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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16578-8.txt b/16578-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..50ea0ee --- /dev/null +++ b/16578-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7576 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Kipling Reader, by Rudyard Kipling + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Kipling Reader + Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling + +Author: Rudyard Kipling + +Release Date: August 21, 2005 [EBook #16578] +Last updated: March 27, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KIPLING READER *** + + + + +Produced by Roy Brown + + + + + +THE KIPLING READER + +SELECTIONS FROM THE BOOKS OF RUDYARD KIPLING + +NEW AND REVISED EDITION + +MACMILLAN AND CO, LIMITED +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON +1923 + + + +COPYRIGHT + +First Edition 1900. Reprinted with corrections 1901. +Reprinted 1907, 1908, 1910, 1912, 1914, 1916, 1918 (twice), +1919 (twice), 1920, 1921, 1923. + +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN + + + + +CONTENTS + +PROSE + +'RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI' +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR PART I +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR PART II +WEE WILLIE WINKIE +A MATTER OF FACT +MOWGLI'S BROTHERS +THE LOST LEGION +NAMGAY DOOLA +A GERM-DESTROYER +'TIGER! TIGER!' +TODS' AMENDMENT +THE STORY OF MUHAMMAD DIN +THE FINANCES OF THE GODS +MOTI GUJ--MUTINEER + + +POETRY + +THE NATIVE BORN +THE FLOWERS +MUNICIPAL +THE COASTWISE LIGHTS +THE ENGLISH FLAG +ENGLAND'S ANSWER +THE OVERLAND MAIL +IN SPRING TIME + + + + +'RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI' + + At the hole where he went in + Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin. + Hear what little Red-Eye saith: + 'Nag, come up and dance with death!' + + Eye to eye and head to head, + (_Keep the measure, Nag_.) + This shall end when one is dead; + (_At thy pleasure, Nag_.) + Turn for turn and twist for twist-- + (_Run and hide thee, Nag_.) + Hah! The hooded Death has missed! + (_Woe betide thee, Nag!_) + +This is the story of the great war that Rikki-tikki-tavi fought +single-handed, through the bath-rooms of the big bungalow in Segowlee +cantonment. Darzee, the tailor-bird, helped him, and Chuchundra, the +musk-rat, who never comes out into the middle of the floor, but +always creeps round by the wall, gave him advice; but Rikki-tikki did +the real fighting. + +He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, +but quite like a weasel in his head and habits. His eyes and the end +of his restless nose were pink; he could scratch himself anywhere he +pleased, with any leg, front or back, that he chose to use; he could +fluff up his tail till it looked like a bottle-brush, and his +war-cry, as he scuttled through the long grass, was: +'_Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!_' + +One day, a high summer flood washed him out of the burrow where he +lived with his father and mother, and carried him, kicking and +clucking, down a roadside ditch. He found a little wisp of grass +floating there, and clung to it till he lost his senses. When he +revived, he was lying in the hot sun on the middle of a garden path, +very draggled indeed, and a small boy was saying: 'Here's a dead +mongoose. Let's have a funeral.' + +'No,' said his mother; 'let's take him in and dry him. Perhaps he +isn't really dead.' + +They took him into the house, and a big man picked him up between his +finger and thumb, and said he was not dead but half choked; so they +wrapped him in cotton-wool, and warmed him and he opened his eyes and +sneezed. + +'Now,' said the big man (he was an Englishman who had just moved into +the bungalow); 'don't frighten him and we'll see what he'll do.' + +It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because +he is eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity. The motto of all the +mongoose family is 'Run and find out'; and Rikki-tikki was a true +mongoose. He looked at the cotton-wool, decided that it was not good +to eat, ran all round the table, sat up and put his fur in order, +scratched himself, and jumped on the small boy's shoulder. + +'Don't be frightened, Teddy,' said his father. 'That's his way of +making friends.' + +'Ouch! He's tickling under my chin,' said Teddy. + +Rikki-tikki looked down between the boy's collar and neck, snuffed at +his ear, and climbed down to the floor, where he sat rubbing his +nose. + +'Good gracious,' said Teddy's mother, 'and that's a wild creature! I +suppose he's so tame because we've been kind to him.' + +'All mongooses are like that,' said her husband. 'If Teddy doesn't +pick him up by the tail, or try to put him in a cage, he'll run in +and out of the house all day long. Let's give him something to eat.' + +They gave him a little piece of raw meat. Rikki tikki liked it +immensely, and when it was finished he went out into the verandah and +sat in the sunshine and fluffed up his fur to make it dry to the +roots. Then he felt better. + +'There are more things to find out about in this house,' he said to +himself, 'than all my family could find out in all their lives. I +shall certainly stay and find out.' + +He spent all that day roaming over the house. He nearly drowned +himself in the bath tubs, put his nose into the ink on a +writing-table, and burnt it on the end of the big man's cigar, for he +climbed up in the big man's lap to see how writing was done. At +nightfall he ran into Teddy's nursery to watch how the kerosene-lamps +were lighted, and when Teddy went to bed Rikki-tikki climbed up too; +but he was a restless companion, because he had to get up and attend +to every noise all through the night, and find out what made it. +Teddy's mother and father came in, the last thing, to look at their +boy, and Rikki-tikki was awake on the pillow. 'I don't like that,' +said Teddy's mother; 'he may bite the child.' 'He'll do no such +thing,' said the father. 'Teddy's safer with that little beast than +if he had a bloodhound to watch him. If a snake came into the nursery +now----' + +But Teddy's mother wouldn't think of anything so awful. + +Early in the morning Rikki-tikki came to early breakfast-in the +verandah riding on Teddy's shoulder, and they gave him banana and +some boiled egg; and he sat on all their laps one after the other, +because every well-brought-up mongoose always hopes to be a +house-mongoose some day and have rooms to run about in, and +Rikki-tikki's mother (she used to live in the General's house at +Segowlee) had carefully told Rikki what to do if ever he came across +white men. + +Then Rikki-tikki went out into the garden to see what was to be seen. +It was a large garden, only half cultivated, with bushes as big as +summer-houses of Marshal Niel roses, lime and orange trees, clumps of +bamboos, and thickets of high grass. Rikki-tikki licked his lips. +'This is a splendid hunting-ground,' he said, and his tail grew +bottle-brushy at the thought of it, and he scuttled up and down the +garden, snuffing here and there till he heard very sorrowful voices +in a thorn-bush. + +It was Darzee, the tailor-bird, and his wife. They had made a +beautiful nest by pulling two big leaves together and stitching them +up the edges with fibres, and had filled the hollow with cotton and +downy fluff. The nest swayed to and fro, as they sat on the rim and +cried. + +'What is the matter?' asked Rikki-tikki. + +'We are very miserable,' said Darzee. 'One of our babies fell out of +the nest yesterday, and Nag ate him.' + +'H'm!' said Rikki-tikki, 'that is very sad--but I am a stranger here. +Who is Nag?' + +Darzee and his wife only cowered down in the nest without answering, +for from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low +hiss--a horrid cold sound that made Rikki-tikki jump back two clear +feet. Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up the head and spread +hood of Nag, the big black cobra, and he was five feet long from +tongue to tail. When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the +ground, he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion-tuft +balances in the wind, and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked +snake's eyes that never change their expression, whatever the snake +may be thinking of. + +'Who is Nag?' said he. '_I_ am Nag. The great god Brahm put his mark +upon all our people when the first cobra spread his hood to keep the +sun off Brahm as he slept. Look, and be afraid!' + +He spread out his hood more than ever, and Rikki-tikki saw the +spectacle-mark on the back of it that looks exactly like the eye part +of a hook-and-eye fastening. He was afraid for the minute; but it is +impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time, +and though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before, his mother +had fed him on dead ones, and he knew that all a grown mongoose's +business in life was to fight and eat snakes. Nag knew that too, and +at the bottom of his cold heart he was afraid. + +'Well,' said Rikki-tikki, and his tail began to fluff up again, +'marks or no marks, do you think it is right for you to eat +fledglings out of a nest?' + +Nag was thinking to himself, and watching the least little movement +in the grass behind Rikki-tikki. He knew that mongooses in the garden +meant death sooner or later for him and his family, but he wanted to +get Rikki-tikki off his guard. So he dropped his head a little, and +put it on one side. + +'Let us talk,' he said. 'You eat eggs. Why should not I eat birds?' + +'Behind you! Look behind you!' sang Darzee. + +Rikki-tikki knew better than to waste time in staring. He jumped up +in the air as high as he could go, and just under him whizzed by the +head of Nagaina, Nag's wicked wife. She had crept up behind him as he +was talking, to make an end of him; and he heard her savage hiss as +the stroke missed. He came down almost across her back, and if he had +been an old mongoose he would have known that then was the time to +break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible +lashing return-stroke of the cobra. He bit, indeed, but did not bite +long enough, and he jumped clear of the whisking tail, leaving +Nagaina torn and angry. + +'Wicked, wicked Darzee!' said Nag, lashing up as high as he could +reach toward the nest in the thorn-bush; but Darzee had built it out +of reach of snakes, and it only swayed to and fro. + +Rikki-tikki felt his eyes growing red and hot (when a mongoose's eyes +grow red, he is angry), and he sat back on his tail and hind legs +like a little kangaroo, and looked all round him, and chattered with +rage. But Nag and Nagaina had disappeared into the grass. When a +snake misses its stroke, it never says anything or gives any sign of +what it means to do next. Rikki-tikki did not care to follow them, +for he did not feel sure that he could manage two snakes at once. So +he trotted off to the gravel path near the house, and sat down to +think. It was a serious matter for him. + +If you read the old books of natural history, you will find they say +that when the mongoose fights the snake and happens to get bitten, he +runs off and eats some herb that cures him. That is not true. The +victory is only a matter of quickness of eye and quickness of +foot,--snake's blow against mongoose's jump,--and as no eye can +follow the motion of a snake's head when it strikes, that makes +things much more wonderful than any magic herb. Rikki-tikki knew he +was a young mongoose, and it made him all the more pleased to think +that he had managed to escape a blow from behind. It gave him +confidence in himself, and when Teddy came running down the path, +Rikki-tikki was ready to be petted. + +But just as Teddy was stooping, something flinched a little in the +dust, and a tiny voice said: 'Be careful. I am death!' It was Karait, +the dusty brown snakeling that lies for choice on the dusty earth; +and his bite is as dangerous as the cobra's. But he is so small that +nobody thinks of him, and so he does the more harm to people. + +Rikki-tikki's eyes grew red again, and he danced up to Karait with +the peculiar rocking, swaying motion that he had inherited from his +family. It looks very funny, but it is so perfectly balanced a gait +that you can fly off from it at any angle you please; and in dealing +with snakes this is an advantage. If Rikki-tikki had only known, he +was doing a much more dangerous thing than fighting Nag, for Karait +is so small, and can turn so quickly, that unless Rikki bit him close +to the back of the head, he would get the return-stroke in his eye or +lip. But Rikki did not know: his eyes were all red, and he rocked +back and forth, looking for a good place to hold. Karait struck out. +Rikki jumped sideways and tried to run in, but the wicked little +dusty gray head lashed within a fraction of his shoulder, and he had +to jump over the body, and the head followed his heels close. + +Teddy shouted to the house: 'Oh, look here! Our mongoose is killing a +snake'; and Rikki-tikki heard a scream from Teddy's mother. His +father ran out with a stick, but by the time he came up, Karait had +lunged out once too far, and Rikki-tikki had sprung, jumped on the +snake's back, dropped his head far between his fore-legs, bitten as +high up the back as he could get hold, and rolled away. That bite +paralysed Karait, and Rikki-tikki was just going to eat him up from +the tail, after the custom of his family at dinner, when he +remembered that a full meal makes a slow mongoose, and if he wanted +all his strength and quickness ready, he must keep himself thin. + +He went away for a dust-bath under the castor-oil bushes, while +Teddy's father beat the dead Karait. 'What is the use of that?' +thought Rikki-tikki. 'I have settled it all'; and then Teddy's mother +picked him up from the dust and hugged him, crying that he had saved +Teddy from death, and Teddy's father said that he was a providence, +and Teddy looked on with big scared eyes. Rikki-tikki was rather +amused at all the fuss, which, of course, he did not understand. +Teddy's mother might just as well have petted Teddy for playing in +the dust. Rikki was thoroughly enjoying himself. + +That night, at dinner, walking to and fro among the wine-glasses on +the table, he could have stuffed himself three times over with nice +things; but he remembered Nag and Nagaina, and though it was very +pleasant to be patted and petted by Teddy's mother, and to sit on +Teddy's shoulder, his eyes would get red from time to time, and he +would go off into his long war cry of '_Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!_' + +Teddy carried him off to bed, and insisted on Rikki-tikki sleeping +under his chin. Rikki-tikki was too well bred to bite or scratch, but +as soon as Teddy was asleep he went off for his nightly walk round +the house, and in the dark he ran up against Chuchundra, the +musk-rat, creeping round by the wall. Chuchundra is a broken-hearted +little beast, He whimpers and cheeps all the night, trying to make up +his mind to run into the middle of the room, but he never gets there. + +'Don't kill me,' said Chuchundra, almost weeping. 'Rikki-tikki, don't +kill me.' + +'Do you think a snake-killer kills musk-rats?' said Rikki-tikki +scornfully. + +'Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes,' said Chuchundra, more +sorrowfully than ever. 'And how am I to be sure that Nag won't +mistake me for you some dark night?' + +'There's not the least danger,' said Rikki-tikki; 'but Nag is in the +garden, and I know you don't go there.' + +'My cousin Chua, the rat, told me----' said Chuchundra, and then he +stopped. + +'Told you what?' + +'H'sh! Nag is everywhere, Rikki-tikki. You should have talked to Chua +in the garden.' + +'I didn't--so you must tell me. Quick, Chuchundra, or I'll bite you!' + +Chuchundra sat down and cried till the tears rolled off his whiskers. +'I am a very poor man,' he sobbed. 'I never had spirit enough to run +out into the middle of the room. H'sh! I mustn't tell you anything. +Can't you _hear_, Rikki-tikki?' + +Rikki-tikki listened. The house was as still as still, but he thought +he could just catch the faintest _scratch-scratch_ in the world,--a +noise as faint as that of a wasp walking on a window-pane,--the dry +scratch of a snake's scales on brickwork. + +'That's Nag or Nagaina,' he said to himself; 'and he's crawling into +the bath-room sluice. You're right, Chuchundra; I should have talked +to Chua.' + +He stole off to Teddy's bath-room, but there was nothing there, and +then to Teddy's mother's bath-room. At the bottom of the smooth +plaster wall there was a brick pulled out to make a sluice for the +bath-water, and as Rikki-tikki stole in by the masonry curb where the +bath is put, he heard Nag and Nagaina whispering together outside in +the moonlight. + +'When the house is emptied of people,' said Nagaina to her husband, +'_he_ will have to go away, and then the garden will be our own +again. Go in quietly, and remember that the big man who killed Karait +is the first one to bite. Then come out and tell me, and we will hunt +for Rikki-tikki together.' + +'But are you sure that there is anything to be gained by killing the +people?' said Nag. + +'Everything. When there were no people in the bungalow, did we have +any mongoose in the garden? So long as the bungalow is empty, we are +king and queen of the garden; and remember that as soon as our eggs +in the melon-bed hatch (as they may to-morrow), our children will +need room and quiet.' + +I had not thought of that,' said Nag. 'I will go, but there is no +need that we should hunt for Rikki-tikki afterward. I will kill the +big man and his wife, and the child if I can, and come away quietly. +Then the bungalow will be empty, and Rikki-tikki will go.' + +Rikki-tikki tingled all over with rage and hatred at this, and then +Nag's head came through the sluice, and his five feet of cold body +followed it. Angry as he was, Rikki-tikki was very frightened as he +saw the size of the big cobra. Nag coiled himself up, raised his +head, and looked into the bath-room in the dark, and Rikki could see +his eyes glitter. + +'Now, if I kill him here, Nagaina will know; and if I fight him on +the open floor, the odds are in his favour. What am I to do?' said +Rikki-tikki-tavi. + +Nag waved to and fro, and then Rikki-tikki heard him drinking from +the biggest water-jar that was used to fill the bath. 'That is good,' +said the snake. 'Now, when Karait was killed, the big man had a +stick. He may have that stick still, but when he comes in to bathe in +the morning he will not have a stick. I shall wait here till he +comes. Nagaina--do you hear me?--I shall wait here in the cool till +daytime.' + +There was no answer from outside, so Rikki-tikki knew Nagaina had +gone away. Nag coiled himself down, coil by coil, round the bulge at +the bottom of the water-jar, and Rikki-tikki stayed still as death. +After an hour he began to move, muscle by muscle, toward the jar. Nag +was asleep, and Rikki-tikki looked at his big back, wondering which +would be the best place for a good hold. 'If I don't break his back +at the first jump,' said Rikki, 'he can still fight; and if he +fights--O Rikki!' He looked at the thickness of the neck below the +hood, but that was too much for him; and a bite near the tail would +only make Nag savage. + +'It must be the head,' he said at last; 'the head above the hood; and +when I am once there, I must not let go.' + +Then he jumped. The head was lying a little clear of the water-jar, +under the curve of it; and, as his teeth met, Rikki braced his back +against the bulge of the red earthen-rare to hold down the head. +This gave him just one second's purchase, and he made the most of it. +Then he was battered to and fro as a rat is shaken by a dog--to and +fro on the floor, up and down, and round in great circles; at his +eyes were red, and he held on as the body cart-whipped over the +floor, upsetting the tin dipper and the soap-dish and the +flesh-brush, and banged against the tin side of the bath. As he held +he closed his jaws tighter and tighter, for he made sure he would be +banged to death, and, for the honour of his family, preferred to be +found with his teeth locked. He was dizzy, aching, and felt shaken to +pieces when something went off like a thunderclap just behind him; a +hot wind knocked him senseless, and red fire singed his fur. The man +had been wakened by the noise, and had fired both barrels of a +shot-gun into Nag just behind the hood. + +Rikki-tikki held on with his eyes shut, for now he was quite sure he +was dead; but the head did not move, and the big man picked him up +and said: 'It's the mongoose again, Alice; the little chap has saved +_our_ lives now.' Then Teddy's mother came in with a very white face, +and saw what was left of Nag, and Rikki-tikki dragged himself Teddy's +bedroom and spent half the rest of the night shaking himself +tenderly to find out whether he really broken into forty pieces, as +he fancied. + +When morning came he was very stiff, but well pleased with his +doings. 'Now I have Nagaina to settle with, and she will be worse +than five Nags, and there's no knowing when the eggs she spoke of +will hatch. Goodness! I must go and see Darzee,' he said. + +Without waiting for breakfast, Rikki-tikki ran to the thorn-bush +where Darzee was singing a song of triumph at the top of his voice. +The news of Nag's death was all over the garden, for the sweeper had +thrown the body on the rubbish-heap. + +'Oh, you stupid tuft of feathers!' said Rikki-tikki angrily. 'Is this +the time to sing?' + +'Nag is dead--is dead--is dead!' sang Darzee. 'The valiant +Rikki-tikki caught him by the head and held fast. The big man brought +the bang-stick, and Nag fell in two pieces! He will never eat my +babies again.' + +'All that's true enough; but where's Nagaina?' said Rikki-tikki, +looking carefully round him. + +'Nagaina came to the bath-room sluice and called for Nag,' Darzee +went on; 'and Nag came out on the end of a stick--the sweeper picked +him up on the end of a stick and threw him upon the rubbish-heap. Let +us sing about the great, the red-eyed Rikki-tikki!' and Darzee filled +his throat and sang. + +'If I could get up to your nest, I'd roll all your babies out!' said +Rikki-tikki. 'You don't know when to do the right thing at the right +time. You're safe enough in your nest there, but it's war for me down +here. Stop singing a minute, Darzee.' + +'For the great, the beautiful Rikki-tikki's sake I will stop,' said +Darzee. 'What is it, O killer of the terrible Nag?' + +'Where is Nagaina, for the third time?' + +'On the rubbish-heap by the stables, mourning for Nag. Great is +Rikki-tikki with the white teeth.' + +'Bother my white teeth! Have you ever heard where she keeps her +eggs?' + +'In the melon-bed, on the end nearest the wall, where the sun strikes +nearly all day. She hid them three weeks ago.' + +'And you never thought it worth while to tell me? The end nearest the +wall, you said?' + +'Rikki-tikki, you are not going to eat her eggs?' + +'Not eat exactly; no. Darzee, if you have a grain of sense you will +fly off to the stables and pretend that your wing is broken, and let +Nagaina chase you away to this bush! I must get to the melon-bed, and +if I went there now she'd see me.' + +Darzee was a feather-brained little fellow who could never hold more +than one idea at a time in his head; and just because he knew that +Nagaina's children were born in eggs like his own, he didn't think at +first that it was fair to kill them. But his wife was a sensible +bird, and she knew that cobra's eggs meant young cobras later on; so +she flew off from the nest, and left Darzee to keep the babies warm, +and continue his song about the death of Nag. Darzee was very like a +man in some ways. + +She fluttered in front of Nagaina by the rubbish-heap, and cried out, +'Oh, my wing is broken! The boy in the house threw a stone at me and +broke it.' Then she fluttered more desperately than ever. + +Nagaina lifted up her head and hissed, 'You warned Rikki-tikki when +I would have killed him. Indeed and truly, you've chosen a bad place +to be lame in.' And she moved toward Darzee's wife, slipping along +over the dust. + +'The boy broke it with a stone!' shrieked Darzee's wife. + +'Well! It may be some consolation to you when you're dead to know +that I shall settle accounts with the boy. My husband lies on the +rubbish-heap this morning, but before night the boy in the house will +lie very still. What is the use of running away? I am sure to catch +you. Little fool, look at me!' + +Darzee's wife knew better than to do _that_, for a bird who looks at +a snake's eyes gets so frightened that she cannot move. Darzee's wife +fluttered on, piping sorrowfully, and never leaving the ground, and +Nagaina quickened her pace. + +Rikki-tikki heard them going up the path from the stables, and he +raced for the end of the melon-patch near the wall. There, in the +warm litter about the melons, very cunningly hidden, he found +twenty-five eggs, about the size of a bantam's eggs, but with +whitish skin instead of shell. + +'I was not a day too soon,' he said; for he could see the baby cobras +curled up inside the skin, and he knew that the minute they were +hatched they could each kill a man or a mongoose. He bit off the tops +of the eggs as fast as he could, taking care to crush the young +cobras, and turned over the litter from time to time to see whether +he had missed any. At last there were only three eggs left, and +Rikki-tikki began to chuckle to himself, when he heard Darzee's wife +screaming: + +'Rikki-tikki, I led Nagaina toward the house, and she has gone into +the verandah, and--oh, come quickly--she means killing!' + +Rikki-tikki smashed two eggs, and tumbled backward down the melon-bed +with the third egg in his mouth, and scuttled to the verandah as hard +as he could put foot to the ground. Teddy and his mother and father +were there at early breakfast; but Rikki-tikki saw that they were not +eating anything. They sat stone-still, and their faces were white. +Nagaina was coiled up on the matting by Teddy's chair, within easy +striking distance of Teddy's bare leg, and she was swaying to and fro +singing a song of triumph. + +'Son of the big man that killed Nag,' she hissed, 'stay still. I am +not ready yet. Wait a little. Keep very still, all you three. If you +move I strike, and if you do not move I strike. Oh, foolish people, +who killed my Nag!' + +Teddy's eyes were fixed on his father, and all his father could do +was to whisper, 'Sit still, Teddy. You mustn't move. Teddy, keep +still.' + +Then Rikki-tikki came up and cried: 'Turn round, Nagaina; turn and +fight!' + +'All in good time,' said she, without moving her eyes. 'I will settle +my account with _you_ presently. Look at your friends, Rikki-tikki. +They are still and white; they are afraid. They dare not move, and if +you come a step nearer I strike.' + +'Look at your eggs,' said Rikki-tikki, 'in the melon-bed near the +wall. Go and look, Nagaina.' + +The big snake turned half round, and saw the egg on the verandah. +'Ah-h! Give it to me,' she said. + +Rikki-tikki put his paws one on each side of the egg, and his eyes +were blood-red. 'What price for a snake's egg? For a young cobra? For +a young king-cobra? For the last--the very last of the brood? The +ants are eating all the others down by the melon-bed.' + +Nagaina spun clear round, forgetting everything for the sake of the +one egg; and Rikki-tikki saw Teddy's father shoot out a big hand, +catch Teddy by the shoulder, and drag him across the little table +with the tea-cups, safe and out of reach of Nagaina. + +'Tricked! Tricked! Tricked! _Rikk-tck-tck!_' chuckled Rikki-tikki. +'The boy is safe, and it was I--I--I that caught Nag by the hood last +night in the bath-room.' Then he began to jump up and down, all four +feet together, his head close to the floor. 'He threw me to and fro, +but he could not shake me off. He was dead before the big man blew +him in two. I did it. _Rikki-tikki-tck-tck!_ Come then, Nagaina. Come +and fight with me. You shall not be a widow long.' + +Nagaina saw that she had lost her chance of killing Teddy, and the +egg lay between Rikki-tikki's paws. 'Give me the egg, Rikki-tikki. +Give me the last of my eggs, and I will go away and never come back,' +she said, lowering her hood. + +'Yes, you will go away, and you will never come back; for you will +go to the rubbish-heap with Nag. Fight, widow! The big man has gone +for his gun! Fight!' + +Rikki-tikki was bounding all round Nagaina, keeping just out of +reach of her stroke, his little eyes like hot coals. Nagaina +gathered herself together, and flung out at him. Rikki-tikki jumped +up and backward. Again and again and again she struck, and each time +her head came with a whack on the matting of the verandah, and she +gathered herself together like a watch-spring. Then Rikki-tikki +danced in a circle to get behind her, and Nagaina spun round to keep +her head to his head, so that the rustle of her tail on the matting +sounded like dry leaves blown along by the wind. + +He had forgotten the egg. It still lay on the verandah, and Nagaina +came nearer and nearer to it, till at last, while Rikki-tikki was +drawing breath, she caught it in her mouth, turned to the verandah +steps and flew like an arrow down the path, with Rikki-tikki behind +her. When the cobra runs for her life, she goes like a whip-lash +flicked across a horse's neck. + +Rikki-tikki knew that he must catch her, or all the trouble would +begin again. She headed straight for the long grass by the +thorn-bush, and as he was running Rikki-tikki heard Darzee still +singing his foolish little song of triumph. But Darzee's wife was +wiser. She flew off her nest as Nagaina came along and flapped her +wings about Nagaina's head. If Darzee had helped they might have +turned her; but Nagaina only lowered her hood and went on. Still, the +instant's delay brought Rikki-tikki up to her, and as she plunged +into the rat-hole where she and Nag used to live, his little white +teeth were clenched on her tail, and he went down with her--and very +few mongooses, however wise and old they may be, care to follow a +cobra into its hole. It was dark in the hole; and Rikki-tikki never +knew when it might open out and give Nagaina room to turn and strike +at him. He held on savagely, and struck out his feet to act as brakes +on the dark slope of the hot, moist earth. + +Then the grass by the mouth of the hole stopped waving, and Darzee +said: 'It is all over with Rikki-tikki! We must sing his death-song. +Valiant Rikki-tikki is dead! For Nagaina will surely kill him +underground.' + +So he sang a very mournful song that he made up on the spur of the +minute, and just as he got to the most touching part the grass +quivered again, and Rikki-tikki, covered with dirt, dragged himself +out of the hole leg by leg, licking his whiskers. Darzee stopped with +a little shout. Rikki-tikki shook some of the dust out of his fur and +sneezed. 'It is all over,' he said. 'The widow will never come out +again.' And the red ants that live between the grass stems heard him, +and began to troop down one after another to see if he had spoken the +truth. + +Rikki-tikki curled himself up in the grass and slept where he +was--slept and slept till it was late in the afternoon, for he had +done a hard day's work. + +'Now,' he said, when he awoke, 'I will go back to the house. Tell the +Coppersmith, Darzee, and he will tell the garden that Nagaina is +dead.' + +The Coppersmith is a bird who makes a noise exactly like the beating +of a little hammer on a copper pot; and the reason he is always +making it is because he is the town-crier to every Indian garden, and +tells all the news to everybody who cares to listen. As Rikki-tikki +went up the path, he heard his 'attention' notes like a tiny +dinner-gong; and then the steady '_Ding-dong-lock!_ Nag is +dead--_dong!_ Nagaina is dead! _Ding-dong-tock!_' That set all the +birds in the garden singing, and the frogs croaking; for Nag and +Nagaina used to eat frogs as well as little birds. + +When Rikki got to the house, Teddy and Teddy's mother (she looked +very white still, for she had been fainting) and Teddy's father +came out and almost cried over him; and that night he ate all +that was given him till he could I eat no more, and went to bed on +Teddy's shoulder, where Teddy's mother saw him when she came to look +late at night. + +'He saved our lives and Teddy's life,' she said to her husband. +'Just think, he saved all our lives.' + +Rikki-tikki woke up with a jump, for all the mongooses are light +sleepers. + +'Oh, it's you,' said he. 'What are you bothering for? All the cobras +are dead; and if they weren't, I'm here.' + +Rikki-tikki had a right to be proud of himself; but he did not grow +too proud, and he kept that garden as a mongoose should keep it, with +tooth and jump and spring and bite, till never a cobra dared show its +head inside the walls. + + + + +DARZEE'S CHAUNT. + + (SUNG IN HONOUR OF RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI.) + + Singer and tailor am I-- + Doubled the joys that I know-- + Proud of my lilt through the sky, + Proud of the house that I sew-- +Over and under, so weave I my music--so weave I the house that I sew. + + Sing to your fledglings again, + Mother, oh lift up your head! + Evil that plagued us is slain, + Death in the garden lies dead. +Terror that hid in the roses is impotent--flung on the dung-hill + and dead! + + Who hath delivered us, who? + Tell me his nest and his name. + Rikki, the valiant, the true, + Tikki, with eyeballs of flame, +Rik-tikki-tikki, the ivory-fanged, the hunter with eyeballs of flame. + + Give him the Thanks of the Birds, + Bowing with tail-feathers spread! + Praise him with nightingale words-- + Nay, I will praise him instead. +Hear! I will sing you the praise of the bottle-tailed Rikki, with + eyeballs of red! + +(_Here Rikki-tikki interrupted, and the rest of the song is lost_.) + + + + +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR PART I + + I have done one braver thing + Than all the worthies did; + And yet a braver thence doth spring, + Which is to keep that hid. + THE UNDERTAKING. + +'Is it officially declared yet?' + +'They've gone as far as to admit extreme local scarcity, and they've +started relief-works in one or two districts, the paper says.' + +'That means it will be declared as soon as they can make sure of the +men and the rolling-stock. Shouldn't wonder if it were as bad as the +Big Famine.' + +'Can't be,' said Scott, turning a little in the long cane chair. +'We've had fifteen-anna crops in the north, and Bombay and Bengal +report more than they know what to do with. They'll be able to check +it before it gets out of hand. It will only be local.' + +Martyn picked up the _Pioneer_ from the table, read through the +telegrams once more, and put up his feet on the chair-rests. It was a +hot, dark, breathless evening, heavy with the smell of the +newly-watered Mall. The flowers in the Club gardens were dead and +black on their stalks, the little lotus-pond was a circle of caked +mud, and the tamarisk-trees were white with the dust of days. Most of +the men were at the bandstand in the public gardens--from the Club +verandah you could hear the native Police band hammering stale +waltzes--or on the polo-ground or in the high-walled fives-court, +hotter than a Dutch oven. Half a dozen grooms, squatted at the heads +of their ponies, waited their masters' return. From time to time a +man would ride at a foot-pace into the Club compound, and listlessly +loaf over to the whitewashed barracks beside the main building. These +were supposed to be chambers. Men lived in them, meeting the same +faces night after night at dinner, and drawing out their office-work +till the latest possible hour, that they might escape that doleful +company. + +'What are you going to do?' said Martyn, with a yawn. 'Let's have a +swim before dinner.' + +'Water's hot,' said Scott. 'I was at the bath to-day.' + +'Play you game o' billiards--fifty up.' + +'It's a hundred and five in the hall now. Sit still and don't be so +abominably energetic.' + +A grunting camel swung up to the porch, his badged and belted rider +fumbling a leather pouch. + +'_Kubber-kargaz--ki--yektraaa_,' the man whined, handing down the +newspaper extra--a slip printed on one side only, and damp from the +press. It was pinned on the green baize-board, between notices of +ponies for sale and fox-terriers missing. + +Martyn rose lazily, read it, and whistled. 'It's declared!' he cried. +'One, two, three--eight districts go under the operation of the +Famine Code _ek dum_. They've put Jimmy Hawkins in charge.' + +'Good business!' said Scott, with the first sign of interest he had +shown. 'When in doubt hire a Punjabi. I worked under Jimmy when I +first came out and he belonged to the Punjab. He has more _bundobust_ +than most men.' + +'Jimmy's a Jubilee Knight now,' said Martyn. 'He was a good chap, +even though he is a thrice-born civilian and went to the Benighted +Presidency. What unholy names these Madras districts rejoice in--all +_ungas_ or _rungas_ or _pillays_ or _polliums_.' + +A dog-cart drove up, and a man entered, mopping his head. He was +editor of the one daily paper at the capital of a province of +twenty-five million natives and a few hundred white men, and as his +staff was limited to himself and one assistant, his office hours ran +variously from ten to twenty a day. + +'Hi, Raines; you're supposed to know everything,' said Martyn, +stopping him. 'How's this Madras "scarcity" going to turn out?' + +'No one knows as yet. There's a message as long as your arm coming in +on the telephone. I've left my cub to fill it out. Madras has owned +she can't manage it alone, and Jimmy seems to have a free hand in +getting all the men he needs. Arbuthnot's warned to hold himself in +readiness.' + +'"Badger" Arbuthnot?' + +'The Peshawur chap. Yes, and the _Pi_ wires that Ellis and Clay have +been moved from the North-West already, and they've taken half a +dozen Bombay men, too. It's pukka famine, by the looks of it.' + +'They're nearer the scene of action than we are; but if it comes to +indenting on the Punjab this early, there's more in this than meets +the eye,' said Martyn. + +'Here to-day and gone to-morrow. Didn't come to stay for ever,' said +Scott, dropping one of Marryat's novels, and rising to his feet. +'Martyn, your sister's waiting for you.' + +A rough gray horse was backing and shifting at the edge of the +verandah, where the light of a kerosene-lamp fell on a brown calico +habit and a white face under a gray felt hat. + +'Right, O,' said Martyn. 'I'm ready. Better come and dine with us if +you've nothing to do, Scott. William, is there any dinner in the +house?' + +'I'll go home first and see,' was the rider's answer. 'You can drive +him over--at eight, remember.' + +Scott moved leisurely to his room, and changed into the evening-dress +of the season and the country: spotless white linen from head to +foot, with a broad silk cummerbund. Dinner at the Martyns' was a +decided improvement on the goat-mutton, twiney-tough fowl, and +tinned entrees of the Club. But it was a great pity Martyn could not +afford to send his sister to the Hills for the hot weather. As an +Acting District Superintendent of Police, Martyn drew the magnificent +pay of six hundred depreciated silver rupees a month, and his little +four-roomed bungalow said just as much. There were the usual +blue-and-white striped jail-made rugs on the uneven floor; the usual +glass studded Amritsar _phulkaris_ draped to nails driven into the +flaking whitewash of the walls; the usual half-dozen chairs that did +not match, picked up at sales of dead men's effects; and the usual +streaks of black grease where the leather punka-thong ran through the +wall. It was as though everything had been unpacked the night before +to be repacked next morning. Not a door in the house was true on its +hinges. The little windows, fifteen feet up, were darkened with +wasp-nests, and lizards hunted flies between the beams of the +wood-ceiled roof. But all this was part of Scott's life. Thus did +people live who had such an income; and in a land where each man's +pay, age, and position are printed in a book, that all may read, it +is hardly worth while to play at pretences in word or deed. Scott +counted eight years' service in the Irrigation Department, and drew +eight hundred rupees a month, on the understanding that if he served +the State faithfully for another twenty-two years he could retire on +a pension of some four hundred rupees a month. His working life, +which had been spent chiefly under canvas or in temporary shelters +where a man could sleep, eat, and write letters, was bound up with +the opening and guarding of irrigation canals, the handling of two or +three thousand workmen of all castes and creeds, and the payment of +vast sums of coined silver. He had finished that spring, not without +credit, the last section of the great Mosuhl Canal, and--much against +his will, for he hated office work--had been sent in to serve during +the hot weather on the accounts and supply side of the Department, +with sole charge of the sweltering sub-office at the capital of the +Province. Martyn knew this; William, his sister, knew it; and +everybody knew it. + +Scott knew, too, as well as the rest of the world, that Miss Martyn +had come out to India four years before, to keep house for her +brother, who, as everyone, again, knew, had borrowed the money to pay +for her passage, and that she ought, as all the world said, to have +married long ago. Instead of this, she had refused some half a dozen +subalterns, a civilian twenty years her senior, one major, and a man +in the Indian Medical Department. This, too, was common property. She +had 'stayed down three hot weathers,' as the saying is, because her +brother was in debt and could not afford the expense of her keep at +even a cheap hill-station. Therefore her face was white as bone, and +in the centre of her forehead was a big silvery scar about the size +of a shilling--the mark of a Delhi sore, which is the same as a +'Bagdad date.' This comes from drinking bad water, and slowly eats +into the flesh till it is ripe enough to be burned out with acids. + +None the less William had enjoyed herself hugely in her four years. +Twice she had been nearly drowned while fording a river on horseback; +once she had been run away with on a camel; had witnessed a midnight +attack of thieves on her brother's camp; had seen justice +administered with long sticks, in the open under trees; could speak +Urdu and even rough Punjabi with a fluency that was envied by her +seniors; had altogether fallen out of the habit of writing to her +aunts in England, or cutting the pages of the English magazines; had +been through a very bad cholera year, seeing sights unfit to be told; +and had wound up her experiences by six weeks of typhoid fever, +during which her head had been shaved; and hoped to keep her +twenty-third birthday that September. It is conceivable that her +aunts would not have approved of a girl who never set foot on the +ground if a horse were within hail; who rode to dances with a shawl +thrown over her skirt; who wore her hair cropped and curling all over +her head; who answered indifferently to the name of William or Bill; +whose speech was heavy with the flowers of the vernacular; who could +act in amateur theatricals, play on the banjo, rule eight servants +and two horses, their accounts and their diseases, and look men +slowly and deliberately between the eyes--yea, after they had +proposed to her and been rejected. + +'I like men who do things,' she had confided to a man in the +Educational Department, who was teaching the sons of cloth merchants +and dyers the beauty of Wordsworth's 'Excursion' in annotated +cram-books; and when he grew poetical, William explained that she +'didn't understand poetry very much; it made her head ache,' and +another broken heart took refuge at the Club. But it was all +William's fault. She delighted in hearing men talk of their own work, +and that is the most fatal way of bringing a man to your feet. + +Scott had known her more or less for some three years, meeting her, +as a rule, under canvas when his camp and her brother's joined for a +day on the edge of the Indian Desert. He had danced with her several +times at the big Christmas gatherings, when as many as five hundred +white people came into the station; and he had always a great +respect for her housekeeping and her dinners. + +She looked more like a boy than ever when, after their meal, she sat, +one foot tucked under her, on the leather camp-sofa, rolling +cigarettes for her brother, her low forehead puckered beneath the +dark curls as she twiddled the papers. She stuck out her rounded +chin when the tobacco stayed in place, and, with a gesture as true as +a school-boy's throwing a stone, tossed the finished article across +the room to Martyn, who caught it with one hand, and continued his +talk with Scott. It was all 'shop,'--canals and the policing of +canals; the sins of villagers who stole more water than they had paid +for, and the grosser sin of native constables who connived at the +thefts; of the transplanting bodily of villages to newly-irrigated +ground, and of the coming fight with the desert in the south when the +Provincial funds should warrant the opening of the long-surveyed Luni +Protective Canal System. And Scott spoke openly of his great desire +to be put on one particular section of the work where he knew the +land and the people, and Martyn sighed for a billet in the Himalayan +foot-hills, and spoke his mind of his superiors, and William rolled +cigarettes and said nothing, but smiled gravely on her brother +because he was happy. + +At ten Scott's horse came to the door, and the evening was ended. + +The lights of the two low bungalows in which the daily paper was +printed showed bright across the road. It was too early to try to +find sleep, and Scott drifted over to the editor. Raines, stripped +to the waist like a sailor at a gun, lay in a long chair, waiting +for night telegrams. He had a theory that if a man did not stay by +his work all day and most of the night he laid himself open to fever; +so he ate and slept among his files. + +'Can you do it?' he said drowsily. 'I didn't mean to bring you over.' + +'About what? I've been dining at the Martyns'.' + +'The famine, of course, Martyn's warned for it, too. They're taking +men where they can find 'em. I sent a note to you at the Club just +now, asking if you could do us a letter once a week from the +south--between two and three columns, say. Nothing sensational, of +course, but just plain facts about who is doing what, and so forth. +Our regular rates--ten rupees a column.' + +'Sorry, but it's out of my line,' Scott answered, staring absently at +the map of India on the wall. 'It's rough on Martyn--very. Wonder +what he'll do with his sister. Wonder what the deuce they'll do with +me? I've no famine experience. This is the first I've heard of it. +_Am_ I ordered?' + +'Oh, yes. Here's the wire. They'll put you on relief-works,' Raines +went on, 'with a horde of Madrassis dying like flies; one native +apothecary and half a pint of cholera-mixture among the ten thousand +of you. It comes of your being idle for the moment. Every man who +isn't doing two men's work seems to have been called upon. Hawkins +evidently believes in Punjabis. It's going to be quite as bad as +anything they have had in the last ten years.' + +'It's all in the day's work, worse luck. I suppose I shall get my +orders officially some time to morrow. I'm glad I happened to drop +in. Better go and pack my kit now. Who relieves me here--do you +know?' + +Raines turned over a sheaf of telegrams. 'McEuan,' said he, 'from +Murree.' + +Scott chuckled. 'He thought he was going to be cool all summer. He'll +be very sick about this. Well, no good talking. Night.' + +Two hours later, Scott, with a clear conscience, laid himself down to +rest on a string cot in a bare room. Two worn bullock-trunks, a +leather water-bottle, a tin ice-box, and his pet saddle sewed up in +sacking were piled at the door, and the Club secretary's receipt for +last month's bill was under his pillow. His orders came next morning, +and with them an unofficial telegram from Sir James Hawkins, who did +not forget good men, bidding him report himself with all speed at +some unpronounceable place fifteen hundred miles to the south, for +the famine was sore in the land, and white men were needed. + +A pink and fattish youth arrived in the red-hot noonday, whimpering a +little at fate and famines, which never allowed any one three months' +peace. He was Scott's successor--another cog in the machinery, moved +forward behind his fellow, whose services, as the official +announcement ran, 'were placed at the disposal of the Madras +Government for famine duty until further orders.' Scott handed over +the funds in his charge, showed him the coolest corner in the office, +warned him against excess of zeal, and, as twilight fell, departed +from the Club in a hired carriage, with his faithful body servant, +Faiz Ullah, and a mound of disordered baggage atop, to catch the +Southern Mail at the loopholed and bastioned railway-station. The +heat from the thick brick walls struck him across the face as if it +had been a hot towel, and he reflected that there were at least five +nights and four days of travel before him. Faiz Ullah, used to the +chances of service, plunged into the crowd on the stone platform, +while Scott, a black cheroot between his teeth, waited till his +compartment should be set away. A dozen native policemen, with their +rifles and bundles, shouldered into the press of Punjabi farmers, +Sikh craftsmen, and greasy-locked Afreedee pedlars, escorting with +all pomp Martyn's uniform case, water-bottles, ice-box, and +bedding-roll. They saw Faiz Ullah's lifted hand, and steered for it. + +'My Sahib and your Sahib,' said Faiz Ullah to Martyn's man, 'will +travel together. Thou and I, O brother, will thus secure the +servants' places close by, and because of our masters' authority none +will dare to disturb us.' + +When Faiz Ullah reported all things ready, Scott settled down +coatless and bootless on the broad leather-covered bunk. The heat +under the iron-arched roof of the station might have been anything +over a hundred degrees. At the last moment Martyn entered, hot and +dripping. + +'Don't swear,' said Scott, lazily; 'it's too late to change your +carriage; and we'll divide the ice.' + +'What are you doing here?' said the policeman. + +'Lent to the Madras Government, same as you. By Jove, it's a bender +of a night! Are you taking any of your men down?' + +'A dozen. Suppose I'll have to superintend relief distributions. +Didn't know you were under orders too.' + +'I didn't till after I left you last night. Raines had the news +first. My orders came this morning. McEuan relieved me at four, and +I got off at once. Shouldn't wonder if it wouldn't be a good +thing--this famine--if we come through it alive.' + +'Jimmy ought to put you and me to work together,' said Martyn; and +then, after a pause: 'My sister's here.' + +'Good business,' said Scott, heartily. 'Going to get off at Umballa, +I suppose, and go up to Simla. Who'll she stay with there?' + +'No-o; that's just the trouble of it. She's going down with me.' + +Scott sat bolt upright under the oil lamp as the train jolted past +Tarn-Taran station. 'What! You don't mean you couldn't afford--' + +'Oh, I'd have scraped up the money somehow.' + +'You might have come to me, to begin with,' said Scott, stiffly; 'we +aren't altogether strangers.' + +'Well, you needn't be stuffy about it. I might, but--you don't know +my sister. I've been explaining and exhorting and entreating and +commanding and all the rest of it all day--lost my temper since seven +this morning, and haven't got it back yet--but she wouldn't hear of +any compromise, A woman's entitled to travel with her husband if she +wants to, and William says she's on the same footing. You see, we've +been together all our lives, more or less, since my people died. It +isn't as if she were an ordinary sister.' + +'All the sisters I've ever heard of would have stayed where they were +well off.' + +'She's as clever as a man, confound her,' Martyn went on. 'She broke +up the bungalow over my head while I was talking at her. Settled the +whole _subchiz_ [outfit] in three hours--servants, horses, and all. I +didn't get my orders till nine. + +'Jimmy Hawkins won't be pleased,' said Scott. 'A famine's no place +for a woman.' + +'Mrs. Jim--I mean Lady Jim's in camp with him. At any rate, she says +she will look after my sister. William wired down to her on her own +responsibility, asking if she could come, and knocked the ground from +under me by showing me her answer.' + +Scott laughed aloud. 'If she can do that she can take care of +herself, and Mrs. Jim won't let her run into any mischief. There +aren't many women, sisters or wives, who would walk into a famine +with their eyes open. It isn't as if she didn't know what these +things mean. She was through the Jaloo cholera last year.' + +The train stopped at Amritsar, and Scott went back to the ladies' +compartment, immediately behind their carriage. William, a cloth +riding-cap on her curls, nodded affably. + +'Come in and have some tea,' she said. 'Best thing in the world for +heat-apoplexy.' + +'Do I look as if I were going to have heat-apoplexy?' + +'Never can tell,' said William, wisely. 'It's always best to be +ready.' + +She had arranged her belongings with the knowledge of an old +campaigner. A felt-covered water-bottle hung in the draught of one +of the shuttered windows; a tea-set of Russian china, packed in a +wadded basket, stood ready on the seat: and a travelling spirit-lamp +was clamped against the woodwork above it. + +William served them generously, in large cups, hot tea, which saves +the veins of the neck from swelling inopportunely on a hot night. It +was characteristic of the girl that, her plan of action once settled, +she asked for no comments on it. Life with men who had a great deal +of work to do, and very little time to do it in, had taught her the +wisdom of effacing as well as of fending for herself. She did not by +word or deed suggest that she would be useful, comforting, or +beautiful in their travels, but continued about her business +serenely: put the cups back without clatter when tea was ended, and +made cigarettes for her guests. + +'This time last night,' said Scott, 'we didn't expect--er--this kind +of thing, did we?' + +'I've learned to expect anything,' said William. 'You know, in our +service, we live at the end of the telegraph; but, of course, this +ought to be a good thing for us all, departmentally--if we live.' + +'It knocks us out of the running in our own Province,' Scott replied, +with equal gravity. 'I hoped to be put on the Luni Protective Works +this cold weather; but there's no saying how long the famine may keep +us.' + +'Hardly beyond October I should think,' said Martyn. 'It will be +ended, one way or the other, then.' + +'And we've nearly a week of this,' said William. 'Sha'n't we be dusty +when it's over?' + +For a night and a day they knew their surroundings; and for a night +and a day, skirting the edge of the great Indian Desert on a +narrow-gauge line, they remembered how in the days of their +apprenticeship they had come by that road from Bombay. Then the +languages in which the names of the stations were written changed, +and they launched south into a foreign land, where the very +smells were new. Many long and heavily-laden grain trains were in +front of them, and they could feel the hand of Jimmy Hawkins from +far off. They waited in extemporised sidings blocked by processions +of empty trucks returning to the north, and were coupled on to +slow, crawling trains, and dropped at midnight, Heaven knew where; +but it was furiously hot; and they walked to and fro among sacks, +and dogs howled. + +Then they came to an India more strange to them than to the +untravelled Englishman--the flat, red India of palm-tree, +palmyra-palm, and rice, the India of the picture-books, of _Little +Henry and His Bearer_--all dead and dry in the baking heat. They had +left the incessant passenger-traffic of the north and west far and +far behind them. Here the people crawled to the side of the train, +holding their little ones in their arms; and a loaded truck would +be left behind, men and women clustering round and above it like ants +by spilled honey. Once in the twilight they saw on a dusty plain a +regiment of little brown men, each bearing a body over his shoulder; +and when the train stopped to leave yet another truck, they perceived +that the burdens were not corpses, but only foodless folk picked up +beside their dead oxen by a corps of Irregular troops. Now they met +more white men, here one and there two, whose tents stood close to +the line, and who came armed with written authorities and angry words +to cut off a truck. They were too busy to do more than nod at Scott +and Martyn, and stare curiously at William, who could do nothing +except make tea, and watch how her men staved off the rush of +wailing, walking skeletons, putting them down three at a time in +heaps, with their own hands uncoupling the marked trucks, or taking +receipts from the hollowed-eyed, weary white men, who spoke another +argot than theirs. + +They ran out of ice, out of soda-water, and out of tea; for they were +six days and seven nights on the road, and it seemed to them like +seven times seven years. + +At last, in a dry, hot dawn, in a land of death, lit by long red +fires of railway sleepers, where they were burning the dead, they +came to their destination, and were met by Jim Hawkins, the Head of +the Famine, unshaven, unwashed, but cheery, and entirely in command +of affairs. + +Martyn, he decreed, then and there, was to live on trains till +further orders; was to go back with empty trucks, filling them with +starving people as he found them, and dropping them at a famine-camp +on the edge of the Eight Districts. He would pick up supplies and +return, and his constables would guard the loaded grain-cars, also +picking up people, and would drop them at a camp a hundred miles +south. Scott--Hawkins was very glad to see Scott again--would, that +same hour, take charge of a convoy of bullock-carts, and would go +south, feeding as he went, to yet another famine-camp, far from the +rail, where he would leave his starving--there would be no lack of +starving on the route--and wait for orders by telegraph. Generally, +Scott was in all small things to do what he thought best. + +William bit her under lip. There was no one in the wide world like +her one brother, but Martyn's orders gave him no discretion. She came +out, masked with dust from head to foot, a horse-shoe wrinkle on her +forehead, put here by much thinking during the past week, but as +self-possessed as ever. Mrs. Jim--who should have been Lady Jim, but +that no one remembered to call her aright--took possession of her +with a little gasp. + +'Oh, I'm so glad you're here,' she almost sobbed. 'You oughtn't to, +of course, but there--there isn't another woman in the place, and we +must help each other, you know; and we've all the wretched people and +the little babies they are selling.' + +'I've seen some,' said William. + +'Isn't it ghastly? I've bought twenty; they're in our camp; but won't +you have something to eat first? We've more than ten people can do +here; and I've got a horse for you. Oh, I'm so glad you've come! +You're a Punjabi too, you know.' + +'Steady, Lizzie,' said Hawkins, over his shoulder. 'We'll look after +you, Miss Martyn. Sorry I can't ask you to breakfast, Martyn. You'll +have to eat as you go. Leave two of your men to help Scott. These +poor devils can't stand up to load carts. Saunders' (this to the +engine-driver, half asleep in the cab), 'back down and get those +empties away.' You've 'line clear' to Anundrapillay; they'll give you +orders north of that. Scott, load up your carts from that B.P.P. +truck, and be off as soon as you can. The Eurasian in the pink shirt +is your interpreter and guide. You'll find an apothecary of sorts +tied to the yoke of the second wagon. He's been trying to bolt; +you'll have to look after him. Lizzie, drive Miss Martyn to camp, and +tell them to send the red horse down here for me.' + +Scott, with Faiz Ullah and two policemen, was already busy on the +carts, backing them up to the truck and unbolting the sideboards +quietly, while the others pitched in the bags of millet and wheat. +Hawkins watched him for as long as it took to fill one cart. + +'That's a good man,' he said. 'If all goes well I shall work +him--hard.' This was Jim Hawkins's notion of the highest compliment +one human being could pay another. + +An hour later Scott was under way; the apothecary threatening him +with the penalties of the law for that he, a member of the +Subordinate Medical Department, had been coerced and bound against +his will and all laws governing the liberty of the subject; the +pink-shirted Eurasian begging leave to see his mother, who happened +to be dying some three miles, away: 'Only verree, verree short leave +of absence, and will presently return, sar--'; the two constables, +armed with staves, bringing up the rear; and Faiz Ullah, a +Mohammedan's contempt for all Hindoos and foreigners in every line of +his face, explaining to the drivers that though Scott Sahib was a man +to be feared on all fours, he, Faiz Ullah, was Authority itself. + +The procession creaked past Hawkins's camp--three stained tents under +a clump of dead trees; behind them the famine-shed where a crowd of +hopeless ones tossed their arms around the cooking-kettles. + +'Wish to Heaven William had kept out of it,' said Scott to himself, +after a glance. 'We'll have cholera, sure as a gun, when the Rains +come.' + +But William seemed to have taken kindly to the operations of the +Famine Code, which, when famine is declared, supersede the workings +of the ordinary law. Scott saw her, the centre of a mob of weeping +women, in a calico riding-habit and a blue-gray felt hat with a gold +puggaree. + +'I want fifty rupees, please. I forgot to ask Jack before he went +away. Can you lend it me? It's for condensed milk for the babies,' +said she. + +Scott took the money from his belt, and handed it over without a +word. 'For goodness sake take care of yourself,' he said. + +'Oh, I shall be all right. We ought to get the milk in two days. By +the way, the orders are, I was to tell you, that you're to take one +of Sir Jim's horses. There's a gray Cabuli here that I thought would +be just your style, so I've said you'd take him. Was that right?' + +'That's awfully good of you. We can't either of us talk much about +style, I'm afraid.' + +Scott was in a weather-stained drill shooting-kit, very white at the +seams and a little frayed at the wrists. William regarded him +thoughtfully, from his pith helmet to his greased ankle-boots. 'You +look very nice, I think. Are you sure you've everything you'll +need--quinine, chlorodyne, and so on?' + +'Think so,' said Scott, patting three or four of his shooting pockets +as the horse was led up, and he mounted and rode alongside his +convoy. + +'Good-bye,' he cried. + +'Good-bye, and good luck,' said William. 'I'm awfully obliged for the +money.' She turned on a spurred heel and disappeared into the tent, +while the carts pushed on past the famine-sheds, past the roaring +lines of the thick, fat fires, down to the baked Gehenna of the +South. + + + + +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR + +PART II + + So let us melt and make no noise, + No tear-floods nor sigh-tempests move; + 'Twere profanation of our joys + To tell the laity our love. + A VALEDICTION. + +It was punishing work, even though he travelled by night and camped +by day; but within the limits of his vision there was no man whom +Scott could call master. He was as free as Jimmy Hawkins--freer, in +fact, for the Government held the Head of the Famine tied neatly to a +telegraph-wire, and if Jimmy had ever regarded telegrams seriously, +the death-rate of that famine would have been much higher than it +was. + +At the end of a few days' crawling Scott learned something of the +size of the India which he served; and it astonished him. His carts, +as you know, were loaded with wheat, millet, and barley, good +food-grains needing only a little grinding. But the people to whom he +brought the life-giving stuffs were rice eaters. They knew how to +hull rice in their mortars, but they knew nothing of the heavy stone +querns of the North, and less of the material that the white man +convoyed so laboriously. They clamoured for rice--unhusked paddy, +such as they were accustomed to--and, when they found that there was +none, broke away weeping from the sides of the cart. What was the use +of these strange hard grains that choked their throats? They would +die. And then and there were many of them kept their word. Others +took their allowance, and bartered enough millet to feed a man +through a week for a few handfuls of rotten rice saved by some less +unfortunate. A few put their shares into the rice-mortars, pounded +it, and made a paste with foul water; but they were very few. Scott +understood dimly that many people in the India of the South ate rice, +as a rule, but he had spent his service in a grain Province, had +seldom seen rice in the blade or the ear, and least of all would +have believed that, in time of deadly need, men would die at arm's +length of plenty, sooner than touch food they did not know. In vain +the interpreters interpreted; in vain his two policemen showed by +vigorous pantomime what should be done. The starving crept away to +their bark and weeds, grubs, leaves, and clay, and left the open +sacks untouched. But sometimes the women laid their phantoms of +children at Scott's feet, looking back as they staggered away. + +Faiz Ullah opined it was the will of God that these foreigners should +die, and therefore it remained only to give orders to burn the dead. +None the less there was no reason why the Sahib should lack his +comforts, and Faiz Ullah, a campaigner of experience, had picked up a +few lean goats and had added them to the procession. That they might +give milk for the morning meal, he was feeding them on the good grain +that these imbeciles rejected. 'Yes,' said Faiz Ullah; 'if the Sahib +thought fit, a little milk might be given to some of the babies'; +but, as the Sahib well knew, babies were cheap, and, for his own +part, Faiz Ullah held that there was no Government order as to +babies. Scott spoke forcefully to Faiz Ullah and the two policemen, +and bade them capture goats where they could find them. This they +most joyfully did, for it was a recreation, and many ownerless goats +were driven in. Once fed, the poor brutes were willing enough to +follow the carts, and a few days' good food--food such as human +beings died for lack of--set them in milk again. + +'But I am no goatherd,' said Faiz Ullah. 'It is against my _izzat_ +[my honour].' + +'When we cross the Bias River again we will talk of _izzat_,' Scott +replied. 'Till that day thou and the policemen shall be sweepers to +the camp, if I give the order.' + +'Thus, then, it is done,' grunted Faiz Ullah, 'if the Sahib will have +it so'; and he showed how a goat should be milked, while Scott stood +over him. + +'Now we will feed them,' said Scott; 'thrice a day we will feed +them'; and he bowed his back to the milking, and took a horrible +cramp. + +When you have to keep connection unbroken between a restless mother +of kids and a baby who is at the point of death, you suffer in all +your system. But the babies were fed. Morning, noon and evening Scott +would solemnly lift them out one by one from their nest of gunny-bags +under the cart-tilts. There were always many who could do no more +than breathe, and the milk was dropped into their toothless mouths +drop by drop, with due pauses when they choked. Each morning, too, +the goats were fed; and since they would struggle without a leader, +and since the natives were hirelings, Scott was forced to give up +riding, and pace slowly at the head of his flocks, accommodating +his step to their weaknesses. All this was sufficiently absurd, and +he felt the absurdity keenly; but at least he was saving life, and +when the women saw that their children did not die, they made shift +to eat a little of the strange foods, and crawled after the carts, +blessing the master of the goats. + +'Give the women something to live for,' said Scott to himself, as +he sneezed in the dust of a hundred little feet, 'and they'll hang +on somehow. But this beats William's condensed milk trick all to +pieces. I shall never live it down, though.' + +He reached his destination very slowly, found that a rice-ship had +come in from Burmah, and that stores of paddy were available; found +also an overworked Englishman in charge of the shed, and, loading the +carts, set back to cover the ground he had already passed. He left +some of the children and half his goats at the famine-shed. For this +he was not thanked by the Englishman, who had already more stray +babies than he knew what to do with. Scott's back was suppled to +stooping now, and he went on with his wayside ministrations in +addition to distributing the paddy. More babies and more goats were +added unto him; but now some of the babies wore rags, and beads round +their wrists or necks. '_That_,' said the interpreter, as though +Scott did not know, 'signifies that their mothers hope in eventual +contingency to resume them offeecially.' + +'The sooner the better,' said Scott; but at the same time he marked, +with the pride of ownership, how this or that little Ramasawmy was +putting on flesh like a bantam. As the paddy carts were emptied he +headed for Hawkins's camp by the railway, timing his arrival to fit +in with the dinner-hour, for it was long since he had eaten at a +cloth. He had no desire to make any dramatic entry, but an accident +of the sunset ordered it that, when he had taken off his helmet to +get the evening breeze, the low light should fall across his +forehead, and he could not see what was before him; while one +waiting at the tent door beheld, with new eyes, a young man, +beautiful as Paris, a god in a halo of golden dust, walking slowly +at the head of his flocks, while at his knee ran small naked Cupids. +But she laughed--William, in a slate-coloured blouse, laughed +consumedly till Scott, putting the best face he could upon the +matter, halted his armies and bade her admire the kindergarten. It +was an unseemly sight, but the proprieties had been left ages ago, +with the tea-party at Amritsar Station, fifteen hundred miles to the +northward. + +'They are coming on nicely,' said William. 'We've only +five-and-twenty here now. The women are beginning to take them away +again.' + +'Are you in charge of the babies, then?' + +'Yes--Mrs. Jim and I. We didn't think of goats, though. We've been +trying condensed milk and water.' + +'Any losses?' + +'More than I care to think of,' said William, with a shudder. 'And +you?' + +Scott said nothing. There had been many little burials along his +route--many mothers who had wept when they did not find again the +children they had trusted to the care of the Government. + +Then Hawkins came out carrying a razor, at which Scott looked +hungrily, for he had a beard that he did not love. And when they +sat down to dinner in the tent he told his tale in few words, as it +might have been an official report. Mrs. Jim snuffled from time to +time, and Jim bowed his head judicially; but William's gray eyes were +on the clean-shaven face, and it was to her that Scott seemed to +speak. + +'Good for the Pauper Province!' said William, her chin in her hand, +as she leaned forward among the wine-glasses. Her cheeks had fallen +in, and the scar on her forehead was more prominent than ever, but +the well-turned neck rose roundly as a column from the ruffle of the +blouse which was the accepted evening-dress in camp. + +'It was awfully absurd at times,' said Scott. 'You see I didn't know +much about milking or babies. They'll chaff my head off, if the tale +goes north.' + +'Let 'em,' said William, haughtily. 'We've all done coolie-work +since we came. I know Jack has.' This was to Hawkins's address, and +the big man smiled blandly. + +'Your brother's a highly efficient officer, William,' said he, and +I've done him the honour of treating him as he deserves. Remember, I +write the confidential reports.' + +'Then you must say that William's worth her weight in gold,' said +Mrs. Jim. 'I don't know what we should have done without her. She has +been everything to us.' She dropped her hand upon William's, which +was rough with much handling of reins, and William patted it softly. +Jim beamed on the company. Things were going well with his world. +Three of his more grossly incompetent men had died, and their places +had been filled by their betters. Every day brought the rains nearer. +They had put out the famine in five of the Eight Districts, and, +after all, the death-rate had not been too heavy--things considered. +He looked Scott over carefully, as an ogre looks over a man, and +rejoiced in his thews and iron-hard condition. + +'He's just the least bit in the world tucked up,' said Jim to +himself, 'but he can do two men's work yet.' Then he was aware that +Mrs. Jim was telegraphing to him, and according to the domestic code +the message ran: 'A clear case. Look at them!' + +He looked and listened. All that William was saying was: 'What can +you expect of a country where they call a _bhistee_ [a water-carrier] +a _tunni-cutch?_' and all that Scott answered was: 'I shall be +precious glad to get back to the Club. Save me a dance at the +Christmas ball, won't you?' + +'It's a far cry from here to the Lawrence Hall,' said Jim. 'Better +turn in early, Scott. It's paddy-carts to-morrow; you'll begin +loading at five.' + +'Aren't you going to give Mr. Scott one day's rest?' + +'Wish I could, Lizzie. 'Fraid I can't. As long as he can stand up we +must use him.' + +'Well, I've had one Europe evening, at least ... By Jove, I'd nearly +forgotten! What do I do about those babies of mine?' + +'Leave them here,' said William--'we are in charge of that--and as +many goats as you can spare. I must learn how to milk now.' + +'If you care to get up early enough to-morrow I'll show you. I have +to milk, you see; and, by the way, half of em have beads and things +round their necks. You must be careful not to take 'em off, in case +the mothers turn up.' + +'You forget I've had some experience here.' + +'I hope to goodness you won't overdo.' Scott's voice was unguarded. + +'I'll take care of her,' said Mrs. Jim, telegraphing hundred-word +messages as she carried William off, while Jim gave Scott his orders +for the coming campaign. It was very late--nearly nine o'clock. + +'Jim, you're a brute,' said his wife, that night; and the Head of the +Famine chuckled. + +'Not a bit of it, dear I remember doing the first Jandiala Settlement +for the sake of a girl in a crinoline; and she was slender, Lizzie. +I've never done as good a piece of work since. _He_'ll work like a +demon.' + +'But you might have given him one day.' + +'And let things come to a head now? No, dear; it's their happiest +time.' + +'I don't believe either of the dears know what's the matter with +them. Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it lovely?' + +'Getting up at three to learn to milk, bless her heart! Ye gods, why +must we grow old and fat?' + +'She's a darling. She has done more work under me--' + +'Under _you!_ The day after she came she was in charge and you were +her subordinate, and you've stayed there ever since. She manages you +almost as well as you manage me.' + +'She doesn't, and that's why I love her. She's as direct as a man-as +her brother.' + +'Her brother's weaker than she is. He's always coming to me for +orders; but he's honest, and a glutton for work. I confess I'm +rather fond of William, and if I had a daughter--' + +The talk ended there. Far away in the Derajat was a child's grave +more than twenty years old, and neither Jim nor his wife spoke of it +any more. + +'All the same, you're responsible,' Jim added, after a moment's +silence. + +'Bless 'em,' said Mrs. Jim, sleepily. + +Before the stars paled, Scott, who slept in an empty cart, waked and +went about his work in silence; it seemed at that hour unkind to +rouse Faiz Ullah and the interpreter. His head being close to the +ground, he did not hear William till she stood over him in the dingy +old riding-habit, her eyes still heavy with sleep, a cup of tea and a +piece of toast in her hands. There was a baby on the ground, +squirming on a piece of blanket, and a six-year-old child peered over +Scott's shoulder. + +'Hai, you little rip,' said Scott, 'how the deuce do you expect to +get your rations if you aren't quiet?' + +A cool white hand steadied the brat, who forthwith choked as the milk +gurgled into his mouth. + +'Mornin',' said the milker. 'You've no notion how these little +fellows can wriggle.' + +'Oh, yes, I have.' She whispered, because the world was asleep. 'Only +I feed them with a spoon or a rag. Yours are fatter than mine.... +And you've been doing this day after day, twice a day?' The voice was +almost lost. + +'Yes; it was absurd. Now you try,' he said, giving place to the girl. +'Look out! A goat's not a cow.' + +The goat protested against the amateur, and there was a scuffle, in +which Scott snatched up the baby. Then it was all to do over again, +and William laughed softly and merrily. She managed, however, to feed +two babies, and a third. + +'Don't the little beggars take it well!' said Scott. 'I trained 'em.' + +They were very busy and interested, when, lo! it was broad daylight, +and before they knew, the camp was awake, and they kneeled among the +goats, surprised by the day, both flushed to the temples. Yet all the +round world rolling up out of the darkness might have heard and seen +all that had passed between them. + +'Oh,' said William, unsteadily, snatching up the tea and toast, 'I +had this made for you. It's stone-cold now. I thought you mightn't +have anything ready so early. Better not drink it. It's--it's +stone-cold.' + +'That's awfully kind of you. It's just right. It's awfully good of +you, really. I'll leave my kids and goats with you and Mrs. Jim; and, +of course, any one in camp can show you about the milking.' + +'Of course,' said William; and she grew pinker and pinker and +statelier and more stately, as she strode back to her tent, fanning +herself vigorously with the saucer. + +There were shrill lamentations through the camp when the elder +children saw their nurse move off without them. Faiz Ullah unbent so +far as to jest with the policemen, and Scott turned purple with shame +because Hawkins, already in the saddle, roared. + +A child escaped from the care of Mrs. Jim, and, running like a +rabbit, clung to Scott's boot, William pursuing with long, easy +strides. + +'I will not go--I will not go!' shrieked the child, twining his feet +round Scott's ankle. 'They will kill me here. I do not know these +people.' + +'I say,' said Scott, in broken Tamil, 'I say, she will do you no +harm. Go with her and be well fed.' + +'Come!' said William, panting, with a wrathful glance at Scott, who +stood helpless and, as it were, hamstrung. + +'Go back,' said Scott quickly to William. 'I'll send the little +chap over in a minute.' + +The tone of authority had its effect, but in a way Scott did not +exactly intend. The boy loosened his grasp, and said with gravity, +'I did not know the woman was thine. I will go.' Then he cried to +his companions, a mob of three-, four-, and five-year-olds waiting +on the success of his venture ere they stampeded: 'Go back and eat. +It is our man's woman. She will obey his orders.' + +Jim collapsed where he sat; Faiz Ullah and the two policemen grinned; +and Scott's orders to the cartmen flew like hail. + +'That is the custom of the Sahibs when truth is told in their +presence,' said Faiz Ullah. 'The time comes that I must seek new +service. Young wives, especially such as speak our language and have +knowledge of the ways of the Police, make great trouble for honest +butlers in the matter of weekly accounts.' + +What William thought of it all she did not say, but when her brother, +ten days later, came to camp for orders, and heard of Scott's +performances, he said, laughing: 'Well, that settles it. He'll be +_Bakri_ Scott to the end of his days' (_Bakri_, in the northern +vernacular, means a goat). 'What a lark! I'd have given a month's pay +to have seen him nursing famine babies. I fed some with _conjee_ +[rice-water], but that was all right.' + +'It's perfectly disgusting,' said his sister, with blazing eyes. 'A +man does something like--like that--and all you other men think of is +to give him an absurd nickname, and then you laugh and think it's +funny.' + +'Ah,' said Mrs. Jim, sympathetically. + +'Well, _you_ can't talk, William. You christened little Miss Demby +the Button-quail last cold weather; you know you did. India's the +land of nicknames.' + +That's different,' William replied. 'She was only a girl, and she +hadn't done anything except walk like a quail, and she _does_. But it +isn't fair to make fun of a man.' + +'Scott won't care,' said Martyn. 'You can't get a rise out of old +Scotty. I've been trying for eight years, and you've only known him +for three. How does he look?' + +'He looks very well,' said William, and went away with a flushed +cheek. '_Bakri_ Scott, indeed!' Then she laughed to herself, for she +knew the country of her service. 'But it will be _Bakri_ all the +same'; and she repeated it under her breath several times slowly, +whispering it into favour. + +When he returned to his duties on the railway, Martyn spread the name +far and wide among his associates, so that Scott met it as he led his +paddy-carts to war. The natives believed it to be some English title +of honour, and the cart-drivers used it in all simplicity till Faiz +Ullah, who did not approve of foreign japes, broke their heads. There +was very little time for milking now, except at the big camps, where +Jim had extended Scott's idea, and was feeding large flocks on the +useless northern grains. Enough paddy had come into the Eight +Districts to hold the people safe, if it were only distributed +quickly; and for that purpose no one was better than the big Canal +officer, who never lost his temper, never gave an unnecessary order, +and never questioned an order given. Scott pressed on, saving his +cattle, washing their galled necks daily, so that no time should be +lost on the road; reported himself with his rice at the minor +famine-sheds, unloaded, and went back light by forced night-march to +the next distributing centre, to find Hawkins's unvarying telegram: +'Do it again.' And he did it again and again, and yet again, while +Jim Hawkins, fifty miles away, marked off on a big map the tracks of +his wheels gridironing the stricken lands. Others did well--Hawkins +reported at the end that they all did well--but Scott was the most +excellent, for he kept good coined rupees by him, and paid for his +own cart-repairs on the spot, and ran to meet all sorts of +unconsidered extras, trusting to be recouped later. Theoretically, +the Government should have paid for every shoe and linchpin, for +every hand employed in the loading; but Government vouchers cash +themselves slowly, and intelligent and efficient clerks write at +great length, contesting unauthorised expenditures of eight annas. +The man who wishes to make his work a success must draw on his own +bank-account of money or other things as he goes. + +'I told you he'd work,' said Jimmy to his wife at the end of six +weeks. 'He's been in sole charge of a couple of thousand men up north +on the Mosuhl Canal for a year, and he gives one less trouble than +young Martyn with his ten constables; and I'm morally certain--only +Government doesn't recognise moral obligations--that he's spent about +half his pay to grease his wheels. Look at this, Lizzie, for one +week's work! Forty miles in two days with twelve carts; two days' +halt building a famine-shed for young Rogers (Rogers ought to have +built it himself, the idiot!). Then forty miles back again, loading +six carts on the way, and distributing all Sunday. Then in the +evening he pitches in a twenty-page demi-official to me, saying that +the people where he is might be "advantageously employed on +relief-work," and suggesting that he put 'em to work on some +broken-down old reservoir he's discovered, so as to have a good +water-supply when the Rains come. He thinks he can caulk the dam in a +fortnight. Look at his marginal sketches--aren't they clear and good? +I knew he was _pukka_, but I didn't know he was as _pukka_ as this!' + +'I must show these to William,' said Mrs. Jim. 'The child's wearing +herself out among the babies.' + +'Not more than you are, dear. Well, another two months ought to see +us out of the wood. I'm sorry it's not in my power to recommend you +for a V.C.' + +William sat late in her tent that night, reading through page after +page of the square handwriting, patting the sketches of proposed +repairs to the reservoir, and wrinkling her eyebrows over the columns +of figures of estimated water-supply. + +'And he finds time to do all this,' she cried to herself, +'and ... well, I also was present. I've saved one or two babies.' + +She dreamed for the twentieth time of the god in the golden dust, and +woke refreshed to feed loathsome black children, scores of them, +wastrels picked up by the wayside, their bones almost breaking their +skin, terrible and covered with sores. + +Scott was not allowed to leave his cart work, but his letter was duly +forwarded to the Government, and he had the consolation, not rare in +India, of knowing that another man was reaping where he had sown. +That also was discipline profitable to the soul. + +'He's much too good to waste on canals,' said Jimmy. 'Any one can +oversee coolies. You needn't be angry, William: he can--but I need my +pearl among bullock-drivers, and I've transferred him to the Khanda +district, where he'll have it all to do over again. He should be +marching now.' + +'He's _not_ a coolie,' said William furiously. 'He ought to be doing +his regulation work.' + +'He's the best man in his service, and that's saying a good deal; but +if you _must_ use razors to cut grindstones, why, I prefer the best +cutlery.' + +'Isn't it almost time we saw him again?' said Mrs. Jim. 'I'm sure the +poor boy hasn't had a respectable meal for a month. He probably sits +on a cart and eats sardines with his fingers.' + +'All in good time, dear. Duty before decency--wasn't it Mr. Chucks +said that?' + +'No; it was Midshipman Easy,' William laughed. 'I sometimes wonder +how it will feel to dance or listen to a band again, or sit under a +roof. I can't believe that I ever wore a ball-frock in my life.' + +'One minute,' said Mrs. Jim, who was thinking. 'If he goes to Khanda, +he passes within five miles of us. Of course he'll ride in.' + +'Oh, no, he won't,' said William. + +'How do you know, dear?' + +'It'll take him off his work. He won't have time.' + +'He'll make it,' said Mrs. Jim, with a twinkle. + +'It depends on his own judgment. There's absolutely no reason why he +shouldn't, if he thinks fit,' said Jim. + +'He won't see fit,' William replied, without sorrow or emotion. 'It +wouldn't be him if he did.' + +'One certainly gets to know people rather well in times like these,' +said Jim, drily; but William's face was serene as ever, and, even as +she prophesied, Scott did not appear. + +The Rains fell at last, late, but heavily; and the dry, gashed earth +was red mud, and servants killed snakes in the camp, where every one +was weather-bound for a fortnight--all except Hawkins, who took horse +and splashed about in the wet, rejoicing. Now the Government decreed +that seed-grain should be distributed to the people, as well as +advances of money for the purchase of new oxen; and the white men +were doubly worked for this new duty, while William skipped from +brick to brick laid down on the trampled mud, and dosed her charges +with warming medicines that made them rub their little round +stomachs; and the milch-goats throve on the rank grass. There was +never a word from Scott in the Khanda district, away to the +south-east, except the regular telegraphic report to Hawkins. The +rude country roads had disappeared; his drivers were half mutinous; +one of Martyn's loaned policemen had died of cholera; and Scott was +taking thirty grains of quinine a day to fight the fever that comes +if one works hard in heavy rain; but those were things he did not +consider necessary to report. He was, as usual, working from a base +of supplies on a railway line, to cover a circle of fifteen miles +radius, and since full loads were impossible, he took quarter-loads, +and toiled four times as hard by consequence; for he did not choose +to risk an epidemic which might have grown uncontrollable by +assembling villagers in thousands at the relief-sheds. It was cheaper +to take Government bullocks, work them to death, and leave them to +the crows in the wayside sloughs. + +That was the time when eight years of clean living and hard condition +told, though a man's head were ringing like a bell from the cinchona, +and the earth swayed under his feet when he stood and under his bed +when he slept. If Hawkins had seen fit to make him a bullock-driver, +that, he thought, was entirely Hawkins's own affair. There were men +in the North who would know what he had done; men of thirty years' +service in his own department who would say that it was 'not half +bad'; and above, immeasurably above all men of all grades, there was +William in the thick of the fight, who would approve because she +understood. He had so trained his mind that it would hold fast to the +mechanical routine of the day, though his own voice sounded strange +in his own ears, and his hands, when he wrote, grew large as pillows +or small as peas at the end of his wrists. That steadfastness bore +his body to the telegraph-office at the railway-station, and dictated +a telegram to Hawkins, saying that the Khanda district was, in his +judgment, now safe, and he 'waited further orders.' + +The Madrassee telegraph-clerk did not approve of a large, gaunt man +falling over him in a dead faint, not so much because of the weight, +as because of the names and blows that Faiz Ullah dealt him when he +found the body rolled under a bench. Then Faiz Ullah took blankets +and quilts and coverlets where he found them, and lay down under them +at his master's side, and bound his arms with a tent-rope, and filled +him with a horrible stew of herbs, and set the policeman to fight him +when he wished to escape from the intolerable heat of his coverings, +and shut the door of the telegraph-office to keep out the curious for +two nights and one day; and when a light engine came down the line, +and Hawkins kicked in the door, Scott hailed him weakly, but in a +natural voice, and Faiz Ullah stood back and took all the credit. + +'For two nights, Heaven-born, he was _pagal_' said Faiz Ullah. 'Look +at my nose, and consider the eye of the policeman. He beat us with +his bound hands; but we sat upon him, Heaven-born, and though his +words were _tez_, we sweated him. Heaven-born, never has been such a +sweat! He is weaker now than a child; but the fever has gone out of +him, by the grace of God. There remains only my nose and the eye of +the constabeel. Sahib, shall I ask for my dismissal because my Sahib +has beaten me?' And Faiz Ullah laid his long thin hand carefully on +Scott's chest to be sure that the fever was all gone, ere he went out +to open tinned soups and discourage such as laughed at his swelled +nose. + +'The district's all right,' Scott whispered. 'It doesn't make any +difference. You got my wire? I shall be fit in a week. 'Can't +understand how it happened. I shall be fit in a few days.' + +'You're coming into camp with us,' said Hawkins. + +'But look here--but--' + +'It's all over except the shouting. We sha'n't need you Punjabis any +more. On my honour, we sha'n't. Martyn goes back in a few weeks; +Arbuthnot's returned already; Ellis and Clay are putting the last +touches to a new feeder-line the Government's built as relief-work. +Morten's dead--he was a Bengal man, though; you wouldn't know him. +'Pon my word, you and Will--Miss Martyn--seem to have come through it +as well as anybody.' + +'Oh, how is she?' The voice went up and down as he spoke. + +'She was in great form when I left her. The Roman Catholic Missions +are adopting the unclaimed babies to turn them into little priests; +the Basil Mission is taking some, and the mothers are taking the +rest. You should hear the little beggars howl when they're sent away +from William. She's pulled down a bit, but so are we all. Now, when +do you suppose you'll be able to move?' + +'I can't come into camp in this state. I won't,' he replied +pettishly. + +'Well, you _are_ rather a sight, but from what I gathered there it +seemed to me they'd be glad to see you under any conditions. I'll +look over your work here, if you like, for a couple of days, and you +can pull yourself together while Faiz Ullah feeds you up.' + +Scott could walk dizzily by the time Hawkins's inspection vas ended, +and he flushed all over when Jim said of his work in the district +that it was 'not half bad,' and volunteered, further, that he had +considered Scott his right-hand man through the famine, and would +feel it his duty to say as much officially. + +So they came back by rail to the old camp; but there were no crowds +near it, the long fires in the trenches were dead and black, and the +famine-sheds stood almost empty. + +'You see!' said Jim. 'There isn't much more for us to do. Better ride +up and see the wife. They've pitched a tent for you. Dinner's at +seven. I'll see you then.' + +Riding at a foot-pace, Faiz Ullah by his stirrup, Scott came to +William in the brown-calico riding-habit, sitting at the dining-tent +door, her hands in her lap, white as ashes, thin and worn, with no +lustre in her hair. There did not seem to be any Mrs. Jim on the +horizon, and all that William could say was: 'My word, how pulled +down you look!' + +'I've had a touch of fever. You don't look very well yourself.' + +'Oh, I'm fit enough. We've stamped it out. I suppose you know?' + +Scott nodded. 'We shall all be returned in a few weeks. Hawkins told +me.' + +'Before Christmas, Mrs. Jim says. Sha'n't you be glad to go back? I +can smell the wood-smoke already'; William sniffed. 'We shall be in +time for all the Christmas doings. I don't suppose even the Punjab +Government would be base enough to transfer Jack till the new year?' + +'It seems hundreds of years ago--the Punjab and all that--doesn't it? +Are you glad you came?' + +'Now it's all over, yes. It has been ghastly here. You know we had to +sit still and do nothing, and Sir Jim was away so much.' + +'Do nothing! How did you get on with the milking?' + +'I managed it somehow--after you taught me.' + +Then the talk stopped with an almost audible jar. Still no Mrs. Jim. + +'That reminds me I owe you fifty rupees for the condensed milk. I +thought perhaps you'd be coming here when you were transferred to the +Khanda district, and I could pay you then; but you didn't.' + +'I passed within five miles of the camp. It was in the middle of a +march, you see, and the carts were breaking down every few minutes, +and I couldn't get 'em over the ground till ten o'clock that night. +But I wanted to come awfully. You knew I did, didn't you?' + +'I--believe--I--did,' said William, facing him with level eyes. She +was no longer white. + +'Did you understand?' + +'Why you didn't ride in? Of course I did,' + +'Why?' + +'Because you couldn't of course. I knew that.' + +'Did you care?' + +'If you had come in--but I knew you wouldn't--but if you _had_, I +should have cared a great deal. You know I should.' + +'Thank God I didn't! Oh, but I wanted to! I couldn't trust myself to +ride in front of the carts, because I kept edging 'em over here, +don't you know?' + +'I knew you wouldn't,' said William, contentedly, 'Here's your +fifty.' + +Scott bent forward and kissed the hand that held the greasy notes. +Its fellow patted him awkwardly but very tenderly on the head. + +'And _you_ knew, too, didn't you?' said William, in a new voice. + +'No, on my honour, I didn't. I hadn't the--the cheek to expect +anything of the kind, except... I say, were you out riding anywhere +the day I passed by to Khanda?' + +William nodded, and smiled after the manner of an angel surprised +in a good deed. + +'Then it was just a speck I saw of your habit in the--' + +'Palm-grove on the Southern cart-road. I saw your helmet when you +came up from the nullah by the temple--just enough to be sure that +you were all right. D'you care?' + +This time Scott did not kiss her hand, for they were in the dusk of +the dining-tent, and, because William's knees were trembling under +her, she had to sit down in the nearest chair, where she wept long +and happily, her head on her arms; and when Scott imagined that it +would be well to comfort her, she needed nothing of the kind; she ran +to her own tent; and Scott went out into the world, and smiled upon +it largely and idiotically. But when Faiz Ullah brought him a drink, +he found it necessary to support one hand with the other, or the good +whisky and soda would have been spilled abroad. There are fevers and +fevers. + +But it was worse--much worse--the strained, eye-shirking talk at +dinner till the servants had withdrawn, and worst of all when Mrs. +Jim, who had been on the edge of weeping from the soup down, kissed +Scott and William, and they drank one whole bottle of champagne, hot, +because there was no ice, and Scott and William sat outside the tent +in the starlight till Mrs. Jim drove them in for fear of more fever. + +Apropos of these things and some others William said: 'Being engaged +is abominable, because, you see, one has no official position. We +must be thankful that we've lots of things to do.' + +'Things to do!' said Jim, when that was reported to him. 'They're +neither of them any good any more. I can't get five hours' work a day +out of Scott. He's in the clouds half the time.' + +'Oh, but they're so beautiful to watch, Jimmy. It will break my heart +when they go. Can't you do anything for him?' + +'I've given the Government the impression--at least, I hope I +have--that he personally conducted the entire famine. But all he +wants is to get on to the Luni Canal Works, and William's just as +bad. Have you ever heard 'em talking of barrage and aprons and +wastewater. It's their style of spooning, I suppose.' + +Mrs. Jim smiled tenderly. 'Ah, that's in the intervals--bless 'em.' + +And so Love ran about the camp unrebuked in broad daylight, while men +picked up the pieces and put them neatly away of the Famine in the +Eight Districts. + + * * * * * + +Morning brought the penetrating chill of the Northern December, the +layers of wood-smoke, the dusty gray blue of the tamarisks, the domes +of ruined tombs, and all the smell of the white Northern plains, as +the mail-train ran on to the mile-long Sutlej Bridge. William, +wrapped in a _poshteen_--silk-embroidered sheepskin jacket trimmed +with rough astrakhan--looked out with moist eyes and nostrils that +dilated joyously. The South of pagodas and palm-trees, the +over-populated Hindu South, was done with. Here was the land she knew +and loved, and before her lay the good life she understood, among +folk of her own caste and mind. + +They were picking them up at almost every station now--men and women +coming in for the Christmas Week, with racquets, with bundles of +polo-sticks, with dear and bruised cricket-bats, with fox-terriers +and saddles. The greater part of them wore jackets like William's, +for the Northern cold is as little to be trifled with as the +Northern heat. And William was among them and of them, her hands +deep in her pockets, her collar turned up over her ears, stamping her +feet on the platforms as she walked up and down to get warm, visiting +from carriage to carriage, and everywhere being congratulated. Scott +was with the bachelors at the far end of the train, where they +chaffed him mercilessly about feeding babies and milking goats; but +from time to time he would stroll up to William's window, and murmur: +'Good enough, isn't it?' and William would answer, with sighs of pure +delight: 'Good enough, indeed.' The large open names of the home +towns were good to listen to. Umballa, Ludianah, Phillour, Jullundur, +they rang like the coming marriage-bells in her ears, and William +felt deeply and truly sorry for all strangers and +outsiders--visitors, tourists, and those fresh-caught for the service +of the country. + +It was a glorious return, and when the bachelors gave the Christmas +ball, William was, unofficially, you might say, the chief and +honoured guest among the stewards, who could make things very +pleasant for their friends. She and Scott danced nearly all the +dances together, and sat out the rest in the big dark gallery +overlooking the superb teak floor, where the uniforms blazed, and the +spurs clinked, and the new frocks and four hundred dancers went round +and round till the draped flags on the pillars flapped and bellied to +the whirl of it. + +About midnight half a dozen men who did not care for dancing came +over from the Club to play 'Waits,' and--that was a surprise the +stewards had arranged--before any one knew what had happened, the +band stopped, and hidden voices broke into 'Good King Wenceslaus,' +and William in the gallery hummed and beat time with her foot: + + Mark my footsteps well, my page, + Tread thou in them boldly, + Thou shalt feel the winter's rage + Freeze thy blood less coldly! + +'Oh, I hope they are going to give us another! Isn't it pretty, +coming out of the dark in that way? Look--look down. There's Mrs. +Gregory wiping her eyes!' + +'It's like home, rather,' said Scott. 'I remember-- + +'H'sh! Listen!--dear.'And it began again: + + When shepherds watched their flocks by night-- + +'A-h-h!' said William, drawing closer to Scott. + + All seated on the ground, + The Angel of the Lord came down, + And glory shone around. + 'Fear not,' said he (for mighty dread. + Had seized their troubled mind); + 'Glad tidings of great joy I bring + To you and all mankind.' + +This time it was William that wiped her eyes. + + + + +WEE WILLIE WINKIE + +AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN + +His full name was Percival William Williams, but he picked up the +other name in a nursery-book, and that was the end of the christened +titles. His mother's _ayah_ called him Willie-_Baba_, but as he never +paid the faintest attention to anything that the _ayah_ said, her +wisdom did not help matters. + +His father was the Colonel of the 195th, and as soon as Wee Willie +Winkie was old enough to understand what Military Discipline meant, +Colonel Williams put him under it. There was no other way of managing +the child. When he was good for a week, he drew good-conduct pay; and +when he was bad, he was deprived of his good-conduct stripe. +Generally he was bad, for India offers many chances of going wrong to +little six-year-olds. + +Children resent familiarity from strangers, and Wee Willie Winkie was +a very particular child. Once he accepted an acquaintance, he was +graciously pleased to thaw. He accepted Brandis, a subaltern of the +195th, on sight. Brandis was having tea at the Colonel's, and Wee +Willie Winkie entered strong in the possession of a good-conduct +badge won for not chasing the hens round the compound. He regarded +Brandis with gravity for at least ten minutes, and then delivered +himself of his opinion. + +'I like you,' said he slowly, getting off his chair and coming over +to Brandis. 'I like you. I shall call you Coppy, because of your +hair. Do you _mind_ being called Coppy? It is because of ve hair, you +know.' + +Here was one of the most embarrassing of Wee Willie Winkie's +peculiarities. He would look at a stranger for some time, and then, +without warning or explanation, would give him a name. And the name +stuck. No regimental penalties could break Wee Willie Winkie of this +habit. He lost his good-conduct badge for christening the +Commissioner's wife 'Pobs'; but nothing that the Colonel could do +made the Station forego the nickname, and Mrs. Collen remained 'Pobs' +till the end of her stay. So Brandis was christened 'Coppy,' and +rose, therefore, in the estimation of the regiment. + +If Wee Willie Winkie took an interest in any one, the fortunate man +was envied alike by the mess and the rank and file. And in their envy +lay no suspicion of self-interest. 'The Colonel's son' was idolised +on his own merits entirely. Yet Wee Willie Winkie was not lovely. His +face was permanently freckled, as his legs were permanently +scratched, and in spite of his mother's almost tearful remonstrances +he had insisted upon having his long yellow locks cut short in the +military fashion. 'I want my hair like Sergeant Tummil's,' said Wee +Willie Winkie, and, his father abetting, the sacrifice was +accomplished. + +Three weeks after the bestowal of his youthful affections on +Lieutenant Brandis--henceforward to be called 'Coppy' for the sake of +brevity--Wee Willie Winkie was destined to behold strange things and +far beyond his comprehension. + +Coppy returned his liking with interest. Coppy had let him wear for +five rapturous minutes his own big sword--just as tall as Wee Willie +Winkie. Coppy had promised him a terrier puppy; and Coppy had +permitted him to witness the miraculous operation of shaving. Nay, +more--Coppy had said that even he, Wee Willie Winkie, would rise in +time to the ownership of a box of shiny knives, a silver soap-box, +and a silver-handled 'sputter-brush,' as Wee Willie Winkie called it. +Decidedly, there was no one except his father, who could give or take +away good-conduct badges at pleasure, half so wise, strong, and +valiant as Coppy with the Afghan and Egyptian medals on his breast. +Why, then, should Coppy be guilty of the unmanly weakness of +kissing--vehemently kissing--a 'big girl,' Miss Allardyce to wit? In +the course of a morning ride, Wee Willie Winkie had seen Coppy so +doing, and, like the gentleman he was, had promptly wheeled round and +cantered back to his groom, lest the groom should also see. + +Under ordinary circumstances he would have spoken to his father, but +he felt instinctively that this was a matter on which Coppy ought +first to be consulted. + +'Coppy,' shouted Wee Willie Winkie, reining up outside that +subaltern's bungalow early one morning--'I want to see you, Coppy!' + +'Come in, young 'un,' returned Coppy, who was at early breakfast in +the midst of his dogs. 'What mischief have you been getting into +now?' + +Wee Willie Winkie had done nothing notoriously bad for three days, +and so stood on a pinnacle of virtue. + +'_I've_ been doing nothing bad,' said he, curling himself into a +long chair with a studious affectation of the Colonel's languor after +a hot parade. He buried his freckled nose in a tea-cup and, with eyes +staring roundly over the rim, asked: 'I say, Coppy, is it pwoper to +kiss big girls?' + +'By Jove! You're beginning early. Who do you want to kiss?' + +'No one. My muvver's always kissing me if I don't stop her. If it +isn't pwoper, how was you kissing Major Allardyce's big girl last +morning, by ve canal?' + +Coppy's brow wrinkled. He and Miss Allardyce had with great craft +managed to keep their engagement secret for a fortnight. There were +urgent and imperative reasons why Major Allardyce should not know +how matters stood for at least another month, and this small marplot +had discovered a great deal too much. + +'I saw you,' said Wee Willie Winkie calmly. 'But ve _sais_ didn't +see. I said, "_Hut jao_!"' + +'Oh, you had that much sense, you young Rip,' groaned poor Coppy, +half amused and half angry. 'And how many people may you have told +about it?' + +'Only me myself. You didn't tell when I twied to wide ve buffalo ven +my pony was lame; and I fought you wouldn't like.' + +'Winkie,' said Coppy enthusiastically, shaking the small hand, +'you're the best of good fellows. Look here, you can't understand all +these things. One of these days--hang it, how can I make you see +it!--I'm going to marry Miss Allardyce, and then she'll be Mrs. +Coppy, as you say. If your young mind is so scandalised at the idea +of kissing big girls, go and tell your father.' + +'What will happen?' said Wee Willie Winkie, who firmly believed that +his father was omnipotent. + +'I shall get into trouble,' said Coppy, playing his trump card with +an appealing look at the holder of the ace. + +'Ven I won't,' said Wee Willie Winkie briefly. 'But my faver says +it's un-man-ly to be always kissing, and I didn't fink _you'd_ do +vat, Coppy.' + +'I'm not always kissing, old chap. It's only now and then, and when +you're bigger you'll do it too. Your father meant it's not good for +little boys.' + +'Ah!' said Wee Willie Winkie, now fully enlightened. 'It's like ve +sputter-brush?' + +'Exactly,' said Coppy gravely. + +'But I don't fink I'll ever want to kiss big girls, nor no one, 'cept +my muvver. And I _must_ vat, you know.' + +There was a long pause, broken by Wee Willie Winkie. + +'Are you fond of vis big girl, Coppy?' + +'Awfully!' said Coppy. + +'Fonder van you are of Bell or ve Butcha--or me?' + +'It's in a different way,' said Coppy. 'You see, one of these days +Miss Allardyce will belong to me, but you'll grow up and command the +Regiment and--all sorts of things. It's quite different, you see.' + +'Very well,' said Wee Willie Winkie, rising. 'If you're fond of ve +big girl, I won't tell any one. I must go now.' + +Coppy rose and escorted his small guest to the door, adding--'You're +the best of little fellows, Winkie. I tell you what. In thirty days +from now you can tell if you like--tell any one you like.' + +Thus the secret of the Brandis-Allardyce engagement was dependent on +a little child's word. Coppy, who knew Wee Willie Winkie's idea of +truth, was at ease, for he felt that he would not break promises. Wee +Willie Winkie betrayed a special and unusual interest in Miss +Allardyce, and, slowly revolving round that embarrassed young lady, +was used to regard her gravely with unwinking eye. He was trying to +discover why Coppy should have kissed her. She was not half so nice +as his own mother. On the other hand, she was Coppy's property, and +would in time belong to him. Therefore it behoved him to treat her +with as much respect as Coppy's big sword or shiny pistol. + +The idea that he shared a great secret in common with Coppy kept Wee +Willie Winkie unusually virtuous for three weeks. Then the Old Adam +broke out, and he made what he called a 'camp-fire' at the bottom of +the garden. How could he have foreseen that the flying sparks would +have lighted the Colonel's little hay-rick and consumed a week's +store for the horses? Sudden and swift was the +punishment--deprivation of the good-conduct badge and, most sorrowful +of all, two days' confinement to barracks--the house and +veranda--coupled with the withdrawal 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 bitterly in his nursery--called by him 'my quarters.' Coppy +came in the afternoon and attempted to console the culprit. + +'I'm under awwest,' said Wee Willie Winkie 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 195th 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 river, and had noted that +even Coppy--the almost almighty Coppy--had never set foot beyond it. +Wee Willie Winkie had once been read to, out of a big blue book, the +history of the Princess and the Goblins--a most wonderful tale of a +land where the Goblins were always warring with the children of men +until they were defeated by one Curdie. Ever since that date it +seemed to him that the bare black and purple hills across the river +were inhabited by Goblins, and, in truth, every one had said that +there lived the Bad Men. Even in his own house the lower halves of +the windows were covered with green paper on account of the Bad Men +who might, if allowed clear view, fire into peaceful drawing-rooms +and comfortable bedrooms. Certainly, beyond the river, which was the +end of all the Earth, lived the Bad Men. And here was Major +Allardyce's big girl, Coppy's property, preparing to venture into +their borders! What would Coppy say if anything happened to her? If +the Goblins ran off with her as they did with Curdie's Princess? She +must at all hazards be turned back. + +The house was still. Wee Willie Winkie reflected for a moment on the +very terrible wrath of his father; and then--broke his arrest! It was +a crime unspeakable. The low sun threw his shadow, very large and +very black, on the trim garden-paths, as he went down to the stables +and ordered his pony. It seemed to him in the hush of the dawn that +all the big world had been bidden to stand still and look at Wee +Willie Winkie guilty of mutiny. The drowsy _sais_ gave him his mount, +and, since the one great sin made all others insignificant, Wee +Willie Winkie said that he was going to ride over to Coppy Sahib, and +went out at a foot-pace, stepping on the soft mould of the +flower-borders. + +The devastating track of the pony's feet was the last misdeed that +cut him off from all sympathy of Humanity. He turned into the road, +leaned forward, and rode as fast as the pony could put foot to the +ground in the direction of the river. + +But the liveliest of twelve-two ponies can do little against the +long canter of a Waler. Miss Allardyce was far ahead, had passed +through the crops, beyond the Police-posts, when all the guards were +asleep, and her mount was scattering the pebbles of the river-bed as +Wee Willie Winkie left the cantonment and British India behind him. +Bowed forward and still flogging, Wee Willie Winkie shot into Afghan +territory, and could just see Miss Allardyce a black speck, +flickering across the stony plain. The reason of her wandering was +simple enough. Coppy, in a tone of too-hastily-assumed authority, had +told her overnight that she must not ride out by the river. And she +had gone to prove her own spirit and teach Coppy a lesson. + +Almost at the foot of the inhospitable hills, Wee Willie Winkie saw +the Waler blunder and come down heavily. Miss Allardyce struggled +clear, but her ankle had been severely twisted, and she could not +stand. Having fully shown her spirit, she wept, and was surprised by +the apparition of a white, wide-eyed child in khaki, on a nearly +spent pony. + +'Are you badly, badly hurted?' shouted Wee Willie Winkie, as soon as +he was within range. 'You didn't ought to be here.' + +'I don't know,' said Miss Allardyce ruefully, ignoring the reproof. +'Good gracious, child, what are _you_ doing here?' + +'You said you was going acwoss ve wiver,' panted Wee Willie Winkie, +throwing himself off his pony. 'And nobody--not even Coppy--must go +acwoss ve wiver, and I came after you ever so hard, but you wouldn't +stop, and now you've hurted yourself, and Coppy will be angwy wiv me, +and--I've bwoken my awwest! I've bwoken my awwest!' + +The future Colonel of the 195th sat down and sobbed. In spite of the +pain in her ankle the girl was moved. + +'Have you ridden all the way from cantonments, little man? What for?' + +'You belonged to Coppy. Coppy told me so!' wailed Wee Willie Winkie +disconsolately. 'I saw him kissing you, and he said he was fonder of +you van Bell or ve Butcha or me. And so I came. You must get up and +come back. You didn't ought to be here. Vis is a bad place, and I've +bwoken my awwest.' + +'I can't move, Winkie,' said Miss Allardyce, with a groan. 'I've hurt +my foot. What shall I do?' + +She showed a readiness to weep anew, which steadied Wee Willie +Winkie, who had been brought up to believe that tears were the depth +of unmanliness. Still, when one is as great a sinner as Wee Willie +Winkie, even a man may be permitted to break down. + +'Winkie,' said Miss Allardyce, 'when you've rested a little, ride +back and tell them to send out something to carry me back in. It +hurts 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 +free with a vicious cut of his whip that made it whicker. The little +animal headed towards the cantonments. + +'Oh, Winkie, what are you doing?' + +'Hush!' said Wee Willie Winkie. 'Vere's a man coming--one of've Bad +Men. I must stay wiv you. My faver says a man must _always_ look +after a girl. Jack will go home, and ven vey'll come and look for us. +Vat's why I let him go.' + +Not one man but two or three had appeared from behind the rocks of +the hills, and the heart of Wee Willie Winkie sank within him, for +just in this manner were the Goblins wont to steal out and vex +Curdie's soul. Thus had they played in Curdie's garden--he had seen +the picture--and thus had they frightened the Princess's nurse. He +heard them talking to each other, and recognised with joy the bastard +Pushto that he had picked up from one of his father's grooms lately +dismissed. People who spoke that tongue could not be the Bad Men. +They were only natives after all. + +They came up to the boulders on which Miss Allardyce's horse had +blundered. + +Then rose from the rock Wee Willie Winkie, child of the Dominant +Race, aged six and three-quarters, and said briefly and emphatically +'_Jao_!' The pony had crossed the river-bed. + +The men laughed, and laughter from natives was the one thing Wee +Willie Winkie could not tolerate. He asked them what they wanted and +why they did not depart. Other men with most evil faces and +crooked-stocked guns crept out of the shadows of the hills, till, +soon, Wee Willie Winkie was face to face with an audience some twenty +strong. Miss Allardyce screamed. + +'Who are you?' said one of the men. + +'I am the Colonel Sahib's son, and my order is that you go at once. +You black men are frightening the Miss Sahib. + +One of you must run into cantonments and take the news that the Miss +Sahib has hurt herself, and that the Colonel's son is here with her.' + +'Put our feet into the trap?' was the laughing reply. + +'Hear this boy's speech!' + +'Say that I sent you--I, the Colonel's son. They will give you +money.' + +'What is the use of this talk? Take up the child and the girl, and we +can at least ask for the ransom. Ours are the villages on the +heights,' said a voice in the background. + +These _were_ the Bad Men--worse than Goblins--and it needed all Wee +Willie Winkie's training to prevent him from bursting into tears. But +he felt that to cry before a native, excepting only his mother's +_ayah_, would be an infamy greater than any mutiny. Moreover, he, as +future Colonel of the 195th, had that grim regiment at his back. + +'Are you going to carry us away?' said Wee Willie Winkie, very +blanched and uncomfortable. + +'Yes, my little _Sahib Bahadur_,' said the tallest of the men, 'and +eat you afterwards.' + +'That is child's talk,' said Wee Willie Winkie. 'Men do not eat men.' + +A yell of laughter interrupted him, but he went on firmly--'And if +you do carry us away, I tell you that all my regiment will come up in +a day and kill you all without leaving one. Who will take my message +to the Colonel Sahib?' + +Speech in any vernacular--and Wee Willie Winkie had a colloquial +acquaintance with three--was easy to the boy who could not yet manage +his 'r's' and 'th's' aright. + +Another man joined the conference, crying: 'O foolish men! What this +babe says is true. He is the heart's heart of those white troops. For +the sake of peace let them go both, for if he be taken, the regiment +will break loose and gut the valley. _Our_ villages are in the +valley, and we shall not escape. That regiment are devils. They broke +Khoda Yar's breastbone with kicks when he tried to take the rifles; +and if we touch this child they will fire and rape and plunder for a +month, till nothing remains. Better to send a man back to take the +message and get a reward. I say that this child is their God, and +that they will spare none of us, nor our women, if we harm him.' + +It was Din Mahommed, the dismissed groom of the Colonel, who made the +diversion, and an angry and heated discussion followed. Wee Willie +Winkie, standing over Miss Allardyce, waited the upshot. Surely his +'wegiment,' his own 'wegiment,' would not desert him if they knew of +his extremity. + +* * * * * + +The riderless pony brought the news to the 195th, though there had +been consternation in the Colonel's household for an hour before. The +little beast came in through the parade-ground in front of the main +barracks, where the men were settling down to play Spoil-five till +the afternoon. Devlin, the Colour-Sergeant of E Company, glanced at +the empty saddle and tumbled through the barrack-rooms, kicking; up +each Room Corporal as he passed. 'Up, ye beggars! There's something +happened to the Colonel's son,' he shouted. + +'He couldn't fall off! S'elp me, 'e _couldn't_ fall off,' blubbered +a drummer-boy. 'Go an' hunt acrost the river. He's over there if he's +anywhere, an' maybe those Pathans have got 'im. For the love o' Gawd +don't look for 'im in the nullahs! Let's go over the river.' + +'There's sense in Mott yet,' said Devlin. 'E Company, double out to +the river--sharp!' + +So E Company, in its shirt-sleeves mainly, doubled for the dear life, +and in the rear toiled the perspiring Sergeant, adjuring it to double +yet faster. The cantonment was alive with the men of the 195th +hunting for Wee Willie Winkie, and the Colonel finally overtook E +Company, far too exhausted to swear, struggling in the pebbles of the +river-bed. + +Up the hill under which Wee Willie Winkie's Bad Men were discussing +the wisdom of carrying off the child and the girl, a look-out fired +two shots. + +'What have I said?' shouted Din Mahommed. 'There is the warning! The +_pulton_ are out already and are coming across the plain! Get away! +Let us not be seen with the boy!' + +The men waited for an instant, and then, as another shot was fired, +withdrew into the hills, silently as they had appeared. + +'The wegiment is coming,' said Wee Willie Winkie confidently to Miss +Allardyce, 'and it's all wight. Don't cwy!' + +He needed the advice himself, for ten minutes later, when his father +came up, he was weeping bitterly with his head in Miss Allardyce's +lap. + +And the men of the 195th carried him home with shouts and rejoicings; +and Coppy, who had ridden a horse into a lather, met him, and, to his +intense disgust, kissed him openly in the presence of the men. + +But there was balm for his dignity. His father assured him that not +only would the breaking of arrest be condoned, but that the +good-conduct badge would be restored as soon as his mother could sew +it on his blouse-sleeve. Miss Allardyce had told the Colonel a story +that made him proud of his son. + +'She belonged to you, Coppy,' said Wee Willie Winkie, indicating Miss +Allardyce with a grimy forefinger. 'I _knew_ she didn't ought to go +acwoss ve wiver, and I knew ve wegiment 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 Winkie any no more. I'm 'Percival Will'am Will'ams.' + +And in this manner did Wee Willie Winkie enter into his manhood. + + + + +A MATTER OF FACT. + + And if ye doubt the tale I tell, + Steer through the South Pacific swell; + Go where the branching coral hives + Unending strife of endless lives, + Where, leagued about the 'wildered boat, + The rainbow jellies fill and float; + And, lilting where the laver lingers, + The starfish trips on all her fingers; + Where, 'neath his myriad spines ashock, + The sea-egg ripples down the rock; + An orange wonder dimly guessed, + From darkness where the cuttles rest, + Moored o'er the darker deeps that hide + The blind white Sea-snake and his bride + Who, drowsing, nose the long-lost ships + Let down through darkness to their lips. + _The Palms_. + +Once a priest, always a priest; once a mason, always a mason; but +once a journalist, always and for ever a journalist. + +There were three of us, all newspaper men, the only passengers on a +little tramp steamer that ran where her owners told her to go. She +had once been in the Bilbao iron ore business, had been lent to the +Spanish Government for service at Manilla; and was ending her days in +the Cape Town coolie-trade, with occasional trips to Madagascar and +even as far as England. We found her going to Southampton in ballast, +and shipped in her because the fares were nominal. There was Keller, +of an American paper, on his way back to the States from palace +executions in Madagascar; there was a burly half-Dutchman, called +Zuyland, who owned and edited a paper up country near Johannesburg; +and there was myself, who had solemnly put away all journalism, +vowing to forget that I had ever known the difference between an +imprint and a stereo advertisement. + +Ten minutes after Keller spoke to me, as the _Rathmines_ cleared Cape +Town, I had forgotten the aloofness I desired to feign, and was in +heated discussion on the immorality of expanding telegrams beyond a +certain fixed point. Then Zuyland came out of his cabin, and we were +all at home instantly, because we were men of the same profession +needing no introduction. We annexed the boat formally, broke open the +passengers' bath-room door--on the Manilla lines the Dons do not +wash--cleaned out the orange peel and cigar-ends at the bottom of the +bath, hired a Lascar to shave us throughout the voyage, and then +asked each other's names. + +Three ordinary men would have quarrelled through sheer boredom before +they reached Southampton. We, by virtue of our craft, were anything +but ordinary men. A large percentage of the tales of the world, the +thirty-nine that cannot be told to ladies and the one that can, are +common property coming of a common stock. We told them all, as a +matter of form, with all their local and specific variants which are +surprising. Then came, in the intervals of steady card-play, more +personal histories of adventure and things seen and suffered: panics +among white folk, when the blind terror ran from man to man on the +Brooklyn Bridge, and the people crushed each other to death they knew +not why; fires, and faces that opened and shut their mouths horribly +at red-hot window frames; wrecks in frost and snow, reported from the +sleet-sheathed rescue-tug at the risk of frost-bite; long rides after +diamond thieves; skirmishes on the veldt and in municipal committees +with the Boers; glimpses of lazy tangled Cape politics and the +mule-rule in the Transvaal; card-tales, horse-tales, woman-tales, by +the score and the half hundred; till the first mate, who had seen +more than us all put together, but lacked words to clothe his tales +with, sat open-mouthed far into the dawn. + +When the tales were done we picked up cards till a curious hand or a +chance remark made one or other of us say, 'That reminds me of a man +who--or a business which--' and the anecdotes would continue while +the _Rathmines_ kicked her way northward through the warm water. + +In the morning of one specially warm night we three were sitting +immediately in front of the wheel-house, where an old Swedish +boatswain whom we called 'Frithiof the Dane' was at the wheel, +pretending that he could not hear our stories. Once or twice Frithiof +spun the spokes curiously, and Keller lifted his head from a long +chair to ask, 'What is it? Can't you get any steerage-way on her?' + +'There is a feel in the water,' said Frithiof, 'that I cannot +understand. I think that we run downhills or somethings. She steers +bad this morning.' + +Nobody seems to know the laws that govern the pulse of the big +waters. Sometimes even a landsman can tell that the solid ocean is +atilt, and that the ship is working herself up a long unseen slope; +and sometimes the captain says, when neither full steam nor fair +wind justifies the length of a day's run, that the ship is sagging +downhill; but how these ups and downs come about has not yet been +settled authoritatively. + +'No, it is a following sea,' said Frithiof; 'and with a following +sea you shall not get good steerage-way.' + +The sea was as smooth as a duck-pond, except for a regular oily +swell. As I looked over the side to see where it might be following +us from, the sun rose in a perfectly clear sky and struck the water +with its light so sharply that it seemed as though the sea should +clang like a burnished gong. The wake of the screw and the little +white streak cut by the log-line hanging over the stern were the only +marks on the water as far as eye could reach. + +Keller rolled out of his chair and went aft to get a pineapple from +the ripening stock that was hung inside the after awning. + +'Frithiof, the log-line has got tired of swimming. It's coming +home,' he drawled. + +'What?' said Frithiof, his voice jumping several octaves. + +'Coming home,' Keller repeated, leaning over the stern. I ran to his +side and saw the log-line, which till then had been drawn tense over +the stern railing, slacken, loop, and come up off the port quarter. +Frithiof called up the speaking tube to the bridge, and the bridge +answered, 'Yes, nine knots.' Then Frithiof spoke again, and the +answer was, 'What do you want of the skipper?' and Frithiof bellowed, +'Call him up.' + +By this time Zuyland, Keller, and myself had caught something of +Frithiof's excitement, for any emotion on shipboard is most +contagious. The captain ran out of his cabin, spoke to Frithiof, +looked at the log-line, jumped on the bridge, and in a minute we +felt the steamer swing round as Frithiof turned her. + +''Going back to Cape Town?' said Keller. + +Frithiof did not answer, but tore away at the wheel. Then he beckoned +us three to help, and we held the wheel down till the _Rathmines_ +answered it, and we found ourselves looking into the white of our own +wake, with the still oily sea tearing past our bows, though we were +not going more than half steam ahead. + +The captain stretched out his arm from the bridge and shouted. A +minute later I would have given a great deal to have shouted too, for +one-half of the sea seemed to shoulder itself above the other half, +and came on in the shape of a hill. There was neither crest, comb, +nor curl-over to it; nothing but black water with little waves +chasing each other about the flanks. I saw it stream past and on a +level with the _Rathmines_' bow-plates before the steamer hove up +her bulk to rise, and I argued that this would be the last of all +earthly voyages for me. Then we lifted for ever and ever and ever, +till I heard Keller saying in my ear, 'The bowels of the deep, good +Lord!' and the _Rathmines_ stood poised, her screw-racing and +drumming on the slope of a hollow that stretched downwards for a good +half-mile. + +We went down that hollow, nose under for the most part, and the air +smelt wet and muddy, like that of an emptied aquarium. There was a +second hill to climb; I saw that much: but the water came aboard and +earned me aft till it jammed me against the wheel-house door, and +before I could catch breath or clear my eyes again we were rolling to +and fro in torn water, with the scuppers pouring like eaves in a +thunderstorm. + +'There were three waves,' said Keller; 'and the stokehold's flooded.' + +The firemen were on deck waiting, apparently, to be drowned. +The engineer came and dragged them below, and the crew, gasping, +began to work the clumsy Board of Trade pump. That showed nothing +serious, and when I understood that the _Rathmines_ was really on the +water, and not beneath it, I asked what had happened. + +'The captain says it was a blow-up under the sea--a volcano,' said +Keller. + +'It hasn't warmed anything,' I said. I was feeling bitterly cold, and +cold was almost unknown in those waters. I went below to change my +clothes, and when I came up everything was wiped out in clinging +white fog. + +'Are there going to be any more surprises?' said Keller to the +captain. + +'I don't know. Be thankful you are alive, gentlemen. That's a tidal +wave thrown up by a volcano. Probably the bottom of the sea has been +lifted a few feet somewhere or other. I can't quite understand this +cold spell. Our sea-thermometer says the surface water is 44°, and +it should be 68° at least.' + +'It's abominable,' said Keller, shivering. 'But hadn't you better +attend to the fog-horn? It seems to me that I heard something.' + +'Heard! Good heavens!' said the captain from the bridge, 'I should +think you did.' He pulled the string of our fog-horn, which was a +weak one. It sputtered and choked, because the stoke-hold was full of +water and the fires were half drowned, and at last gave out a moan. +It was answered from the fog by one of the most appalling steam +sirens I have ever heard. Keller turned as white as I did, for the +fog, the cold fog, was upon us, and any man may be forgiven for +fearing a death he cannot see. + +'Give her steam there!' said the captain to the engine-room. 'Steam +for the whistle, if we have to go dead slow.' + +We bellowed again, and the damp dripped off the awnings on to the +deck as we listened for the reply. It seemed to be astern this time, +but much nearer than before. + +'The _Pembroke Castle_ on us!' said Keller; and then, viciously, +'Well, thank God, we shall sink her too.' + +'It's a side-wheel steamer,' I whispered. 'Can't you hear the +paddles?' + +This time we whistled and roared till the steam gave out, and the +answer nearly deafened us. There was a sound of frantic threshing in +the water, apparently about fifty yards away, and something shot past +in the whiteness that looked as though it were gray and red. + +'The _Pembroke Castle_ bottom up,' said Keller, who, being a +journalist, always sought for explanations. 'That's the colours of a +Castle liner. We're in for a big thing.' + +'The sea is bewitched,' said Frithiof from the wheel-house. 'There +are _two_ steamers!' + +Another siren sounded on our bow, and the little steamer rolled in +the wash of something that had passed unseen. + +'We're evidently in the middle of a fleet,' said Keller quietly. 'If +one doesn't run us down, the other will. Phew! What in creation is +that?' + +I sniffed, for there was a poisonous rank smell in the cold air--a +smell that I had smelt before. + +'If I was on land I should say that it was an alligator. It smells +like musk,' I answered. + +'Not ten thousand alligators could make that smell' said Zuyland; 'I +have smelt them.' + +'Bewitched! Bewitched!' said Frithiof. 'The sea she is turned upside +down, and we are walking along the bottom.' + +Again the _Rathmines_ rolled in the wash of some unseen ship, and a +silver-gray wave broke over the bow, leaving on the deck a sheet of +sediment--the gray broth that has its place in the fathomless deeps +of the sea. A sprinkling of the wave fell on my face, and it was so +cold that it stung as boiling water stings. The dead and most +untouched deep water of the sea had been heaved to the top by the +submarine volcano--the chill still water that kills all life and +smells of desolation and emptiness. We did not need either the +blinding fog or that indescribable smell of musk to make us +unhappy--we were shivering with cold and wretchedness where we stood. + +'The hot air on the cold water makes this fog,' said the captain; 'it +ought to clear in a little time.' + +'Whistle, oh! whistle, and let's get out of it,' said Keller. + +The captain whistled again, and far and far astern the invisible twin +steam-sirens answered us. Their blasting shriek grew louder, till at +last it seemed to tear out of the fog just above our quarter, and I +cowered while the _Rathmines_ plunged bows under on a double swell +that crossed. + +'No more,' said Frithiof, 'it is not good any more. Let us get away, +in the name of God.' + +'Now if a torpedo-boat with a _City of Paris_ siren went mad and +broke her moorings and hired a friend to help her, it's just +conceivable that we might be carried as we are now. Otherwise this +thing is----' + +The last words died on Keller's lips, his eyes began to start from +his head, and his jaw fell. Some six or seven feet above the port +bulwarks, framed in fog, and as utterly unsupported as the full moon, +hung a Face. It was not human, and it certainly was not animal, for +it did not belong to this earth as known to man. The mouth was open, +revealing a ridiculously tiny tongue--as absurd as the tongue of an +elephant; there were tense wrinkles of white skin at the angles of +the drawn lips, white feelers like those of a barbel sprung from the +lower jaw, and there was no sign of teeth within the mouth. But the +horror of the face lay in the eyes, for those were sightless--white, +in sockets as white as scraped bone, and blind. Yet for all this the +face, wrinkled as the mask of a lion is drawn in Assyrian sculpture, +was alive with rage and terror. One long white feeler touched our +bulwarks. Then the face disappeared with the swiftness of a blindworm +popping into its burrow, and the next thing that I remember is my own +voice in my own ears, saying gravely to the mainmast, 'But the +air-bladder ought to have been forced out of its mouth, you know.' + +Keller came up to me, ashy white. He put his hand into his pocket, +took a cigar, bit it, dropped it, thrust his shaking thumb into his +mouth and mumbled, 'The giant gooseberry and the raining frogs! Gimme +a light--gimme a light! Say, gimme a light. A little bead of blood +dropped from his thumb-joint. + +I respected the motive, though the manifestation was absurd. 'Stop, +you'll bite your thumb off,' I said, and Keller laughed brokenly as +he picked up his cigar. Only Zuyland, leaning over the port bulwarks, +seemed self-possessed. He declared later that he was very sick. + +'We've seen it,' he said, turning round. 'That is it.' + +'What?' said Keller, chewing the unlighted cigar. + +As he spoke the fog was blown into shreds, and we saw the sea, gray +with mud, rolling on every side of us and empty of all life. Then in +one spot it bubbled and became like the pot of ointment that the +Bible speaks of. From that wide-ringed trouble the Thing came up--a +gray and red Thing with a neck--a Thing that bellowed and writhed in +pain. Frithiof drew in his breath and held it till the red letters of +the ship's name, woven across his jersey, straggled and opened out as +though they had been type badly set. Then he said with a little cluck +in his throat, 'Ah me! It is blind. _Hur illa_! That thing is blind,' +and a murmur of pity went through us all, for we could see that the +thing on the water was blind and in pain. Something had gashed and +cut the great sides cruelly and the blood was spurting out. The gray +ooze of the undermost sea lay in the monstrous wrinkles of the back, +and poured away in sluices. The blind white head flung back and +battered the wounds, and the body in its torment rose clear of the +red and gray waves till we saw a pair of quivering shoulders streaked +with weed and rough with shells, but as white in the clear spaces as +the hairless, maneless, blind, toothless head. Afterwards, came a dot +on the horizon and the sound of a shrill scream, and it was as though +a shuttle shot all across the sea in one breath, and a second head +and neck tore through the levels, driving a whispering wall of water +to right and left. The two Things met--the one untouched and the +other in its death-throe--male and female, we said, the female +coming to the male. She circled round him bellowing, and laid her +neck across the curve of his great turtle-back, and he disappeared +under water for an instant, but flung up again, grunting in agony +while the blood ran. Once the entire head and neck shot clear of the +water and stiffened, and I heard Keller saying, as though he was +watching a street accident, 'Give him air. For God's sake, give him +air.' Then the death-struggle began, with crampings and twistings and +jerkings of the white bulk to and fro, till our little steamer rolled +again, and each gray wave coated her plates with the gray slime. The +sun was clear, there was no wind, and we watched, the whole +crew, stokers and all, in wonder and pity, but chiefly pity. The +Thing was so helpless, and, save for his mate, so alone. No human eye +should have beheld him; it was monstrous and indecent to exhibit him +there in trade waters between atlas degrees of latitude. He had been +spewed up, mangled and dying, from his rest on the sea-floor, where +he might have lived till the Judgment Day, and we saw the tides of +his life go from him as an angry tide goes out across rocks in the +teeth of a landward gale. His mate lay rocking on the water a little +distance off, bellowing continually, and the smell of musk came dawn +upon the ship making us cough. + +At last the battle for life ended in a batter of coloured seas. We +saw the writhing neck fall like a flail, the carcase turn sideways, +showing the glint of a white belly and the inset of a gigantic hind +leg or flipper. Then all sank, and sea boiled over it, while the +mate swam round and round, darting her head in every direction. +Though we might have feared that she would attack the steamer, no +power on earth could have drawn any one of us from our places that +hour. We watched, holding our breaths. The mate paused in her search; +we could hear the wash beating along her sides; reared her neck as +high as she could reach, blind and lonely in all that loneliness of +the sea, and sent one desperate bellow booming across the swells as +an oyster-shell skips across a pond. Then she made off to the +westward, the sun shining on the white head and the wake behind it, +till nothing was left to see but a little pin point of silver on the +horizon. We stood on our course again; and the _Rathmines_, coated +with the sea-sediment from bow to stern, looked like a ship made gray +with terror. + + * * * * * + +'We must pool our notes,' was the first coherent remark from Keller. +'We're three trained journalists--we hold absolutely the biggest +scoop on record. Start fair.' + +I objected to this. Nothing is gained by collaboration in journalism +when all deal with the same facts, so we went to work each according +to his own lights. Keller triple-headed his account, talked about our +'gallant captain,' and wound up with an allusion to American +enterprise in that it was a citizen of Dayton, Ohio, that had seen +the sea-serpent. This sort of thing would have discredited the +Creation, much more a mere sea tale, but as a specimen of the +picture-writing of a half-civilised people it was very interesting. +Zuyland took a heavy column and a half, giving approximate lengths +and breadths, and the whole list of the crew whom he had sworn on +oath to testify to his facts. There was nothing fantastic or +flamboyant in Zuyland. I wrote three-quarters of a leaded bourgeois +column, roughly speaking, and refrained from putting any journalese +into it for reasons that had begun to appear to me. + +Keller was insolent with joy. He was going to cable from Southampton +to the New York _World_, mail his account to America on the same day, +paralyse London with his three columns of loosely knitted headlines, +and generally efface the earth. 'You'll see how I work a big scoop +when I get it,' he said. + +'Is this your first visit to England?' I asked. + +'Yes,' said he. 'You don't seem to appreciate the beauty of our +scoop. It's pyramidal--the death of the sea-serpent! Good heavens +alive, man, it's the biggest thing ever vouchsafed to a paper!' + +'Curious to think that it will never appear in any paper, isn't it? +'I said. + +Zuyland was near me, and he nodded quickly. + +'What do you mean?' said Keller. 'If you're enough of a Britisher to +throw this thing away, I shan't. I thought you were a newspaper-man.' + +'I am. That's why I know. Don't be an ass, Keller. Remember, I'm +seven hundred years your senior, and what your grandchildren may +learn five hundred years hence, I learned from my grandfathers about +five hundred years ago. You won't do it, because you can't.' + +This conversation was held in open sea, where everything seems +possible, some hundred miles from Southampton. We passed the Needles +Light at dawn, and the lifting day showed the stucco villas on the +green and the awful orderliness of England--line upon line, wall upon +wall, solid stone dock and monolithic pier. We waited an hour in the +Customs shed, and there was ample time for the effect to soak in. + +'Now, Keller, you face the music. The _Havel_ goes out to-day. Mail +by her, and I'll take you to the telegraph-office,' I said. + +I heard Keller gasp as the influence of the land closed about him, +cowing him as they say Newmarket Heath cows a young horse unused to +open courses. + +'I want to retouch my stuff. Suppose we wait till we get to London?' +he said. + +Zuyland, by the way, had torn up his account and thrown it overboard +that morning early. His reasons were my reasons. + +In the train Keller began to revise his copy, and every time that he +looked at the trim little fields, the red villas, and the embankments +of the line, the blue pencil plunged remorselessly through the slips. +He appeared to have dredged the dictionary for adjectives. I could +think of none that he had not used. Yet he was a perfectly sound +poker-player and never showed more cards than were sufficient to take +the pool. + +'Aren't you going to leave him a single bellow?' I asked +sympathetically. 'Remember, everything goes in the States, from a +trouser-button to a double-eagle.' + +'That's just the curse of it,' said Keller below his breath. 'We've +played 'em for suckers so often that when it comes to the golden +truth--I'd like to try this on a London paper. You have first call +there, though.' + +'Not in the least. I'm not touching the thing in our papers. I shall +be happy to leave 'em all to you; but surely you'll cable it home?' + +'No. Not if I can make the scoop here and see the Britishers sit up.' + +'You won't do it with three columns of slushy headline, believe me. +They don't sit up as quickly as some people.' + +'I'm beginning to think that too. Does _nothing_ make any difference +in this country?' he said, looking out of the window. 'How old is +that farmhouse?' + +'New. It can't be more than two hundred years at the most.' + +'Urn. Fields, too?' + +'That hedge there must have been clipped for about eighty years.' + +'Labour cheap--eh?' + +'Pretty much. Well, I suppose you'd like to try the _Times_, wouldn't +you?' + +'No,' said Keller, looking at Winchester Cathedral. ''Might as well +try to electrify a haystack. And to think that the _World_ would take +three columns and ask for more--with illustrations too! It's +sickening.' + +'But the _Times_ might,' I began. + +Keller flung his paper across the carriage, and it opened in its +austere majesty of solid type--opened with the crackle of an +encyclopædia. + +'Might! You _might_ work your way through the bow-plates of a +cruiser. Look at that first page!' + +'It strikes you that way, does it?' I said. 'Then I'd recommend you +to try a light and frivolous journal.' + +'With a thing like this of mine--of ours? It's sacred history!' + +I showed him a paper which I conceived would be after his own heart, +in that it was modelled on American lines. + +'That's homey,' he said, 'but it's not the real thing. Now, I should +like one of these fat old _Times_ columns. Probably there'd be a +bishop in the office, though.' + +When we reached London Keller disappeared in the direction of the +Strand. What his experiences may have been I cannot tell, but it +seems that he invaded the office of an evening paper at 11.45 a.m. (I +told him English editors were most idle at that hour), and mentioned +my name as that of a witness to the truth of his story. + +'I was nearly fired out,' he said furiously at lunch. 'As soon as I +mentioned you, the old man said that I was to tell you that they +didn't want any more of your practical jokes, and that you knew the +hours to call if you had anything to sell, and that they'd see you +condemned before they helped to puff one of your infernal yarns in +advance. Say, what record do you hold for truth in this country, +anyway?' + +'A beauty. You ran up against it, that's all. Why don't you leave the +English papers alone and cable to New York? Everything goes over +there.' + +'Can't you see that's just why?' he repeated. + +'I saw it a long time ago. You don't intend to cable then?' + +'Yes, I do,' he answered, in the over-emphatic voice of one who does +not know his own mind. + +That afternoon I walked him abroad and about, over the streets that +run between the pavements like channels of grooved and tongued lava, +over the bridges that are made of enduring stone, through subways +floored and sided with yard-thick concrete, between houses that are +never rebuilt, and by river steps hewn, to the eye, from the living +rock. A black fog chased us into Westminster Abbey, and, standing +there in the darkness, I could hear the wings of the dead centuries +circling round the head of Litchfield A. Keller, journalist, of +Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., whose mission it was to make the Britishers sit +up. + +He stumbled gasping into the thick gloom, and the roar of the traffic +came to his bewildered ears. + +'Let's go to the telegraph-office and cable,' I said. 'Can't you hear +the New York _World_ crying for news of the great sea-serpent, blind, +white, and smelling of musk, stricken to death by a submarine +volcano, and assisted by his loving wife to die in mid-ocean, as +visualised by an American citizen, the breezy, newsy, brainy +newspaper man of Dayton, Ohio? 'Rah for the Buckeye State. Step +lively! Both gates! Szz! Boom! Aah!' Keller was a Princeton man, and +he seemed to need encouragement. + +'You've got me on your own ground,' said he, tugging at his overcoat +pocket. He pulled out his copy, with the cable forms--for he had +written out his telegram--and put them all into my hand, groaning, 'I +pass. If I hadn't come to your cursed country--If I'd sent it off at +Southampton--If I ever get you west of the Alleghannies, if----' + +'Never mind, Keller. It isn't your fault. It's the fault of your +country. If you had been seven hundred years older you'd have done +what I am going to do.' + +'What are you going to do?' + +'Tell it as a lie.' + +'Fiction?' This with the full-blooded disgust of a journalist for the +illegitimate branch of the profession. + +'You can call it that if you like. I shall call it a lie.' + +And a lie it has become; for Truth is a naked lady, and if by +accident she is drawn up from the bottom of the sea, it behoves a +gentleman either to give her a print petticoat or to turn his face to +the wall and vow that he did not see. + + + + +MOWGLI'S BROTHERS + + Now Chil the Kite brings home the night + That Mang the Bat sets free-- + The herds are shut in byre and hut + For loosed till dawn are we. + This is the hour of pride and power, + Talon and tush and claw. + Oh hear the call!--Good hunting all + That keep the Jungle Law! + + _Night-Song in the Jungle_. + +It was seven o'clock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee hills when +Father Wolf woke up from his day's rest, scratched himself, yawned, +and spread out his paws one after the other to get rid of the sleepy +feeling in their tips. Mother Wolf lay with her big gray nose dropped +across her four tumbling, squealing cubs, and the moon shone into the +mouth of the cave where they all lived. 'Augrh!' said Father Wolf, +'it is time to hunt again'; and he was going to spring down hill when +a little shadow with a bushy tail crossed the threshold and whined: +'Good luck go with you, O Chief of the Wolves; and good luck and +strong white teeth go with the noble children, that they may never +forget the hungry in this world.' + +It was the jackal--Tabaqui, the Dish-licker--and the wolves of India +despise Tabaqui because he runs about making mischief, and telling +tales, and eating rags and pieces of leather from the village +rubbish-heaps. But they are afraid of him too, because Tabaqui, more +than any one else in the jungle, is apt to go mad, and then he +forgets that he was ever afraid of any one, and runs through the +forest biting everything in his way. Even the tiger runs and hides +when little Tabaqui goes mad, for madness is the most disgraceful +thing that can overtake a wild creature. We call it hydrophobia, but +they call it _dewanee_--the madness--and run. + +'Enter, then, and look,' said Father Wolf, stiffly; 'but there is no +food here.' + +'For a wolf, no,' said Tabaqui; 'but for so mean a person as myself a +dry bone is a good feast. Who are we, the Gidur-log [the jackal +people], to pick and choose?' He scuttled to the back of the cave, +where he found the bone of a buck with some meat on it, and sat +cracking the end merrily. + +'All thanks for this good meal,' he said, licking his lips. 'How +beautiful are the noble children! How large are their eyes! And so +young too! Indeed, indeed, I might have remembered that the children +of kings are men from the beginning.' + +Now, Tabaqui knew as well as any one else that there is nothing so +unlucky as to compliment children to their faces; and it pleased him +to see Mother and Father Wolf look uncomfortable. + +Tabaqui sat still, rejoicing in the mischief that he had made, and +then he said spitefully: + +'Shere Khan, the Big One, has shifted his hunting-grounds. He will +hunt among these hills for the next moon, so he has told me.' + +Shere Khan was the tiger who lived near the Waingunga River, twenty +miles away. + +'He has no right!' Father Wolf began angrily--'By the Law of the +Jungle he has no right to change his quarters without due warning. He +will frighten every head of game within ten miles, and I--I have to +kill for two, these days.' + +'His mother did not call him Lungri [the Lame One] for nothing,' said +Mother Wolf, quietly. He has been lame in one foot from his birth. +That is why he has only killed cattle. Now the villagers of the +Waingunga are angry with him, and he has come here to make _our_ +villagers angry. They will scour the jungle for him when he is far +away, and we and our children must run when the grass is set alight. +Indeed, we are very grateful to Shere Khan!' + +'Shall I tell him of your gratitude?' said Tabaqui. + +'Out!' snapped Father Wolf. 'Out and hunt with thy master. Thou hast +done harm enough for one night.' + +'I go,' said Tabaqui, quietly. 'Ye can hear Shere Khan below in the +thickets. I might have saved myself the message.' + +Father Wolf listened, and below in the valley that ran down to a +little river, he heard the dry, angry, snarly, singsong whine of a +tiger who has caught nothing and does not care if all the jungle +knows it. + +'The fool!' said Father Wolf. 'To begin a night's work with that +noise. Does he think that our buck are like his fat Waingunga +bullocks?' + +'H'sh. It is neither bullock nor buck he hunts to-night,' said Mother +Wolf. 'It is Man.' The whine had changed to a sort of humming purr +that seemed to come from every quarter of the compass. It was the +noise that bewilders woodcutters and gipsies sleeping in the open, +and makes them run sometimes into the very mouth of the tiger. + +'Man!' said Father Wolf, showing all his white teeth. 'Faugh! Are +there not enough beetles and frogs in the tanks that he must eat Man, +and on our ground too!' + +The Law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, +forbids every beast to eat Man except when he is killing to show his +children how to kill, and then he must hunt outside the +hunting-grounds of his pack or tribe. The real reason for this is +that man-killing means, sooner or later, the arrival of white men on +elephants, with guns, and hundreds of brown men with gongs and +rockets and torches. Then everybody in the jungle suffers. The reason +the beasts give among themselves is that Man is the weakest and most +defenceless of all living things, and it is unsportsmanlike to touch +him. They say too--and it is true--that man-eaters become mangy, and +lose their teeth. + +The purr grew louder, and ended in the full-throated 'Aaarh!' of the +tiger's charge. + +Then there was a howl--an untigerish howl--from Shere Khan. He has +missed,' said Mother Wolf. 'What is it?' + +Father Wolf ran out a few paces and heard Shere Khan muttering and +mumbling savagely, as he tumbled about in the scrub. + +'The fool has had no more sense than to jump at a woodcutters' +camp-fire, and has burned his feet,' said Father Wolf, with a grunt. +'Tabaqui is with him.' + +'Something is coming up hill,' said Mother Wolf, twitching one ear. +'Get ready.' + +The bushes rustled a little in the thicket, and Father Wolf dropped +with his haunches under him, ready for his leap. Then, if you had +been watching, you would have seen the most wonderful thing in the +world--the wolf checked in mid spring. He made his bound before he +saw what it was he was jumping at, and then he tried to stop himself. +The result was that he shot up straight into the air for four or five +feet, landing almost where he left ground. + +'Man!' he snapped. 'A man's cub. Look!' + +Directly in front of him, holding on by a low branch, stood a naked +brown baby who could just walk--as soft and as dimpled a little atom +as ever came to a wolf's cave at night. He looked up into Father +Wolf's face, and laughed. + +'Is that a man's cub?' said Mother Wolf. 'I have never seen one. +Bring it here.' + +A wolf accustomed to moving his own cubs can, if necessary, mouth an +egg without breaking it, and though Father Wolf's jaws closed right +on the child's back not a tooth even scratched the skin, as he laid +it down among the cubs. + +'How little! How naked, and--how bold!' said Mother Wolf, softly. The +baby was pushing his way between the cubs to get close to the warm +hide. 'Ahai! He is taking his meal with the others. And so this is a +man's cub. Now, was there ever a wolf that could boast of a man's cub +among her children?' + +'I have heard now and again of such a thing, but never in our Pack or +in my time,' said Father Wolf. 'He is altogether without hair, and I +could kill him with a touch of my foot. But see, he looks up and is +not afraid.' + +The moonlight was blocked out of the mouth of the cave, for Shere +Khan's great square head and shoulders were thrust into the entrance. +Tabaqui, behind him, was squeaking: 'My lord, my lord, it went in +here!' + +'Shere Khan does us great honour,' said Father Wolf, but his eyes +were very angry. 'What does Shere Khan need?' + +'My quarry. A man's cub went this way,' said Shere Khan. 'Its parents +have run off. Give it to me.' + +Shere Khan had jumped at a woodcutters' camp-fire, as Father Wolf had +said, and was furious from the pain of his burned feet. But Father +Wolf knew that the mouth of the cave was too narrow for a tiger to +come in by. Even where he was, Shere Khan's shoulders and fore paws +were cramped for want of room, as a man's would be if he tried to +fight in a barrel. + +'The Wolves are a free people,' said Father Wolf. 'They take orders +from the Head of the Pack, and not from any striped cattle-dealer. +The man's cub is ours--to kill if we choose.' + +'Ye choose and ye do not choose! What talk is this of choosing? By +the bull that I killed, am I to stand nosing into your dog's den for +my fair dues? It is I, Shere Khan, who speak!' + +The tiger's roar filled the cave with thunder. Mother Wolf shook +herself clear of the cubs and sprang forward, her eyes, like two +green moons in the darkness, facing the blazing eyes of Shere Khan. + +'And it is I, Raksha [The Demon], who answer. The man's cub is mine, +Lungri--mine to me! He shall not be killed. He shall live to run with +the Pack and to hunt with the Pack; and in the end, look you, hunter +of little naked cubs--frog-eater--fish-killer--he shall hunt _thee_! +Now get hence, or by the Sambhur that I killed (_I_ eat no starved +cattle), back thou goest to thy mother, burned beast of the jungle, +lamer than ever thou earnest into the world! Go!' + +Father Wolf looked on amazed. He had almost forgotten the days when +he had won Mother Wolf in fair fight from five other wolves, when she +ran in the Pack and was not called The Demon for compliment's sake. +Shere Khan might have faced Father Wolf, but he could not stand up +against Mother Wolf, for he knew that where he was she had all the +advantage of the ground, and would fight to the death. So he backed +out of the cave-mouth growling, and when he was clear he shouted:-- + +'Each dog barks in his own yard! We will see what the Pack will say +to this fostering of man-cubs. The cub is mine, and to my teeth he +will come in the end, O bush-tailed thieves!' + +Mother Wolf threw herself down panting among the cubs, and Father +Wolf said to her gravely:-- + +'Shere Khan speaks this much truth. The cub must be shown to the +Pack. Wilt thou still keep him, Mother?' + +'Keep him!' she gasped. 'He came naked, by night, alone and very +hungry; yet he was not afraid! Look, he has pushed one of my babes to +one side already. And that lame butcher would have killed him and +would have run off to the Waingunga while the villagers here hunted +through all our lairs in revenge! Keep him? Assuredly I will keep +him. Lie still, little frog. O thou Mowgli--for Mowgli the Frog I +will call thee--the time will come when thou wilt hunt Shere Khan as +he has hunted thee.' 'But what will our Pack say?' said Father Wolf. +The Law of the Jungle lays down very clearly that any wolf may, when +he marries, withdraw from the Pack he belongs to; but as soon as his +cubs are old enough to stand on their feet he must bring them to the +Pack Council, which is generally held once a month at full moon, in +order that the other wolves may identify them. After that inspection +the cubs are free to run where they please, and until they have +killed their first buck no excuse is accepted if a grown wolf of the +Pack kills one of them. The punishment is death where the murderer +can be found; and if you think for a minute you will see that this +must be so. Father Wolf waited till his cubs could run a little, and +then on the night of the Pack Meeting took them and Mowgli and Mother +Wolf to the Council Rock--a hilltop covered with stones and boulders +where a hundred wolves could hide. Akela, the great gray Lone Wolf, +who led all the Pack by strength and cunning, lay out at full length +on his rock, and below him sat forty or more wolves of every size and +colour, from badger-coloured veterans who could handle a buck alone, +to young black three-year-olds who thought they could. The Lone Wolf +had led them for a year now. He had fallen twice into a wolf-trap in +his youth, and once he had been beaten and left for dead; so he knew +the manners and customs of men. There was very little talking at the +rock. The cubs tumbled over each other in the centre of the circle +where their mothers and fathers sat, and now and again a senior wolf +would go quietly up to a cub, look at him carefully, and return to +his place on noiseless feet. Sometimes a mother would push her cub +far out into the moonlight, to be sure that he had not been +overlooked. Akela from his rock would cry: 'Ye know the Law--ye know +the Law. Look well, O Wolves!' and the anxious mothers would take up +the call: 'Look--look well, O Wolves!' + +At last--and Mother Wolfs neck-bristles lifted as the time +came--Father Wolf pushed 'Mowgli the Frog,' as they called him, into +the centre, where he sat laughing and playing with some pebbles that +glistened in the moonlight. + +Akela never raised his head from his paws, but went on with the +monotonous cry: 'Look well!' A muffled roar came up from behind the +rocks--the voice of Shere Khan crying: 'The cub is mine. Give him to +me. What have the Free People to do with a man's cub?' Akela never +even twitched his ears: all he said was: 'Look well, O Wolves! What +have the Free People to do with the orders of any save the Free +People? Look well!' + +There was a chorus of deep growls, and a young wolf in his fourth +year flung back Shere Khan's question to Akela: 'What have the Free +People to do with a man's cub?' Now the Law of the Jungle lays down +that if there is any dispute as to the right of a cub to be accepted +by the Pack, he must be spoken for by at least two members of the +Pack who are not his father and mother. + +'Who speaks for this cub?' said Akela. 'Among the Free People who +speaks?' There was no answer, and Mother Wolf got ready for what she +knew would be her last fight, if things came to fighting. + +Then the only other creature who is allowed at the Pack +Council--Baloo, the sleepy brown bear who teaches the wolf cubs the +Law of the Jungle: old Baloo, who can come and go where he pleases +because he eats only nuts and roots and honey--rose up on his hind +quarters and grunted. + +'The man's cub--the man's cub?' he said. '_I_ speak for the man's +cub. There is no harm in a man's cub. I have no gift of words, but I +speak the truth. Let him run with the Pack, and be entered with the +others. I myself will teach him.' + +'We need yet another,' said Akela. 'Baloo has spoken, and he is our +teacher for the young cubs. Who speaks beside Baloo?' + +A black shadow dropped down into the circle. It was Bagheera the +Black Panther, inky black all over, but with the panther markings +showing up in certain lights like the pattern of watered silk. +Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody cared to cross his path; for he +was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as +reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild +honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down. + +'O Akela, and ye the Free People,' he purred, 'I have no right in +your assembly; but the Law of the Jungle says that if there is a +doubt which is not a killing matter in regard to a new cub, the life +of that cub may be bought at a price. And the Law does not say who +may or may not pay that price. Am I right?' + +'Good! good!' said the young wolves, who are always hungry. 'Listen +to Bagheera. The cub can be bought for a price. It is the Law.' + +'Knowing that I have no right to speak here, I ask your leave.' + +'Speak then,' cried twenty voices. + +'To kill a naked cub is shame. Besides, he may make better sport for +you when he is grown. Baloo has spoken in his behalf. Now to Baloo's +word I will add one bull, and a fat one, newly killed, not half a +mile from here, if ye will accept the man's cub according to the Law. +Is it difficult?' + +There was a clamour of scores of voices, saying: 'What matter? He +will die in the winter rains. He will scorch in the sun. What harm +can a naked frog do us? Let him run with the Pack. Where is the bull, +Bagheera? Let him be accepted.' And then came Akela's deep bay, +crying: Look well--look well, O Wolves!' + +Mowgli was still deeply interested in the pebbles, and he did not +notice when the wolves came and looked at him one by one. At last +they all went down the hill for the dead bull, and only Akela, +Bagheera, Baloo, and Mowgli's own wolves were left. Shere Khan roared +still in the night, for he was very angry that Mowgli had not been +handed over to him. + +'Ay, roar well,' said Bagheera, under his whiskers; 'for the time +comes when this naked thing will make thee roar to another tune, or I +know nothing of man.' + +'It was well done,' said Akela. 'Men and their cubs are very wise. He +may be a help in time.' + +'Truly, a help in time of need; for none can hope to lead the Pack +for ever,' said Bagheera. + +Akela said nothing. He was thinking of the time that comes to every +leader of every pack when his strength goes from him and he gets +feebler and feebler, till at last he is killed by the wolves and a +new leader comes up--to be killed in his turn. + +'Take him away,' he said to Father Wolf, 'and train him as befits one +of the Free People.' + +And that is how Mowgli was entered into the Seeonee wolf-pack for the +price of a bull and on Baloo's good word. + + * * * * * + +Now you must be content to skip ten or eleven whole years, and only +guess at all the wonderful life Mowgli led among the wolves, because +if it were written out it would fill ever so many books. He grew up +with the cubs, though they, of course, were grown wolves almost +before he was a child, and Father Wolf taught him his business, and +the meaning of things in the jungle, till every rustle in the grass, +every breath of the warm night air, every note of the owls above his +head, every scratch of a bat's claws as it roosted for a while in a +tree, and every splash of every little fish jumping in a pool, meant +just as much to him as the work of his office means to a business +man. When he was not learning he sat out in the sun and slept, and +ate and went to sleep again; when he felt dirty or hot he swam in the +forest pools; and when he wanted honey (Baloo told him that honey and +nuts were just as pleasant to eat as raw meat) he climbed up for it, +and that Bagheera showed him how to do. Bagheera would lie out on a +branch and call, 'Come along, Little Brother,' and at first Mowgli +would cling like the sloth, but afterward he would fling himself +through the branches almost as boldly as the gray ape. He took his +place at the Council Rock, too, when the Pack met, and there he +discovered that if he stared hard at any wolf, the wolf would be +forced to drop his eyes, and so he used to stare for fun. At other +times he would pick the long thorns out of the pads of his friends, +for wolves suffer terribly from thorns and burs in their coats. He +would go down the hillside into the cultivated lands by night, and +look very curiously at the villagers in their huts, but he had a +mistrust of men because Bagheera showed him a square box with a +drop-gate so cunningly hidden in the jungle that he nearly walked +into it, and told him that it was a trap. He loved better than +anything else to go with Bagheera into the dark warm heart of the +forest, to sleep all through the drowsy day, and at night see how +Bagheera did his killing. Bagheera killed right and left as he felt +hungry, and so did Mowgli--with one exception. As soon as he was old +enough to understand things, Bagheera told him that he must never +touch cattle because he had been bought into the Pack at the price +of a bull's life. 'All the jungle is thine,' said Bagheera, 'and thou +canst kill everything that thou art strong enough to kill; but for +the sake of the bull that bought thee thou must never kill or eat any +cattle young or old. That is the Law of the Jungle.' Mowgli obeyed +faithfully. + +And he grew and grew strong as a boy must grow who does not know that +he is learning any lessons, and who has nothing in the world to think +of except things to eat. + +Mother Wolf told him once or twice that Shere Khan was not a creature +to be trusted, and that some day he must kill Shere Khan; but though +a young wolf would have remembered that advice every hour, Mowgli +forgot it because he was only a boy--though he would have called +himself a wolf if he had been able to speak in any human tongue. + +Shere Khan was always crossing his path in the jungle, for as Akela +grew older and feebler the lame tiger had come to be great friends +with the younger wolves of the Pack, who followed him for scraps, a +thing Akela would never have allowed if he had dared to push his +authority to the proper bounds. Then Shere Khan would flatter them +and wonder that such fine young hunters were content to be led by a +dying wolf and a man's cub. 'They tell me,' Shere Khan would say, +'that at Council ye dare not look him between the eyes'; and the +young wolves would growl and bristle. + +Bagheera, who had eyes and ears everywhere, knew something of this, +and once or twice he told Mowgli in so many words that Shere Khan +would kill him some day; and Mowgli would laugh and answer: 'I have +the Pack and I have thee; and Baloo, though he is so lazy, might +strike a blow or two for my sake. Why should I be afraid?' + +It was one very warm day that a new notion came to Bagheera--born of +something that he had heard. Perhaps Sahi the Porcupine had told him; +but he said to Mowgli when they were deep in the jungle, as the boy +lay with his head on Bagheera's beautiful black skin: 'Little +Brother,' how often have I told thee that Shere Khan is thy enemy?' + +'As many times as there are nuts on that palm,' said Mowgli, who, +naturally, could not count. 'What of it? I am sleepy, Bagheera, and +Shere Khan is all long tail and loud talk--like Mor the Peacock.' + +'But this is no time for sleeping. Baloo knows it; I know it; the +Pack know it; and even the foolish, foolish deer know. Tabaqui has +told thee, too.' + +'Ho! ho!' said Mowgli. 'Tabaqui came to me not long ago with some +rude talk that I was a naked man's cub and not fit to dig pig-nuts; +but I caught Tabaqui by the tail and swung him twice against a +palm-tree to teach him better manners.' + +'That was foolishness; for though Tabaqui is a mischief-maker, he +would have told thee of something that concerned thee closely. Open +those eyes, Little Brother. Shere Khan dare not kill thee in the +jungle; but remember, Akela is very old, and soon the day comes when +he cannot kill his buck, and then he will be leader no more. Many of +the wolves that looked thee over when thou wast brought to the +Council first are old too, and the young wolves believe, as Shere +Khan has taught them, that a man-cub has no place with the Pack. In a +little time thou wilt be a man.' + +'And what is a man that he should not run with his brothers?' said +Mowgli. 'I was born in the jungle. I have obeyed the Law of the +Jungle, and there is no wolf of ours from whose paws I have not +pulled a thorn. Surely they are my brothers!' + +Bagheera stretched himself at full length and half shut his eyes. +'Little Brother,' said he, 'feel under my jaw.' + +Mowgli put up his strong brown hand, and just under Bagheera's silky +chin, where the giant rolling muscles were all hid by the glossy +hair, he came upon a little bald spot. + +'There is no one in the jungle that knows that I, Bagheera, carry +that mark--the mark of the collar; and yet, Little Brother, I was +born among men, and it was among men that my mother died--in the +cages of the King's Palace at Oodeypore. It was because of this that +I paid the price for thee at the Council when thou wast a little +naked cub. Yes, I too was born among men. I had never seen the +jungle. They fed me behind bars from an iron pan till one night I +felt that I was Bagheera--the Panther--and no man's plaything, and I +broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw and came away; and +because I had learned the ways of men, I became more terrible in the +jungle than Shere Khan. Is it not so?' + +'Yes,' said Mowgli;' all the jungle fear Bagheera--all except +Mowgli.' + +'Oh, _thou_ art a man's cub,' said the Black Panther, very +tenderly; 'and even as I returned to my jungle, so thou must go back +to men at last,--to the men who are thy brothers,--if thou art not +killed in the Council.' + +'But why--but why should any wish to kill me?' said Mowgli. + +'Look at me,' said Bagheera; and Mowgli looked at him steadily +between the eyes. The big panther turned his head away in half a +minute. + +'_That_ is why,' he said, shifting his paw on the leaves. 'Not even I +can look thee between the eyes, and I was born among men, and I love +thee, Little Brother. The others they hate thee because their eyes +cannot meet thine; because thou art wise; because thou hast pulled +out thorns from their feet--because thou art a man.' + +'I did not know these things,' said Mowgli, sullenly; and he frowned +under his heavy black eyebrows. + +'What is the Law of the Jungle? Strike first and then give tongue. By +thy very carelessness they know that thou art a man. But be wise. It +is in my heart that when Akela misses his next kill,--and at each +hunt it costs him more to pin the buck,--the Pack will turn against +him and against thee. They will hold a jungle Council at the Rock, +and then--and then--I have it!' said Bagheera, leaping up. 'Go thou +down quickly to the men's huts in the valley, and take some of the +Red Flower which they grow there, so that when the time comes thou +mayest have even a stronger friend than I or Baloo or those of the +Pack that love thee. Get the Red Flower.' + +By Red Flower Bagheera meant fire, only no creature in the jungle +will call fire by its proper name. Every beast lives in deadly fear +of it, and invents a hundred ways of describing it. + +'The Red Flower?' said Mowgli. 'That grows outside their huts in the +twilight. I will get some.' + +'There speaks the man's cub,' said Bagheera, proudly. 'Remember that +it grows in little pots. Get one swiftly, and keep it by thee for +time of need.' + +'Good!' said Mowgli. 'I go. But art thou sure, O my Bagheera'--he +slipped his arm round the splendid neck, and looked deep into the big +eyes--' art thou sure that all this is Shere Khan's doing?' + +'By the Broken Lock that freed me, I am sure, Little Brother.' + +'Then, by the Bull that bought me, I will pay Shere Khan full tale +for this, and it may be a little over,' said Mowgli; and he bounded +away. + +'That is a man. That is all a man,' said Bagheera to himself, lying +down again. 'Oh, Shere Khan, never was a blacker hunting than that +frog-hunt of thine ten years ago!' + +Mowgli was far and far through the forest, running hard, and his +heart was hot in him. He came to the cave as the evening mist rose, +and drew breath, and looked down the valley. The cubs were out, but +Mother Wolf, at the back of the cave, knew by his breathing that +something was troubling her frog. + +'What is it, Son?' she said. + +'Some bat's chatter of Shere Khan,' he called back. 'I hunt among the +ploughed fields to-night'; and he plunged downward through the +bushes, to the stream at the bottom of the valley. There he checked, +for he heard the yell of the Pack hunting, heard the bellow of a +hunted Sambhur, and the snort as the buck turned at bay. Then there +were wicked, bitter howls from the young wolves: 'Akela! Akela! Let +the Lone Wolf show his strength. Room for the leader of the Pack! +Spring, Akela!' + +The Lone Wolf must have sprung and missed his hold, for Mowgli heard +the snap of his teeth and then a yelp as the Sambhur knocked him over +with his fore foot. + +He did not wait for anything more, but dashed on; and the yells grew +fainter behind him as he ran into the croplands where the villagers +lived. + +'Bagheera spoke truth,' he panted, as he nestled down in some +cattle-fodder by the window of a hut. 'To-morrow is one day both for +Akela and for me.' + +Then he pressed his face close to the window and watched the fire on +the hearth. He saw the husbandman's wife get up and feed it in the +night with black lumps; and when the morning came and the mists were +all white and cold, he saw the man's child pick up a wicker pot +plastered inside with earth, fill it with lumps of red-hot charcoal, +put it under his blanket, and go out to tend the cows in the byre. + +'Is that all?' said Mowgli. 'If a cub can do it, there is nothing to +fear'; so he strode round the corner and met the boy, took the pot +from his hand, and disappeared into the mist while the boy howled +with fear. + +'They are very like me,' said Mowgli, blowing into the pot, as he had +seen the woman do. 'This thing will die if I do not give it things to +eat'; and he dropped twigs and dried bark on the red stuff. Half-way +up the hill he met Bagheera with the morning dew shining like +moonstones on his coat. + +'Akela has missed,' said the Panther. 'They would have killed him +last night, but they needed thee also. They were looking for thee on +the hill.' + +'I was among the ploughed lands. I am ready. See!' Mowgli held up the +fire-pot. + +'Good! Now I have seen men thrust a dry branch into that stuff, and +presently the Red Flower blossomed at the end of it. Art thou not +afraid?' + +'No. Why should I fear? I remember now--if it is not a dream--how, +before I was a Wolf, I lay beside the Red Flower, and it was warm and +pleasant.' + +All that day Mowgli sat in the cave tending his fire-pot and dipping +dry branches into it to see how they looked. He found a branch that +satisfied him, and in the evening when Tabaqui came to the cave and +told him rudely enough that he was wanted at the Council Rock, he +laughed till Tabaqui ran away. Then Mowgli went to the Council, still +laughing. + +Akela the lone wolf lay by the side of his rock as a sign that the +leadership of the Pack was open, and Shere Khan with his following of +scrap-fed wolves walked to and fro openly being flattered. Bagheera +lay close to Mowgli, and the fire-pot was between Mowgli's knees. +When they were all gathered together, Shere Khan began to speak--a +thing he would never have dared to do when Akela was in his prime. + +'He has no right,' whispered Bagheera. 'Say so. He is a dog's son. +He will be frightened.' + +Mowgli sprang to his feet. 'Free People,' he cried, does Shere Khan +lead the Pack? What has a tiger to do with our leadership?' + +'Seeing that the leadership is yet open, and being asked to +speak--' Shere Khan began. + +'By whom?' said Mowgli. 'Are we _all_ jackals, to fawn on this +cattle-butcher? The leadership of the Pack is with the Pack alone.' + +There were yells of 'Silence, thou man's cub!' 'Let him speak. He has +kept our Law'; and at last the seniors of the Pack thundered: 'Let +the Dead Wolf speak.' When a leader of the Pack has missed his kill, +he is called the Dead Wolf as long as he lives, which is not long. + +Akela raised his old head wearily:-- + +'Free People, and ye too, jackals of Shere Khan, for twelve seasons +I have led ye to and from the kill, and in all that time not one has +been trapped or maimed. Now I have missed my kill. Ye know how that +plot was made. Ye know how ye brought me up to an untried buck to +make my weakness known. It was cleverly done. Your right is to kill +me here on the Council Rock, now. Therefore, I ask, who comes to make +an end of the Lone Wolf? For it is my right, by the Law of the +Jungle, that ye come one by one.' + +There was a long hush, for no single wolf cared to fight Akela to the +death. Then Shere Khan roared: 'Bah! what have we to do with this +toothless fool? He is doomed to die! It is the man-cub who has lived +too long. Free People, he was my meat from the first. Give him to me. +I am weary of this man-wolf folly. He has troubled the jungle for ten +seasons. Give me the man-cub, or I will hunt here always, and not +give you one bone. He is a man, a man's child, and from the marrow of +my bones I hate him!' + +Then more than half the Pack yelled: A man! a man! + +What has a man to do with us? Let him go to his own place. + +'And turn all the people of the villages against us?' clamoured Shere +Khan. 'No; give him to me. He is a man, and none of us can look him +between the eyes.' + +Akela lifted his head again, and said: 'He has eaten our food. He has +slept with us. He has driven game for us. He has broken no word of +the Law of the Jungle.' + +'Also, I paid for him with a Bull when he was accepted. The worth of +a bull is little, but Bagheera's honour is something that he will +perhaps fight for,' said Bagheera, in his gentlest voice. + +'A bull paid ten years ago!' the Pack snarled. 'What do we care for +bones ten years old?' + +'Or for a pledge?' said Bagheera, his white teeth bared under his +lip. 'Well are ye called the Free People!' + +'No man's cub can run with the people of the jungle,' howled Shere +Khan. 'Give him to me!' + +'He is our brother in all but blood,' Akela went on; 'and ye would +kill him here! In truth, I have lived too long. Some of ye are eaters +of cattle, and of others I have heard that, under Shere Khan's +teaching, ye go by dark night and snatch children from the villager's +door-step Therefore I know ye to be cowards, and it is to cowards I +speak. It is certain that I must die, and my life is of no worth, or +I would offer that in the man-cub's place. But for the sake of the +Honour of the Pack,--a little matter that by being without a leader +ye have forgotten,--I promise that if ye let the man-cub go to his +own place, I will not, when my time comes to die, bare one tooth +against ye. I will die without fighting. That will at least save the +Pack three lives. More I cannot do; but if ye will, I can save ye the +shame that comes of killing a brother against whom there is no +fault,--a brother spoken for and bought into the Pack according to +the Law of the Jungle.' + +'He is a man--a man--a man--!' snarled the Pack; and most of the +wolves began to gather round Shere Khan, whose tail was beginning to +switch. + +'Now the business is in thy hands,' said Bagheera to Mowgli. '_We_ +can do no more except fight.' + +Mowgli stood upright--the fire-pot in his hands. Then he stretched +out his arms, and yawned in the face of the Council; but he was +furious with rage and sorrow, for, wolf-like, the wolves had never +told him how they hated him. 'Listen you!' he cried. 'There is no +need for this dog's jabber. Ye have told me so often to night that I +am a man (and indeed I would have been a wolf with you to my life's +end), that I feel your words are true. So I do not call ye my +brothers any more, but _sag_ [dogs], as a man should. What ye will +do, and what ye will not do, is not yours to say. That matter is with +_me_; and that we may see the matter more plainly, I, the man, have +brought here a little of the Red Flower which ye, dogs, fear.' + +He flung the fire-pot on the ground, and some of the red coals lit a +tuft of dried moss that flared up, as all the Council drew back in +terror before the leaping flames. + +Mowgli thrust his dead branch into the fire till the twigs lit and +crackled, and whirled it above his head among the cowering wolves. + +'Thou art the master,' said Bagheera, in an undertone. 'Save Akela +from, the death. He was ever thy friend.' + +Akela, the grim old wolf who had never asked for mercy in his life, +gave one piteous look at Mowgli as the boy stood all naked, his long +black hair tossing over his shoulders in the light of the blazing +branch that made the shadows jump and quiver. + +'Good!' said Mowgli, staring round slowly. 'I see that ye are dogs. I +go from you to my own people--if they be ray own people. The jungle +is shut to me, and I must forget your talk and your companionship; +but I will be more merciful than ye are. Because I was all but your +brother in blood, I promise that when I am a man among men I will not +betray ye to men as ye have betrayed me.' He kicked the fire with his +foot, and the sparks flew up. 'There shall be no war between any of +us in the Pack. But here is a debt to pay before I go.' He strode +forward to where Shere Khan sat blinking stupidly at the flames, and +caught him by the tuft on his chin. Bagheera followed in case of +accidents. 'Up, dog!' Mowgli cried. 'Up, when a man speaks, or I will +set that coat ablaze!' + +Shere Khan's ears lay flat back on his head, and he shut his eyes, +for the blazing branch was very near. + +'This cattle-killer said he would kill me in the Council because he +had not killed me when I was a cub. Thus and thus, then, do we beat +dogs when we are men. Stir a whisker, Lungri, and I ram the Red +Flower down thy gullet!' He beat Shere Khan over the head with the +branch, and the tiger whimpered and whined in an agony of fear. + +'Pah! Singed jungle-cat--go now! But remember when next I come to the +Council Rock, as a man should come, it will be with Shere Khan's hide +on my head. For the rest, Akela goes free to live as he pleases. Ye +will _not_ kill him, because that is not my will. Nor do I think that +ye will sit here any longer, lolling out your tongues as though ye +were somebodies, instead of dogs whom I drive out--thus! Go!' The +fire was burning furiously at the end of the branch, and Mowgli +struck right and left round the circle, and the wolves ran howling +with the sparks burning their fur. At last there were only Akela, +Bagheera, and perhaps ten wolves that had taken Mowgli's part. Then +something began to hurt Mowgli inside him, as he had never been hurt +in his life before, and he caught his breath and sobbed, and the +tears ran down his face. + +'What is it? What is it?' he said. 'I do not wish to leave the +jungle, and I do not know what this is. Am I dying, Bagheera?' + +'No, Little Brother. That is only tears such as men use,' said +Bagheera. 'Now I know thou art a man, and a man's cub no longer. The +jungle is shut indeed to thee henceforward. Let them fall, Mowgli. +They are only tears.' So Mowgli sat and cried as though his heart +would break; and he had never cried in all his life before. + +'Now,' he said, 'I will go to men. But first I must say farewell to +my mother'; and he went to the cave where she lived with Father Wolf, +and he cried on her coat, while the four cubs howled miserably. + +'Ye will not forget me?' said Mowgli. + +'Never while we can follow a trail,' said the cubs. 'Come to the foot +of the hill when thou art a man, and we will talk to thee; and we +will come into the crop-lands to play with thee by night.' + +'Come soon!' said Father Wolf. 'Oh, wise little frog, come again +soon; for we be old, thy mother and I.' + +'Come soon,' said Mother Wolf, 'little naked son of mine; for, +listen, child of man, I loved thee more than ever I loved my cubs.' + +'I will surely come,' said Mowgli; 'and when I come it will be to +lay out Shere Khan's hide upon the Council Rock. Do not forget me! +Tell them in the jungle never to forget me!' + +The dawn was beginning to break when Mowgli went down the hillside +alone, to meet those mysterious things that are called men. + + + + +THE LOST LEGION. + +When the Indian Mutiny broke out, and a little time before the siege +of Delhi, a regiment of Native Irregular Horse was stationed at +Peshawur on the Frontier of India. That regiment caught what John +Lawrence called at the time 'the prevalent mania,' and would have +thrown in its lot with the mutineers had it been allowed to do so. +The chance never came, for, as the regiment swept off down south, it +was headed up by a remnant of an English corps into the hills of +Afghanistan, and there the newly-conquered tribesmen turned against +it as wolves turn against buck. It was hunted for the sake of its +arms and accoutrements from hill to hill, from ravine to ravine, up +and down the dried beds of rivers and round the shoulders of bluffs, +till it disappeared as water sinks in the sand--this officerless, +rebel regiment. The only trace left of its existence to-day is a +nominal roll drawn up in neat round hand and countersigned by an +officer who called himself 'Adjutant, late ---- Irregular Cavalry.' +The paper is yellow with years and dirt, but on the back of it you +can still read a pencil note by John Lawrence, to this effect: 'See +that the two native officers who remained loyal are not deprived of +their estates.--J.L.' Of six hundred and fifty sabres only two stood +strain, and John Lawrence in the midst of all the agony of the first +months of the mutiny found time to think about their merits. + +That was more than thirty years ago, and the tribesmen across the +Afghan border who helped to annihilate the regiment are now old men. +Sometimes a graybeard speaks of his share in the massacre. 'They +came,' he will say, 'across the border, very proud, calling upon us +to rise and kill the English, and go down to the sack of Delhi. But +we who had just been conquered by the same English knew that they +were over bold, and that the Government could account easily for +those down-country dogs. This Hindu stani regiment, therefore, we +treated with fair words, and kept standing in one place till the +redcoats came after them very hot and angry. Then this regiment ran +forward a little more into our hills to avoid the wrath of the +English, and we lay upon their flanks watching from the sides of the +hills till we were well assured that their path was lost behind them. +Then we came down, for we desired their clothes, and their bridles, +and their rifles, and their boots--more especially their boots. That +was a great killing--done slowly.' Here the old man will rub his +nose, and shake his long snaky locks, and lick his bearded lips, and +grin till the yellow tooth-stumps show. 'Yes, we killed them because +we needed their gear, and we knew that their lives had been forfeited +to God on account of their sin--the sin of treachery to the salt +which they had eaten. They rode up and down the valleys, stumbling +and rocking in their saddles, and howling for mercy. We drove them +slowly like cattle till they were all assembled in one place, the +flat wide valley of Sheor Kôt. Many had died from want of water, but +there still were many left, and they could not make any stand. We +went among them, pulling them down with our hands two at a time, and +our boys killed them who were new to the sword. My share of the +plunder was such and such--so many guns, and so many saddles. The +guns were good in those days. Now we steal the Government rifles, +and despise smooth barrels. Yes, beyond doubt we wiped that +regiment from off the face of the earth, and even the memory of the +deed is now dying. But men say----' + +At this point the tale would stop abruptly, and it was impossible to +find out what men said across the border. The Afghans were always a +secretive race, and vastly preferred doing something wicked to saying +anything at all. They would be quiet and well-behaved for months, +till one night, without word or warning, they would rush a +police-post, cut the throats of a constable or two, dash through a +village, carry away three or four women, and withdraw, in the red +glare of burning thatch, driving the cattle and goats before them to +their own desolate hills. The Indian Government would become almost +tearful on these occasions. First it would say, 'Please be good and +we'll forgive you.' The tribe concerned in the latest depredation +would collectively put its thumb to its nose and answer rudely. Then +the Government would say: 'Hadn't you better pay up a little money +for those few corpses you left behind you the other night?' Here the +tribe would temporise, and lie and bully, and some of the younger +men, merely to show contempt of authority, would raid another +police-post and fire into some frontier mud fort, and, if lucky, kill +a real English officer. Then the Government would say: 'Observe; if +you really persist in this line of conduct you will be hurt.' If the +tribe knew exactly what was going on in India, it would apologise or +be rude, according as it learned whether the Government was busy with +other things, or able to devote its full attention to their +performances. Some of the tribes knew to one corpse how far to go. +Others became excited, lost their heads, and told the Government to +come on. With sorrow and tears, and one eye on the British taxpayer +at home, who insisted on regarding these exercises as brutal wars of +annexation, the Government would prepare an expensive little +field-brigade and some guns, and send all up into the hills to chase +the wicked tribe out of the valleys, where the corn grew, into the +hill-tops where there was nothing to eat. The tribe would turn out in +full strength and enjoy the campaign, for they knew that their women +would never be touched, that their wounded would be nursed, not +mutilated, and that as soon as each man's bag of corn was spent they +could surrender and palaver with the English General as though they +had been a real enemy. Afterwards, years afterwards, they would pay +the blood-money, driblet by driblet, to the Government and tell their +children how they had slain the redcoats by thousands. The only +drawback to this kind of picnic-war was the weakness of the redcoats +for solemnly blowing up with powder their fortified towers and keeps. +This the tribes always considered mean. + +Chief among the leaders of the smaller tribes--the little clans who +knew to a penny the expense of moving white troops against them--was +a priest-bandit-chief whom we will call the Gulla Kutta Mullah. His +enthusiasm for border murder as an art was almost dignified. He +would cut down a mail-runner from pure wantonness, or bombard a mud +fort with rifle fire when he knew that our men needed to sleep. In +his leisure moments he would go on circuit among his neighbours, and +try to incite other tribes to devilry. Also, he kept a kind of hotel +for fellow-outlaws in his own village, which lay in a valley called +Bersund. Any respectable murderer on that section of the frontier was +sure to lie up at Bersund, for it was reckoned an exceedingly safe +place. The sole entry to it ran through a narrow gorge which could be +converted into a death-trap in five minutes. It was surrounded by +high hills, reckoned inaccessible to all save born mountaineers, and +here the Gulla Kutta Mullah lived in great state, the head of a +colony of mud and stone huts, and in each mud hut hung Some portion +of a red uniform and the plunder of dead men. The Government +particularly wished for his capture, and once invited him formally to +come out and be hanged on account of a few of the murders in which he +had taken a direct part. He replied:-- + +'I am only twenty miles, as the crow flies, from your border. Come +and fetch me.' + +'Some day we will come,' said the Government, 'and hanged you will +be.' + +The Gulla Kutta Mullah let the matter from his mind. He knew that the +patience of the Government was as long as a summer day; but he did +not realise that its arm was as long as a winter night. Months +afterwards when there was peace on the border, and all India was +quiet, the Indian Government turned in its sleep and remembered the +Gulla Kutta Mullah at Bersund, with his thirteen outlaws. The +movement against him of one single regiment--which the telegrams +would have translated as war--would have been highly impolitic. This +was a time for silence and speed, and, above all, absence of +bloodshed. + +You must know that all along the north-west frontier of India there +is spread a force of some thirty thousand foot and horse, whose duty +it is quietly and unostentatiously to shepherd the tribes in front of +them. They move up and down, and down and up, from one desolate +little post to another; they are ready to take the field at ten +minutes' notice; they are always half in and half out of a difficulty +somewhere along the monotonous line; their lives are as hard as their +own muscles, and the papers never say anything about them. It was +from this force that the Government picked its men. + +One night at a station where the mounted Night Patrol fire as they +challenge, and the wheat rolls in great blue green waves under our +cold northern moon, the officers were playing billiards in the +mud-walled club-house, when orders came to them that they were to go +on parade at once for a night-drill. They grumbled, and went to turn +out their men--a hundred English troops, let us say, two hundred +Goorkhas, and about a hundred cavalry of the finest native cavalry in +the world. + +When they were on the parade-ground, it was explained to them in +whispers that they must set off at once across the hills to Bersund. +The English troops were to post themselves round the hills at the +side of the valley; the Goorkhas would command the gorge and the +death-trap, and the cavalry would fetch a long march round and get to +the back of the circle of hills, whence, if there were any +difficulty, they could charge down on the Mullah's men. But orders +were very strict that there should be no fighting and no noise. They +were to return in the morning with every round of ammunition intact, +and the Mullah and the thirteen outlaws bound in their midst. If they +were successful, no one would know or care anything about their work; +but failure meant probably a small border war, in which the Gulla +Kutta Mullah would pose as a popular leader against a big bullying +power, instead of a common border murderer. + +Then there was silence, broken only by the clicking of the compass +needles and snapping of watch-cases, as the heads of columns compared +bearings and made appointments for the rendezvous. Five minutes later +the parade-ground was empty; the green coats of the Goorkhas and the +overcoats of the English troops had faded into the darkness, and the +cavalry were cantering away in the face of a blinding drizzle. + +What the Goorkhas and the English did will be seen later on. The heavy +work lay with the horses, for they had to go far and pick their way +clear of habitations. Many of the troopers were natives of that part +of the world, ready and anxious to fight against their kin, and some +of the officers had made private and unofficial excursions into those +hills before. They crossed the border, found a dried river bed, +cantered up that, waited through a stony gorge, risked crossing a low +hill under cover of the darkness, skirted another hill, leaving their +hoof-marks deep in some ploughed ground, felt their way along another +watercourse, ran over the neck of a spur, praying that no one would +hear their horses grunting, and so worked on in the rain and the +darkness, till they had left Bersund and its crater of hills a little +behind them, and to the left, and it was time to swing round. +The ascent commanding the back of Bersund was steep, and they halted +to draw breath in a broad level valley below the height. That is to +say, the men reined up, but the horses, blown as they were, refused +to halt. There was unchristian language, the worse for being +delivered in a whisper, and you heard the saddles squeaking in the +darkness as the horses plunged. + +The subaltern at the rear of one troop turned in his saddle and said +very softly:-- + +'Carter, what the blessed heavens are you doing at the rear? Bring +your men up, man.' + +There was no answer, till a trooper replied:-- + +'Carter Sahib is forward--not there. There is nothing behind us.' + +'There is,' said the subaltern. 'The squadron's walking on it's own +tail.' + +Then the Major in command moved down to the rear swearing softly and +asking for the blood of Lieutenant Halley--the subaltern who had just +spoken. + +'Look after your rearguard,' said the Major. 'Some of your infernal +thieves have got lost. They're at the head of the squadron, and +you're a several kinds of idiot.' + +'Shall I tell off my men, sir?' said the subaltern sulkily, for he +was feeling wet and cold. + +'Tell 'em off!' said the Major. '_Whip_ 'em off, by Gad! You're +squandering them all over the place. There's a troop behind you +_now_!' + +'So I was thinking,' said the subaltern calmly. 'I have all my men +here, sir. Better speak to Carter.' + +'Carter Sahib sends salaam and wants to know why the regiment is +stopping,' said a trooper to Lieutenant Halley. + +'Where under heaven _is_ Carter?' said the Major. + +'Forward with his troop,' was the answer. + +'Are we walking in a ring, then, or are we the centre of a blessed +brigade?' said the Major. + +By this time there was silence all along the column. The horses were +still; but, through the drive of the fine rain, men could hear the +feet of many horses moving over stony ground. + +'We're being stalked,' said Lieutenant Halley. + +'They've no horses here. Besides they'd have fired before this,' said +the Major. 'It's--it's villagers' ponies.' + +'Then our horses would have neighed and spoilt the attack long ago. +They must have been near us for half an hour,' said the subaltern. + +'Queer that we can't smell the horses,' said the Major, damping his +finger and rubbing it on his nose as he sniffed up wind. + +'Well, it's a bad start,' said the subaltern, shaking the wet from +his overcoat. 'What shall we do, sir?' + +'Get on,' said the Major. 'We shall catch it to-night.' + +The column moved forward very gingerly for a few paces. Then there +was an oath, a shower of blue sparks as shod hooves crashed on small +stones, and a man rolled over with a jangle of accoutrements that +would have waked the dead. + +'Now we've gone and done it,' said Lieutenant Halley. 'All the +hillside awake, and all the hillside to climb in the face of +musketry-fire. This comes of trying to do night-hawk work.' + +The trembling trooper picked himself up, and tried to explain that +his horse had fallen over one of the little cairns that are built of +loose stones on the spot where a man has been murdered. There was no +need for reasons. The Major's big Australian charger blundered next, +and the column came to a halt in what seemed to be a very graveyard +of little cairns all about two feet high. The man[oe]uvres of the +squadron are not reported. Men said that it felt like mounted +quadrilles without training and without the music; but at last the +horses, breaking rank and choosing their own way, walked clear of +the cairns, till every man of the squadron re-formed and drew rein a +few yards up the slope of the hill. Then, according to Lieutenant +Halley, there was another scene very like the one which has been +described. The Major and Carter insisted that all the men had not +joined rank, and that there were more of them in the rear clicking +and blundering among the dead men's cairns. Lieutenant Halley told +off his own troopers again and resigned himself to wait. Later on he +told me:-- + +'I didn't much know, and I didn't much care what was going on. The +row of that trooper falling ought to have scared half the country, +and I would take my oath that we were being stalked by a full +regiment in the rear, and _they_ were making row enough to rouse all +Afghanistan. I sat tight, but nothing happened.' + +The mysterious part of the night's work was the silence on the +hillside. Everybody knew that the Gulla Kutta Mullah had his outpost +huts on the reverse side of the hill, and everybody expected by the +time that the Major had sworn himself into a state of quiet that the +watchmen there would open fire. When nothing occurred, they said that +the gusts of the rain had deadened the sound of the horses, and +thanked Providence. At last the Major satisfied himself (a) that he +had left no one behind among the cairns, and (b) that he was not +being taken in the rear by a large and powerful body of cavalry. The +men's tempers were thoroughly spoiled, the horses were lathered and +unquiet, and one and all prayed for the daylight. + +They set themselves to climb up the hill, each man leading his mount +carefully. Before they had covered the lower slopes or the +breastplates had begun to tighten, a thunderstorm came up behind, +rolling across the low hills and drowning any noise less than that of +cannon. The first flash of the lightning showed the bare ribs of the +ascent, the hill-crest standing steely blue against the black sky, +the little falling lines of the rain, and, a few yards to their left +flank, an Afghan watch-tower, two-storied, built of stone, and +entered by a ladder from the upper story. The ladder was up, and a +man with a rifle was leaning from the window. The darkness and the +thunder rolled down in an instant, and, when the lull followed, a +voice from the watch-tower cried, 'Who goes there?' + +The cavalry were very quiet, but each man gripped his carbine and +stood beside his horse. Again the voice called, 'Who goes there?' +and in a louder key, 'O, brothers, give the alarm!' Now, every man in +the cavalry would have died in his long boots sooner than have asked +for quarter; but it is a fact that the answer to the second call was +a long wail of 'Marf karo! Marf karo!' which means, 'Have mercy! Have +mercy!' It came from the climbing regiment. + +The cavalry stood dumbfoundered, till the big troopers had time to +whisper one to another: 'Mir Khan, was that thy voice? Abdullah, +didst _thou_ call?' Lieutenant Halley stood beside his charger and +waited. So long as no firing was going on he was content. Another +flash of lightning showed the horses with heaving flanks and nodding +heads, the men, white eye-balled, glaring beside them and the stone +watch-tower to the left. This time there was no head at the window, +and the rude iron-clamped shutter that could turn a rifle bullet was +closed. + +'Go on, men,' said the Major. 'Get up to the top at any rate.' The +squadron toiled forward, the horses wagging their tails and the men +pulling at the bridles, the stones rolling down the hillside and the +sparks flying. Lieutenant Halley declares that he never heard a +squadron make so much noise in his life. They scrambled up, he said, +as though each horse had eight legs and a spare horse to follow him. +Even then there was no sound from the watch-tower, and the men +stopped exhausted on the ridge that overlooked the pit of darkness in +which the village of Bersund lay. Girths were loosed, curb-chains +shifted, and saddles adjusted, and the men dropped down among the +stones. Whatever might happen now, they had the upper ground of any +attack. + +The thunder ceased, and with it the rain, and the soft thick darkness +of a winter night before the dawn covered them all. Except for the +sound of falling water among the ravines below, everything was still. +They heard the shutter of the watch-tower below them thrown back with +a clang, and the voice of the watcher calling: 'Oh, Hafiz Ullah!' + +The echoes took up the call, 'La-la-la!' And an answer came from the +watch-tower hidden round the curve of the hill, 'What is it, Shahbaz +Khan?' + +Shahbaz Khan replied in the high-pitched voice of the mountaineer: +'Hast thou seen?' + +The answer came back: 'Yes. God deliver us from all evil spirits!' + +There was a pause, and then: 'Hafiz Ullah, I am alone! Come to me!' + +'Shahbaz Khan, I am alone also; but I dare not leave my post!' + +'That is a lie; thou art afraid.' + +A longer pause followed, and then: 'I am afraid. Be silent! They are +below us still. Pray to God and sleep.' + +The troopers listened and wondered, for they could not understand +what save earth and stone could lie below the watch-towers. + +Shahbaz Khan began to call again: 'They are below us. I can see them. +For the pity of God come over to me, Hafiz Ullah! My father slew ten +of them. Come over!' + +Hafiz Ullah answered in a very loud voice, 'Mine was guiltless. Hear, +ye Men of the Night, neither my father nor my blood had any part in +that sin. Bear thou thy own punishment, Shahbaz Khan.' + +'Oh, some one ought to stop those two chaps crowing away like cocks +there,' said Lieutenant Halley, shivering under his rock. + +He had hardly turned round to expose a new side of him to the rain +before a bearded, long-locked, evil-smelling Afghan rushed up the +hill, and tumbled into his arms. Halley sat upon him, and thrust as +much of a sword-hilt as could be spared down the man's gullet. 'If +you cry out, I kill you,' he said cheerfully. + +The man was beyond any expression of terror. He lay and quaked, +grunting. When Halley took the sword-hilt from between his teeth, he +was still inarticulate, but clung to Halley's arm, feeling it from +elbow to wrist. + +'The Rissala! The dead Rissala!' he gasped. 'It is down there!' + +'No; the Rissala, the very much alive Rissala. It is up here,' said +Halley, unshipping his watering-bridle, and fastening the man's +hands. 'Why were you in the towers so foolish as to let us pass?' + +'The valley is full of the dead,' said the Afghan. 'It is better to +fall into the hands of the English than the hands of the dead. They +march to and fro below there. I saw them in the lightning.' + +He recovered his composure after a little, and whispering, because +Halley's pistol was at his stomach, said: 'What is this? There is no +war between us now, and the Mullah will kill me for not seeing you +pass!' + +'Rest easy,' said Halley; 'we are coming to kill the Mullah, if God +please. His teeth have grown too long. No harm will come to thee +unless the daylight shows thee as a face which is desired by the +gallows for crime done. But what of the dead regiment?' + +'I only kill within my own border,' said the man, immensely relieved. +'The Dead Regiment is below. The men must have passed through it on +their journey--four hundred dead on horses, stumbling among their own +graves, among the little heaps--dead men all, whom we slew.' + +'Whew!' said Halley. 'That accounts for my cursing Carter and the +Major cursing me. Four hundred sabres, eh? No wonder we thought there +were a few extra men in the troop. Kurruk Shah,' he whispered to a +grizzled native officer that lay within a few feet of him, 'hast thou +heard anything of a dead Rissala in these hills?' + +'Assuredly,' said Kurruk Shah with a grim chuckle. 'Otherwise, why +did I, who have served the Queen for seven-and-twenty years, and +killed many hill-dogs, shout aloud for quarter when the lightning +revealed us to the watch-towers? When I was a young man I saw the +killing in the valley of Sheor-Kot there at our feet, and I know the +tale that grew up therefrom. But how can the ghosts of unbelievers +prevail against us who are of the Faith? Strap that dog's hands a +little tighter, Sahib. An Afghan is like an eel.' + +'But a dead Rissala,' said Halley, jerking his captive's wrist. 'That +is foolish talk, Kurruk Shah. The dead are dead. Hold still, _sag_.' +The Afghan wriggled. + +'The dead are dead, and for that reason they walk at night. What need +to talk? We be men; we have our eyes and ears. Thou canst both see +and hear them, down the hillside,' said Kurruk Shah composedly. + +Halley stared and listened long and intently. The valley was full of +stifled noises, as every valley must be at night; but whether he saw +or heard more than was natural Halley alone knows, and he does not +choose to speak on the subject. + +At last, and just before the dawn, a green rocket shot up from the +far side of the valley of Bersund, at the head of the gorge, to show +that the Goorkhas were in position. A red light from the infantry at +left and right answered it, and the cavalry burnt a white flare. +Afghans in winter are late sleepers, and it was not till full day +that the Gulla Kutta Mullah's men began to straggle from their huts, +rubbing their eyes. They saw men in green, and red, and brown +uniforms, leaning on their arms, neatly arranged all round the crater +of the village of Bersund, in a cordon that not even a wolf could +have broken. They rubbed their eyes the more when a pink-faced young +man, who was not even in the Army, but represented the Political +Department, tripped down the hillside with two orderlies, rapped at +the door of the Gulla Kutta Mullah's house, and told him quietly to +step out and be tied up for safe transport. That same young man +passed on through the huts, tapping here one cateran and there +another lightly with his cane; and as each was pointed out, so he was +tied up, staring hopelessly at the crowned heights around where the +English soldiers looked down with incurious eyes. Only the Mullah +tried to carry it off with curses and high words, till a soldier who +was tying his hands said:-- + +'None o' your lip! Why didn't you come out when you was ordered, +instead o' keepin' us awake all night? You're no better than my own +barrack-sweeper, you white-'eaded old polyanthus! Kim up!' + +Half an hour later the troops had gone away with the Mullah and his +thirteen friends. The dazed villagers were looking ruefully at a pile +of broken muskets and snapped swords, and wondering how in the world +they had come so to miscalculate the forbearance of the Indian +Government. + +It was a very neat little affair, neatly carried out, and the men +concerned were unofficially thanked for their services. + +Yet it seems to me that much credit is also due to another regiment +whose name did not appear in the brigade orders, and whose very +existence is in danger of being forgotten. + + + + +NAMGAY DOOLA. + + There came to the beach a poor exile of Erin, + The dew on his wet robe hung heavy and chill; + Ere the steamer that brought him had passed out of hearin', + He was Alderman Mike inthrojuicing' a bill! + _American Song_. + +Once upon a time there was a King who lived on the road to Thibet, +very many miles in the Himalayas. His Kingdom was eleven thousand +feet above the sea and exactly four miles square; but most of the +miles stood on end owing to the nature of the country. His revenues +were rather less than four hundred pounds yearly, and they were +expended in the maintenance of one elephant and a standing army of +five men. He was tributary to the Indian Government, who allowed him +certain sums for keeping a section of the Himalaya-Thibet road in +repair. He further increased his revenues by selling timber to the +Railway companies; for he would cut the great deodar trees in his one +forest, and they fell thundering into the Sutlej river and were swept +down to the plains three hundred miles away and became railway-ties. +Now and again this King, whose name does not matter, would mount a +ringstraked horse and ride scores of miles to Simla-town to confer +with the Lieutenant-Governor on matters of state, or to assure the +Viceroy that his sword was at the service of the Queen-Empress. Then +the Viceroy would cause a ruffle of drums to be sounded, and the +ringstraked horse and the cavalry of the State--two men in +tatters--and the herald who bore the silver stick before the King, +would trot back to their own place, which lay between the tail of a +heaven-climbing glacier and a dark birch-forest. + +Now, from such a King, always remembering that he possessed one +veritable elephant, and could count his descent for twelve hundred +years, I expected, when it was my fate to wander through his +dominions, no more than mere license to live. + +The night had closed in rain, and rolling clouds blotted out the +lights of the villages in the valley. Forty miles away, untouched by +cloud or storm, the white shoulder of Donga Pa--the Mountain of the +Council of the Gods--upheld the Evening Star. The monkeys sang +sorrowfully to each other as they hunted for dry roosts in the +fern-wreathed trees, and the last puff of the day-wind brought from +the unseen villages the scent of damp wood-smoke, hot cakes, dripping +undergrowth, and rotting pine-cones. That is the true smell of the +Himalayas, and if once it creeps into the blood of a man, that man +will at the last, forgetting all else, return to the hills to die. +The clouds closed and the smell went away and there remained nothing +in all the world except chilling white mist and the boom of the +Sutlej river racing through the valley below. A fat-tailed sheep, who +did not want to die, bleated piteously at my tent door. He was +scuffling with the Prime Minister and the Director-General of Public +Education, and he was a royal gift to me and my camp servants. I +expressed my thanks suitably, and asked if I might have audience of +the King. The Prime Minister readjusted his turban, which had fallen +off in the struggle, and assured me that the King would be very +pleased to see me. Therefore, I despatched two bottles as a +foretaste, and when the sheep had entered upon another incarnation +went to the King's Palace through the wet. He had sent his army to +escort me, but the army stayed to talk with my cook. Soldiers are +very much alike all the world over. + +The Palace was a four-roomed, and whitewashed mud and timber-house, +the finest in all the hills for a day's journey. The King was dressed +in a purple velvet jacket, white muslin trousers, and a +saffron-yellow turban of price. He gave me audience in a little +carpeted room opening off the palace courtyard which was occupied by +the Elephant of State. The great beast was sheeted and anchored from +trunk to tail, and the curve of his back stood out grandly against +the mist. + +The Prime Minister and the Director-General of Public Education were +present to introduce me, but all the court had been dismissed, lest +the two bottles aforesaid should corrupt their morals. The King cast +a wreath of heavy-scented flowers round my neck as I bowed, and +inquired how my honoured presence had the felicity to be. I said that +through seeing his auspicious countenance the mists of the night had +turned into sunshine, and that by reason of his beneficent sheep his +good deeds would be remembered by the Gods. He said that since I had +set my magnificent foot in his Kingdom the crops would probably +yield seventy per cent. more than the average. I said that the fame +of the King had reached to the four corners of the earth, and that +the nations gnashed their teeth when they heard daily of the glories +of his realm and the wisdom of his moon-like Prime Minister and +lotus-like Director-General of Public Education. + +Then we sat down on clean white cushions, and I was at the King's +right hand. Three minutes later he was telling me that the state of +the maize crop was something disgraceful, and that the Railway +companies would not pay him enough for his timber. The talk shifted +to and fro with the bottles, and we discussed very many stately +things, and the King became confidential on the subject of Government +generally. Most of all he dwelt on the shortcomings of one of his +subjects, who, from all I could gather, had been paralysing the +executive. + +'In the old days,' said the King, 'I could have ordered the Elephant +yonder to trample him to death. Now I must e'en send him seventy +miles across the hills to be tried, and his keep would be upon the +State. The Elephant eats everything.' + +'What be the man's crimes, Rajah Sahib?' said I. + +'Firstly, he is an outlander and no man of mine own people. Secondly, +since of my favour I gave him land upon his first coming, he refuses +to pay revenue. Am I not the lord of the earth, above and below, +entitled by right and custom to one-eighth of the crop? Yet this +devil, establishing himself, refuses to pay a single tax; and he +brings a poisonous spawn of babes.' + +'Cast him into jail,' I said. + +'Sahib,' the King answered, shifting a little on the cushions, 'once +and only once in these forty years sickness came upon me so that I +was not able to go abroad. In that hour I made a vow to my God that I +would never again cut man or woman from the light of the sun and the +air of God; for I perceived the nature of the punishment. How can I +break my vow? Were it only the lopping of a hand or a foot I should +not delay. But even that is impossible now that the English have +rule. One or another of my people'--he looked obliquely at the +Director-General of Public Education--'would at once write a letter +to the Viceroy, and perhaps I should be deprived of my ruffle of +drums.' + +He unscrewed the mouthpiece of his silver water-pipe, fitted a plain +amber mouthpiece, and passed his pipe to me. 'Not content with +refusing revenue,' he continued, 'this outlander refuses also the +_begar_' (this was the corvée or forced labour on the roads) 'and +stirs my people up to the like treason. Yet he is, when he wills, an +expert log-snatcher. There is none better or bolder among my people +to clear a block of the river when the logs stick fast.' + +'But he worships strange Gods,' said the Prime Minister +deferentially. + +'For that I have no concern,' said the King, who was as tolerant as +Akbar in matters of belief. 'To each man his own God and the fire or +Mother Earth for us all at last. It is the rebellion that offends +me.' + +'The King has an army,' I suggested. 'Has not the King burned the +man's house and left him naked to the night dews?' + +'Nay, a hut is a hut, and it holds the life of a man. But once, I +sent my army against him when his excuses became wearisome: of their +heads he brake three across the top with a stick. The other two men +ran away. Also the guns would not shoot.' + +I had seen the equipment of the infantry. One-third of it was an old +muzzle-loading fowling-piece, with a ragged rust-hole where the +nipples should have been, one-third a wire-bound match-lock with a +worm-eaten stock, and one-third a four-bore flint duck-gun without a +flint. + +'But it is to be remembered,' said the King, reaching out for the +bottle, 'that he is a very expert log-snatcher and a man of a merry +face. What shall I do to him, Sahib?' + +This was interesting. The timid hill-folk would as soon have refused +taxes to their King as revenues to their Gods. + +'If it be the King's permission,' I said, 'I will not strike my tents +till the third day and I will see this man. The mercy of the King is +God-like, and rebellion is like unto the sin of witchcraft. Moreover, +both the bottles and another be empty.' + +'You have my leave to go,' said the King. + +Next morning a crier went through the State proclaiming that there +was a log-jam on the river and that it behoved all loyal subjects to +remove it. The people poured down from their villages to the moist, +warm valley of poppy-fields; and the King and I went with them. +Hundreds of dressed deodar-logs had caught on a snag of rock, and the +river was bringing down more logs every minute to complete the +blockade. The water snarled and wrenched and worried at the timber, +and the population of the State began prodding the nearest logs with +a pole in the hope of starting a general movement. Then there went up +a shout of 'Namgay Doola! Namgay Doola!' and a large red-haired +villager hurried up, stripping off his clothes as he ran. + +'That is he. That is the rebel,' said the King. 'Now will the dam be +cleared.' + +'But why has he red hair?' I asked, since red hair among hill-folks +is as common as blue or green. + +'He is an outlander,' said the King. 'Well done! Oh, well done!' + +Namgay Doola had scrambled out on the jam and was clawing out the +butt of a log with a rude sort of boat-hook. It slid forward slowly +as an alligator moves, three or four others followed it, and the +green water spouted through the gaps they had made. Then the +villagers howled and shouted and scrambled across the logs, pulling +and pushing the obstinate timber, and the red head of Namgay Doola +was chief among them all. The logs swayed and chafed and groaned as +fresh consignments from upstream battered the now weakening dam. All +gave way at last in a smother of foam, racing logs, bobbing black +heads and confusion indescribable. The river tossed everything before +it. I saw the red head go down with the last remnants of the jam and +disappear between the great grinding, tree-trunks. It rose close to +the bank and blowing like a grampus. Namgay Doola wrung the water out +of his eyes and made obeisance to the King. I had time to observe him +closely. The virulent redness of his shock head and beard was most +startling; and in the thicket of hair wrinkled above high cheek bones +shone two very merry blue eyes. He was indeed an outlander, but yet a +Thibetan in language, habit, and attire. He spoke the Lepcha dialect +with an indescribable softening of the gutturals. It was not so much +a lisp as an accent. + +'Whence comest thou?' I asked. + +'From Thibet.' He pointed across the hills and grinned. That grin +went straight to my heart. Mechanically I held out my hand and Namgay +Doola shook it. No pure Thibetan would have understood the meaning of +the gesture. He went away to look for his clothes, and as he climbed +back to his village, I heard a joyous yell that seemed unaccountably +familiar. It was the whooping of Namgay Doola. + +'You see now,' said the King, 'why I would not kill him. He is a bold +man among my logs, but,' and he shook his head like a schoolmaster, +'I know that before long there will be complaints of him in the +court. Let us return to the Palace and do justice.' It was that +King's custom to judge his subjects every day between eleven and +three o'clock. I saw him decide equitably in weighty matters of +trespass, slander, and a little wife-stealing. Then his brow clouded +and he summoned me. + +'Again it is Namgay Doola,' he said despairingly. 'Not content with +refusing revenue on his own part, he has bound half his village by an +oath to the like treason. Never before has such a thing befallen me! +Nor are my taxes heavy.' + +'O King,' said I. 'If it be the King's will let this matter stand +over till the morning. Only the Gods can do right swiftly, and it may +be that yonder villager has lied.' + +'Nay, for I know the nature of Namgay Doola; but since a guest asks +let the matter remain. Wilt thou speak harshly to this red-headed +outlander. He may listen to thee.' + +I made an attempt that very evening, but for the life of me I could +not keep my countenance. Namgay Doola grinned persuasively, and began +to tell me about a big brown bear in a poppy-field by the river. +Would I care to shoot it? I spoke austerely on the sin of conspiracy, +and the certainty of punishment. Namgay Doola's face clouded for a +moment. Shortly afterwards he withdrew from my tent, and I heard him +singing to himself softly among the pines. The words were +unintelligible to me, but the tune, like his liquid insinuating +speech, seemed the ghost of something strangely familiar. + + Dir hané mard-i-yemen dir + To weeree ala gee, + +sang Namgay Doola again and again, and I racked my brain for that +lost tune. It was not till after dinner that I discovered some one +had cut a square foot of velvet from the centre of my best +camera-cloth. This made me so angry that I wandered down the valley +in the hope of meeting the big brown bear. I could hear him grunting +like a discontented pig in the poppy-field, and I waited shoulder +deep in the dew-dripping Indian corn to catch him after his meal. The +moon was at full and drew out the rich scent of the tasselled crop. +Then I heard the anguished bellow of a Himalayan cow, one of the +little black crummies no bigger than Newfoundland dogs. Two shadows +that looked like a bear and her cub hurried past me. I was in act to +fire when I saw that they had each a brilliant red head. The lesser +animal was trailing some rope behind it that left a dark track on the +path. They passed within six feet of me, and the shadow of the +moonlight lay velvet-black on their faces. Velvet-black was exactly +the word, for by all the powers of moonlight they were masked in the +velvet of my camera cloth! I marvelled and went to bed. Next morning +the Kingdom was in uproar. Namgay Doola, men said, had gone forth in +the night and with a sharp knife had cut off the tail of a cow +belonging to the rabbit-faced villager who had betrayed him. It was +sacrilege unspeakable against the Holy Cow. The State desired his +blood, but he had retreated into his hut, barricaded the doors and +windows with big stones, and defied the world. + +The King and I and the Populace approached the hut cautiously. There +was no hope of capturing the man without loss of life, for from a +hole in the wall projected the muzzle of an extremely +well-cared-for gun--the only gun in the State that could shoot. +Namgay Doola had narrowly missed a villager just before we came up. +The Standing Army stood. It could do no more, for when it advanced +pieces of sharp shale flew from the windows. To these were added from +time to time showers of scalding water. We saw red heads bobbing up +and down in the hut. The family of Namgay Doola were aiding their +sire, and blood-curdling yells of defiance were the only answers to +our prayers. + +'Never,' said the King, puffing, 'has such a thing befallen my State. +Next year I will certainly buy a little cannon.' He looked at me +imploringly. + +'Is there any priest in the Kingdom to whom he will listen?' said I, +for a light was beginning to break upon me. + +'He worships his own God,' said the Prime Minister. We can starve him +out.' + +'Let the white man approach,' said Namgay Doola from within. All +others I will kill. Send me the white man.' + +A rabbit-faced villager, with a blush-rose stuck behind his ear, +advanced trembling. He had been in the conspiracy, but had told +everything and hoped for the King's favour. + + +The door was thrown open and I entered the smoky interior of a +Thibetan hut crammed with children. And every child had flaming red +hair. A raw cow's tail lay on the floor, and by its side two pieces +of black velvet--my black velvet--rudely hacked into the semblance of +masks. + +'And what is this shame, Namgay Doola?' said I. + +He grinned more winningly than ever. 'There is no shame,' said he. 'I +did but cut off the tail of that man's cow. He betrayed me. I was +minded to shoot him, Sahib. But not to death. Indeed not to death. +Only in the legs.' + +'And why at all, since it is the custom to pay revenue to the King? +Why at all?' + +'By the God of my father I cannot tell,' said Namgay Doola. + +'And who was thy father?' + +'The same that had this gun.' He showed me his weapon--a Tower musket +bearing date 1832 and the stamp of the Honourable East India Company. + +'And thy father's name?' said I. + +'Timlay Doola,' said he. 'At the first, I being then a little child, +it is in my mind that he wore a red coat.' + +'Of that I have no doubt. But repeat the name of thy father thrice or +four times.' + +He obeyed, and I understood whence the puzzling accent in his speech +came. 'Thimla Dhula,' said he excitedly. 'To this hour I worship his +God.' + +'May I see that God?' + +'In a little while--at twilight time.' + +'Rememberest thou aught of thy father's speech?' + +'It is long ago. But there is one word which he said often. Thus +"_Shun_." Then I and my brethren stood upon our feet, our hands to +our sides. Thus.' + +'Even so. And what was thy mother?' + +'A woman of the hills. We be Lepchas of Darjeeling, but me they call +an outlander because my hair is as thou seest.' + +The Thibetan woman, his wife, touched him on the arm gently. The long +parley outside the fort had lasted far into the day. It was now close +upon twilight--the hour of the Angelus. Very solemnly, the red-headed +brats rose from the floor and formed a semicircle. Namgay Doola laid +his gun against the wall, lighted a little oil lamp, and set it +before a recess in the wall. Pulling aside a curtain of dirty cloth +he revealed a worn brass crucifix leaning against the helmet-badge of +a long forgotten East India regiment. 'Thus did my father,' he said, +crossing himself clumsily. The wife and children followed suit. Then +all together they struck up the wailing chant that I heard on the +hillside-- + + Dir hané mard-i-yemen dir + To weeree ala gee. + +I was puzzled no longer. Again and again they crooned as if their +hearts would break, their version of the chorus of the _Wearing of +the Green_-- + + They're hanging men and women too, + For the wearing of the green. + +A diabolical inspiration came to me. One of the brats, a boy about +eight years old, was watching me as he sang. I pulled out a rupee, +held the coin between finger and thumb, and looked--only looked--at +the gun against the wall. A grin of brilliant and perfect +comprehension overspread the face of the child. Never for an instant +stopping the song he held out his hand for the money, and then slid +the gun to my hand. I might have shot Namgay Doola as he chanted. +But I was satisfied. The blood-instinct of the race held true. +Namgay Doola drew the curtain across the recess. Angelus was over. + +'Thus my father sang. There was much more, but I have forgotten, and +I do not know the purport of these words, but it may be that the God +will understand. I am not of this people, and I will not pay +revenue.' + +'And why?' + +Again that soul-compelling grin. 'What occupation would be to me +between crop and crop? It is better than scaring bears. But these +people do not understand.' He picked the masks from the floor, and +looked in my face as simply as a child. + +'By what road didst thou attain knowledge to make these devilries?' I +said, pointing. + +'I cannot tell. I am but a Lepcha of Darjeeling, and yet the +stuff----' + +'Which thou hast stolen.' + +'Nay, surely. Did I steal? I desired it so. The stuff--the +stuff--what else should I have done with the stuff?' He twisted the +velvet between his fingers. + +'But the sin of maiming the cow--consider that?' + +'That is true; but oh, Sahib, that man betrayed me and I had no +thought--but the heifer's tail waved in the moonlight and I had my +knife. What else should I have done? The tail came off ere I was +aware. Sahib, thou knowest more than I.' + +'That is true,' said I. 'Stay within the door. I go to speak to the +King.' + +The population of the State were ranged on the hillsides. I went +forth and spoke to the King. + +'Oh King,' said I. 'Touching this man there be two courses open to +thy wisdom. Thou canst either hang him from a tree, he and his brood, +till there remains no hair that is red within the land.' + +'Nay,' said the King. 'Why should I hurt the little children?' + +They had poured out of the hut door and were making plump obeisance +to everybody. Nanigay Doola waited with his gun across his arm. + +'Or thou canst, discarding the impiety of the cow-maiming, raise him +to honour in thy Army. He comes of a race that will not pay revenue. +A red flame is in his blood which comes out at the top of his head in +that glowing hair. Make him chief of the Army. Give him honour as may +befall, and full allowance of work, but look to it, O King, that +neither he nor his hold a foot of earth from thee henceforward. Feed +him with words and favour, and also liquor from certain bottles that +thou knowest of, and he will be a bulwark of defence. But deny him +even a tuft of grass for his own. This is the nature that God has +given him. Moreover he has brethren----' + +The State groaned unanimously. + +'But if his brethren come, they will surely fight with each other +till they die; or else the one will always give information +concerning the other. Shall he be of thy Army, O King? Choose.' + +The King bowed his head, and I said, 'Come forth, Namgay Doola, and +command the King's Army. Thy name shall no more be Namgay in the +mouths of men, but Patsay Doola, for as thou hast said, I know.' + +Then Namgay Doola, new christened Patsay Doola, son of Timlay Doola, +which is Tim Doolan gone very wrong indeed, clasped the King's feet, +cuffed the standing Army, and hurried in an agony of contrition from +temple to temple, making offerings for the sin of cattle maiming. + +And the King was so pleased with my perspicacity that he offered to +sell me a village for twenty pounds sterling. But I buy no villages +in the Himalayas so long as one red head flares between the tail of +the heaven-climbing glacier and the dark birch-forest. + +I know that breed. + + + + +A GERM-DESTROYER + + Pleasant it is for the Little Tin Gods + When great Jove nods; + But Little Tin Gods make their little mistakes + In missing the hour when great Jove wakes. + +As a general rule, it is inexpedient to meddle with questions of +State in a land where men are highly paid to work them out for you. +This tale is a justifiable exception. + +Once in every five years, as you know, we indent for a new Viceroy; +and each Viceroy imports, with the rest of his baggage, a Private +Secretary, who may or may not be the real Viceroy, just as Fate +ordains. Fate looks after the Indian Empire because it is so big and +so helpless. + +There was a Viceroy once who brought out with him a turbulent Private +Secretary--a hard man with a soft manner and a morbid passion for +work. This Secretary was called Wonder--John Fennil Wonder. The +Viceroy possessed no name--nothing but a string of counties and +two-thirds of the alphabet after them. He said, in confidence, that +he was the electro-plated figurehead of a golden administration, and +he watched in a dreamy, amused way Wonder's attempts to draw matters +which were entirely outside his province into his own hands. 'When we +are all cherubims together,' said His Excellency once, 'my dear, good +friend Wonder will head the conspiracy for plucking out Gabriel's +tail feathers or stealing Peter's keys. _Then_ I shall report him.' + +But, though the Viceroy did nothing to check Wonder's officiousness, +other people said unpleasant things. May be the Members of Council +began it; but finally all Simla agreed that there was 'too much +Wonder and too little Viceroy' in that rule. Wonder was always +quoting 'His Excellency.' It was 'His Excellency this,' 'His +Excellency that,' 'In the opinion of His Excellency,' and so on. The +Viceroy smiled; but he did not heed. He said that, so long as his old +men squabbled with his 'dear, good Wonder,' they might be induced to +leave the Immemorial East in peace. + +'No wise man has a Policy,' said the Viceroy. 'A Policy is the +blackmail levied on the Fool by the Unforeseen. I am not the former, +and I do not believe in the latter.' + +I do not quite see what this means, unless it refers to an Insurance +Policy. Perhaps it was the Viceroy's way of saying. 'Lie low.' + +That season came up to Simla one of these crazy people with only a +single idea. These are the men who make things move; but they are not +nice to talk to. This man's name was Mellish, and he had lived for +fifteen years on land of his own, in Lower Bengal, studying cholera. +He held that cholera was a germ that propagated itself as it flew +through a muggy atmosphere; and stuck in the branches of trees like a +wool-flake. The germ could be rendered sterile, he said, by +'Mellish's Own Invincible Fumigatory'--a heavy violet-black powder--' +the result of fifteen years' scientific investigation, Sir!' + +Inventors seem very much alike as a caste. They talk loudly, +especially about 'conspiracies of monopolists'; they beat upon the +table with their fists; and they secrete fragments of their +inventions about their persons. + +Mellish said that there was a Medical 'Ring' at Simla, headed by the +Surgeon-General, who was in league, apparently, with all the Hospital +Assistants in the Empire. + +I forget exactly how he proved it, but it had something to do with +'skulking up to the Hills'; and what Mellish wanted was the +independent evidence of the Viceroy--'Steward of our Most Gracious +Majesty the Queen, Sir.' So Mellish went up to Simla, with +eighty-four pounds of Fumigatory in his trunk, to speak to the +Viceroy and to show him the merits of the invention. + +But it is easier to see a Viceroy than to talk to him, unless you +chance to be as important as Mellishe of Madras. He was a +six-thousand-rupee man, so great that his daughters never 'married.' +They 'contracted alliances.' He himself was not paid. He 'received +emoluments,' and his journeys about the country were 'tours of +observation.' His business was to stir up the people in Madras with a +long pole--as you stir up tench in a pond--and the people had to come +up out of their comfortable old ways and gasp--'This is Enlightenment +and Progress. Isn't it fine!' Then they give Mellishe statues and +jasmine garlands, in the hope of getting rid of him. + +Mellishe came up to Simla 'to confer with the Viceroy.' That was one +of his perquisites. The Viceroy knew nothing of Mellishe except that +he was 'one of those middle-class deities who seem necessary to the +spiritual comfort of this Paradise of the Middle-classes,' and that, +in all probability he had 'suggested, designed, founded, and endowed +all the public institutions in Madras.' Which proves that His +Excellency, though dreamy, had experience of the ways of +six-thousand-rupee men. + +Mellishe's name was E. Mellishe, and Mellish's was E.S. Mellish, and +they were both staying at the same hotel, and the Fate that looks +after the Indian Empire ordained that Wonder should blunder and drop +the final '_e_'; that the Chaprassi should help him, and that the +note which ran-- + + DEAR MR. MELLISH,--Can you set aside your other engagements, and + lunch with us at two to-morrow? His Excellency has an hour at your + disposal then, + +should be given to Mellish with the Fumigatory. He nearly wept with +pride and delight, and at the appointed hour cantered to Peterhoff, a +big paper-bag full of the Fumigatory in his coat-tail pockets. He had +his chance, and he meant to make the most of it. Mellishe of Madras +had been so portentously solemn about his 'conference,' that Wonder +had arranged for a private tiffin,--no A.-D.-C.'s, no Wonder, no one +but the Viceroy, who said plaintively that he feared being left alone +with unmuzzled autocrats like the great Mellishe of Madras. + +But his guest did not bore the Viceroy. On the contrary, he amused +him. Mellish was nervously anxious to go straight to his Fumigatory, +and talked at random until tiffin was over and His Excellency asked +him to smoke. The Viceroy was pleased with Mellish because he did not +talk 'shop.' + +As soon as the cheroots were lit, Mellish spoke like a man; beginning +with his cholera-theory, reviewing his fifteen years' 'scientific +labours,' the machinations of the 'Simla Ring,' and the excellence of +his Fumigatory, while the Viceroy watched him between half-shut eyes +and thought--'Evidently this is the wrong tiger; but it is an +original animal.' Mellish's hair was standing on end with excitement, +and he stammered. He began groping in his coat-tails and, before the +Viceroy knew what was about to happen, he had tipped a bagful of his +powder into the big silver ash-tray. + +'J-j-judge for yourself, Sir,' said Mellish. 'Y' Excellency shall +judge for yourself! Absolutely infallible, on my honour.' + +He plunged the lighted end of his cigar into the powder, which began +to smoke like a volcano, and send up fat, greasy wreaths of +copper-coloured smoke. In five seconds the room was filled with a +most pungent and sickening stench--a reek that took fierce hold of +the trap of your wind-pipe and shut it. The powder hissed and fizzed, +and sent out blue and green sparks, and the smoke rose till you +could neither see, nor breathe, nor gasp. Mellish, however, was used +to it. + +'Nitrate of strontia,' he shouted; 'baryta, bone-meal, _etcetera_! +Thousand cubic feet smoke per cubic inch. Not a germ could live--not +a germ, Y' Excellency!' + +But His Excellency had fled, and was coughing at the foot of the +stairs, while all Peterhoff hummed like a hive. Red Lancers came in, +and the head Chaprassi who speaks English came in, and mace-bearers +came in, and ladies ran downstairs screaming, 'Fire'; for the smoke +was drifting through the house and oozing out of the windows, and +bellying along the verandahs, and wreathing and writhing across the +gardens. No one could enter the room where Mellish was lecturing on +his Fumigatory till that unspeakable powder had burned itself out. + +Then an Aide-de-Camp, who desired the V.C., rushed through the +rolling clouds and hauled Mellish into the hall. The Viceroy was +prostrate with laughter, and could only waggle his hands feebly at +Mellish, who was shaking a fresh bagful of powder at him. + +'Glorious! Glorious!' sobbed His Excellency. 'Not a germ, as you +justly observe, could exist! I can swear it. A magnificent success!' + +Then he laughed till the tears came, and Wonder, who had caught the +real Mellishe snorting on the Mall, entered and was deeply shocked at +the scene. But the Viceroy was delighted, because he saw that Wonder +would presently depart. Mellish with the Fumigatory was also pleased, +for he felt that he had smashed the Simla Medical 'Ring.' + +Few men could tell a story like His Excellency when he took the +trouble, and his account of 'my dear, good Wonder's friend with the +powder' went the round of Simla, and flippant folk made Wonder +unhappy by their remarks. + +But His Excellency told the tale once too often--for Wonder. As he +meant to do. It was at a Seepee Picnic. Wonder was sitting just +behind the Viceroy. + +'And I really thought for a moment,' wound up His Excellency, 'that +my dear, good Wonder had hired an assassin to clear his way to the +throne!' + +Every one laughed; but there was a delicate sub-tinkle in the +Viceroy's tone which Wonder understood. He found that his health was +giving way; and the Viceroy allowed him to go, and presented him with +a flaming 'character' for use at Home among big people. + +'My fault entirely,' said His Excellency, in after seasons, with a +twinkle in his eye. 'My inconsistency must always have been +distasteful to such a masterly man.' + + + + +'TIGER-TIGER!' + + What of the hunting, hunter bold? + _Brother, the watch was long and cold_. + What of the quarry ye went to kill? + _Brother, he crops in the jungle still_. + Where is the power that made your pride? + _Brother, it ebbs from my flank and side_. + Where is the haste that ye hurry by? + _Brother, I go to my lair to die_. + +When Mowgli left the wolf's cave after the fight with the Pack at the +Council Rock, he went down to the ploughed lands where the villagers +lived, but he would not stop there because it was too near to the +jungle, and he knew that he had made at least one bad enemy at the +Council. So he hurried on, keeping to the rough road that ran down +the valley, and followed it at a steady jog-trot for nearly twenty +miles, till he came to a country that he did not know. The valley +opened out into a great plain dotted over with rocks and cut up by +ravines. At one end stood a little village, and at the other the +thick jungle came down in a sweep to the grazing-grounds, and stopped +there as though it had been cut off with a hoe. All over the plain, +cattle and buffaloes were grazing, and when the little boys in charge +of the herds saw Mowgli they shouted and ran away, and the yellow +pariah dogs that hang about every Indian village barked. Mowgli +walked on, for he was feeling hungry, and when he came to the village +gate he saw the big thornbush that was drawn up before the gate at +twilight, pushed to one side. + +'Umph!' he said, for he had come across more than one such barricade +in his night rambles after things to eat. 'So men are afraid of the +People of the Jungle here also.' He sat down by the gate, and when a +man came out he stood up, opened his mouth, and pointed down it to +show that he wanted food. The man stared, and ran back up the one +street of the village, shouting for the priest, who was a big, fat +man dressed in white, with a red and yellow mark on his forehead. +The priest came to the gate, and with him at least a hundred people, +who stared and talked and shouted and pointed at Mowgli. + +'They have no manners, these Men Folk,' said Mowgli to himself. +'Only the gray ape would behave as they do.' So he threw back his +long hair and frowned at the crowd. + +'What is there to be afraid of?' said the priest. 'Look at the marks +on his arms and legs. They are the bites of wolves. He is but a +wolf-child run away from the jungle.' + +Of course, in playing together, the cubs had often nipped Mowgli +harder than they intended, and there were white scars all over his +arms and legs. But he would have been the last person in the world to +call these bites, for he knew what real biting meant. + +'_Arré! arré!_' said two or three women together. 'To be bitten by +wolves, poor child! He is a handsome boy. He has eyes like red fire. +By my honour, Messua, he is not unlike thy boy that was taken by the +tiger.' + +'Let me look,' said a woman with heavy copper rings on her wrists and +ankles, and she peered at Mowgli under the palm of her hand. 'Indeed +he is not. He is thinner, but he has the very look of my boy.' + +The priest was a clever man, and he knew that Messua was wife to the +richest villager in the place. So he looked up at the sky for a +minute, and said solemnly: 'What the jungle has taken the jungle has +restored. Take the boy into thy house, my sister, and forget not to +honour the priest who sees so far into the lives of men.' + +'By the Bull that bought me,' said Mowgli to himself, 'but all this +talking is like another looking over by the Pack! Well, if I am a +man, a man I must be.' + +The crowd parted as the woman beckoned Mowgli to her hut, where there +was a red lacquered bedstead, a great earthen grain-chest with funny +raised patterns on it, half a dozen copper cooking-pots, an image of +a Hindu god in a little alcove, and on the wall a real looking-glass, +such as they sell at the country fairs for eight cents. + +She gave him a long drink of milk and some bread, and then she laid +her hand on his head and looked into his eyes; for she thought +perhaps that he might be her real son come back from the jungle where +the tiger had taken him. So she said: 'Nathoo, O Nathoo!' Mowgli did +not show that he knew the name. 'Dost thou not remember the day when +I gave thee thy new shoes?' She touched his foot, and it was almost +as hard as horn. 'No,' she said, sorrowfully; 'those feet have never +worn shoes, but thou art very like my Nathoo, and thou shalt be my +son.' + +Mowgli was uneasy, because he had never been under a roof before; but +as he looked at the thatch, he saw that he could tear it out any time +if he wanted to get away, and that the window had no fastenings. +'What is the good of a man,' he said to himself at last, 'if he does +not understand man's talk? Now I am as silly and dumb as a man would +be with us in the jungle. I must speak their talk.' + +He had not learned while he was with the wolves to imitate the +challenge of bucks in the jungle and the grunt of the little wild pig +for fun. So, as soon as Messua pronounced a word Mowgli would imitate +it almost perfectly, and before dark he had learned the name of many +things in the hut. + +There was a difficulty at bedtime, because Mowgli would not sleep +under anything that looked so like a panther-trap as that hut, and +when they shut the door he went through the window. 'Give him his +will,' said Messua's husband. 'Remember he can never till now have +slept on a bed. If he is indeed sent in the place of our son he will +not run away.' + +So Mowgli stretched himself in some long clean grass at the edge of +the field, but before he had closed his eyes a soft gray nose poked +him under the chin. + +'Phew!' said Gray Brother (he was the eldest of Mother Wolfs cubs). +'This is a poor reward for following thee twenty miles. Thou smellest +of wood-smoke and cattle--altogether like a man already. Wake, Little +Brother; I bring news.' + +'Are all well in the jungle?' said Mowgli, hugging him. + +'All except the wolves that were burned with the Red Flower. Now, +listen. Shere Khan has gone away to hunt far off till his coat grows +again, for he is badly singed. When he returns he swears that he will +lay thy bones in the Waingunga.' + +'There are two words to that. I also have made a little promise. But +news is always good. I am tired to-night,--very tired with new +things, Gray Brother,--but bring me the news always.' + +'Thou wilt not forget that thou art a wolf? Men will not make thee +forget?' said Gray Brother, anxiously. + +'Never. I will always remember that I love thee and all in our cave; +but also I will always remember that I have been cast out of the +Pack.' + +'And that thou may'st be cast out of another pack. Men are only men, +Little Brother, and their talk is like the talk of frogs in a pond. +When I come down here again, I will wait for thee in the bamboos at +the edge of the grazing-ground.' + +For three months after that night Mowgli hardly ever left the village +gate, he was so busy learning the ways and customs of men. First he +had to wear a cloth round him, which annoyed him horribly; and then +he had to learn about money, which he did not in the least +understand, and about ploughing, of which he did not see the use. +Then the little children in the village made him very angry. Luckily, +the Law of the Jungle had taught him to keep his temper, for in the +jungle, life and food depend on keeping your temper; but when they +made fun of him because he would not play games or fly kites, or +because he mispronounced some word, only the knowledge that it was +unsportsmanlike to kill little naked cubs kept him from picking them +up and breaking them in two. He did not know his own strength in the +least. In the jungle he knew he was weak compared with the beasts, +but in the village, people said that he was as strong as a bull. He +certainly had no notion of what fear was, for when the village priest +told him that the god in the temple would be angry with him if he ate +the priest's mangoes, he picked up the image, brought it over to the +priest's house, and asked the priest to make the god angry and he +would be happy to fight him. It was a horrible scandal, but the +priest hushed it up, and Messua's husband paid much good silver to +comfort the god. And Mowgli had not the faintest idea of the +difference that caste makes between man and man. When the potter's +donkey slipped in the clay-pit, Mowgli hauled it out by the tail, and +helped to stack the pots for their journey to the market at +Khanhiwara. That was very shocking, too, for the potter is a +low-caste man, and his donkey is worse. When the priest scolded him, +Mowgli threatened to put him on the donkey, too, and the priest told +Messua's husband that Mowgli had better be set to work as soon as +possible; and the village headman told Mowgli that he would have to +go out with the buffaloes next day, and herd them while they grazed. +No one was more pleased than Mowgli; and that night, because he had +been appointed a servant of the village, as it were, he went off to a +circle that met every evening on a masonry platform under a great +fig-tree. It was the village club, and the head-man and the watchman +and the barber, who knew all the gossip of the village, and old +Buldeo, the village hunter, who had a Tower musket, met and smoked. +The monkeys sat and talked in the upper branches, and there was a +hole under the platform where a cobra lived, and he had his little +platter of milk every night because he was sacred; and the old men +sat around the tree and talked, and pulled at the big _huqas_ (the +water-pipes) till far into the night. They told wonderful tales of +gods and men and ghosts; and Buldeo told even more wonderful ones of +the ways of beasts in the jungle, till the eyes of the children +sitting outside the circle bulged out of their heads. Most of the +tales were about animals, for the jungle was always at their door. +The deer and the wild pig grubbed up their crops, and now and again +the tiger carried off a man at twilight, within sight of the village +gates. + +Mowgli, who naturally knew something about what they were talking of, +had to cover his face not to show that he was laughing, while Buldeo, +the Tower musket across his knees, climbed on from one wonderful +story to another, and Mowgli's shoulders shook. + +Buldeo was explaining how the tiger that had carried away Messua's +son was a ghost-tiger, and his body was inhabited by the ghost of a +wicked, old money-lender, who had died some years ago. 'And I know +that this is true,' he said, 'because Purun Dass always limped from +the blow that he got in a riot when his account-books were burned, +and the tiger that I speak of _he_ limps, too, for the tracks of his +pads are unequal.' + +'True, true, that must be the truth,' said the graybeards, nodding +together. + +'Are all these tales such cobwebs and moontalk?' said Mowgli. 'That +tiger limps because he was born lame, as every one knows. To talk of +the soul of a money-lender in a beast that never had the courage of a +jackal is child's talk.' + +Buldeo was speechless with surprise for a moment, and the head-man +stared. + +'Oho! It is the jungle brat, is it?' said Buldeo. 'If thou art so +wise, better bring his hide to Khanhiwara, for the Government has set +a hundred rupees on his life. Better still, talk not when thy elders +speak.' + +Mowgli rose to go. 'All the evening I have lain here listening,' he +called back, over his shoulder, 'and, except once or twice, Buldeo +has not said one word of truth concerning the jungle, which is at his +very doors. How then shall I believe the tales of ghosts and gods, +and goblins which he says he has seen?' + +'It is full time that boy went to herding,' said the headman, while +Buldeo puffed and snorted at Mowgli's impertinence. + +The custom of most Indian villages is for a few boys to take the +cattle and buffaloes out to graze in the early morning, and bring +them back at night; and the very cattle that would trample a white +man to death allow themselves to be banged and bullied and shouted at +by children that hardly come up to their noses. So long as the boys +keep with the herds they are safe, for not even the tiger will charge +a mob of cattle. But if they straggle to pick flowers or hunt +lizards, they are sometimes carried off. Mowgli went through the +village street in the dawn, sitting on the back of Rama, the great +herd bull; and the slaty-blue buffaloes, with their long, +backward-sweeping horns and savage eyes, rose out of their byres, one +by one, and followed him, and Mowgli made it very clear to the +children with him that he was the master. He beat the buffaloes with +a long, polished bamboo, and told Kamya, one of the boys, to graze +the cattle by themselves, while he went on with the buffaloes, and to +be very careful not to stray away from the herd. + +An Indian grazing-ground is all rocks, and scrubs, and tussocks, and +little ravines, among which the herds scatter and disappear. The +buffaloes generally keep to the pools and muddy places, where they +lie wallowing or basking in the warm mud for hours. Mowgli drove them +on to the edge of the plain where the Waingunga came out of the +jungle; then he dropped from Rama's neck, trotted off to a bamboo +clump and found Gray Brother. 'Ah,' said Gray Brother, 'I have waited +here very many days. What is the meaning of this cattle-herding +work?' + +'It is an order,' said Mowgli; 'I am a village herd for a while. What +news of Shere Khan?' + +'He has come back to this country, and has waited here a long time +for thee. Now he has gone off again, for the game is scarce. But he +means to kill thee.' + +'Very good,' said Mowgli. 'So long as he is away do thou or one of +the four brothers sit on that rock, so that I can see thee as I come +out of the village. When he comes back wait for me in the ravine by +the _dhâk_-tree in the centre of the plain. We need not walk into +Shere Khan's mouth.' + +Then Mowgli picked out a shady place, and lay down and slept while +the buffaloes grazed round him. Herding, in India, is one of the +laziest things in the world. The cattle move and crunch, and lie +down, and move on again, and they do not even low. They only grunt, +and the buffaloes very seldom say anything, but get down into the +muddy pools one after another, and work their way into the mud till +only their noses and staring china-blue eyes show above the surface, +and then they lie like logs. The sun makes the rocks dance in the +heat, and the herd-children hear one kite (never any more) whistling +almost out of sight overhead, and they know that if they died, or a +cow died, that kite would sweep down, and the next kite miles away +would see him drop and follow, and the next, and the next, and +almost before they were dead there would be a score of hungry kites +come out of nowhere. Then they sleep and wake and sleep again, and +weave little baskets of dried grass and put grasshoppers in them, or +catch two praying mantises and make them fight; or string a necklace +of red and black jungle-nuts, or watch a lizard basking on a rock, or +a snake hunting a frog near the wallows. Then they sing long, long +songs with odd native quavers at the end of them, and the day seems +longer than most people's whole lives, and perhaps they make a mud +castle with mud figures of men and horses and buffaloes, and put +reeds into the men's hands, and pretend that they are kings and the +figures are their armies, or that they are gods to be worshipped. +Then evening comes and the children call, and the buffaloes lumber up +out of the sticky mud with noises like gunshots going off one after +the other, and they all string across the gray plain back to the +twinkling village lights. + +Day after day Mowgli would lead the buffaloes out to their wallows, +and day after day he would see Gray Brother's back a mile and a half +away across the plain (so he knew that Shere Khan had not come back), +and day after day he would lie on the grass listening to the noises +round him, and dreaming of old days in the jungle. If Shere Khan had +made a false step with his lame paw up in the jungles by the +Waingunga, Mowgli would have heard him in those long still mornings. + +At last a day came when he did not see Gray Brother at the signal +place, and he laughed and headed the buffaloes for the ravine by the +_dhâk_-tree, which was all covered with golden-red flowers. There sat +Gray Brother, every bristle on his back lifted. + +'He has hidden for a month to throw thee off thy guard. He crossed +the ranges last night with Tabaqui, hot-foot on thy trail,' said the +Wolf, panting. + +Mowgli frowned. 'I am not afraid of Shere Khan, but Tabaqui is very +cunning.' + +'Have no fear,' said Gray Brother, licking his lips a little. 'I met +Tabaqui in the dawn. Now he is telling all his wisdom to the kites, +but he told _me_ everything before I broke his back. Shere Khan's +plan is to wait for thee at the village gate this evening--for thee +and for no one else. He is lying up now, in the big dry ravine of the +Waingunga.' + +'Has he eaten to-day, or does he hunt empty?' said Mowgli, for the +answer meant life and death to him. + +'He killed at dawn--a pig--and he has drunk too. Remember, Shere Khan +could never fast, even for the sake of revenge.' + +'Oh! fool, fool! What a cub's cub it is! Eaten and drunk too, and he +thinks that I shall wait till he has slept! Now, where does he lie +up? If there were but ten of us we might pull him down as he lies. +These buffaloes will not charge unless they wind him, and I cannot +speak their language. Can we get behind his track so that they may +smell it?' + +'He swam far down the Waingunga to cut that off,' said Gray Brother. + +'Tabaqui told him that, I know. He would never have thought of it +alone.' Mowgli stood with his finger in his mouth, thinking. 'The big +ravine of the Waingunga. That opens out on the plain not half a mile +from here. I can take the herd round through the jungle to the head +of the ravine and then sweep down--but he would slink out at the +foot. We must block that end. Gray Brother, canst thou cut the herd +in two for me?' + +'Not I, perhaps--but I have brought a wise helper.' Gray Brother +trotted off and dropped into a hole. Then there lifted up a huge gray +head that Mowgli knew well, and the hot air was filled with the most +desolate cry of all the jungle--the hunting-howl of a wolf at +mid-day. + +'Akela! Akela!' said Mowgli, clapping his hands. 'I might have known +that thou wouldst not forget me. We have a big work in hand. Cut the +herd in two, Akela. Keep the cows and calves together, and the bulls +and the plough-buffaloes by themselves.' + +The two wolves ran, ladies'-chain fashion, in and out of the herd, +which snorted and threw up its head, and separated into two clumps. +In one, the cow-buffaloes stood with their calves in the centre, and +glared and pawed, ready, if a wolf would only stay still, to charge +down and trample the life out of him. In the other, the bulls and the +young bulls snorted and stamped, but though they looked more imposing +they were much less dangerous, for they had no calves to protect. No +six men could have divided the herd so neatly. + +'What orders!' panted Akela. 'They are trying to join again.' + +Mowgli slipped on to Rama's back. 'Drive the bulls away to the left, +Akela. Gray Brother, when we are gone, hold the cows together, and +drive them into the foot of the ravine.' + +'How far?' said Gray Brother, panting and snapping. + +'Till the sides are higher than Shere Khan can jump,' shouted Mowgli. +'Keep them there till we come down.' The bulls swept off as Akela +bayed, and Gray Brother stopped in front of the cows. They charged +down on him, and he ran just before them to the foot of the ravine, +as Akela drove the bulls far to the left. + +'Well done! Another charge and they are fairly started. Careful, +now--careful, Akela. A snap too much, and the bulls will charge. +_Hujah!_ This is wilder work than driving black-buck. Didst thou +think these creatures could move so swiftly?' Mowgli called. + +'I have--have hunted these too in my time,' gasped Akela in the dust. +'Shall I turn them into the jungle?' + +'Ay! Turn. Swiftly turn them! Rama is mad with rage. Oh, if I could +only tell him what I need of him today.' + +The bulls were turned, to the right this time, and crashed into the +standing thicket. The other herd-children, watching with the cattle +half a mile away, hurried to the village as fast as their legs could +carry them, crying that the buffaloes had gone mad and run away. But +Mowgli's plan was simple enough. All he wanted to do was to make a +big circle uphill and get at the head of the ravine, and then take +the bulls down it and catch Shere Khan between the bulls and the +cows; for he knew that after a meal and a full drink Shere Khan +would not be in any condition to fight or to clamber up the sides of +the ravine. He was soothing the buffaloes now by voice, and Akela had +dropped far to the rear, only whimpering once or twice to hurry the +rear-guard. It was a long, long circle, for they did not wish to get +too near the ravine and give Shere Khan warning. At last Mowgli +rounded up the bewildered herd at the head of the ravine on a grassy +patch that sloped steeply down to the ravine itself. From that height +you could see across the tops of the trees down to the plain below; +but what Mowgli looked at was the sides of the ravine, and he saw +with a great deal of satisfaction that they ran nearly straight up +and down, while the vines and creepers that hung over them would give +no foothold to a tiger who wanted to get out. + +'Let them breathe, Akela,' he said, holding up his hand. 'They have +not winded him yet. I must tell Shere Khan who comes. We have him in +a trap.' + +He put his hands to his mouth and shouted down the ravine,--it was +almost like shouting down a tunnel,--and the echoes jumped from rock +to rock. + +After a long time there came back the drawling, sleepy snarl of a +full-fed tiger just wakened. + +'Who calls?' said Shere Khan, and a splendid peacock fluttered up out +of the ravine screeching. + +'I, Mowgli. Cattle thief, it is time to come to the Council Rock! +Down--hurry them down, Akela! Down, Rama, down!' + +The herd paused for an instant at the edge of the slope, but Akela +gave tongue in the full hunting yell, and they pitched over one after +the other just as steamers shoot rapids, the sand and stones spurting +up round them. Once started, there was no chance of stopping, and +before they were fairly in the bed of the ravine Rama winded Shere +Khan and bellowed. + +'Ha! Ha!' said Mowgli, on his back. 'Now thou knowest!' and the +torrent of black horns, foaming muzzles, and staring eyes whirled +down the ravine just as boulders go down in flood-time; the weaker +buffaloes being shouldered out to the sides of the ravine where they +tore through the creepers. They knew what the business was before +them--the terrible charge of the buffalo herd against which no tiger +can hope to stand. Shere Khan heard the thunder of their hoofs, +picked himself up and lumbered down the ravine, looking from side to +side for some way of escape, but the walls of the ravine were +straight and he had to hold on, heavy with his dinner and drink, +willing to do anything rather than fight. The herd splashed through +the pool he had just left, bellowing till the narrow cut rang. Mowgli +heard an answering bellow from the foot of the ravine, saw Shere Khan +turn (the tiger knew if the worst came to the worst it was better to +meet the bulls than the cows with their calves), and then Rama +tripped, and stumbled, and went on again over something soft, and, +with the bulls at his heels, crashed full into the other herd, while +the weaker buffaloes were lifted clean off their feet by the shock of +the meeting. That charge carried both herds out into the plain, +goring and stamping and snorting. Mowgli watched his time, and +slipped off Rama's neck, laying about right and left with his stick. + +'Quick, Akela! Break them up. Scatter them, or they will be fighting +one another. Drive them away, Akela. _Hai_, Rama! _Hai! hai! hai!_ my +children. Softly now, softly! It is all over.' + +Akela and Gray Brother ran to and fro nipping the buffaloes' legs, +and though the herd wheeled once to charge up the ravine again, +Mowgli managed to turn Rama, and the others followed him to the +wallows. + +Shere Khan needed no more trampling. He was dead, and the kites were +coming for him already. + +'Brothers, that was a dog's death,' said Mowgli, feeling for the +knife he always carried in a sheath round his neck now that he lived +with men. 'But he would never have shown fight. _Wallah!_ his hide +will look well on the Council Rock. We must get to work swiftly.' + +A boy trained among men would never have dreamed of skinning a +ten-foot tiger alone, but Mowgli knew better than any one else how an +animal's skin is fitted on, and how it can be taken off. But it was +hard work, and Mowgli slashed and tore and grunted for an hour, while +the wolves lolled out their tongues, or came forward and tugged as he +ordered them. Presently a hand fell on his shoulder, and looking up +he saw Buldeo with the Tower musket. The children had told the +village about the buffalo stampede, and Buldeo went out angrily, only +too anxious to correct Mowgli for not taking better care of the herd. +The wolves dropped out of sight as soon as they saw the man coming. + +'What is this folly? said Buldeo, angrily. 'To think that thou canst +skin a tiger! Where did the buffaloes kill him? It is the Lame Tiger, +too, and there is a hundred rupees on his head. Well, well, we will +overlook thy letting the herd run off, and perhaps I will give thee +one of the rupees of the reward when I have taken the skin to +Khanhiwara. He fumbled in his waist-cloth for flint and steel, and +stooped down to singe Shere Khan's whiskers. Most native hunters +always singe a tiger's whiskers to prevent his ghost from haunting +them. + +'Hum!' said Mowgli, half to himself as he ripped back the skin of a +forepaw. 'So thou wilt take the hide to Khanhiwara for the reward, +and perhaps give me one rupee? Now it is in my mind that I need the +skin for my own use. Heh! old man, take away that fire!' + +'What talk is this to the chief hunter of the village? Thy luck and +the stupidity of thy buffaloes have helped thee to this kill. The +tiger has just fed, or he would have gone twenty miles by this time. +Thou canst not even skin him properly, little beggar brat, and +forsooth I, Buldeo, must be told not to singe his whiskers. Mowgli, I +will not give thee one anna of the reward, but only a very big +beating. Leave the carcass!' + +'By the Bull that bought me,' said Mowgli, who was trying to get at +the shoulder, 'must I stay babbling to an old ape all noon? Here, +Akela, this man plagues me.' + +Buldeo, who was still stooping over Shere Khan's head, found himself +sprawling on the grass, with a gray wolf standing over him, while +Mowgli went on skinning as though he were alone in all India. + +'Ye-es,' he said, between his teeth. 'Thou art altogether right, +Buldeo. Thou wilt never give me one anna of the reward. There is an +old war between this lame tiger and myself--a very old war, and--I +have won.' + +To do Buldeo justice, if he had been ten years younger he would have +taken his chance with Akela had he met the wolf in the woods, but a +wolf who obeyed the orders of this boy who had private wars with +man-eating tigers was not a common animal. It was sorcery, magic of +the worst kind, thought Buldeo, and he wondered whether the amulet +round his neck would protect him. He lay as still as still, expecting +every minute to see Mowgli turn into a tiger, too. + +'Maharaj! Great King,' he said at last, in a husky whisper. + +'Yes,' said Mowgli, without turning his head, chuckling a little. + +'I am an old man. I did not know that thou wast anything more than a +herdsboy. May I rise up and go away, or will thy servant tear me to +pieces?' + +'Go, and peace go with thee. Only, another time do not meddle with my +game. Let him go, Akela.' + +Buldeo hobbled away to the village as fast as he could, looking back +over his shoulder in case Mowgli should change into something +terrible. When he got to the village he told a tale of magic and +enchantment and sorcery that made the priest look very grave. + +Mowgli went on with his work, but it was nearly twilight before he +and the wolves had drawn the great gray skin clear of the body. + +'Now we must hide this and take the buffaloes home! Help me to herd +them, Akela.' + +The herd rounded up in the misty twilight, and when they got near the +village Mowgli saw lights, and heard the conches and bells in the +temple blowing and banging. Half the village seemed to be waiting for +him by the gate. 'That is because I have killed Shere Khan,' he said +to himself; but a shower of stones whistled about his ears, and the +villagers shouted: 'Sorcerer! Wolfs brat! Jungle-demon! Go away! Get +hence quickly, or the priest will turn thee into a wolf again. Shoot, +Buldeo, shoot!' + +The old Tower musket went off with a bang, and a young buffalo +bellowed in pain. + +'More sorcery!' shouted the villagers. 'He can turn bullets. Buldeo, +that was _thy_ buffalo.' + +'Now what is this?' said. Mowgli, bewildered, as the stones flew +thicker. + +'They are not unlike the Pack, these brothers of thine,' said Akela, +sitting down composedly. 'It is in my head that, if bullets mean +anything, they would cast thee out.' + +'Wolf! Wolf's cub! Go away!' shouted the priest, waving a sprig of +the sacred _tulsi_ plant. + +'Again? Last time it was because I was a man. This time it is because +I am a wolf. Let us go, Akela.' + +A woman--it was Messua--ran across to the herd, and cried: 'Oh, my +son, my son! They say thou art a sorcerer who can turn himself into a +beast at will. I do not believe, but go away or they will kill thee. +Buldeo says thou art a wizard, but I know thou hast avenged Nathoo's +death.' + +'Come back, Messua!' shouted the crowd. 'Come back, or we will stone +thee.' + +Mowgli laughed a little short ugly laugh, for a stone had hit him in +the mouth. 'Run back, Messua. This is one of the foolish tales they +tell under the big tree at dusk. I have at least paid for thy son's +life. Farewell; and run quickly, for I shall send the herd in more +swiftly than their brickbats. I am no wizard, Messua. Farewell!' + +'Now, once more, Akela,' he cried. 'Bring the herd in.' + +The buffaloes were anxious enough to get to the village. They hardly +needed Akela's yell, but charged through the gate like a whirlwind, +scattering the crowd right and left. + +'Keep count!' shouted Mowgli, scornfully. 'It may be that I have +stolen one of them. Keep count, for I will do your herding no more. +Fare you well, children of men, and thank Messua that I do not come +in with my wolves and hunt you up and down your street.' + +He turned on his heel and walked away with the Lone Wolf; and as he +looked up at the stars he felt happy. 'No more sleeping in traps for +me, Akela. Let us get Shere Khan's skin and go away. No; we will not +hurt the village, for Messua was kind to me.' + +When the moon rose over the plain, making it look all milky, the +horrified villagers saw Mowgli, with two wolves at his heels and a +bundle on his head, trotting across at the steady wolf's trot that +eats up the long miles like fire. Then they banged the temple bells +and blew the conches louder than ever; and Messua cried, and Buldeo +embroidered the story of his adventures in the jungle, till he ended +by saying that Akela stood up on his hind legs and talked like a man. + +The moon was just going down when Mowgli and the two wolves came to +the hill of the Council Rock, and they stopped at Mother Wolf's cave. + +'They have cast me out from the man Pack, Mother,' shouted Mowgli, +'but I come with the hide of Shere Khan to keep my word.' Mother Wolf +walked stiffly from the cave with the cubs behind her, and her eyes +glowed as she saw the skin. + +'I told him on that day, when he crammed his head and shoulders into +this cave, hunting for thy life, little frog--I told him that the +hunter would be the hunted. It is well done.' + +'Little Brother, it is well done,' said a deep voice in the thicket. +'We were lonely in the jungle without thee,' and Bagheera came +running to Mowgli's bare feet. They clambered up the Council Rock +together, and Mowgli spread the skin out on the flat stone where +Akela used to sit, and pegged it down with four slivers of bamboo, +and Akela lay down upon it, and called the old call to the Council, +'Look, look well, O Wolves,' exactly as he had called when Mowgli +was first brought there. + +Ever since Akela had been deposed, the Pack had been without a +leader, hunting and fighting at their own pleasure. But they +answered the call from habit; and some of them were lame from the +traps they had fallen into, and some limped from shot-wounds, and +some were mangy from eating bad food, and many were missing; but they +came to the Council Rock, all that were left of them, and saw Shere +Khan's striped hide on the rock, and the huge claws dangling at the +end of the empty dangling feet. + +'Look well, O Wolves. Have I kept my word?' said Mowgli; and the +wolves bayed Yes, and one tattered wolf howled:-- + +'Lead us again, O Akela. Lead us again, O man-cub, for we be sick of +this lawlessness, and we would be the Free People once more.' + +'Nay,' purred Bagheera, 'that may not be. When ye are full fed, the +madness may come upon you again. Not for nothing are ye called the +Free People. Ye fought for freedom, and it is yours. Eat it, O +Wolves.' + +'Man-Pack and Wolf-Pack have cast me out,' said Mowgli. 'Now I will +hunt alone in the jungle.' + +'And we will hunt with thee,' said the four cubs. + +So Mowgli went away and hunted with the four cubs in the jungle from +that day on. But he was not always alone, because, years afterward, +he became a man and married. + +But that is a story for grown-ups. + + +MOWGLI'S SONG + +THAT HE SANG AT THE COUNCIL ROCK WHEN HE DANCED ON SHERE KHAN'S HIDE. + +The Song of Mowgli--I, Mowgli am singing. Let the + jungle listen to the things I have done. +Shere Khan said he would kill--would kill! At the gates + in the twilight he would kill Mowgli, the Frog! +He ate and he drank. Drink deep, Shere Khan, for when + wilt thou drink again? Sleep and dream of the kill. +I am alone on the grazing-grounds. Gray Brother come to me! + Come to me, Lone Wolf, for there is big game afoot! +Bring up the great bull-buffaloes, the blue-skinned herd-bulls + with the angry eyes. Drive them to and fro as I order. + Sleepest thou still, Shere Khan? Wake, O wake! Here come I, + and the bulls are behind. +Rama the king of the buffaloes stamped with his foot. + Waters of the Waingunga whither went Shere Khan? +He is not Sahi to dig holes, nor Mor, the Peacock, that he + should fly. He is not Mang, the Bat, to hang in the branches. + Little bamboos that creak together tell me where he ran? +_Ow!_ he is there. _Ahoo!_ he is there. Under the feet of Rama lies + the Lame One! Up, Shere Khan! Up and kill! Here is meat; break the + necks of the bulls. +Hsh! he is asleep. We will not wake him, for his strength is very + great. The kites have come down to see it. The black ants have + come up to know it. There is a great assembly in his honour. +_Alala!_ I have no cloth to wrap me. The kites will see that I am + naked. I am ashamed to meet all these people. +Lend me thy coat, Shere Khan. Lend me thy gay striped coat that + I may go to the Council Rock. +By the Bull that bought me I made a promise--a little promise. + Only thy coat is lacking before I keep my word. +With the knife, with the knife that men use, with the knife + of the hunter, I will stoop down for my gift. +Waters of the Waingunga, Shere Khan gives me his coat for the love + that he bears me. Pull, Gray Brother! + Pull, Akela! Heavy is the hide of Shere Khan. +The Man Pack are angry. They throw stones and talk child's talk. + My mouth is bleeding. Let me run away. +Through the night, through the hot night, run swiftly with me, my + brothers. We will leave the lights of the village and go to the + low moon. +Waters of the Waingunga, the Man Pack have cast me out. I did them + no harm, but they were afraid of me. Why? +Wolf Pack, ye have cast me out too. The Jungle is shut to me and the + village gates are shut. Why? +As Mang flies between the beasts and birds so fly I between the + village and the Jungle. Why? +I dance on the hide of Shere Khan, but my heart is very heavy. My + mouth is cut and wounded with the stones from the village, but + my heart is very light, because I have come back to the Jungle. + Why? +These two things fight together in me as the snakes fight in the + spring. The water comes out of my eyes; yet I laugh while it + falls. Why? +I am two Mowglis, but the hide of Shere Khan is under my feet. +All the Jungle knows that I have killed Shere Khan. Look, look + well, O Wolves! +Ahae! my heart is heavy with the things that I do not understand. + + + + +TODS' AMENDMENT. + + The World hath set its heavy yoke + Upon the old white-bearded folk + Who strive to please the King. + God's mercy is upon the young, + God's wisdom in the baby tongue + That fears not anything. + The Parable of _Chajju Bhagat_. + +Now Tods' Mamma was a singularly charming woman, and every one in +Simla knew Tods. Most men had saved him from death on occasions. He +was beyond his _ayah's_ control altogether, and perilled his life +daily to find out what would happen if you pulled a Mountain Battery +mule's tail. He was an utterly fearless young Pagan, about six years +old, and the only baby who ever broke the holy calm of the Supreme +Legislative Council. + +It happened this way: Tods' pet kid got loose, and fled up the hill, +off the Boileaugunge Road, Tods after it, until it burst in to the +Viceregal Lodge lawn, then attached to 'Peterhoff.' The Council were +sitting at the time, and the windows were open because it was warm. +The Red Lancer in the porch told Tods to go away; but Tods knew the +Red Lancer and most of the Members of Council personally. Moreover, +he had firm hold of the kid's collar, and was being dragged all +across the flower-beds. 'Give my _salaam_ to the long Councillor +_Sahib_, and ask him to help me take _Moti_ back!' gasped Tods. The +Council heard the noise through the open windows; and, after an +interval, was seen the shocking spectacle of a Legal Member and a +Lieutenant-Governor helping, under the direct patronage of a +Commander-in-Chief and a Viceroy, one small and very dirty boy, in a +sailor's suit and a tangle of brown hair, to coerce a lively and +rebellious kid. They headed it off down the path to the Mall, and +Tods went home in triumph and told his Mamma that _all_ the +Councillor _Sahibs_ had been helping him to catch _Moti_. Whereat his +Mamma smacked Tods for interfering with the administration of the +Empire; but Tods met the Legal Member the next day, and told him in +confidence that if the Legal Member ever wanted to catch a goat, he, +Tods, would give him all the help in his power. 'Thank you, Tods,' +said the Legal Member. + +Tods was the idol of some eighty _jhampanis_, and half as many +_saises_. He saluted them all as 'O Brother.' It never entered his +head that any living human being could disobey his orders; and he was +the buffer between the servants and his Mamma's wrath. The working of +that household turned on Tods, who was adored by every one from the +_dhoby_ to the dog-boy. Even Futteh Khan, the villainous loafer +_khit_ from Mussoorie, shirked risking Tods' displeasure for fear his +co-mates should look down on him. + +So Tods had honour in the land from Boileaugunge to Chota Simla, and +ruled justly according to his lights. Of course, he spoke Urdu, but +he had also mastered many queer side-speeches like the _chotee bolee_ +of the women, and held grave converse with shopkeepers and +Hill-coolies alike. He was precocious for his age, and his mixing +with natives had taught him some of the more bitter truths of life: +the meanness and the sordidness of it. He used, over his bread and +milk, to deliver solemn and serious aphorisms, translated from the +vernacular into the English, that made his Mamma jump and vow that +Tods _must_ go Home next hot weather. Just when Tods was in the bloom +of his power, the Supreme Legislature were hacking out a Bill for the +Sub-Montane Tracts, a revision of the then Act, smaller than the +Punjab Land Bill, but affecting a few hundred thousand people none +the less. The Legal Member had built, and bolstered, and embroidered, +and amended that Bill till it looked beautiful on paper. Then the +Council began to settle what they called the 'minor details.' As if +any Englishman legislating for natives knows enough to know which are +the minor and which are the major points, from the native point of +view, of any measure! That Bill was a triumph of 'safe-guarding the +interests of the tenant.' One clause provided that land should not be +leased on longer terms than five years at a stretch; because, if the +landlord had a tenant bound down for, say, twenty years, he would +squeeze the very life out of him. The notion was to keep up a stream +of independent cultivators in the Sub-Montane Tracts; and +ethnologically and politically the notion was correct. The only +drawback was that it was altogether wrong. A native's life in India +implies the life of his son. Wherefore, you cannot legislate for one +generation at a time. You must consider the next from the native +point of view. Curiously enough, the native now and then, and in +Northern India more particularly, hates being over-protected against +himself. There was a Naga Village once, where they lived on dead +_and_ buried Commissariat mules.... But that is another story. + +For many reasons, to be explained later, the people concerned +objected to the Bill. The Native Member in Council knew as much about +Punjabis as he knew about Charing Cross. He had said in Calcutta that +'the Bill was entirely in accord with the desires of that large and +important class, the cultivators'; and so on, and so on. The Legal +Member's knowledge of natives was limited to English-speaking +Durbaris, and his own red _chaprassis_, the Sub-Montane Tracts +concerned no one in particular, the Deputy Commissioners were a good +deal too driven to make representations, and the measure was one +which dealt with small land-holders only. Nevertheless, the Legal +Member prayed that it might be correct, for he was a nervously +conscientious man. He did not know that no man can tell what natives +think unless he mixes with them with the varnish off. And not always +then. But he did the best he knew. And the measure came up to the +Supreme Council for the final touches, while Tods patrolled the Burra +Simla Bazar in his morning rides, and played with the monkey +belonging to Ditta Mull, the _bunnia_, and listened, as a child +listens, to all the stray talk about this new freak of the _Lord +Sahib's_. + +One day there was a dinner-party at the house of Tods' Mamma, and the +Legal Member came. Tods was in bed, but he kept awake till he heard +the bursts of laughter from the men over the coffee. Then he paddled +out in his little red flannel dressing-gown and his night-suit, and +took refuge by the side of his father, knowing that he would not be +sent back. 'See the miseries of having a family!' said Tods' father, +giving Tods three prunes, some water in a glass that had been used +for claret, and telling him to sit still. Tods sucked the prunes +slowly, knowing that he would have to go when they were finished, +and sipped the pink water like a man of the world, as he listened to +the conversation. Presently, the Legal Member, talking 'shop' to the +Head of a Department, mentioned his Bill by its full name--'The +Sub-Montane Tracts _Ryotwary_ Revised Enactment.' Tods caught the one +native word, and lifting up his small voice said-- + +'Oh, I know _all_ about that! Has it been _murramutted_ yet, +Councillor _Sahib_?' + +'How much?' said the Legal Member. '_Murramutted_--mended.--Put +_theek_, you know--made nice to please Ditta Mull!' + +The Legal Member left his place and moved up next to Tods. + +'What do you know about _ryotwari_, little man?' he said. + +'I'm not a little man, I'm Tods, and I know _all_ about it. Ditta +Mull, and Choga Lall, and Amir Nath, and--oh, _lakhs_ of my friends +tell me about it in the bazars when I talk to them.' + +'Oh, they do--do they? What do they say, Tods?' + +Tods tucked his feet under his red flannel dressing-gown and said--'I +must _fink_.' + +The Legal Member waited patiently. Then Tods, with infinite +compassion-- + +'You don't speak my talk, do you, Councillor _Sahib_?' + +'No; I am sorry to say I do not,' said the Legal Member. + +'Very well,' said Tods, 'I must _fink_ in English.' + +He spent a minute putting his ideas in order, and began very slowly, +translating in his mind from the vernacular to English, as many +Anglo-Indian children do. You must remember that the Legal Member +helped him on by questions when he halted, for Tods was not equal to +the sustained flight of oratory that follows. + +'Ditta Mull says, "This thing is the talk of a child, and was made up +by fools." But _I_ don't think you are a fool, Councillor _Sahib_,' +said Tods hastily. 'You caught my goat. This is what Ditta Mull +says--'I am not a fool, and why should the Sirkar say I am a child? I +can see if the land is good and if the landlord is good. If I am a +fool, the sin is upon my own head. For five years I take my ground +for which I have saved money, and a wife I take too, and a little son +is born." Ditta Mull has one daughter now, but he _says_ he will have +a son soon. And he says, "At the end of five years, by this new +_bundobust_, I must go. If I do not go, I must get fresh seals and +_takkus_-stamps on the papers, perhaps in the middle of the harvest, +and to go to the law-courts once is wisdom, but to go twice is +_Jehannum_." 'That is _quite_ true,' explained Tods gravely. 'All my +friends say so. And Ditta Mull says, "Always fresh _takkus_ and +paying money to _vakils_ and _chaprassis_ and law-courts every five +years, or else the landlord makes me go. Why do I want to go? Am I a +fool? If I am a fool and do not know, after forty years, good land +when I see it, let me die! But if the new _bundobust_ says for +_fifteen_ years, that is good and wise. My little son is a man, and I +am burnt, and he takes the ground or another ground, paying only once +for the _takkus_-stamps on the papers, and his little son is born, +and at the end of fifteen years is a man too. But what profit is +there in five years and fresh papers? Nothing but _dikh_, trouble, +_dikh_. We are not young men who take these lands, but old ones--not +farmers, but tradesmen with a little money--and for fifteen years we +shall have peace. Nor are we children that the Sirkar should treat us +so."' + +Here Tods stopped short, for the whole table were listening. The +Legal Member said to Tods, 'Is that all?' + +'All I can remember,' said Tods. 'But you should see Ditta Mull's big +monkey. It's just like a Councillor _Sahib_.' + +'Tods! Go to bed!' said his father. + +Tods gathered up his dressing-gown tail and departed. The Legal +Member brought his hand down on the table with a crash--'By Jove!' +said the Legal Member, 'I believe the boy is right. The short +tenure _is_ the weak point.' + +He left early, thinking over what Tods had said. Now, it was +obviously impossible for the Legal Member to play with a _bunnia's_ +monkey, by way of getting understanding; but he did better. He made +inquiries, always bearing in mind the fact that the real native--not +the hybrid, University-trained mule--is as timid as a colt, and +little by little, he coaxed some of the men whom the measure +concerned most intimately to give in their views, which squared very +closely with Tods' evidence. + +So the Bill was amended in that clause; and the Legal Member was +filled with an uneasy suspicion that Native Members represent very +little except the Orders they carry on their bosoms. But he put the +thought from him as illiberal. He was a most liberal man. + +After a time the news spread through the bazars that Tods had got the +Bill recast in the tenure-clause, and, if Tods' Mamma had not +interfered, Tods would have made himself sick on the baskets of fruit +and pistachio nuts and Cabuli grapes and almonds that crowded the +verandah. Till he went Home, Tods ranked some few degrees before the +Viceroy in popular estimation. But for the little life of him Tods +could not understand why. + +In the Legal Member's private-paper-box still lies the rough draft of +the Sub-Montane Tracts _Ryotwary_ Revised Enactment; and opposite the +twenty-second clause, pencilled in blue chalk, and signed by the +Legal Member are the words '_Tods' Amendment_.' + + + + +THE STORY OF MUHAMMAD DIN + +Who is the happy man? He that sees in his own house, at home, little +children crowned with dust, leaping and falling and crying.-- + +_Munichandra_, translated by Professor Peterson. + + +The polo-ball was an old one, scarred, chipped, and dinted. It stood +on the mantelpiece among the pipe-stems which Imam Din, _khitmatgar_, +was cleaning for me. + +'Does the Heaven-born want this ball?' said Imam Din deferentially. + +The Heaven-born set no particular store by it; but of what use was a +polo-ball to a _khitmatgar_? + +'By Your Honour's favour, I have a little son. He has seen this ball, +and desires it to play with, I do not want it for myself.' + +No one would for an instant accuse portly old Imam Din of wanting to +play with polo-balls. He carried out the battered thing into the +verandah; and there followed a hurricane of joyful squeaks, a patter +of small feet, and the _thud-thud-thud_ of the ball rolling along +the ground. Evidently the little son had been waiting outside the +door to secure his treasure. But how had he managed to see that +polo-ball? + +Next day, coming back from office half an hour earlier than usual, I +was aware of a small figure in the dining-room--a tiny, plump figure +in a ridiculously inadequate shirt which came, perhaps, halfway down +the tubby stomach. It wandered round the room, thumb in mouth, +crooning to itself as it took stock of the pictures. Undoubtedly this +was the 'little son.' + +He had no business in my room, of course; but was so deeply absorbed +in his discoveries that he never noticed me in the doorway. I stepped +into the room and startled him nearly into a fit. He sat down on the +ground with a gasp. His eyes opened, and his mouth followed suit. I +knew what was coming, and fled, followed by a long, dry howl which +reached the servants' quarters far more quickly than any command of +mine had ever done. In ten seconds Imam Din was in the dining-room. +Then despairing sobs arose, and I returned to find Imam Din +admonishing the small sinner who was using most of his shirt as a +handkerchief. + +'This boy,' said Imam Din judicially, 'is a _budmash_--a big +_budmash_. He will, without doubt, go to the _jail-khana_, for his +behaviour.' Renewed yells from the penitent, and an elaborate +apology to myself from Imam Din. + +Tell the baby,' said I, 'that the _Sahib_ is not angry, and take him +away.' Imam Din conveyed my forgiveness to the offender, who had now +gathered all his shirt round his neck, stringwise, and the yell +subsided into a sob. The two set off for the door. 'His name,' said +Imam Din, as though the name were part of the crime, 'is Muhammad +Din, and he is a _budmash_.' Freed from present danger, Muhammad Din +turned round in his father's arms, and said gravely, 'It is true that +my name is Muhammad Din, _Tahib_, but I am not a _budmash_. I am a +_man_!' + +From that day dated my acquaintance with Muhammad Din. Never again +did he come into my dining-room, but on the neutral ground of the +garden we greeted each other with much state, though our conversation +was confined to '_Talaam, Tahib_' from his side, and '_Salaam, +Muhammad Din_' from mine. Daily on my return from office, the little +white shirt and the fat little body used to rise from the shade of +the creeper-covered trellis where they had been hid; and daily I +checked my horse here, that my salutation might not be slurred over +or given unseemly. + +Muhammad Din never had any companions. He used to trot about the +compound, in and out 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 +shrivelled old marigold flowers in a circle round it. Outside that +circle again was a rude square, traced out in bits of red brick +alternating with fragments of broken china; the whole bounded by a +little bank of dust. The water-man from the well-curb put in a plea +for the small architect, saying that it was only the play of a baby +and did not much disfigure my garden. + +Heaven knows that I had no intention of touching the child's work +then or later; but, that evening, a stroll through the garden brought +me unawares full on it; so that I trampled, before I knew, +marigold-heads, dust-bank, and fragments of broken soap dish into +confusion past all hope of mending. Next morning, I came upon +Muhammad Din crying softly to himself over the ruin I had wrought. +Some one had cruelly told him that the _Sahib_ was very angry with +him for spoiling the garden, and had scattered his rubbish, using bad +language the while. Muhammad Din laboured for an hour at effacing +every trace of the dust bank and pottery fragments, and it was with +a tearful and apologetic face that he said, '_Talaam, Tahib_,' when +I came home from office. A hasty inquiry resulted in Imam Din +informing Muhammad Din that, by my singular favour, he was permitted +to disport himself as he pleased. Whereat the child took heart and +fell to tracing the ground-plan of an edifice which was to eclipse +the marigold-polo-ball creation. + +For some months the chubby little eccentricity revolved in his humble +orbit among the castor-oil bushes and in the dust; always fashioning +magnificent palaces from stale flowers thrown away by the bearer, +smooth water-worn pebbles, bits of broken glass, and feathers pulled, +I fancy, from my fowls--always alone, and always crooning to himself. + +A gaily-spotted sea-shell was dropped one day close to the last of +his little buildings; and I looked that Muhammad Din should build +something more than ordinarily splendid on the strength of it. Nor +was I disappointed He meditated for the better part of an hour, and +his crooning rose to a jubilant song. Then he began tracing in the +dust. It would certainly be a wondrous palace, this one, for it was +two yards long and a yard broad in ground-plan. But the palace was +never completed. + +Next day there was no Muhammad Din at the head of the carriage-drive, +and no '_Talaam, Tahib_' to welcome my return. I had grown accustomed +to the greeting, and its omission troubled me. Next day Imam Din told +me that the child was suffering slightly from fever and needed +quinine. He got the medicine, and an English Doctor. + +'They have no stamina, these brats,' said the Doctor, as he left Imam +Din's quarters. + +A week later, though I would have given much to have avoided it, I +met on the road to the Mussulman burying-ground Imam Din, accompanied +by one other friend, carrying in his arms, wrapped in a white cloth, +all that was left of little Muhammad Din. + + + + +THE FINANCES OF THE GODS + +The evening meal was ended in Dhunni Bhagat's Chubara, and the old +priests were smoking or counting their beads. A little naked child +pattered in, with its mouth wide open, a handful of marigold flowers +in one hand, and a lump of conserved tobacco in the other. It tried +to kneel and make obeisance to Gobind, but it was so fat that it fell +forward on its shaven head, and rolled on its side, kicking and +gasping, while the marigolds tumbled one way and the tobacco the +other. Gobind laughed, set it up again, and blessed the marigold +flowers as he received the tobacco. + +'From my father,' said the child. 'He has the fever, and cannot come. +Wilt thou pray for him, father?' + +'Surely, littlest; but the smoke is on the ground, and the +night-chill is in the air, and it is not good to go abroad naked in +the autumn.' + +'I have no clothes,' said the child, 'and all to-day I have been +carrying cow-dung cakes to the bazar. It was very hot, and I am very +tired.' It shivered a little, for the twilight was cool. + +Gobind lifted an arm under his vast tattered quilt of many colours, +and made an inviting little nest by his side. The child crept in, and +Gobind filled his brass-studded leather waterpipe with the new +tobacco. When I came to the Chubara the shaven head with the tuft +atop, and the beady black eyes looked out of the folds of the quilt +as a squirrel looks out from his nest, and Gobind was smiling while +the child played with his beard. + +I would have said something friendly, but remembered in time that if +the child fell ill afterwards I should be credited with the Evil Eye, +and that is a horrible possession. 'Sit thou still, Thumbling,' I +said, as it made to get up and run away. 'Where is thy slate, and why +has the teacher let such an evil character loose on the streets when +there are no police to protect us weaklings? In which ward dost thou +try to break thy neck with flying kites from the house-top?' + +'Nay, Sahib, nay,' said the child, burrowing its face into Gobind's +beard, and twisting uneasily. 'There was a holiday to-day among the +schools, and I do not always fly kites. I play ker-li-kit like the +rest.' + +Cricket is the national game among the school-boys of the Punjab, +from the naked hedge-school children, who use an old kerosine-tin for +wicket, to the B.A.'s of the University, who compete for the +Championship belt. + +'Thou play kerlikit! Thou art half the weight of the bat!' I said. + +The child nodded resolutely. 'Yea, I _do_ play. _Perlay-ball. Ow-at! +Ran, ran, ran!_ I know it all.' + +'But thou must not forget with all this to pray to the Gods +according to custom,' said Gobind, who did not altogether approve of +cricket and Western innovations. + +'I do not forget,' said the child in a hushed voice. + +'Also to give reverence to thy teacher, and'-- + +Gobind's voice softened--'to abstain from pulling holy men by the +beard, little badling. Eh, eh, eh?' + +The child's face was altogether hidden in the great white beard, and +it began to whimper till Gobind soothed it as children are soothed +all the world over, with the promise of a story. + +'I did not think to frighten thee, senseless little one. Look up! Am +I angry? Aré, aré, aré! Shall I weep too, and of our tears make a +great pond and drown us both, and then thy father will never get +well, lacking thee to pull his beard? Peace, peace, and I will tell +thee of the Gods. Thou hast heard many tales?' + +'Very many, father.' + +'Now, this is a new one, which thou hast not heard. Long and long ago +when the Gods walked with men, as they do to-day, but that we have +not faith to see, Shiv, the greatest of Gods, and Parbati his wife, +were walking in the garden of a temple.' + +'Which temple? That in the Nandgaon ward?' said the child. + +'Nay, very far away. Maybe at Trimbak or Hurdwar, whither thou must +make pilgrimage when thou art a man. Now, there was sitting in the +garden under the jujube trees, a mendicant that had worshipped Shiv +for forty years, and he lived on the offerings of the pious, and +meditated holiness night and day.' + +'Oh, father, was it thou?' said the child, looking up with large +eyes. + +'Nay, I have said it was long ago, and, moreover, this mendicant was +married.' + +'Did they put him on a horse with flowers on his head, and forbid him +to go to sleep all night long? Thus they did to me when they made my +wedding,' said the child, who had been married a few months before. + +'And what didst thou do?' said I. + +'I wept, and they called me evil names, and then I smote _her_, and +we wept together.' + +'Thus did not the mendicant,' said Gobind; 'for he was a holy man, +and very poor. Parbati perceived him sitting naked by the temple +steps where all went up and down, and she said to Shiv, "What shall +men think of the Gods when the Gods thus scorn the worshippers? For +forty years yonder man has prayed to us, and yet there be only a few +grains of rice and some broken cowries before him after all. Men's +hearts will be hardened by this thing." And Shiv said, "It shall be +looked to," and so he called to the temple, which was the temple of +his son, Ganesh of the elephant head, saying, "Son, there is a +mendicant without who is very poor. What wilt thou do for him?" Then +that great elephant-headed One awoke in the dark and answered, "In +three days, if it be thy will, he shall have one lakh of rupees." +Then Shiv and Parbati went away.' + +'But there was a money-lender in the garden hidden among the +marigolds'--the child looked at the ball of crumpled blossoms in its +hands--'ay, among the yellow marigolds, and he heard the Gods +talking. He was a covetous man, and of a black heart, and he desired +that lakh of rupees for himself. So he went to the mendicant and +said, "Oh brother, how much do the pious give thee daily?" The +mendicant said, "I cannot tell. Sometimes a little rice, sometimes a +little pulse, and a few cowries and, it has been, pickled mangoes, +and dried fish." + +'That is good,' said the child, smacking its lips. 'Then said the +money-lender, "Because I have long watched thee, and learned to +love thee and thy patience, I will give thee now five rupees for all +thy earnings of the three days to come. There is only a bond to sign +on the matter." But the mendicant said, "Thou art mad. In two months +I do not receive the worth of five rupees," and he told the thing to +his wife that evening. She, being a woman, said, "When did +money-lender ever make a bad bargain? The wolf runs the corn for the +sake of the fat deer. Our fate is in the hands of the Gods. Pledge it +not even for three days." + +'So the mendicant returned to the money-lender, and would not sell. +Then that wicked man sat all day before him offering more and more +for those, three days' earnings. First, ten, fifty, and a hundred +rupees; and then, for he did not know when the Gods would pour down +their gifts, rupees by the thousand, till he had offered half a lakh +of rupees. Upon this sum the mendicant's wife shifted her counsel, +and the mendicant signed the bond, and the money was paid in silver; +great white bullocks bringing it by the cartload. But saving only all +that money, the mendicant received nothing from the Gods at all, and +the heart of the money-lender was uneasy on account of expectation. +Therefore at noon of the third day the money-lender went into the +temple to spy upon the councils of the Gods, and to learn in what +manner that gift might arrive. Even as he was making his prayers, +a crack between the stones of the floor gaped, and, closing, caught +him by the heel. Then he heard the Gods walking in the temple in the +darkness of the columns, and Shiv called to his son Ganesh, saying +"Son, what hast thou done in regard to the lakh of rupees for the +mendicant?" And Ganesh woke, for the moneylender heard the dry rustle +of his trunk uncoiling, and he answered, "Father, one-half of the +money has been paid, and the debtor for the other half I hold here +fast by the heel."' + +The child bubbled with laughter. 'And the moneylender paid the +mendicant?' it said. + +'Surely, for he whom the Gods hold by the heel must pay to the +uttermost. The money was paid at evening, all silver, in great carts, +and thus Ganesh did his work.' + +'Nathu! Oh^e Nathu!' + +A woman was calling in the dusk by the door of the courtyard. + +The child began to wriggle. 'That is my mother,' it said. + +'Go then, littlest,' answered Gobind; 'but stay a moment.' + +He ripped a generous yard from his patchwork-quilt, put it over the +child's shoulders, and the child ran away. + + + + +MOTI GUJ--MUTINEER + +Once upon a time there was a coffee-planter in India who wished to +clear some forest land for coffee-planting. When he had cut down all +the trees and burned the under-wood the stumps still remained. +Dynamite is expensive and slow-fire slow. The happy medium for +stump-clearing is the lord of all beasts, who is the elephant. He +will either push the stump out of the ground with his tusks, if he +has any, or drag it out with ropes. The planter, therefore, hired +elephants by ones and twos and threes, and fell to work. The very +best of all the elephants belonged to the very worst of all the +drivers or mahouts; and the superior beast's name was Moti Guj. He +was the absolute property of his mahout, which would never have been +the case under native rule, for Moti Guj was a creature to be +desired by kings; and his name, being translated, meant the Pearl +Elephant. Because the British Government was in the land, Deesa, +the mahout, enjoyed his property undisturbed. He was dissipated. When +he had made much money through the strength of his elephant, he would +get extremely drunk and give Moti Guj a beating with a tent-peg over +the tender nails of the forefeet. Moti Guj never trampled the life +out of Deesa on these occasions, for he knew that after the beating +was over Deesa would embrace his trunk, and weep and call him his +love and his life and the liver of his soul, and give him some +liquor. Moti Guj was very fond of liquor--arrack for choice, though +he would drink palm-tree toddy if nothing better offered. Then Deesa +would go to sleep between Moti Guj's forefeet, and as Deesa generally +chose the middle of the public road, and as Moti Guj mounted guard +over him and would not permit horse, foot, or cart to pass by, +traffic was congested till Deesa saw fit to wake up. + +There was no sleeping in the daytime on the planter's clearing; the +wages were too high to risk. Deesa sat on Moti Guj's neck and gave +him orders, while Moti Guj rooted up the stumps--for he owned a +magnificent pair of tusks; or pulled at the end of a rope--for he had +a magnificent pair of shoulders, while Deesa kicked him behind the +ears and said he was the king of elephants. At evening time Moti Guj +would wash down his three hundred pounds' weight of green food with a +quart of arrack, and Deesa would take a share and sing songs between +Moti Guj's legs till it was time to go to bed. Once a week Deesa led +Moti Guj down to the river, and Moti Guj lay on his side luxuriously +in the shallows, while Deesa went over him with a coir-swab and a +brick. Moti Guj never mistook the pounding blow of the latter for the +smack of the former that warned him to get up and turn over on the +other side. Then Deesa would look at his feet, and examine his eyes, +and turn up the fringes of his mighty ears in case of sores or +budding ophthalmia. After inspection, the two would 'come up with a +song from the sea,' Moti Guj all black and shining, waving a torn +tree branch twelve feet long in his trunk, and Deesa knotting up his +own long wet hair. + +It was a peaceful, well-paid life till Deesa felt the return of the +desire to drink deep. He wished for an orgie. The little draughts +that led nowhere were taking the manhood out of him. + +He went to the planter, and 'My mother's dead,' said he, weeping. + +'She died on the last plantation two months ago; and she died once +before that when you were working for me last year,' said the +planter, who knew something of the ways of nativedom. + +'Then it's my aunt, and she was just the same as a mother to me,' +said Deesa, weeping more than ever. 'She has left eighteen small +children entirely without bread, and it is I who must fill their +little stomachs,' said Deesa, beating his head on the floor. + +'Who brought you the news?' said the planter. 'The post,' said +Deesa. + +'There hasn't been a post here for the past week. Get back to your +lines!' + +'A devastating sickness has fallen on my village, and all my wives +are dying,' yelled Deesa, really in tears this time. 'Call Chihun, +who comes from Deesa's village,' said the planter. 'Chihun, has this +man a wife?' + +'He!' said Chihun. 'No. Not a woman of our village would look at him. +They'd sooner marry the elephant.' Chihun snorted. Deesa wept and +bellowed. + +'You will get into a difficulty in a minute,' said the planter. 'Go +back to your work!' + +'Now I will speak Heaven's truth,' gulped Deesa, with an inspiration. +'I haven't been drunk for two months. I desire to depart in order to +get properly drunk afar off and distant from this heavenly +plantation. Thus I shall cause no trouble.' + +A flickering smile crossed the planter's face. 'Deesa,' said he, +'you've spoken the truth, and I'd give you leave on the spot if +anything could be done with Moti Guj while you're away. You know that +he will only obey your orders.' + +'May the Light of the Heavens live forty thousand years. I shall be +absent but ten little days. After that, upon my faith and honour and +soul, I return. As to the inconsiderable interval, have I the +gracious permission of the Heaven-born to call up Moti Guj?' + +Permission was granted, and, in answer to Deesa's shrill yell, the +lordly tusker swung out of the shade of a clump of trees where he had +been squirting dust over himself till his master should return. + +'Light of my heart, Protector of the Drunken, Mountain of Might, give +ear,' said Deesa, standing in front of him. + +Moti Guj gave ear, and saluted with his trunk, 'I am going away,' +said Deesa. + +Moti Guj's eyes twinkled. He liked jaunts as well as his master. One +could snatch all manner of nice things from the roadside then. + +'But you, you fubsy old pig, must stay behind and work.' + +The twinkle died out as Moti Guj tried to look delighted. He hated +stump-hauling on the plantation. It hurt his teeth. + +'I shall be gone for ten days, oh Delectable One. Hold up your near +forefoot and I'll impress the fact upon it, warty toad of a dried +mud-puddle.' Deesa took a tent-peg and banged Moti Guj ten times on +the nails. Moti Guj grunted and shuffled from foot to foot. + +'Ten days,' said Deesa, 'you must work and haul and root trees as +Chihun here shall order you. Take up Chihun and set him on your +neck!' Moti Guj curled the tip of his trunk, Chihun put his foot +there and was swung on to the neck. Deesa handed Chihun the heavy +_ankus_, the iron elephant-goad. + +Chihun thumped Moti Guj's bald head as a paviour thumps a kerbstone. + +Moti Guj trumpeted. + +'Be still, hog of the backwoods. Chihun's your mahout for ten days. +And now bid me good-bye, beast after mine own heart. Oh, my lord, my +king! Jewel of all created elephants, lily of the herd, preserve your +honoured health; be virtuous. Adieu!' + +Moti Guj lapped his trunk round Deesa and swung him into the air +twice. That was his way of bidding the man good-bye. + +'He'll work now,' said Deesa to the planter. 'Have I leave to go?' + +The planter nodded, and Deesa dived into the woods. Moti Guj went +back to haul stumps. + +Chihun was very kind to him, but he felt unhappy and forlorn +notwithstanding. Chihun gave him balls of spices, and tickled him +under the chin, and Chihun's little baby cooed to him after work was +over, and Chihun's wife called him a darling; but Moti Guj was a +bachelor by instinct, as Deesa was. He did not understand the +domestic emotions. He wanted the light of his universe back +again--the drink and the drunken slumber, the savage beatings and the +savage caresses. + +None the less he worked well, and the planter wondered. Deesa had +vagabonded along the roads till he met a marriage procession of his +own caste and, drinking, dancing, and tippling, had drifted past all +knowledge of the lapse of time. + +The morning of the eleventh day dawned, and there returned no Deesa. +Moti Guj was loosed from his ropes for the daily stint. He swung +clear, looked round, shrugged his shoulders, and began to walk away, +as one having business elsewhere. + +'Hi! ho! Come back you,' shouted Chihun. 'Come back, and put me on +your neck, Misborn Mountain. Return, Splendour of the Hillsides. +Adornment of all India, heave to, or I'll bang every toe off your fat +forefoot!' + +Moti Guj gurgled gently, but did not obey. Chihun ran after him with +a rope and caught him up. Moti Guj put his ears forward, and Chihun +knew what that meant, though he tried to carry it off with high +words. + +'None of your nonsense with me,' said he. 'To your pickets, +Devil-son.' + +'Hrrump!' said Moti Guj, and that was all--that and the forebent +ears. + +Moti Guj put his hands in his pockets, chewed a branch for a +toothpick, and strolled about the clearing, making jest of the other +elephants, who had just set to work. + +Chihun reported the state of affairs to the planter, who came out +with a dog-whip and cracked it furiously. Moti Guj paid the white man +the compliment of charging him nearly a quarter of a mile across the +clearing and 'Hrrumphing' him into the verandah. Then he stood +outside the house chuckling to himself, and shaking all over with the +fun of it, as an elephant will. + +'We'll thrash him,' said the planter. 'He shall have the finest +thrashing that ever elephant received. Give Kala Nag and Nazim twelve +foot of chain apiece, and tell them to lay on twenty blows.' + +Kala Nag--which means Black Snake--and Nazim were two of the biggest +elephants in the lines, and one of their duties was to administer the +graver punishments, since no man can beat an elephant properly. + +They took the whipping-chains and rattled them in their trunks as +they sidled up to Moti Guj, meaning to hustle him between them. Moti +Guj had never, in all his life of thirty-nine years, been whipped, +and he did not intend to open new experiences. So he waited, weaving +his head from right to left, and measuring the precise spot in Kala +Nag's fat side where a blunt tusk would sink deepest. Kala Nag had no +tusks; the chain was his badge of authority; but he judged it good to +swing wide of Moti Guj at the last minute, and seem to appear as if +he had brought out the chain for amusement. Nazim turned round and +went home early. He did not feel fighting-fit that morning, and so +Moti Guj was left standing alone with his ears cocked. + +That decided the planter to argue no more, and Moti Guj rolled back +to his inspection of the clearing. An elephant who will not work, and +is not tied up, is not quite so manageable as an eighty-one ton gun +loose in a heavy sea-way. He slapped old friends on the back and +asked them if the stumps were coming away easily; he talked nonsense +concerning labour and the inalienable rights of elephants to a long +'nooning'; and wandering to and fro, thoroughly demoralised the +garden until sundown, when he returned to his pickets for food. + +'If you won't work you shan't eat,' said Chihun angrily. 'You're a +wild elephant, and no educated animal at all. Go back to your +jungle.' + +Chihun's little brown baby, rolling on the floor of the hut, +stretched its fat arms to the huge shadow in the doorway. Moti Guj +knew well that it was the dearest thing on earth to Chihun. He swung +out his trunk with a fascinating crook at the end, and the brown baby +threw itself shouting upon it. Moti Guj made fast and pulled up till +the brown baby was crowing in the air twelve feet above his father's +head. + +'Great Chief!' said Chihun. 'Flour cakes of the best, twelve in +number, two feet across, and soaked in rum shall be yours on the +instant, and two hundred pounds' weight of fresh-cut young +sugar-cane therewith. Deign only to put down safely that +insignificant brat who is my heart and my life to me.' + +Moti Guj tucked the brown baby comfortably between his forefeet, +that could have knocked into toothpicks all Chihun's hut, and waited +for his food. He ate it, and the brown baby crawled away. Moti Guj +dozed, and thought of Deesa. One of many mysteries connected with the +elephant is that his huge body needs less sleep than anything else +that lives. Four or five hours in the night suffice--two just before +midnight, lying down on one side; two just after one o'clock, lying +down on the other. The rest of the silent hours are filled with +eating and fidgeting and long grumbling soliloquies. + +At midnight, therefore, Moti Guj strode out of his pickets, for a +thought had come to him that Deesa might be lying drunk somewhere in +the dark forest with none to look after him. So all that night he +chased through the undergrowth, blowing and trumpeting and shaking +his ears. He went down to the river and blared across the shallows +where Deesa used to wash him, but there was no answer. He could not +find Deesa, but he disturbed all the elephants in the lines, and +nearly frightened to death some gipsies in the woods. + +At dawn Deesa returned to the plantation. He had been very drunk +indeed, and he expected to fall into trouble for outstaying his +leave. He drew a long breath when he saw that the bungalow and the +plantation were still uninjured; for he knew something of Moti Guj's +temper; and reported himself with many lies and salaams. Moti Guj had +gone to his pickets for breakfast. His night exercise had made him +hungry. + +'Call up your beast,' said the planter, and Deesa shouted in the +mysterious elephant-language, that some mahouts believe came from +China at the birth of the world, when elephants and not men were +masters. Moti Guj heard and came. Elephants do not gallop. They move +from spots at varying rates of speed. If an elephant wished to catch +an express train he could not gallop, but he could catch the train. +Thus Moti Guj was at the planter's door almost before Chihun noticed +that he had left his pickets. He fell into Deesa's arms trumpeting +with joy, and the man and beast wept and slobbered over each other, +and handled each other from head to heel to see that no harm had +befallen. + +'Now we will get to work,' said Deesa. 'Lift me up, my son and my +joy.' + +Moti Guj swung him up and the two went to the coffee-clearing to look +for irksome stumps. + +The planter was too astonished to be very angry. + + + + +POETRY + +THE NATIVE-BORN + + _We've drunk to the Queen--God bless her!-- + We've drunk, to our mothers' land; + We've drunk to our English brother + (But he does not understand); + We've drunk to the wide creation, + And the Cross swings low for the morn; + Last toast, and of obligation, + A health to the Native-born! + + They change their skies above them, + But not their hearts that roam! + We learned from our wistful mothers + To call old England 'home'; + We read of the English skylark, + Of the spring in the English lanes, + But we screamed with the painted lories + As we rode on the dusty plains! + + They passed with their old-world legends-- + Their tales of wrong and dearth-- + Our fathers held by purchase, + But we by the right of birth; + Our heart's where they rocked our cradle, + Our love where we spent our toil, + And our faith and our hope and our honour + We pledge, to our native soil! + + I charge you charge your glasses-- + I charge you drink with me + To the men of the Four New Nations, + And the Islands of the Sea-- + To the last least lump of coral + That none may stand outside, + And our own good pride shall teach us + To praise our comrade's pride!_ + + To the hush of the breathless morning + Oh the thin, tin, crackling roofs, + To the haze of the burned back-ranges + And the dust of the shoeless hoofs-- + To the risk of a death by drowning, + To the risk of a death by drouth-- + To the men of a million acres, + To the Sons of the Golden South! + +_To the Sons of the Golden South (Stand up!), + And the life we live and know, +Let a fellow sing o' the little things he cares about, +If a fellow fights for the little things he cares about + With the weight of a single blow!_ + + To the smoke of a hundred coasters, + To the sheep on a thousand hills, + To the sun that never blisters, + To the rain that never chills-- + To the land of the waiting spring-time, + To our five-meal, meat-fed men, + To the tall, deep-bosomed women, + And the children nine and ten! + +_And the children nine and ten (Stand up!), + And the life we live and know, +Let a fellow sing o' the little things he cares about, +If a fellow fights for the little things he cares about + With the weight of a two-fold blow!_ + + To the far-flung fenceless prairie + Where the quick cloud-shadows trail, + To our neighbour's barn in the offing + And the line of the new-cut rail; + To the plough in her league-long furrow + With the gray Lake gulls behind-- + To the weight of a half-year's winter + And the warm wet western wind! + + To the home of the floods and thunder, + To her pale dry healing blue-- + To the lift of the great Cape combers, + And the smell of the baked Karroo. + To the growl of the sluicing stamp-head-- + To the reef and the water-gold, + To the last and the largest Empire, + To the map that is half unrolled! + + To our dear dark foster-mothers, + To the heathen songs they sung-- + To the heathen speech we babbled + Ere we came to the white man's tongue. + To the cool of our deep verandas-- + To the blaze of our jewelled main, + To the night, to the palms in the moonlight, + And the fire-fly in the cane! + + To the hearth of our people's people-- + To her well-ploughed windy sea, + To the hush of our dread high-altar + Where The Abbey makes us We; + To the grist of the slow-ground ages, + To the gain that is yours and mine-- + To the Bank of the Open Credit, + To the Power-house of the Line! + + We've drunk to the Queen--God bless her!-- + We've drunk to our mothers' land; + We've drunk to our English brother + (And we hope he'll understand). + We've drunk as much as we're able, + And the Cross swings low for the morn; + Last toast--and your foot on the table!-- + A health to the Native-born! + +_A health to the Native-torn (Stand up!), + We're six white men mow, +All bound to sing o' the little things we care about, +All bound to fight for the little things we care about + With the weight of a six-fold blow! +By the might of our cable-tow (Take hands!), + From the Orkneys to the Horn, +All round the world (and a little loop to pull it by), +All round the world (and a little strap to buckle it), + A health to the Native-born!_ + + + + +THE FLOWERS + +To our private taste, there is always something a little exotic, +almost artificial, in songs which, under an English aspect and dress, +are yet so manifestly the product of other skies. They affect us like +translations; the very fauna and flora are alien, remote; the +dog's-tooth violet is but an ill substitute for the rathe primrose, +nor can we ever believe that the wood-robin sings as sweetly in April +as the English thrush.--THE ATHENÆUM. + + + _Buy my English posies! + Kent and Surrey may-- + Violets of the Undercliff + Wet with Channel spray; + Cowslips from a Devon combe-- + Midland furze afire-- + Buy my English posies + And I'll sell your heart's desire!_ + + Buy my English posies! + You that scorn the May, + Won't you greet a friend from home + Half the world away? + Green against the draggled drift, + Faint and frail and first-- + Buy my Northern blood-root + And I'll know where you were nursed: +Robin down the logging-road whistles, Come to me!' +Spring has found the maple-grove, the sap is running free; +All the winds of Canada call the ploughing-rain. +Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! + + Buy my English posies! + Here's to match your need-- + Buy a tuft of royal heath, + Buy a bunch of weed + White as sand of Muysenberg + Spun before the gale-- + Buy my heath and lilies + And I'll tell you whence you hail! +Under hot Constantia broad the vineyards lie-- +Throned and thorned the aching berg props the speckless sky-- +Slow below the Wynberg firs trails the tilted wain-- +Take the flower arid turn the hour, and kiss your love again! + + Buy my English posies! + You that will not turn-- + Buy my hot-wood clematis. + Buy a frond o' fern + Gathered where the Erskine leaps + Down the road to Lorne-- + Buy my Christmas creeper + And I'll say where you were born! +West away from Melbourne dust holidays begin-- +They that mock at Paradise woo at Cora Lynn-- +Through the great South Otway gums sings the great South Main-- +Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! + + Buy my English posies! + Here's your choice unsold! + Buy a blood-red myrtle-bloom, + Buy the kowhai's gold + Flung for gift on Taupo's face, + Sign that spring is come-- + Buy my clinging myrtle + And I'll give you back your home! +Broom behind the windy town; pollen o' the pine-- +Bell-bird in the leafy deep where the _ratas_ twine-- +Fern above the saddle-bow, flax upon the plain-- +Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! + + Buy my English posies! + Ye that have your own, + Buy them for a brother's sake + Overseas, alone. + Weed ye trample underfoot + Floods his heart abrim-- + Bird ye never heeded, + Oh, she calls his dead to him! +Far and far our homes are set round the Seven Seas; +Woe for us if we forget, we that hold by these! +Unto each his mother-beach, bloom and bird and land-- +Masters of the Seven Seas, oh, love and understand. + + + + +MUNICIPAL. + + "Why is my District death-rate low?" + Said Binks of Hezabad. + "Wells, drains, and sewage-outfalls are + My own peculiar fad. + I learnt a lesson once. It ran + Thus," quoth that most veracious man:-- + +It was an August evening and, in snowy garments clad, +I paid a round of visits in the lines of Hezabad; +When, presently, my Waler saw, and did not like at all, +A Commissariat elephant careering down the Mall. + +I couldn't see the driver, and across my mind it rushed +That that Commissariat elephant had suddenly gone _musth_. +I didn't care to meet him, and I couldn't well get down, +So I let the Waler have it, and we headed for the town. + +The buggy was a new one and, praise Dykes, it stood the strain, +Till the Waler jumped a bullock just above the City Drain; +And the next that I remember was a hurricane of squeals, +And the creature making toothpicks of my five-foot patent wheels. + +He seemed to want the owner, so I fled, distraught with fear, +To the Main Drain sewage outfall while he snorted in my ear-- +Reached the four-foot drain-head safely and, in darkness and despair, +Felt the brute's proboscis fingering my terror-stiffened hair, + +Heard it trumpet on my shoulder--tried to crawl a little higher-- +Found the Main Drain sewage-outfall blocked some eight feet up, + with mire; +And, for twenty reeking minutes, Sir, my very marrow froze, +While the trunk was feeling blindly for a purchase on my toes! + +It missed me by a fraction, but my hair was turning grey +Before they called the drivers up arid dragged the brute away. +Then I sought the City Elders, and my words were very plain. +They flushed that four-foot drain-head and--it never choked again. + +You may hold with surface-drainage, and the sun-for-garbage cure, +Till you've been a periwinkle shrinking coyly up a sewer. +_I_ believe in well-flushed culverts ... This is why the + death-rate's small; +And, if you don't believe me, get _shikarred_ yourself. That's all. + + + + +THE COASTWISE LIGHTS + +Our brows are bound with spindrift and the weed is on our knees; +Our loins are battered 'neath us by the swinging, smoking seas. +From reef and rock and skerry--over headland, ness, and voe-- +The Coastwise Lights of England watch the ships of England go! + +Through the endless summer evenings, on the lineless, level floors; +Through the yelling Channel tempest when the siren hoots and roars-- +By day the dipping house-flag and by night the rocket's trail-- +As the sheep that graze behind us so we know them where they hail. + +We bridge across the dark, and bid the helmsman have a care, +The flash that wheeling inland wakes his sleeping wife to prayer; +From our vexed eyries, head to gale, we bind in burning chains +The lover from the sea-rim drawn--his love in English lanes. + +We greet the clippers wing-and-wing that race the Southern wool; +We warn the crawling cargo tanks of Bremen, Leith, and Hull; +To each and all our equal lamp at peril of the sea-- +The white wall-sided war-ships or the whalers of Dundee! + +Come up, come in from Eastward, from the guard-ports of the Morn! +Beat up, beat in from Southerly, O gipsies of the Horn! +Swift shuttles of an Empire's loom that weave us, main to main, +The Coastwise Lights of England give you welcome back again! + +Go, get you gone up-Channel with the sea-crust on your plates; +Go, get you into London with the burden of your freights! +Haste, for they talk of Empire there, and say, if any seek, +The Lights of England sent you and by silence shall ye speak. + + + + +THE ENGLISH FLAG + +Above the portico a flag-staff, bearing the Union Jack, remained +fluttering in the flames for some time, but ultimately when it fell +the crowds rent the air with shouts, and seemed to see significance +in the incident.--DAILY PAPERS. + + +Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro-- +And what should they know of England who only England know?-- +The poor little street-bred people that vapour and fume and brag, +They are lifting their heads in the stillness to yelp at the English + Flag! + +Must we borrow a clout from the Boer--to plaster anew with dirt? +An Irish liar's bandage, or an English coward's shirt? +We may not speak of England; her Flag's to sell or share. +What is the Flag of England? Winds of the World, declare! + +The North Wind blew:--'From Bergen my steel-shod vanguards go; +I chase your lazy whalers home from the Disko floe; +By the great North Lights above me I work the will of God, +And the liner splits on the ice-field or the Dogger fills with cod. + +'I barred my gates with iron, I shuttered my doors with flame, +Because to force my ramparts your nutshell navies came; +I took the sun from their presence, I cut them down with my blast, +And they died, but the Flag of England blew free ere the spirit + passed. + +'The lean white bear hath seen it in the long, long Arctic night, +The musk-ox knows the standard that flouts the Northern Light: +What is the Flag of England? Ye have but my bergs to dare, +Ye have but my drifts to conquer. Go forth, for it is there!' + +The South Wind sighed:--'From the Virgins my mid-sea course was ta'en +Over a thousand islands lost in an idle main, +Where the sea-egg flames on the coral and the long-backed breakers + croon +Their endless ocean legends to the lazy, locked lagoon. + +'Strayed amid lonely islets, mazed amid outer keys, +I waked the palms to laughter--I tossed the scud in the breeze-- +Never was isle so little, never was sea so lone, +But over the scud and the palm-trees an English flag was flown. + +'I have wrenched it free from the halliard to hang for a wisp on the + Horn; +I have chased it north to the Lizard--ribboned and rolled and torn; +I have spread its fold o'er the dying, adrift in a hopeless sea; +I have hurled it swift on the slaver, and seen the slave set free. + +'My basking sunfish know it, and wheeling albatross, +Where the lone wave fills with fire beneath the Southern Cross. +What is the Flag of England? Ye have but my reefs to dare, +Ye have but my seas to furrow. Go forth, for it is there! + +The East Wind roared:--'From the Kuriles, the Bitter Seas, +I come, And me men call the Home-Wind, for I bring the English home. +Look--look well to your shipping! By the breath of my mad typhoon +I swept your close-packed Praya and beached your best at Kowloon! + +'The reeling junks behind me and the racing seas before, +I raped your richest roadstead--I plundered Singapore! +I set my hand on the Hoogli; as a hooded snake she rose, +And I flung your stoutest steamers to roost with the startled crows. + +'Never the lotus closes, never the wild-fowl wake, +But a soul goes out on the East Wind that died for England's sake-- +Man or woman or suckling, mother or bride or maid-- +Because on the bones of the English the English Flag is stayed. + +'The desert-dust hath dimmed it, the flying wild-ass knows, +The scared white leopard winds it across the taintless snows. +What is the Flag of England? Ye have but my sun to dare, +Ye have but my sands to travel. Go forth, for it is there!' + +The West Wind called:--'In squadrons the thoughtless galleons fly +That bear the wheat and cattle lest street-bred people die. +They make my might their porter, they make my house their path, +Till I loose my neck from their rudder and whelm them all in my + wrath. + +'I draw the gliding fog-bank as a snake is drawn from the hole, +They bellow one to the other, the frighted ship-bells toll, +For day is a drifting terror till I raise the shroud with my breath, +And they see strange bows above them and the two go locked to death. + +'But whether in calm or wrack-wreath, whether by dark or day, +I heave them whole to the conger or rip their plates away, +First of the scattered legions, under a shrieking sky, +Dipping between the rollers, the English Flag goes by. + +'The dead dumb fog hath wrapped it--the frozen dews have kissed-- +The naked stars have seen it, the fellow-star in the mist. +What is the Flag of England? Ye have but my breath to dare, +Ye have but my waves to conquer. Go forth, for it is there!' + + + + +ENGLAND'S ANSWER + +Truly ye come of The Blood; slower to bless than to ban; +Little used to lie down at the bidding of any man. +Flesh of the flesh that I bred, bone of the bone that I bare; +Stark as your sons shall be--stern as your fathers were. +Deeper than speech our love, stronger than life our tether, +But we do not fall on the neck nor kiss when we come together. +My arm is nothing weak, my strength is not gone by; +Sons, I have borne many sons, but my breasts are not dry, +Look, I have made ye a place and opened wide the doors, +That ye may talk together, your Barons and Councillors-- +Wards of the Outer March, Lords of the Lower Seas, +Ay, talk to your gray mother that bore you on her knees!-- +That ye may talk together, brother to brother's face-- +Thus for the good of your peoples--thus for the Pride of the Race. +Also, we will make promise. So long as The Blood endures, +I shall know that your good is mine: ye shall feel that my strength + is yours: +In the day of Armageddon, at the last great fight of all, +That Our House stand together and the pillars do not fall. +Draw now the threefold knot firm on the ninefold bands, +And the Law that ye make shall be law after the rule of your lands. +This for the waxen Heath, and that for the Wattle-bloom, +This for the Maple-leaf, and that for the southern Broom. +The Law that ye make shall be law and I do not press my will, +Because ye are Sons of The Blood and call me Mother still. +Now must ye speak to your kinsmen and they must speak to you, +After the use of the English, in straight-flung words and few. +Go to your work and be strong, halting not in your ways, +Balking the end half-won for an instant dole of praise. +Stand to your work and be wise--certain of sword and pen, +Who are neither children nor Gods, but men in a world of men! + + + + +THE OVERLAND MAIL + +[FOOT-SERVICE TO THE HILLS] + + In the name of the Empress of India, make way, + O Lords of the Jungle, wherever you roam, + The woods are astir at the close of the day + --We exiles are waiting for letters from Home. + Let the robber retreat--let the tiger turn tail-- + In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail! + + With a jingle of bells as the dusk gathers in, + He turns to the foot-path that heads up the hill-- + The bags on his back and a cloth round his chin, + And, tucked in his waistbelt, the Post Office bill;-- + 'Despatched on this date, as received by the rail, + '_Per_ runner, two bags of the Overland Mail.' + + Is the torrent in spate? He must ford it or swim. + Has the rain wrecked the road? He must climb by the cliff. + Does the tempest cry 'halt'? What are tempests to him? + The service admits not a 'but' or an 'if.' + While the breath's in his mouth, he must bear without fail, + In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail. + + From aloe to rose-oak, from rose-oak to fir, + From level to upland, from upland to crest, + From rice-field to rock-ridge, from rock-ridge to spur, + Fly the soft-sandalled feet, strains the brawny brown chest. + From rail to ravine--to the peak from the vale-- + Up, up through the night goes the Overland Mail. + + There's a speck on the hill-side, a dot on the road-- + A jingle of bells on the foot-path below-- + There's a scuffle above in the monkey's abode-- + The world is awake and the clouds are aglow. + For the great Sun himself must attend to the hail: + --'In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail!' + + + + +IN SPRING TIME + +My garden blazes brightly with the rose-bush and the peach, +And the _köil_ sings above it, in the _siris_ by the well, +From the creeper-covered trellis comes the squirrel's chattering + speech, +And the blue jay screams and flutters where the cheery _satbhai_ + dwell. +But the rose has lost its fragrance, and the _köil's_ note is + strange; +I am sick of endless sunshine, sick of blossom-burdened bough. +Give me back the leafless woodlands where the winds of Springtime + range-- +Give me back one day in England, for it's Spring in England now! +Through the pines the gusts are booming, o'er the brown fields + blowing chill, +From the furrow of the plough-share streams the fragrance of the + loam, +And the hawk nests on the cliffside and the jackdaw in the hill, +And my heart is back in England 'mid the sights and sounds of Home. +But the garland of the sacrifice this wealth of rose and peach is, +Ah! _köil_, little _köil_, singing on the _siris_ bough, +In my ears the knell of exile your ceaseless bell-like speech is-- +Can _you_ tell me aught of England or of Spring in England now? + + +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD. +THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, GLASGOW. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Kipling Reader, by Rudyard Kipling + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KIPLING READER *** + +***** This file should be named 16578-8.txt or 16578-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/7/16578/ + +Produced by Roy Brown + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/16578-8.zip b/16578-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8eea6c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/16578-8.zip diff --git a/16578.txt b/16578.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a874253 --- /dev/null +++ b/16578.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7576 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Kipling Reader, by Rudyard Kipling + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Kipling Reader + Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling + +Author: Rudyard Kipling + +Release Date: August 21, 2005 [EBook #16578] +Last updated: March 27, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KIPLING READER *** + + + + +Produced by Roy Brown + + + + + +THE KIPLING READER + +SELECTIONS FROM THE BOOKS OF RUDYARD KIPLING + +NEW AND REVISED EDITION + +MACMILLAN AND CO, LIMITED +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON +1923 + + + +COPYRIGHT + +First Edition 1900. Reprinted with corrections 1901. +Reprinted 1907, 1908, 1910, 1912, 1914, 1916, 1918 (twice), +1919 (twice), 1920, 1921, 1923. + +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN + + + + +CONTENTS + +PROSE + +'RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI' +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR PART I +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR PART II +WEE WILLIE WINKIE +A MATTER OF FACT +MOWGLI'S BROTHERS +THE LOST LEGION +NAMGAY DOOLA +A GERM-DESTROYER +'TIGER! TIGER!' +TODS' AMENDMENT +THE STORY OF MUHAMMAD DIN +THE FINANCES OF THE GODS +MOTI GUJ--MUTINEER + + +POETRY + +THE NATIVE BORN +THE FLOWERS +MUNICIPAL +THE COASTWISE LIGHTS +THE ENGLISH FLAG +ENGLAND'S ANSWER +THE OVERLAND MAIL +IN SPRING TIME + + + + +'RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI' + + At the hole where he went in + Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin. + Hear what little Red-Eye saith: + 'Nag, come up and dance with death!' + + Eye to eye and head to head, + (_Keep the measure, Nag_.) + This shall end when one is dead; + (_At thy pleasure, Nag_.) + Turn for turn and twist for twist-- + (_Run and hide thee, Nag_.) + Hah! The hooded Death has missed! + (_Woe betide thee, Nag!_) + +This is the story of the great war that Rikki-tikki-tavi fought +single-handed, through the bath-rooms of the big bungalow in Segowlee +cantonment. Darzee, the tailor-bird, helped him, and Chuchundra, the +musk-rat, who never comes out into the middle of the floor, but +always creeps round by the wall, gave him advice; but Rikki-tikki did +the real fighting. + +He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, +but quite like a weasel in his head and habits. His eyes and the end +of his restless nose were pink; he could scratch himself anywhere he +pleased, with any leg, front or back, that he chose to use; he could +fluff up his tail till it looked like a bottle-brush, and his +war-cry, as he scuttled through the long grass, was: +'_Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!_' + +One day, a high summer flood washed him out of the burrow where he +lived with his father and mother, and carried him, kicking and +clucking, down a roadside ditch. He found a little wisp of grass +floating there, and clung to it till he lost his senses. When he +revived, he was lying in the hot sun on the middle of a garden path, +very draggled indeed, and a small boy was saying: 'Here's a dead +mongoose. Let's have a funeral.' + +'No,' said his mother; 'let's take him in and dry him. Perhaps he +isn't really dead.' + +They took him into the house, and a big man picked him up between his +finger and thumb, and said he was not dead but half choked; so they +wrapped him in cotton-wool, and warmed him and he opened his eyes and +sneezed. + +'Now,' said the big man (he was an Englishman who had just moved into +the bungalow); 'don't frighten him and we'll see what he'll do.' + +It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because +he is eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity. The motto of all the +mongoose family is 'Run and find out'; and Rikki-tikki was a true +mongoose. He looked at the cotton-wool, decided that it was not good +to eat, ran all round the table, sat up and put his fur in order, +scratched himself, and jumped on the small boy's shoulder. + +'Don't be frightened, Teddy,' said his father. 'That's his way of +making friends.' + +'Ouch! He's tickling under my chin,' said Teddy. + +Rikki-tikki looked down between the boy's collar and neck, snuffed at +his ear, and climbed down to the floor, where he sat rubbing his +nose. + +'Good gracious,' said Teddy's mother, 'and that's a wild creature! I +suppose he's so tame because we've been kind to him.' + +'All mongooses are like that,' said her husband. 'If Teddy doesn't +pick him up by the tail, or try to put him in a cage, he'll run in +and out of the house all day long. Let's give him something to eat.' + +They gave him a little piece of raw meat. Rikki tikki liked it +immensely, and when it was finished he went out into the verandah and +sat in the sunshine and fluffed up his fur to make it dry to the +roots. Then he felt better. + +'There are more things to find out about in this house,' he said to +himself, 'than all my family could find out in all their lives. I +shall certainly stay and find out.' + +He spent all that day roaming over the house. He nearly drowned +himself in the bath tubs, put his nose into the ink on a +writing-table, and burnt it on the end of the big man's cigar, for he +climbed up in the big man's lap to see how writing was done. At +nightfall he ran into Teddy's nursery to watch how the kerosene-lamps +were lighted, and when Teddy went to bed Rikki-tikki climbed up too; +but he was a restless companion, because he had to get up and attend +to every noise all through the night, and find out what made it. +Teddy's mother and father came in, the last thing, to look at their +boy, and Rikki-tikki was awake on the pillow. 'I don't like that,' +said Teddy's mother; 'he may bite the child.' 'He'll do no such +thing,' said the father. 'Teddy's safer with that little beast than +if he had a bloodhound to watch him. If a snake came into the nursery +now----' + +But Teddy's mother wouldn't think of anything so awful. + +Early in the morning Rikki-tikki came to early breakfast-in the +verandah riding on Teddy's shoulder, and they gave him banana and +some boiled egg; and he sat on all their laps one after the other, +because every well-brought-up mongoose always hopes to be a +house-mongoose some day and have rooms to run about in, and +Rikki-tikki's mother (she used to live in the General's house at +Segowlee) had carefully told Rikki what to do if ever he came across +white men. + +Then Rikki-tikki went out into the garden to see what was to be seen. +It was a large garden, only half cultivated, with bushes as big as +summer-houses of Marshal Niel roses, lime and orange trees, clumps of +bamboos, and thickets of high grass. Rikki-tikki licked his lips. +'This is a splendid hunting-ground,' he said, and his tail grew +bottle-brushy at the thought of it, and he scuttled up and down the +garden, snuffing here and there till he heard very sorrowful voices +in a thorn-bush. + +It was Darzee, the tailor-bird, and his wife. They had made a +beautiful nest by pulling two big leaves together and stitching them +up the edges with fibres, and had filled the hollow with cotton and +downy fluff. The nest swayed to and fro, as they sat on the rim and +cried. + +'What is the matter?' asked Rikki-tikki. + +'We are very miserable,' said Darzee. 'One of our babies fell out of +the nest yesterday, and Nag ate him.' + +'H'm!' said Rikki-tikki, 'that is very sad--but I am a stranger here. +Who is Nag?' + +Darzee and his wife only cowered down in the nest without answering, +for from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low +hiss--a horrid cold sound that made Rikki-tikki jump back two clear +feet. Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up the head and spread +hood of Nag, the big black cobra, and he was five feet long from +tongue to tail. When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the +ground, he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion-tuft +balances in the wind, and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked +snake's eyes that never change their expression, whatever the snake +may be thinking of. + +'Who is Nag?' said he. '_I_ am Nag. The great god Brahm put his mark +upon all our people when the first cobra spread his hood to keep the +sun off Brahm as he slept. Look, and be afraid!' + +He spread out his hood more than ever, and Rikki-tikki saw the +spectacle-mark on the back of it that looks exactly like the eye part +of a hook-and-eye fastening. He was afraid for the minute; but it is +impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time, +and though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before, his mother +had fed him on dead ones, and he knew that all a grown mongoose's +business in life was to fight and eat snakes. Nag knew that too, and +at the bottom of his cold heart he was afraid. + +'Well,' said Rikki-tikki, and his tail began to fluff up again, +'marks or no marks, do you think it is right for you to eat +fledglings out of a nest?' + +Nag was thinking to himself, and watching the least little movement +in the grass behind Rikki-tikki. He knew that mongooses in the garden +meant death sooner or later for him and his family, but he wanted to +get Rikki-tikki off his guard. So he dropped his head a little, and +put it on one side. + +'Let us talk,' he said. 'You eat eggs. Why should not I eat birds?' + +'Behind you! Look behind you!' sang Darzee. + +Rikki-tikki knew better than to waste time in staring. He jumped up +in the air as high as he could go, and just under him whizzed by the +head of Nagaina, Nag's wicked wife. She had crept up behind him as he +was talking, to make an end of him; and he heard her savage hiss as +the stroke missed. He came down almost across her back, and if he had +been an old mongoose he would have known that then was the time to +break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible +lashing return-stroke of the cobra. He bit, indeed, but did not bite +long enough, and he jumped clear of the whisking tail, leaving +Nagaina torn and angry. + +'Wicked, wicked Darzee!' said Nag, lashing up as high as he could +reach toward the nest in the thorn-bush; but Darzee had built it out +of reach of snakes, and it only swayed to and fro. + +Rikki-tikki felt his eyes growing red and hot (when a mongoose's eyes +grow red, he is angry), and he sat back on his tail and hind legs +like a little kangaroo, and looked all round him, and chattered with +rage. But Nag and Nagaina had disappeared into the grass. When a +snake misses its stroke, it never says anything or gives any sign of +what it means to do next. Rikki-tikki did not care to follow them, +for he did not feel sure that he could manage two snakes at once. So +he trotted off to the gravel path near the house, and sat down to +think. It was a serious matter for him. + +If you read the old books of natural history, you will find they say +that when the mongoose fights the snake and happens to get bitten, he +runs off and eats some herb that cures him. That is not true. The +victory is only a matter of quickness of eye and quickness of +foot,--snake's blow against mongoose's jump,--and as no eye can +follow the motion of a snake's head when it strikes, that makes +things much more wonderful than any magic herb. Rikki-tikki knew he +was a young mongoose, and it made him all the more pleased to think +that he had managed to escape a blow from behind. It gave him +confidence in himself, and when Teddy came running down the path, +Rikki-tikki was ready to be petted. + +But just as Teddy was stooping, something flinched a little in the +dust, and a tiny voice said: 'Be careful. I am death!' It was Karait, +the dusty brown snakeling that lies for choice on the dusty earth; +and his bite is as dangerous as the cobra's. But he is so small that +nobody thinks of him, and so he does the more harm to people. + +Rikki-tikki's eyes grew red again, and he danced up to Karait with +the peculiar rocking, swaying motion that he had inherited from his +family. It looks very funny, but it is so perfectly balanced a gait +that you can fly off from it at any angle you please; and in dealing +with snakes this is an advantage. If Rikki-tikki had only known, he +was doing a much more dangerous thing than fighting Nag, for Karait +is so small, and can turn so quickly, that unless Rikki bit him close +to the back of the head, he would get the return-stroke in his eye or +lip. But Rikki did not know: his eyes were all red, and he rocked +back and forth, looking for a good place to hold. Karait struck out. +Rikki jumped sideways and tried to run in, but the wicked little +dusty gray head lashed within a fraction of his shoulder, and he had +to jump over the body, and the head followed his heels close. + +Teddy shouted to the house: 'Oh, look here! Our mongoose is killing a +snake'; and Rikki-tikki heard a scream from Teddy's mother. His +father ran out with a stick, but by the time he came up, Karait had +lunged out once too far, and Rikki-tikki had sprung, jumped on the +snake's back, dropped his head far between his fore-legs, bitten as +high up the back as he could get hold, and rolled away. That bite +paralysed Karait, and Rikki-tikki was just going to eat him up from +the tail, after the custom of his family at dinner, when he +remembered that a full meal makes a slow mongoose, and if he wanted +all his strength and quickness ready, he must keep himself thin. + +He went away for a dust-bath under the castor-oil bushes, while +Teddy's father beat the dead Karait. 'What is the use of that?' +thought Rikki-tikki. 'I have settled it all'; and then Teddy's mother +picked him up from the dust and hugged him, crying that he had saved +Teddy from death, and Teddy's father said that he was a providence, +and Teddy looked on with big scared eyes. Rikki-tikki was rather +amused at all the fuss, which, of course, he did not understand. +Teddy's mother might just as well have petted Teddy for playing in +the dust. Rikki was thoroughly enjoying himself. + +That night, at dinner, walking to and fro among the wine-glasses on +the table, he could have stuffed himself three times over with nice +things; but he remembered Nag and Nagaina, and though it was very +pleasant to be patted and petted by Teddy's mother, and to sit on +Teddy's shoulder, his eyes would get red from time to time, and he +would go off into his long war cry of '_Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!_' + +Teddy carried him off to bed, and insisted on Rikki-tikki sleeping +under his chin. Rikki-tikki was too well bred to bite or scratch, but +as soon as Teddy was asleep he went off for his nightly walk round +the house, and in the dark he ran up against Chuchundra, the +musk-rat, creeping round by the wall. Chuchundra is a broken-hearted +little beast, He whimpers and cheeps all the night, trying to make up +his mind to run into the middle of the room, but he never gets there. + +'Don't kill me,' said Chuchundra, almost weeping. 'Rikki-tikki, don't +kill me.' + +'Do you think a snake-killer kills musk-rats?' said Rikki-tikki +scornfully. + +'Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes,' said Chuchundra, more +sorrowfully than ever. 'And how am I to be sure that Nag won't +mistake me for you some dark night?' + +'There's not the least danger,' said Rikki-tikki; 'but Nag is in the +garden, and I know you don't go there.' + +'My cousin Chua, the rat, told me----' said Chuchundra, and then he +stopped. + +'Told you what?' + +'H'sh! Nag is everywhere, Rikki-tikki. You should have talked to Chua +in the garden.' + +'I didn't--so you must tell me. Quick, Chuchundra, or I'll bite you!' + +Chuchundra sat down and cried till the tears rolled off his whiskers. +'I am a very poor man,' he sobbed. 'I never had spirit enough to run +out into the middle of the room. H'sh! I mustn't tell you anything. +Can't you _hear_, Rikki-tikki?' + +Rikki-tikki listened. The house was as still as still, but he thought +he could just catch the faintest _scratch-scratch_ in the world,--a +noise as faint as that of a wasp walking on a window-pane,--the dry +scratch of a snake's scales on brickwork. + +'That's Nag or Nagaina,' he said to himself; 'and he's crawling into +the bath-room sluice. You're right, Chuchundra; I should have talked +to Chua.' + +He stole off to Teddy's bath-room, but there was nothing there, and +then to Teddy's mother's bath-room. At the bottom of the smooth +plaster wall there was a brick pulled out to make a sluice for the +bath-water, and as Rikki-tikki stole in by the masonry curb where the +bath is put, he heard Nag and Nagaina whispering together outside in +the moonlight. + +'When the house is emptied of people,' said Nagaina to her husband, +'_he_ will have to go away, and then the garden will be our own +again. Go in quietly, and remember that the big man who killed Karait +is the first one to bite. Then come out and tell me, and we will hunt +for Rikki-tikki together.' + +'But are you sure that there is anything to be gained by killing the +people?' said Nag. + +'Everything. When there were no people in the bungalow, did we have +any mongoose in the garden? So long as the bungalow is empty, we are +king and queen of the garden; and remember that as soon as our eggs +in the melon-bed hatch (as they may to-morrow), our children will +need room and quiet.' + +I had not thought of that,' said Nag. 'I will go, but there is no +need that we should hunt for Rikki-tikki afterward. I will kill the +big man and his wife, and the child if I can, and come away quietly. +Then the bungalow will be empty, and Rikki-tikki will go.' + +Rikki-tikki tingled all over with rage and hatred at this, and then +Nag's head came through the sluice, and his five feet of cold body +followed it. Angry as he was, Rikki-tikki was very frightened as he +saw the size of the big cobra. Nag coiled himself up, raised his +head, and looked into the bath-room in the dark, and Rikki could see +his eyes glitter. + +'Now, if I kill him here, Nagaina will know; and if I fight him on +the open floor, the odds are in his favour. What am I to do?' said +Rikki-tikki-tavi. + +Nag waved to and fro, and then Rikki-tikki heard him drinking from +the biggest water-jar that was used to fill the bath. 'That is good,' +said the snake. 'Now, when Karait was killed, the big man had a +stick. He may have that stick still, but when he comes in to bathe in +the morning he will not have a stick. I shall wait here till he +comes. Nagaina--do you hear me?--I shall wait here in the cool till +daytime.' + +There was no answer from outside, so Rikki-tikki knew Nagaina had +gone away. Nag coiled himself down, coil by coil, round the bulge at +the bottom of the water-jar, and Rikki-tikki stayed still as death. +After an hour he began to move, muscle by muscle, toward the jar. Nag +was asleep, and Rikki-tikki looked at his big back, wondering which +would be the best place for a good hold. 'If I don't break his back +at the first jump,' said Rikki, 'he can still fight; and if he +fights--O Rikki!' He looked at the thickness of the neck below the +hood, but that was too much for him; and a bite near the tail would +only make Nag savage. + +'It must be the head,' he said at last; 'the head above the hood; and +when I am once there, I must not let go.' + +Then he jumped. The head was lying a little clear of the water-jar, +under the curve of it; and, as his teeth met, Rikki braced his back +against the bulge of the red earthen-rare to hold down the head. +This gave him just one second's purchase, and he made the most of it. +Then he was battered to and fro as a rat is shaken by a dog--to and +fro on the floor, up and down, and round in great circles; at his +eyes were red, and he held on as the body cart-whipped over the +floor, upsetting the tin dipper and the soap-dish and the +flesh-brush, and banged against the tin side of the bath. As he held +he closed his jaws tighter and tighter, for he made sure he would be +banged to death, and, for the honour of his family, preferred to be +found with his teeth locked. He was dizzy, aching, and felt shaken to +pieces when something went off like a thunderclap just behind him; a +hot wind knocked him senseless, and red fire singed his fur. The man +had been wakened by the noise, and had fired both barrels of a +shot-gun into Nag just behind the hood. + +Rikki-tikki held on with his eyes shut, for now he was quite sure he +was dead; but the head did not move, and the big man picked him up +and said: 'It's the mongoose again, Alice; the little chap has saved +_our_ lives now.' Then Teddy's mother came in with a very white face, +and saw what was left of Nag, and Rikki-tikki dragged himself Teddy's +bedroom and spent half the rest of the night shaking himself +tenderly to find out whether he really broken into forty pieces, as +he fancied. + +When morning came he was very stiff, but well pleased with his +doings. 'Now I have Nagaina to settle with, and she will be worse +than five Nags, and there's no knowing when the eggs she spoke of +will hatch. Goodness! I must go and see Darzee,' he said. + +Without waiting for breakfast, Rikki-tikki ran to the thorn-bush +where Darzee was singing a song of triumph at the top of his voice. +The news of Nag's death was all over the garden, for the sweeper had +thrown the body on the rubbish-heap. + +'Oh, you stupid tuft of feathers!' said Rikki-tikki angrily. 'Is this +the time to sing?' + +'Nag is dead--is dead--is dead!' sang Darzee. 'The valiant +Rikki-tikki caught him by the head and held fast. The big man brought +the bang-stick, and Nag fell in two pieces! He will never eat my +babies again.' + +'All that's true enough; but where's Nagaina?' said Rikki-tikki, +looking carefully round him. + +'Nagaina came to the bath-room sluice and called for Nag,' Darzee +went on; 'and Nag came out on the end of a stick--the sweeper picked +him up on the end of a stick and threw him upon the rubbish-heap. Let +us sing about the great, the red-eyed Rikki-tikki!' and Darzee filled +his throat and sang. + +'If I could get up to your nest, I'd roll all your babies out!' said +Rikki-tikki. 'You don't know when to do the right thing at the right +time. You're safe enough in your nest there, but it's war for me down +here. Stop singing a minute, Darzee.' + +'For the great, the beautiful Rikki-tikki's sake I will stop,' said +Darzee. 'What is it, O killer of the terrible Nag?' + +'Where is Nagaina, for the third time?' + +'On the rubbish-heap by the stables, mourning for Nag. Great is +Rikki-tikki with the white teeth.' + +'Bother my white teeth! Have you ever heard where she keeps her +eggs?' + +'In the melon-bed, on the end nearest the wall, where the sun strikes +nearly all day. She hid them three weeks ago.' + +'And you never thought it worth while to tell me? The end nearest the +wall, you said?' + +'Rikki-tikki, you are not going to eat her eggs?' + +'Not eat exactly; no. Darzee, if you have a grain of sense you will +fly off to the stables and pretend that your wing is broken, and let +Nagaina chase you away to this bush! I must get to the melon-bed, and +if I went there now she'd see me.' + +Darzee was a feather-brained little fellow who could never hold more +than one idea at a time in his head; and just because he knew that +Nagaina's children were born in eggs like his own, he didn't think at +first that it was fair to kill them. But his wife was a sensible +bird, and she knew that cobra's eggs meant young cobras later on; so +she flew off from the nest, and left Darzee to keep the babies warm, +and continue his song about the death of Nag. Darzee was very like a +man in some ways. + +She fluttered in front of Nagaina by the rubbish-heap, and cried out, +'Oh, my wing is broken! The boy in the house threw a stone at me and +broke it.' Then she fluttered more desperately than ever. + +Nagaina lifted up her head and hissed, 'You warned Rikki-tikki when +I would have killed him. Indeed and truly, you've chosen a bad place +to be lame in.' And she moved toward Darzee's wife, slipping along +over the dust. + +'The boy broke it with a stone!' shrieked Darzee's wife. + +'Well! It may be some consolation to you when you're dead to know +that I shall settle accounts with the boy. My husband lies on the +rubbish-heap this morning, but before night the boy in the house will +lie very still. What is the use of running away? I am sure to catch +you. Little fool, look at me!' + +Darzee's wife knew better than to do _that_, for a bird who looks at +a snake's eyes gets so frightened that she cannot move. Darzee's wife +fluttered on, piping sorrowfully, and never leaving the ground, and +Nagaina quickened her pace. + +Rikki-tikki heard them going up the path from the stables, and he +raced for the end of the melon-patch near the wall. There, in the +warm litter about the melons, very cunningly hidden, he found +twenty-five eggs, about the size of a bantam's eggs, but with +whitish skin instead of shell. + +'I was not a day too soon,' he said; for he could see the baby cobras +curled up inside the skin, and he knew that the minute they were +hatched they could each kill a man or a mongoose. He bit off the tops +of the eggs as fast as he could, taking care to crush the young +cobras, and turned over the litter from time to time to see whether +he had missed any. At last there were only three eggs left, and +Rikki-tikki began to chuckle to himself, when he heard Darzee's wife +screaming: + +'Rikki-tikki, I led Nagaina toward the house, and she has gone into +the verandah, and--oh, come quickly--she means killing!' + +Rikki-tikki smashed two eggs, and tumbled backward down the melon-bed +with the third egg in his mouth, and scuttled to the verandah as hard +as he could put foot to the ground. Teddy and his mother and father +were there at early breakfast; but Rikki-tikki saw that they were not +eating anything. They sat stone-still, and their faces were white. +Nagaina was coiled up on the matting by Teddy's chair, within easy +striking distance of Teddy's bare leg, and she was swaying to and fro +singing a song of triumph. + +'Son of the big man that killed Nag,' she hissed, 'stay still. I am +not ready yet. Wait a little. Keep very still, all you three. If you +move I strike, and if you do not move I strike. Oh, foolish people, +who killed my Nag!' + +Teddy's eyes were fixed on his father, and all his father could do +was to whisper, 'Sit still, Teddy. You mustn't move. Teddy, keep +still.' + +Then Rikki-tikki came up and cried: 'Turn round, Nagaina; turn and +fight!' + +'All in good time,' said she, without moving her eyes. 'I will settle +my account with _you_ presently. Look at your friends, Rikki-tikki. +They are still and white; they are afraid. They dare not move, and if +you come a step nearer I strike.' + +'Look at your eggs,' said Rikki-tikki, 'in the melon-bed near the +wall. Go and look, Nagaina.' + +The big snake turned half round, and saw the egg on the verandah. +'Ah-h! Give it to me,' she said. + +Rikki-tikki put his paws one on each side of the egg, and his eyes +were blood-red. 'What price for a snake's egg? For a young cobra? For +a young king-cobra? For the last--the very last of the brood? The +ants are eating all the others down by the melon-bed.' + +Nagaina spun clear round, forgetting everything for the sake of the +one egg; and Rikki-tikki saw Teddy's father shoot out a big hand, +catch Teddy by the shoulder, and drag him across the little table +with the tea-cups, safe and out of reach of Nagaina. + +'Tricked! Tricked! Tricked! _Rikk-tck-tck!_' chuckled Rikki-tikki. +'The boy is safe, and it was I--I--I that caught Nag by the hood last +night in the bath-room.' Then he began to jump up and down, all four +feet together, his head close to the floor. 'He threw me to and fro, +but he could not shake me off. He was dead before the big man blew +him in two. I did it. _Rikki-tikki-tck-tck!_ Come then, Nagaina. Come +and fight with me. You shall not be a widow long.' + +Nagaina saw that she had lost her chance of killing Teddy, and the +egg lay between Rikki-tikki's paws. 'Give me the egg, Rikki-tikki. +Give me the last of my eggs, and I will go away and never come back,' +she said, lowering her hood. + +'Yes, you will go away, and you will never come back; for you will +go to the rubbish-heap with Nag. Fight, widow! The big man has gone +for his gun! Fight!' + +Rikki-tikki was bounding all round Nagaina, keeping just out of +reach of her stroke, his little eyes like hot coals. Nagaina +gathered herself together, and flung out at him. Rikki-tikki jumped +up and backward. Again and again and again she struck, and each time +her head came with a whack on the matting of the verandah, and she +gathered herself together like a watch-spring. Then Rikki-tikki +danced in a circle to get behind her, and Nagaina spun round to keep +her head to his head, so that the rustle of her tail on the matting +sounded like dry leaves blown along by the wind. + +He had forgotten the egg. It still lay on the verandah, and Nagaina +came nearer and nearer to it, till at last, while Rikki-tikki was +drawing breath, she caught it in her mouth, turned to the verandah +steps and flew like an arrow down the path, with Rikki-tikki behind +her. When the cobra runs for her life, she goes like a whip-lash +flicked across a horse's neck. + +Rikki-tikki knew that he must catch her, or all the trouble would +begin again. She headed straight for the long grass by the +thorn-bush, and as he was running Rikki-tikki heard Darzee still +singing his foolish little song of triumph. But Darzee's wife was +wiser. She flew off her nest as Nagaina came along and flapped her +wings about Nagaina's head. If Darzee had helped they might have +turned her; but Nagaina only lowered her hood and went on. Still, the +instant's delay brought Rikki-tikki up to her, and as she plunged +into the rat-hole where she and Nag used to live, his little white +teeth were clenched on her tail, and he went down with her--and very +few mongooses, however wise and old they may be, care to follow a +cobra into its hole. It was dark in the hole; and Rikki-tikki never +knew when it might open out and give Nagaina room to turn and strike +at him. He held on savagely, and struck out his feet to act as brakes +on the dark slope of the hot, moist earth. + +Then the grass by the mouth of the hole stopped waving, and Darzee +said: 'It is all over with Rikki-tikki! We must sing his death-song. +Valiant Rikki-tikki is dead! For Nagaina will surely kill him +underground.' + +So he sang a very mournful song that he made up on the spur of the +minute, and just as he got to the most touching part the grass +quivered again, and Rikki-tikki, covered with dirt, dragged himself +out of the hole leg by leg, licking his whiskers. Darzee stopped with +a little shout. Rikki-tikki shook some of the dust out of his fur and +sneezed. 'It is all over,' he said. 'The widow will never come out +again.' And the red ants that live between the grass stems heard him, +and began to troop down one after another to see if he had spoken the +truth. + +Rikki-tikki curled himself up in the grass and slept where he +was--slept and slept till it was late in the afternoon, for he had +done a hard day's work. + +'Now,' he said, when he awoke, 'I will go back to the house. Tell the +Coppersmith, Darzee, and he will tell the garden that Nagaina is +dead.' + +The Coppersmith is a bird who makes a noise exactly like the beating +of a little hammer on a copper pot; and the reason he is always +making it is because he is the town-crier to every Indian garden, and +tells all the news to everybody who cares to listen. As Rikki-tikki +went up the path, he heard his 'attention' notes like a tiny +dinner-gong; and then the steady '_Ding-dong-lock!_ Nag is +dead--_dong!_ Nagaina is dead! _Ding-dong-tock!_' That set all the +birds in the garden singing, and the frogs croaking; for Nag and +Nagaina used to eat frogs as well as little birds. + +When Rikki got to the house, Teddy and Teddy's mother (she looked +very white still, for she had been fainting) and Teddy's father +came out and almost cried over him; and that night he ate all +that was given him till he could I eat no more, and went to bed on +Teddy's shoulder, where Teddy's mother saw him when she came to look +late at night. + +'He saved our lives and Teddy's life,' she said to her husband. +'Just think, he saved all our lives.' + +Rikki-tikki woke up with a jump, for all the mongooses are light +sleepers. + +'Oh, it's you,' said he. 'What are you bothering for? All the cobras +are dead; and if they weren't, I'm here.' + +Rikki-tikki had a right to be proud of himself; but he did not grow +too proud, and he kept that garden as a mongoose should keep it, with +tooth and jump and spring and bite, till never a cobra dared show its +head inside the walls. + + + + +DARZEE'S CHAUNT. + + (SUNG IN HONOUR OF RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI.) + + Singer and tailor am I-- + Doubled the joys that I know-- + Proud of my lilt through the sky, + Proud of the house that I sew-- +Over and under, so weave I my music--so weave I the house that I sew. + + Sing to your fledglings again, + Mother, oh lift up your head! + Evil that plagued us is slain, + Death in the garden lies dead. +Terror that hid in the roses is impotent--flung on the dung-hill + and dead! + + Who hath delivered us, who? + Tell me his nest and his name. + Rikki, the valiant, the true, + Tikki, with eyeballs of flame, +Rik-tikki-tikki, the ivory-fanged, the hunter with eyeballs of flame. + + Give him the Thanks of the Birds, + Bowing with tail-feathers spread! + Praise him with nightingale words-- + Nay, I will praise him instead. +Hear! I will sing you the praise of the bottle-tailed Rikki, with + eyeballs of red! + +(_Here Rikki-tikki interrupted, and the rest of the song is lost_.) + + + + +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR PART I + + I have done one braver thing + Than all the worthies did; + And yet a braver thence doth spring, + Which is to keep that hid. + THE UNDERTAKING. + +'Is it officially declared yet?' + +'They've gone as far as to admit extreme local scarcity, and they've +started relief-works in one or two districts, the paper says.' + +'That means it will be declared as soon as they can make sure of the +men and the rolling-stock. Shouldn't wonder if it were as bad as the +Big Famine.' + +'Can't be,' said Scott, turning a little in the long cane chair. +'We've had fifteen-anna crops in the north, and Bombay and Bengal +report more than they know what to do with. They'll be able to check +it before it gets out of hand. It will only be local.' + +Martyn picked up the _Pioneer_ from the table, read through the +telegrams once more, and put up his feet on the chair-rests. It was a +hot, dark, breathless evening, heavy with the smell of the +newly-watered Mall. The flowers in the Club gardens were dead and +black on their stalks, the little lotus-pond was a circle of caked +mud, and the tamarisk-trees were white with the dust of days. Most of +the men were at the bandstand in the public gardens--from the Club +verandah you could hear the native Police band hammering stale +waltzes--or on the polo-ground or in the high-walled fives-court, +hotter than a Dutch oven. Half a dozen grooms, squatted at the heads +of their ponies, waited their masters' return. From time to time a +man would ride at a foot-pace into the Club compound, and listlessly +loaf over to the whitewashed barracks beside the main building. These +were supposed to be chambers. Men lived in them, meeting the same +faces night after night at dinner, and drawing out their office-work +till the latest possible hour, that they might escape that doleful +company. + +'What are you going to do?' said Martyn, with a yawn. 'Let's have a +swim before dinner.' + +'Water's hot,' said Scott. 'I was at the bath to-day.' + +'Play you game o' billiards--fifty up.' + +'It's a hundred and five in the hall now. Sit still and don't be so +abominably energetic.' + +A grunting camel swung up to the porch, his badged and belted rider +fumbling a leather pouch. + +'_Kubber-kargaz--ki--yektraaa_,' the man whined, handing down the +newspaper extra--a slip printed on one side only, and damp from the +press. It was pinned on the green baize-board, between notices of +ponies for sale and fox-terriers missing. + +Martyn rose lazily, read it, and whistled. 'It's declared!' he cried. +'One, two, three--eight districts go under the operation of the +Famine Code _ek dum_. They've put Jimmy Hawkins in charge.' + +'Good business!' said Scott, with the first sign of interest he had +shown. 'When in doubt hire a Punjabi. I worked under Jimmy when I +first came out and he belonged to the Punjab. He has more _bundobust_ +than most men.' + +'Jimmy's a Jubilee Knight now,' said Martyn. 'He was a good chap, +even though he is a thrice-born civilian and went to the Benighted +Presidency. What unholy names these Madras districts rejoice in--all +_ungas_ or _rungas_ or _pillays_ or _polliums_.' + +A dog-cart drove up, and a man entered, mopping his head. He was +editor of the one daily paper at the capital of a province of +twenty-five million natives and a few hundred white men, and as his +staff was limited to himself and one assistant, his office hours ran +variously from ten to twenty a day. + +'Hi, Raines; you're supposed to know everything,' said Martyn, +stopping him. 'How's this Madras "scarcity" going to turn out?' + +'No one knows as yet. There's a message as long as your arm coming in +on the telephone. I've left my cub to fill it out. Madras has owned +she can't manage it alone, and Jimmy seems to have a free hand in +getting all the men he needs. Arbuthnot's warned to hold himself in +readiness.' + +'"Badger" Arbuthnot?' + +'The Peshawur chap. Yes, and the _Pi_ wires that Ellis and Clay have +been moved from the North-West already, and they've taken half a +dozen Bombay men, too. It's pukka famine, by the looks of it.' + +'They're nearer the scene of action than we are; but if it comes to +indenting on the Punjab this early, there's more in this than meets +the eye,' said Martyn. + +'Here to-day and gone to-morrow. Didn't come to stay for ever,' said +Scott, dropping one of Marryat's novels, and rising to his feet. +'Martyn, your sister's waiting for you.' + +A rough gray horse was backing and shifting at the edge of the +verandah, where the light of a kerosene-lamp fell on a brown calico +habit and a white face under a gray felt hat. + +'Right, O,' said Martyn. 'I'm ready. Better come and dine with us if +you've nothing to do, Scott. William, is there any dinner in the +house?' + +'I'll go home first and see,' was the rider's answer. 'You can drive +him over--at eight, remember.' + +Scott moved leisurely to his room, and changed into the evening-dress +of the season and the country: spotless white linen from head to +foot, with a broad silk cummerbund. Dinner at the Martyns' was a +decided improvement on the goat-mutton, twiney-tough fowl, and +tinned entrees of the Club. But it was a great pity Martyn could not +afford to send his sister to the Hills for the hot weather. As an +Acting District Superintendent of Police, Martyn drew the magnificent +pay of six hundred depreciated silver rupees a month, and his little +four-roomed bungalow said just as much. There were the usual +blue-and-white striped jail-made rugs on the uneven floor; the usual +glass studded Amritsar _phulkaris_ draped to nails driven into the +flaking whitewash of the walls; the usual half-dozen chairs that did +not match, picked up at sales of dead men's effects; and the usual +streaks of black grease where the leather punka-thong ran through the +wall. It was as though everything had been unpacked the night before +to be repacked next morning. Not a door in the house was true on its +hinges. The little windows, fifteen feet up, were darkened with +wasp-nests, and lizards hunted flies between the beams of the +wood-ceiled roof. But all this was part of Scott's life. Thus did +people live who had such an income; and in a land where each man's +pay, age, and position are printed in a book, that all may read, it +is hardly worth while to play at pretences in word or deed. Scott +counted eight years' service in the Irrigation Department, and drew +eight hundred rupees a month, on the understanding that if he served +the State faithfully for another twenty-two years he could retire on +a pension of some four hundred rupees a month. His working life, +which had been spent chiefly under canvas or in temporary shelters +where a man could sleep, eat, and write letters, was bound up with +the opening and guarding of irrigation canals, the handling of two or +three thousand workmen of all castes and creeds, and the payment of +vast sums of coined silver. He had finished that spring, not without +credit, the last section of the great Mosuhl Canal, and--much against +his will, for he hated office work--had been sent in to serve during +the hot weather on the accounts and supply side of the Department, +with sole charge of the sweltering sub-office at the capital of the +Province. Martyn knew this; William, his sister, knew it; and +everybody knew it. + +Scott knew, too, as well as the rest of the world, that Miss Martyn +had come out to India four years before, to keep house for her +brother, who, as everyone, again, knew, had borrowed the money to pay +for her passage, and that she ought, as all the world said, to have +married long ago. Instead of this, she had refused some half a dozen +subalterns, a civilian twenty years her senior, one major, and a man +in the Indian Medical Department. This, too, was common property. She +had 'stayed down three hot weathers,' as the saying is, because her +brother was in debt and could not afford the expense of her keep at +even a cheap hill-station. Therefore her face was white as bone, and +in the centre of her forehead was a big silvery scar about the size +of a shilling--the mark of a Delhi sore, which is the same as a +'Bagdad date.' This comes from drinking bad water, and slowly eats +into the flesh till it is ripe enough to be burned out with acids. + +None the less William had enjoyed herself hugely in her four years. +Twice she had been nearly drowned while fording a river on horseback; +once she had been run away with on a camel; had witnessed a midnight +attack of thieves on her brother's camp; had seen justice +administered with long sticks, in the open under trees; could speak +Urdu and even rough Punjabi with a fluency that was envied by her +seniors; had altogether fallen out of the habit of writing to her +aunts in England, or cutting the pages of the English magazines; had +been through a very bad cholera year, seeing sights unfit to be told; +and had wound up her experiences by six weeks of typhoid fever, +during which her head had been shaved; and hoped to keep her +twenty-third birthday that September. It is conceivable that her +aunts would not have approved of a girl who never set foot on the +ground if a horse were within hail; who rode to dances with a shawl +thrown over her skirt; who wore her hair cropped and curling all over +her head; who answered indifferently to the name of William or Bill; +whose speech was heavy with the flowers of the vernacular; who could +act in amateur theatricals, play on the banjo, rule eight servants +and two horses, their accounts and their diseases, and look men +slowly and deliberately between the eyes--yea, after they had +proposed to her and been rejected. + +'I like men who do things,' she had confided to a man in the +Educational Department, who was teaching the sons of cloth merchants +and dyers the beauty of Wordsworth's 'Excursion' in annotated +cram-books; and when he grew poetical, William explained that she +'didn't understand poetry very much; it made her head ache,' and +another broken heart took refuge at the Club. But it was all +William's fault. She delighted in hearing men talk of their own work, +and that is the most fatal way of bringing a man to your feet. + +Scott had known her more or less for some three years, meeting her, +as a rule, under canvas when his camp and her brother's joined for a +day on the edge of the Indian Desert. He had danced with her several +times at the big Christmas gatherings, when as many as five hundred +white people came into the station; and he had always a great +respect for her housekeeping and her dinners. + +She looked more like a boy than ever when, after their meal, she sat, +one foot tucked under her, on the leather camp-sofa, rolling +cigarettes for her brother, her low forehead puckered beneath the +dark curls as she twiddled the papers. She stuck out her rounded +chin when the tobacco stayed in place, and, with a gesture as true as +a school-boy's throwing a stone, tossed the finished article across +the room to Martyn, who caught it with one hand, and continued his +talk with Scott. It was all 'shop,'--canals and the policing of +canals; the sins of villagers who stole more water than they had paid +for, and the grosser sin of native constables who connived at the +thefts; of the transplanting bodily of villages to newly-irrigated +ground, and of the coming fight with the desert in the south when the +Provincial funds should warrant the opening of the long-surveyed Luni +Protective Canal System. And Scott spoke openly of his great desire +to be put on one particular section of the work where he knew the +land and the people, and Martyn sighed for a billet in the Himalayan +foot-hills, and spoke his mind of his superiors, and William rolled +cigarettes and said nothing, but smiled gravely on her brother +because he was happy. + +At ten Scott's horse came to the door, and the evening was ended. + +The lights of the two low bungalows in which the daily paper was +printed showed bright across the road. It was too early to try to +find sleep, and Scott drifted over to the editor. Raines, stripped +to the waist like a sailor at a gun, lay in a long chair, waiting +for night telegrams. He had a theory that if a man did not stay by +his work all day and most of the night he laid himself open to fever; +so he ate and slept among his files. + +'Can you do it?' he said drowsily. 'I didn't mean to bring you over.' + +'About what? I've been dining at the Martyns'.' + +'The famine, of course, Martyn's warned for it, too. They're taking +men where they can find 'em. I sent a note to you at the Club just +now, asking if you could do us a letter once a week from the +south--between two and three columns, say. Nothing sensational, of +course, but just plain facts about who is doing what, and so forth. +Our regular rates--ten rupees a column.' + +'Sorry, but it's out of my line,' Scott answered, staring absently at +the map of India on the wall. 'It's rough on Martyn--very. Wonder +what he'll do with his sister. Wonder what the deuce they'll do with +me? I've no famine experience. This is the first I've heard of it. +_Am_ I ordered?' + +'Oh, yes. Here's the wire. They'll put you on relief-works,' Raines +went on, 'with a horde of Madrassis dying like flies; one native +apothecary and half a pint of cholera-mixture among the ten thousand +of you. It comes of your being idle for the moment. Every man who +isn't doing two men's work seems to have been called upon. Hawkins +evidently believes in Punjabis. It's going to be quite as bad as +anything they have had in the last ten years.' + +'It's all in the day's work, worse luck. I suppose I shall get my +orders officially some time to morrow. I'm glad I happened to drop +in. Better go and pack my kit now. Who relieves me here--do you +know?' + +Raines turned over a sheaf of telegrams. 'McEuan,' said he, 'from +Murree.' + +Scott chuckled. 'He thought he was going to be cool all summer. He'll +be very sick about this. Well, no good talking. Night.' + +Two hours later, Scott, with a clear conscience, laid himself down to +rest on a string cot in a bare room. Two worn bullock-trunks, a +leather water-bottle, a tin ice-box, and his pet saddle sewed up in +sacking were piled at the door, and the Club secretary's receipt for +last month's bill was under his pillow. His orders came next morning, +and with them an unofficial telegram from Sir James Hawkins, who did +not forget good men, bidding him report himself with all speed at +some unpronounceable place fifteen hundred miles to the south, for +the famine was sore in the land, and white men were needed. + +A pink and fattish youth arrived in the red-hot noonday, whimpering a +little at fate and famines, which never allowed any one three months' +peace. He was Scott's successor--another cog in the machinery, moved +forward behind his fellow, whose services, as the official +announcement ran, 'were placed at the disposal of the Madras +Government for famine duty until further orders.' Scott handed over +the funds in his charge, showed him the coolest corner in the office, +warned him against excess of zeal, and, as twilight fell, departed +from the Club in a hired carriage, with his faithful body servant, +Faiz Ullah, and a mound of disordered baggage atop, to catch the +Southern Mail at the loopholed and bastioned railway-station. The +heat from the thick brick walls struck him across the face as if it +had been a hot towel, and he reflected that there were at least five +nights and four days of travel before him. Faiz Ullah, used to the +chances of service, plunged into the crowd on the stone platform, +while Scott, a black cheroot between his teeth, waited till his +compartment should be set away. A dozen native policemen, with their +rifles and bundles, shouldered into the press of Punjabi farmers, +Sikh craftsmen, and greasy-locked Afreedee pedlars, escorting with +all pomp Martyn's uniform case, water-bottles, ice-box, and +bedding-roll. They saw Faiz Ullah's lifted hand, and steered for it. + +'My Sahib and your Sahib,' said Faiz Ullah to Martyn's man, 'will +travel together. Thou and I, O brother, will thus secure the +servants' places close by, and because of our masters' authority none +will dare to disturb us.' + +When Faiz Ullah reported all things ready, Scott settled down +coatless and bootless on the broad leather-covered bunk. The heat +under the iron-arched roof of the station might have been anything +over a hundred degrees. At the last moment Martyn entered, hot and +dripping. + +'Don't swear,' said Scott, lazily; 'it's too late to change your +carriage; and we'll divide the ice.' + +'What are you doing here?' said the policeman. + +'Lent to the Madras Government, same as you. By Jove, it's a bender +of a night! Are you taking any of your men down?' + +'A dozen. Suppose I'll have to superintend relief distributions. +Didn't know you were under orders too.' + +'I didn't till after I left you last night. Raines had the news +first. My orders came this morning. McEuan relieved me at four, and +I got off at once. Shouldn't wonder if it wouldn't be a good +thing--this famine--if we come through it alive.' + +'Jimmy ought to put you and me to work together,' said Martyn; and +then, after a pause: 'My sister's here.' + +'Good business,' said Scott, heartily. 'Going to get off at Umballa, +I suppose, and go up to Simla. Who'll she stay with there?' + +'No-o; that's just the trouble of it. She's going down with me.' + +Scott sat bolt upright under the oil lamp as the train jolted past +Tarn-Taran station. 'What! You don't mean you couldn't afford--' + +'Oh, I'd have scraped up the money somehow.' + +'You might have come to me, to begin with,' said Scott, stiffly; 'we +aren't altogether strangers.' + +'Well, you needn't be stuffy about it. I might, but--you don't know +my sister. I've been explaining and exhorting and entreating and +commanding and all the rest of it all day--lost my temper since seven +this morning, and haven't got it back yet--but she wouldn't hear of +any compromise, A woman's entitled to travel with her husband if she +wants to, and William says she's on the same footing. You see, we've +been together all our lives, more or less, since my people died. It +isn't as if she were an ordinary sister.' + +'All the sisters I've ever heard of would have stayed where they were +well off.' + +'She's as clever as a man, confound her,' Martyn went on. 'She broke +up the bungalow over my head while I was talking at her. Settled the +whole _subchiz_ [outfit] in three hours--servants, horses, and all. I +didn't get my orders till nine. + +'Jimmy Hawkins won't be pleased,' said Scott. 'A famine's no place +for a woman.' + +'Mrs. Jim--I mean Lady Jim's in camp with him. At any rate, she says +she will look after my sister. William wired down to her on her own +responsibility, asking if she could come, and knocked the ground from +under me by showing me her answer.' + +Scott laughed aloud. 'If she can do that she can take care of +herself, and Mrs. Jim won't let her run into any mischief. There +aren't many women, sisters or wives, who would walk into a famine +with their eyes open. It isn't as if she didn't know what these +things mean. She was through the Jaloo cholera last year.' + +The train stopped at Amritsar, and Scott went back to the ladies' +compartment, immediately behind their carriage. William, a cloth +riding-cap on her curls, nodded affably. + +'Come in and have some tea,' she said. 'Best thing in the world for +heat-apoplexy.' + +'Do I look as if I were going to have heat-apoplexy?' + +'Never can tell,' said William, wisely. 'It's always best to be +ready.' + +She had arranged her belongings with the knowledge of an old +campaigner. A felt-covered water-bottle hung in the draught of one +of the shuttered windows; a tea-set of Russian china, packed in a +wadded basket, stood ready on the seat: and a travelling spirit-lamp +was clamped against the woodwork above it. + +William served them generously, in large cups, hot tea, which saves +the veins of the neck from swelling inopportunely on a hot night. It +was characteristic of the girl that, her plan of action once settled, +she asked for no comments on it. Life with men who had a great deal +of work to do, and very little time to do it in, had taught her the +wisdom of effacing as well as of fending for herself. She did not by +word or deed suggest that she would be useful, comforting, or +beautiful in their travels, but continued about her business +serenely: put the cups back without clatter when tea was ended, and +made cigarettes for her guests. + +'This time last night,' said Scott, 'we didn't expect--er--this kind +of thing, did we?' + +'I've learned to expect anything,' said William. 'You know, in our +service, we live at the end of the telegraph; but, of course, this +ought to be a good thing for us all, departmentally--if we live.' + +'It knocks us out of the running in our own Province,' Scott replied, +with equal gravity. 'I hoped to be put on the Luni Protective Works +this cold weather; but there's no saying how long the famine may keep +us.' + +'Hardly beyond October I should think,' said Martyn. 'It will be +ended, one way or the other, then.' + +'And we've nearly a week of this,' said William. 'Sha'n't we be dusty +when it's over?' + +For a night and a day they knew their surroundings; and for a night +and a day, skirting the edge of the great Indian Desert on a +narrow-gauge line, they remembered how in the days of their +apprenticeship they had come by that road from Bombay. Then the +languages in which the names of the stations were written changed, +and they launched south into a foreign land, where the very +smells were new. Many long and heavily-laden grain trains were in +front of them, and they could feel the hand of Jimmy Hawkins from +far off. They waited in extemporised sidings blocked by processions +of empty trucks returning to the north, and were coupled on to +slow, crawling trains, and dropped at midnight, Heaven knew where; +but it was furiously hot; and they walked to and fro among sacks, +and dogs howled. + +Then they came to an India more strange to them than to the +untravelled Englishman--the flat, red India of palm-tree, +palmyra-palm, and rice, the India of the picture-books, of _Little +Henry and His Bearer_--all dead and dry in the baking heat. They had +left the incessant passenger-traffic of the north and west far and +far behind them. Here the people crawled to the side of the train, +holding their little ones in their arms; and a loaded truck would +be left behind, men and women clustering round and above it like ants +by spilled honey. Once in the twilight they saw on a dusty plain a +regiment of little brown men, each bearing a body over his shoulder; +and when the train stopped to leave yet another truck, they perceived +that the burdens were not corpses, but only foodless folk picked up +beside their dead oxen by a corps of Irregular troops. Now they met +more white men, here one and there two, whose tents stood close to +the line, and who came armed with written authorities and angry words +to cut off a truck. They were too busy to do more than nod at Scott +and Martyn, and stare curiously at William, who could do nothing +except make tea, and watch how her men staved off the rush of +wailing, walking skeletons, putting them down three at a time in +heaps, with their own hands uncoupling the marked trucks, or taking +receipts from the hollowed-eyed, weary white men, who spoke another +argot than theirs. + +They ran out of ice, out of soda-water, and out of tea; for they were +six days and seven nights on the road, and it seemed to them like +seven times seven years. + +At last, in a dry, hot dawn, in a land of death, lit by long red +fires of railway sleepers, where they were burning the dead, they +came to their destination, and were met by Jim Hawkins, the Head of +the Famine, unshaven, unwashed, but cheery, and entirely in command +of affairs. + +Martyn, he decreed, then and there, was to live on trains till +further orders; was to go back with empty trucks, filling them with +starving people as he found them, and dropping them at a famine-camp +on the edge of the Eight Districts. He would pick up supplies and +return, and his constables would guard the loaded grain-cars, also +picking up people, and would drop them at a camp a hundred miles +south. Scott--Hawkins was very glad to see Scott again--would, that +same hour, take charge of a convoy of bullock-carts, and would go +south, feeding as he went, to yet another famine-camp, far from the +rail, where he would leave his starving--there would be no lack of +starving on the route--and wait for orders by telegraph. Generally, +Scott was in all small things to do what he thought best. + +William bit her under lip. There was no one in the wide world like +her one brother, but Martyn's orders gave him no discretion. She came +out, masked with dust from head to foot, a horse-shoe wrinkle on her +forehead, put here by much thinking during the past week, but as +self-possessed as ever. Mrs. Jim--who should have been Lady Jim, but +that no one remembered to call her aright--took possession of her +with a little gasp. + +'Oh, I'm so glad you're here,' she almost sobbed. 'You oughtn't to, +of course, but there--there isn't another woman in the place, and we +must help each other, you know; and we've all the wretched people and +the little babies they are selling.' + +'I've seen some,' said William. + +'Isn't it ghastly? I've bought twenty; they're in our camp; but won't +you have something to eat first? We've more than ten people can do +here; and I've got a horse for you. Oh, I'm so glad you've come! +You're a Punjabi too, you know.' + +'Steady, Lizzie,' said Hawkins, over his shoulder. 'We'll look after +you, Miss Martyn. Sorry I can't ask you to breakfast, Martyn. You'll +have to eat as you go. Leave two of your men to help Scott. These +poor devils can't stand up to load carts. Saunders' (this to the +engine-driver, half asleep in the cab), 'back down and get those +empties away.' You've 'line clear' to Anundrapillay; they'll give you +orders north of that. Scott, load up your carts from that B.P.P. +truck, and be off as soon as you can. The Eurasian in the pink shirt +is your interpreter and guide. You'll find an apothecary of sorts +tied to the yoke of the second wagon. He's been trying to bolt; +you'll have to look after him. Lizzie, drive Miss Martyn to camp, and +tell them to send the red horse down here for me.' + +Scott, with Faiz Ullah and two policemen, was already busy on the +carts, backing them up to the truck and unbolting the sideboards +quietly, while the others pitched in the bags of millet and wheat. +Hawkins watched him for as long as it took to fill one cart. + +'That's a good man,' he said. 'If all goes well I shall work +him--hard.' This was Jim Hawkins's notion of the highest compliment +one human being could pay another. + +An hour later Scott was under way; the apothecary threatening him +with the penalties of the law for that he, a member of the +Subordinate Medical Department, had been coerced and bound against +his will and all laws governing the liberty of the subject; the +pink-shirted Eurasian begging leave to see his mother, who happened +to be dying some three miles, away: 'Only verree, verree short leave +of absence, and will presently return, sar--'; the two constables, +armed with staves, bringing up the rear; and Faiz Ullah, a +Mohammedan's contempt for all Hindoos and foreigners in every line of +his face, explaining to the drivers that though Scott Sahib was a man +to be feared on all fours, he, Faiz Ullah, was Authority itself. + +The procession creaked past Hawkins's camp--three stained tents under +a clump of dead trees; behind them the famine-shed where a crowd of +hopeless ones tossed their arms around the cooking-kettles. + +'Wish to Heaven William had kept out of it,' said Scott to himself, +after a glance. 'We'll have cholera, sure as a gun, when the Rains +come.' + +But William seemed to have taken kindly to the operations of the +Famine Code, which, when famine is declared, supersede the workings +of the ordinary law. Scott saw her, the centre of a mob of weeping +women, in a calico riding-habit and a blue-gray felt hat with a gold +puggaree. + +'I want fifty rupees, please. I forgot to ask Jack before he went +away. Can you lend it me? It's for condensed milk for the babies,' +said she. + +Scott took the money from his belt, and handed it over without a +word. 'For goodness sake take care of yourself,' he said. + +'Oh, I shall be all right. We ought to get the milk in two days. By +the way, the orders are, I was to tell you, that you're to take one +of Sir Jim's horses. There's a gray Cabuli here that I thought would +be just your style, so I've said you'd take him. Was that right?' + +'That's awfully good of you. We can't either of us talk much about +style, I'm afraid.' + +Scott was in a weather-stained drill shooting-kit, very white at the +seams and a little frayed at the wrists. William regarded him +thoughtfully, from his pith helmet to his greased ankle-boots. 'You +look very nice, I think. Are you sure you've everything you'll +need--quinine, chlorodyne, and so on?' + +'Think so,' said Scott, patting three or four of his shooting pockets +as the horse was led up, and he mounted and rode alongside his +convoy. + +'Good-bye,' he cried. + +'Good-bye, and good luck,' said William. 'I'm awfully obliged for the +money.' She turned on a spurred heel and disappeared into the tent, +while the carts pushed on past the famine-sheds, past the roaring +lines of the thick, fat fires, down to the baked Gehenna of the +South. + + + + +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR + +PART II + + So let us melt and make no noise, + No tear-floods nor sigh-tempests move; + 'Twere profanation of our joys + To tell the laity our love. + A VALEDICTION. + +It was punishing work, even though he travelled by night and camped +by day; but within the limits of his vision there was no man whom +Scott could call master. He was as free as Jimmy Hawkins--freer, in +fact, for the Government held the Head of the Famine tied neatly to a +telegraph-wire, and if Jimmy had ever regarded telegrams seriously, +the death-rate of that famine would have been much higher than it +was. + +At the end of a few days' crawling Scott learned something of the +size of the India which he served; and it astonished him. His carts, +as you know, were loaded with wheat, millet, and barley, good +food-grains needing only a little grinding. But the people to whom he +brought the life-giving stuffs were rice eaters. They knew how to +hull rice in their mortars, but they knew nothing of the heavy stone +querns of the North, and less of the material that the white man +convoyed so laboriously. They clamoured for rice--unhusked paddy, +such as they were accustomed to--and, when they found that there was +none, broke away weeping from the sides of the cart. What was the use +of these strange hard grains that choked their throats? They would +die. And then and there were many of them kept their word. Others +took their allowance, and bartered enough millet to feed a man +through a week for a few handfuls of rotten rice saved by some less +unfortunate. A few put their shares into the rice-mortars, pounded +it, and made a paste with foul water; but they were very few. Scott +understood dimly that many people in the India of the South ate rice, +as a rule, but he had spent his service in a grain Province, had +seldom seen rice in the blade or the ear, and least of all would +have believed that, in time of deadly need, men would die at arm's +length of plenty, sooner than touch food they did not know. In vain +the interpreters interpreted; in vain his two policemen showed by +vigorous pantomime what should be done. The starving crept away to +their bark and weeds, grubs, leaves, and clay, and left the open +sacks untouched. But sometimes the women laid their phantoms of +children at Scott's feet, looking back as they staggered away. + +Faiz Ullah opined it was the will of God that these foreigners should +die, and therefore it remained only to give orders to burn the dead. +None the less there was no reason why the Sahib should lack his +comforts, and Faiz Ullah, a campaigner of experience, had picked up a +few lean goats and had added them to the procession. That they might +give milk for the morning meal, he was feeding them on the good grain +that these imbeciles rejected. 'Yes,' said Faiz Ullah; 'if the Sahib +thought fit, a little milk might be given to some of the babies'; +but, as the Sahib well knew, babies were cheap, and, for his own +part, Faiz Ullah held that there was no Government order as to +babies. Scott spoke forcefully to Faiz Ullah and the two policemen, +and bade them capture goats where they could find them. This they +most joyfully did, for it was a recreation, and many ownerless goats +were driven in. Once fed, the poor brutes were willing enough to +follow the carts, and a few days' good food--food such as human +beings died for lack of--set them in milk again. + +'But I am no goatherd,' said Faiz Ullah. 'It is against my _izzat_ +[my honour].' + +'When we cross the Bias River again we will talk of _izzat_,' Scott +replied. 'Till that day thou and the policemen shall be sweepers to +the camp, if I give the order.' + +'Thus, then, it is done,' grunted Faiz Ullah, 'if the Sahib will have +it so'; and he showed how a goat should be milked, while Scott stood +over him. + +'Now we will feed them,' said Scott; 'thrice a day we will feed +them'; and he bowed his back to the milking, and took a horrible +cramp. + +When you have to keep connection unbroken between a restless mother +of kids and a baby who is at the point of death, you suffer in all +your system. But the babies were fed. Morning, noon and evening Scott +would solemnly lift them out one by one from their nest of gunny-bags +under the cart-tilts. There were always many who could do no more +than breathe, and the milk was dropped into their toothless mouths +drop by drop, with due pauses when they choked. Each morning, too, +the goats were fed; and since they would struggle without a leader, +and since the natives were hirelings, Scott was forced to give up +riding, and pace slowly at the head of his flocks, accommodating +his step to their weaknesses. All this was sufficiently absurd, and +he felt the absurdity keenly; but at least he was saving life, and +when the women saw that their children did not die, they made shift +to eat a little of the strange foods, and crawled after the carts, +blessing the master of the goats. + +'Give the women something to live for,' said Scott to himself, as +he sneezed in the dust of a hundred little feet, 'and they'll hang +on somehow. But this beats William's condensed milk trick all to +pieces. I shall never live it down, though.' + +He reached his destination very slowly, found that a rice-ship had +come in from Burmah, and that stores of paddy were available; found +also an overworked Englishman in charge of the shed, and, loading the +carts, set back to cover the ground he had already passed. He left +some of the children and half his goats at the famine-shed. For this +he was not thanked by the Englishman, who had already more stray +babies than he knew what to do with. Scott's back was suppled to +stooping now, and he went on with his wayside ministrations in +addition to distributing the paddy. More babies and more goats were +added unto him; but now some of the babies wore rags, and beads round +their wrists or necks. '_That_,' said the interpreter, as though +Scott did not know, 'signifies that their mothers hope in eventual +contingency to resume them offeecially.' + +'The sooner the better,' said Scott; but at the same time he marked, +with the pride of ownership, how this or that little Ramasawmy was +putting on flesh like a bantam. As the paddy carts were emptied he +headed for Hawkins's camp by the railway, timing his arrival to fit +in with the dinner-hour, for it was long since he had eaten at a +cloth. He had no desire to make any dramatic entry, but an accident +of the sunset ordered it that, when he had taken off his helmet to +get the evening breeze, the low light should fall across his +forehead, and he could not see what was before him; while one +waiting at the tent door beheld, with new eyes, a young man, +beautiful as Paris, a god in a halo of golden dust, walking slowly +at the head of his flocks, while at his knee ran small naked Cupids. +But she laughed--William, in a slate-coloured blouse, laughed +consumedly till Scott, putting the best face he could upon the +matter, halted his armies and bade her admire the kindergarten. It +was an unseemly sight, but the proprieties had been left ages ago, +with the tea-party at Amritsar Station, fifteen hundred miles to the +northward. + +'They are coming on nicely,' said William. 'We've only +five-and-twenty here now. The women are beginning to take them away +again.' + +'Are you in charge of the babies, then?' + +'Yes--Mrs. Jim and I. We didn't think of goats, though. We've been +trying condensed milk and water.' + +'Any losses?' + +'More than I care to think of,' said William, with a shudder. 'And +you?' + +Scott said nothing. There had been many little burials along his +route--many mothers who had wept when they did not find again the +children they had trusted to the care of the Government. + +Then Hawkins came out carrying a razor, at which Scott looked +hungrily, for he had a beard that he did not love. And when they +sat down to dinner in the tent he told his tale in few words, as it +might have been an official report. Mrs. Jim snuffled from time to +time, and Jim bowed his head judicially; but William's gray eyes were +on the clean-shaven face, and it was to her that Scott seemed to +speak. + +'Good for the Pauper Province!' said William, her chin in her hand, +as she leaned forward among the wine-glasses. Her cheeks had fallen +in, and the scar on her forehead was more prominent than ever, but +the well-turned neck rose roundly as a column from the ruffle of the +blouse which was the accepted evening-dress in camp. + +'It was awfully absurd at times,' said Scott. 'You see I didn't know +much about milking or babies. They'll chaff my head off, if the tale +goes north.' + +'Let 'em,' said William, haughtily. 'We've all done coolie-work +since we came. I know Jack has.' This was to Hawkins's address, and +the big man smiled blandly. + +'Your brother's a highly efficient officer, William,' said he, and +I've done him the honour of treating him as he deserves. Remember, I +write the confidential reports.' + +'Then you must say that William's worth her weight in gold,' said +Mrs. Jim. 'I don't know what we should have done without her. She has +been everything to us.' She dropped her hand upon William's, which +was rough with much handling of reins, and William patted it softly. +Jim beamed on the company. Things were going well with his world. +Three of his more grossly incompetent men had died, and their places +had been filled by their betters. Every day brought the rains nearer. +They had put out the famine in five of the Eight Districts, and, +after all, the death-rate had not been too heavy--things considered. +He looked Scott over carefully, as an ogre looks over a man, and +rejoiced in his thews and iron-hard condition. + +'He's just the least bit in the world tucked up,' said Jim to +himself, 'but he can do two men's work yet.' Then he was aware that +Mrs. Jim was telegraphing to him, and according to the domestic code +the message ran: 'A clear case. Look at them!' + +He looked and listened. All that William was saying was: 'What can +you expect of a country where they call a _bhistee_ [a water-carrier] +a _tunni-cutch?_' and all that Scott answered was: 'I shall be +precious glad to get back to the Club. Save me a dance at the +Christmas ball, won't you?' + +'It's a far cry from here to the Lawrence Hall,' said Jim. 'Better +turn in early, Scott. It's paddy-carts to-morrow; you'll begin +loading at five.' + +'Aren't you going to give Mr. Scott one day's rest?' + +'Wish I could, Lizzie. 'Fraid I can't. As long as he can stand up we +must use him.' + +'Well, I've had one Europe evening, at least ... By Jove, I'd nearly +forgotten! What do I do about those babies of mine?' + +'Leave them here,' said William--'we are in charge of that--and as +many goats as you can spare. I must learn how to milk now.' + +'If you care to get up early enough to-morrow I'll show you. I have +to milk, you see; and, by the way, half of em have beads and things +round their necks. You must be careful not to take 'em off, in case +the mothers turn up.' + +'You forget I've had some experience here.' + +'I hope to goodness you won't overdo.' Scott's voice was unguarded. + +'I'll take care of her,' said Mrs. Jim, telegraphing hundred-word +messages as she carried William off, while Jim gave Scott his orders +for the coming campaign. It was very late--nearly nine o'clock. + +'Jim, you're a brute,' said his wife, that night; and the Head of the +Famine chuckled. + +'Not a bit of it, dear I remember doing the first Jandiala Settlement +for the sake of a girl in a crinoline; and she was slender, Lizzie. +I've never done as good a piece of work since. _He_'ll work like a +demon.' + +'But you might have given him one day.' + +'And let things come to a head now? No, dear; it's their happiest +time.' + +'I don't believe either of the dears know what's the matter with +them. Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it lovely?' + +'Getting up at three to learn to milk, bless her heart! Ye gods, why +must we grow old and fat?' + +'She's a darling. She has done more work under me--' + +'Under _you!_ The day after she came she was in charge and you were +her subordinate, and you've stayed there ever since. She manages you +almost as well as you manage me.' + +'She doesn't, and that's why I love her. She's as direct as a man-as +her brother.' + +'Her brother's weaker than she is. He's always coming to me for +orders; but he's honest, and a glutton for work. I confess I'm +rather fond of William, and if I had a daughter--' + +The talk ended there. Far away in the Derajat was a child's grave +more than twenty years old, and neither Jim nor his wife spoke of it +any more. + +'All the same, you're responsible,' Jim added, after a moment's +silence. + +'Bless 'em,' said Mrs. Jim, sleepily. + +Before the stars paled, Scott, who slept in an empty cart, waked and +went about his work in silence; it seemed at that hour unkind to +rouse Faiz Ullah and the interpreter. His head being close to the +ground, he did not hear William till she stood over him in the dingy +old riding-habit, her eyes still heavy with sleep, a cup of tea and a +piece of toast in her hands. There was a baby on the ground, +squirming on a piece of blanket, and a six-year-old child peered over +Scott's shoulder. + +'Hai, you little rip,' said Scott, 'how the deuce do you expect to +get your rations if you aren't quiet?' + +A cool white hand steadied the brat, who forthwith choked as the milk +gurgled into his mouth. + +'Mornin',' said the milker. 'You've no notion how these little +fellows can wriggle.' + +'Oh, yes, I have.' She whispered, because the world was asleep. 'Only +I feed them with a spoon or a rag. Yours are fatter than mine.... +And you've been doing this day after day, twice a day?' The voice was +almost lost. + +'Yes; it was absurd. Now you try,' he said, giving place to the girl. +'Look out! A goat's not a cow.' + +The goat protested against the amateur, and there was a scuffle, in +which Scott snatched up the baby. Then it was all to do over again, +and William laughed softly and merrily. She managed, however, to feed +two babies, and a third. + +'Don't the little beggars take it well!' said Scott. 'I trained 'em.' + +They were very busy and interested, when, lo! it was broad daylight, +and before they knew, the camp was awake, and they kneeled among the +goats, surprised by the day, both flushed to the temples. Yet all the +round world rolling up out of the darkness might have heard and seen +all that had passed between them. + +'Oh,' said William, unsteadily, snatching up the tea and toast, 'I +had this made for you. It's stone-cold now. I thought you mightn't +have anything ready so early. Better not drink it. It's--it's +stone-cold.' + +'That's awfully kind of you. It's just right. It's awfully good of +you, really. I'll leave my kids and goats with you and Mrs. Jim; and, +of course, any one in camp can show you about the milking.' + +'Of course,' said William; and she grew pinker and pinker and +statelier and more stately, as she strode back to her tent, fanning +herself vigorously with the saucer. + +There were shrill lamentations through the camp when the elder +children saw their nurse move off without them. Faiz Ullah unbent so +far as to jest with the policemen, and Scott turned purple with shame +because Hawkins, already in the saddle, roared. + +A child escaped from the care of Mrs. Jim, and, running like a +rabbit, clung to Scott's boot, William pursuing with long, easy +strides. + +'I will not go--I will not go!' shrieked the child, twining his feet +round Scott's ankle. 'They will kill me here. I do not know these +people.' + +'I say,' said Scott, in broken Tamil, 'I say, she will do you no +harm. Go with her and be well fed.' + +'Come!' said William, panting, with a wrathful glance at Scott, who +stood helpless and, as it were, hamstrung. + +'Go back,' said Scott quickly to William. 'I'll send the little +chap over in a minute.' + +The tone of authority had its effect, but in a way Scott did not +exactly intend. The boy loosened his grasp, and said with gravity, +'I did not know the woman was thine. I will go.' Then he cried to +his companions, a mob of three-, four-, and five-year-olds waiting +on the success of his venture ere they stampeded: 'Go back and eat. +It is our man's woman. She will obey his orders.' + +Jim collapsed where he sat; Faiz Ullah and the two policemen grinned; +and Scott's orders to the cartmen flew like hail. + +'That is the custom of the Sahibs when truth is told in their +presence,' said Faiz Ullah. 'The time comes that I must seek new +service. Young wives, especially such as speak our language and have +knowledge of the ways of the Police, make great trouble for honest +butlers in the matter of weekly accounts.' + +What William thought of it all she did not say, but when her brother, +ten days later, came to camp for orders, and heard of Scott's +performances, he said, laughing: 'Well, that settles it. He'll be +_Bakri_ Scott to the end of his days' (_Bakri_, in the northern +vernacular, means a goat). 'What a lark! I'd have given a month's pay +to have seen him nursing famine babies. I fed some with _conjee_ +[rice-water], but that was all right.' + +'It's perfectly disgusting,' said his sister, with blazing eyes. 'A +man does something like--like that--and all you other men think of is +to give him an absurd nickname, and then you laugh and think it's +funny.' + +'Ah,' said Mrs. Jim, sympathetically. + +'Well, _you_ can't talk, William. You christened little Miss Demby +the Button-quail last cold weather; you know you did. India's the +land of nicknames.' + +That's different,' William replied. 'She was only a girl, and she +hadn't done anything except walk like a quail, and she _does_. But it +isn't fair to make fun of a man.' + +'Scott won't care,' said Martyn. 'You can't get a rise out of old +Scotty. I've been trying for eight years, and you've only known him +for three. How does he look?' + +'He looks very well,' said William, and went away with a flushed +cheek. '_Bakri_ Scott, indeed!' Then she laughed to herself, for she +knew the country of her service. 'But it will be _Bakri_ all the +same'; and she repeated it under her breath several times slowly, +whispering it into favour. + +When he returned to his duties on the railway, Martyn spread the name +far and wide among his associates, so that Scott met it as he led his +paddy-carts to war. The natives believed it to be some English title +of honour, and the cart-drivers used it in all simplicity till Faiz +Ullah, who did not approve of foreign japes, broke their heads. There +was very little time for milking now, except at the big camps, where +Jim had extended Scott's idea, and was feeding large flocks on the +useless northern grains. Enough paddy had come into the Eight +Districts to hold the people safe, if it were only distributed +quickly; and for that purpose no one was better than the big Canal +officer, who never lost his temper, never gave an unnecessary order, +and never questioned an order given. Scott pressed on, saving his +cattle, washing their galled necks daily, so that no time should be +lost on the road; reported himself with his rice at the minor +famine-sheds, unloaded, and went back light by forced night-march to +the next distributing centre, to find Hawkins's unvarying telegram: +'Do it again.' And he did it again and again, and yet again, while +Jim Hawkins, fifty miles away, marked off on a big map the tracks of +his wheels gridironing the stricken lands. Others did well--Hawkins +reported at the end that they all did well--but Scott was the most +excellent, for he kept good coined rupees by him, and paid for his +own cart-repairs on the spot, and ran to meet all sorts of +unconsidered extras, trusting to be recouped later. Theoretically, +the Government should have paid for every shoe and linchpin, for +every hand employed in the loading; but Government vouchers cash +themselves slowly, and intelligent and efficient clerks write at +great length, contesting unauthorised expenditures of eight annas. +The man who wishes to make his work a success must draw on his own +bank-account of money or other things as he goes. + +'I told you he'd work,' said Jimmy to his wife at the end of six +weeks. 'He's been in sole charge of a couple of thousand men up north +on the Mosuhl Canal for a year, and he gives one less trouble than +young Martyn with his ten constables; and I'm morally certain--only +Government doesn't recognise moral obligations--that he's spent about +half his pay to grease his wheels. Look at this, Lizzie, for one +week's work! Forty miles in two days with twelve carts; two days' +halt building a famine-shed for young Rogers (Rogers ought to have +built it himself, the idiot!). Then forty miles back again, loading +six carts on the way, and distributing all Sunday. Then in the +evening he pitches in a twenty-page demi-official to me, saying that +the people where he is might be "advantageously employed on +relief-work," and suggesting that he put 'em to work on some +broken-down old reservoir he's discovered, so as to have a good +water-supply when the Rains come. He thinks he can caulk the dam in a +fortnight. Look at his marginal sketches--aren't they clear and good? +I knew he was _pukka_, but I didn't know he was as _pukka_ as this!' + +'I must show these to William,' said Mrs. Jim. 'The child's wearing +herself out among the babies.' + +'Not more than you are, dear. Well, another two months ought to see +us out of the wood. I'm sorry it's not in my power to recommend you +for a V.C.' + +William sat late in her tent that night, reading through page after +page of the square handwriting, patting the sketches of proposed +repairs to the reservoir, and wrinkling her eyebrows over the columns +of figures of estimated water-supply. + +'And he finds time to do all this,' she cried to herself, +'and ... well, I also was present. I've saved one or two babies.' + +She dreamed for the twentieth time of the god in the golden dust, and +woke refreshed to feed loathsome black children, scores of them, +wastrels picked up by the wayside, their bones almost breaking their +skin, terrible and covered with sores. + +Scott was not allowed to leave his cart work, but his letter was duly +forwarded to the Government, and he had the consolation, not rare in +India, of knowing that another man was reaping where he had sown. +That also was discipline profitable to the soul. + +'He's much too good to waste on canals,' said Jimmy. 'Any one can +oversee coolies. You needn't be angry, William: he can--but I need my +pearl among bullock-drivers, and I've transferred him to the Khanda +district, where he'll have it all to do over again. He should be +marching now.' + +'He's _not_ a coolie,' said William furiously. 'He ought to be doing +his regulation work.' + +'He's the best man in his service, and that's saying a good deal; but +if you _must_ use razors to cut grindstones, why, I prefer the best +cutlery.' + +'Isn't it almost time we saw him again?' said Mrs. Jim. 'I'm sure the +poor boy hasn't had a respectable meal for a month. He probably sits +on a cart and eats sardines with his fingers.' + +'All in good time, dear. Duty before decency--wasn't it Mr. Chucks +said that?' + +'No; it was Midshipman Easy,' William laughed. 'I sometimes wonder +how it will feel to dance or listen to a band again, or sit under a +roof. I can't believe that I ever wore a ball-frock in my life.' + +'One minute,' said Mrs. Jim, who was thinking. 'If he goes to Khanda, +he passes within five miles of us. Of course he'll ride in.' + +'Oh, no, he won't,' said William. + +'How do you know, dear?' + +'It'll take him off his work. He won't have time.' + +'He'll make it,' said Mrs. Jim, with a twinkle. + +'It depends on his own judgment. There's absolutely no reason why he +shouldn't, if he thinks fit,' said Jim. + +'He won't see fit,' William replied, without sorrow or emotion. 'It +wouldn't be him if he did.' + +'One certainly gets to know people rather well in times like these,' +said Jim, drily; but William's face was serene as ever, and, even as +she prophesied, Scott did not appear. + +The Rains fell at last, late, but heavily; and the dry, gashed earth +was red mud, and servants killed snakes in the camp, where every one +was weather-bound for a fortnight--all except Hawkins, who took horse +and splashed about in the wet, rejoicing. Now the Government decreed +that seed-grain should be distributed to the people, as well as +advances of money for the purchase of new oxen; and the white men +were doubly worked for this new duty, while William skipped from +brick to brick laid down on the trampled mud, and dosed her charges +with warming medicines that made them rub their little round +stomachs; and the milch-goats throve on the rank grass. There was +never a word from Scott in the Khanda district, away to the +south-east, except the regular telegraphic report to Hawkins. The +rude country roads had disappeared; his drivers were half mutinous; +one of Martyn's loaned policemen had died of cholera; and Scott was +taking thirty grains of quinine a day to fight the fever that comes +if one works hard in heavy rain; but those were things he did not +consider necessary to report. He was, as usual, working from a base +of supplies on a railway line, to cover a circle of fifteen miles +radius, and since full loads were impossible, he took quarter-loads, +and toiled four times as hard by consequence; for he did not choose +to risk an epidemic which might have grown uncontrollable by +assembling villagers in thousands at the relief-sheds. It was cheaper +to take Government bullocks, work them to death, and leave them to +the crows in the wayside sloughs. + +That was the time when eight years of clean living and hard condition +told, though a man's head were ringing like a bell from the cinchona, +and the earth swayed under his feet when he stood and under his bed +when he slept. If Hawkins had seen fit to make him a bullock-driver, +that, he thought, was entirely Hawkins's own affair. There were men +in the North who would know what he had done; men of thirty years' +service in his own department who would say that it was 'not half +bad'; and above, immeasurably above all men of all grades, there was +William in the thick of the fight, who would approve because she +understood. He had so trained his mind that it would hold fast to the +mechanical routine of the day, though his own voice sounded strange +in his own ears, and his hands, when he wrote, grew large as pillows +or small as peas at the end of his wrists. That steadfastness bore +his body to the telegraph-office at the railway-station, and dictated +a telegram to Hawkins, saying that the Khanda district was, in his +judgment, now safe, and he 'waited further orders.' + +The Madrassee telegraph-clerk did not approve of a large, gaunt man +falling over him in a dead faint, not so much because of the weight, +as because of the names and blows that Faiz Ullah dealt him when he +found the body rolled under a bench. Then Faiz Ullah took blankets +and quilts and coverlets where he found them, and lay down under them +at his master's side, and bound his arms with a tent-rope, and filled +him with a horrible stew of herbs, and set the policeman to fight him +when he wished to escape from the intolerable heat of his coverings, +and shut the door of the telegraph-office to keep out the curious for +two nights and one day; and when a light engine came down the line, +and Hawkins kicked in the door, Scott hailed him weakly, but in a +natural voice, and Faiz Ullah stood back and took all the credit. + +'For two nights, Heaven-born, he was _pagal_' said Faiz Ullah. 'Look +at my nose, and consider the eye of the policeman. He beat us with +his bound hands; but we sat upon him, Heaven-born, and though his +words were _tez_, we sweated him. Heaven-born, never has been such a +sweat! He is weaker now than a child; but the fever has gone out of +him, by the grace of God. There remains only my nose and the eye of +the constabeel. Sahib, shall I ask for my dismissal because my Sahib +has beaten me?' And Faiz Ullah laid his long thin hand carefully on +Scott's chest to be sure that the fever was all gone, ere he went out +to open tinned soups and discourage such as laughed at his swelled +nose. + +'The district's all right,' Scott whispered. 'It doesn't make any +difference. You got my wire? I shall be fit in a week. 'Can't +understand how it happened. I shall be fit in a few days.' + +'You're coming into camp with us,' said Hawkins. + +'But look here--but--' + +'It's all over except the shouting. We sha'n't need you Punjabis any +more. On my honour, we sha'n't. Martyn goes back in a few weeks; +Arbuthnot's returned already; Ellis and Clay are putting the last +touches to a new feeder-line the Government's built as relief-work. +Morten's dead--he was a Bengal man, though; you wouldn't know him. +'Pon my word, you and Will--Miss Martyn--seem to have come through it +as well as anybody.' + +'Oh, how is she?' The voice went up and down as he spoke. + +'She was in great form when I left her. The Roman Catholic Missions +are adopting the unclaimed babies to turn them into little priests; +the Basil Mission is taking some, and the mothers are taking the +rest. You should hear the little beggars howl when they're sent away +from William. She's pulled down a bit, but so are we all. Now, when +do you suppose you'll be able to move?' + +'I can't come into camp in this state. I won't,' he replied +pettishly. + +'Well, you _are_ rather a sight, but from what I gathered there it +seemed to me they'd be glad to see you under any conditions. I'll +look over your work here, if you like, for a couple of days, and you +can pull yourself together while Faiz Ullah feeds you up.' + +Scott could walk dizzily by the time Hawkins's inspection vas ended, +and he flushed all over when Jim said of his work in the district +that it was 'not half bad,' and volunteered, further, that he had +considered Scott his right-hand man through the famine, and would +feel it his duty to say as much officially. + +So they came back by rail to the old camp; but there were no crowds +near it, the long fires in the trenches were dead and black, and the +famine-sheds stood almost empty. + +'You see!' said Jim. 'There isn't much more for us to do. Better ride +up and see the wife. They've pitched a tent for you. Dinner's at +seven. I'll see you then.' + +Riding at a foot-pace, Faiz Ullah by his stirrup, Scott came to +William in the brown-calico riding-habit, sitting at the dining-tent +door, her hands in her lap, white as ashes, thin and worn, with no +lustre in her hair. There did not seem to be any Mrs. Jim on the +horizon, and all that William could say was: 'My word, how pulled +down you look!' + +'I've had a touch of fever. You don't look very well yourself.' + +'Oh, I'm fit enough. We've stamped it out. I suppose you know?' + +Scott nodded. 'We shall all be returned in a few weeks. Hawkins told +me.' + +'Before Christmas, Mrs. Jim says. Sha'n't you be glad to go back? I +can smell the wood-smoke already'; William sniffed. 'We shall be in +time for all the Christmas doings. I don't suppose even the Punjab +Government would be base enough to transfer Jack till the new year?' + +'It seems hundreds of years ago--the Punjab and all that--doesn't it? +Are you glad you came?' + +'Now it's all over, yes. It has been ghastly here. You know we had to +sit still and do nothing, and Sir Jim was away so much.' + +'Do nothing! How did you get on with the milking?' + +'I managed it somehow--after you taught me.' + +Then the talk stopped with an almost audible jar. Still no Mrs. Jim. + +'That reminds me I owe you fifty rupees for the condensed milk. I +thought perhaps you'd be coming here when you were transferred to the +Khanda district, and I could pay you then; but you didn't.' + +'I passed within five miles of the camp. It was in the middle of a +march, you see, and the carts were breaking down every few minutes, +and I couldn't get 'em over the ground till ten o'clock that night. +But I wanted to come awfully. You knew I did, didn't you?' + +'I--believe--I--did,' said William, facing him with level eyes. She +was no longer white. + +'Did you understand?' + +'Why you didn't ride in? Of course I did,' + +'Why?' + +'Because you couldn't of course. I knew that.' + +'Did you care?' + +'If you had come in--but I knew you wouldn't--but if you _had_, I +should have cared a great deal. You know I should.' + +'Thank God I didn't! Oh, but I wanted to! I couldn't trust myself to +ride in front of the carts, because I kept edging 'em over here, +don't you know?' + +'I knew you wouldn't,' said William, contentedly, 'Here's your +fifty.' + +Scott bent forward and kissed the hand that held the greasy notes. +Its fellow patted him awkwardly but very tenderly on the head. + +'And _you_ knew, too, didn't you?' said William, in a new voice. + +'No, on my honour, I didn't. I hadn't the--the cheek to expect +anything of the kind, except... I say, were you out riding anywhere +the day I passed by to Khanda?' + +William nodded, and smiled after the manner of an angel surprised +in a good deed. + +'Then it was just a speck I saw of your habit in the--' + +'Palm-grove on the Southern cart-road. I saw your helmet when you +came up from the nullah by the temple--just enough to be sure that +you were all right. D'you care?' + +This time Scott did not kiss her hand, for they were in the dusk of +the dining-tent, and, because William's knees were trembling under +her, she had to sit down in the nearest chair, where she wept long +and happily, her head on her arms; and when Scott imagined that it +would be well to comfort her, she needed nothing of the kind; she ran +to her own tent; and Scott went out into the world, and smiled upon +it largely and idiotically. But when Faiz Ullah brought him a drink, +he found it necessary to support one hand with the other, or the good +whisky and soda would have been spilled abroad. There are fevers and +fevers. + +But it was worse--much worse--the strained, eye-shirking talk at +dinner till the servants had withdrawn, and worst of all when Mrs. +Jim, who had been on the edge of weeping from the soup down, kissed +Scott and William, and they drank one whole bottle of champagne, hot, +because there was no ice, and Scott and William sat outside the tent +in the starlight till Mrs. Jim drove them in for fear of more fever. + +Apropos of these things and some others William said: 'Being engaged +is abominable, because, you see, one has no official position. We +must be thankful that we've lots of things to do.' + +'Things to do!' said Jim, when that was reported to him. 'They're +neither of them any good any more. I can't get five hours' work a day +out of Scott. He's in the clouds half the time.' + +'Oh, but they're so beautiful to watch, Jimmy. It will break my heart +when they go. Can't you do anything for him?' + +'I've given the Government the impression--at least, I hope I +have--that he personally conducted the entire famine. But all he +wants is to get on to the Luni Canal Works, and William's just as +bad. Have you ever heard 'em talking of barrage and aprons and +wastewater. It's their style of spooning, I suppose.' + +Mrs. Jim smiled tenderly. 'Ah, that's in the intervals--bless 'em.' + +And so Love ran about the camp unrebuked in broad daylight, while men +picked up the pieces and put them neatly away of the Famine in the +Eight Districts. + + * * * * * + +Morning brought the penetrating chill of the Northern December, the +layers of wood-smoke, the dusty gray blue of the tamarisks, the domes +of ruined tombs, and all the smell of the white Northern plains, as +the mail-train ran on to the mile-long Sutlej Bridge. William, +wrapped in a _poshteen_--silk-embroidered sheepskin jacket trimmed +with rough astrakhan--looked out with moist eyes and nostrils that +dilated joyously. The South of pagodas and palm-trees, the +over-populated Hindu South, was done with. Here was the land she knew +and loved, and before her lay the good life she understood, among +folk of her own caste and mind. + +They were picking them up at almost every station now--men and women +coming in for the Christmas Week, with racquets, with bundles of +polo-sticks, with dear and bruised cricket-bats, with fox-terriers +and saddles. The greater part of them wore jackets like William's, +for the Northern cold is as little to be trifled with as the +Northern heat. And William was among them and of them, her hands +deep in her pockets, her collar turned up over her ears, stamping her +feet on the platforms as she walked up and down to get warm, visiting +from carriage to carriage, and everywhere being congratulated. Scott +was with the bachelors at the far end of the train, where they +chaffed him mercilessly about feeding babies and milking goats; but +from time to time he would stroll up to William's window, and murmur: +'Good enough, isn't it?' and William would answer, with sighs of pure +delight: 'Good enough, indeed.' The large open names of the home +towns were good to listen to. Umballa, Ludianah, Phillour, Jullundur, +they rang like the coming marriage-bells in her ears, and William +felt deeply and truly sorry for all strangers and +outsiders--visitors, tourists, and those fresh-caught for the service +of the country. + +It was a glorious return, and when the bachelors gave the Christmas +ball, William was, unofficially, you might say, the chief and +honoured guest among the stewards, who could make things very +pleasant for their friends. She and Scott danced nearly all the +dances together, and sat out the rest in the big dark gallery +overlooking the superb teak floor, where the uniforms blazed, and the +spurs clinked, and the new frocks and four hundred dancers went round +and round till the draped flags on the pillars flapped and bellied to +the whirl of it. + +About midnight half a dozen men who did not care for dancing came +over from the Club to play 'Waits,' and--that was a surprise the +stewards had arranged--before any one knew what had happened, the +band stopped, and hidden voices broke into 'Good King Wenceslaus,' +and William in the gallery hummed and beat time with her foot: + + Mark my footsteps well, my page, + Tread thou in them boldly, + Thou shalt feel the winter's rage + Freeze thy blood less coldly! + +'Oh, I hope they are going to give us another! Isn't it pretty, +coming out of the dark in that way? Look--look down. There's Mrs. +Gregory wiping her eyes!' + +'It's like home, rather,' said Scott. 'I remember-- + +'H'sh! Listen!--dear.'And it began again: + + When shepherds watched their flocks by night-- + +'A-h-h!' said William, drawing closer to Scott. + + All seated on the ground, + The Angel of the Lord came down, + And glory shone around. + 'Fear not,' said he (for mighty dread. + Had seized their troubled mind); + 'Glad tidings of great joy I bring + To you and all mankind.' + +This time it was William that wiped her eyes. + + + + +WEE WILLIE WINKIE + +AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN + +His full name was Percival William Williams, but he picked up the +other name in a nursery-book, and that was the end of the christened +titles. His mother's _ayah_ called him Willie-_Baba_, but as he never +paid the faintest attention to anything that the _ayah_ said, her +wisdom did not help matters. + +His father was the Colonel of the 195th, and as soon as Wee Willie +Winkie was old enough to understand what Military Discipline meant, +Colonel Williams put him under it. There was no other way of managing +the child. When he was good for a week, he drew good-conduct pay; and +when he was bad, he was deprived of his good-conduct stripe. +Generally he was bad, for India offers many chances of going wrong to +little six-year-olds. + +Children resent familiarity from strangers, and Wee Willie Winkie was +a very particular child. Once he accepted an acquaintance, he was +graciously pleased to thaw. He accepted Brandis, a subaltern of the +195th, on sight. Brandis was having tea at the Colonel's, and Wee +Willie Winkie entered strong in the possession of a good-conduct +badge won for not chasing the hens round the compound. He regarded +Brandis with gravity for at least ten minutes, and then delivered +himself of his opinion. + +'I like you,' said he slowly, getting off his chair and coming over +to Brandis. 'I like you. I shall call you Coppy, because of your +hair. Do you _mind_ being called Coppy? It is because of ve hair, you +know.' + +Here was one of the most embarrassing of Wee Willie Winkie's +peculiarities. He would look at a stranger for some time, and then, +without warning or explanation, would give him a name. And the name +stuck. No regimental penalties could break Wee Willie Winkie of this +habit. He lost his good-conduct badge for christening the +Commissioner's wife 'Pobs'; but nothing that the Colonel could do +made the Station forego the nickname, and Mrs. Collen remained 'Pobs' +till the end of her stay. So Brandis was christened 'Coppy,' and +rose, therefore, in the estimation of the regiment. + +If Wee Willie Winkie took an interest in any one, the fortunate man +was envied alike by the mess and the rank and file. And in their envy +lay no suspicion of self-interest. 'The Colonel's son' was idolised +on his own merits entirely. Yet Wee Willie Winkie was not lovely. His +face was permanently freckled, as his legs were permanently +scratched, and in spite of his mother's almost tearful remonstrances +he had insisted upon having his long yellow locks cut short in the +military fashion. 'I want my hair like Sergeant Tummil's,' said Wee +Willie Winkie, and, his father abetting, the sacrifice was +accomplished. + +Three weeks after the bestowal of his youthful affections on +Lieutenant Brandis--henceforward to be called 'Coppy' for the sake of +brevity--Wee Willie Winkie was destined to behold strange things and +far beyond his comprehension. + +Coppy returned his liking with interest. Coppy had let him wear for +five rapturous minutes his own big sword--just as tall as Wee Willie +Winkie. Coppy had promised him a terrier puppy; and Coppy had +permitted him to witness the miraculous operation of shaving. Nay, +more--Coppy had said that even he, Wee Willie Winkie, would rise in +time to the ownership of a box of shiny knives, a silver soap-box, +and a silver-handled 'sputter-brush,' as Wee Willie Winkie called it. +Decidedly, there was no one except his father, who could give or take +away good-conduct badges at pleasure, half so wise, strong, and +valiant as Coppy with the Afghan and Egyptian medals on his breast. +Why, then, should Coppy be guilty of the unmanly weakness of +kissing--vehemently kissing--a 'big girl,' Miss Allardyce to wit? In +the course of a morning ride, Wee Willie Winkie had seen Coppy so +doing, and, like the gentleman he was, had promptly wheeled round and +cantered back to his groom, lest the groom should also see. + +Under ordinary circumstances he would have spoken to his father, but +he felt instinctively that this was a matter on which Coppy ought +first to be consulted. + +'Coppy,' shouted Wee Willie Winkie, reining up outside that +subaltern's bungalow early one morning--'I want to see you, Coppy!' + +'Come in, young 'un,' returned Coppy, who was at early breakfast in +the midst of his dogs. 'What mischief have you been getting into +now?' + +Wee Willie Winkie had done nothing notoriously bad for three days, +and so stood on a pinnacle of virtue. + +'_I've_ been doing nothing bad,' said he, curling himself into a +long chair with a studious affectation of the Colonel's languor after +a hot parade. He buried his freckled nose in a tea-cup and, with eyes +staring roundly over the rim, asked: 'I say, Coppy, is it pwoper to +kiss big girls?' + +'By Jove! You're beginning early. Who do you want to kiss?' + +'No one. My muvver's always kissing me if I don't stop her. If it +isn't pwoper, how was you kissing Major Allardyce's big girl last +morning, by ve canal?' + +Coppy's brow wrinkled. He and Miss Allardyce had with great craft +managed to keep their engagement secret for a fortnight. There were +urgent and imperative reasons why Major Allardyce should not know +how matters stood for at least another month, and this small marplot +had discovered a great deal too much. + +'I saw you,' said Wee Willie Winkie calmly. 'But ve _sais_ didn't +see. I said, "_Hut jao_!"' + +'Oh, you had that much sense, you young Rip,' groaned poor Coppy, +half amused and half angry. 'And how many people may you have told +about it?' + +'Only me myself. You didn't tell when I twied to wide ve buffalo ven +my pony was lame; and I fought you wouldn't like.' + +'Winkie,' said Coppy enthusiastically, shaking the small hand, +'you're the best of good fellows. Look here, you can't understand all +these things. One of these days--hang it, how can I make you see +it!--I'm going to marry Miss Allardyce, and then she'll be Mrs. +Coppy, as you say. If your young mind is so scandalised at the idea +of kissing big girls, go and tell your father.' + +'What will happen?' said Wee Willie Winkie, who firmly believed that +his father was omnipotent. + +'I shall get into trouble,' said Coppy, playing his trump card with +an appealing look at the holder of the ace. + +'Ven I won't,' said Wee Willie Winkie briefly. 'But my faver says +it's un-man-ly to be always kissing, and I didn't fink _you'd_ do +vat, Coppy.' + +'I'm not always kissing, old chap. It's only now and then, and when +you're bigger you'll do it too. Your father meant it's not good for +little boys.' + +'Ah!' said Wee Willie Winkie, now fully enlightened. 'It's like ve +sputter-brush?' + +'Exactly,' said Coppy gravely. + +'But I don't fink I'll ever want to kiss big girls, nor no one, 'cept +my muvver. And I _must_ vat, you know.' + +There was a long pause, broken by Wee Willie Winkie. + +'Are you fond of vis big girl, Coppy?' + +'Awfully!' said Coppy. + +'Fonder van you are of Bell or ve Butcha--or me?' + +'It's in a different way,' said Coppy. 'You see, one of these days +Miss Allardyce will belong to me, but you'll grow up and command the +Regiment and--all sorts of things. It's quite different, you see.' + +'Very well,' said Wee Willie Winkie, rising. 'If you're fond of ve +big girl, I won't tell any one. I must go now.' + +Coppy rose and escorted his small guest to the door, adding--'You're +the best of little fellows, Winkie. I tell you what. In thirty days +from now you can tell if you like--tell any one you like.' + +Thus the secret of the Brandis-Allardyce engagement was dependent on +a little child's word. Coppy, who knew Wee Willie Winkie's idea of +truth, was at ease, for he felt that he would not break promises. Wee +Willie Winkie betrayed a special and unusual interest in Miss +Allardyce, and, slowly revolving round that embarrassed young lady, +was used to regard her gravely with unwinking eye. He was trying to +discover why Coppy should have kissed her. She was not half so nice +as his own mother. On the other hand, she was Coppy's property, and +would in time belong to him. Therefore it behoved him to treat her +with as much respect as Coppy's big sword or shiny pistol. + +The idea that he shared a great secret in common with Coppy kept Wee +Willie Winkie unusually virtuous for three weeks. Then the Old Adam +broke out, and he made what he called a 'camp-fire' at the bottom of +the garden. How could he have foreseen that the flying sparks would +have lighted the Colonel's little hay-rick and consumed a week's +store for the horses? Sudden and swift was the +punishment--deprivation of the good-conduct badge and, most sorrowful +of all, two days' confinement to barracks--the house and +veranda--coupled with the withdrawal 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 bitterly in his nursery--called by him 'my quarters.' Coppy +came in the afternoon and attempted to console the culprit. + +'I'm under awwest,' said Wee Willie Winkie 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 195th 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 river, and had noted that +even Coppy--the almost almighty Coppy--had never set foot beyond it. +Wee Willie Winkie had once been read to, out of a big blue book, the +history of the Princess and the Goblins--a most wonderful tale of a +land where the Goblins were always warring with the children of men +until they were defeated by one Curdie. Ever since that date it +seemed to him that the bare black and purple hills across the river +were inhabited by Goblins, and, in truth, every one had said that +there lived the Bad Men. Even in his own house the lower halves of +the windows were covered with green paper on account of the Bad Men +who might, if allowed clear view, fire into peaceful drawing-rooms +and comfortable bedrooms. Certainly, beyond the river, which was the +end of all the Earth, lived the Bad Men. And here was Major +Allardyce's big girl, Coppy's property, preparing to venture into +their borders! What would Coppy say if anything happened to her? If +the Goblins ran off with her as they did with Curdie's Princess? She +must at all hazards be turned back. + +The house was still. Wee Willie Winkie reflected for a moment on the +very terrible wrath of his father; and then--broke his arrest! It was +a crime unspeakable. The low sun threw his shadow, very large and +very black, on the trim garden-paths, as he went down to the stables +and ordered his pony. It seemed to him in the hush of the dawn that +all the big world had been bidden to stand still and look at Wee +Willie Winkie guilty of mutiny. The drowsy _sais_ gave him his mount, +and, since the one great sin made all others insignificant, Wee +Willie Winkie said that he was going to ride over to Coppy Sahib, and +went out at a foot-pace, stepping on the soft mould of the +flower-borders. + +The devastating track of the pony's feet was the last misdeed that +cut him off from all sympathy of Humanity. He turned into the road, +leaned forward, and rode as fast as the pony could put foot to the +ground in the direction of the river. + +But the liveliest of twelve-two ponies can do little against the +long canter of a Waler. Miss Allardyce was far ahead, had passed +through the crops, beyond the Police-posts, when all the guards were +asleep, and her mount was scattering the pebbles of the river-bed as +Wee Willie Winkie left the cantonment and British India behind him. +Bowed forward and still flogging, Wee Willie Winkie shot into Afghan +territory, and could just see Miss Allardyce a black speck, +flickering across the stony plain. The reason of her wandering was +simple enough. Coppy, in a tone of too-hastily-assumed authority, had +told her overnight that she must not ride out by the river. And she +had gone to prove her own spirit and teach Coppy a lesson. + +Almost at the foot of the inhospitable hills, Wee Willie Winkie saw +the Waler blunder and come down heavily. Miss Allardyce struggled +clear, but her ankle had been severely twisted, and she could not +stand. Having fully shown her spirit, she wept, and was surprised by +the apparition of a white, wide-eyed child in khaki, on a nearly +spent pony. + +'Are you badly, badly hurted?' shouted Wee Willie Winkie, as soon as +he was within range. 'You didn't ought to be here.' + +'I don't know,' said Miss Allardyce ruefully, ignoring the reproof. +'Good gracious, child, what are _you_ doing here?' + +'You said you was going acwoss ve wiver,' panted Wee Willie Winkie, +throwing himself off his pony. 'And nobody--not even Coppy--must go +acwoss ve wiver, and I came after you ever so hard, but you wouldn't +stop, and now you've hurted yourself, and Coppy will be angwy wiv me, +and--I've bwoken my awwest! I've bwoken my awwest!' + +The future Colonel of the 195th sat down and sobbed. In spite of the +pain in her ankle the girl was moved. + +'Have you ridden all the way from cantonments, little man? What for?' + +'You belonged to Coppy. Coppy told me so!' wailed Wee Willie Winkie +disconsolately. 'I saw him kissing you, and he said he was fonder of +you van Bell or ve Butcha or me. And so I came. You must get up and +come back. You didn't ought to be here. Vis is a bad place, and I've +bwoken my awwest.' + +'I can't move, Winkie,' said Miss Allardyce, with a groan. 'I've hurt +my foot. What shall I do?' + +She showed a readiness to weep anew, which steadied Wee Willie +Winkie, who had been brought up to believe that tears were the depth +of unmanliness. Still, when one is as great a sinner as Wee Willie +Winkie, even a man may be permitted to break down. + +'Winkie,' said Miss Allardyce, 'when you've rested a little, ride +back and tell them to send out something to carry me back in. It +hurts 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 +free with a vicious cut of his whip that made it whicker. The little +animal headed towards the cantonments. + +'Oh, Winkie, what are you doing?' + +'Hush!' said Wee Willie Winkie. 'Vere's a man coming--one of've Bad +Men. I must stay wiv you. My faver says a man must _always_ look +after a girl. Jack will go home, and ven vey'll come and look for us. +Vat's why I let him go.' + +Not one man but two or three had appeared from behind the rocks of +the hills, and the heart of Wee Willie Winkie sank within him, for +just in this manner were the Goblins wont to steal out and vex +Curdie's soul. Thus had they played in Curdie's garden--he had seen +the picture--and thus had they frightened the Princess's nurse. He +heard them talking to each other, and recognised with joy the bastard +Pushto that he had picked up from one of his father's grooms lately +dismissed. People who spoke that tongue could not be the Bad Men. +They were only natives after all. + +They came up to the boulders on which Miss Allardyce's horse had +blundered. + +Then rose from the rock Wee Willie Winkie, child of the Dominant +Race, aged six and three-quarters, and said briefly and emphatically +'_Jao_!' The pony had crossed the river-bed. + +The men laughed, and laughter from natives was the one thing Wee +Willie Winkie could not tolerate. He asked them what they wanted and +why they did not depart. Other men with most evil faces and +crooked-stocked guns crept out of the shadows of the hills, till, +soon, Wee Willie Winkie was face to face with an audience some twenty +strong. Miss Allardyce screamed. + +'Who are you?' said one of the men. + +'I am the Colonel Sahib's son, and my order is that you go at once. +You black men are frightening the Miss Sahib. + +One of you must run into cantonments and take the news that the Miss +Sahib has hurt herself, and that the Colonel's son is here with her.' + +'Put our feet into the trap?' was the laughing reply. + +'Hear this boy's speech!' + +'Say that I sent you--I, the Colonel's son. They will give you +money.' + +'What is the use of this talk? Take up the child and the girl, and we +can at least ask for the ransom. Ours are the villages on the +heights,' said a voice in the background. + +These _were_ the Bad Men--worse than Goblins--and it needed all Wee +Willie Winkie's training to prevent him from bursting into tears. But +he felt that to cry before a native, excepting only his mother's +_ayah_, would be an infamy greater than any mutiny. Moreover, he, as +future Colonel of the 195th, had that grim regiment at his back. + +'Are you going to carry us away?' said Wee Willie Winkie, very +blanched and uncomfortable. + +'Yes, my little _Sahib Bahadur_,' said the tallest of the men, 'and +eat you afterwards.' + +'That is child's talk,' said Wee Willie Winkie. 'Men do not eat men.' + +A yell of laughter interrupted him, but he went on firmly--'And if +you do carry us away, I tell you that all my regiment will come up in +a day and kill you all without leaving one. Who will take my message +to the Colonel Sahib?' + +Speech in any vernacular--and Wee Willie Winkie had a colloquial +acquaintance with three--was easy to the boy who could not yet manage +his 'r's' and 'th's' aright. + +Another man joined the conference, crying: 'O foolish men! What this +babe says is true. He is the heart's heart of those white troops. For +the sake of peace let them go both, for if he be taken, the regiment +will break loose and gut the valley. _Our_ villages are in the +valley, and we shall not escape. That regiment are devils. They broke +Khoda Yar's breastbone with kicks when he tried to take the rifles; +and if we touch this child they will fire and rape and plunder for a +month, till nothing remains. Better to send a man back to take the +message and get a reward. I say that this child is their God, and +that they will spare none of us, nor our women, if we harm him.' + +It was Din Mahommed, the dismissed groom of the Colonel, who made the +diversion, and an angry and heated discussion followed. Wee Willie +Winkie, standing over Miss Allardyce, waited the upshot. Surely his +'wegiment,' his own 'wegiment,' would not desert him if they knew of +his extremity. + +* * * * * + +The riderless pony brought the news to the 195th, though there had +been consternation in the Colonel's household for an hour before. The +little beast came in through the parade-ground in front of the main +barracks, where the men were settling down to play Spoil-five till +the afternoon. Devlin, the Colour-Sergeant of E Company, glanced at +the empty saddle and tumbled through the barrack-rooms, kicking; up +each Room Corporal as he passed. 'Up, ye beggars! There's something +happened to the Colonel's son,' he shouted. + +'He couldn't fall off! S'elp me, 'e _couldn't_ fall off,' blubbered +a drummer-boy. 'Go an' hunt acrost the river. He's over there if he's +anywhere, an' maybe those Pathans have got 'im. For the love o' Gawd +don't look for 'im in the nullahs! Let's go over the river.' + +'There's sense in Mott yet,' said Devlin. 'E Company, double out to +the river--sharp!' + +So E Company, in its shirt-sleeves mainly, doubled for the dear life, +and in the rear toiled the perspiring Sergeant, adjuring it to double +yet faster. The cantonment was alive with the men of the 195th +hunting for Wee Willie Winkie, and the Colonel finally overtook E +Company, far too exhausted to swear, struggling in the pebbles of the +river-bed. + +Up the hill under which Wee Willie Winkie's Bad Men were discussing +the wisdom of carrying off the child and the girl, a look-out fired +two shots. + +'What have I said?' shouted Din Mahommed. 'There is the warning! The +_pulton_ are out already and are coming across the plain! Get away! +Let us not be seen with the boy!' + +The men waited for an instant, and then, as another shot was fired, +withdrew into the hills, silently as they had appeared. + +'The wegiment is coming,' said Wee Willie Winkie confidently to Miss +Allardyce, 'and it's all wight. Don't cwy!' + +He needed the advice himself, for ten minutes later, when his father +came up, he was weeping bitterly with his head in Miss Allardyce's +lap. + +And the men of the 195th carried him home with shouts and rejoicings; +and Coppy, who had ridden a horse into a lather, met him, and, to his +intense disgust, kissed him openly in the presence of the men. + +But there was balm for his dignity. His father assured him that not +only would the breaking of arrest be condoned, but that the +good-conduct badge would be restored as soon as his mother could sew +it on his blouse-sleeve. Miss Allardyce had told the Colonel a story +that made him proud of his son. + +'She belonged to you, Coppy,' said Wee Willie Winkie, indicating Miss +Allardyce with a grimy forefinger. 'I _knew_ she didn't ought to go +acwoss ve wiver, and I knew ve wegiment 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 Winkie any no more. I'm 'Percival Will'am Will'ams.' + +And in this manner did Wee Willie Winkie enter into his manhood. + + + + +A MATTER OF FACT. + + And if ye doubt the tale I tell, + Steer through the South Pacific swell; + Go where the branching coral hives + Unending strife of endless lives, + Where, leagued about the 'wildered boat, + The rainbow jellies fill and float; + And, lilting where the laver lingers, + The starfish trips on all her fingers; + Where, 'neath his myriad spines ashock, + The sea-egg ripples down the rock; + An orange wonder dimly guessed, + From darkness where the cuttles rest, + Moored o'er the darker deeps that hide + The blind white Sea-snake and his bride + Who, drowsing, nose the long-lost ships + Let down through darkness to their lips. + _The Palms_. + +Once a priest, always a priest; once a mason, always a mason; but +once a journalist, always and for ever a journalist. + +There were three of us, all newspaper men, the only passengers on a +little tramp steamer that ran where her owners told her to go. She +had once been in the Bilbao iron ore business, had been lent to the +Spanish Government for service at Manilla; and was ending her days in +the Cape Town coolie-trade, with occasional trips to Madagascar and +even as far as England. We found her going to Southampton in ballast, +and shipped in her because the fares were nominal. There was Keller, +of an American paper, on his way back to the States from palace +executions in Madagascar; there was a burly half-Dutchman, called +Zuyland, who owned and edited a paper up country near Johannesburg; +and there was myself, who had solemnly put away all journalism, +vowing to forget that I had ever known the difference between an +imprint and a stereo advertisement. + +Ten minutes after Keller spoke to me, as the _Rathmines_ cleared Cape +Town, I had forgotten the aloofness I desired to feign, and was in +heated discussion on the immorality of expanding telegrams beyond a +certain fixed point. Then Zuyland came out of his cabin, and we were +all at home instantly, because we were men of the same profession +needing no introduction. We annexed the boat formally, broke open the +passengers' bath-room door--on the Manilla lines the Dons do not +wash--cleaned out the orange peel and cigar-ends at the bottom of the +bath, hired a Lascar to shave us throughout the voyage, and then +asked each other's names. + +Three ordinary men would have quarrelled through sheer boredom before +they reached Southampton. We, by virtue of our craft, were anything +but ordinary men. A large percentage of the tales of the world, the +thirty-nine that cannot be told to ladies and the one that can, are +common property coming of a common stock. We told them all, as a +matter of form, with all their local and specific variants which are +surprising. Then came, in the intervals of steady card-play, more +personal histories of adventure and things seen and suffered: panics +among white folk, when the blind terror ran from man to man on the +Brooklyn Bridge, and the people crushed each other to death they knew +not why; fires, and faces that opened and shut their mouths horribly +at red-hot window frames; wrecks in frost and snow, reported from the +sleet-sheathed rescue-tug at the risk of frost-bite; long rides after +diamond thieves; skirmishes on the veldt and in municipal committees +with the Boers; glimpses of lazy tangled Cape politics and the +mule-rule in the Transvaal; card-tales, horse-tales, woman-tales, by +the score and the half hundred; till the first mate, who had seen +more than us all put together, but lacked words to clothe his tales +with, sat open-mouthed far into the dawn. + +When the tales were done we picked up cards till a curious hand or a +chance remark made one or other of us say, 'That reminds me of a man +who--or a business which--' and the anecdotes would continue while +the _Rathmines_ kicked her way northward through the warm water. + +In the morning of one specially warm night we three were sitting +immediately in front of the wheel-house, where an old Swedish +boatswain whom we called 'Frithiof the Dane' was at the wheel, +pretending that he could not hear our stories. Once or twice Frithiof +spun the spokes curiously, and Keller lifted his head from a long +chair to ask, 'What is it? Can't you get any steerage-way on her?' + +'There is a feel in the water,' said Frithiof, 'that I cannot +understand. I think that we run downhills or somethings. She steers +bad this morning.' + +Nobody seems to know the laws that govern the pulse of the big +waters. Sometimes even a landsman can tell that the solid ocean is +atilt, and that the ship is working herself up a long unseen slope; +and sometimes the captain says, when neither full steam nor fair +wind justifies the length of a day's run, that the ship is sagging +downhill; but how these ups and downs come about has not yet been +settled authoritatively. + +'No, it is a following sea,' said Frithiof; 'and with a following +sea you shall not get good steerage-way.' + +The sea was as smooth as a duck-pond, except for a regular oily +swell. As I looked over the side to see where it might be following +us from, the sun rose in a perfectly clear sky and struck the water +with its light so sharply that it seemed as though the sea should +clang like a burnished gong. The wake of the screw and the little +white streak cut by the log-line hanging over the stern were the only +marks on the water as far as eye could reach. + +Keller rolled out of his chair and went aft to get a pineapple from +the ripening stock that was hung inside the after awning. + +'Frithiof, the log-line has got tired of swimming. It's coming +home,' he drawled. + +'What?' said Frithiof, his voice jumping several octaves. + +'Coming home,' Keller repeated, leaning over the stern. I ran to his +side and saw the log-line, which till then had been drawn tense over +the stern railing, slacken, loop, and come up off the port quarter. +Frithiof called up the speaking tube to the bridge, and the bridge +answered, 'Yes, nine knots.' Then Frithiof spoke again, and the +answer was, 'What do you want of the skipper?' and Frithiof bellowed, +'Call him up.' + +By this time Zuyland, Keller, and myself had caught something of +Frithiof's excitement, for any emotion on shipboard is most +contagious. The captain ran out of his cabin, spoke to Frithiof, +looked at the log-line, jumped on the bridge, and in a minute we +felt the steamer swing round as Frithiof turned her. + +''Going back to Cape Town?' said Keller. + +Frithiof did not answer, but tore away at the wheel. Then he beckoned +us three to help, and we held the wheel down till the _Rathmines_ +answered it, and we found ourselves looking into the white of our own +wake, with the still oily sea tearing past our bows, though we were +not going more than half steam ahead. + +The captain stretched out his arm from the bridge and shouted. A +minute later I would have given a great deal to have shouted too, for +one-half of the sea seemed to shoulder itself above the other half, +and came on in the shape of a hill. There was neither crest, comb, +nor curl-over to it; nothing but black water with little waves +chasing each other about the flanks. I saw it stream past and on a +level with the _Rathmines_' bow-plates before the steamer hove up +her bulk to rise, and I argued that this would be the last of all +earthly voyages for me. Then we lifted for ever and ever and ever, +till I heard Keller saying in my ear, 'The bowels of the deep, good +Lord!' and the _Rathmines_ stood poised, her screw-racing and +drumming on the slope of a hollow that stretched downwards for a good +half-mile. + +We went down that hollow, nose under for the most part, and the air +smelt wet and muddy, like that of an emptied aquarium. There was a +second hill to climb; I saw that much: but the water came aboard and +earned me aft till it jammed me against the wheel-house door, and +before I could catch breath or clear my eyes again we were rolling to +and fro in torn water, with the scuppers pouring like eaves in a +thunderstorm. + +'There were three waves,' said Keller; 'and the stokehold's flooded.' + +The firemen were on deck waiting, apparently, to be drowned. +The engineer came and dragged them below, and the crew, gasping, +began to work the clumsy Board of Trade pump. That showed nothing +serious, and when I understood that the _Rathmines_ was really on the +water, and not beneath it, I asked what had happened. + +'The captain says it was a blow-up under the sea--a volcano,' said +Keller. + +'It hasn't warmed anything,' I said. I was feeling bitterly cold, and +cold was almost unknown in those waters. I went below to change my +clothes, and when I came up everything was wiped out in clinging +white fog. + +'Are there going to be any more surprises?' said Keller to the +captain. + +'I don't know. Be thankful you are alive, gentlemen. That's a tidal +wave thrown up by a volcano. Probably the bottom of the sea has been +lifted a few feet somewhere or other. I can't quite understand this +cold spell. Our sea-thermometer says the surface water is 44 deg., and +it should be 68 deg. at least.' + +'It's abominable,' said Keller, shivering. 'But hadn't you better +attend to the fog-horn? It seems to me that I heard something.' + +'Heard! Good heavens!' said the captain from the bridge, 'I should +think you did.' He pulled the string of our fog-horn, which was a +weak one. It sputtered and choked, because the stoke-hold was full of +water and the fires were half drowned, and at last gave out a moan. +It was answered from the fog by one of the most appalling steam +sirens I have ever heard. Keller turned as white as I did, for the +fog, the cold fog, was upon us, and any man may be forgiven for +fearing a death he cannot see. + +'Give her steam there!' said the captain to the engine-room. 'Steam +for the whistle, if we have to go dead slow.' + +We bellowed again, and the damp dripped off the awnings on to the +deck as we listened for the reply. It seemed to be astern this time, +but much nearer than before. + +'The _Pembroke Castle_ on us!' said Keller; and then, viciously, +'Well, thank God, we shall sink her too.' + +'It's a side-wheel steamer,' I whispered. 'Can't you hear the +paddles?' + +This time we whistled and roared till the steam gave out, and the +answer nearly deafened us. There was a sound of frantic threshing in +the water, apparently about fifty yards away, and something shot past +in the whiteness that looked as though it were gray and red. + +'The _Pembroke Castle_ bottom up,' said Keller, who, being a +journalist, always sought for explanations. 'That's the colours of a +Castle liner. We're in for a big thing.' + +'The sea is bewitched,' said Frithiof from the wheel-house. 'There +are _two_ steamers!' + +Another siren sounded on our bow, and the little steamer rolled in +the wash of something that had passed unseen. + +'We're evidently in the middle of a fleet,' said Keller quietly. 'If +one doesn't run us down, the other will. Phew! What in creation is +that?' + +I sniffed, for there was a poisonous rank smell in the cold air--a +smell that I had smelt before. + +'If I was on land I should say that it was an alligator. It smells +like musk,' I answered. + +'Not ten thousand alligators could make that smell' said Zuyland; 'I +have smelt them.' + +'Bewitched! Bewitched!' said Frithiof. 'The sea she is turned upside +down, and we are walking along the bottom.' + +Again the _Rathmines_ rolled in the wash of some unseen ship, and a +silver-gray wave broke over the bow, leaving on the deck a sheet of +sediment--the gray broth that has its place in the fathomless deeps +of the sea. A sprinkling of the wave fell on my face, and it was so +cold that it stung as boiling water stings. The dead and most +untouched deep water of the sea had been heaved to the top by the +submarine volcano--the chill still water that kills all life and +smells of desolation and emptiness. We did not need either the +blinding fog or that indescribable smell of musk to make us +unhappy--we were shivering with cold and wretchedness where we stood. + +'The hot air on the cold water makes this fog,' said the captain; 'it +ought to clear in a little time.' + +'Whistle, oh! whistle, and let's get out of it,' said Keller. + +The captain whistled again, and far and far astern the invisible twin +steam-sirens answered us. Their blasting shriek grew louder, till at +last it seemed to tear out of the fog just above our quarter, and I +cowered while the _Rathmines_ plunged bows under on a double swell +that crossed. + +'No more,' said Frithiof, 'it is not good any more. Let us get away, +in the name of God.' + +'Now if a torpedo-boat with a _City of Paris_ siren went mad and +broke her moorings and hired a friend to help her, it's just +conceivable that we might be carried as we are now. Otherwise this +thing is----' + +The last words died on Keller's lips, his eyes began to start from +his head, and his jaw fell. Some six or seven feet above the port +bulwarks, framed in fog, and as utterly unsupported as the full moon, +hung a Face. It was not human, and it certainly was not animal, for +it did not belong to this earth as known to man. The mouth was open, +revealing a ridiculously tiny tongue--as absurd as the tongue of an +elephant; there were tense wrinkles of white skin at the angles of +the drawn lips, white feelers like those of a barbel sprung from the +lower jaw, and there was no sign of teeth within the mouth. But the +horror of the face lay in the eyes, for those were sightless--white, +in sockets as white as scraped bone, and blind. Yet for all this the +face, wrinkled as the mask of a lion is drawn in Assyrian sculpture, +was alive with rage and terror. One long white feeler touched our +bulwarks. Then the face disappeared with the swiftness of a blindworm +popping into its burrow, and the next thing that I remember is my own +voice in my own ears, saying gravely to the mainmast, 'But the +air-bladder ought to have been forced out of its mouth, you know.' + +Keller came up to me, ashy white. He put his hand into his pocket, +took a cigar, bit it, dropped it, thrust his shaking thumb into his +mouth and mumbled, 'The giant gooseberry and the raining frogs! Gimme +a light--gimme a light! Say, gimme a light. A little bead of blood +dropped from his thumb-joint. + +I respected the motive, though the manifestation was absurd. 'Stop, +you'll bite your thumb off,' I said, and Keller laughed brokenly as +he picked up his cigar. Only Zuyland, leaning over the port bulwarks, +seemed self-possessed. He declared later that he was very sick. + +'We've seen it,' he said, turning round. 'That is it.' + +'What?' said Keller, chewing the unlighted cigar. + +As he spoke the fog was blown into shreds, and we saw the sea, gray +with mud, rolling on every side of us and empty of all life. Then in +one spot it bubbled and became like the pot of ointment that the +Bible speaks of. From that wide-ringed trouble the Thing came up--a +gray and red Thing with a neck--a Thing that bellowed and writhed in +pain. Frithiof drew in his breath and held it till the red letters of +the ship's name, woven across his jersey, straggled and opened out as +though they had been type badly set. Then he said with a little cluck +in his throat, 'Ah me! It is blind. _Hur illa_! That thing is blind,' +and a murmur of pity went through us all, for we could see that the +thing on the water was blind and in pain. Something had gashed and +cut the great sides cruelly and the blood was spurting out. The gray +ooze of the undermost sea lay in the monstrous wrinkles of the back, +and poured away in sluices. The blind white head flung back and +battered the wounds, and the body in its torment rose clear of the +red and gray waves till we saw a pair of quivering shoulders streaked +with weed and rough with shells, but as white in the clear spaces as +the hairless, maneless, blind, toothless head. Afterwards, came a dot +on the horizon and the sound of a shrill scream, and it was as though +a shuttle shot all across the sea in one breath, and a second head +and neck tore through the levels, driving a whispering wall of water +to right and left. The two Things met--the one untouched and the +other in its death-throe--male and female, we said, the female +coming to the male. She circled round him bellowing, and laid her +neck across the curve of his great turtle-back, and he disappeared +under water for an instant, but flung up again, grunting in agony +while the blood ran. Once the entire head and neck shot clear of the +water and stiffened, and I heard Keller saying, as though he was +watching a street accident, 'Give him air. For God's sake, give him +air.' Then the death-struggle began, with crampings and twistings and +jerkings of the white bulk to and fro, till our little steamer rolled +again, and each gray wave coated her plates with the gray slime. The +sun was clear, there was no wind, and we watched, the whole +crew, stokers and all, in wonder and pity, but chiefly pity. The +Thing was so helpless, and, save for his mate, so alone. No human eye +should have beheld him; it was monstrous and indecent to exhibit him +there in trade waters between atlas degrees of latitude. He had been +spewed up, mangled and dying, from his rest on the sea-floor, where +he might have lived till the Judgment Day, and we saw the tides of +his life go from him as an angry tide goes out across rocks in the +teeth of a landward gale. His mate lay rocking on the water a little +distance off, bellowing continually, and the smell of musk came dawn +upon the ship making us cough. + +At last the battle for life ended in a batter of coloured seas. We +saw the writhing neck fall like a flail, the carcase turn sideways, +showing the glint of a white belly and the inset of a gigantic hind +leg or flipper. Then all sank, and sea boiled over it, while the +mate swam round and round, darting her head in every direction. +Though we might have feared that she would attack the steamer, no +power on earth could have drawn any one of us from our places that +hour. We watched, holding our breaths. The mate paused in her search; +we could hear the wash beating along her sides; reared her neck as +high as she could reach, blind and lonely in all that loneliness of +the sea, and sent one desperate bellow booming across the swells as +an oyster-shell skips across a pond. Then she made off to the +westward, the sun shining on the white head and the wake behind it, +till nothing was left to see but a little pin point of silver on the +horizon. We stood on our course again; and the _Rathmines_, coated +with the sea-sediment from bow to stern, looked like a ship made gray +with terror. + + * * * * * + +'We must pool our notes,' was the first coherent remark from Keller. +'We're three trained journalists--we hold absolutely the biggest +scoop on record. Start fair.' + +I objected to this. Nothing is gained by collaboration in journalism +when all deal with the same facts, so we went to work each according +to his own lights. Keller triple-headed his account, talked about our +'gallant captain,' and wound up with an allusion to American +enterprise in that it was a citizen of Dayton, Ohio, that had seen +the sea-serpent. This sort of thing would have discredited the +Creation, much more a mere sea tale, but as a specimen of the +picture-writing of a half-civilised people it was very interesting. +Zuyland took a heavy column and a half, giving approximate lengths +and breadths, and the whole list of the crew whom he had sworn on +oath to testify to his facts. There was nothing fantastic or +flamboyant in Zuyland. I wrote three-quarters of a leaded bourgeois +column, roughly speaking, and refrained from putting any journalese +into it for reasons that had begun to appear to me. + +Keller was insolent with joy. He was going to cable from Southampton +to the New York _World_, mail his account to America on the same day, +paralyse London with his three columns of loosely knitted headlines, +and generally efface the earth. 'You'll see how I work a big scoop +when I get it,' he said. + +'Is this your first visit to England?' I asked. + +'Yes,' said he. 'You don't seem to appreciate the beauty of our +scoop. It's pyramidal--the death of the sea-serpent! Good heavens +alive, man, it's the biggest thing ever vouchsafed to a paper!' + +'Curious to think that it will never appear in any paper, isn't it? +'I said. + +Zuyland was near me, and he nodded quickly. + +'What do you mean?' said Keller. 'If you're enough of a Britisher to +throw this thing away, I shan't. I thought you were a newspaper-man.' + +'I am. That's why I know. Don't be an ass, Keller. Remember, I'm +seven hundred years your senior, and what your grandchildren may +learn five hundred years hence, I learned from my grandfathers about +five hundred years ago. You won't do it, because you can't.' + +This conversation was held in open sea, where everything seems +possible, some hundred miles from Southampton. We passed the Needles +Light at dawn, and the lifting day showed the stucco villas on the +green and the awful orderliness of England--line upon line, wall upon +wall, solid stone dock and monolithic pier. We waited an hour in the +Customs shed, and there was ample time for the effect to soak in. + +'Now, Keller, you face the music. The _Havel_ goes out to-day. Mail +by her, and I'll take you to the telegraph-office,' I said. + +I heard Keller gasp as the influence of the land closed about him, +cowing him as they say Newmarket Heath cows a young horse unused to +open courses. + +'I want to retouch my stuff. Suppose we wait till we get to London?' +he said. + +Zuyland, by the way, had torn up his account and thrown it overboard +that morning early. His reasons were my reasons. + +In the train Keller began to revise his copy, and every time that he +looked at the trim little fields, the red villas, and the embankments +of the line, the blue pencil plunged remorselessly through the slips. +He appeared to have dredged the dictionary for adjectives. I could +think of none that he had not used. Yet he was a perfectly sound +poker-player and never showed more cards than were sufficient to take +the pool. + +'Aren't you going to leave him a single bellow?' I asked +sympathetically. 'Remember, everything goes in the States, from a +trouser-button to a double-eagle.' + +'That's just the curse of it,' said Keller below his breath. 'We've +played 'em for suckers so often that when it comes to the golden +truth--I'd like to try this on a London paper. You have first call +there, though.' + +'Not in the least. I'm not touching the thing in our papers. I shall +be happy to leave 'em all to you; but surely you'll cable it home?' + +'No. Not if I can make the scoop here and see the Britishers sit up.' + +'You won't do it with three columns of slushy headline, believe me. +They don't sit up as quickly as some people.' + +'I'm beginning to think that too. Does _nothing_ make any difference +in this country?' he said, looking out of the window. 'How old is +that farmhouse?' + +'New. It can't be more than two hundred years at the most.' + +'Urn. Fields, too?' + +'That hedge there must have been clipped for about eighty years.' + +'Labour cheap--eh?' + +'Pretty much. Well, I suppose you'd like to try the _Times_, wouldn't +you?' + +'No,' said Keller, looking at Winchester Cathedral. ''Might as well +try to electrify a haystack. And to think that the _World_ would take +three columns and ask for more--with illustrations too! It's +sickening.' + +'But the _Times_ might,' I began. + +Keller flung his paper across the carriage, and it opened in its +austere majesty of solid type--opened with the crackle of an +encyclopaedia. + +'Might! You _might_ work your way through the bow-plates of a +cruiser. Look at that first page!' + +'It strikes you that way, does it?' I said. 'Then I'd recommend you +to try a light and frivolous journal.' + +'With a thing like this of mine--of ours? It's sacred history!' + +I showed him a paper which I conceived would be after his own heart, +in that it was modelled on American lines. + +'That's homey,' he said, 'but it's not the real thing. Now, I should +like one of these fat old _Times_ columns. Probably there'd be a +bishop in the office, though.' + +When we reached London Keller disappeared in the direction of the +Strand. What his experiences may have been I cannot tell, but it +seems that he invaded the office of an evening paper at 11.45 a.m. (I +told him English editors were most idle at that hour), and mentioned +my name as that of a witness to the truth of his story. + +'I was nearly fired out,' he said furiously at lunch. 'As soon as I +mentioned you, the old man said that I was to tell you that they +didn't want any more of your practical jokes, and that you knew the +hours to call if you had anything to sell, and that they'd see you +condemned before they helped to puff one of your infernal yarns in +advance. Say, what record do you hold for truth in this country, +anyway?' + +'A beauty. You ran up against it, that's all. Why don't you leave the +English papers alone and cable to New York? Everything goes over +there.' + +'Can't you see that's just why?' he repeated. + +'I saw it a long time ago. You don't intend to cable then?' + +'Yes, I do,' he answered, in the over-emphatic voice of one who does +not know his own mind. + +That afternoon I walked him abroad and about, over the streets that +run between the pavements like channels of grooved and tongued lava, +over the bridges that are made of enduring stone, through subways +floored and sided with yard-thick concrete, between houses that are +never rebuilt, and by river steps hewn, to the eye, from the living +rock. A black fog chased us into Westminster Abbey, and, standing +there in the darkness, I could hear the wings of the dead centuries +circling round the head of Litchfield A. Keller, journalist, of +Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., whose mission it was to make the Britishers sit +up. + +He stumbled gasping into the thick gloom, and the roar of the traffic +came to his bewildered ears. + +'Let's go to the telegraph-office and cable,' I said. 'Can't you hear +the New York _World_ crying for news of the great sea-serpent, blind, +white, and smelling of musk, stricken to death by a submarine +volcano, and assisted by his loving wife to die in mid-ocean, as +visualised by an American citizen, the breezy, newsy, brainy +newspaper man of Dayton, Ohio? 'Rah for the Buckeye State. Step +lively! Both gates! Szz! Boom! Aah!' Keller was a Princeton man, and +he seemed to need encouragement. + +'You've got me on your own ground,' said he, tugging at his overcoat +pocket. He pulled out his copy, with the cable forms--for he had +written out his telegram--and put them all into my hand, groaning, 'I +pass. If I hadn't come to your cursed country--If I'd sent it off at +Southampton--If I ever get you west of the Alleghannies, if----' + +'Never mind, Keller. It isn't your fault. It's the fault of your +country. If you had been seven hundred years older you'd have done +what I am going to do.' + +'What are you going to do?' + +'Tell it as a lie.' + +'Fiction?' This with the full-blooded disgust of a journalist for the +illegitimate branch of the profession. + +'You can call it that if you like. I shall call it a lie.' + +And a lie it has become; for Truth is a naked lady, and if by +accident she is drawn up from the bottom of the sea, it behoves a +gentleman either to give her a print petticoat or to turn his face to +the wall and vow that he did not see. + + + + +MOWGLI'S BROTHERS + + Now Chil the Kite brings home the night + That Mang the Bat sets free-- + The herds are shut in byre and hut + For loosed till dawn are we. + This is the hour of pride and power, + Talon and tush and claw. + Oh hear the call!--Good hunting all + That keep the Jungle Law! + + _Night-Song in the Jungle_. + +It was seven o'clock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee hills when +Father Wolf woke up from his day's rest, scratched himself, yawned, +and spread out his paws one after the other to get rid of the sleepy +feeling in their tips. Mother Wolf lay with her big gray nose dropped +across her four tumbling, squealing cubs, and the moon shone into the +mouth of the cave where they all lived. 'Augrh!' said Father Wolf, +'it is time to hunt again'; and he was going to spring down hill when +a little shadow with a bushy tail crossed the threshold and whined: +'Good luck go with you, O Chief of the Wolves; and good luck and +strong white teeth go with the noble children, that they may never +forget the hungry in this world.' + +It was the jackal--Tabaqui, the Dish-licker--and the wolves of India +despise Tabaqui because he runs about making mischief, and telling +tales, and eating rags and pieces of leather from the village +rubbish-heaps. But they are afraid of him too, because Tabaqui, more +than any one else in the jungle, is apt to go mad, and then he +forgets that he was ever afraid of any one, and runs through the +forest biting everything in his way. Even the tiger runs and hides +when little Tabaqui goes mad, for madness is the most disgraceful +thing that can overtake a wild creature. We call it hydrophobia, but +they call it _dewanee_--the madness--and run. + +'Enter, then, and look,' said Father Wolf, stiffly; 'but there is no +food here.' + +'For a wolf, no,' said Tabaqui; 'but for so mean a person as myself a +dry bone is a good feast. Who are we, the Gidur-log [the jackal +people], to pick and choose?' He scuttled to the back of the cave, +where he found the bone of a buck with some meat on it, and sat +cracking the end merrily. + +'All thanks for this good meal,' he said, licking his lips. 'How +beautiful are the noble children! How large are their eyes! And so +young too! Indeed, indeed, I might have remembered that the children +of kings are men from the beginning.' + +Now, Tabaqui knew as well as any one else that there is nothing so +unlucky as to compliment children to their faces; and it pleased him +to see Mother and Father Wolf look uncomfortable. + +Tabaqui sat still, rejoicing in the mischief that he had made, and +then he said spitefully: + +'Shere Khan, the Big One, has shifted his hunting-grounds. He will +hunt among these hills for the next moon, so he has told me.' + +Shere Khan was the tiger who lived near the Waingunga River, twenty +miles away. + +'He has no right!' Father Wolf began angrily--'By the Law of the +Jungle he has no right to change his quarters without due warning. He +will frighten every head of game within ten miles, and I--I have to +kill for two, these days.' + +'His mother did not call him Lungri [the Lame One] for nothing,' said +Mother Wolf, quietly. He has been lame in one foot from his birth. +That is why he has only killed cattle. Now the villagers of the +Waingunga are angry with him, and he has come here to make _our_ +villagers angry. They will scour the jungle for him when he is far +away, and we and our children must run when the grass is set alight. +Indeed, we are very grateful to Shere Khan!' + +'Shall I tell him of your gratitude?' said Tabaqui. + +'Out!' snapped Father Wolf. 'Out and hunt with thy master. Thou hast +done harm enough for one night.' + +'I go,' said Tabaqui, quietly. 'Ye can hear Shere Khan below in the +thickets. I might have saved myself the message.' + +Father Wolf listened, and below in the valley that ran down to a +little river, he heard the dry, angry, snarly, singsong whine of a +tiger who has caught nothing and does not care if all the jungle +knows it. + +'The fool!' said Father Wolf. 'To begin a night's work with that +noise. Does he think that our buck are like his fat Waingunga +bullocks?' + +'H'sh. It is neither bullock nor buck he hunts to-night,' said Mother +Wolf. 'It is Man.' The whine had changed to a sort of humming purr +that seemed to come from every quarter of the compass. It was the +noise that bewilders woodcutters and gipsies sleeping in the open, +and makes them run sometimes into the very mouth of the tiger. + +'Man!' said Father Wolf, showing all his white teeth. 'Faugh! Are +there not enough beetles and frogs in the tanks that he must eat Man, +and on our ground too!' + +The Law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, +forbids every beast to eat Man except when he is killing to show his +children how to kill, and then he must hunt outside the +hunting-grounds of his pack or tribe. The real reason for this is +that man-killing means, sooner or later, the arrival of white men on +elephants, with guns, and hundreds of brown men with gongs and +rockets and torches. Then everybody in the jungle suffers. The reason +the beasts give among themselves is that Man is the weakest and most +defenceless of all living things, and it is unsportsmanlike to touch +him. They say too--and it is true--that man-eaters become mangy, and +lose their teeth. + +The purr grew louder, and ended in the full-throated 'Aaarh!' of the +tiger's charge. + +Then there was a howl--an untigerish howl--from Shere Khan. He has +missed,' said Mother Wolf. 'What is it?' + +Father Wolf ran out a few paces and heard Shere Khan muttering and +mumbling savagely, as he tumbled about in the scrub. + +'The fool has had no more sense than to jump at a woodcutters' +camp-fire, and has burned his feet,' said Father Wolf, with a grunt. +'Tabaqui is with him.' + +'Something is coming up hill,' said Mother Wolf, twitching one ear. +'Get ready.' + +The bushes rustled a little in the thicket, and Father Wolf dropped +with his haunches under him, ready for his leap. Then, if you had +been watching, you would have seen the most wonderful thing in the +world--the wolf checked in mid spring. He made his bound before he +saw what it was he was jumping at, and then he tried to stop himself. +The result was that he shot up straight into the air for four or five +feet, landing almost where he left ground. + +'Man!' he snapped. 'A man's cub. Look!' + +Directly in front of him, holding on by a low branch, stood a naked +brown baby who could just walk--as soft and as dimpled a little atom +as ever came to a wolf's cave at night. He looked up into Father +Wolf's face, and laughed. + +'Is that a man's cub?' said Mother Wolf. 'I have never seen one. +Bring it here.' + +A wolf accustomed to moving his own cubs can, if necessary, mouth an +egg without breaking it, and though Father Wolf's jaws closed right +on the child's back not a tooth even scratched the skin, as he laid +it down among the cubs. + +'How little! How naked, and--how bold!' said Mother Wolf, softly. The +baby was pushing his way between the cubs to get close to the warm +hide. 'Ahai! He is taking his meal with the others. And so this is a +man's cub. Now, was there ever a wolf that could boast of a man's cub +among her children?' + +'I have heard now and again of such a thing, but never in our Pack or +in my time,' said Father Wolf. 'He is altogether without hair, and I +could kill him with a touch of my foot. But see, he looks up and is +not afraid.' + +The moonlight was blocked out of the mouth of the cave, for Shere +Khan's great square head and shoulders were thrust into the entrance. +Tabaqui, behind him, was squeaking: 'My lord, my lord, it went in +here!' + +'Shere Khan does us great honour,' said Father Wolf, but his eyes +were very angry. 'What does Shere Khan need?' + +'My quarry. A man's cub went this way,' said Shere Khan. 'Its parents +have run off. Give it to me.' + +Shere Khan had jumped at a woodcutters' camp-fire, as Father Wolf had +said, and was furious from the pain of his burned feet. But Father +Wolf knew that the mouth of the cave was too narrow for a tiger to +come in by. Even where he was, Shere Khan's shoulders and fore paws +were cramped for want of room, as a man's would be if he tried to +fight in a barrel. + +'The Wolves are a free people,' said Father Wolf. 'They take orders +from the Head of the Pack, and not from any striped cattle-dealer. +The man's cub is ours--to kill if we choose.' + +'Ye choose and ye do not choose! What talk is this of choosing? By +the bull that I killed, am I to stand nosing into your dog's den for +my fair dues? It is I, Shere Khan, who speak!' + +The tiger's roar filled the cave with thunder. Mother Wolf shook +herself clear of the cubs and sprang forward, her eyes, like two +green moons in the darkness, facing the blazing eyes of Shere Khan. + +'And it is I, Raksha [The Demon], who answer. The man's cub is mine, +Lungri--mine to me! He shall not be killed. He shall live to run with +the Pack and to hunt with the Pack; and in the end, look you, hunter +of little naked cubs--frog-eater--fish-killer--he shall hunt _thee_! +Now get hence, or by the Sambhur that I killed (_I_ eat no starved +cattle), back thou goest to thy mother, burned beast of the jungle, +lamer than ever thou earnest into the world! Go!' + +Father Wolf looked on amazed. He had almost forgotten the days when +he had won Mother Wolf in fair fight from five other wolves, when she +ran in the Pack and was not called The Demon for compliment's sake. +Shere Khan might have faced Father Wolf, but he could not stand up +against Mother Wolf, for he knew that where he was she had all the +advantage of the ground, and would fight to the death. So he backed +out of the cave-mouth growling, and when he was clear he shouted:-- + +'Each dog barks in his own yard! We will see what the Pack will say +to this fostering of man-cubs. The cub is mine, and to my teeth he +will come in the end, O bush-tailed thieves!' + +Mother Wolf threw herself down panting among the cubs, and Father +Wolf said to her gravely:-- + +'Shere Khan speaks this much truth. The cub must be shown to the +Pack. Wilt thou still keep him, Mother?' + +'Keep him!' she gasped. 'He came naked, by night, alone and very +hungry; yet he was not afraid! Look, he has pushed one of my babes to +one side already. And that lame butcher would have killed him and +would have run off to the Waingunga while the villagers here hunted +through all our lairs in revenge! Keep him? Assuredly I will keep +him. Lie still, little frog. O thou Mowgli--for Mowgli the Frog I +will call thee--the time will come when thou wilt hunt Shere Khan as +he has hunted thee.' 'But what will our Pack say?' said Father Wolf. +The Law of the Jungle lays down very clearly that any wolf may, when +he marries, withdraw from the Pack he belongs to; but as soon as his +cubs are old enough to stand on their feet he must bring them to the +Pack Council, which is generally held once a month at full moon, in +order that the other wolves may identify them. After that inspection +the cubs are free to run where they please, and until they have +killed their first buck no excuse is accepted if a grown wolf of the +Pack kills one of them. The punishment is death where the murderer +can be found; and if you think for a minute you will see that this +must be so. Father Wolf waited till his cubs could run a little, and +then on the night of the Pack Meeting took them and Mowgli and Mother +Wolf to the Council Rock--a hilltop covered with stones and boulders +where a hundred wolves could hide. Akela, the great gray Lone Wolf, +who led all the Pack by strength and cunning, lay out at full length +on his rock, and below him sat forty or more wolves of every size and +colour, from badger-coloured veterans who could handle a buck alone, +to young black three-year-olds who thought they could. The Lone Wolf +had led them for a year now. He had fallen twice into a wolf-trap in +his youth, and once he had been beaten and left for dead; so he knew +the manners and customs of men. There was very little talking at the +rock. The cubs tumbled over each other in the centre of the circle +where their mothers and fathers sat, and now and again a senior wolf +would go quietly up to a cub, look at him carefully, and return to +his place on noiseless feet. Sometimes a mother would push her cub +far out into the moonlight, to be sure that he had not been +overlooked. Akela from his rock would cry: 'Ye know the Law--ye know +the Law. Look well, O Wolves!' and the anxious mothers would take up +the call: 'Look--look well, O Wolves!' + +At last--and Mother Wolfs neck-bristles lifted as the time +came--Father Wolf pushed 'Mowgli the Frog,' as they called him, into +the centre, where he sat laughing and playing with some pebbles that +glistened in the moonlight. + +Akela never raised his head from his paws, but went on with the +monotonous cry: 'Look well!' A muffled roar came up from behind the +rocks--the voice of Shere Khan crying: 'The cub is mine. Give him to +me. What have the Free People to do with a man's cub?' Akela never +even twitched his ears: all he said was: 'Look well, O Wolves! What +have the Free People to do with the orders of any save the Free +People? Look well!' + +There was a chorus of deep growls, and a young wolf in his fourth +year flung back Shere Khan's question to Akela: 'What have the Free +People to do with a man's cub?' Now the Law of the Jungle lays down +that if there is any dispute as to the right of a cub to be accepted +by the Pack, he must be spoken for by at least two members of the +Pack who are not his father and mother. + +'Who speaks for this cub?' said Akela. 'Among the Free People who +speaks?' There was no answer, and Mother Wolf got ready for what she +knew would be her last fight, if things came to fighting. + +Then the only other creature who is allowed at the Pack +Council--Baloo, the sleepy brown bear who teaches the wolf cubs the +Law of the Jungle: old Baloo, who can come and go where he pleases +because he eats only nuts and roots and honey--rose up on his hind +quarters and grunted. + +'The man's cub--the man's cub?' he said. '_I_ speak for the man's +cub. There is no harm in a man's cub. I have no gift of words, but I +speak the truth. Let him run with the Pack, and be entered with the +others. I myself will teach him.' + +'We need yet another,' said Akela. 'Baloo has spoken, and he is our +teacher for the young cubs. Who speaks beside Baloo?' + +A black shadow dropped down into the circle. It was Bagheera the +Black Panther, inky black all over, but with the panther markings +showing up in certain lights like the pattern of watered silk. +Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody cared to cross his path; for he +was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as +reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild +honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down. + +'O Akela, and ye the Free People,' he purred, 'I have no right in +your assembly; but the Law of the Jungle says that if there is a +doubt which is not a killing matter in regard to a new cub, the life +of that cub may be bought at a price. And the Law does not say who +may or may not pay that price. Am I right?' + +'Good! good!' said the young wolves, who are always hungry. 'Listen +to Bagheera. The cub can be bought for a price. It is the Law.' + +'Knowing that I have no right to speak here, I ask your leave.' + +'Speak then,' cried twenty voices. + +'To kill a naked cub is shame. Besides, he may make better sport for +you when he is grown. Baloo has spoken in his behalf. Now to Baloo's +word I will add one bull, and a fat one, newly killed, not half a +mile from here, if ye will accept the man's cub according to the Law. +Is it difficult?' + +There was a clamour of scores of voices, saying: 'What matter? He +will die in the winter rains. He will scorch in the sun. What harm +can a naked frog do us? Let him run with the Pack. Where is the bull, +Bagheera? Let him be accepted.' And then came Akela's deep bay, +crying: Look well--look well, O Wolves!' + +Mowgli was still deeply interested in the pebbles, and he did not +notice when the wolves came and looked at him one by one. At last +they all went down the hill for the dead bull, and only Akela, +Bagheera, Baloo, and Mowgli's own wolves were left. Shere Khan roared +still in the night, for he was very angry that Mowgli had not been +handed over to him. + +'Ay, roar well,' said Bagheera, under his whiskers; 'for the time +comes when this naked thing will make thee roar to another tune, or I +know nothing of man.' + +'It was well done,' said Akela. 'Men and their cubs are very wise. He +may be a help in time.' + +'Truly, a help in time of need; for none can hope to lead the Pack +for ever,' said Bagheera. + +Akela said nothing. He was thinking of the time that comes to every +leader of every pack when his strength goes from him and he gets +feebler and feebler, till at last he is killed by the wolves and a +new leader comes up--to be killed in his turn. + +'Take him away,' he said to Father Wolf, 'and train him as befits one +of the Free People.' + +And that is how Mowgli was entered into the Seeonee wolf-pack for the +price of a bull and on Baloo's good word. + + * * * * * + +Now you must be content to skip ten or eleven whole years, and only +guess at all the wonderful life Mowgli led among the wolves, because +if it were written out it would fill ever so many books. He grew up +with the cubs, though they, of course, were grown wolves almost +before he was a child, and Father Wolf taught him his business, and +the meaning of things in the jungle, till every rustle in the grass, +every breath of the warm night air, every note of the owls above his +head, every scratch of a bat's claws as it roosted for a while in a +tree, and every splash of every little fish jumping in a pool, meant +just as much to him as the work of his office means to a business +man. When he was not learning he sat out in the sun and slept, and +ate and went to sleep again; when he felt dirty or hot he swam in the +forest pools; and when he wanted honey (Baloo told him that honey and +nuts were just as pleasant to eat as raw meat) he climbed up for it, +and that Bagheera showed him how to do. Bagheera would lie out on a +branch and call, 'Come along, Little Brother,' and at first Mowgli +would cling like the sloth, but afterward he would fling himself +through the branches almost as boldly as the gray ape. He took his +place at the Council Rock, too, when the Pack met, and there he +discovered that if he stared hard at any wolf, the wolf would be +forced to drop his eyes, and so he used to stare for fun. At other +times he would pick the long thorns out of the pads of his friends, +for wolves suffer terribly from thorns and burs in their coats. He +would go down the hillside into the cultivated lands by night, and +look very curiously at the villagers in their huts, but he had a +mistrust of men because Bagheera showed him a square box with a +drop-gate so cunningly hidden in the jungle that he nearly walked +into it, and told him that it was a trap. He loved better than +anything else to go with Bagheera into the dark warm heart of the +forest, to sleep all through the drowsy day, and at night see how +Bagheera did his killing. Bagheera killed right and left as he felt +hungry, and so did Mowgli--with one exception. As soon as he was old +enough to understand things, Bagheera told him that he must never +touch cattle because he had been bought into the Pack at the price +of a bull's life. 'All the jungle is thine,' said Bagheera, 'and thou +canst kill everything that thou art strong enough to kill; but for +the sake of the bull that bought thee thou must never kill or eat any +cattle young or old. That is the Law of the Jungle.' Mowgli obeyed +faithfully. + +And he grew and grew strong as a boy must grow who does not know that +he is learning any lessons, and who has nothing in the world to think +of except things to eat. + +Mother Wolf told him once or twice that Shere Khan was not a creature +to be trusted, and that some day he must kill Shere Khan; but though +a young wolf would have remembered that advice every hour, Mowgli +forgot it because he was only a boy--though he would have called +himself a wolf if he had been able to speak in any human tongue. + +Shere Khan was always crossing his path in the jungle, for as Akela +grew older and feebler the lame tiger had come to be great friends +with the younger wolves of the Pack, who followed him for scraps, a +thing Akela would never have allowed if he had dared to push his +authority to the proper bounds. Then Shere Khan would flatter them +and wonder that such fine young hunters were content to be led by a +dying wolf and a man's cub. 'They tell me,' Shere Khan would say, +'that at Council ye dare not look him between the eyes'; and the +young wolves would growl and bristle. + +Bagheera, who had eyes and ears everywhere, knew something of this, +and once or twice he told Mowgli in so many words that Shere Khan +would kill him some day; and Mowgli would laugh and answer: 'I have +the Pack and I have thee; and Baloo, though he is so lazy, might +strike a blow or two for my sake. Why should I be afraid?' + +It was one very warm day that a new notion came to Bagheera--born of +something that he had heard. Perhaps Sahi the Porcupine had told him; +but he said to Mowgli when they were deep in the jungle, as the boy +lay with his head on Bagheera's beautiful black skin: 'Little +Brother,' how often have I told thee that Shere Khan is thy enemy?' + +'As many times as there are nuts on that palm,' said Mowgli, who, +naturally, could not count. 'What of it? I am sleepy, Bagheera, and +Shere Khan is all long tail and loud talk--like Mor the Peacock.' + +'But this is no time for sleeping. Baloo knows it; I know it; the +Pack know it; and even the foolish, foolish deer know. Tabaqui has +told thee, too.' + +'Ho! ho!' said Mowgli. 'Tabaqui came to me not long ago with some +rude talk that I was a naked man's cub and not fit to dig pig-nuts; +but I caught Tabaqui by the tail and swung him twice against a +palm-tree to teach him better manners.' + +'That was foolishness; for though Tabaqui is a mischief-maker, he +would have told thee of something that concerned thee closely. Open +those eyes, Little Brother. Shere Khan dare not kill thee in the +jungle; but remember, Akela is very old, and soon the day comes when +he cannot kill his buck, and then he will be leader no more. Many of +the wolves that looked thee over when thou wast brought to the +Council first are old too, and the young wolves believe, as Shere +Khan has taught them, that a man-cub has no place with the Pack. In a +little time thou wilt be a man.' + +'And what is a man that he should not run with his brothers?' said +Mowgli. 'I was born in the jungle. I have obeyed the Law of the +Jungle, and there is no wolf of ours from whose paws I have not +pulled a thorn. Surely they are my brothers!' + +Bagheera stretched himself at full length and half shut his eyes. +'Little Brother,' said he, 'feel under my jaw.' + +Mowgli put up his strong brown hand, and just under Bagheera's silky +chin, where the giant rolling muscles were all hid by the glossy +hair, he came upon a little bald spot. + +'There is no one in the jungle that knows that I, Bagheera, carry +that mark--the mark of the collar; and yet, Little Brother, I was +born among men, and it was among men that my mother died--in the +cages of the King's Palace at Oodeypore. It was because of this that +I paid the price for thee at the Council when thou wast a little +naked cub. Yes, I too was born among men. I had never seen the +jungle. They fed me behind bars from an iron pan till one night I +felt that I was Bagheera--the Panther--and no man's plaything, and I +broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw and came away; and +because I had learned the ways of men, I became more terrible in the +jungle than Shere Khan. Is it not so?' + +'Yes,' said Mowgli;' all the jungle fear Bagheera--all except +Mowgli.' + +'Oh, _thou_ art a man's cub,' said the Black Panther, very +tenderly; 'and even as I returned to my jungle, so thou must go back +to men at last,--to the men who are thy brothers,--if thou art not +killed in the Council.' + +'But why--but why should any wish to kill me?' said Mowgli. + +'Look at me,' said Bagheera; and Mowgli looked at him steadily +between the eyes. The big panther turned his head away in half a +minute. + +'_That_ is why,' he said, shifting his paw on the leaves. 'Not even I +can look thee between the eyes, and I was born among men, and I love +thee, Little Brother. The others they hate thee because their eyes +cannot meet thine; because thou art wise; because thou hast pulled +out thorns from their feet--because thou art a man.' + +'I did not know these things,' said Mowgli, sullenly; and he frowned +under his heavy black eyebrows. + +'What is the Law of the Jungle? Strike first and then give tongue. By +thy very carelessness they know that thou art a man. But be wise. It +is in my heart that when Akela misses his next kill,--and at each +hunt it costs him more to pin the buck,--the Pack will turn against +him and against thee. They will hold a jungle Council at the Rock, +and then--and then--I have it!' said Bagheera, leaping up. 'Go thou +down quickly to the men's huts in the valley, and take some of the +Red Flower which they grow there, so that when the time comes thou +mayest have even a stronger friend than I or Baloo or those of the +Pack that love thee. Get the Red Flower.' + +By Red Flower Bagheera meant fire, only no creature in the jungle +will call fire by its proper name. Every beast lives in deadly fear +of it, and invents a hundred ways of describing it. + +'The Red Flower?' said Mowgli. 'That grows outside their huts in the +twilight. I will get some.' + +'There speaks the man's cub,' said Bagheera, proudly. 'Remember that +it grows in little pots. Get one swiftly, and keep it by thee for +time of need.' + +'Good!' said Mowgli. 'I go. But art thou sure, O my Bagheera'--he +slipped his arm round the splendid neck, and looked deep into the big +eyes--' art thou sure that all this is Shere Khan's doing?' + +'By the Broken Lock that freed me, I am sure, Little Brother.' + +'Then, by the Bull that bought me, I will pay Shere Khan full tale +for this, and it may be a little over,' said Mowgli; and he bounded +away. + +'That is a man. That is all a man,' said Bagheera to himself, lying +down again. 'Oh, Shere Khan, never was a blacker hunting than that +frog-hunt of thine ten years ago!' + +Mowgli was far and far through the forest, running hard, and his +heart was hot in him. He came to the cave as the evening mist rose, +and drew breath, and looked down the valley. The cubs were out, but +Mother Wolf, at the back of the cave, knew by his breathing that +something was troubling her frog. + +'What is it, Son?' she said. + +'Some bat's chatter of Shere Khan,' he called back. 'I hunt among the +ploughed fields to-night'; and he plunged downward through the +bushes, to the stream at the bottom of the valley. There he checked, +for he heard the yell of the Pack hunting, heard the bellow of a +hunted Sambhur, and the snort as the buck turned at bay. Then there +were wicked, bitter howls from the young wolves: 'Akela! Akela! Let +the Lone Wolf show his strength. Room for the leader of the Pack! +Spring, Akela!' + +The Lone Wolf must have sprung and missed his hold, for Mowgli heard +the snap of his teeth and then a yelp as the Sambhur knocked him over +with his fore foot. + +He did not wait for anything more, but dashed on; and the yells grew +fainter behind him as he ran into the croplands where the villagers +lived. + +'Bagheera spoke truth,' he panted, as he nestled down in some +cattle-fodder by the window of a hut. 'To-morrow is one day both for +Akela and for me.' + +Then he pressed his face close to the window and watched the fire on +the hearth. He saw the husbandman's wife get up and feed it in the +night with black lumps; and when the morning came and the mists were +all white and cold, he saw the man's child pick up a wicker pot +plastered inside with earth, fill it with lumps of red-hot charcoal, +put it under his blanket, and go out to tend the cows in the byre. + +'Is that all?' said Mowgli. 'If a cub can do it, there is nothing to +fear'; so he strode round the corner and met the boy, took the pot +from his hand, and disappeared into the mist while the boy howled +with fear. + +'They are very like me,' said Mowgli, blowing into the pot, as he had +seen the woman do. 'This thing will die if I do not give it things to +eat'; and he dropped twigs and dried bark on the red stuff. Half-way +up the hill he met Bagheera with the morning dew shining like +moonstones on his coat. + +'Akela has missed,' said the Panther. 'They would have killed him +last night, but they needed thee also. They were looking for thee on +the hill.' + +'I was among the ploughed lands. I am ready. See!' Mowgli held up the +fire-pot. + +'Good! Now I have seen men thrust a dry branch into that stuff, and +presently the Red Flower blossomed at the end of it. Art thou not +afraid?' + +'No. Why should I fear? I remember now--if it is not a dream--how, +before I was a Wolf, I lay beside the Red Flower, and it was warm and +pleasant.' + +All that day Mowgli sat in the cave tending his fire-pot and dipping +dry branches into it to see how they looked. He found a branch that +satisfied him, and in the evening when Tabaqui came to the cave and +told him rudely enough that he was wanted at the Council Rock, he +laughed till Tabaqui ran away. Then Mowgli went to the Council, still +laughing. + +Akela the lone wolf lay by the side of his rock as a sign that the +leadership of the Pack was open, and Shere Khan with his following of +scrap-fed wolves walked to and fro openly being flattered. Bagheera +lay close to Mowgli, and the fire-pot was between Mowgli's knees. +When they were all gathered together, Shere Khan began to speak--a +thing he would never have dared to do when Akela was in his prime. + +'He has no right,' whispered Bagheera. 'Say so. He is a dog's son. +He will be frightened.' + +Mowgli sprang to his feet. 'Free People,' he cried, does Shere Khan +lead the Pack? What has a tiger to do with our leadership?' + +'Seeing that the leadership is yet open, and being asked to +speak--' Shere Khan began. + +'By whom?' said Mowgli. 'Are we _all_ jackals, to fawn on this +cattle-butcher? The leadership of the Pack is with the Pack alone.' + +There were yells of 'Silence, thou man's cub!' 'Let him speak. He has +kept our Law'; and at last the seniors of the Pack thundered: 'Let +the Dead Wolf speak.' When a leader of the Pack has missed his kill, +he is called the Dead Wolf as long as he lives, which is not long. + +Akela raised his old head wearily:-- + +'Free People, and ye too, jackals of Shere Khan, for twelve seasons +I have led ye to and from the kill, and in all that time not one has +been trapped or maimed. Now I have missed my kill. Ye know how that +plot was made. Ye know how ye brought me up to an untried buck to +make my weakness known. It was cleverly done. Your right is to kill +me here on the Council Rock, now. Therefore, I ask, who comes to make +an end of the Lone Wolf? For it is my right, by the Law of the +Jungle, that ye come one by one.' + +There was a long hush, for no single wolf cared to fight Akela to the +death. Then Shere Khan roared: 'Bah! what have we to do with this +toothless fool? He is doomed to die! It is the man-cub who has lived +too long. Free People, he was my meat from the first. Give him to me. +I am weary of this man-wolf folly. He has troubled the jungle for ten +seasons. Give me the man-cub, or I will hunt here always, and not +give you one bone. He is a man, a man's child, and from the marrow of +my bones I hate him!' + +Then more than half the Pack yelled: A man! a man! + +What has a man to do with us? Let him go to his own place. + +'And turn all the people of the villages against us?' clamoured Shere +Khan. 'No; give him to me. He is a man, and none of us can look him +between the eyes.' + +Akela lifted his head again, and said: 'He has eaten our food. He has +slept with us. He has driven game for us. He has broken no word of +the Law of the Jungle.' + +'Also, I paid for him with a Bull when he was accepted. The worth of +a bull is little, but Bagheera's honour is something that he will +perhaps fight for,' said Bagheera, in his gentlest voice. + +'A bull paid ten years ago!' the Pack snarled. 'What do we care for +bones ten years old?' + +'Or for a pledge?' said Bagheera, his white teeth bared under his +lip. 'Well are ye called the Free People!' + +'No man's cub can run with the people of the jungle,' howled Shere +Khan. 'Give him to me!' + +'He is our brother in all but blood,' Akela went on; 'and ye would +kill him here! In truth, I have lived too long. Some of ye are eaters +of cattle, and of others I have heard that, under Shere Khan's +teaching, ye go by dark night and snatch children from the villager's +door-step Therefore I know ye to be cowards, and it is to cowards I +speak. It is certain that I must die, and my life is of no worth, or +I would offer that in the man-cub's place. But for the sake of the +Honour of the Pack,--a little matter that by being without a leader +ye have forgotten,--I promise that if ye let the man-cub go to his +own place, I will not, when my time comes to die, bare one tooth +against ye. I will die without fighting. That will at least save the +Pack three lives. More I cannot do; but if ye will, I can save ye the +shame that comes of killing a brother against whom there is no +fault,--a brother spoken for and bought into the Pack according to +the Law of the Jungle.' + +'He is a man--a man--a man--!' snarled the Pack; and most of the +wolves began to gather round Shere Khan, whose tail was beginning to +switch. + +'Now the business is in thy hands,' said Bagheera to Mowgli. '_We_ +can do no more except fight.' + +Mowgli stood upright--the fire-pot in his hands. Then he stretched +out his arms, and yawned in the face of the Council; but he was +furious with rage and sorrow, for, wolf-like, the wolves had never +told him how they hated him. 'Listen you!' he cried. 'There is no +need for this dog's jabber. Ye have told me so often to night that I +am a man (and indeed I would have been a wolf with you to my life's +end), that I feel your words are true. So I do not call ye my +brothers any more, but _sag_ [dogs], as a man should. What ye will +do, and what ye will not do, is not yours to say. That matter is with +_me_; and that we may see the matter more plainly, I, the man, have +brought here a little of the Red Flower which ye, dogs, fear.' + +He flung the fire-pot on the ground, and some of the red coals lit a +tuft of dried moss that flared up, as all the Council drew back in +terror before the leaping flames. + +Mowgli thrust his dead branch into the fire till the twigs lit and +crackled, and whirled it above his head among the cowering wolves. + +'Thou art the master,' said Bagheera, in an undertone. 'Save Akela +from, the death. He was ever thy friend.' + +Akela, the grim old wolf who had never asked for mercy in his life, +gave one piteous look at Mowgli as the boy stood all naked, his long +black hair tossing over his shoulders in the light of the blazing +branch that made the shadows jump and quiver. + +'Good!' said Mowgli, staring round slowly. 'I see that ye are dogs. I +go from you to my own people--if they be ray own people. The jungle +is shut to me, and I must forget your talk and your companionship; +but I will be more merciful than ye are. Because I was all but your +brother in blood, I promise that when I am a man among men I will not +betray ye to men as ye have betrayed me.' He kicked the fire with his +foot, and the sparks flew up. 'There shall be no war between any of +us in the Pack. But here is a debt to pay before I go.' He strode +forward to where Shere Khan sat blinking stupidly at the flames, and +caught him by the tuft on his chin. Bagheera followed in case of +accidents. 'Up, dog!' Mowgli cried. 'Up, when a man speaks, or I will +set that coat ablaze!' + +Shere Khan's ears lay flat back on his head, and he shut his eyes, +for the blazing branch was very near. + +'This cattle-killer said he would kill me in the Council because he +had not killed me when I was a cub. Thus and thus, then, do we beat +dogs when we are men. Stir a whisker, Lungri, and I ram the Red +Flower down thy gullet!' He beat Shere Khan over the head with the +branch, and the tiger whimpered and whined in an agony of fear. + +'Pah! Singed jungle-cat--go now! But remember when next I come to the +Council Rock, as a man should come, it will be with Shere Khan's hide +on my head. For the rest, Akela goes free to live as he pleases. Ye +will _not_ kill him, because that is not my will. Nor do I think that +ye will sit here any longer, lolling out your tongues as though ye +were somebodies, instead of dogs whom I drive out--thus! Go!' The +fire was burning furiously at the end of the branch, and Mowgli +struck right and left round the circle, and the wolves ran howling +with the sparks burning their fur. At last there were only Akela, +Bagheera, and perhaps ten wolves that had taken Mowgli's part. Then +something began to hurt Mowgli inside him, as he had never been hurt +in his life before, and he caught his breath and sobbed, and the +tears ran down his face. + +'What is it? What is it?' he said. 'I do not wish to leave the +jungle, and I do not know what this is. Am I dying, Bagheera?' + +'No, Little Brother. That is only tears such as men use,' said +Bagheera. 'Now I know thou art a man, and a man's cub no longer. The +jungle is shut indeed to thee henceforward. Let them fall, Mowgli. +They are only tears.' So Mowgli sat and cried as though his heart +would break; and he had never cried in all his life before. + +'Now,' he said, 'I will go to men. But first I must say farewell to +my mother'; and he went to the cave where she lived with Father Wolf, +and he cried on her coat, while the four cubs howled miserably. + +'Ye will not forget me?' said Mowgli. + +'Never while we can follow a trail,' said the cubs. 'Come to the foot +of the hill when thou art a man, and we will talk to thee; and we +will come into the crop-lands to play with thee by night.' + +'Come soon!' said Father Wolf. 'Oh, wise little frog, come again +soon; for we be old, thy mother and I.' + +'Come soon,' said Mother Wolf, 'little naked son of mine; for, +listen, child of man, I loved thee more than ever I loved my cubs.' + +'I will surely come,' said Mowgli; 'and when I come it will be to +lay out Shere Khan's hide upon the Council Rock. Do not forget me! +Tell them in the jungle never to forget me!' + +The dawn was beginning to break when Mowgli went down the hillside +alone, to meet those mysterious things that are called men. + + + + +THE LOST LEGION. + +When the Indian Mutiny broke out, and a little time before the siege +of Delhi, a regiment of Native Irregular Horse was stationed at +Peshawur on the Frontier of India. That regiment caught what John +Lawrence called at the time 'the prevalent mania,' and would have +thrown in its lot with the mutineers had it been allowed to do so. +The chance never came, for, as the regiment swept off down south, it +was headed up by a remnant of an English corps into the hills of +Afghanistan, and there the newly-conquered tribesmen turned against +it as wolves turn against buck. It was hunted for the sake of its +arms and accoutrements from hill to hill, from ravine to ravine, up +and down the dried beds of rivers and round the shoulders of bluffs, +till it disappeared as water sinks in the sand--this officerless, +rebel regiment. The only trace left of its existence to-day is a +nominal roll drawn up in neat round hand and countersigned by an +officer who called himself 'Adjutant, late ---- Irregular Cavalry.' +The paper is yellow with years and dirt, but on the back of it you +can still read a pencil note by John Lawrence, to this effect: 'See +that the two native officers who remained loyal are not deprived of +their estates.--J.L.' Of six hundred and fifty sabres only two stood +strain, and John Lawrence in the midst of all the agony of the first +months of the mutiny found time to think about their merits. + +That was more than thirty years ago, and the tribesmen across the +Afghan border who helped to annihilate the regiment are now old men. +Sometimes a graybeard speaks of his share in the massacre. 'They +came,' he will say, 'across the border, very proud, calling upon us +to rise and kill the English, and go down to the sack of Delhi. But +we who had just been conquered by the same English knew that they +were over bold, and that the Government could account easily for +those down-country dogs. This Hindu stani regiment, therefore, we +treated with fair words, and kept standing in one place till the +redcoats came after them very hot and angry. Then this regiment ran +forward a little more into our hills to avoid the wrath of the +English, and we lay upon their flanks watching from the sides of the +hills till we were well assured that their path was lost behind them. +Then we came down, for we desired their clothes, and their bridles, +and their rifles, and their boots--more especially their boots. That +was a great killing--done slowly.' Here the old man will rub his +nose, and shake his long snaky locks, and lick his bearded lips, and +grin till the yellow tooth-stumps show. 'Yes, we killed them because +we needed their gear, and we knew that their lives had been forfeited +to God on account of their sin--the sin of treachery to the salt +which they had eaten. They rode up and down the valleys, stumbling +and rocking in their saddles, and howling for mercy. We drove them +slowly like cattle till they were all assembled in one place, the +flat wide valley of Sheor Kot. Many had died from want of water, but +there still were many left, and they could not make any stand. We +went among them, pulling them down with our hands two at a time, and +our boys killed them who were new to the sword. My share of the +plunder was such and such--so many guns, and so many saddles. The +guns were good in those days. Now we steal the Government rifles, +and despise smooth barrels. Yes, beyond doubt we wiped that +regiment from off the face of the earth, and even the memory of the +deed is now dying. But men say----' + +At this point the tale would stop abruptly, and it was impossible to +find out what men said across the border. The Afghans were always a +secretive race, and vastly preferred doing something wicked to saying +anything at all. They would be quiet and well-behaved for months, +till one night, without word or warning, they would rush a +police-post, cut the throats of a constable or two, dash through a +village, carry away three or four women, and withdraw, in the red +glare of burning thatch, driving the cattle and goats before them to +their own desolate hills. The Indian Government would become almost +tearful on these occasions. First it would say, 'Please be good and +we'll forgive you.' The tribe concerned in the latest depredation +would collectively put its thumb to its nose and answer rudely. Then +the Government would say: 'Hadn't you better pay up a little money +for those few corpses you left behind you the other night?' Here the +tribe would temporise, and lie and bully, and some of the younger +men, merely to show contempt of authority, would raid another +police-post and fire into some frontier mud fort, and, if lucky, kill +a real English officer. Then the Government would say: 'Observe; if +you really persist in this line of conduct you will be hurt.' If the +tribe knew exactly what was going on in India, it would apologise or +be rude, according as it learned whether the Government was busy with +other things, or able to devote its full attention to their +performances. Some of the tribes knew to one corpse how far to go. +Others became excited, lost their heads, and told the Government to +come on. With sorrow and tears, and one eye on the British taxpayer +at home, who insisted on regarding these exercises as brutal wars of +annexation, the Government would prepare an expensive little +field-brigade and some guns, and send all up into the hills to chase +the wicked tribe out of the valleys, where the corn grew, into the +hill-tops where there was nothing to eat. The tribe would turn out in +full strength and enjoy the campaign, for they knew that their women +would never be touched, that their wounded would be nursed, not +mutilated, and that as soon as each man's bag of corn was spent they +could surrender and palaver with the English General as though they +had been a real enemy. Afterwards, years afterwards, they would pay +the blood-money, driblet by driblet, to the Government and tell their +children how they had slain the redcoats by thousands. The only +drawback to this kind of picnic-war was the weakness of the redcoats +for solemnly blowing up with powder their fortified towers and keeps. +This the tribes always considered mean. + +Chief among the leaders of the smaller tribes--the little clans who +knew to a penny the expense of moving white troops against them--was +a priest-bandit-chief whom we will call the Gulla Kutta Mullah. His +enthusiasm for border murder as an art was almost dignified. He +would cut down a mail-runner from pure wantonness, or bombard a mud +fort with rifle fire when he knew that our men needed to sleep. In +his leisure moments he would go on circuit among his neighbours, and +try to incite other tribes to devilry. Also, he kept a kind of hotel +for fellow-outlaws in his own village, which lay in a valley called +Bersund. Any respectable murderer on that section of the frontier was +sure to lie up at Bersund, for it was reckoned an exceedingly safe +place. The sole entry to it ran through a narrow gorge which could be +converted into a death-trap in five minutes. It was surrounded by +high hills, reckoned inaccessible to all save born mountaineers, and +here the Gulla Kutta Mullah lived in great state, the head of a +colony of mud and stone huts, and in each mud hut hung Some portion +of a red uniform and the plunder of dead men. The Government +particularly wished for his capture, and once invited him formally to +come out and be hanged on account of a few of the murders in which he +had taken a direct part. He replied:-- + +'I am only twenty miles, as the crow flies, from your border. Come +and fetch me.' + +'Some day we will come,' said the Government, 'and hanged you will +be.' + +The Gulla Kutta Mullah let the matter from his mind. He knew that the +patience of the Government was as long as a summer day; but he did +not realise that its arm was as long as a winter night. Months +afterwards when there was peace on the border, and all India was +quiet, the Indian Government turned in its sleep and remembered the +Gulla Kutta Mullah at Bersund, with his thirteen outlaws. The +movement against him of one single regiment--which the telegrams +would have translated as war--would have been highly impolitic. This +was a time for silence and speed, and, above all, absence of +bloodshed. + +You must know that all along the north-west frontier of India there +is spread a force of some thirty thousand foot and horse, whose duty +it is quietly and unostentatiously to shepherd the tribes in front of +them. They move up and down, and down and up, from one desolate +little post to another; they are ready to take the field at ten +minutes' notice; they are always half in and half out of a difficulty +somewhere along the monotonous line; their lives are as hard as their +own muscles, and the papers never say anything about them. It was +from this force that the Government picked its men. + +One night at a station where the mounted Night Patrol fire as they +challenge, and the wheat rolls in great blue green waves under our +cold northern moon, the officers were playing billiards in the +mud-walled club-house, when orders came to them that they were to go +on parade at once for a night-drill. They grumbled, and went to turn +out their men--a hundred English troops, let us say, two hundred +Goorkhas, and about a hundred cavalry of the finest native cavalry in +the world. + +When they were on the parade-ground, it was explained to them in +whispers that they must set off at once across the hills to Bersund. +The English troops were to post themselves round the hills at the +side of the valley; the Goorkhas would command the gorge and the +death-trap, and the cavalry would fetch a long march round and get to +the back of the circle of hills, whence, if there were any +difficulty, they could charge down on the Mullah's men. But orders +were very strict that there should be no fighting and no noise. They +were to return in the morning with every round of ammunition intact, +and the Mullah and the thirteen outlaws bound in their midst. If they +were successful, no one would know or care anything about their work; +but failure meant probably a small border war, in which the Gulla +Kutta Mullah would pose as a popular leader against a big bullying +power, instead of a common border murderer. + +Then there was silence, broken only by the clicking of the compass +needles and snapping of watch-cases, as the heads of columns compared +bearings and made appointments for the rendezvous. Five minutes later +the parade-ground was empty; the green coats of the Goorkhas and the +overcoats of the English troops had faded into the darkness, and the +cavalry were cantering away in the face of a blinding drizzle. + +What the Goorkhas and the English did will be seen later on. The heavy +work lay with the horses, for they had to go far and pick their way +clear of habitations. Many of the troopers were natives of that part +of the world, ready and anxious to fight against their kin, and some +of the officers had made private and unofficial excursions into those +hills before. They crossed the border, found a dried river bed, +cantered up that, waited through a stony gorge, risked crossing a low +hill under cover of the darkness, skirted another hill, leaving their +hoof-marks deep in some ploughed ground, felt their way along another +watercourse, ran over the neck of a spur, praying that no one would +hear their horses grunting, and so worked on in the rain and the +darkness, till they had left Bersund and its crater of hills a little +behind them, and to the left, and it was time to swing round. +The ascent commanding the back of Bersund was steep, and they halted +to draw breath in a broad level valley below the height. That is to +say, the men reined up, but the horses, blown as they were, refused +to halt. There was unchristian language, the worse for being +delivered in a whisper, and you heard the saddles squeaking in the +darkness as the horses plunged. + +The subaltern at the rear of one troop turned in his saddle and said +very softly:-- + +'Carter, what the blessed heavens are you doing at the rear? Bring +your men up, man.' + +There was no answer, till a trooper replied:-- + +'Carter Sahib is forward--not there. There is nothing behind us.' + +'There is,' said the subaltern. 'The squadron's walking on it's own +tail.' + +Then the Major in command moved down to the rear swearing softly and +asking for the blood of Lieutenant Halley--the subaltern who had just +spoken. + +'Look after your rearguard,' said the Major. 'Some of your infernal +thieves have got lost. They're at the head of the squadron, and +you're a several kinds of idiot.' + +'Shall I tell off my men, sir?' said the subaltern sulkily, for he +was feeling wet and cold. + +'Tell 'em off!' said the Major. '_Whip_ 'em off, by Gad! You're +squandering them all over the place. There's a troop behind you +_now_!' + +'So I was thinking,' said the subaltern calmly. 'I have all my men +here, sir. Better speak to Carter.' + +'Carter Sahib sends salaam and wants to know why the regiment is +stopping,' said a trooper to Lieutenant Halley. + +'Where under heaven _is_ Carter?' said the Major. + +'Forward with his troop,' was the answer. + +'Are we walking in a ring, then, or are we the centre of a blessed +brigade?' said the Major. + +By this time there was silence all along the column. The horses were +still; but, through the drive of the fine rain, men could hear the +feet of many horses moving over stony ground. + +'We're being stalked,' said Lieutenant Halley. + +'They've no horses here. Besides they'd have fired before this,' said +the Major. 'It's--it's villagers' ponies.' + +'Then our horses would have neighed and spoilt the attack long ago. +They must have been near us for half an hour,' said the subaltern. + +'Queer that we can't smell the horses,' said the Major, damping his +finger and rubbing it on his nose as he sniffed up wind. + +'Well, it's a bad start,' said the subaltern, shaking the wet from +his overcoat. 'What shall we do, sir?' + +'Get on,' said the Major. 'We shall catch it to-night.' + +The column moved forward very gingerly for a few paces. Then there +was an oath, a shower of blue sparks as shod hooves crashed on small +stones, and a man rolled over with a jangle of accoutrements that +would have waked the dead. + +'Now we've gone and done it,' said Lieutenant Halley. 'All the +hillside awake, and all the hillside to climb in the face of +musketry-fire. This comes of trying to do night-hawk work.' + +The trembling trooper picked himself up, and tried to explain that +his horse had fallen over one of the little cairns that are built of +loose stones on the spot where a man has been murdered. There was no +need for reasons. The Major's big Australian charger blundered next, +and the column came to a halt in what seemed to be a very graveyard +of little cairns all about two feet high. The man[oe]uvres of the +squadron are not reported. Men said that it felt like mounted +quadrilles without training and without the music; but at last the +horses, breaking rank and choosing their own way, walked clear of +the cairns, till every man of the squadron re-formed and drew rein a +few yards up the slope of the hill. Then, according to Lieutenant +Halley, there was another scene very like the one which has been +described. The Major and Carter insisted that all the men had not +joined rank, and that there were more of them in the rear clicking +and blundering among the dead men's cairns. Lieutenant Halley told +off his own troopers again and resigned himself to wait. Later on he +told me:-- + +'I didn't much know, and I didn't much care what was going on. The +row of that trooper falling ought to have scared half the country, +and I would take my oath that we were being stalked by a full +regiment in the rear, and _they_ were making row enough to rouse all +Afghanistan. I sat tight, but nothing happened.' + +The mysterious part of the night's work was the silence on the +hillside. Everybody knew that the Gulla Kutta Mullah had his outpost +huts on the reverse side of the hill, and everybody expected by the +time that the Major had sworn himself into a state of quiet that the +watchmen there would open fire. When nothing occurred, they said that +the gusts of the rain had deadened the sound of the horses, and +thanked Providence. At last the Major satisfied himself (a) that he +had left no one behind among the cairns, and (b) that he was not +being taken in the rear by a large and powerful body of cavalry. The +men's tempers were thoroughly spoiled, the horses were lathered and +unquiet, and one and all prayed for the daylight. + +They set themselves to climb up the hill, each man leading his mount +carefully. Before they had covered the lower slopes or the +breastplates had begun to tighten, a thunderstorm came up behind, +rolling across the low hills and drowning any noise less than that of +cannon. The first flash of the lightning showed the bare ribs of the +ascent, the hill-crest standing steely blue against the black sky, +the little falling lines of the rain, and, a few yards to their left +flank, an Afghan watch-tower, two-storied, built of stone, and +entered by a ladder from the upper story. The ladder was up, and a +man with a rifle was leaning from the window. The darkness and the +thunder rolled down in an instant, and, when the lull followed, a +voice from the watch-tower cried, 'Who goes there?' + +The cavalry were very quiet, but each man gripped his carbine and +stood beside his horse. Again the voice called, 'Who goes there?' +and in a louder key, 'O, brothers, give the alarm!' Now, every man in +the cavalry would have died in his long boots sooner than have asked +for quarter; but it is a fact that the answer to the second call was +a long wail of 'Marf karo! Marf karo!' which means, 'Have mercy! Have +mercy!' It came from the climbing regiment. + +The cavalry stood dumbfoundered, till the big troopers had time to +whisper one to another: 'Mir Khan, was that thy voice? Abdullah, +didst _thou_ call?' Lieutenant Halley stood beside his charger and +waited. So long as no firing was going on he was content. Another +flash of lightning showed the horses with heaving flanks and nodding +heads, the men, white eye-balled, glaring beside them and the stone +watch-tower to the left. This time there was no head at the window, +and the rude iron-clamped shutter that could turn a rifle bullet was +closed. + +'Go on, men,' said the Major. 'Get up to the top at any rate.' The +squadron toiled forward, the horses wagging their tails and the men +pulling at the bridles, the stones rolling down the hillside and the +sparks flying. Lieutenant Halley declares that he never heard a +squadron make so much noise in his life. They scrambled up, he said, +as though each horse had eight legs and a spare horse to follow him. +Even then there was no sound from the watch-tower, and the men +stopped exhausted on the ridge that overlooked the pit of darkness in +which the village of Bersund lay. Girths were loosed, curb-chains +shifted, and saddles adjusted, and the men dropped down among the +stones. Whatever might happen now, they had the upper ground of any +attack. + +The thunder ceased, and with it the rain, and the soft thick darkness +of a winter night before the dawn covered them all. Except for the +sound of falling water among the ravines below, everything was still. +They heard the shutter of the watch-tower below them thrown back with +a clang, and the voice of the watcher calling: 'Oh, Hafiz Ullah!' + +The echoes took up the call, 'La-la-la!' And an answer came from the +watch-tower hidden round the curve of the hill, 'What is it, Shahbaz +Khan?' + +Shahbaz Khan replied in the high-pitched voice of the mountaineer: +'Hast thou seen?' + +The answer came back: 'Yes. God deliver us from all evil spirits!' + +There was a pause, and then: 'Hafiz Ullah, I am alone! Come to me!' + +'Shahbaz Khan, I am alone also; but I dare not leave my post!' + +'That is a lie; thou art afraid.' + +A longer pause followed, and then: 'I am afraid. Be silent! They are +below us still. Pray to God and sleep.' + +The troopers listened and wondered, for they could not understand +what save earth and stone could lie below the watch-towers. + +Shahbaz Khan began to call again: 'They are below us. I can see them. +For the pity of God come over to me, Hafiz Ullah! My father slew ten +of them. Come over!' + +Hafiz Ullah answered in a very loud voice, 'Mine was guiltless. Hear, +ye Men of the Night, neither my father nor my blood had any part in +that sin. Bear thou thy own punishment, Shahbaz Khan.' + +'Oh, some one ought to stop those two chaps crowing away like cocks +there,' said Lieutenant Halley, shivering under his rock. + +He had hardly turned round to expose a new side of him to the rain +before a bearded, long-locked, evil-smelling Afghan rushed up the +hill, and tumbled into his arms. Halley sat upon him, and thrust as +much of a sword-hilt as could be spared down the man's gullet. 'If +you cry out, I kill you,' he said cheerfully. + +The man was beyond any expression of terror. He lay and quaked, +grunting. When Halley took the sword-hilt from between his teeth, he +was still inarticulate, but clung to Halley's arm, feeling it from +elbow to wrist. + +'The Rissala! The dead Rissala!' he gasped. 'It is down there!' + +'No; the Rissala, the very much alive Rissala. It is up here,' said +Halley, unshipping his watering-bridle, and fastening the man's +hands. 'Why were you in the towers so foolish as to let us pass?' + +'The valley is full of the dead,' said the Afghan. 'It is better to +fall into the hands of the English than the hands of the dead. They +march to and fro below there. I saw them in the lightning.' + +He recovered his composure after a little, and whispering, because +Halley's pistol was at his stomach, said: 'What is this? There is no +war between us now, and the Mullah will kill me for not seeing you +pass!' + +'Rest easy,' said Halley; 'we are coming to kill the Mullah, if God +please. His teeth have grown too long. No harm will come to thee +unless the daylight shows thee as a face which is desired by the +gallows for crime done. But what of the dead regiment?' + +'I only kill within my own border,' said the man, immensely relieved. +'The Dead Regiment is below. The men must have passed through it on +their journey--four hundred dead on horses, stumbling among their own +graves, among the little heaps--dead men all, whom we slew.' + +'Whew!' said Halley. 'That accounts for my cursing Carter and the +Major cursing me. Four hundred sabres, eh? No wonder we thought there +were a few extra men in the troop. Kurruk Shah,' he whispered to a +grizzled native officer that lay within a few feet of him, 'hast thou +heard anything of a dead Rissala in these hills?' + +'Assuredly,' said Kurruk Shah with a grim chuckle. 'Otherwise, why +did I, who have served the Queen for seven-and-twenty years, and +killed many hill-dogs, shout aloud for quarter when the lightning +revealed us to the watch-towers? When I was a young man I saw the +killing in the valley of Sheor-Kot there at our feet, and I know the +tale that grew up therefrom. But how can the ghosts of unbelievers +prevail against us who are of the Faith? Strap that dog's hands a +little tighter, Sahib. An Afghan is like an eel.' + +'But a dead Rissala,' said Halley, jerking his captive's wrist. 'That +is foolish talk, Kurruk Shah. The dead are dead. Hold still, _sag_.' +The Afghan wriggled. + +'The dead are dead, and for that reason they walk at night. What need +to talk? We be men; we have our eyes and ears. Thou canst both see +and hear them, down the hillside,' said Kurruk Shah composedly. + +Halley stared and listened long and intently. The valley was full of +stifled noises, as every valley must be at night; but whether he saw +or heard more than was natural Halley alone knows, and he does not +choose to speak on the subject. + +At last, and just before the dawn, a green rocket shot up from the +far side of the valley of Bersund, at the head of the gorge, to show +that the Goorkhas were in position. A red light from the infantry at +left and right answered it, and the cavalry burnt a white flare. +Afghans in winter are late sleepers, and it was not till full day +that the Gulla Kutta Mullah's men began to straggle from their huts, +rubbing their eyes. They saw men in green, and red, and brown +uniforms, leaning on their arms, neatly arranged all round the crater +of the village of Bersund, in a cordon that not even a wolf could +have broken. They rubbed their eyes the more when a pink-faced young +man, who was not even in the Army, but represented the Political +Department, tripped down the hillside with two orderlies, rapped at +the door of the Gulla Kutta Mullah's house, and told him quietly to +step out and be tied up for safe transport. That same young man +passed on through the huts, tapping here one cateran and there +another lightly with his cane; and as each was pointed out, so he was +tied up, staring hopelessly at the crowned heights around where the +English soldiers looked down with incurious eyes. Only the Mullah +tried to carry it off with curses and high words, till a soldier who +was tying his hands said:-- + +'None o' your lip! Why didn't you come out when you was ordered, +instead o' keepin' us awake all night? You're no better than my own +barrack-sweeper, you white-'eaded old polyanthus! Kim up!' + +Half an hour later the troops had gone away with the Mullah and his +thirteen friends. The dazed villagers were looking ruefully at a pile +of broken muskets and snapped swords, and wondering how in the world +they had come so to miscalculate the forbearance of the Indian +Government. + +It was a very neat little affair, neatly carried out, and the men +concerned were unofficially thanked for their services. + +Yet it seems to me that much credit is also due to another regiment +whose name did not appear in the brigade orders, and whose very +existence is in danger of being forgotten. + + + + +NAMGAY DOOLA. + + There came to the beach a poor exile of Erin, + The dew on his wet robe hung heavy and chill; + Ere the steamer that brought him had passed out of hearin', + He was Alderman Mike inthrojuicing' a bill! + _American Song_. + +Once upon a time there was a King who lived on the road to Thibet, +very many miles in the Himalayas. His Kingdom was eleven thousand +feet above the sea and exactly four miles square; but most of the +miles stood on end owing to the nature of the country. His revenues +were rather less than four hundred pounds yearly, and they were +expended in the maintenance of one elephant and a standing army of +five men. He was tributary to the Indian Government, who allowed him +certain sums for keeping a section of the Himalaya-Thibet road in +repair. He further increased his revenues by selling timber to the +Railway companies; for he would cut the great deodar trees in his one +forest, and they fell thundering into the Sutlej river and were swept +down to the plains three hundred miles away and became railway-ties. +Now and again this King, whose name does not matter, would mount a +ringstraked horse and ride scores of miles to Simla-town to confer +with the Lieutenant-Governor on matters of state, or to assure the +Viceroy that his sword was at the service of the Queen-Empress. Then +the Viceroy would cause a ruffle of drums to be sounded, and the +ringstraked horse and the cavalry of the State--two men in +tatters--and the herald who bore the silver stick before the King, +would trot back to their own place, which lay between the tail of a +heaven-climbing glacier and a dark birch-forest. + +Now, from such a King, always remembering that he possessed one +veritable elephant, and could count his descent for twelve hundred +years, I expected, when it was my fate to wander through his +dominions, no more than mere license to live. + +The night had closed in rain, and rolling clouds blotted out the +lights of the villages in the valley. Forty miles away, untouched by +cloud or storm, the white shoulder of Donga Pa--the Mountain of the +Council of the Gods--upheld the Evening Star. The monkeys sang +sorrowfully to each other as they hunted for dry roosts in the +fern-wreathed trees, and the last puff of the day-wind brought from +the unseen villages the scent of damp wood-smoke, hot cakes, dripping +undergrowth, and rotting pine-cones. That is the true smell of the +Himalayas, and if once it creeps into the blood of a man, that man +will at the last, forgetting all else, return to the hills to die. +The clouds closed and the smell went away and there remained nothing +in all the world except chilling white mist and the boom of the +Sutlej river racing through the valley below. A fat-tailed sheep, who +did not want to die, bleated piteously at my tent door. He was +scuffling with the Prime Minister and the Director-General of Public +Education, and he was a royal gift to me and my camp servants. I +expressed my thanks suitably, and asked if I might have audience of +the King. The Prime Minister readjusted his turban, which had fallen +off in the struggle, and assured me that the King would be very +pleased to see me. Therefore, I despatched two bottles as a +foretaste, and when the sheep had entered upon another incarnation +went to the King's Palace through the wet. He had sent his army to +escort me, but the army stayed to talk with my cook. Soldiers are +very much alike all the world over. + +The Palace was a four-roomed, and whitewashed mud and timber-house, +the finest in all the hills for a day's journey. The King was dressed +in a purple velvet jacket, white muslin trousers, and a +saffron-yellow turban of price. He gave me audience in a little +carpeted room opening off the palace courtyard which was occupied by +the Elephant of State. The great beast was sheeted and anchored from +trunk to tail, and the curve of his back stood out grandly against +the mist. + +The Prime Minister and the Director-General of Public Education were +present to introduce me, but all the court had been dismissed, lest +the two bottles aforesaid should corrupt their morals. The King cast +a wreath of heavy-scented flowers round my neck as I bowed, and +inquired how my honoured presence had the felicity to be. I said that +through seeing his auspicious countenance the mists of the night had +turned into sunshine, and that by reason of his beneficent sheep his +good deeds would be remembered by the Gods. He said that since I had +set my magnificent foot in his Kingdom the crops would probably +yield seventy per cent. more than the average. I said that the fame +of the King had reached to the four corners of the earth, and that +the nations gnashed their teeth when they heard daily of the glories +of his realm and the wisdom of his moon-like Prime Minister and +lotus-like Director-General of Public Education. + +Then we sat down on clean white cushions, and I was at the King's +right hand. Three minutes later he was telling me that the state of +the maize crop was something disgraceful, and that the Railway +companies would not pay him enough for his timber. The talk shifted +to and fro with the bottles, and we discussed very many stately +things, and the King became confidential on the subject of Government +generally. Most of all he dwelt on the shortcomings of one of his +subjects, who, from all I could gather, had been paralysing the +executive. + +'In the old days,' said the King, 'I could have ordered the Elephant +yonder to trample him to death. Now I must e'en send him seventy +miles across the hills to be tried, and his keep would be upon the +State. The Elephant eats everything.' + +'What be the man's crimes, Rajah Sahib?' said I. + +'Firstly, he is an outlander and no man of mine own people. Secondly, +since of my favour I gave him land upon his first coming, he refuses +to pay revenue. Am I not the lord of the earth, above and below, +entitled by right and custom to one-eighth of the crop? Yet this +devil, establishing himself, refuses to pay a single tax; and he +brings a poisonous spawn of babes.' + +'Cast him into jail,' I said. + +'Sahib,' the King answered, shifting a little on the cushions, 'once +and only once in these forty years sickness came upon me so that I +was not able to go abroad. In that hour I made a vow to my God that I +would never again cut man or woman from the light of the sun and the +air of God; for I perceived the nature of the punishment. How can I +break my vow? Were it only the lopping of a hand or a foot I should +not delay. But even that is impossible now that the English have +rule. One or another of my people'--he looked obliquely at the +Director-General of Public Education--'would at once write a letter +to the Viceroy, and perhaps I should be deprived of my ruffle of +drums.' + +He unscrewed the mouthpiece of his silver water-pipe, fitted a plain +amber mouthpiece, and passed his pipe to me. 'Not content with +refusing revenue,' he continued, 'this outlander refuses also the +_begar_' (this was the corvee or forced labour on the roads) 'and +stirs my people up to the like treason. Yet he is, when he wills, an +expert log-snatcher. There is none better or bolder among my people +to clear a block of the river when the logs stick fast.' + +'But he worships strange Gods,' said the Prime Minister +deferentially. + +'For that I have no concern,' said the King, who was as tolerant as +Akbar in matters of belief. 'To each man his own God and the fire or +Mother Earth for us all at last. It is the rebellion that offends +me.' + +'The King has an army,' I suggested. 'Has not the King burned the +man's house and left him naked to the night dews?' + +'Nay, a hut is a hut, and it holds the life of a man. But once, I +sent my army against him when his excuses became wearisome: of their +heads he brake three across the top with a stick. The other two men +ran away. Also the guns would not shoot.' + +I had seen the equipment of the infantry. One-third of it was an old +muzzle-loading fowling-piece, with a ragged rust-hole where the +nipples should have been, one-third a wire-bound match-lock with a +worm-eaten stock, and one-third a four-bore flint duck-gun without a +flint. + +'But it is to be remembered,' said the King, reaching out for the +bottle, 'that he is a very expert log-snatcher and a man of a merry +face. What shall I do to him, Sahib?' + +This was interesting. The timid hill-folk would as soon have refused +taxes to their King as revenues to their Gods. + +'If it be the King's permission,' I said, 'I will not strike my tents +till the third day and I will see this man. The mercy of the King is +God-like, and rebellion is like unto the sin of witchcraft. Moreover, +both the bottles and another be empty.' + +'You have my leave to go,' said the King. + +Next morning a crier went through the State proclaiming that there +was a log-jam on the river and that it behoved all loyal subjects to +remove it. The people poured down from their villages to the moist, +warm valley of poppy-fields; and the King and I went with them. +Hundreds of dressed deodar-logs had caught on a snag of rock, and the +river was bringing down more logs every minute to complete the +blockade. The water snarled and wrenched and worried at the timber, +and the population of the State began prodding the nearest logs with +a pole in the hope of starting a general movement. Then there went up +a shout of 'Namgay Doola! Namgay Doola!' and a large red-haired +villager hurried up, stripping off his clothes as he ran. + +'That is he. That is the rebel,' said the King. 'Now will the dam be +cleared.' + +'But why has he red hair?' I asked, since red hair among hill-folks +is as common as blue or green. + +'He is an outlander,' said the King. 'Well done! Oh, well done!' + +Namgay Doola had scrambled out on the jam and was clawing out the +butt of a log with a rude sort of boat-hook. It slid forward slowly +as an alligator moves, three or four others followed it, and the +green water spouted through the gaps they had made. Then the +villagers howled and shouted and scrambled across the logs, pulling +and pushing the obstinate timber, and the red head of Namgay Doola +was chief among them all. The logs swayed and chafed and groaned as +fresh consignments from upstream battered the now weakening dam. All +gave way at last in a smother of foam, racing logs, bobbing black +heads and confusion indescribable. The river tossed everything before +it. I saw the red head go down with the last remnants of the jam and +disappear between the great grinding, tree-trunks. It rose close to +the bank and blowing like a grampus. Namgay Doola wrung the water out +of his eyes and made obeisance to the King. I had time to observe him +closely. The virulent redness of his shock head and beard was most +startling; and in the thicket of hair wrinkled above high cheek bones +shone two very merry blue eyes. He was indeed an outlander, but yet a +Thibetan in language, habit, and attire. He spoke the Lepcha dialect +with an indescribable softening of the gutturals. It was not so much +a lisp as an accent. + +'Whence comest thou?' I asked. + +'From Thibet.' He pointed across the hills and grinned. That grin +went straight to my heart. Mechanically I held out my hand and Namgay +Doola shook it. No pure Thibetan would have understood the meaning of +the gesture. He went away to look for his clothes, and as he climbed +back to his village, I heard a joyous yell that seemed unaccountably +familiar. It was the whooping of Namgay Doola. + +'You see now,' said the King, 'why I would not kill him. He is a bold +man among my logs, but,' and he shook his head like a schoolmaster, +'I know that before long there will be complaints of him in the +court. Let us return to the Palace and do justice.' It was that +King's custom to judge his subjects every day between eleven and +three o'clock. I saw him decide equitably in weighty matters of +trespass, slander, and a little wife-stealing. Then his brow clouded +and he summoned me. + +'Again it is Namgay Doola,' he said despairingly. 'Not content with +refusing revenue on his own part, he has bound half his village by an +oath to the like treason. Never before has such a thing befallen me! +Nor are my taxes heavy.' + +'O King,' said I. 'If it be the King's will let this matter stand +over till the morning. Only the Gods can do right swiftly, and it may +be that yonder villager has lied.' + +'Nay, for I know the nature of Namgay Doola; but since a guest asks +let the matter remain. Wilt thou speak harshly to this red-headed +outlander. He may listen to thee.' + +I made an attempt that very evening, but for the life of me I could +not keep my countenance. Namgay Doola grinned persuasively, and began +to tell me about a big brown bear in a poppy-field by the river. +Would I care to shoot it? I spoke austerely on the sin of conspiracy, +and the certainty of punishment. Namgay Doola's face clouded for a +moment. Shortly afterwards he withdrew from my tent, and I heard him +singing to himself softly among the pines. The words were +unintelligible to me, but the tune, like his liquid insinuating +speech, seemed the ghost of something strangely familiar. + + Dir hane mard-i-yemen dir + To weeree ala gee, + +sang Namgay Doola again and again, and I racked my brain for that +lost tune. It was not till after dinner that I discovered some one +had cut a square foot of velvet from the centre of my best +camera-cloth. This made me so angry that I wandered down the valley +in the hope of meeting the big brown bear. I could hear him grunting +like a discontented pig in the poppy-field, and I waited shoulder +deep in the dew-dripping Indian corn to catch him after his meal. The +moon was at full and drew out the rich scent of the tasselled crop. +Then I heard the anguished bellow of a Himalayan cow, one of the +little black crummies no bigger than Newfoundland dogs. Two shadows +that looked like a bear and her cub hurried past me. I was in act to +fire when I saw that they had each a brilliant red head. The lesser +animal was trailing some rope behind it that left a dark track on the +path. They passed within six feet of me, and the shadow of the +moonlight lay velvet-black on their faces. Velvet-black was exactly +the word, for by all the powers of moonlight they were masked in the +velvet of my camera cloth! I marvelled and went to bed. Next morning +the Kingdom was in uproar. Namgay Doola, men said, had gone forth in +the night and with a sharp knife had cut off the tail of a cow +belonging to the rabbit-faced villager who had betrayed him. It was +sacrilege unspeakable against the Holy Cow. The State desired his +blood, but he had retreated into his hut, barricaded the doors and +windows with big stones, and defied the world. + +The King and I and the Populace approached the hut cautiously. There +was no hope of capturing the man without loss of life, for from a +hole in the wall projected the muzzle of an extremely +well-cared-for gun--the only gun in the State that could shoot. +Namgay Doola had narrowly missed a villager just before we came up. +The Standing Army stood. It could do no more, for when it advanced +pieces of sharp shale flew from the windows. To these were added from +time to time showers of scalding water. We saw red heads bobbing up +and down in the hut. The family of Namgay Doola were aiding their +sire, and blood-curdling yells of defiance were the only answers to +our prayers. + +'Never,' said the King, puffing, 'has such a thing befallen my State. +Next year I will certainly buy a little cannon.' He looked at me +imploringly. + +'Is there any priest in the Kingdom to whom he will listen?' said I, +for a light was beginning to break upon me. + +'He worships his own God,' said the Prime Minister. We can starve him +out.' + +'Let the white man approach,' said Namgay Doola from within. All +others I will kill. Send me the white man.' + +A rabbit-faced villager, with a blush-rose stuck behind his ear, +advanced trembling. He had been in the conspiracy, but had told +everything and hoped for the King's favour. + + +The door was thrown open and I entered the smoky interior of a +Thibetan hut crammed with children. And every child had flaming red +hair. A raw cow's tail lay on the floor, and by its side two pieces +of black velvet--my black velvet--rudely hacked into the semblance of +masks. + +'And what is this shame, Namgay Doola?' said I. + +He grinned more winningly than ever. 'There is no shame,' said he. 'I +did but cut off the tail of that man's cow. He betrayed me. I was +minded to shoot him, Sahib. But not to death. Indeed not to death. +Only in the legs.' + +'And why at all, since it is the custom to pay revenue to the King? +Why at all?' + +'By the God of my father I cannot tell,' said Namgay Doola. + +'And who was thy father?' + +'The same that had this gun.' He showed me his weapon--a Tower musket +bearing date 1832 and the stamp of the Honourable East India Company. + +'And thy father's name?' said I. + +'Timlay Doola,' said he. 'At the first, I being then a little child, +it is in my mind that he wore a red coat.' + +'Of that I have no doubt. But repeat the name of thy father thrice or +four times.' + +He obeyed, and I understood whence the puzzling accent in his speech +came. 'Thimla Dhula,' said he excitedly. 'To this hour I worship his +God.' + +'May I see that God?' + +'In a little while--at twilight time.' + +'Rememberest thou aught of thy father's speech?' + +'It is long ago. But there is one word which he said often. Thus +"_Shun_." Then I and my brethren stood upon our feet, our hands to +our sides. Thus.' + +'Even so. And what was thy mother?' + +'A woman of the hills. We be Lepchas of Darjeeling, but me they call +an outlander because my hair is as thou seest.' + +The Thibetan woman, his wife, touched him on the arm gently. The long +parley outside the fort had lasted far into the day. It was now close +upon twilight--the hour of the Angelus. Very solemnly, the red-headed +brats rose from the floor and formed a semicircle. Namgay Doola laid +his gun against the wall, lighted a little oil lamp, and set it +before a recess in the wall. Pulling aside a curtain of dirty cloth +he revealed a worn brass crucifix leaning against the helmet-badge of +a long forgotten East India regiment. 'Thus did my father,' he said, +crossing himself clumsily. The wife and children followed suit. Then +all together they struck up the wailing chant that I heard on the +hillside-- + + Dir hane mard-i-yemen dir + To weeree ala gee. + +I was puzzled no longer. Again and again they crooned as if their +hearts would break, their version of the chorus of the _Wearing of +the Green_-- + + They're hanging men and women too, + For the wearing of the green. + +A diabolical inspiration came to me. One of the brats, a boy about +eight years old, was watching me as he sang. I pulled out a rupee, +held the coin between finger and thumb, and looked--only looked--at +the gun against the wall. A grin of brilliant and perfect +comprehension overspread the face of the child. Never for an instant +stopping the song he held out his hand for the money, and then slid +the gun to my hand. I might have shot Namgay Doola as he chanted. +But I was satisfied. The blood-instinct of the race held true. +Namgay Doola drew the curtain across the recess. Angelus was over. + +'Thus my father sang. There was much more, but I have forgotten, and +I do not know the purport of these words, but it may be that the God +will understand. I am not of this people, and I will not pay +revenue.' + +'And why?' + +Again that soul-compelling grin. 'What occupation would be to me +between crop and crop? It is better than scaring bears. But these +people do not understand.' He picked the masks from the floor, and +looked in my face as simply as a child. + +'By what road didst thou attain knowledge to make these devilries?' I +said, pointing. + +'I cannot tell. I am but a Lepcha of Darjeeling, and yet the +stuff----' + +'Which thou hast stolen.' + +'Nay, surely. Did I steal? I desired it so. The stuff--the +stuff--what else should I have done with the stuff?' He twisted the +velvet between his fingers. + +'But the sin of maiming the cow--consider that?' + +'That is true; but oh, Sahib, that man betrayed me and I had no +thought--but the heifer's tail waved in the moonlight and I had my +knife. What else should I have done? The tail came off ere I was +aware. Sahib, thou knowest more than I.' + +'That is true,' said I. 'Stay within the door. I go to speak to the +King.' + +The population of the State were ranged on the hillsides. I went +forth and spoke to the King. + +'Oh King,' said I. 'Touching this man there be two courses open to +thy wisdom. Thou canst either hang him from a tree, he and his brood, +till there remains no hair that is red within the land.' + +'Nay,' said the King. 'Why should I hurt the little children?' + +They had poured out of the hut door and were making plump obeisance +to everybody. Nanigay Doola waited with his gun across his arm. + +'Or thou canst, discarding the impiety of the cow-maiming, raise him +to honour in thy Army. He comes of a race that will not pay revenue. +A red flame is in his blood which comes out at the top of his head in +that glowing hair. Make him chief of the Army. Give him honour as may +befall, and full allowance of work, but look to it, O King, that +neither he nor his hold a foot of earth from thee henceforward. Feed +him with words and favour, and also liquor from certain bottles that +thou knowest of, and he will be a bulwark of defence. But deny him +even a tuft of grass for his own. This is the nature that God has +given him. Moreover he has brethren----' + +The State groaned unanimously. + +'But if his brethren come, they will surely fight with each other +till they die; or else the one will always give information +concerning the other. Shall he be of thy Army, O King? Choose.' + +The King bowed his head, and I said, 'Come forth, Namgay Doola, and +command the King's Army. Thy name shall no more be Namgay in the +mouths of men, but Patsay Doola, for as thou hast said, I know.' + +Then Namgay Doola, new christened Patsay Doola, son of Timlay Doola, +which is Tim Doolan gone very wrong indeed, clasped the King's feet, +cuffed the standing Army, and hurried in an agony of contrition from +temple to temple, making offerings for the sin of cattle maiming. + +And the King was so pleased with my perspicacity that he offered to +sell me a village for twenty pounds sterling. But I buy no villages +in the Himalayas so long as one red head flares between the tail of +the heaven-climbing glacier and the dark birch-forest. + +I know that breed. + + + + +A GERM-DESTROYER + + Pleasant it is for the Little Tin Gods + When great Jove nods; + But Little Tin Gods make their little mistakes + In missing the hour when great Jove wakes. + +As a general rule, it is inexpedient to meddle with questions of +State in a land where men are highly paid to work them out for you. +This tale is a justifiable exception. + +Once in every five years, as you know, we indent for a new Viceroy; +and each Viceroy imports, with the rest of his baggage, a Private +Secretary, who may or may not be the real Viceroy, just as Fate +ordains. Fate looks after the Indian Empire because it is so big and +so helpless. + +There was a Viceroy once who brought out with him a turbulent Private +Secretary--a hard man with a soft manner and a morbid passion for +work. This Secretary was called Wonder--John Fennil Wonder. The +Viceroy possessed no name--nothing but a string of counties and +two-thirds of the alphabet after them. He said, in confidence, that +he was the electro-plated figurehead of a golden administration, and +he watched in a dreamy, amused way Wonder's attempts to draw matters +which were entirely outside his province into his own hands. 'When we +are all cherubims together,' said His Excellency once, 'my dear, good +friend Wonder will head the conspiracy for plucking out Gabriel's +tail feathers or stealing Peter's keys. _Then_ I shall report him.' + +But, though the Viceroy did nothing to check Wonder's officiousness, +other people said unpleasant things. May be the Members of Council +began it; but finally all Simla agreed that there was 'too much +Wonder and too little Viceroy' in that rule. Wonder was always +quoting 'His Excellency.' It was 'His Excellency this,' 'His +Excellency that,' 'In the opinion of His Excellency,' and so on. The +Viceroy smiled; but he did not heed. He said that, so long as his old +men squabbled with his 'dear, good Wonder,' they might be induced to +leave the Immemorial East in peace. + +'No wise man has a Policy,' said the Viceroy. 'A Policy is the +blackmail levied on the Fool by the Unforeseen. I am not the former, +and I do not believe in the latter.' + +I do not quite see what this means, unless it refers to an Insurance +Policy. Perhaps it was the Viceroy's way of saying. 'Lie low.' + +That season came up to Simla one of these crazy people with only a +single idea. These are the men who make things move; but they are not +nice to talk to. This man's name was Mellish, and he had lived for +fifteen years on land of his own, in Lower Bengal, studying cholera. +He held that cholera was a germ that propagated itself as it flew +through a muggy atmosphere; and stuck in the branches of trees like a +wool-flake. The germ could be rendered sterile, he said, by +'Mellish's Own Invincible Fumigatory'--a heavy violet-black powder--' +the result of fifteen years' scientific investigation, Sir!' + +Inventors seem very much alike as a caste. They talk loudly, +especially about 'conspiracies of monopolists'; they beat upon the +table with their fists; and they secrete fragments of their +inventions about their persons. + +Mellish said that there was a Medical 'Ring' at Simla, headed by the +Surgeon-General, who was in league, apparently, with all the Hospital +Assistants in the Empire. + +I forget exactly how he proved it, but it had something to do with +'skulking up to the Hills'; and what Mellish wanted was the +independent evidence of the Viceroy--'Steward of our Most Gracious +Majesty the Queen, Sir.' So Mellish went up to Simla, with +eighty-four pounds of Fumigatory in his trunk, to speak to the +Viceroy and to show him the merits of the invention. + +But it is easier to see a Viceroy than to talk to him, unless you +chance to be as important as Mellishe of Madras. He was a +six-thousand-rupee man, so great that his daughters never 'married.' +They 'contracted alliances.' He himself was not paid. He 'received +emoluments,' and his journeys about the country were 'tours of +observation.' His business was to stir up the people in Madras with a +long pole--as you stir up tench in a pond--and the people had to come +up out of their comfortable old ways and gasp--'This is Enlightenment +and Progress. Isn't it fine!' Then they give Mellishe statues and +jasmine garlands, in the hope of getting rid of him. + +Mellishe came up to Simla 'to confer with the Viceroy.' That was one +of his perquisites. The Viceroy knew nothing of Mellishe except that +he was 'one of those middle-class deities who seem necessary to the +spiritual comfort of this Paradise of the Middle-classes,' and that, +in all probability he had 'suggested, designed, founded, and endowed +all the public institutions in Madras.' Which proves that His +Excellency, though dreamy, had experience of the ways of +six-thousand-rupee men. + +Mellishe's name was E. Mellishe, and Mellish's was E.S. Mellish, and +they were both staying at the same hotel, and the Fate that looks +after the Indian Empire ordained that Wonder should blunder and drop +the final '_e_'; that the Chaprassi should help him, and that the +note which ran-- + + DEAR MR. MELLISH,--Can you set aside your other engagements, and + lunch with us at two to-morrow? His Excellency has an hour at your + disposal then, + +should be given to Mellish with the Fumigatory. He nearly wept with +pride and delight, and at the appointed hour cantered to Peterhoff, a +big paper-bag full of the Fumigatory in his coat-tail pockets. He had +his chance, and he meant to make the most of it. Mellishe of Madras +had been so portentously solemn about his 'conference,' that Wonder +had arranged for a private tiffin,--no A.-D.-C.'s, no Wonder, no one +but the Viceroy, who said plaintively that he feared being left alone +with unmuzzled autocrats like the great Mellishe of Madras. + +But his guest did not bore the Viceroy. On the contrary, he amused +him. Mellish was nervously anxious to go straight to his Fumigatory, +and talked at random until tiffin was over and His Excellency asked +him to smoke. The Viceroy was pleased with Mellish because he did not +talk 'shop.' + +As soon as the cheroots were lit, Mellish spoke like a man; beginning +with his cholera-theory, reviewing his fifteen years' 'scientific +labours,' the machinations of the 'Simla Ring,' and the excellence of +his Fumigatory, while the Viceroy watched him between half-shut eyes +and thought--'Evidently this is the wrong tiger; but it is an +original animal.' Mellish's hair was standing on end with excitement, +and he stammered. He began groping in his coat-tails and, before the +Viceroy knew what was about to happen, he had tipped a bagful of his +powder into the big silver ash-tray. + +'J-j-judge for yourself, Sir,' said Mellish. 'Y' Excellency shall +judge for yourself! Absolutely infallible, on my honour.' + +He plunged the lighted end of his cigar into the powder, which began +to smoke like a volcano, and send up fat, greasy wreaths of +copper-coloured smoke. In five seconds the room was filled with a +most pungent and sickening stench--a reek that took fierce hold of +the trap of your wind-pipe and shut it. The powder hissed and fizzed, +and sent out blue and green sparks, and the smoke rose till you +could neither see, nor breathe, nor gasp. Mellish, however, was used +to it. + +'Nitrate of strontia,' he shouted; 'baryta, bone-meal, _etcetera_! +Thousand cubic feet smoke per cubic inch. Not a germ could live--not +a germ, Y' Excellency!' + +But His Excellency had fled, and was coughing at the foot of the +stairs, while all Peterhoff hummed like a hive. Red Lancers came in, +and the head Chaprassi who speaks English came in, and mace-bearers +came in, and ladies ran downstairs screaming, 'Fire'; for the smoke +was drifting through the house and oozing out of the windows, and +bellying along the verandahs, and wreathing and writhing across the +gardens. No one could enter the room where Mellish was lecturing on +his Fumigatory till that unspeakable powder had burned itself out. + +Then an Aide-de-Camp, who desired the V.C., rushed through the +rolling clouds and hauled Mellish into the hall. The Viceroy was +prostrate with laughter, and could only waggle his hands feebly at +Mellish, who was shaking a fresh bagful of powder at him. + +'Glorious! Glorious!' sobbed His Excellency. 'Not a germ, as you +justly observe, could exist! I can swear it. A magnificent success!' + +Then he laughed till the tears came, and Wonder, who had caught the +real Mellishe snorting on the Mall, entered and was deeply shocked at +the scene. But the Viceroy was delighted, because he saw that Wonder +would presently depart. Mellish with the Fumigatory was also pleased, +for he felt that he had smashed the Simla Medical 'Ring.' + +Few men could tell a story like His Excellency when he took the +trouble, and his account of 'my dear, good Wonder's friend with the +powder' went the round of Simla, and flippant folk made Wonder +unhappy by their remarks. + +But His Excellency told the tale once too often--for Wonder. As he +meant to do. It was at a Seepee Picnic. Wonder was sitting just +behind the Viceroy. + +'And I really thought for a moment,' wound up His Excellency, 'that +my dear, good Wonder had hired an assassin to clear his way to the +throne!' + +Every one laughed; but there was a delicate sub-tinkle in the +Viceroy's tone which Wonder understood. He found that his health was +giving way; and the Viceroy allowed him to go, and presented him with +a flaming 'character' for use at Home among big people. + +'My fault entirely,' said His Excellency, in after seasons, with a +twinkle in his eye. 'My inconsistency must always have been +distasteful to such a masterly man.' + + + + +'TIGER-TIGER!' + + What of the hunting, hunter bold? + _Brother, the watch was long and cold_. + What of the quarry ye went to kill? + _Brother, he crops in the jungle still_. + Where is the power that made your pride? + _Brother, it ebbs from my flank and side_. + Where is the haste that ye hurry by? + _Brother, I go to my lair to die_. + +When Mowgli left the wolf's cave after the fight with the Pack at the +Council Rock, he went down to the ploughed lands where the villagers +lived, but he would not stop there because it was too near to the +jungle, and he knew that he had made at least one bad enemy at the +Council. So he hurried on, keeping to the rough road that ran down +the valley, and followed it at a steady jog-trot for nearly twenty +miles, till he came to a country that he did not know. The valley +opened out into a great plain dotted over with rocks and cut up by +ravines. At one end stood a little village, and at the other the +thick jungle came down in a sweep to the grazing-grounds, and stopped +there as though it had been cut off with a hoe. All over the plain, +cattle and buffaloes were grazing, and when the little boys in charge +of the herds saw Mowgli they shouted and ran away, and the yellow +pariah dogs that hang about every Indian village barked. Mowgli +walked on, for he was feeling hungry, and when he came to the village +gate he saw the big thornbush that was drawn up before the gate at +twilight, pushed to one side. + +'Umph!' he said, for he had come across more than one such barricade +in his night rambles after things to eat. 'So men are afraid of the +People of the Jungle here also.' He sat down by the gate, and when a +man came out he stood up, opened his mouth, and pointed down it to +show that he wanted food. The man stared, and ran back up the one +street of the village, shouting for the priest, who was a big, fat +man dressed in white, with a red and yellow mark on his forehead. +The priest came to the gate, and with him at least a hundred people, +who stared and talked and shouted and pointed at Mowgli. + +'They have no manners, these Men Folk,' said Mowgli to himself. +'Only the gray ape would behave as they do.' So he threw back his +long hair and frowned at the crowd. + +'What is there to be afraid of?' said the priest. 'Look at the marks +on his arms and legs. They are the bites of wolves. He is but a +wolf-child run away from the jungle.' + +Of course, in playing together, the cubs had often nipped Mowgli +harder than they intended, and there were white scars all over his +arms and legs. But he would have been the last person in the world to +call these bites, for he knew what real biting meant. + +'_Arre! arre!_' said two or three women together. 'To be bitten by +wolves, poor child! He is a handsome boy. He has eyes like red fire. +By my honour, Messua, he is not unlike thy boy that was taken by the +tiger.' + +'Let me look,' said a woman with heavy copper rings on her wrists and +ankles, and she peered at Mowgli under the palm of her hand. 'Indeed +he is not. He is thinner, but he has the very look of my boy.' + +The priest was a clever man, and he knew that Messua was wife to the +richest villager in the place. So he looked up at the sky for a +minute, and said solemnly: 'What the jungle has taken the jungle has +restored. Take the boy into thy house, my sister, and forget not to +honour the priest who sees so far into the lives of men.' + +'By the Bull that bought me,' said Mowgli to himself, 'but all this +talking is like another looking over by the Pack! Well, if I am a +man, a man I must be.' + +The crowd parted as the woman beckoned Mowgli to her hut, where there +was a red lacquered bedstead, a great earthen grain-chest with funny +raised patterns on it, half a dozen copper cooking-pots, an image of +a Hindu god in a little alcove, and on the wall a real looking-glass, +such as they sell at the country fairs for eight cents. + +She gave him a long drink of milk and some bread, and then she laid +her hand on his head and looked into his eyes; for she thought +perhaps that he might be her real son come back from the jungle where +the tiger had taken him. So she said: 'Nathoo, O Nathoo!' Mowgli did +not show that he knew the name. 'Dost thou not remember the day when +I gave thee thy new shoes?' She touched his foot, and it was almost +as hard as horn. 'No,' she said, sorrowfully; 'those feet have never +worn shoes, but thou art very like my Nathoo, and thou shalt be my +son.' + +Mowgli was uneasy, because he had never been under a roof before; but +as he looked at the thatch, he saw that he could tear it out any time +if he wanted to get away, and that the window had no fastenings. +'What is the good of a man,' he said to himself at last, 'if he does +not understand man's talk? Now I am as silly and dumb as a man would +be with us in the jungle. I must speak their talk.' + +He had not learned while he was with the wolves to imitate the +challenge of bucks in the jungle and the grunt of the little wild pig +for fun. So, as soon as Messua pronounced a word Mowgli would imitate +it almost perfectly, and before dark he had learned the name of many +things in the hut. + +There was a difficulty at bedtime, because Mowgli would not sleep +under anything that looked so like a panther-trap as that hut, and +when they shut the door he went through the window. 'Give him his +will,' said Messua's husband. 'Remember he can never till now have +slept on a bed. If he is indeed sent in the place of our son he will +not run away.' + +So Mowgli stretched himself in some long clean grass at the edge of +the field, but before he had closed his eyes a soft gray nose poked +him under the chin. + +'Phew!' said Gray Brother (he was the eldest of Mother Wolfs cubs). +'This is a poor reward for following thee twenty miles. Thou smellest +of wood-smoke and cattle--altogether like a man already. Wake, Little +Brother; I bring news.' + +'Are all well in the jungle?' said Mowgli, hugging him. + +'All except the wolves that were burned with the Red Flower. Now, +listen. Shere Khan has gone away to hunt far off till his coat grows +again, for he is badly singed. When he returns he swears that he will +lay thy bones in the Waingunga.' + +'There are two words to that. I also have made a little promise. But +news is always good. I am tired to-night,--very tired with new +things, Gray Brother,--but bring me the news always.' + +'Thou wilt not forget that thou art a wolf? Men will not make thee +forget?' said Gray Brother, anxiously. + +'Never. I will always remember that I love thee and all in our cave; +but also I will always remember that I have been cast out of the +Pack.' + +'And that thou may'st be cast out of another pack. Men are only men, +Little Brother, and their talk is like the talk of frogs in a pond. +When I come down here again, I will wait for thee in the bamboos at +the edge of the grazing-ground.' + +For three months after that night Mowgli hardly ever left the village +gate, he was so busy learning the ways and customs of men. First he +had to wear a cloth round him, which annoyed him horribly; and then +he had to learn about money, which he did not in the least +understand, and about ploughing, of which he did not see the use. +Then the little children in the village made him very angry. Luckily, +the Law of the Jungle had taught him to keep his temper, for in the +jungle, life and food depend on keeping your temper; but when they +made fun of him because he would not play games or fly kites, or +because he mispronounced some word, only the knowledge that it was +unsportsmanlike to kill little naked cubs kept him from picking them +up and breaking them in two. He did not know his own strength in the +least. In the jungle he knew he was weak compared with the beasts, +but in the village, people said that he was as strong as a bull. He +certainly had no notion of what fear was, for when the village priest +told him that the god in the temple would be angry with him if he ate +the priest's mangoes, he picked up the image, brought it over to the +priest's house, and asked the priest to make the god angry and he +would be happy to fight him. It was a horrible scandal, but the +priest hushed it up, and Messua's husband paid much good silver to +comfort the god. And Mowgli had not the faintest idea of the +difference that caste makes between man and man. When the potter's +donkey slipped in the clay-pit, Mowgli hauled it out by the tail, and +helped to stack the pots for their journey to the market at +Khanhiwara. That was very shocking, too, for the potter is a +low-caste man, and his donkey is worse. When the priest scolded him, +Mowgli threatened to put him on the donkey, too, and the priest told +Messua's husband that Mowgli had better be set to work as soon as +possible; and the village headman told Mowgli that he would have to +go out with the buffaloes next day, and herd them while they grazed. +No one was more pleased than Mowgli; and that night, because he had +been appointed a servant of the village, as it were, he went off to a +circle that met every evening on a masonry platform under a great +fig-tree. It was the village club, and the head-man and the watchman +and the barber, who knew all the gossip of the village, and old +Buldeo, the village hunter, who had a Tower musket, met and smoked. +The monkeys sat and talked in the upper branches, and there was a +hole under the platform where a cobra lived, and he had his little +platter of milk every night because he was sacred; and the old men +sat around the tree and talked, and pulled at the big _huqas_ (the +water-pipes) till far into the night. They told wonderful tales of +gods and men and ghosts; and Buldeo told even more wonderful ones of +the ways of beasts in the jungle, till the eyes of the children +sitting outside the circle bulged out of their heads. Most of the +tales were about animals, for the jungle was always at their door. +The deer and the wild pig grubbed up their crops, and now and again +the tiger carried off a man at twilight, within sight of the village +gates. + +Mowgli, who naturally knew something about what they were talking of, +had to cover his face not to show that he was laughing, while Buldeo, +the Tower musket across his knees, climbed on from one wonderful +story to another, and Mowgli's shoulders shook. + +Buldeo was explaining how the tiger that had carried away Messua's +son was a ghost-tiger, and his body was inhabited by the ghost of a +wicked, old money-lender, who had died some years ago. 'And I know +that this is true,' he said, 'because Purun Dass always limped from +the blow that he got in a riot when his account-books were burned, +and the tiger that I speak of _he_ limps, too, for the tracks of his +pads are unequal.' + +'True, true, that must be the truth,' said the graybeards, nodding +together. + +'Are all these tales such cobwebs and moontalk?' said Mowgli. 'That +tiger limps because he was born lame, as every one knows. To talk of +the soul of a money-lender in a beast that never had the courage of a +jackal is child's talk.' + +Buldeo was speechless with surprise for a moment, and the head-man +stared. + +'Oho! It is the jungle brat, is it?' said Buldeo. 'If thou art so +wise, better bring his hide to Khanhiwara, for the Government has set +a hundred rupees on his life. Better still, talk not when thy elders +speak.' + +Mowgli rose to go. 'All the evening I have lain here listening,' he +called back, over his shoulder, 'and, except once or twice, Buldeo +has not said one word of truth concerning the jungle, which is at his +very doors. How then shall I believe the tales of ghosts and gods, +and goblins which he says he has seen?' + +'It is full time that boy went to herding,' said the headman, while +Buldeo puffed and snorted at Mowgli's impertinence. + +The custom of most Indian villages is for a few boys to take the +cattle and buffaloes out to graze in the early morning, and bring +them back at night; and the very cattle that would trample a white +man to death allow themselves to be banged and bullied and shouted at +by children that hardly come up to their noses. So long as the boys +keep with the herds they are safe, for not even the tiger will charge +a mob of cattle. But if they straggle to pick flowers or hunt +lizards, they are sometimes carried off. Mowgli went through the +village street in the dawn, sitting on the back of Rama, the great +herd bull; and the slaty-blue buffaloes, with their long, +backward-sweeping horns and savage eyes, rose out of their byres, one +by one, and followed him, and Mowgli made it very clear to the +children with him that he was the master. He beat the buffaloes with +a long, polished bamboo, and told Kamya, one of the boys, to graze +the cattle by themselves, while he went on with the buffaloes, and to +be very careful not to stray away from the herd. + +An Indian grazing-ground is all rocks, and scrubs, and tussocks, and +little ravines, among which the herds scatter and disappear. The +buffaloes generally keep to the pools and muddy places, where they +lie wallowing or basking in the warm mud for hours. Mowgli drove them +on to the edge of the plain where the Waingunga came out of the +jungle; then he dropped from Rama's neck, trotted off to a bamboo +clump and found Gray Brother. 'Ah,' said Gray Brother, 'I have waited +here very many days. What is the meaning of this cattle-herding +work?' + +'It is an order,' said Mowgli; 'I am a village herd for a while. What +news of Shere Khan?' + +'He has come back to this country, and has waited here a long time +for thee. Now he has gone off again, for the game is scarce. But he +means to kill thee.' + +'Very good,' said Mowgli. 'So long as he is away do thou or one of +the four brothers sit on that rock, so that I can see thee as I come +out of the village. When he comes back wait for me in the ravine by +the _dhak_-tree in the centre of the plain. We need not walk into +Shere Khan's mouth.' + +Then Mowgli picked out a shady place, and lay down and slept while +the buffaloes grazed round him. Herding, in India, is one of the +laziest things in the world. The cattle move and crunch, and lie +down, and move on again, and they do not even low. They only grunt, +and the buffaloes very seldom say anything, but get down into the +muddy pools one after another, and work their way into the mud till +only their noses and staring china-blue eyes show above the surface, +and then they lie like logs. The sun makes the rocks dance in the +heat, and the herd-children hear one kite (never any more) whistling +almost out of sight overhead, and they know that if they died, or a +cow died, that kite would sweep down, and the next kite miles away +would see him drop and follow, and the next, and the next, and +almost before they were dead there would be a score of hungry kites +come out of nowhere. Then they sleep and wake and sleep again, and +weave little baskets of dried grass and put grasshoppers in them, or +catch two praying mantises and make them fight; or string a necklace +of red and black jungle-nuts, or watch a lizard basking on a rock, or +a snake hunting a frog near the wallows. Then they sing long, long +songs with odd native quavers at the end of them, and the day seems +longer than most people's whole lives, and perhaps they make a mud +castle with mud figures of men and horses and buffaloes, and put +reeds into the men's hands, and pretend that they are kings and the +figures are their armies, or that they are gods to be worshipped. +Then evening comes and the children call, and the buffaloes lumber up +out of the sticky mud with noises like gunshots going off one after +the other, and they all string across the gray plain back to the +twinkling village lights. + +Day after day Mowgli would lead the buffaloes out to their wallows, +and day after day he would see Gray Brother's back a mile and a half +away across the plain (so he knew that Shere Khan had not come back), +and day after day he would lie on the grass listening to the noises +round him, and dreaming of old days in the jungle. If Shere Khan had +made a false step with his lame paw up in the jungles by the +Waingunga, Mowgli would have heard him in those long still mornings. + +At last a day came when he did not see Gray Brother at the signal +place, and he laughed and headed the buffaloes for the ravine by the +_dhak_-tree, which was all covered with golden-red flowers. There sat +Gray Brother, every bristle on his back lifted. + +'He has hidden for a month to throw thee off thy guard. He crossed +the ranges last night with Tabaqui, hot-foot on thy trail,' said the +Wolf, panting. + +Mowgli frowned. 'I am not afraid of Shere Khan, but Tabaqui is very +cunning.' + +'Have no fear,' said Gray Brother, licking his lips a little. 'I met +Tabaqui in the dawn. Now he is telling all his wisdom to the kites, +but he told _me_ everything before I broke his back. Shere Khan's +plan is to wait for thee at the village gate this evening--for thee +and for no one else. He is lying up now, in the big dry ravine of the +Waingunga.' + +'Has he eaten to-day, or does he hunt empty?' said Mowgli, for the +answer meant life and death to him. + +'He killed at dawn--a pig--and he has drunk too. Remember, Shere Khan +could never fast, even for the sake of revenge.' + +'Oh! fool, fool! What a cub's cub it is! Eaten and drunk too, and he +thinks that I shall wait till he has slept! Now, where does he lie +up? If there were but ten of us we might pull him down as he lies. +These buffaloes will not charge unless they wind him, and I cannot +speak their language. Can we get behind his track so that they may +smell it?' + +'He swam far down the Waingunga to cut that off,' said Gray Brother. + +'Tabaqui told him that, I know. He would never have thought of it +alone.' Mowgli stood with his finger in his mouth, thinking. 'The big +ravine of the Waingunga. That opens out on the plain not half a mile +from here. I can take the herd round through the jungle to the head +of the ravine and then sweep down--but he would slink out at the +foot. We must block that end. Gray Brother, canst thou cut the herd +in two for me?' + +'Not I, perhaps--but I have brought a wise helper.' Gray Brother +trotted off and dropped into a hole. Then there lifted up a huge gray +head that Mowgli knew well, and the hot air was filled with the most +desolate cry of all the jungle--the hunting-howl of a wolf at +mid-day. + +'Akela! Akela!' said Mowgli, clapping his hands. 'I might have known +that thou wouldst not forget me. We have a big work in hand. Cut the +herd in two, Akela. Keep the cows and calves together, and the bulls +and the plough-buffaloes by themselves.' + +The two wolves ran, ladies'-chain fashion, in and out of the herd, +which snorted and threw up its head, and separated into two clumps. +In one, the cow-buffaloes stood with their calves in the centre, and +glared and pawed, ready, if a wolf would only stay still, to charge +down and trample the life out of him. In the other, the bulls and the +young bulls snorted and stamped, but though they looked more imposing +they were much less dangerous, for they had no calves to protect. No +six men could have divided the herd so neatly. + +'What orders!' panted Akela. 'They are trying to join again.' + +Mowgli slipped on to Rama's back. 'Drive the bulls away to the left, +Akela. Gray Brother, when we are gone, hold the cows together, and +drive them into the foot of the ravine.' + +'How far?' said Gray Brother, panting and snapping. + +'Till the sides are higher than Shere Khan can jump,' shouted Mowgli. +'Keep them there till we come down.' The bulls swept off as Akela +bayed, and Gray Brother stopped in front of the cows. They charged +down on him, and he ran just before them to the foot of the ravine, +as Akela drove the bulls far to the left. + +'Well done! Another charge and they are fairly started. Careful, +now--careful, Akela. A snap too much, and the bulls will charge. +_Hujah!_ This is wilder work than driving black-buck. Didst thou +think these creatures could move so swiftly?' Mowgli called. + +'I have--have hunted these too in my time,' gasped Akela in the dust. +'Shall I turn them into the jungle?' + +'Ay! Turn. Swiftly turn them! Rama is mad with rage. Oh, if I could +only tell him what I need of him today.' + +The bulls were turned, to the right this time, and crashed into the +standing thicket. The other herd-children, watching with the cattle +half a mile away, hurried to the village as fast as their legs could +carry them, crying that the buffaloes had gone mad and run away. But +Mowgli's plan was simple enough. All he wanted to do was to make a +big circle uphill and get at the head of the ravine, and then take +the bulls down it and catch Shere Khan between the bulls and the +cows; for he knew that after a meal and a full drink Shere Khan +would not be in any condition to fight or to clamber up the sides of +the ravine. He was soothing the buffaloes now by voice, and Akela had +dropped far to the rear, only whimpering once or twice to hurry the +rear-guard. It was a long, long circle, for they did not wish to get +too near the ravine and give Shere Khan warning. At last Mowgli +rounded up the bewildered herd at the head of the ravine on a grassy +patch that sloped steeply down to the ravine itself. From that height +you could see across the tops of the trees down to the plain below; +but what Mowgli looked at was the sides of the ravine, and he saw +with a great deal of satisfaction that they ran nearly straight up +and down, while the vines and creepers that hung over them would give +no foothold to a tiger who wanted to get out. + +'Let them breathe, Akela,' he said, holding up his hand. 'They have +not winded him yet. I must tell Shere Khan who comes. We have him in +a trap.' + +He put his hands to his mouth and shouted down the ravine,--it was +almost like shouting down a tunnel,--and the echoes jumped from rock +to rock. + +After a long time there came back the drawling, sleepy snarl of a +full-fed tiger just wakened. + +'Who calls?' said Shere Khan, and a splendid peacock fluttered up out +of the ravine screeching. + +'I, Mowgli. Cattle thief, it is time to come to the Council Rock! +Down--hurry them down, Akela! Down, Rama, down!' + +The herd paused for an instant at the edge of the slope, but Akela +gave tongue in the full hunting yell, and they pitched over one after +the other just as steamers shoot rapids, the sand and stones spurting +up round them. Once started, there was no chance of stopping, and +before they were fairly in the bed of the ravine Rama winded Shere +Khan and bellowed. + +'Ha! Ha!' said Mowgli, on his back. 'Now thou knowest!' and the +torrent of black horns, foaming muzzles, and staring eyes whirled +down the ravine just as boulders go down in flood-time; the weaker +buffaloes being shouldered out to the sides of the ravine where they +tore through the creepers. They knew what the business was before +them--the terrible charge of the buffalo herd against which no tiger +can hope to stand. Shere Khan heard the thunder of their hoofs, +picked himself up and lumbered down the ravine, looking from side to +side for some way of escape, but the walls of the ravine were +straight and he had to hold on, heavy with his dinner and drink, +willing to do anything rather than fight. The herd splashed through +the pool he had just left, bellowing till the narrow cut rang. Mowgli +heard an answering bellow from the foot of the ravine, saw Shere Khan +turn (the tiger knew if the worst came to the worst it was better to +meet the bulls than the cows with their calves), and then Rama +tripped, and stumbled, and went on again over something soft, and, +with the bulls at his heels, crashed full into the other herd, while +the weaker buffaloes were lifted clean off their feet by the shock of +the meeting. That charge carried both herds out into the plain, +goring and stamping and snorting. Mowgli watched his time, and +slipped off Rama's neck, laying about right and left with his stick. + +'Quick, Akela! Break them up. Scatter them, or they will be fighting +one another. Drive them away, Akela. _Hai_, Rama! _Hai! hai! hai!_ my +children. Softly now, softly! It is all over.' + +Akela and Gray Brother ran to and fro nipping the buffaloes' legs, +and though the herd wheeled once to charge up the ravine again, +Mowgli managed to turn Rama, and the others followed him to the +wallows. + +Shere Khan needed no more trampling. He was dead, and the kites were +coming for him already. + +'Brothers, that was a dog's death,' said Mowgli, feeling for the +knife he always carried in a sheath round his neck now that he lived +with men. 'But he would never have shown fight. _Wallah!_ his hide +will look well on the Council Rock. We must get to work swiftly.' + +A boy trained among men would never have dreamed of skinning a +ten-foot tiger alone, but Mowgli knew better than any one else how an +animal's skin is fitted on, and how it can be taken off. But it was +hard work, and Mowgli slashed and tore and grunted for an hour, while +the wolves lolled out their tongues, or came forward and tugged as he +ordered them. Presently a hand fell on his shoulder, and looking up +he saw Buldeo with the Tower musket. The children had told the +village about the buffalo stampede, and Buldeo went out angrily, only +too anxious to correct Mowgli for not taking better care of the herd. +The wolves dropped out of sight as soon as they saw the man coming. + +'What is this folly? said Buldeo, angrily. 'To think that thou canst +skin a tiger! Where did the buffaloes kill him? It is the Lame Tiger, +too, and there is a hundred rupees on his head. Well, well, we will +overlook thy letting the herd run off, and perhaps I will give thee +one of the rupees of the reward when I have taken the skin to +Khanhiwara. He fumbled in his waist-cloth for flint and steel, and +stooped down to singe Shere Khan's whiskers. Most native hunters +always singe a tiger's whiskers to prevent his ghost from haunting +them. + +'Hum!' said Mowgli, half to himself as he ripped back the skin of a +forepaw. 'So thou wilt take the hide to Khanhiwara for the reward, +and perhaps give me one rupee? Now it is in my mind that I need the +skin for my own use. Heh! old man, take away that fire!' + +'What talk is this to the chief hunter of the village? Thy luck and +the stupidity of thy buffaloes have helped thee to this kill. The +tiger has just fed, or he would have gone twenty miles by this time. +Thou canst not even skin him properly, little beggar brat, and +forsooth I, Buldeo, must be told not to singe his whiskers. Mowgli, I +will not give thee one anna of the reward, but only a very big +beating. Leave the carcass!' + +'By the Bull that bought me,' said Mowgli, who was trying to get at +the shoulder, 'must I stay babbling to an old ape all noon? Here, +Akela, this man plagues me.' + +Buldeo, who was still stooping over Shere Khan's head, found himself +sprawling on the grass, with a gray wolf standing over him, while +Mowgli went on skinning as though he were alone in all India. + +'Ye-es,' he said, between his teeth. 'Thou art altogether right, +Buldeo. Thou wilt never give me one anna of the reward. There is an +old war between this lame tiger and myself--a very old war, and--I +have won.' + +To do Buldeo justice, if he had been ten years younger he would have +taken his chance with Akela had he met the wolf in the woods, but a +wolf who obeyed the orders of this boy who had private wars with +man-eating tigers was not a common animal. It was sorcery, magic of +the worst kind, thought Buldeo, and he wondered whether the amulet +round his neck would protect him. He lay as still as still, expecting +every minute to see Mowgli turn into a tiger, too. + +'Maharaj! Great King,' he said at last, in a husky whisper. + +'Yes,' said Mowgli, without turning his head, chuckling a little. + +'I am an old man. I did not know that thou wast anything more than a +herdsboy. May I rise up and go away, or will thy servant tear me to +pieces?' + +'Go, and peace go with thee. Only, another time do not meddle with my +game. Let him go, Akela.' + +Buldeo hobbled away to the village as fast as he could, looking back +over his shoulder in case Mowgli should change into something +terrible. When he got to the village he told a tale of magic and +enchantment and sorcery that made the priest look very grave. + +Mowgli went on with his work, but it was nearly twilight before he +and the wolves had drawn the great gray skin clear of the body. + +'Now we must hide this and take the buffaloes home! Help me to herd +them, Akela.' + +The herd rounded up in the misty twilight, and when they got near the +village Mowgli saw lights, and heard the conches and bells in the +temple blowing and banging. Half the village seemed to be waiting for +him by the gate. 'That is because I have killed Shere Khan,' he said +to himself; but a shower of stones whistled about his ears, and the +villagers shouted: 'Sorcerer! Wolfs brat! Jungle-demon! Go away! Get +hence quickly, or the priest will turn thee into a wolf again. Shoot, +Buldeo, shoot!' + +The old Tower musket went off with a bang, and a young buffalo +bellowed in pain. + +'More sorcery!' shouted the villagers. 'He can turn bullets. Buldeo, +that was _thy_ buffalo.' + +'Now what is this?' said. Mowgli, bewildered, as the stones flew +thicker. + +'They are not unlike the Pack, these brothers of thine,' said Akela, +sitting down composedly. 'It is in my head that, if bullets mean +anything, they would cast thee out.' + +'Wolf! Wolf's cub! Go away!' shouted the priest, waving a sprig of +the sacred _tulsi_ plant. + +'Again? Last time it was because I was a man. This time it is because +I am a wolf. Let us go, Akela.' + +A woman--it was Messua--ran across to the herd, and cried: 'Oh, my +son, my son! They say thou art a sorcerer who can turn himself into a +beast at will. I do not believe, but go away or they will kill thee. +Buldeo says thou art a wizard, but I know thou hast avenged Nathoo's +death.' + +'Come back, Messua!' shouted the crowd. 'Come back, or we will stone +thee.' + +Mowgli laughed a little short ugly laugh, for a stone had hit him in +the mouth. 'Run back, Messua. This is one of the foolish tales they +tell under the big tree at dusk. I have at least paid for thy son's +life. Farewell; and run quickly, for I shall send the herd in more +swiftly than their brickbats. I am no wizard, Messua. Farewell!' + +'Now, once more, Akela,' he cried. 'Bring the herd in.' + +The buffaloes were anxious enough to get to the village. They hardly +needed Akela's yell, but charged through the gate like a whirlwind, +scattering the crowd right and left. + +'Keep count!' shouted Mowgli, scornfully. 'It may be that I have +stolen one of them. Keep count, for I will do your herding no more. +Fare you well, children of men, and thank Messua that I do not come +in with my wolves and hunt you up and down your street.' + +He turned on his heel and walked away with the Lone Wolf; and as he +looked up at the stars he felt happy. 'No more sleeping in traps for +me, Akela. Let us get Shere Khan's skin and go away. No; we will not +hurt the village, for Messua was kind to me.' + +When the moon rose over the plain, making it look all milky, the +horrified villagers saw Mowgli, with two wolves at his heels and a +bundle on his head, trotting across at the steady wolf's trot that +eats up the long miles like fire. Then they banged the temple bells +and blew the conches louder than ever; and Messua cried, and Buldeo +embroidered the story of his adventures in the jungle, till he ended +by saying that Akela stood up on his hind legs and talked like a man. + +The moon was just going down when Mowgli and the two wolves came to +the hill of the Council Rock, and they stopped at Mother Wolf's cave. + +'They have cast me out from the man Pack, Mother,' shouted Mowgli, +'but I come with the hide of Shere Khan to keep my word.' Mother Wolf +walked stiffly from the cave with the cubs behind her, and her eyes +glowed as she saw the skin. + +'I told him on that day, when he crammed his head and shoulders into +this cave, hunting for thy life, little frog--I told him that the +hunter would be the hunted. It is well done.' + +'Little Brother, it is well done,' said a deep voice in the thicket. +'We were lonely in the jungle without thee,' and Bagheera came +running to Mowgli's bare feet. They clambered up the Council Rock +together, and Mowgli spread the skin out on the flat stone where +Akela used to sit, and pegged it down with four slivers of bamboo, +and Akela lay down upon it, and called the old call to the Council, +'Look, look well, O Wolves,' exactly as he had called when Mowgli +was first brought there. + +Ever since Akela had been deposed, the Pack had been without a +leader, hunting and fighting at their own pleasure. But they +answered the call from habit; and some of them were lame from the +traps they had fallen into, and some limped from shot-wounds, and +some were mangy from eating bad food, and many were missing; but they +came to the Council Rock, all that were left of them, and saw Shere +Khan's striped hide on the rock, and the huge claws dangling at the +end of the empty dangling feet. + +'Look well, O Wolves. Have I kept my word?' said Mowgli; and the +wolves bayed Yes, and one tattered wolf howled:-- + +'Lead us again, O Akela. Lead us again, O man-cub, for we be sick of +this lawlessness, and we would be the Free People once more.' + +'Nay,' purred Bagheera, 'that may not be. When ye are full fed, the +madness may come upon you again. Not for nothing are ye called the +Free People. Ye fought for freedom, and it is yours. Eat it, O +Wolves.' + +'Man-Pack and Wolf-Pack have cast me out,' said Mowgli. 'Now I will +hunt alone in the jungle.' + +'And we will hunt with thee,' said the four cubs. + +So Mowgli went away and hunted with the four cubs in the jungle from +that day on. But he was not always alone, because, years afterward, +he became a man and married. + +But that is a story for grown-ups. + + +MOWGLI'S SONG + +THAT HE SANG AT THE COUNCIL ROCK WHEN HE DANCED ON SHERE KHAN'S HIDE. + +The Song of Mowgli--I, Mowgli am singing. Let the + jungle listen to the things I have done. +Shere Khan said he would kill--would kill! At the gates + in the twilight he would kill Mowgli, the Frog! +He ate and he drank. Drink deep, Shere Khan, for when + wilt thou drink again? Sleep and dream of the kill. +I am alone on the grazing-grounds. Gray Brother come to me! + Come to me, Lone Wolf, for there is big game afoot! +Bring up the great bull-buffaloes, the blue-skinned herd-bulls + with the angry eyes. Drive them to and fro as I order. + Sleepest thou still, Shere Khan? Wake, O wake! Here come I, + and the bulls are behind. +Rama the king of the buffaloes stamped with his foot. + Waters of the Waingunga whither went Shere Khan? +He is not Sahi to dig holes, nor Mor, the Peacock, that he + should fly. He is not Mang, the Bat, to hang in the branches. + Little bamboos that creak together tell me where he ran? +_Ow!_ he is there. _Ahoo!_ he is there. Under the feet of Rama lies + the Lame One! Up, Shere Khan! Up and kill! Here is meat; break the + necks of the bulls. +Hsh! he is asleep. We will not wake him, for his strength is very + great. The kites have come down to see it. The black ants have + come up to know it. There is a great assembly in his honour. +_Alala!_ I have no cloth to wrap me. The kites will see that I am + naked. I am ashamed to meet all these people. +Lend me thy coat, Shere Khan. Lend me thy gay striped coat that + I may go to the Council Rock. +By the Bull that bought me I made a promise--a little promise. + Only thy coat is lacking before I keep my word. +With the knife, with the knife that men use, with the knife + of the hunter, I will stoop down for my gift. +Waters of the Waingunga, Shere Khan gives me his coat for the love + that he bears me. Pull, Gray Brother! + Pull, Akela! Heavy is the hide of Shere Khan. +The Man Pack are angry. They throw stones and talk child's talk. + My mouth is bleeding. Let me run away. +Through the night, through the hot night, run swiftly with me, my + brothers. We will leave the lights of the village and go to the + low moon. +Waters of the Waingunga, the Man Pack have cast me out. I did them + no harm, but they were afraid of me. Why? +Wolf Pack, ye have cast me out too. The Jungle is shut to me and the + village gates are shut. Why? +As Mang flies between the beasts and birds so fly I between the + village and the Jungle. Why? +I dance on the hide of Shere Khan, but my heart is very heavy. My + mouth is cut and wounded with the stones from the village, but + my heart is very light, because I have come back to the Jungle. + Why? +These two things fight together in me as the snakes fight in the + spring. The water comes out of my eyes; yet I laugh while it + falls. Why? +I am two Mowglis, but the hide of Shere Khan is under my feet. +All the Jungle knows that I have killed Shere Khan. Look, look + well, O Wolves! +Ahae! my heart is heavy with the things that I do not understand. + + + + +TODS' AMENDMENT. + + The World hath set its heavy yoke + Upon the old white-bearded folk + Who strive to please the King. + God's mercy is upon the young, + God's wisdom in the baby tongue + That fears not anything. + The Parable of _Chajju Bhagat_. + +Now Tods' Mamma was a singularly charming woman, and every one in +Simla knew Tods. Most men had saved him from death on occasions. He +was beyond his _ayah's_ control altogether, and perilled his life +daily to find out what would happen if you pulled a Mountain Battery +mule's tail. He was an utterly fearless young Pagan, about six years +old, and the only baby who ever broke the holy calm of the Supreme +Legislative Council. + +It happened this way: Tods' pet kid got loose, and fled up the hill, +off the Boileaugunge Road, Tods after it, until it burst in to the +Viceregal Lodge lawn, then attached to 'Peterhoff.' The Council were +sitting at the time, and the windows were open because it was warm. +The Red Lancer in the porch told Tods to go away; but Tods knew the +Red Lancer and most of the Members of Council personally. Moreover, +he had firm hold of the kid's collar, and was being dragged all +across the flower-beds. 'Give my _salaam_ to the long Councillor +_Sahib_, and ask him to help me take _Moti_ back!' gasped Tods. The +Council heard the noise through the open windows; and, after an +interval, was seen the shocking spectacle of a Legal Member and a +Lieutenant-Governor helping, under the direct patronage of a +Commander-in-Chief and a Viceroy, one small and very dirty boy, in a +sailor's suit and a tangle of brown hair, to coerce a lively and +rebellious kid. They headed it off down the path to the Mall, and +Tods went home in triumph and told his Mamma that _all_ the +Councillor _Sahibs_ had been helping him to catch _Moti_. Whereat his +Mamma smacked Tods for interfering with the administration of the +Empire; but Tods met the Legal Member the next day, and told him in +confidence that if the Legal Member ever wanted to catch a goat, he, +Tods, would give him all the help in his power. 'Thank you, Tods,' +said the Legal Member. + +Tods was the idol of some eighty _jhampanis_, and half as many +_saises_. He saluted them all as 'O Brother.' It never entered his +head that any living human being could disobey his orders; and he was +the buffer between the servants and his Mamma's wrath. The working of +that household turned on Tods, who was adored by every one from the +_dhoby_ to the dog-boy. Even Futteh Khan, the villainous loafer +_khit_ from Mussoorie, shirked risking Tods' displeasure for fear his +co-mates should look down on him. + +So Tods had honour in the land from Boileaugunge to Chota Simla, and +ruled justly according to his lights. Of course, he spoke Urdu, but +he had also mastered many queer side-speeches like the _chotee bolee_ +of the women, and held grave converse with shopkeepers and +Hill-coolies alike. He was precocious for his age, and his mixing +with natives had taught him some of the more bitter truths of life: +the meanness and the sordidness of it. He used, over his bread and +milk, to deliver solemn and serious aphorisms, translated from the +vernacular into the English, that made his Mamma jump and vow that +Tods _must_ go Home next hot weather. Just when Tods was in the bloom +of his power, the Supreme Legislature were hacking out a Bill for the +Sub-Montane Tracts, a revision of the then Act, smaller than the +Punjab Land Bill, but affecting a few hundred thousand people none +the less. The Legal Member had built, and bolstered, and embroidered, +and amended that Bill till it looked beautiful on paper. Then the +Council began to settle what they called the 'minor details.' As if +any Englishman legislating for natives knows enough to know which are +the minor and which are the major points, from the native point of +view, of any measure! That Bill was a triumph of 'safe-guarding the +interests of the tenant.' One clause provided that land should not be +leased on longer terms than five years at a stretch; because, if the +landlord had a tenant bound down for, say, twenty years, he would +squeeze the very life out of him. The notion was to keep up a stream +of independent cultivators in the Sub-Montane Tracts; and +ethnologically and politically the notion was correct. The only +drawback was that it was altogether wrong. A native's life in India +implies the life of his son. Wherefore, you cannot legislate for one +generation at a time. You must consider the next from the native +point of view. Curiously enough, the native now and then, and in +Northern India more particularly, hates being over-protected against +himself. There was a Naga Village once, where they lived on dead +_and_ buried Commissariat mules.... But that is another story. + +For many reasons, to be explained later, the people concerned +objected to the Bill. The Native Member in Council knew as much about +Punjabis as he knew about Charing Cross. He had said in Calcutta that +'the Bill was entirely in accord with the desires of that large and +important class, the cultivators'; and so on, and so on. The Legal +Member's knowledge of natives was limited to English-speaking +Durbaris, and his own red _chaprassis_, the Sub-Montane Tracts +concerned no one in particular, the Deputy Commissioners were a good +deal too driven to make representations, and the measure was one +which dealt with small land-holders only. Nevertheless, the Legal +Member prayed that it might be correct, for he was a nervously +conscientious man. He did not know that no man can tell what natives +think unless he mixes with them with the varnish off. And not always +then. But he did the best he knew. And the measure came up to the +Supreme Council for the final touches, while Tods patrolled the Burra +Simla Bazar in his morning rides, and played with the monkey +belonging to Ditta Mull, the _bunnia_, and listened, as a child +listens, to all the stray talk about this new freak of the _Lord +Sahib's_. + +One day there was a dinner-party at the house of Tods' Mamma, and the +Legal Member came. Tods was in bed, but he kept awake till he heard +the bursts of laughter from the men over the coffee. Then he paddled +out in his little red flannel dressing-gown and his night-suit, and +took refuge by the side of his father, knowing that he would not be +sent back. 'See the miseries of having a family!' said Tods' father, +giving Tods three prunes, some water in a glass that had been used +for claret, and telling him to sit still. Tods sucked the prunes +slowly, knowing that he would have to go when they were finished, +and sipped the pink water like a man of the world, as he listened to +the conversation. Presently, the Legal Member, talking 'shop' to the +Head of a Department, mentioned his Bill by its full name--'The +Sub-Montane Tracts _Ryotwary_ Revised Enactment.' Tods caught the one +native word, and lifting up his small voice said-- + +'Oh, I know _all_ about that! Has it been _murramutted_ yet, +Councillor _Sahib_?' + +'How much?' said the Legal Member. '_Murramutted_--mended.--Put +_theek_, you know--made nice to please Ditta Mull!' + +The Legal Member left his place and moved up next to Tods. + +'What do you know about _ryotwari_, little man?' he said. + +'I'm not a little man, I'm Tods, and I know _all_ about it. Ditta +Mull, and Choga Lall, and Amir Nath, and--oh, _lakhs_ of my friends +tell me about it in the bazars when I talk to them.' + +'Oh, they do--do they? What do they say, Tods?' + +Tods tucked his feet under his red flannel dressing-gown and said--'I +must _fink_.' + +The Legal Member waited patiently. Then Tods, with infinite +compassion-- + +'You don't speak my talk, do you, Councillor _Sahib_?' + +'No; I am sorry to say I do not,' said the Legal Member. + +'Very well,' said Tods, 'I must _fink_ in English.' + +He spent a minute putting his ideas in order, and began very slowly, +translating in his mind from the vernacular to English, as many +Anglo-Indian children do. You must remember that the Legal Member +helped him on by questions when he halted, for Tods was not equal to +the sustained flight of oratory that follows. + +'Ditta Mull says, "This thing is the talk of a child, and was made up +by fools." But _I_ don't think you are a fool, Councillor _Sahib_,' +said Tods hastily. 'You caught my goat. This is what Ditta Mull +says--'I am not a fool, and why should the Sirkar say I am a child? I +can see if the land is good and if the landlord is good. If I am a +fool, the sin is upon my own head. For five years I take my ground +for which I have saved money, and a wife I take too, and a little son +is born." Ditta Mull has one daughter now, but he _says_ he will have +a son soon. And he says, "At the end of five years, by this new +_bundobust_, I must go. If I do not go, I must get fresh seals and +_takkus_-stamps on the papers, perhaps in the middle of the harvest, +and to go to the law-courts once is wisdom, but to go twice is +_Jehannum_." 'That is _quite_ true,' explained Tods gravely. 'All my +friends say so. And Ditta Mull says, "Always fresh _takkus_ and +paying money to _vakils_ and _chaprassis_ and law-courts every five +years, or else the landlord makes me go. Why do I want to go? Am I a +fool? If I am a fool and do not know, after forty years, good land +when I see it, let me die! But if the new _bundobust_ says for +_fifteen_ years, that is good and wise. My little son is a man, and I +am burnt, and he takes the ground or another ground, paying only once +for the _takkus_-stamps on the papers, and his little son is born, +and at the end of fifteen years is a man too. But what profit is +there in five years and fresh papers? Nothing but _dikh_, trouble, +_dikh_. We are not young men who take these lands, but old ones--not +farmers, but tradesmen with a little money--and for fifteen years we +shall have peace. Nor are we children that the Sirkar should treat us +so."' + +Here Tods stopped short, for the whole table were listening. The +Legal Member said to Tods, 'Is that all?' + +'All I can remember,' said Tods. 'But you should see Ditta Mull's big +monkey. It's just like a Councillor _Sahib_.' + +'Tods! Go to bed!' said his father. + +Tods gathered up his dressing-gown tail and departed. The Legal +Member brought his hand down on the table with a crash--'By Jove!' +said the Legal Member, 'I believe the boy is right. The short +tenure _is_ the weak point.' + +He left early, thinking over what Tods had said. Now, it was +obviously impossible for the Legal Member to play with a _bunnia's_ +monkey, by way of getting understanding; but he did better. He made +inquiries, always bearing in mind the fact that the real native--not +the hybrid, University-trained mule--is as timid as a colt, and +little by little, he coaxed some of the men whom the measure +concerned most intimately to give in their views, which squared very +closely with Tods' evidence. + +So the Bill was amended in that clause; and the Legal Member was +filled with an uneasy suspicion that Native Members represent very +little except the Orders they carry on their bosoms. But he put the +thought from him as illiberal. He was a most liberal man. + +After a time the news spread through the bazars that Tods had got the +Bill recast in the tenure-clause, and, if Tods' Mamma had not +interfered, Tods would have made himself sick on the baskets of fruit +and pistachio nuts and Cabuli grapes and almonds that crowded the +verandah. Till he went Home, Tods ranked some few degrees before the +Viceroy in popular estimation. But for the little life of him Tods +could not understand why. + +In the Legal Member's private-paper-box still lies the rough draft of +the Sub-Montane Tracts _Ryotwary_ Revised Enactment; and opposite the +twenty-second clause, pencilled in blue chalk, and signed by the +Legal Member are the words '_Tods' Amendment_.' + + + + +THE STORY OF MUHAMMAD DIN + +Who is the happy man? He that sees in his own house, at home, little +children crowned with dust, leaping and falling and crying.-- + +_Munichandra_, translated by Professor Peterson. + + +The polo-ball was an old one, scarred, chipped, and dinted. It stood +on the mantelpiece among the pipe-stems which Imam Din, _khitmatgar_, +was cleaning for me. + +'Does the Heaven-born want this ball?' said Imam Din deferentially. + +The Heaven-born set no particular store by it; but of what use was a +polo-ball to a _khitmatgar_? + +'By Your Honour's favour, I have a little son. He has seen this ball, +and desires it to play with, I do not want it for myself.' + +No one would for an instant accuse portly old Imam Din of wanting to +play with polo-balls. He carried out the battered thing into the +verandah; and there followed a hurricane of joyful squeaks, a patter +of small feet, and the _thud-thud-thud_ of the ball rolling along +the ground. Evidently the little son had been waiting outside the +door to secure his treasure. But how had he managed to see that +polo-ball? + +Next day, coming back from office half an hour earlier than usual, I +was aware of a small figure in the dining-room--a tiny, plump figure +in a ridiculously inadequate shirt which came, perhaps, halfway down +the tubby stomach. It wandered round the room, thumb in mouth, +crooning to itself as it took stock of the pictures. Undoubtedly this +was the 'little son.' + +He had no business in my room, of course; but was so deeply absorbed +in his discoveries that he never noticed me in the doorway. I stepped +into the room and startled him nearly into a fit. He sat down on the +ground with a gasp. His eyes opened, and his mouth followed suit. I +knew what was coming, and fled, followed by a long, dry howl which +reached the servants' quarters far more quickly than any command of +mine had ever done. In ten seconds Imam Din was in the dining-room. +Then despairing sobs arose, and I returned to find Imam Din +admonishing the small sinner who was using most of his shirt as a +handkerchief. + +'This boy,' said Imam Din judicially, 'is a _budmash_--a big +_budmash_. He will, without doubt, go to the _jail-khana_, for his +behaviour.' Renewed yells from the penitent, and an elaborate +apology to myself from Imam Din. + +Tell the baby,' said I, 'that the _Sahib_ is not angry, and take him +away.' Imam Din conveyed my forgiveness to the offender, who had now +gathered all his shirt round his neck, stringwise, and the yell +subsided into a sob. The two set off for the door. 'His name,' said +Imam Din, as though the name were part of the crime, 'is Muhammad +Din, and he is a _budmash_.' Freed from present danger, Muhammad Din +turned round in his father's arms, and said gravely, 'It is true that +my name is Muhammad Din, _Tahib_, but I am not a _budmash_. I am a +_man_!' + +From that day dated my acquaintance with Muhammad Din. Never again +did he come into my dining-room, but on the neutral ground of the +garden we greeted each other with much state, though our conversation +was confined to '_Talaam, Tahib_' from his side, and '_Salaam, +Muhammad Din_' from mine. Daily on my return from office, the little +white shirt and the fat little body used to rise from the shade of +the creeper-covered trellis where they had been hid; and daily I +checked my horse here, that my salutation might not be slurred over +or given unseemly. + +Muhammad Din never had any companions. He used to trot about the +compound, in and out 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 +shrivelled old marigold flowers in a circle round it. Outside that +circle again was a rude square, traced out in bits of red brick +alternating with fragments of broken china; the whole bounded by a +little bank of dust. The water-man from the well-curb put in a plea +for the small architect, saying that it was only the play of a baby +and did not much disfigure my garden. + +Heaven knows that I had no intention of touching the child's work +then or later; but, that evening, a stroll through the garden brought +me unawares full on it; so that I trampled, before I knew, +marigold-heads, dust-bank, and fragments of broken soap dish into +confusion past all hope of mending. Next morning, I came upon +Muhammad Din crying softly to himself over the ruin I had wrought. +Some one had cruelly told him that the _Sahib_ was very angry with +him for spoiling the garden, and had scattered his rubbish, using bad +language the while. Muhammad Din laboured for an hour at effacing +every trace of the dust bank and pottery fragments, and it was with +a tearful and apologetic face that he said, '_Talaam, Tahib_,' when +I came home from office. A hasty inquiry resulted in Imam Din +informing Muhammad Din that, by my singular favour, he was permitted +to disport himself as he pleased. Whereat the child took heart and +fell to tracing the ground-plan of an edifice which was to eclipse +the marigold-polo-ball creation. + +For some months the chubby little eccentricity revolved in his humble +orbit among the castor-oil bushes and in the dust; always fashioning +magnificent palaces from stale flowers thrown away by the bearer, +smooth water-worn pebbles, bits of broken glass, and feathers pulled, +I fancy, from my fowls--always alone, and always crooning to himself. + +A gaily-spotted sea-shell was dropped one day close to the last of +his little buildings; and I looked that Muhammad Din should build +something more than ordinarily splendid on the strength of it. Nor +was I disappointed He meditated for the better part of an hour, and +his crooning rose to a jubilant song. Then he began tracing in the +dust. It would certainly be a wondrous palace, this one, for it was +two yards long and a yard broad in ground-plan. But the palace was +never completed. + +Next day there was no Muhammad Din at the head of the carriage-drive, +and no '_Talaam, Tahib_' to welcome my return. I had grown accustomed +to the greeting, and its omission troubled me. Next day Imam Din told +me that the child was suffering slightly from fever and needed +quinine. He got the medicine, and an English Doctor. + +'They have no stamina, these brats,' said the Doctor, as he left Imam +Din's quarters. + +A week later, though I would have given much to have avoided it, I +met on the road to the Mussulman burying-ground Imam Din, accompanied +by one other friend, carrying in his arms, wrapped in a white cloth, +all that was left of little Muhammad Din. + + + + +THE FINANCES OF THE GODS + +The evening meal was ended in Dhunni Bhagat's Chubara, and the old +priests were smoking or counting their beads. A little naked child +pattered in, with its mouth wide open, a handful of marigold flowers +in one hand, and a lump of conserved tobacco in the other. It tried +to kneel and make obeisance to Gobind, but it was so fat that it fell +forward on its shaven head, and rolled on its side, kicking and +gasping, while the marigolds tumbled one way and the tobacco the +other. Gobind laughed, set it up again, and blessed the marigold +flowers as he received the tobacco. + +'From my father,' said the child. 'He has the fever, and cannot come. +Wilt thou pray for him, father?' + +'Surely, littlest; but the smoke is on the ground, and the +night-chill is in the air, and it is not good to go abroad naked in +the autumn.' + +'I have no clothes,' said the child, 'and all to-day I have been +carrying cow-dung cakes to the bazar. It was very hot, and I am very +tired.' It shivered a little, for the twilight was cool. + +Gobind lifted an arm under his vast tattered quilt of many colours, +and made an inviting little nest by his side. The child crept in, and +Gobind filled his brass-studded leather waterpipe with the new +tobacco. When I came to the Chubara the shaven head with the tuft +atop, and the beady black eyes looked out of the folds of the quilt +as a squirrel looks out from his nest, and Gobind was smiling while +the child played with his beard. + +I would have said something friendly, but remembered in time that if +the child fell ill afterwards I should be credited with the Evil Eye, +and that is a horrible possession. 'Sit thou still, Thumbling,' I +said, as it made to get up and run away. 'Where is thy slate, and why +has the teacher let such an evil character loose on the streets when +there are no police to protect us weaklings? In which ward dost thou +try to break thy neck with flying kites from the house-top?' + +'Nay, Sahib, nay,' said the child, burrowing its face into Gobind's +beard, and twisting uneasily. 'There was a holiday to-day among the +schools, and I do not always fly kites. I play ker-li-kit like the +rest.' + +Cricket is the national game among the school-boys of the Punjab, +from the naked hedge-school children, who use an old kerosine-tin for +wicket, to the B.A.'s of the University, who compete for the +Championship belt. + +'Thou play kerlikit! Thou art half the weight of the bat!' I said. + +The child nodded resolutely. 'Yea, I _do_ play. _Perlay-ball. Ow-at! +Ran, ran, ran!_ I know it all.' + +'But thou must not forget with all this to pray to the Gods +according to custom,' said Gobind, who did not altogether approve of +cricket and Western innovations. + +'I do not forget,' said the child in a hushed voice. + +'Also to give reverence to thy teacher, and'-- + +Gobind's voice softened--'to abstain from pulling holy men by the +beard, little badling. Eh, eh, eh?' + +The child's face was altogether hidden in the great white beard, and +it began to whimper till Gobind soothed it as children are soothed +all the world over, with the promise of a story. + +'I did not think to frighten thee, senseless little one. Look up! Am +I angry? Are, are, are! Shall I weep too, and of our tears make a +great pond and drown us both, and then thy father will never get +well, lacking thee to pull his beard? Peace, peace, and I will tell +thee of the Gods. Thou hast heard many tales?' + +'Very many, father.' + +'Now, this is a new one, which thou hast not heard. Long and long ago +when the Gods walked with men, as they do to-day, but that we have +not faith to see, Shiv, the greatest of Gods, and Parbati his wife, +were walking in the garden of a temple.' + +'Which temple? That in the Nandgaon ward?' said the child. + +'Nay, very far away. Maybe at Trimbak or Hurdwar, whither thou must +make pilgrimage when thou art a man. Now, there was sitting in the +garden under the jujube trees, a mendicant that had worshipped Shiv +for forty years, and he lived on the offerings of the pious, and +meditated holiness night and day.' + +'Oh, father, was it thou?' said the child, looking up with large +eyes. + +'Nay, I have said it was long ago, and, moreover, this mendicant was +married.' + +'Did they put him on a horse with flowers on his head, and forbid him +to go to sleep all night long? Thus they did to me when they made my +wedding,' said the child, who had been married a few months before. + +'And what didst thou do?' said I. + +'I wept, and they called me evil names, and then I smote _her_, and +we wept together.' + +'Thus did not the mendicant,' said Gobind; 'for he was a holy man, +and very poor. Parbati perceived him sitting naked by the temple +steps where all went up and down, and she said to Shiv, "What shall +men think of the Gods when the Gods thus scorn the worshippers? For +forty years yonder man has prayed to us, and yet there be only a few +grains of rice and some broken cowries before him after all. Men's +hearts will be hardened by this thing." And Shiv said, "It shall be +looked to," and so he called to the temple, which was the temple of +his son, Ganesh of the elephant head, saying, "Son, there is a +mendicant without who is very poor. What wilt thou do for him?" Then +that great elephant-headed One awoke in the dark and answered, "In +three days, if it be thy will, he shall have one lakh of rupees." +Then Shiv and Parbati went away.' + +'But there was a money-lender in the garden hidden among the +marigolds'--the child looked at the ball of crumpled blossoms in its +hands--'ay, among the yellow marigolds, and he heard the Gods +talking. He was a covetous man, and of a black heart, and he desired +that lakh of rupees for himself. So he went to the mendicant and +said, "Oh brother, how much do the pious give thee daily?" The +mendicant said, "I cannot tell. Sometimes a little rice, sometimes a +little pulse, and a few cowries and, it has been, pickled mangoes, +and dried fish." + +'That is good,' said the child, smacking its lips. 'Then said the +money-lender, "Because I have long watched thee, and learned to +love thee and thy patience, I will give thee now five rupees for all +thy earnings of the three days to come. There is only a bond to sign +on the matter." But the mendicant said, "Thou art mad. In two months +I do not receive the worth of five rupees," and he told the thing to +his wife that evening. She, being a woman, said, "When did +money-lender ever make a bad bargain? The wolf runs the corn for the +sake of the fat deer. Our fate is in the hands of the Gods. Pledge it +not even for three days." + +'So the mendicant returned to the money-lender, and would not sell. +Then that wicked man sat all day before him offering more and more +for those, three days' earnings. First, ten, fifty, and a hundred +rupees; and then, for he did not know when the Gods would pour down +their gifts, rupees by the thousand, till he had offered half a lakh +of rupees. Upon this sum the mendicant's wife shifted her counsel, +and the mendicant signed the bond, and the money was paid in silver; +great white bullocks bringing it by the cartload. But saving only all +that money, the mendicant received nothing from the Gods at all, and +the heart of the money-lender was uneasy on account of expectation. +Therefore at noon of the third day the money-lender went into the +temple to spy upon the councils of the Gods, and to learn in what +manner that gift might arrive. Even as he was making his prayers, +a crack between the stones of the floor gaped, and, closing, caught +him by the heel. Then he heard the Gods walking in the temple in the +darkness of the columns, and Shiv called to his son Ganesh, saying +"Son, what hast thou done in regard to the lakh of rupees for the +mendicant?" And Ganesh woke, for the moneylender heard the dry rustle +of his trunk uncoiling, and he answered, "Father, one-half of the +money has been paid, and the debtor for the other half I hold here +fast by the heel."' + +The child bubbled with laughter. 'And the moneylender paid the +mendicant?' it said. + +'Surely, for he whom the Gods hold by the heel must pay to the +uttermost. The money was paid at evening, all silver, in great carts, +and thus Ganesh did his work.' + +'Nathu! Oh^e Nathu!' + +A woman was calling in the dusk by the door of the courtyard. + +The child began to wriggle. 'That is my mother,' it said. + +'Go then, littlest,' answered Gobind; 'but stay a moment.' + +He ripped a generous yard from his patchwork-quilt, put it over the +child's shoulders, and the child ran away. + + + + +MOTI GUJ--MUTINEER + +Once upon a time there was a coffee-planter in India who wished to +clear some forest land for coffee-planting. When he had cut down all +the trees and burned the under-wood the stumps still remained. +Dynamite is expensive and slow-fire slow. The happy medium for +stump-clearing is the lord of all beasts, who is the elephant. He +will either push the stump out of the ground with his tusks, if he +has any, or drag it out with ropes. The planter, therefore, hired +elephants by ones and twos and threes, and fell to work. The very +best of all the elephants belonged to the very worst of all the +drivers or mahouts; and the superior beast's name was Moti Guj. He +was the absolute property of his mahout, which would never have been +the case under native rule, for Moti Guj was a creature to be +desired by kings; and his name, being translated, meant the Pearl +Elephant. Because the British Government was in the land, Deesa, +the mahout, enjoyed his property undisturbed. He was dissipated. When +he had made much money through the strength of his elephant, he would +get extremely drunk and give Moti Guj a beating with a tent-peg over +the tender nails of the forefeet. Moti Guj never trampled the life +out of Deesa on these occasions, for he knew that after the beating +was over Deesa would embrace his trunk, and weep and call him his +love and his life and the liver of his soul, and give him some +liquor. Moti Guj was very fond of liquor--arrack for choice, though +he would drink palm-tree toddy if nothing better offered. Then Deesa +would go to sleep between Moti Guj's forefeet, and as Deesa generally +chose the middle of the public road, and as Moti Guj mounted guard +over him and would not permit horse, foot, or cart to pass by, +traffic was congested till Deesa saw fit to wake up. + +There was no sleeping in the daytime on the planter's clearing; the +wages were too high to risk. Deesa sat on Moti Guj's neck and gave +him orders, while Moti Guj rooted up the stumps--for he owned a +magnificent pair of tusks; or pulled at the end of a rope--for he had +a magnificent pair of shoulders, while Deesa kicked him behind the +ears and said he was the king of elephants. At evening time Moti Guj +would wash down his three hundred pounds' weight of green food with a +quart of arrack, and Deesa would take a share and sing songs between +Moti Guj's legs till it was time to go to bed. Once a week Deesa led +Moti Guj down to the river, and Moti Guj lay on his side luxuriously +in the shallows, while Deesa went over him with a coir-swab and a +brick. Moti Guj never mistook the pounding blow of the latter for the +smack of the former that warned him to get up and turn over on the +other side. Then Deesa would look at his feet, and examine his eyes, +and turn up the fringes of his mighty ears in case of sores or +budding ophthalmia. After inspection, the two would 'come up with a +song from the sea,' Moti Guj all black and shining, waving a torn +tree branch twelve feet long in his trunk, and Deesa knotting up his +own long wet hair. + +It was a peaceful, well-paid life till Deesa felt the return of the +desire to drink deep. He wished for an orgie. The little draughts +that led nowhere were taking the manhood out of him. + +He went to the planter, and 'My mother's dead,' said he, weeping. + +'She died on the last plantation two months ago; and she died once +before that when you were working for me last year,' said the +planter, who knew something of the ways of nativedom. + +'Then it's my aunt, and she was just the same as a mother to me,' +said Deesa, weeping more than ever. 'She has left eighteen small +children entirely without bread, and it is I who must fill their +little stomachs,' said Deesa, beating his head on the floor. + +'Who brought you the news?' said the planter. 'The post,' said +Deesa. + +'There hasn't been a post here for the past week. Get back to your +lines!' + +'A devastating sickness has fallen on my village, and all my wives +are dying,' yelled Deesa, really in tears this time. 'Call Chihun, +who comes from Deesa's village,' said the planter. 'Chihun, has this +man a wife?' + +'He!' said Chihun. 'No. Not a woman of our village would look at him. +They'd sooner marry the elephant.' Chihun snorted. Deesa wept and +bellowed. + +'You will get into a difficulty in a minute,' said the planter. 'Go +back to your work!' + +'Now I will speak Heaven's truth,' gulped Deesa, with an inspiration. +'I haven't been drunk for two months. I desire to depart in order to +get properly drunk afar off and distant from this heavenly +plantation. Thus I shall cause no trouble.' + +A flickering smile crossed the planter's face. 'Deesa,' said he, +'you've spoken the truth, and I'd give you leave on the spot if +anything could be done with Moti Guj while you're away. You know that +he will only obey your orders.' + +'May the Light of the Heavens live forty thousand years. I shall be +absent but ten little days. After that, upon my faith and honour and +soul, I return. As to the inconsiderable interval, have I the +gracious permission of the Heaven-born to call up Moti Guj?' + +Permission was granted, and, in answer to Deesa's shrill yell, the +lordly tusker swung out of the shade of a clump of trees where he had +been squirting dust over himself till his master should return. + +'Light of my heart, Protector of the Drunken, Mountain of Might, give +ear,' said Deesa, standing in front of him. + +Moti Guj gave ear, and saluted with his trunk, 'I am going away,' +said Deesa. + +Moti Guj's eyes twinkled. He liked jaunts as well as his master. One +could snatch all manner of nice things from the roadside then. + +'But you, you fubsy old pig, must stay behind and work.' + +The twinkle died out as Moti Guj tried to look delighted. He hated +stump-hauling on the plantation. It hurt his teeth. + +'I shall be gone for ten days, oh Delectable One. Hold up your near +forefoot and I'll impress the fact upon it, warty toad of a dried +mud-puddle.' Deesa took a tent-peg and banged Moti Guj ten times on +the nails. Moti Guj grunted and shuffled from foot to foot. + +'Ten days,' said Deesa, 'you must work and haul and root trees as +Chihun here shall order you. Take up Chihun and set him on your +neck!' Moti Guj curled the tip of his trunk, Chihun put his foot +there and was swung on to the neck. Deesa handed Chihun the heavy +_ankus_, the iron elephant-goad. + +Chihun thumped Moti Guj's bald head as a paviour thumps a kerbstone. + +Moti Guj trumpeted. + +'Be still, hog of the backwoods. Chihun's your mahout for ten days. +And now bid me good-bye, beast after mine own heart. Oh, my lord, my +king! Jewel of all created elephants, lily of the herd, preserve your +honoured health; be virtuous. Adieu!' + +Moti Guj lapped his trunk round Deesa and swung him into the air +twice. That was his way of bidding the man good-bye. + +'He'll work now,' said Deesa to the planter. 'Have I leave to go?' + +The planter nodded, and Deesa dived into the woods. Moti Guj went +back to haul stumps. + +Chihun was very kind to him, but he felt unhappy and forlorn +notwithstanding. Chihun gave him balls of spices, and tickled him +under the chin, and Chihun's little baby cooed to him after work was +over, and Chihun's wife called him a darling; but Moti Guj was a +bachelor by instinct, as Deesa was. He did not understand the +domestic emotions. He wanted the light of his universe back +again--the drink and the drunken slumber, the savage beatings and the +savage caresses. + +None the less he worked well, and the planter wondered. Deesa had +vagabonded along the roads till he met a marriage procession of his +own caste and, drinking, dancing, and tippling, had drifted past all +knowledge of the lapse of time. + +The morning of the eleventh day dawned, and there returned no Deesa. +Moti Guj was loosed from his ropes for the daily stint. He swung +clear, looked round, shrugged his shoulders, and began to walk away, +as one having business elsewhere. + +'Hi! ho! Come back you,' shouted Chihun. 'Come back, and put me on +your neck, Misborn Mountain. Return, Splendour of the Hillsides. +Adornment of all India, heave to, or I'll bang every toe off your fat +forefoot!' + +Moti Guj gurgled gently, but did not obey. Chihun ran after him with +a rope and caught him up. Moti Guj put his ears forward, and Chihun +knew what that meant, though he tried to carry it off with high +words. + +'None of your nonsense with me,' said he. 'To your pickets, +Devil-son.' + +'Hrrump!' said Moti Guj, and that was all--that and the forebent +ears. + +Moti Guj put his hands in his pockets, chewed a branch for a +toothpick, and strolled about the clearing, making jest of the other +elephants, who had just set to work. + +Chihun reported the state of affairs to the planter, who came out +with a dog-whip and cracked it furiously. Moti Guj paid the white man +the compliment of charging him nearly a quarter of a mile across the +clearing and 'Hrrumphing' him into the verandah. Then he stood +outside the house chuckling to himself, and shaking all over with the +fun of it, as an elephant will. + +'We'll thrash him,' said the planter. 'He shall have the finest +thrashing that ever elephant received. Give Kala Nag and Nazim twelve +foot of chain apiece, and tell them to lay on twenty blows.' + +Kala Nag--which means Black Snake--and Nazim were two of the biggest +elephants in the lines, and one of their duties was to administer the +graver punishments, since no man can beat an elephant properly. + +They took the whipping-chains and rattled them in their trunks as +they sidled up to Moti Guj, meaning to hustle him between them. Moti +Guj had never, in all his life of thirty-nine years, been whipped, +and he did not intend to open new experiences. So he waited, weaving +his head from right to left, and measuring the precise spot in Kala +Nag's fat side where a blunt tusk would sink deepest. Kala Nag had no +tusks; the chain was his badge of authority; but he judged it good to +swing wide of Moti Guj at the last minute, and seem to appear as if +he had brought out the chain for amusement. Nazim turned round and +went home early. He did not feel fighting-fit that morning, and so +Moti Guj was left standing alone with his ears cocked. + +That decided the planter to argue no more, and Moti Guj rolled back +to his inspection of the clearing. An elephant who will not work, and +is not tied up, is not quite so manageable as an eighty-one ton gun +loose in a heavy sea-way. He slapped old friends on the back and +asked them if the stumps were coming away easily; he talked nonsense +concerning labour and the inalienable rights of elephants to a long +'nooning'; and wandering to and fro, thoroughly demoralised the +garden until sundown, when he returned to his pickets for food. + +'If you won't work you shan't eat,' said Chihun angrily. 'You're a +wild elephant, and no educated animal at all. Go back to your +jungle.' + +Chihun's little brown baby, rolling on the floor of the hut, +stretched its fat arms to the huge shadow in the doorway. Moti Guj +knew well that it was the dearest thing on earth to Chihun. He swung +out his trunk with a fascinating crook at the end, and the brown baby +threw itself shouting upon it. Moti Guj made fast and pulled up till +the brown baby was crowing in the air twelve feet above his father's +head. + +'Great Chief!' said Chihun. 'Flour cakes of the best, twelve in +number, two feet across, and soaked in rum shall be yours on the +instant, and two hundred pounds' weight of fresh-cut young +sugar-cane therewith. Deign only to put down safely that +insignificant brat who is my heart and my life to me.' + +Moti Guj tucked the brown baby comfortably between his forefeet, +that could have knocked into toothpicks all Chihun's hut, and waited +for his food. He ate it, and the brown baby crawled away. Moti Guj +dozed, and thought of Deesa. One of many mysteries connected with the +elephant is that his huge body needs less sleep than anything else +that lives. Four or five hours in the night suffice--two just before +midnight, lying down on one side; two just after one o'clock, lying +down on the other. The rest of the silent hours are filled with +eating and fidgeting and long grumbling soliloquies. + +At midnight, therefore, Moti Guj strode out of his pickets, for a +thought had come to him that Deesa might be lying drunk somewhere in +the dark forest with none to look after him. So all that night he +chased through the undergrowth, blowing and trumpeting and shaking +his ears. He went down to the river and blared across the shallows +where Deesa used to wash him, but there was no answer. He could not +find Deesa, but he disturbed all the elephants in the lines, and +nearly frightened to death some gipsies in the woods. + +At dawn Deesa returned to the plantation. He had been very drunk +indeed, and he expected to fall into trouble for outstaying his +leave. He drew a long breath when he saw that the bungalow and the +plantation were still uninjured; for he knew something of Moti Guj's +temper; and reported himself with many lies and salaams. Moti Guj had +gone to his pickets for breakfast. His night exercise had made him +hungry. + +'Call up your beast,' said the planter, and Deesa shouted in the +mysterious elephant-language, that some mahouts believe came from +China at the birth of the world, when elephants and not men were +masters. Moti Guj heard and came. Elephants do not gallop. They move +from spots at varying rates of speed. If an elephant wished to catch +an express train he could not gallop, but he could catch the train. +Thus Moti Guj was at the planter's door almost before Chihun noticed +that he had left his pickets. He fell into Deesa's arms trumpeting +with joy, and the man and beast wept and slobbered over each other, +and handled each other from head to heel to see that no harm had +befallen. + +'Now we will get to work,' said Deesa. 'Lift me up, my son and my +joy.' + +Moti Guj swung him up and the two went to the coffee-clearing to look +for irksome stumps. + +The planter was too astonished to be very angry. + + + + +POETRY + +THE NATIVE-BORN + + _We've drunk to the Queen--God bless her!-- + We've drunk, to our mothers' land; + We've drunk to our English brother + (But he does not understand); + We've drunk to the wide creation, + And the Cross swings low for the morn; + Last toast, and of obligation, + A health to the Native-born! + + They change their skies above them, + But not their hearts that roam! + We learned from our wistful mothers + To call old England 'home'; + We read of the English skylark, + Of the spring in the English lanes, + But we screamed with the painted lories + As we rode on the dusty plains! + + They passed with their old-world legends-- + Their tales of wrong and dearth-- + Our fathers held by purchase, + But we by the right of birth; + Our heart's where they rocked our cradle, + Our love where we spent our toil, + And our faith and our hope and our honour + We pledge, to our native soil! + + I charge you charge your glasses-- + I charge you drink with me + To the men of the Four New Nations, + And the Islands of the Sea-- + To the last least lump of coral + That none may stand outside, + And our own good pride shall teach us + To praise our comrade's pride!_ + + To the hush of the breathless morning + Oh the thin, tin, crackling roofs, + To the haze of the burned back-ranges + And the dust of the shoeless hoofs-- + To the risk of a death by drowning, + To the risk of a death by drouth-- + To the men of a million acres, + To the Sons of the Golden South! + +_To the Sons of the Golden South (Stand up!), + And the life we live and know, +Let a fellow sing o' the little things he cares about, +If a fellow fights for the little things he cares about + With the weight of a single blow!_ + + To the smoke of a hundred coasters, + To the sheep on a thousand hills, + To the sun that never blisters, + To the rain that never chills-- + To the land of the waiting spring-time, + To our five-meal, meat-fed men, + To the tall, deep-bosomed women, + And the children nine and ten! + +_And the children nine and ten (Stand up!), + And the life we live and know, +Let a fellow sing o' the little things he cares about, +If a fellow fights for the little things he cares about + With the weight of a two-fold blow!_ + + To the far-flung fenceless prairie + Where the quick cloud-shadows trail, + To our neighbour's barn in the offing + And the line of the new-cut rail; + To the plough in her league-long furrow + With the gray Lake gulls behind-- + To the weight of a half-year's winter + And the warm wet western wind! + + To the home of the floods and thunder, + To her pale dry healing blue-- + To the lift of the great Cape combers, + And the smell of the baked Karroo. + To the growl of the sluicing stamp-head-- + To the reef and the water-gold, + To the last and the largest Empire, + To the map that is half unrolled! + + To our dear dark foster-mothers, + To the heathen songs they sung-- + To the heathen speech we babbled + Ere we came to the white man's tongue. + To the cool of our deep verandas-- + To the blaze of our jewelled main, + To the night, to the palms in the moonlight, + And the fire-fly in the cane! + + To the hearth of our people's people-- + To her well-ploughed windy sea, + To the hush of our dread high-altar + Where The Abbey makes us We; + To the grist of the slow-ground ages, + To the gain that is yours and mine-- + To the Bank of the Open Credit, + To the Power-house of the Line! + + We've drunk to the Queen--God bless her!-- + We've drunk to our mothers' land; + We've drunk to our English brother + (And we hope he'll understand). + We've drunk as much as we're able, + And the Cross swings low for the morn; + Last toast--and your foot on the table!-- + A health to the Native-born! + +_A health to the Native-torn (Stand up!), + We're six white men mow, +All bound to sing o' the little things we care about, +All bound to fight for the little things we care about + With the weight of a six-fold blow! +By the might of our cable-tow (Take hands!), + From the Orkneys to the Horn, +All round the world (and a little loop to pull it by), +All round the world (and a little strap to buckle it), + A health to the Native-born!_ + + + + +THE FLOWERS + +To our private taste, there is always something a little exotic, +almost artificial, in songs which, under an English aspect and dress, +are yet so manifestly the product of other skies. They affect us like +translations; the very fauna and flora are alien, remote; the +dog's-tooth violet is but an ill substitute for the rathe primrose, +nor can we ever believe that the wood-robin sings as sweetly in April +as the English thrush.--THE ATHENAEUM. + + + _Buy my English posies! + Kent and Surrey may-- + Violets of the Undercliff + Wet with Channel spray; + Cowslips from a Devon combe-- + Midland furze afire-- + Buy my English posies + And I'll sell your heart's desire!_ + + Buy my English posies! + You that scorn the May, + Won't you greet a friend from home + Half the world away? + Green against the draggled drift, + Faint and frail and first-- + Buy my Northern blood-root + And I'll know where you were nursed: +Robin down the logging-road whistles, Come to me!' +Spring has found the maple-grove, the sap is running free; +All the winds of Canada call the ploughing-rain. +Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! + + Buy my English posies! + Here's to match your need-- + Buy a tuft of royal heath, + Buy a bunch of weed + White as sand of Muysenberg + Spun before the gale-- + Buy my heath and lilies + And I'll tell you whence you hail! +Under hot Constantia broad the vineyards lie-- +Throned and thorned the aching berg props the speckless sky-- +Slow below the Wynberg firs trails the tilted wain-- +Take the flower arid turn the hour, and kiss your love again! + + Buy my English posies! + You that will not turn-- + Buy my hot-wood clematis. + Buy a frond o' fern + Gathered where the Erskine leaps + Down the road to Lorne-- + Buy my Christmas creeper + And I'll say where you were born! +West away from Melbourne dust holidays begin-- +They that mock at Paradise woo at Cora Lynn-- +Through the great South Otway gums sings the great South Main-- +Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! + + Buy my English posies! + Here's your choice unsold! + Buy a blood-red myrtle-bloom, + Buy the kowhai's gold + Flung for gift on Taupo's face, + Sign that spring is come-- + Buy my clinging myrtle + And I'll give you back your home! +Broom behind the windy town; pollen o' the pine-- +Bell-bird in the leafy deep where the _ratas_ twine-- +Fern above the saddle-bow, flax upon the plain-- +Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! + + Buy my English posies! + Ye that have your own, + Buy them for a brother's sake + Overseas, alone. + Weed ye trample underfoot + Floods his heart abrim-- + Bird ye never heeded, + Oh, she calls his dead to him! +Far and far our homes are set round the Seven Seas; +Woe for us if we forget, we that hold by these! +Unto each his mother-beach, bloom and bird and land-- +Masters of the Seven Seas, oh, love and understand. + + + + +MUNICIPAL. + + "Why is my District death-rate low?" + Said Binks of Hezabad. + "Wells, drains, and sewage-outfalls are + My own peculiar fad. + I learnt a lesson once. It ran + Thus," quoth that most veracious man:-- + +It was an August evening and, in snowy garments clad, +I paid a round of visits in the lines of Hezabad; +When, presently, my Waler saw, and did not like at all, +A Commissariat elephant careering down the Mall. + +I couldn't see the driver, and across my mind it rushed +That that Commissariat elephant had suddenly gone _musth_. +I didn't care to meet him, and I couldn't well get down, +So I let the Waler have it, and we headed for the town. + +The buggy was a new one and, praise Dykes, it stood the strain, +Till the Waler jumped a bullock just above the City Drain; +And the next that I remember was a hurricane of squeals, +And the creature making toothpicks of my five-foot patent wheels. + +He seemed to want the owner, so I fled, distraught with fear, +To the Main Drain sewage outfall while he snorted in my ear-- +Reached the four-foot drain-head safely and, in darkness and despair, +Felt the brute's proboscis fingering my terror-stiffened hair, + +Heard it trumpet on my shoulder--tried to crawl a little higher-- +Found the Main Drain sewage-outfall blocked some eight feet up, + with mire; +And, for twenty reeking minutes, Sir, my very marrow froze, +While the trunk was feeling blindly for a purchase on my toes! + +It missed me by a fraction, but my hair was turning grey +Before they called the drivers up arid dragged the brute away. +Then I sought the City Elders, and my words were very plain. +They flushed that four-foot drain-head and--it never choked again. + +You may hold with surface-drainage, and the sun-for-garbage cure, +Till you've been a periwinkle shrinking coyly up a sewer. +_I_ believe in well-flushed culverts ... This is why the + death-rate's small; +And, if you don't believe me, get _shikarred_ yourself. That's all. + + + + +THE COASTWISE LIGHTS + +Our brows are bound with spindrift and the weed is on our knees; +Our loins are battered 'neath us by the swinging, smoking seas. +From reef and rock and skerry--over headland, ness, and voe-- +The Coastwise Lights of England watch the ships of England go! + +Through the endless summer evenings, on the lineless, level floors; +Through the yelling Channel tempest when the siren hoots and roars-- +By day the dipping house-flag and by night the rocket's trail-- +As the sheep that graze behind us so we know them where they hail. + +We bridge across the dark, and bid the helmsman have a care, +The flash that wheeling inland wakes his sleeping wife to prayer; +From our vexed eyries, head to gale, we bind in burning chains +The lover from the sea-rim drawn--his love in English lanes. + +We greet the clippers wing-and-wing that race the Southern wool; +We warn the crawling cargo tanks of Bremen, Leith, and Hull; +To each and all our equal lamp at peril of the sea-- +The white wall-sided war-ships or the whalers of Dundee! + +Come up, come in from Eastward, from the guard-ports of the Morn! +Beat up, beat in from Southerly, O gipsies of the Horn! +Swift shuttles of an Empire's loom that weave us, main to main, +The Coastwise Lights of England give you welcome back again! + +Go, get you gone up-Channel with the sea-crust on your plates; +Go, get you into London with the burden of your freights! +Haste, for they talk of Empire there, and say, if any seek, +The Lights of England sent you and by silence shall ye speak. + + + + +THE ENGLISH FLAG + +Above the portico a flag-staff, bearing the Union Jack, remained +fluttering in the flames for some time, but ultimately when it fell +the crowds rent the air with shouts, and seemed to see significance +in the incident.--DAILY PAPERS. + + +Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro-- +And what should they know of England who only England know?-- +The poor little street-bred people that vapour and fume and brag, +They are lifting their heads in the stillness to yelp at the English + Flag! + +Must we borrow a clout from the Boer--to plaster anew with dirt? +An Irish liar's bandage, or an English coward's shirt? +We may not speak of England; her Flag's to sell or share. +What is the Flag of England? Winds of the World, declare! + +The North Wind blew:--'From Bergen my steel-shod vanguards go; +I chase your lazy whalers home from the Disko floe; +By the great North Lights above me I work the will of God, +And the liner splits on the ice-field or the Dogger fills with cod. + +'I barred my gates with iron, I shuttered my doors with flame, +Because to force my ramparts your nutshell navies came; +I took the sun from their presence, I cut them down with my blast, +And they died, but the Flag of England blew free ere the spirit + passed. + +'The lean white bear hath seen it in the long, long Arctic night, +The musk-ox knows the standard that flouts the Northern Light: +What is the Flag of England? Ye have but my bergs to dare, +Ye have but my drifts to conquer. Go forth, for it is there!' + +The South Wind sighed:--'From the Virgins my mid-sea course was ta'en +Over a thousand islands lost in an idle main, +Where the sea-egg flames on the coral and the long-backed breakers + croon +Their endless ocean legends to the lazy, locked lagoon. + +'Strayed amid lonely islets, mazed amid outer keys, +I waked the palms to laughter--I tossed the scud in the breeze-- +Never was isle so little, never was sea so lone, +But over the scud and the palm-trees an English flag was flown. + +'I have wrenched it free from the halliard to hang for a wisp on the + Horn; +I have chased it north to the Lizard--ribboned and rolled and torn; +I have spread its fold o'er the dying, adrift in a hopeless sea; +I have hurled it swift on the slaver, and seen the slave set free. + +'My basking sunfish know it, and wheeling albatross, +Where the lone wave fills with fire beneath the Southern Cross. +What is the Flag of England? Ye have but my reefs to dare, +Ye have but my seas to furrow. Go forth, for it is there! + +The East Wind roared:--'From the Kuriles, the Bitter Seas, +I come, And me men call the Home-Wind, for I bring the English home. +Look--look well to your shipping! By the breath of my mad typhoon +I swept your close-packed Praya and beached your best at Kowloon! + +'The reeling junks behind me and the racing seas before, +I raped your richest roadstead--I plundered Singapore! +I set my hand on the Hoogli; as a hooded snake she rose, +And I flung your stoutest steamers to roost with the startled crows. + +'Never the lotus closes, never the wild-fowl wake, +But a soul goes out on the East Wind that died for England's sake-- +Man or woman or suckling, mother or bride or maid-- +Because on the bones of the English the English Flag is stayed. + +'The desert-dust hath dimmed it, the flying wild-ass knows, +The scared white leopard winds it across the taintless snows. +What is the Flag of England? Ye have but my sun to dare, +Ye have but my sands to travel. Go forth, for it is there!' + +The West Wind called:--'In squadrons the thoughtless galleons fly +That bear the wheat and cattle lest street-bred people die. +They make my might their porter, they make my house their path, +Till I loose my neck from their rudder and whelm them all in my + wrath. + +'I draw the gliding fog-bank as a snake is drawn from the hole, +They bellow one to the other, the frighted ship-bells toll, +For day is a drifting terror till I raise the shroud with my breath, +And they see strange bows above them and the two go locked to death. + +'But whether in calm or wrack-wreath, whether by dark or day, +I heave them whole to the conger or rip their plates away, +First of the scattered legions, under a shrieking sky, +Dipping between the rollers, the English Flag goes by. + +'The dead dumb fog hath wrapped it--the frozen dews have kissed-- +The naked stars have seen it, the fellow-star in the mist. +What is the Flag of England? Ye have but my breath to dare, +Ye have but my waves to conquer. Go forth, for it is there!' + + + + +ENGLAND'S ANSWER + +Truly ye come of The Blood; slower to bless than to ban; +Little used to lie down at the bidding of any man. +Flesh of the flesh that I bred, bone of the bone that I bare; +Stark as your sons shall be--stern as your fathers were. +Deeper than speech our love, stronger than life our tether, +But we do not fall on the neck nor kiss when we come together. +My arm is nothing weak, my strength is not gone by; +Sons, I have borne many sons, but my breasts are not dry, +Look, I have made ye a place and opened wide the doors, +That ye may talk together, your Barons and Councillors-- +Wards of the Outer March, Lords of the Lower Seas, +Ay, talk to your gray mother that bore you on her knees!-- +That ye may talk together, brother to brother's face-- +Thus for the good of your peoples--thus for the Pride of the Race. +Also, we will make promise. So long as The Blood endures, +I shall know that your good is mine: ye shall feel that my strength + is yours: +In the day of Armageddon, at the last great fight of all, +That Our House stand together and the pillars do not fall. +Draw now the threefold knot firm on the ninefold bands, +And the Law that ye make shall be law after the rule of your lands. +This for the waxen Heath, and that for the Wattle-bloom, +This for the Maple-leaf, and that for the southern Broom. +The Law that ye make shall be law and I do not press my will, +Because ye are Sons of The Blood and call me Mother still. +Now must ye speak to your kinsmen and they must speak to you, +After the use of the English, in straight-flung words and few. +Go to your work and be strong, halting not in your ways, +Balking the end half-won for an instant dole of praise. +Stand to your work and be wise--certain of sword and pen, +Who are neither children nor Gods, but men in a world of men! + + + + +THE OVERLAND MAIL + +[FOOT-SERVICE TO THE HILLS] + + In the name of the Empress of India, make way, + O Lords of the Jungle, wherever you roam, + The woods are astir at the close of the day + --We exiles are waiting for letters from Home. + Let the robber retreat--let the tiger turn tail-- + In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail! + + With a jingle of bells as the dusk gathers in, + He turns to the foot-path that heads up the hill-- + The bags on his back and a cloth round his chin, + And, tucked in his waistbelt, the Post Office bill;-- + 'Despatched on this date, as received by the rail, + '_Per_ runner, two bags of the Overland Mail.' + + Is the torrent in spate? He must ford it or swim. + Has the rain wrecked the road? He must climb by the cliff. + Does the tempest cry 'halt'? What are tempests to him? + The service admits not a 'but' or an 'if.' + While the breath's in his mouth, he must bear without fail, + In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail. + + From aloe to rose-oak, from rose-oak to fir, + From level to upland, from upland to crest, + From rice-field to rock-ridge, from rock-ridge to spur, + Fly the soft-sandalled feet, strains the brawny brown chest. + From rail to ravine--to the peak from the vale-- + Up, up through the night goes the Overland Mail. + + There's a speck on the hill-side, a dot on the road-- + A jingle of bells on the foot-path below-- + There's a scuffle above in the monkey's abode-- + The world is awake and the clouds are aglow. + For the great Sun himself must attend to the hail: + --'In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail!' + + + + +IN SPRING TIME + +My garden blazes brightly with the rose-bush and the peach, +And the _koeil_ sings above it, in the _siris_ by the well, +From the creeper-covered trellis comes the squirrel's chattering + speech, +And the blue jay screams and flutters where the cheery _satbhai_ + dwell. +But the rose has lost its fragrance, and the _koeil's_ note is + strange; +I am sick of endless sunshine, sick of blossom-burdened bough. +Give me back the leafless woodlands where the winds of Springtime + range-- +Give me back one day in England, for it's Spring in England now! +Through the pines the gusts are booming, o'er the brown fields + blowing chill, +From the furrow of the plough-share streams the fragrance of the + loam, +And the hawk nests on the cliffside and the jackdaw in the hill, +And my heart is back in England 'mid the sights and sounds of Home. +But the garland of the sacrifice this wealth of rose and peach is, +Ah! _koeil_, little _koeil_, singing on the _siris_ bough, +In my ears the knell of exile your ceaseless bell-like speech is-- +Can _you_ tell me aught of England or of Spring in England now? + + +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD. +THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, GLASGOW. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Kipling Reader, by Rudyard Kipling + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KIPLING READER *** + +***** This file should be named 16578.txt or 16578.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/7/16578/ + +Produced by Roy Brown + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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