Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Indian Tales
By
Rudyard Kipling
H. M. Caldwell Company
Publishers
Copyright, 1899
BY H. M. CAI^DWELI, COMPANY
G 1 4 1St
Colonial
C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
CONTENTS
n the 277
City Wall
The Broken-link 293
Handicap .'
On Greenhow Hill
332
341
Indian Tales
PAGB
457
nf
c Krishna Mulvaney
The Incarnation 5OO
the King
His Majesty *
.
of Morrowb.e Juk
The Strange Ride
House of Suddhoo .
in the
Black Jack
The Taking of Lungtungpei
-
On the Strength
.
the Pale
Beyond 7I?
the Machine
The God from .
of the Regiment
The Daughter
of Private
Orthens
The Madness
L' Envoi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Portrait of Kipling . . .
Frontispiece
"He glared at me with intention" . .
13
" him wear
Coppy had let for five rapturous
"
minutes his own big sword . .
75
"'Say that I sent you I, the Colonel's
son'" 86
"
Begin at the beginning and keep on to
'
.....
'
Get back, you cowards
!
PACK
His Majesty the King and Patsie .
.506
" His
Majesty the King was arguing against
his conscience" 512
"'You will live here till
you die like the
other Feringhi" . . .
-545
" Our two
Indian Tales.
"THE FINEST STORY IN THE
WORLD"
" Or ever the
knightly years were gone
With the old world to the grave,
I was a king in Babylon
And you were a Christian slave."
W. E. Henley.
young, I
suggested that Charlie should go back
to his mother.
That was our toward better acquaint-
first step
ance. He would on me sometimes in the
call
1 was
little implored to speak the truth as
before
"
to chances of
his writing something really
great, you know." Maybe I
encouraged him
too much, for, one night, he called on me, his
eyes flaming with excitement, and said breath-
lessly :
Ugh!"
" Read me what said.
you've done," I
promptly.
There are few things sweeter in this world
than the guileless, hot-headed, intemperate, open
admiration of a junior. Even a woman in her
blindest devotion does not fall into the gait of the
man she adores, tilt her bonnet to the angle at
which he wears his hat, or interlard her speech
with his pet oaths. And Charlie did all these
things. Still it was necessary to salve my con-
science before I
possessed myself of Charlie's
thoughts.
"
Let's make a bargain. I'll
give you a fiver
for the notion," I said.
Charlie became a bank-clerk at once.
"Oh, that's impossible. Between two pals,
you know, if may call you so, and speaking as
I
6 Indian Tales
By gum !
"
Only those who brave its dangers
"
Comprehend its mystery,'
"
stand too," he said to himself.
it I don't know
'When was a
1
I little chap I went to Brighton
once; we used to live in Coventry, though, be-
fore we came to London. I never saw it,
" <
When descends on the Atlantic
The gigantic
Storm-wind of the Equinox.' "
"Well, I was
thinking over the story, and
after awhile I got out of bed and wrote down on
a piece of paper the sort of stuff the men might
be supposed to scratch on their oars with the
edges of their handcuffs. It seemed to make
the thing more lifelike. It is so real to me,
y'know."
" Have "
you the paper on you ?
12 Indian Tales
said.
printed."
"But all you've told me would make along
book."
" Make it then. You've only to sit down and
write it out."
"Give me a little time. Have you any more
"
notions ?
" Not I'm reading all the books I've
just now.
bought. They're splendid."
When he had left I looked at the sheet of note-
paper with the inscription upon it. Then I took
my head tenderly between both hands, to make
certain that it was not coming off or turning
Copyright, 1899, by H. M. Caldwell Co.
" He me
glared at with intention."
"The Finest Story in the World" 13
" "
What do you think of this ? I said one even-
ing, as soon as I understood the medium in which
his memory worked best, and, before he could
expostulate, read him the whole of "The Saga
of KingOlaf!"
He listened open-mouthed, flushed, his hands
drumming on the back of the sofa where he lay,
till Icame to the Song of Einar Tamberskelver
and the verse :
" Einar
then, the arrow taking
From the loosened string,
Answered :
'
That was Norway breaking
"
'Neath thy hand, O King.'
"
How could he have known how the ships
crash and the oars rip out and go z-ftp all along
the line? Why
only the other night. . . .
shouted, incautiously.
He lifted his eyes, fully roused now. "No!"
"
he snapped. I wish you'd let a chap go on
reading. Hark to this:
" But Othere, the old sea captain,
He neither paused nor stirred
Till the king listened, and then
Once more took up his pen
And wrote down every word.
11
\
beg your pardon," Charlie said, uneasily;
"I didn't know you had any one with you."
" I am 1 '
said Grish Chunder.
going,
He drew me into the lobby as he departed.
" That is
your man," he said, quickly. "I tell
you he will never speak all
you wish. That is
" We pulled for you when the wind was against us and the
sails were low.
Will you never let us go ?
We and onions when you took towns or ran aboard
ate bread
thresh and tie up the winds in the belly of the sail. Aho !
"
Will you never let us go ?
' '
"
What's oar-thresh, Charlie ?
H'm.
"The water washed up by the oars. That's
the sort of song they might sing in the galley, y'
know. Aren't you ever going to finish that story
and give me some of the profits ?"
" It
depends on yourself. If you had only told
me more about your hero in the first instance it
might have been finished by now. You're so
hazy in your notions."
"I
only want to give you the general notion of
it the knocking about from place to place and
"The Finest Story in the World" 39
protested.
"No, no, not that ship. That was open, or
half decked because By Jove you're right.
40 Indian Tales
" "
I don'tAre you making fun of me ?
know.
The current was broken for the time being. I
took up a notebook and pretended to make
many entries in it.
me.
Had my eyes not been held I
might have
known that that broken muttering over the fire
was the swan-song of Charlie Mears. But I
thought it the prelude to fuller revelation. At
last and at last I should cheat the Lords of Life
and Death!
When next Charlie came to me I received him
with rapture. He was nervous and embarrassed,
but his eyes were very full of light, and his lips
a little parted.
"I've done a poem," he said; and then,
"
quickly: it's the best I've ever done. Read it."
He thrust it into my hand and retreated to the
window.
I
groaned inwardly. It would be the work of
half an hour to criticise that is to say praise
the poem sufficiently to please Charlie. Then I
speech.
Charlie looked up as though he had been hit.
"The galley what galley ? Good heavens, don't
joke, man! This is serious! You don't know
"
how serious it is !
"
MARY, Mother av Mercy, fwhat the divil pos-
sist us to take an' kepe this melancolius coun-
thry ?Answer me that, sorr."
It was Mulvaney who was speaking. The
time was one o'clock of a stifling June night, and
the place was the main gate of Fort Amara, most
desolate and least desirable of all fortresses in
India. What I was doing there at that hour is a
question which only concerns M'Grath the Ser-
geant of the Guard, and the men on the gate.
" "
Slape,'' said is a shuparfluous ne-
Mulvaney,
cessity. This gyard'll shtay lively till relieved."
He himself was stripped to the waist; Learoyd on
the next bedstead was dripping from the skinful
of water which Ortheris, clad only in white
trousers, had just sluiced over his shoulders; and
49
50 Indian Tales
" 'There's
damned little sugar in ut!\sez my
rear-rank man but Crook heard. ;
Paythans.
"'Knee to knee!' sings out Crook, wid a
laugh whin the rush av our comin' into the gut
With the Main Guard 57
he Tyrone was
'
Breast to breast! sez, as the
was
Sargint that
behin'. I saw a sword out past Crook's ear,
lick
an' the Paythan was tuk in the apple av his throat
like a pig at Dromeen fair.
" Thank'
through ?
we swung, we
swore, an' the grass bein'
an'
"
Fwhat
'
ails the Tyrone
?' thinks I; 'they've
the makin's av a most convanient fight here.'
" A man
behind me sez beseechful an' in a
6o Indian Tales
"
Mary give me room beside ye, ye tall man !
insolint !
graceful !
anything ?
" Where's a
* '
British Arrmy !
ut Silver's Theatre.
"The little orf'cer bhoy av the Tyrone was
thremblin' an' cryin'. He had no heart for the
'
Coort-martials that he talked so big upon. Ye'll
do well later,' sez Crook, very quiet, 'for not
bein' allowed to kill yourself for amusemint.'
" ' I'm a '
ye done ?
'
" '
"The
Staff 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.
'
was his
I
big sword."
Wee Willie Winkle 75
" "
How
camp-fire at the bottom of the garden.
could he have foreseen that the flying sparks
would have lighted the Colonel's little.. hayrick
and consumed a -week's- store for the horses?
Sudden and swift was the punishment "dJjprTva-
tion of the good-conduct-badgejiiid, most sor-
rowful of all, two days' confinement to barracks
the house and veranda coupled with the with-
drawal of the light of his father's countenance.
He took the sentence like the man he strove to
be, drew himself up with a quivering under-lip,
saluted, and, once clear of the room, ran to weep
bitterlyin his called
nursery him "
by my quar-
ters." Coppy came in the afternoon and at-
tempted to console the culprit.
" I'm under Wee Willie Win-
awwest," said
kie, mournfully, "and I didn't ought to speak to
you."
Very early the next morning he climbed on to
the roof of the house that was not forbidden
and beheld Miss Allardyce going for a ride.
" Where are
you going?" cried Wee Willie
Winkie.
"Across the river," she answered, and trotted
forward.
Now the cantonment in which the i95th lay
was bounded on the north by a river dry in the
winter. From his earliest years, Wee Willie
Winkie had been forbidden to go across the
Wee Willie Winkie 81
fearfully."
The child sat still for a little time and Miss
Allardyce closed her eyes; the pain was nearly
making her faint. She was roused by Wee
Willie Winkie tying up the reins on his pony's
neck and setting it freewith a vicious cut of his
whip that made it whicker. The little animal
headed toward the cantonments.
" "
Oh, Winkie WBafare^you doing ?
!
j
would come to me if I sent Jack home."
"You're a hero, Winkie," said Coppy "a
pukka hero!"
"I don't know what vat means," said Wee
Willie Winkie, "but you mustn't call me Win-
kie any no more. I'm Percival Will'am Wil-
rams."
And in thismanner did Wee Willie Winkie
enter into his manhood.
93
"
Gaire old brandy, and see that you get it. If
"
Band-Sergeant. Yes," said the Colonel, "take
it to Hell, and ride there yourselves!"
The Band-Sergeant saluted, hoisted the skeleton
across his saddle-bow, and led off to the stables.
Then the Colonel began to make inquiries for the
rest of theRegiment, and the language he used
was wonderful. He -would disband the Regi-
ment he would court-martial every soul in it-
he would not command such a set of rabble, and
so on, and so on. As the men dropped in, his
107
io8 Indian Tales
' '
basket-woman. There is a very bad air here
because of the lamps."
"Put them "why do you
out," said Janki;
"
want lamps ? The lamps were put out and the
sat still in the utter dark. Somebody
company
rose quietly and began walking over the coals.
It was Janki, who was touching the walls with
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
122 Indian Tales
was.'*
"Hillo! And those were the cattle that you
"
risked your life to clear out of Twenty-Two!
'
'
'But what do you know about Polonius?" I
demanded. This was a new side of Mulvaney's
character.
"All that Shakespeare iver wrote an' a dale
more that the gallery shouted," said the man of
war, carefully lacing his boots. "Did I not tell
you av Silver's theatre in Dublin, whin I was
younger than I am now an' a patron av the
drama ? Ould Silver wud never pay actor-man
or woman their just dues, an' by consequince his
comp'nies was collapsible at the last minut. Thin
the bhoys wud clamor to take a part, an' oft as
not ould Silver made them pay for the fun.
Faith, I've seen Hamlut played wid a new black
eye an' the queen as full as a cornucopia. I re-
mimber wanst Hogin that 'listed in the Black
Tyrone an' was shot in South Africa, he sejuced
ould Silver into givin' him, Hamlut's part instid
av me that had a fine fancy for rhetoric in those
days. Av course I wint into the gallery an' be-
pit wid other people's hats,
fill the an' I
gan to
passed the time av day to Hogin walkin' through
Denmark like a hamstrung mule wid a pall on his
back. 'Hamlut,' sez I, 'there's a hole in your
heel. Pull up your Hamlut/ sez I.
shtockin's,
'
My shtockin's
The Courting of Dinah Shadd 135
I
passed Ortheris's bayonet for a poker.
"That shows how little we know what we
do," said Mulvaney, putting it aside. "Fire
takes all the heart out av the steel, an' the next
138 Indian Tales
Sez I
'
to mesilf, For the glory av ut! Sez me-
that fill these two strong arrums
'
silf to me, Will
av yours, Terence?' 'Go to the devil,' sez I to
mesilf. 'Go to the married lines,' sez mesilf to
me. '
Tis the same thing,' sez I to mesilf. Av '
no more/ sez I.
'D'you mane that?' sez ould
Mother Shadd, lookin' atme side-ways like a hen
looks at a hawk whin the chickens are runnin'
The Courting of Dinah Shadd 143
free.
'
'
ut,' sez I, or I'll lave no bone av you unbreak-
able.' 'Speak to Dempsey,' sez he howlin'.
'
Dempsey which ?
stand up !
sez.
" Ask '
apron.
" That's for me to say,' '
sez say ut
'
I. Shall I ?'
The Courting of Dinah Shadd 147
darlin' ? sez I.
" 'Your
your bloody cheek,' sez she, duckin'
her little head down on my sash (I was on duty
for the day) an' whimperin' like a sorrowful
angil.
"Now a man cud take that two ways. 1 tuk
ut as pleased me best an' my first kiss wid ut.
Mother av Innocence! but I kissed her on the tip
av the nose and undher the eye an' a girl that ;
Judy.
" be
'
'
No/ sez I.
'
Why should 1 ?
" Somethin'
'
very sweet,' sez I; an' for the
sinful life av me I cud not help lookin' at her out
av the corner av my eye, as I was used to look at
a woman.
" '
Go on wid '
You're a
ye, corp'ril,' sez she.
flint.'
" 'On me sowl I'm not,' sez I.
" 'There's a
dale to be said on both sides av
that/ sez I, unthinkin'.
'"Say your own part av ut, then, Terence,
'
darlin'/ sez she ;
for begad I'm thinkin' I've said
too much or too little for an honest girl/ an' wid
150 Indian Tales
forgettin'.
" 'Will
ye not step in ?' sez Dinah, pretty and
polite, though the Shadds had no dealin's with
the Sheehys. Old Mother Shadd looked up
quick, an' she was the fust to see the throuble;
forDinah was her daughter.
"'I'm pressed for time to-day,' sez Judy as
an' I've only come for Terence,
'
bould as brass ;
" '
At the Sheehys' quarthers ? sez Dinah very
'
" 'You
lie,' sez ould Mother Sheehy, 'an' may
mane.'
" When
'
Chorus.
Chorus.
An' . . .
very next night 'twas so.
Chorus.
Ho ! don't you go for a corp'ral
Unless your 'ed is clear ;
But I was an ass when I was at grass,
An' that is why I'm 'ere.
Chorus.
polo-ball was an
old one, scarred, chipped,
THE and dinted. stood on the mantelpiece
It
seemly.
Muhammad Din never had any companions.
He used compound, in and out
to trot about the
of the castor-oil bushes, on mysterious errands of
his own. One day I stumbled upon some of his
handiwork far down the grounds. He had half
buried the polo-ball in dust, and stuck six shriv-
eled old marigold flowers in a circle round it.
i66 Indian Tales
There was but little light from the stars, and mid-
way to the shoal a branch of the stinking deodar
tree brushed mouth as I swam. That was a
my
sign of heavy rain in the foot-hills and beyond,
for the deodar is a strong tree, not easily shaken
from the hillsides. I made haste, the river aid-
ing me, but ere I had touched the shoal, the pulse
of the stream beat, as it were, within me and
around, and, behold, the shoal was gone and I
rode high on the crest of a wave that ran from
bank to bank. Has the Sahib ever been cast into
much water that fightsand will not let a man use
his limbs ? To me, my head upon the water, it
upon the body under the stars, for the latter end
of the -night was clear, and hid Her face in Her
hands, crying: "It is the body of Hirnam
Singh!" I said: "The swine is of more use
dead than living, my Beloved," and She said:
"Surely, for he has saved the dearest life in the
world to my love. None the less, he cannot
stay here, for that would bring shame upon me."
The body was not a gunshot from her door.
Then said I, rolling the body with my hands :
185
i86 Indian Tales
bungalow. He
either chatters senilely, or falls
into the long trances of age. In both moods he
is useless. If you get angry with him, he refers
"
flung back, and the inner door opened. That's
"
some Sub-Deputy Assistant," I said, and he has
brought his friends with him. Now
they'll talk
and and smoke for an hour."
spit
But there were no voices and no footsteps.
No one was putting his luggage into the next
room. The door shut, and thanked Providence
I
dirty man!"
Kadir Baksh did not say that he had taken
from each gang two annas for rent in advance,
and then, beyond my earshot, had beaten them
with the big green umbrella whose use could I
198 Indian Tales
stayed for the night, while the wind and the rat
and the sash and the window-bolt played a ding-
dong "hundred and fifty up." Then the wind
ran out and the billiards stopped, and I felt that I
had ruined my one genuine, hall-marked ghost
story.
Had I only stopped at the proper time, I could
have made anything out of it.
That was the bitterest thought of all!
THE BIG DRUNK DRAF
We're goin' 'ome, we're goin' 'ome
Our ship is at the shore,
An' you mus' pack your 'aversack,
For we won't come back no more.
Ho, don't you grieve for me,
"Thin I knew
ut was a draf of the ould rig'-
mint, an* was conshumed wid sorrow for the
I
'
civil tongue in
your rag-box.
"
Wid that 1 stretched Scrub Greene an' wint
to the orf cer's tent. 'Twas a new little bhoy
not wan I'd iver seen before. He was sittin'
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.
11 ' *
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 friends.
Tis no manner av use thryin' to shtop the divil-
mint now.'
" Wid that I wint out into the camp an' inthro-
juced mysilf to ivry man sober enough to remim-
ber me. was some wan in the ould days, an'
I
me
Peg him out!
'
orf cer bhoy, up loud,
sez
just as if 'twas battalion-p'rade an' he pickin' his
wurrds from the Sargint.
"The non-coms tuk Peg Barney a howlin'
handful he was an' in three minuts he was
pegged out chin down, tight-dhrawn on his
stummick, a tent-peg to each arm an' leg,
swearin' fit to turn a naygur white.
" tuk a peg an' ut into his ugly jaw.
I
jammed
'
Bite on that, Peg Barney/ I sez; 'the night is
settin' frosty, an' you'll be wantin' divarsion be-
fore the mornin'. But for the Rig'lations you'd
212 Indian Tales
" "
Fighting again," said he. I'll
report you to
my father, and he'll report you to the Color-Ser-
geant."
"
"What's that to you ? said Jakin, with an un-
pleasant dilation of the nostrils.
"Oh! nothing to me. You'll get into trouble,
and you've been up too often to afford that."
"What the Hell do you know about what
we've done?" asked Lew the Seraph. " You
aren't in the Army, you lousy, cadging civilian."
He closed in on the man's left flank.
"Jes' 'cause you two gentlemen settlin'
find
their diffrences with their
fistes you stick in your
practice.
"'Said I
might be a bloomin' Bandmaster, an'
be asked in to 'ave a glass o' sherry-wine on
Mess-nights."
" Ho 'Said
!
you might be a bloomin' non-com-
batant, did 'e! That's just about wot 'e would
'
by D. E. &
Piggy* you're a
Co.
" An' all the kissin' in the world isn't like 'avin'
swore from dawn till far into the night amid the
wind-driven chaff of the fodder-bales and the
lowing of a thousand steers.
"
Hurry up you're badly wanted at the Front,"
was the message that greeted the Fore and Aft,
and the occupants of the Red Cross carriages
told the same tale.
feebly.
" can take off a man's arm at the shoulder as
It
" '
you women
'
'
Get back ! Get back, you cowards, !
The Drums of the Fore and Aft 265
"
The two boys marched out of the cover of the rock into the
open."
The Drums of the Fore and Aft 267
said the Colonel. Yet for the past hour the Fore
and Aft had been doing all that mortal com-
mander could expect. They had lost heavily be-
cause they did not know how to set about their
business with proper skill, but they had borne
themselves gallantly, and this was their reward.
A young and sprightly Color-Sergeant, who
had begun to imagine himself a hero, offered his
water-bottle to a Highlander, whose tongue was
black with thirst. "I drink with no cowards,"
answered the youngster, huskily, and, turning to
a Gurkha, said, " Hya, Johnny! Drink water got
"
it ? The Gurkha grinned and passed his bottle.
The Fore and Aft said no word.
The Drums of the Fore and Aft 275
bally run!"
"But they came again as we all know," cooed
the Brigadier, the Colonel's ashy-white face be-
fore him, "and they behaved as well as could
ONCE
made a new Heaven and a new Earth out
of broken tea-cups, a missing brooch or two,
and a hair-brush. These were hidden under
brushes, or stuffed into holes in the hillside,
and an entire Civil Service of subordinate Gods
used to find or mend them
again and every one ;
"Let me
despatch a Sending," said Dana Da;
" am now with want, and drink,
I
nearly dead
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 except 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 thiswere possible, he notified
his willingness to give Dana Da ten rupees for
the job.
"I am not what was once," said Dana Da,
I
Dana was
a curiosity.
Da's letter It bore the
293
294 Indian Tales
ity 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
298 Indian Tales
"
a Yahoudi! He spat into the City Ditch with
apologies for allowing national feelings to over-
come him. "Though I have lost every belief in
" and
the world," said he, 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," said at random she was talking to
I
said:
} never went to
r
]}
the Fort while Khem Sir.jr
then within its
walls knew him only as . head seen
from Lalun s window a grey
hea,^ a harsh
voice. But natives told me that, day Sr as
^
he looked upon the fair lands round Am,
ra ^ s
memory came back to him and, with it, tl.^
hatred against the Government that had l
^
een
nearly effaced in far-off Burma. So he raged
up
and down the West face of the Fort from mon,_
ing till noon and from evening till the night, de-
vising vain things in his heart, and croaking war-
songs when Lalun sang on the City wall. As
he grew more acquainted with the Subaltern he
unburdened his old heart of some of the passions
that had withered it. "Sahib," he used to say,
"
tapping his stick against the parapet, when I
was a young man I was one of twenty thousand
horsemen who came out of the City and rode
round the plain here. Sahib, I was the leader of
a hundred, then of a thousand, then of five thou-
sand, and now!" he pointed to his two serv-
On the City Wall 309
if could.
I Hold me fast, Sahib, lest I get away
and return to those who would follow me. I
forgot them when I was in Burma, but now that
I am in my own country again, I remember
everything."
"Do you remember that you have given me
your Honor not to make your tendance a hard
"
matter ? said the Subaltern.
"Yes, to you, only to you, Sahib," said Khem
Singh. "To you, because you are of a pleasant
countenance. If my turn comes again, Sahib, I
the warm
heat of the latter Rains gave place to
the chill of early October almost before I was
aware of the flight of the year. The Captain
commanding the Fort returned from leave and
took over charge of Khem Singh according to the
laws of seniority. The Captain was not a nice
man. He called all natives " niggers," which,
besides being extreme bad form, shows gross
ignorance.
"What's the use of telling off two Tommies
to watch that old nigger?" said he.
"
fancy it soothes his vanity," said the Subal-
I
Lalun's silver
huqa mark of office.
for
All day the Mohurrum drums beat in the City,
and all day deputations of tearful Hindu gentle-
316 Indian Tales
pince-ne^.
"It is only half-past eight." The company
rose and departed.
"Some of them were men from Ladakh," said
"
Lalun, when the last had gone. They brought
me brick-tea such as the Russians sell, and a tea-
urn from Peshawur. Show me, now, how the
there!"
The Garrison Artillery, who to the last cher-
ished 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 Muham-
madans from firing the houses of a few leading
Hindus. The bulk of the riot lay in the north
and northwest wards. The east and southeast
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 Wali Dad. The
house was unlighted, 'but the door was open,
and climbed upstairs in the darkness. One
I
Song of the G. R.
to the
" drum-drum-drum " of the
listening
hoofs behind, and knowing that, in about
twenty strides, Shackles would draw one deep
breath and go up the last half-mile like the
"
Fly-
ing Dutchman." As Shackles went short to take
the turn and came abreast of the brick-mound,
Brunt heard, above the noise of the wind in his
ears, a whining, wailing voice on the offside,
lovely afternoon."
The noise of the firing grew louder, and there
was a tramping of men in the wood. The two
lay very quiet, for they knew that the British
soldier is desperately prone to fire at anything
that moves or calls. Then Learoyd appeared, his
tunic ripped across the breast by a bullet, look-
ing ashamed of himself. He flung down on the
pine-needles, breathing in snorts.
" One o' them damned gardeners o' th'
" Firin' to
Pickles," said he, fingering the rent.
th' right flank, when he knowed was I there. If I
"
Happen there was a lass tewed up wi' it.
Men do more than more for th' sake of a lass."
"They make most av us 'list. They've no
manner av right to make us desert."
"Ah; they make us 'list, or their fathers do,"
said Learoyd, softly, his helmet over his eyes.
Ortheris's brows contracted savagely. He was
"
watching the valley. If it's a girl I'll shoot the
'
looked at many and many a time at after. Yo're
to lie still while Dr. Warbottom comes, because
where Jesse and she led the singin', th' old man
playin' the fiddle. He was a strange chap, old
Jesse, fair mad wi' music, an' he made me prom-
ise to learn the big fiddle when my arm was bet-
ter. It belonged to him, and it stood up in a big
On Greenhow Hill 353
I become what
so they call a changed character.
And when I think on, it's hard to believe as yon
chap going to prayermeetin's, chapel, and class-
On Greenhow Hill 355
Jock?"
" There was one
thing they boggled at, and
almost shut th' gate i' my face for, and that were
my dog Blast, th' only one saved out o' a litter o'
pups as was blowed up when a keg o' minin'
mustn't fight."
Sympathetic grunts from Mulvaney.
"So what wi' singin', practicin', and class-
meetin's, and th' big fiddle, as he made me take
Indian Tales
i'
my head.They was so good, th' chapel folk,
that they tumbled ower t'other side. But stuck I
" '
She'll be better i' noo, lad better i' noo,' he
used to say. 'Tha mun ha' patience.' Then
they said if I was quiet I might go in, and th'
Reverend Amos Barraclough used to read to her
lyin' propped up among th' pillows. Then she
began to mend a bit, and they let me carry her
on to th' settle, and when it got warm again she
went about same as afore. Th' preacher and me
and Blast was a deal together them days, and i' i'
says I.
" '
I've often
thought as thou ought to know/
says he, 'but 'twas
hard to tell thee. 'Liza
Roantree's for neither on us, nor for nobody o'
this earth. Dr. Warbottom says and he knows
her, and her mother before her that she is in a
decline, and she cannot live six months longer.
He's known it for many a day. Steady, John !
'
Steady !
says he. And that weak little man
pulled me further back and set me again' him,
and talked it all over quiet and still, me turnin' a
bunch o' candles in my hand, and counting them
ower and ower again as listened. A deal on it I
away, and this were th' regular road for the likes
o' me. I 'listed there and then, took th' Widow's,
Judge Thou
The sin of the Stone that was hurled
By the Goat from the light of the Sun,
As She sinks in the mire of the Tarn,
Even now even now even now !
how
does it go ? But
my head rides on the on the dunghill I
rolls
" Have
you so many, then, Mclntosh ?"
"
Certainly; your attempts at sarcasm which is
I
bequeath it to you. Ethel ... My brain
again! . Mrs. Mclntosh, bear witness that
. .
I
give the Sahib all these
papers. They would be
of no use to you, Heart of my Heart; and I lay it
upon you," he turned to me here, "that you do
not let my book die in its present form. It is
and not I
myself wrote the Book of Mother Ma-
turin.
I don't want the Giant's Robe to come true in
my case.
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING
" Brother to a Prince and fellow to a beggar if he be found
worthy."
andwe will
show him how to drill men; for that we know
better than anything else. Then we will subvert
that King and seize his Throne and establish a
Dy-nasty."
"You'll be cut to pieces before you're fifty
miles across the Border," I said. "You have to
travel through Afghanistan to get to that coun-
good-f6rtune."
The two, then, were beyond the Border. I
would have prayed for them, but, that night, a
real King died in Europe, and demanded on obit-
uary notice.
"
he whimpered. For the Lord's sake, give me a
drink!"
I went back to the office, the man following
with groans of pain, and I turned up the lamp.
"Don't you know me ?" he gasped, dropping
4 IQ Indian Tales
;
'
No;
but when one of the old priests and the boss of
the village brings him food, he says 'Yes;'
very haughty, and eats it slow. That was how
we came to our first village, without any trouble,
quiet.
"One morning I heard the devil's own noise
of drums and horns, and Dan Dravot marches
down the hill with his Army and a tail of hun-
dreds of men, and, which was the most amazing
a great gold crown on his head.
'
My Gord,
Carnehan,' says Daniel, 'this is a tremenjus
business, and we've got the whole country as
far as it's worth having. I am the son of
Alexander by Queen Semiramis, and you're my
younger brother and a God too! It's the biggest
thing we've ever seen. I've been marching and
I
says to Dan.
'Does he know
word?' 'He does,' says
the
Dan, 'and all the priests know. It's a miracle!
lages.'
"'It's againstall the law/ I
says, 'holding a
Lodge without warrant from any one; and we
never held office in any Lodge.'
" It's a master-stroke of
'
now,' I
says.
'
That comes of meddling with the
424 Indian Tales
"
I
stayed in Ghorband a month, and gave the
Governor there the pick of my baskets for hush-
money, and bribed the Colonel of the regiment
some more, and, between the two and the tribes-
people, we got more than a hundred hand-made
Martinis, a hundred good Kohat Jezails that'll
throw to six hundred yards, and forty man-loads
of very bad ammunition for the rifles. came I
I'll make
'
I
talking I
says
said wife to breed a King's son for the
a Queen
King. A Queen
out of the strongest tribe, that'll
make them your blood-brothers, and that'll lie by
your side and tell you all the people thinks about
you and their own affairs. That's what I want.'
" 'Do
you remember that Bengali woman I
kept at Mogul Serai when I was a plate-layer?'
says I. A fat lot o' good she was to me. She
'
the running-shed!
"'We've done with that,' says Dravot.
'
These women are whiter than you or me, and
a Queen have for the winter months.'
I will
" '
time o' asking, Dan, do not,' I
For the last
'
I'll stick
by you to-day. I have twenty of my
men with me, and they will follow me. We'll
go to Bashkai until the storm blows over.'
"A snow had fallen in
little the night, and
everything was white except the greasy fat
clouds that blew down and down from the north.
Dravot came out with his crown on his head,
swinging his arms and stamping his feet, and
looking more pleased than Punch.
" For the last
'
'
Ruin and Mutiny is the matter. We'll break for
Bashkai if we can.'
"I tried to give some sort of orders to my
men the men o' the regular Army but it was
no use, so fired into the brown of 'em with an
I
in a
English Martini and drilled three beggars
line. The valley was full of shouting, howling
'
They are
waiting for us.'
"Three or four men began to fire from the
enemy's side, and a chance shot took Daniel in
the calf of the leg. That brought him to his
senses. He looks across the snow at the Army,
and sees the rifles that we had brought into the
country.
"
'We're done for/ says he. 'They are Eng-
lishmen, these people, and it's my blasted non-
sense that has brought you to this. Get back,
Billy Fish, and take your men away; you've
440 Indian Tales
done what you could, and now cut for it. Car-
nehan,' says he, shake hands with me and go
'
"
Dravot Look at him now
! !
sionary.
Two days later I inquired after his welfare of
the Superintendent of the Asylum.
"He was admitted suffering from sunstroke.
He died early yesterday morning," said the
Superintendent. true that he was half an
"Is it
bearings. He
spoke, chewing his pipe-stem
meditatively the while:
" Go forth, return in glory,
To
Clusium's royal 'ome :
An' round these bloomin' temples 'ang
The bloomin' shields o' Rome.
superior mind.
They sat them down, the men looking on from
afar, and Mulvaney untangled himself in mighty
words.
" scheme wint out into
Folio win' your fools' I
'
but a great dale to you, for begad I'm thinkin'
468 Indian Tales
' '
Dom t' coolies. Has't gotten t' cheer, man ? "
said Learoyd.
"Hould on. Havin' onearthed this amazin'
an' stupenjus fraud committed by the man Dears-
ley, I hild a council av war; he thryin' all the
time to sejuce me wid opprobrious
into a fight
*
sez I, but subsequintly, Mister Dearsley,
this day,
me we talk ut out lengthways. Tis
rafflin' jool,
will/ sez I, 'but not this day, for I'm rejuced for
want av nourishment.' 'Ye're an ould bould
hand/ sez he, sizin' me up an' down; 'an' a jool
av a fight we will have. Eat now an' dhrink,
an' go your way.' Wid that he gave me some
hump an' whisky good whisky an' we talked
av this an' that the while.
'
It goes hard on me
now/ sez I, wipin' my mouth, 'to confiscate that
pable of anything.
"Get into ut, av coorse, and keep wan eye
open through the curtains. Whin I see a likely
man av the native persuasion, I will descind
'
blushin' from my canopy and say, Buy a pal-
black scutt ?' I will have to hire four
anquin, ye
men to carry me first, though; and that's impos-
sible next pay-day."
till
windy."
"Yes," said I, "but where?"
gang."
"For all that, I wish we had a few more of
them. I like a well-conducted regiment, but
these pasty-faced, shifty-eyed, mealy-mouthed
young slouchers from the depot worry me some-
times with their offensive virtue. They don't
seem to have backbone enough to do anything
but play cards and prowl round the married
quarters. I believe I'd forgive that old villain on
the spot if he turned up with any sort of explana-
tion that I could in decency accept."
The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney 483
dance, I
begin to feel like a naygur-man all fear-
ful an' timoreous. Give me a pipe an' I'll tell on."
He lit resumed his grip of his two
a pipe,
friends, and rocked to and fro in a gale of laugh-
ter.
thin I
slept like the dead. Wanst 1
half-roused,
an' begad the noise in my head was tremenjus
roarin' and rattlin' an' poundin', such as was
'
a Maharanee."
"The temple of Prithi-Devi/' I murmured, re-
membering the monstrous horrors of that sculp-
tured archway at Benares.
"Pretty Devilskins, savin' your presence, sorr!
There was nothin' pretty about ut, except me.
Twas all half dhark, an' whin the coolies left
"
Only say
You'll be Mrs. Brallaghan.
Don't say nay,
Charmin' Judy Callaghan.
was to
get away clear. So I tuk him by his
greasy throat an' shut the speech out av him.
'
'
Out! sez I. Which way, ye fat
'
heathen ?'
'Oh!' sez he. 'White man, sol-
'Man/ sez I.
up an' down
the passage twice to collect his sen-
sibilities! Be quiet/ sez he, in English. 'Now
'
"
Bang upon the big drum, bash upon the cymbals,
As we go marchin' along, boys, oh !
wife ? How
could he, despite his wisdom, guess
that his mother had chosen to make of it excuse
for a bar and a division between herself and her
husband, that strengthened and grew harder to
break with each year; that she, having unearthed
this skeleton in the cupboard, had trained it into
a household God which should be about their
as much
as his nature admitted, in some sort of
recompense for what she called "the hard ways
of his Papa and Mamma." She, like her charge,
knew nothing of the trouble between man and
wife the savage contempt for a woman's stu-
pidity on the one side, or the dull, rankling anger
on the other. Miss Biddums had looked after
many little children in her time, and served in
many establishments. Being a discreet woman,
she observed little and said less, and, when her
pupils went over the sea to the Great Unknown
which she, with touching confidence in her hear-
ers, called "Home,'' packed up her slender be-
" As ve wiban?"
can help."
"Isn't anyfmg,"sniffed His Majesty, mind-
ful of his manhood, and raising his head from
the motherly bosom upon which it was rest-
"
ing. only fought vat you you petted Patsie
I
fellow!"
With simple craft, the Commissioner's wife
called on Mrs. Austell and spoke long and lov-
5io Indian Tales
treat' Patsie!"
Thenceforward, His Majesty the King was an
honored guest at the Commissioner's house, and
the chosen friend of Patsie, with whom he blun-
dered into as many scrapes as the compound and
the servants' quarters afforded. Patsie's Mamma
was always ready to give counsel, help, and
sympathy, and, if need were and callers few, to
games with an abandon that
enter into their
would have shocked the sleek-haired subalterns
who squirmed painfully in their chairs when they
came to call on her whom they profanely nick-
named " Mother Bunch."
Yet, in spite of Patsie and Patsie's Mamma,
and the love that these two lavished upon him,
His Majesty the King 5 1 1
same as my cart."
His Majesty the King was arguing against his
conscience, and he knew it, for he thought im-
nursery.
"When Mamma asks I will tell," was the salve
that he laid upon But Mamma
his conscience.
never asked, and for three whole days His Majesty
the King gloated over his treasure. It was of no
hog-spear.
The delirium of fever and the excitement of
rapid motion through the air must have taken
away the remnant of my senses. I have a faint
recollection of standing upright in my stirrups,
and of brandishing my hog-spear at the great
white Moon that looked down so calmly on my
mad gallop; and of shouting challenges to the
camel-thorn bushes as they whizzed past. Once
or twice, I believe, I swayed forward on Pornic's
neck, and literally
hung on by my spurs as the
marks next morning showed.
The wretched beast went forward like a thing
possessed, over what seemed to be a limitless
expanse of moonlit sand. Next, I remember,
the ground rose suddenly in front of us, and as
we topped the ascent I saw the waters of the
Sutlej shining like a silver bar below. Then
Pornic blundered heavily on his nose, and we
rolled together down some unseen slope.
I must have lost consciousness, for when I re-
covered I was lying on my stomach in a heap of
soft white sand, and the dawn was beginning to
break dimly over the edge of the slope down
The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes 523
I had
already matured a rough plan of escape
The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes 531
Once_only."
The sensation of nameless terror and abject
fear which had in vain attempted to
I strive
am."
This calm assumption of superiority upset me
not a little,answered peremptorily; "In-
and I
die, and as all these men and women and the one
:
I was on the verge of asking Gunga Dass, but
checked myself, knowing that he would lie.
'We laid the body down on the edge of the
quicksand by the tussocks. It was my intention
to push it out and let it be swallowed up the
only possible mode of burial that I could think of.
I ordered
Gunga Dass to go away.
V 1
^
The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes 55 1
I
pushed the corpse out hastily, and saw it
sink from sight literally in a few seconds. I
dropped out as I
opened the pages. This is
"
But if you knew all this why didn't you get
out before?"
"I did not know it. He told me that he was
working it out a year and a half ago, and how he
was working it out night after night when the
boat had gone away, and he could get out near
the quicksand safely. Then he said that we
would get away together. ButJ_\^as-afraidJJiat
he would leave jneJbehm^jonigjTight when^ he
.
Brahmin."
The prospect of escape had brought Gunga
Dass's caste back to him. He stood up, walked
about and gesticulated violently. Eventually I
managed to make him talk soberly, and he told
me how this Englishman Jhad_spent six months
night after night in exploring, inch by inch^JJie
passage across the (quicksand ;~Ti6w~TTOiad_dfi-
clared it to be simplicity itself up to within about
twenty yards of the river bank after turning, the
flank of the left horn of the horseshoe. This
much he had evidently not completed when
Gunga Dass shot him with his own gun.
In my frenzy of delight at the possibilities of
escape I recollect shaking hands effusively with
Gunga Dass, after we had decided that we were
to make an attempt to get away that very night.
It was weary work waiting throughout the after-
noon.
About ten o'clock, as far as I could judge,
when the Moon had just risen above the lip of
the crater, Gunga Dass made a move for hisjbur-
row__to j>ring out the gur^barrels^ whereby to
measure_our path^ All the other wretched in-
habitants had retired to their lairs long ago. The
guardian boat drifted down-stream some hours
before, and we were utterly alone by the crow-
The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes 555
eyes were rolled back till you could only see the
whites of them and, in the third, the face was
;
Mulvaney.
Ortheris spat into the ditch and shook his head.
"No good seein' 'im now," said Ortheris;
" Vs a
bloomin' camel. Listen."
I heard on the
flags of the veranda opposite to
the cells, which are close to the Guard-Room, a
measured step that I could have identified in the
tramp of an army. There were twenty paces
crescendo, a pause, and then twenty diminuendo.
"That's "
said
'im," Ortheris; my Gawd,
that's
'im! All for a bloomin' button you could see
your face in an' a bit o' lip that a bloomin' Hark-
angel would 'a'
guv back."
Mulvaney was doing pack-drill was com-
pelled, that is to say, to walk up and down
for
certain hours in full marching order, with rifle,
"Very good," I
said; "where are you going
to?"
" Goin' to walk 'im orf wen 'e comes out
two miles or three or fower," said Ortheris.
The footsteps within ceased. heard the I dull
thud of a knapsack falling on a bedstead, fol-
lowed by the rattle of arms. Ten minutes later,
Mulvaney, faultlessly dressed, his lips tight and
his face as black as a thunderstorm, stalked into
the sunshine on the drawbridge. Learoyd and
Ortheris sprang from my side and closed in upon
him, both leaning toward as horses lean upon
the pole. In an instant they had disappeared
down the sunken road to the cantonments, and I
was left alone. Mulvaney had not seen fit to rec-
whispered to Ortheris.
"To walk 'im orf, o' course. When 'e's been
checked we allus walks 'im orf. 'E ain't fit to
be spoke to those times nor 'e ain't fit to leave
alone neither. So we takes 'im till 'e is."
Mulvaney raised his head, and stared straight
into the sunset. "I had my rifle," said he,
dreamily, "an' I had my bay'nit, an' Mullins
came round the corner, an' he looked in my face
'
an* grinned dishpiteful. You can't blow your
own nose/ sez he. Now, I cannot tell fwhat
Mullins's expayrience may ha' been, but, Mother
av God, he was nearer to his death that minut'
than I have iver been to mine and that's less
"
than the thicknuss av a hair!
"Yes," said Ortheris, calmly, "you'd look fine
with all your buttons took orf, an' the Band in
front o' you, walkin' roun* slow time. We're
both front-rank men, me an' Jock, when the
rig'ment's in 'ollow square. Bloomin' fine you'd
look. 'The Lord giveth an' the Lord taketh
awai, Heasy with that there drop! Blessed be
" '
I
deny the imputashin, for fear that Orth'ris here
wud me Ah You wud tip me into the
report !
time, I
say it now. He was a Divil a long,
bould, black-haired Divil."
"Which way ? " asked Ortheris.
"Women."
"Then know I another."
"
Not more than you mane me, ye
in reason, if
warped have
walkin'-shtick. been young, an'
I
" 'Will
ye not help us to do aught/ sez an- '
to do this shootin' ?
'"Fwhat matther?' sez Vulmea. 'Tis Mul-
vaney will do that at the Coort-martial.'
" He
man, 'but whose hand
'
will so,' sez the
'
'
about ?
" Thin
Vulmea, on the flure, raised a howl you
cud hear from wan ind av cantonmints to the
other. 'I'm dead, I'm butchered, I'm blind!' sez
he. have mercy on my sinful sowl!
'Saints
Sind for Father Constant! Oh sind for Father
Constant an' let me go clean
'
By that I knew !
'
" '
Lave me alone,' sez Vulmea; 'I'm dyin'!
'
" 'That's
thrue,' sez he, pulling his moustache;
'
but I do not believe that you, for all your lip,
was in that business.'
" ' '
I cud hammer the out
Sargint,' sez I, life
go mine.'
" We had
no further spache thin or afther, but,
wan by another, he drafted the twelve av my
room out into other rooms an' got thim spread
among the Comp'nies, for they was not a good
breed to live together, an' the Comp'ny orf'cers
saw ut. They wud ha' shot me in the night av
they had known fwhat I knew but that they ;
did not.
"An', in the ind, as I said, O'Hara met his
death from Rafferty for foolin' wid his wife. He
wint his own way too well Eyah, too well!
Shtraight to that affair, widout turnin' to the
right or to the lef, he wint, an' may the Lord
"
have mercy on his sowl. Amin !
self full
length on the wall in the sun. "I'm a
born scutt av the barrick-room The Army's !
He sez only,
'
Portsmith Barricks an' the Ard av
'
a Sunday ! Thin he lay down an' rowled any
ways wid laughin'.
"Whin we was all dhressed, we counted the
dead sivinty-foive dacoits besides wounded.
The Taking of Lungtungpen 607
pretty as picturs.
"Whin I was inviladed for the dysent'ry to
India, I sez to the Lift'nint, 'Sorr,' sez I, 'you've
the makin's in you av a great man; but, av you'll
let an ould sodger spake, you're too fond of the-
ourisin'.' He shuk hands wid me and sez,
'
Hit
high, hit low, there's no plasin' you, Mulvaney.
You've seen me waltzin' through Lungtungpen
like a Red Injin widout the warpaint, an' you say
'
I'm too fond av the-ourisin' ?' Sorr/ sez I, for I
loved the bhoy; I wud waltz wid you in that
'
young orficer.
" To reshume. Fwhat I've said jist shows the
use av three-year-olds. Wud
seasoned fifty
sodgers have taken Lungtungpen in the dhark
that way ? No! They'd know the risk av fever
and chill. Let alone the shootin'. Two hundher'
might have done ut. But the three-year-olds
know an' care less; an' where there's no
little
Evening Hymn*
fair to us both.
Lastyear we m
on the same terms as
rnet_ag
before. The same weary and .the same
appeals,
curt answers from my lips. At least I would
make her see how wholly wrong and hopeless
were her attempts at resuming the old relation-
ship. As the season wore on, we fell apart
thatis to say, she found it difficult to meet me,
side, as I
hope and pray daily for the death I
was close
upon five o'clock of a
cloudy April
afternoon, and the sun had been hidden all day.
I saw
my mistake as soon as the words were out
of my mouth: attempted to recover it; blun-
dered hopelessly and followed Kitt^ in a regal
rage, out of doors, amid the smiles of my
I majde.sornje-xcuse41 have for-
acquaintances.
gotten what) on the score of my feeling faint;
and cantered awayTcTmy HbTdTifeaying Kitty to
finish the ride by herself.
In my room I sat down and tried calmly to
reason out the matter. HfTft w og T
,
T lipob q1 ^ v v*
lack Pansay, a well-educated Bengaj^ CivilianJiL \\
I
certify to your mental cure, and that's as much
as to say I've cured most of your bodily ailments.
Now, get your traps out of this as soon as you
can; and be off to make love to Miss Kitty."
I was endeavoring to express my thanks for
his kindness. He cut me short.
" Don't think I did this because
I like
you. I
"
Singing and murmuring in your feastful mirth,
'
hardly recognized,
"They're confoundedly particular about mo-
rality in these parts. Give 'em fits, Heatherlegh,
.and my love. Now let me sleep a bit longer."
The Phantom 'Rickshaw 639
among shadows.
If I were to describe all the incidents of the
next fortnight in their order, my story would
never come to an end; and your patience would
be exhausted. Morning after morning and even-
ing after evening the ghostly 'rickshaw and I
used to wander through Simla together. Wher-
ever I went there the four black and white liver-
ies followed me and bore me company to and
from my hotel. At the Theatre I found them
amid the crowd of yelling jhampames ; outside
the Club veranda, after a long evening of whist;
at the Birthday Ball, waiting patiently for my re-
sort disappointed.
657
658 Indian Tales
Trap!
not buyin' him I mane, but for the sake o' this
kind, good laady, I'll do what I never dreamt to
"
do in my life. I'll stale him !
good Rip, an' she would nut oppen t' basket till
they were miles away, for fear anybody should
Private Learoyd's Story 669
Tarrant Moss.
" It would
Then, with the of a conspirator,
air
"
Give her back to me, sorr!
Ortheris had passed the treasure to my hand.
It was an absolutely perfect clay, as shiny as the
do?" I said.
"Is ut the shtory that's troublin' you? Av
course will. mint to all I was
I I
along. only
gettin' at ut my own way, as Popp Doggie said
whin they found him thrying to ram a cartridge
"
down the muzzle. Orth'ris, fall away !
am now?"
682 Indian Tales
" Did
ye not say just now that I was flesh and
blood?' sez I. 'I have not changed since/ I
sez an' I kep' my arm where ut was.
;
mints !
"Wid that I
dropped my arm, fell back tu
paces, an' saluted, for I saw that she mint fwhat
she said."
"Then you know something that some men
would give a good deal to be certain of. How
"
could you tell ? I demanded in the interests of
Science.
" Watch the hand," said Mulvaney; "av she
shut her hand tight, thumb down over the
knuckle, take up your hat an' go. You'll only
make a fool av yoursilf av you shtay. But av the
hand opin on the lap, or av you see her
lies
gint ? sez I.
now, who do I
go out wid ? sez I.
"He was a quick man an' a just, an' saw
fwhat wud I be afther.
'
Wid Mrs. Bragin's
husband,' sez he. He might ha' known by me
askin' that favor that I had done him no wrong.
1
'We
wint to the back av the arsenal an' I
stripped to him, an' for ten minutes 'twas all I
cud do to prevent him killin' himself against my
fistes. He was mad as a dumb dog just froth-
ing wid rage; but he had no chanst wid me in
reach, or learnin', or anything else.
" 'Will
ye hear reason?' sez I, whin his first
wind was run out.
" 'Not whoile I can Wid that I
see,' sez he.
sez I.
sez '
the look on Mrs.
:
I I.
By
Bragin s face I think I'm for a dhressin'-down
worse than gave you.'I
"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!'
sez
'
'
bands/ sez an' jww've got a wife too good for
I,
think, but am
not certain, they are the worst
men in the regiment so far as genial
blackguard-
ism goes.
They told me this story, in the Umballa Re-
freshment Room while we were waiting for an
up-train. I
supplied the beer. The tale was
cheap and a half.
at a gallon
All men know Lord Benira Trig. He is a
Duke, or an Earl, or something unofficial; also a
Peer; also a Globe-trotter. On all three counts,
as Ortheris says, "'e didn't deserve no consider-
ation." He was out in India for three months
collecting materials for abook on "Our Eastern
Impedimenta," and quartering himself upon
everybody, like a Cossack in evening-dress.
His particular vice because he was a Radical,
694
The Three Musketeers 695
"
o' the business.'
"Wehild a Council av War," continued Mul-
'
a doin' of, Sahibs ? sez 'e. Learoyd 'e caught
"
'im by the ear an 'e sez
"Ah says," went on Learoyd, 'Young mon,
thatmon's gooin' to have t' goons out o' Thurs-
day to-morrow an' thot's more work for you,
young mon. Now, sitha, tak' a tat an' a lookrt,
an' ride tha domdest to t' Padsahi Cotch thot
Jhil.
there hekka, and tell t' driver iv your
lingo thot
you've coom to tak' his place. T' Sahib doesn't
speak t' bat, an' he's a little mon. Drive t' hekka
into t' Padsahi Jhil into t' watter. Leave t' Sahib
"
theer an' roon hoam; an' here's a rupee for tha.'
Then Mulvaney and Ortheris spoke together in
alternate fragments:
Mulvaney leading [You must
pick out the two speakers as best you can]:
" He
was a knowin' little divil was Bhuldoo, 'e
sez bote achee an' cuts wid a wink in his oi
The Three Musketeers 699
" Thin
we
heard Bhuldoo, the dacoit, shoutin'
to the hekka man, an' wan of the young divils
'
sez we. Tis a woild dissolute Pathan frum the
hills. There's about eight av thim coercin' the
Sahib. You remimber that an you'll get another
rupee 1
'
Thin we heard the whop-whop-whop av
the hekka turnin' over, an' a splash av water an'
the voice av Benira Thrigg callin' upon God to
forgive his sins an' Buldoo an' 'is friends squot-
terin' inthe water like boys in the Serpentine."
Here the Three Musketeers retired simulta-
neously into the beer.
" Well ? What came next ?
"
said I.
"An' my
privit imprisshin is," said Mulvaney,
getting off the bar and turning his glass upside
down, "that, av they had known they wudn't
have brought ut home. Tis flyin' in the face,
firstly av Nature, secon' av the Rig'lations, an'
third the will av Terence Mulvaney, to hold
p'rades av Thursdays."
"Good, ma son!" said Learoyd; "but, young
mon, what's t' notebook for?"
"Let be," said Mulvaney; "this time next
month we're in the Sherapis. Tis immortial fame
the gentleman's goin' to give us. But kape it
A MANown
White go
his
should, whatever happens,
caste, race and breed.
to the White and the Black
keep to
Let the
to the
Black. Then, whatever trouble falls is in the
ordinary course of things neither sudden, alien
nor unexpected.
This is the story of a man who wilfully stepped
beyond the safe limits of decent everyday so-
ing alone.
One day, the man Trejago his name was
came into Amir Nath's Gully on an aimless wan-
dering; and, after he had passed the buffaloes,
stumbled over a big heap of cattle-food.
Then he saw that the Gully ended in a trap,
and heard a little laugh from behind the grated
window. It was a pretty little laugh, and Tre-
jago, knowing that, for all practical purposes, the
old Arabian Nights are good guides, went for-
ward to the window, and whispered that verse
of "The Love Song of Har Dyal" which begins:
They have taken my Beloved, and driven her with the pack-
horses to the North.
There are iron chains on the feet that were set on my heart.
Call'to the bowmen to make ready
"
gerin' at ? Do you misdoubt me ?
"Devil a doubt!" said Ortheris; "but I've
"
'eard summat like that before!
'
cut,' sez I, an' by the grace av God, 'tis Terence
'
I
slips outside and into the kyart. Mother av
Hivin but I made that horse walk, an* we came
!
began to howl.
"'You black lump av dirt,' I sez, Ms this the
ivry man
'
attenshin an' saluted: Sorr,' sez I, 'av
in this wurruld had his rights, I'm thinkin' that
more than wan wud be beaten to a jelly for this
night's work that niver came of? at all, sorr, as
"
Pray to the Saints, you may niver see cholera
in a throop-thrain Tis like the judgmint av
!
sez I. Was I
goin' to let a three-
days.
THE MADNESS OF PRIVATE
ORTHERIS
Oh Where
! would I be when my froat was dry ?
Oh Where
! would I be when the bullets fly ?
Oh Where
! would I be when I come to die ?
Why,
Somewheres anigh my chum.
If 'e's liquor 'e'll give me some.
How much Bass wid the label did that ravin' child
dhrink?"
"Tain't Bass," said Ortheris. "It's a bitterer
"
beer nor that. 'omesickness!
It's
" Now!
up a Private of the Line, he said shortly,
Come on. What nex' ? D'ye mean fair. What
must do to get out o' this 'ere a-Hell ?"
I