say. Now I tell you that at the corner of the Padshahi Gate you will find my horse all this night if you want to go about and to see things. It is a most disgraceful exhibition. Where is the pleasure of saying ''Ya Hasan, Ya Eussain," twenty thousand times in a night? All the processions — there were two and twenty of them — were now well within the City walls. The drums were beating afi-esh, the crowd were howling 'Ya Hasan/ YaHussainf and beating their breasts, the bi'ass bands were playing their loudest, and at every corner where space allowed, Muhammadan preachers were telling the lamentable story of the death of the Martyrs. It was impossible to move except with the crowd, for the streets were not more than twenty feet wide. In the Hindu quarters the shuttei-s of all the shops were up and cross-barred. As the first tazia, a gorgeous erection ten feet high, was borne aloft on the shoulders of a score of stout men into the semi-dark- ness of the Gully of the Horsemen, a brickbat crashed through its talc and tinsel sides. ' Into thy hands, O Lord?' murmured Wall Dad pro- fanel;, ^ a yell went up from behind, and a native officer of Police jammed his horse through the crowd. Another brickbat followed, and the tazia staggered and swayed where it had stopped. *Go on I Tn the name of the Sirkar, go forward!' shouted the Policeman ; but there was an ugly cracking and^ splintering of shutters, and the crowd halted, with oaths and growlings, before the house whence the brick- bat had been thrown. 316 ON THE CITY WALL -*— I ; Strike I Strike tlnt^frt *"'"'"""? «"« "'^'«»/ The six or etht Poh™ t^P'"' ^<" *« f-^thl' batons, and sfuok ^'r;: T '""'' '""« ''"^ *«- forcing ae mob fowl,/ wl """"' " *^' '"''" °' and as contingents oTwnS ^ T™ ''™'l'<>«'ered, the fight beore gllf "hV"""? '"*" *""« »'««'«' tern were yet untouehed t^^ " " ^^^ ^""^'^ *« '^a ffi..a» rr""i°"'='^«d the drums and the shrieks of The fzi l^S'izL 7t:t "r r 'i- '°"^- houses uporfntta^d t;td S '"1 ^ ^"^"* bellowed: 'Din/ Un! mT'' f^^^ Footed streete was dropped for a Aami^ barritr ttwerK- '^ "".^ Musalman at the comer of the Odly Z ^K " """^ suited forward, and Wali dL H« ^? the crowd stone pillar of a weU "^ "" "'"'^ *» '^e Lo4aL. Thes'rtinTrf "SusT ^ VrZ gu«.„g kjne in their temples ^thtP ^''*" ^^ hu;^rd''ifur::d:hr Tt .°*^" ^ "> f--. ing, and^ ki^fat It ^ ^* '^'•"' '"'"''•'g' ^riek- s, u-i siuKmg at the house doors in their fliVht i * last we saw the reason of the rush H„Z^ .f ' Assent District Superintendent of Polt'Tb': twenty, had „„ "urty constables and was storm — not lalf a dozen '< at sea, the n while the rthe taziasf the faith I' drew their ;he hope of erpowered, the streets, where the shrieks of t for long, toeked the 'ulpits and the silent 3d streets t fire, and findu and the crowd 3e to the louted in tould be e houses shall be o pieces, r, shriek- rht. At lin, the boy of nd was ON THE CITY WALL 317 forcing the crowd through the streets. His old gray Police-horse showed no sign of uneasiness as it was spurred breast-oa into the crowd, and the long dog-whip with which he had armed himself was never still. ' They know we haven't enough Police to hold 'em,' he cried as he passed me, mopping a out on his face. * They know we haven't I Aren't any of the men from the Club coming down to help? Get on, you sons of burnt fathers ! ' The dog-whip cracked across the writhing backs, and the constables smote afresh with baton and gun-butt. With these passed the lights and the shouting, and Wall Dad began to swear under his breath. From Fort Amara shot up a single rocket; then two side by side. It was the signal for troops. Petitt, the Deputy Commissioner, covered with dust and sweat, but calm and gently smiling, cantered up the clean-swept street in rear of the main body of the rioters. 'No one killed yet,' he shouted. 'I'll keep 'em on the run till dawn I Don't let 'em halt, Hugonin I Trot 'em about till the troops come.' The science of the defence lay solely in keeping the mob on the move. If they had breathing-space they would halt and fire a house, and then the work of restoring order would be more difficult, to say the least of it. Flames have the same effect on a crowd as blood has ou a wild beast. Word had reached the Club and men in evening- dress were beginning to show themselves and lend a hand in heading off and breaking up the shouting masses with stirrup-leathers, whips, or chance-found staves. They were not very often attacked, for the rioters bad sense enough to know that the death of a European would not mean one hanging but many, and 818 OK THE CITY WALL tr X possibly the appearance of the thrice-dreaded ArtiUerv The clamour m the City redoubled. The Hindu hS descended mto the streets in real earnest and ere loni to keep qu.et and behave themBclves- advice fofwHch h« white beard was pulled. Then a natve officer of would .^"t""' '"* "*'" """« »"» «P"- -a ffeol would be be no a..:i,.7, warning all the crowd of the •fengerof mr Iting tlv, Government. Everywhere men ttrtr "'tf^' '"^^^^ each oh rT the throat, howlmg and foaming with rage, or beat with their bare hands on the doora of the houfe; It IS a lucky thing that they are fighting with natural weapons,' I said to Wall Dad, 'elsf we shlu d have half the City killed.' "'** I turned as I spoke and looked at his face. His nos- trils were distended, his eyes were fixed, and he wTs smiting himself softly on the breast. The c«,wd wu^d nLIed b""''"'^"''*.-'' ^"8 "' Musalmans W pressed by some hundred Hindu fanatics. Wall TM left my side with an oath, and shouting: Ta sJaT' found Wall Dad's house, and thence rode to the Fort Once outside the City wall, the tumult sank to a duU roar, very impressive under the stars and reflecting ^reat o«dit on the fifty thousand angiy able-bodied mfn^ho we« making it The troops who, at the Deputv Com! in-.uuers insanco, had been ordered to rendezvous \ Artillery, ndus had ere longf here were here were Hindu, or ligionists for which officer of h effect, 1 of the lere men )ther by eat with ig with should His nos- he was poured 3 hard- ili Dad Basan ! i where here I ) Fort, a dull r great n who Com- )zyous ON THE CITY WALL 319 quietly near the Fort, showed no signs of being im- pressed. Two companies of Native Infantiy, a squad- ron of Native Cavalry and a company of British Infantry were kicking their heels in the shadow of the East face, waitmg for orders to march in. I am sorry to say that they were all pleased, unholily pleased, at the chance of what they called 'a little fun.' The senior officers, to be sure, grumbled at having been kept out of bed, and the English troops pretended to be sulky, but there was joy in the hearts of all the subalterns, and whispers ran up and down the line : »No ball-cartridge — what a beastly shame I' 'D'you think the beggars will really stand up to us?' *'Hope I shall meet my money-lender there. I owe him more than I can afford.' ' Oh, they won't let us even unsheathe swords.' » Hurrah I Up goes the fourth rocket. Fall in, there I ' The Garrison Artillery, who to the last cherished a wild hope that they might be allowed to bombard the City at a hundred yards' range, lined the parapet above the East gateway and cheered themselves hoarse as the British Infantry doubled along the road to the Main Gate of the City. The Cavalry cantered on to the Padshahi Gate, and the Native Infantry marched slowly to the Gate of the Butchers. The surprise was in- tended to be of a distinctly unpleasant nature, and to come on top of the defeat of the Police who had been just able to keep the Muhammadans from firing the houses of a few leading Hindus. The bulk of the riot lay in the north and north-west wards. The east and south-east were by this time dark and silent, and I rode hastily to Lalun's house for I wished to tell her to send some one in search of Wall Dad. The house was unUghted, but the door was open, and I cUmbed up- 320 ON THE CITY WALL Q' I' B' ii'.E ii ( ! I t "■I 'jik stairs in the darkness. One small lamp in the white room showed Lalun and her maid leaning half out of the window, breathing heavily and evidently pulling at something that refused to come. »Thou art late — very late,' gasped Lalun without turning her head. 'Help us now, O Fool, if thou hast not spent thy strength howling among the tazias. Pull! Nasibau and I can do no morel O Sahib, is it you ? The Hindus have been hunting an old Muham- madan round the Ditch with clubs. If they find him again they will kill him. Help us to pull him up.' I put my hands to the long red silk waist^cloth that was hanging out of the nndow, and we thred pulled and pulled with all the strength at our command. There was something very heavy at the end, and it swore in an unknown t3ngue as it kicked against the City wall. *Pull, oh, puUI' said Lalun at the last. A pair of brown hands grasped the window-sill and a venerable Muhammadan tumbled upon the floor, very much out of breath. His jaws were tied up, his turban had fallen over one eye, and he was dusty and angry. Lalun hid her face in her hands for an instant and said something about Wali Dad that I could not catch. Then, to my extreme gratification, she threw her arms round my neck and murmured pretty things. I was in no haste to stop her; and Nasiban, being a handmaiden of tact, turned to the big jewel-chest that stands in the corner of the white room and rummaged among the con- tents. The Muhammadan sat on the floor and glared. ' One service more, Sahib, since thou hast come so opportunely,' said Lalun. ' Wilt thou * — it is ver" nice to be thou-ed by Lalun— 'take this old man across the X ON THE CITY WALL 821 City — the troops are everywhere, and they might hurt him for he is old — to the Kumharsen Gate ? There I think he may find a carriage to take him to his house. He 18 a friend of mine, and thou art -more than a friend — therefore I ask this.' Na^iban bent over the old man, tucked something into his belt, and I raised him up, and led him into the streets. In crossing from the east to the west of the Uty there was no chance of avoiding the troops and the crowd. Long before! reached the Gully of the Horsemen I heard the shouts of the British Infan- try crying cheeringly: 'Hutt, ye beggars! Hutt, ye devils I Get along! Go forward, there! ' Then fol- lowed the ringing of rifle-butts and shrieks of pain The troops were banging the bare toes of the mob with their gun-butts — for not a bayonet had been fixed. My companion mumbled and jabbered as we walked on until we were carried back by the crowi and had to force our way to the troops. I caught him by the wrist and felt a bangle there — the iron bangle of the Sikhs --but I had no suspicions, for Lalun had only ten minutes before put her arms round me. Thrice we were carried back by the crowd, and when we made our way past the British Infantry it was to meet the feikh Cavalry driving another mob before them with the butts of their lances. ' What are these dogs? ' said the old man. ' Sikhs of the Cavalry, Father,' I said, and we edged our way up the line of horses two abreast and found the Deputy Commissioner, his helmet smashed on his head, surrounded by a knot of men who had come down from thft ninK QQ Orvia4-n.i« « ^~X_1-1-- Tit,, - --_ — ,„, «zn«TOin uuiisuiuiua ana haa iieiped the Police mightily. 322 ON THE CITY WALL !! 'I I It 'We'll keep 'em on the run till dawn,' said Petitt. ' Who's your villainous friend? * I had only time to say: 'The Protection of the Sirkar/' when a fresh crowd flying before the Native Infantry carried us a hundred yards nearer to the Kumharsen Gate, and Petitt was swept away like a shadow. •I do not know — I cannot see — this is all new to me I' moaned my companion. 'How many troops are there in the City?' . ' Perhaps five hundred,' I said. *A lakh of men beaten by five hundred — and Sikhs among them I Surely, surely, I am an old man, but — the Kumharsen Gate is new. Who pulled down the stone lions? Where is the conduit? Sahib, I am a very old man, and, alas, I — I cannot stand.' He dropped in the shadow of the Kumharsen Gate where there was no disturbance. A fat gentleman wearing gold pince-nez came out of the darkness. 'You are most kind to bring my old friend,' he said suavely. 'He is a landholder of Akala. He should not be in a big City when there is religious excitement. But I have a carriage here. You are <}.nte truly kind. Will you help me to put him into the carriage ? It is very late.' We bundled the old man into a hired victoria that stood close to the gate, and I turned back to the house on the City wall. The troops were driving the people to and fro, while the Police shouted, ' To your houses I Get to your houses I ' and the dog-whip of the Assistant District Superintendent cracked remorselessly. Terror- ^^*?^"> *wwwia8 clung to the stirrups of the cavaliy, Cxjriag iLat their bouses had been robbed (which was a ON THE CITY WALL 323 he), and Uie burly Sikh horsemen patted them on the shoulder, and bade them return to those houses lest a worse thing should happen. Parties of five or six British soldiers, joining arms, swept down the side- gullies their rifles on their backs, stamping, with shout- ing and song, upon the toes of Hindu and Musalman. Never was religious enthusiasm more systematically squashed; and never were poor breakers of the peace more utterly weary and footeore. They were routed out of holes and corners, from behind well-pillars and byres, and bidden to go to their houses. If they had no houses to go to, so much the worae for their tees On returning to Lalun's door I stumbled over a man !!,!« V ^''^ v; ^' ™ '"^^^"^ hysterically .nd his arms flapped like the wings of a goose. It was Wall Dad Agnostic and Unbeliever, shoeless, turbanless, and frothing of the mouth, the flesh on h... chest bruised and leediiig from the vehemence with which he had smitten himself. A broken terch-handle lay by his side and his quivering lips murmured, 'Fa Jlaaan/ Fa Hussam .' ' as I stooped over him. I pushed him a few steps up the staircase, threw a pebble at Lalun's City window and hurried home. Most of the streets were very still, and the cold wind that comes before the dawn whistled down them. In the centre of the Square of the Mosque a man wm bending over a corpse. The skull had been smashed in by gun-butt or bamboo-stave. 'It is expedient that one man should die for the people, said Petitt grimly, raising the shapeless head. These brutes were beginning to show their teeth too much/ And from afar we could hear the soldiers singing 324 ON THE CITY WALL .i^sUi> t *Two Lovely Black Eyes,' as they drove the remnant of the rioters within doors. ****♦♦*»# Of course you can guess what happened ? I was not so clever. When the news went abroad that Khem Singh had escaped from the Fort, I did not, since I was then living this story, not writing it, connect myself, or Lalun, or the fat gentleman of the gold pince-nez, with his disappearance. Nor did it strike me that Wali Dad was the man who should have convoyed him across the City, or that Lalun's arms round my neck were put there to hide the money that Nasiban gave to Kehm Singh, and that Lalun had used me and my white face as even a better safeguard than Wali Dad who proved himself so untrustworthy. All that I knew at the time was that, when Fort Amara was taken up with the riots, Khem Singh profited by the confusion to get away, and that his two Sikh guards also escaped. But later on I received full enlightenment ; and so did Khem Singh. He fled to those who knew him in the old days, but many of them were dead and more were changed, and all knew something of the Wrath of the Government. He went to the young men, but the glamour of his name had passed away, and they were entering native regiments of Government offices, and Khem Singh could give them neither pension, decora- tions, nor influence — nothing but a glorious death with their backs to the mouth of a gun. He wrote letters and made promises, and the letters fell into bad hands, and a wholly insignificant subordinate officer of Police tracked them down and gained promotion thereby. Moreover, Khem Sincrh was nlrl. onA a-n\ao,^^r^A \.^^^a„ was scarce, and he had left his silver cooking-pots in ON THE CITY WALL 325 remnant « was not -t Khem ce I was yself, or lez, with ''ali Dad ross the ere put Kehm lite face ad who knew at up with i to get d so did i in the re were of the 3ut the 3y were es, and decora- .th with letters hands, Police hereby. r\*irt •i-fc w ••• «ji ami V pots in Fort Amara with his nice warm bedding, and the gentle- man with the gold pince-nez was told by those who had employed him that Khem Singh as a popular leader was not worth the money paid. ' Great is the mercy of these fools of English I ' said Khem Singh when the situation was put before him. * I will go back to Fort Amara of my own free will and gain honour. Give me good clothes to return in.' So, at his own time, Khem Singh knocked at the wicket-gate of the Fort and walked to the Captain and the Subaltern, who were nearly gray-headed on account of correspondence that daily arrived from Simla marked ' Private.' *I have come back. Captain Sahib,' said Khem Singh. * Put no more guards over me. It is no good out yonder.' A week later I saw him for the first time to my knowledge, and he made as though there were an understanding between us. *It was well done. Sahib,' said he, *and greatly I admired your astuteness in thus boldly facing the troops when I, whom they would have doubtless torn to pieces, was with you. Now there is a man in Fort Ooltagarh whon* a bold man could with ease help to escape. This is the position of the Fort as I draw it on the sand ' But I was thinking how I had become Lalun's Vizier after all. Now Ready THE LIFE OF NELSON. The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain. By CAPTAIN A. T. Mahan, D.C.L., LL.D., United States Navy, author of "The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783," etc., etc. Second edition revised. This great work treats of a period which must always be of the very deepest interest to every subject of the British Empire. It deals with the life of one of the most prominent and revered of the national heroes, whose name will never cease to excite a responsive thrill in the hearts of all true Britishers. Its author is well-known as the most distinguished writer of the present day on naval affairs. In this work he presents a study of the one man who in himself summed up and embodied the greatness of the possibilities which Sea Power comprehends, the man for whom genius and opportunity worked together to make him the person!- fication of the navy of Great Britain. The name of Nelson is enrolled among those few presented by history, the simple mention of which suggests not merely a personality or a career, but a great force or a great era concrete in a single man. Cloth, 764 pages, with numerous Illustrations, Maps, and Battle Plans, $3.30. APPLETON'S CANADIAN GUIDE BOOK. By Charles G. D. Roberts. Revised and corrected to date. This is probably the most interesting, the fullest, and most complete guide book that has ever been issued. It presents a complete view of the Dominion in a handy form, and its descriptions of the various localities are very attractive, while at the same time they constitute a practical guide. It is decidedly the cheapest book that has ever been put upon the market, and is a mine of Cansfdian information. Bound in Limp Cloth with Maps in Pocket. Crown 8vo. 750. At all Booksellers, op Post-paid fpom George N. Morang & Company, Limited Publishers, Toronto /" CANADIAN COPYRIGHT EDITION Soldiers Three The Story of the Gadsbys In Black and White BY N.L.C. - B N c 3 3286 06559009 9 Rudyard Kipling Author of " The Day'i Wo?k," " The Seven Sc^as," "The Jungle Bockj, etc." TORONTO 1899 ►'•I-' ?■■■•».'- 'r*, Lf ....•r%;.-"'r