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toiled excessively but mad extremely little way so that the bo e had got her anchor and was off again before we had approached the month we were no sooner in smooth water than the according to their custom stopped his boat and required of us our two was the man s demand between three and four shillings english money for each passenger but at this began to cry out with a vast deal of agitation she had asked of sang she said and the fare was but an english shilling do you think i will have on board and not ask first cries she the back upon her in a where the oaths were english and the rest right till at last seeing her near tears i privately slipped in the rogue s hand six shillings whereupon he was obliging enough to receive from her the other shilling without more complaint no doubt i was a good deal and ashamed i like to see folk but not with so much passion and i it would be rather coldly that i asked her as the boat moved on again for shore where it was that she was with her father he is to be inquired of at the house of one an honest scotch merchant says she and then with the same breath i am wishing to thank you very much you are a brave friend to me it will be time enough when i get you to your father said i little thinking that i spoke so true i can tell him a fine tale of a loyal daughter i do not think i will be a loyal girl at all events she cried with a great deal of in the expression i do not think my heart is true yet there are very few that would have made that leap and all to obey a father s orders i observed i cannot have you to be thinking of me so she cried again when you had done that same how would i stop behind and at all events that was not all the reasons whereupon with a burning face she told me the plain truth upon her poverty good guide us cried i what kind of like proceeding is this to let yourself be launched on the david continent of europe with an empty purse i count it hardly decent scant decent i cried you forget james more my father is a poor gentleman said she he is a hunted exile but i think not all your friends are hunted i exclaimed and was this fair to them that care for you was it fair to me was it fair to miss grant that you to go and would be driven fair horn mad if she could hear of it was it even fair to these folk that you were living with and used you lovingly it s a blessing you have fallen in my hands i suppose your father by an accident what would become of you here and you your lee alone in a strange place the thought of the thing me i said i will have to all of them she replied i will have told them all that i had plenty i told her too i could not be lowering james more to them i found out later on that she must have lowered him in the very dust for the lie was originally the father s not the daughter s and she thus obliged to in it for the man s reputation but at the time i was of this and the mere of her and the perils in which she must have fallen had ruffled me almost beyond reason well well well said i you will have to learn more sense i left her for the moment in an inn upon the david shore where i got a direction for b in mj new french and we walked there it was some little way beholding the place with wonder as we went indeed there was for folk to admire j and trees being with the the houses each within itself of a brave red brick the of a rose with steps and benches of marble at the cheek of every door and the whole town so clean you might have dined upon the was within upon his in a low parlour very neat and clean and set out with china and pictures and a globe of the earth in a brass frame he was a big ted ruddy man with a crooked hard look to him and he made us not that much civility ss offer us a seat is james more now in sir f says i i ken nobody by such a name says he impatient like since you are so particular says i i will my question and ask you where we are to find in one james james more late tenant in sir says he he may be in hell for what i ken and for my part i wish he was the young lady is that gentleman s daughter sir said i before whom i think you will agree with me it is not very becoming to discuss bis character i haye nothing to make with him or her or i cries he in his gross under your favour mr said i young lady is come from scotland seeking him and by whatever mistake was given the name of your house for a direction an error it seems to have been but i think this places both you and me who am but her fellow traveller by accident under a strong obligation to help our will you me he cries i tell ye i ken and care less either for him or his breed i tell ye the man owes me money that may very well be sir said	38
i who was now rather more angry than himself at least i owe you nothing the young lady is under my protection and i am neither at all used with these manners nor in the least content with them as i said this and without particularly thinking what i did i drew a step or two nearer to his table thus striking by mere good fortune on the only argument that could at all affect the man the blood left his countenance for the lord s sake be hasty sir he cried i am truly no to be offensive but ye ken sir i m like a natured honest my bark is nor my bite to hear me ye fancy i was a thing but na na i its a kind fellow at heart david and ye could imagine the and this man has been to me very good sir said i then i will make that much freedom with your kindness as trouble you for your last news of mr you re welcome sir said he as for the young my s to her hell just have clean forgotten her i ken the man ye see i ha e lost by him ere now he thinks of but just king or if he can get his he would give them a the go by i ay or his correspondent either for there is a sense in i may be nearly almost said to be his correspondent the fact is we are employed in a business affair and i think it s like to turn out a dear affair for the man s as s my and i give ye my mere word i ken by where he is he be coming here to he come here the mom he come for a i would wonder at or just at the ae thing and that s if he was to pay me my ye see what way i stand with it and it s clear i m no very likely to up with the young as ye ca her she stop here that s ae thing certain sure sir i m a lone man if i was to her in its highly possible the would try and me marry her when he turned up enough of this talk said i i will take the david young among better friends me pen ink and paper and i will leave here for james more the address of my correspondent in he can inquire from me where he is to seek his daughter this word i wrote and sealed which while i was doing of his own motion made a welcome offer to charge himself with miss s and even send a porter for them to the inn i advanced him to that effect a dollar or two to be a cover and he gave me an acknowledgment in writing of the sum whereupon i giving my arm to we left the house of this rascal she had said no word throughout leaving me to judge and speak in her place i upon my side had been careful not to her by a glance and even now although my heart still glowed inside of me with shame and anger i made it my affair to seem quite easy now said i met us get back to yon same inn where they can speak the french have a piece of dinner and inquire for to i will never be easy till i have you safe again in the hands of mrs i it will have to be said though whoever be pleased i do not think it will be her and i will remind you this once again that i have but one shilling and three david and just this once again said i i will remind you it was a blessing that i came with you what else i be thinking all this time says she and i thought weighed a little on my arm it is a that are the good tc me ik thb wagon which is a kind of a long wagon bet with benches carried ns in four of travel to the great city of it was long past dark by then but the streets pretty brightly lighted and thronged with the wild like characters bearded black men and the of most adorned with finery and stopping by their yery sleeves the clash of talk about us made our heads to whirl and what was the most unexpected of all we appeared to be no more struck with all these foreigners than they with us i made the best face i could for the s sake and my own credit but the truth is i felt like a lost sheep and my heart beat in my bosom with anxiety once or twice i inquired after the harbor or the berth of the ship but either fell on some who spoke only or my own french failed me trying a street at a venture i came upon a lane of lighted houses the doors and windows thronged with like painted women these and upon us as david we passed and i was thankful we had nothing of their language a little after we issued forth upon an open place along the harbour we shall be doing now cries i as soon as i let us walk here by the harbour we are sure to meet some that has the english and at the beat of it we may light upon that very ship we did the next best as happened for about nine of the evening whom should we walk into the arms of but captain sang he told us they had made their run in the most incredible brief time the wind holding strong until they reached port by which means his passengers were all gone already on their further travels it was impossible to chase after	38
the into high germany and we had no other acquaintance to fall back upon but captain sang himself it was the more gratifying to find the man friendly and to assist he made it a small affair to find some good plain family of merchants where might harbour till declared he would then carry her back to for nothing and see hei safe in the hands of mr and in the meanwhile carried us to a late ordinary for the meal we stood in need of he seemed extremely friendly as i say but what surprised me a good deal rather boisterous in the bargain and the cause of this was soon to appear for at the ordinary calling for wine and drinking of it deep he soon became david in this case as too common with all men bnt especially with those of his trade what little sense or manners he possessed deserts him and he behaved himself so scandalous to the lady most ill fa at the figure she had made on the ship s rail that i had no resource bnt carry her away she came out of that ordinary clinging to me close take me away david she said you keep me i am not afraid with you and have no cause my little friend i cried and could have found it in my heart to weep where will you be taking me she said again don t leave me at au events never leave me where am i taking you indeed says i stopping for i had been on ahead in mere blindness i must stop and think but i ll not leave you the lord do so to me and more also if i should fail or you she crept closer in to me by way of a reply here i said is the place that we have lit on yet in this busy of a city let us sit down here under yon tree and consider of our course that tree which i am little like to forget stood by the harbour side it was a black night but lights were in the houses and nearer hand in the quiet ships there was a shining of the city on the one hand and a hung over it of many thousands walking and on the other it was dark and water on the i spread my cloak npon a s stone and made her sit there she hare kept her hold upon me for she still shook with the late but i wanted to think clear disengaged mj self and paced to and fro before her in the manner of we call a s walk my brains for any remedy by the course of these scattering thoughts i brought suddenly face to face with a remembrance that in the heat and haste of our departure i had left captain sang to pay the ordinary at this i began to laugh out loud for i thought the man well and at the same time by an instinctive movement carried my hand to the pocket where my money was i suppose it was in the lane where the women us but there is only the one thing certain that my purse was gone you will have thought of something good said she observing me to pause at the pinch we were in my mind became suddenly clear as a perspective glass and i saw there was no choice of methods i had not one of coin but in my pocket book i had still my letter on the merchant and there was now but the one way to get to and that was to walk on our two feet said i i know you re brave and i believe you re strong do you think you could walk thirty miles on a plain road p we found it i believe david the two thirds of that but each was my notion of the distance david she said if yon will keep near i will go anywhere and do anything the of my heart it is au broken do not be me in this horrible country by myself and i will do all else can you start now and march all night said i i will do all that yon can ask of me she said and ask you why i have been a bad ungrateful girl to you and do what you please with me now i and i think miss grant is the best lady in the world she added and i do not see what she would deny you for at all events this was greek and hebrew to me but i had other matters to consider and the first of these was to get clear of that city on the road it proved a problem and it may have been one or two at night ere we had solved it once beyond the houses there was neither moon or stars to guide us only the whiteness of the way in the midst and a blackness of an alley on both hands the walking was besides made most extraordinary difficult by a plain black frost that fell suddenly in the small hours and tamed that highway into one long slide well said i here we are like the king s sons and the old wives daughters in like tales soon well be going over the seven the seven and the seven mountain david which was a common or in tales of hers that had stuck in my memory ah says she but here are no or i though i will never be denying but what the trees and some of the plain places are very pretty but our country is the best yet i wish we say as much for our own folk says ly recalling and sang and perhaps more himself i will never complain of the country of my friend said and	38
spoke it oat with an accent so particular that i seemed to see the look upon her face i caught in my breath sharp and came near for my pains on the black ice i do not know what you think said i when i was a little recovered but this has been the best day yet i think shame to say it when you have met in with such misfortunes and but for me it has been the best day it was a good day when you showed me so much love said she and yet i think shame to be happy too i went on and you here on the road in the black night where in the great world would i be else p she cried i am thinking i am safest where i am you i am quite forgiven then i asked david t will you not me that time so as not to take it in your month again she cried there s nothing in this heart to yon bnt thanks bnt i will be honest too she added with a kind of and ni never can forgive that girl is this miss again said i yon said she was the best lady in the world so she will be indeed says bnt i will never forgive her for all that i will never never forgive her and let me hear tell of her no more well said i this beats all that ever came to my knowledge and i wonder that you can indulge in such here is a young lady that was the best friend in the world to the both of us that learned us how to dress ourselves and in a great man tier how to behave as anyone can see that knew us both before and after but stopped square in the midst of the highway it is this way of it said she either you will go on to speak of her and i will go back to yon town and let come of it what god pleases or else you will do me that politeness to talk of other things i was the most person in this world but i me that she depended altogether on my help that she was of the frail sex and not so much beyond a child and it was for me to be wise for the pair of us david my dear girl said i i can make neither head nor of this but ood forbid that i do any thing to set you on the as for talking of grant i have no a mind to it and i believe it was yourself began it my only design if i took yon np at all was for own improvement for i hate the very look of not that i do not wish yon to have a good pride and a nice female delicacy they become yon well but here yon show them to excess well then have you done said she i have done said l a very good thing said she and we went on again but now in silence it was an employment to walk in the gross night beholding only shadows and hearing but our own steps at first i believe our hearts burned against each other with a deal of enmity but the darkness and the cold and the silence which only the sometimes interrupted or sometimes the yard dogs had pretty soon brought down our pride to the dust and for my own particular i would have jumped at any decent opening for speech before the day peeped came on a rain and the frost was all wiped away from among our feet i took my cloak to her and sought to hap her in the same she bade me rather impatiently to keep it indeed and i will do no such thing said i here am i a great ugly lad that has seen all kinds of er and here you a tender pretty maid i hy dear you would not put me to a shame p without more words she let me her which as i was doing in the darkness i let my hand rest a moment on her shoulder almost like an embrace you must try to be more patient of your friend said l i thought she seemed to lean the least thing in the world against my bosom or perhaps it was bat fancy there will be no end to your goodness said she and we went on again in silence but now all was changed and the happiness that was in my heart was like a fire in a great chimney the rain passed ere day it was but a morning as we came into the town of the red houses made a handsome show on either hand of a canal the e out and at the very stones upon the public highway smoke rose from a hundred and it came in upon me strongly it was time to break our said i i believe you have yet a shilling and three p are you wanting it p said she and passed me her purse i am wishing it was five pounds i what will you want it for p and what have we been walking for all night like a pair of says i just because i was robbed of my purse and all i possessed in that david town of i will tell yoa of it i think the worst is oyer bnt we have still a good tramp before us till we get to where my money is and if you would not buy me a of bread i were like to go she looked at me with open by the of the new day she was all black and pale for weariness so that my heart smote me for her but as for her she	38
broke out laughing my torture i are we beggars then she you too f i could haye wished for this same thing i and i am glad to buy your breakfast to you but it would be if i would have had to to get a meal to you i for i believe they are not well acquainted with our manner of dancing over here and might be paying for the curiosity of that sight i could haye kissed her for that word not with a lover s mind but in a heat of admiration for it always a man to see a woman we got a drink of milk from a country wife bat new come to the town and in a baker s a piece of excellent sweet smelling bread which we ate upon the road as we went on that road from to the is just five miles of a fine avenue shaded with trees canal on the one hand on the other excellent pasture of cattle it was pleasant here indeed and now said she what will do me at all events f david it what we have to speak of said i the jet the better i can come by money in den that will be all well but the trouble is how to dispose of yon until your father come i thought last night you seemed a little to part from me it will be seeming then said she you are a very young maid said i and i am but a very young this is a great piece of difficulty what way are we to manage unless indeed you could pass to be my sister and what for no said she if you would met i wish you were so indeed i cried i would be a fine man if i had such a sister but the rub is that you are and now i will be she said and who is to ken they are all strange folk here if you think that it would do says i own it troubles me i would like it very ill if i advised yon at all wrong david i have no friend here but you she said the mere truth is i am too young to be your friend said i i am too young to advise you or you to be advised i see not what else we are to do and yet i ought to warn you i will have no choice left said she my father james more has not used me very well and it is not david the first time i am upon your hands like a of meal and haye nothing else to think of bat your pleasure if yon will have me good and well if yon will she turned and touched her hand upon my arm i am afraid said she no but i ought to warn you i began and then me that i was the bearer of the purse and it would do to seem too aid i don t me i am just trying to do my duty by you girl here am i going a on b this strange city to be a solitary student there and here is this chance arisen that you might dwell with me a bit and be like my sister you can surely under this much my dear that i would just love to have you well and here i am said she so soon settled i know i was in duty to have spoke plain i know this was a great blot on my character for which i was lucky that i did not pay more dear bat i minded how easy her delicacy had been startled with a word of kissing her in s letter now that she depended on me how was i to be more bold besides the truth is i see no other method to dispose of her and i inclination pulled me very strong a little beyond the she fell yery lame and made the rest of the distance enough twice david ae moat rest by the which she did with pretty apologies calling herself a shame to the and the race she came of and nothing but a to myself it was her she said that she was not much used with walking shod i would have had her strip off her shoes and stockings and go but she pointed out to me that the women of that country even in the roads appeared to be all i must not be my brother said she and was very merry with it all although her face told tales of her there is a garden in that city we were bound to below with clean sand the trees meeting overhead some of them trimmed some and the whole place with and here i left and went forward by myself to find my correspondent there i drew on my credit and asked to be recommended to some decent retired lodging hy baggage not being yet arrived i told him i posed i should require his caution with the people of the house and explained that my sister being a while to keep house with me i should be wanting two chambers this was all very well but the trouble was that mr in his letter of had condescended on a great deal of and a word of any sister in the case i could see my was extremely suspicious and me over the of a great pair of spectacle david he was a poor rail body and reminded me of an rabbit he began to question me close here i fell in a panic suppose he accept my tale thinks i suppose he invite my sister to his house and that i bring her i shall have a fine to and may end by both the and myself	38
thereupon i began hastily to to him my sister s character she was of a disposition it appeared and so extremely fearful of meeting strangers that i had left her at that moment sitting in a public place alone and then being launched upon the stream of falsehood i must do like all the rest of the world in the same circumstance and plunge in deeper than was any adding some altogether needless particulars of miss s ill health and retirement during childhood in the midst of which i awoke to a sense of my behaviour and was turned to one blush the old gentleman was not so much but what he discovered a to be quit of me but he was first of all a man of business and knowing that my money was good enough however it might be with my conduct he was so far obliging as to send his son to be my guide and caution in the matter of a lodging this implied my presenting of the young to the poor pretty child was much recovered with resting looked and behaved to tion and took my arm and gave me the name of david sou brother wore than i answer her but there was one misfortune thinking to help she was rather than otherwise to my and i not bnt reflect that miss had rather suddenly her and there was another thing the difference of our speech i had the low tongue and upon my words she had a hill spoke with something of an english accent only far more delightful and was scarce quite fit to be called a in the craft of talking english grammar so that for a brother and sister we made a most pair bnt the young was a heavy dog without so much spirit in his belly as to remark her for which i scorned him and soon as he had found a to our heads he left as alone which was the greater of the i by of a copy of thb place found was in the upper part of a house backed on a canal we had two rooms the second en from the first each had a chimney built out into the floor in the dutch manner and being alongside each had the same prospect from the window of the top of a tree below us in a little court of a piece of the and of houses in the architecture and a church spire upon the further side a full set of bells hung in that spire and made delightful music and when there was any sun at all it shone direct in our two chambers from a hard by we had good meals sent in the first night we were both pretty weary and she extremely so there was little talk between us and i packed her off to her bed as soon as she had eaten the first thing in the morning i wrote word to to have her sent on together with a line to at hia chiefs and had the same and her breakfast ready ere i her i was a little abashed when she came forth in her one habit and the mud of the way upon her stockings by what inquiries i had mad it david a good few days pass before her u in and it was plainly needful she have a shift of things she was unwilling at first that i should go to that expense but i reminded her she was now a rich man s sister and appear in the part and we had not got to the second s before she was entirely charmed into the spirit of the thing and her eyes shining it pleased me to see her so innocent and thorough in this pleasure what was more extraordinary was the passion into which i fell on it myself being satisfied that i had bought her enough or fine enough and never weary of behold her in different indeed began co under stand some little of miss grant s in that interest of clothes for the truth is when you have the ground of a beautiful person to adorn the whole ness becomes beautiful the dutch i say were extraordinary cheap and fine but i would be ashamed to set down what i paid for stockings to her altogether i spent so great a sum upon this as i may call it that i was ashamed for a great while to spend more and by way of a set off i left our chambers pretty bare if we had beds if was a little and i had light to see her by we were richly enough lodged for me by the end of this i was glad to leave her at the door with all our purchases and go for a long walk alone in which to read myself a lecture here had david i taken under my roof and as good as to my bo a extremely and whose was her peril my talk with the old and the lies to which i was constrained had already given me a sense of how my conduct most appear to others and now after the strong admiration i had and the with which i had my purchases i began to think of it myself as very i me if i had a sister indeed whether i would so expose her then judging the case too i varied my question into this whether i would so trust in the hands of any other christian being the answer to which made my face to bum the more cause since i had been and had the girl into an undue situation that i should behave in it with scrupulous she depended on me wholly for her bread and shelter in case i should alarm her delicacy she had no retreat be sides i was her host	38
and her protector and the more i had fallen in these positions the less excuse for me if i should profit by the same to forward even the most honest suit for with the opportunities that i enjoyed and which no wise parent would have suffered for a moment even the most honest suit would be unfair i saw i must be extremely hold off in my relations and yet not too much so neither for if i had no right to appear at all in the character of a i must yet appear continually and if possible agreeably s in that of host it was plain i require a great deal of tact and conduct perhaps more than my years bat i had rushed in where angels might have feared tread and there was no way out of that post tion save by right while i was in it i made a set of rules for my guidance prayed for strength to e enabled to observe them and as a more human aid o the same end a study book in law this all that i could think of i relaxed from these considerations whereupon my mind at once into an of pleasing spirits and it was like one treading on air that i turned homeward as i ht that name of home and recalled the image of that figure awaiting me between four walls my heart beat upon my bosom my troubles began with my return she ran to greet me with an obvious and affecting pleasure she was clad besides entirely in the new clothes that i had for her looked in them beyond expression well and must walk about and drop me to them and to be admired i am sure i did it h an ill grace for i thought to have choked upon the words well she said if you will not be caring for my clothes see what i have done with our two and she showed me the place all very swept and the fires glowing in the two i was glad of a to seem a little more i quite felt said i i am displeased with you and yon must never again lay a hand npon my room one of ns two must have the while we are here together it is most fit it should be i who am both the man and the elder and i give yon that for my command she dropped me one of her which were extraordinary taking if yon will be cross said she i must be making pretty manners at you i will be yery obedient as i should be when upon all there is of me belongs to yon but you will not be very cross either because now i haye not anyone else this struck me hard and i made haste in a kind of to blot out all the good effect of my last speech in this direction progress was more easy being down hill she led me forward smiling at the sight of her in the brightness of the fire and with her pretty and looks my heart was altogether melted we made our meal with infinite mirth and tenderness and the two seemed to be into one so that our yery laughter sounded like a kind ness in the midst of which i awoke to better tions made a lame word of excuse and set myself to my studies it was a substantial book that i had bought by the late dr h has in which i was to do a great deal of reading next days and often yery glad that i had no one to question me of what i read she bit her lip at me a little and that cut me indeed it left her wholly solitary the more as she was yery little of a reader and had a book bat what was i to do so the rest of the flowed by almost without speech i could haye beat myself i not lie in my bed that night for rage and repentance but walked to aud fro on my bare feet till i was nearly perished for the chimney was gone out and the frost keen the thought of her in the next room the thought that she might hear me as i walked the remembrance of my and that i must continue to practise the same ungrateful course or be put me beside my reason i stood like a man between and what must she think was my one thought that softened me continually into weakness what is to become of us t the other which me again to resolution this was my first night of and counsels of which i was now to pass many pacing like a madman sometimes ing like a childish boy sometimes praying i would fain hope like a bnt prayer is not yery difficult and the comes in practice in her presence and all if i al david any beginning of f i found i had little command of what should follow bat to all day in the same room with her and to be engaged upon surpassed my strength so that i fell instead upon the expedient of myself so much as i was able taking out classes and sitting there regularly often with small attention the test of which i found the other day in a note book of that period where i had left off to follow an lecture and actually in my book some very ill though the is rather better than i thought i could ever have the evil of this course was unhappily near as great as its advantage i had the less time of trial but i believe while that time lasted i was tried the more extremely for she being so much left to solitude she came to greet my return with an increasing that came	38
nigh to me these friendly offers i must cast back and my sometimes wounded her so cruelly that i must and seek to make it up to her in kindness so that our time passed in and downs and disappointments upon the which i could almost say if it may be said with reverence that i was the base of my trouble was s extraordinary innocence at which i was not so much surprised as filled with pity and admiration she seemed to have no thought of our position no sense of my struggles david any mark of my weakness with joy and when i was drove again to my did not always her there were times when i have thought to myself if she were over head in love and set her cap to catch me she would scarce behave much otherwise and then i would fall again into wonder at the simplicity of woman from whom i felt in these moments that i was not worthy to be descended there was one point in particular on which our warfare turned and of all things this was the question of her clothes my baggage had soon followed me from and hers from she had now as it were two and it grew to be understood between us i could never tell how that when she was friendly she would wear my clothes and when otherwise her own it was meant for a and as it were the of her gratitude and i felt it so in my bosom but was generally more wise than to appear to have observed the circumstance once indeed i was betrayed into a greater than her own it fell in this way on my return from classes thinking upon her devoutly with a great deal of love and a good deal of annoyance in the bargain the annoyance began to fade away out of my mind and in a window one of those forced flowers of which the are so skilled in the i gave way to an impulse and bought it for david do not know the name of that flower it was of the pink colour and i she would admire the same and carried it home to her with m wonderful soft heart i had left her in mj clothes an when i returned to find her all changed and a face to match i cast but the one look at her from head to ground my teeth together flung the window open and my flower into the court and then between rage and prudence myself out of that room again of which i the door as i went out on the steep stair i came near falling and thia brought me to myself so that i began at to see the folly of my conduct i went not into the street as i had but to the house court which was always a solitary place and where i saw my flower that had cost me vastly more than it was worth hang ing in the tree i stood by the side of the canal and looked upon the ice country people went by on their and i them i could see no way out of the i was in no way so much as to return to the room i had just left no doubt was in my mind but i had now betrayed the secret of my feelings and to make things worse i had shown at the same time and that with wretched ity to my helpless guest i suppose she must have seen me from the open window it did not seem to me that i had stood there long before i heard the of footsteps om david the snow and turning somewhat angrily for i was in no spirit to be interrupted saw draw ing near she was all changed again to the stockings are we not to have our walk to day p said she i was looking at her in a where is your p she carried her hand to her bosom and coloured high i will have forgotten it said she i will run for it quick and then surely well can have our walk there was a note of pleading in that last that staggered me i had neither words nor voice to utter them i could do no more than nod by way of answer and the moment she had left me climbed into the tree and recovered my flower which on her return i offered her i bought it for you said l she fixed it in the midst of her bosom with the i could have thought tenderly it is none the better of my handling said i again and blushed i will be liking it none the worse you may be sure of that said she we did not speak so much that day she seemed a thought on the reserve though not as for me all the time of our walking and after we came home and i had seen her put my flower into a pot of water i was thinking to myself what women david were i was the one moment it was the most thing on earth she not haye per my love and the next that she had certainly it long ago and being a wise girl with the fine female instinct of propriety concealed her knowledge we had our walk daily out in the streets i felt more safe i relaxed a little in my and for one thing there was no this made these periods not only a relief to myself bat a particular pleasure to my poor child when i came back about the hour appointed i would generally find her ready dressed and glowing with anticipation she would their duration to the extreme seeming to dread as i did myself the hour of the return and there is scarce	38
a field or near scarce a street or lane there where we have not lingered outside of these i bade her confine herself entirely to our lodgings this in the fear of her any acquaintance which would have rendered our position yery difficult from the same apprehension would never suffer her to attend church nor go j but made some kind of shift to hold worship in our own chamber i hope with an honest but i am quite sure with a yery much divided mind indeed there was scarce anything that more affected me than thus to kneel down alone with her before god like man and david one day it was downright hard i had thought it not possible that we forth and was surprised to find her waiting for me ready dressed i will not be doing without my walk she cried tou are never a good boy in the house i will never be caring for you only m the open air i think we two will better turn egyptian and dwell by the roadside that was the best walk yet of all of them she clung near to me in the falling snow it beat about and melted on us and the drops stood upon her bright cheeks like tears and ran into her smiling mouth strength seemed to come upon me with the sight like a giant s i thought i could have caught her up and run with her into the places in the earth and we spoke together all that time beyond belief for freedom and sweetness it was the dark night when we came to the house door she pressed my arm upon her bosom thank yon kindly for these same good hours said she on a deep note of her voice the concern in which i fell instantly on this address put me with the same swiftness on my guard and we were no sooner in the chamber and the light made than she beheld the old stubborn countenance of the student of doubtless she was more than usually hurt and i know for myself i found it more david than usually difficult to maintain my at the meal i scarce and scarce lift my eyes to her and it was no sooner over than i fell again to my with more seeming abstraction and less understanding than before as i read i could hear my heart strike like an day clock hard as i feigned to study there was still some of my eye sight that beyond the book upon she sat on the floor by the side of my great mail and the chimney lighted her up and shone and upon her and made her glow and through a wonder of fine hues now she would be gazing in the fire and then again at me and at that i would be plunged in a terror of myself and turn the pages of like a man looking for the text in church suddenly she called out aloud why does not my father come p she cried and fell at once into a storm of tears i leaped up flung fairly into the fire ran to her side and cast an arm around her sobbing body she put me from her sharply you do not love your friend says she i could be so happy too if you would let me and then what will i have done that you should hate me so hate you cries i and held her firm ton blind can you not see a little in my wretched heart do you think when i set there reading in that fool book that i have just burned and be damned to it i take david r tlie thought of any stricken thing b t just yourself t night after night i could haye to see you sitting there your lone and what was i to do you are here under my honour would you punish me for that p is it for that that you would a at the word with a sudden motion she clung near to me i raised her face to mine i kissed it and she bowed her brow upon my bosom clasping me tight i sat in a mere whirl like a man drunken then i heard her sound small and muffled in my did you kiss her truly she asked there went through me so great a of that i was all shook with it miss grant i i cried all in a disorder yes i asked her to kiss me good bye the which she did ah well i said she you have kissed me too at all at the strangeness and sweetness of that word i saw where we had fallen rose and set her on her feet this will do said i this will do i then there came a pause in which i was from any speaking and then go away to your bed said i go away to your bed and leave me she turned to obey me like a little child and the next i knew of it had stopped in the yery david good night i said she and good night my love i i cried a great outbreak of my soul and caught her to me again that it seemed i must have broken hen the next moment i had thrust her from the room shut to the door even with violence and stood alone the milk was now the word was out and the truth told i had crept like an man into the poor maid s affections she was in my hand like any frail innocent thing to make or mar and what weapon of defence was left me p it seemed like a symbol that my old protection was now burned i repented yet could not find it in my heart to blame myself for that great	38
failure it seemed not possible to have resisted the boldness of her innocence or that last temptation of her weeping and all that i had to excuse me did but make my sin appear the greater it was upon a nature so and with such advantages of the position that i seemed to have what was to become of us now f it seemed we could no longer dwell in the one place but where was i to go or where she without either choice or fault of ours life had to wall us together in that narrow place i had a wild thought of marrying out of hand and the next moment put it from me with revolt she was a child she could not tell her own heart i had surprised her weakness i must never go on to on that i must keep her not clear of reproach bnt free as she had come to me down i sat before the fire and reflected and repented and beat my brains in vain for any means of escape about two of the morning there were three red embers left and the and all the city was asleep when i was aware of a small sound of weeping in the next room she thought that i slept the poor soul she regretted her weakness and what perhaps ood help her i she called her and in the dead of the night herself with tears tender and bitter feelings love and and pity struggled in my soul it seemed i was under bond to heal that weeping try to me i cried out try try to f me let us forget it all let us try if well no can forget it i there came no answer bat the sobbing ceased i stood a long while with my hands still clasped as i had spoken then the cold of the night laid hold upon me with a shudder and i think my reason you can make no hand of this thinks l to bed with you like a wise lad and try if you can deep to morrow you may see your way xiv thb of i was called on the morrow ont of a late troubled by a knocking on my door ran to pen it and had almost with the of my feelings mostly painful for on the threshold in a rough and an extraordinary big hat there stood james more i ought to have been glad perhaps without for there was a sense in which the man came like an answer to prayer i had been saying till my head was weary that and i must separate and look ing till my head ached for any possible means of separation here were the means come to me upon two legs and joy was the of my thoughts it is to be considered that even if the weight of the future were lifted off me by the man s the present heaved up the more black and menacing so that as i first stood before him in my shirt and breeches i i took a leaping step backward like a person shot ah said he i hare found you mr and offered me his large fine hand the which david at the same time my poet in the doorway as if with thought of resistance i took him by it is a remarkable circumstance how onr affairs appear to he continued z am owing you an apology for an unfortunate intrusion upon yours which i suffered myself to be into by my confidence in that false face i think shame to own to you that i was oyer trusting to a lawyer he shrugged his shoulders with a very french air but indeed the man is veiy plausible says he and now it seems that you have busied yourself handsomely in the matter of my daughter for whose direction i was to yourself i think sir said i with a yery painful air that it will be necessary we two should haye an there is nothing amiss he asked my agent mr for ck d s sake moderate your i cried she must not hear till we haye had an tion she is in this place f cries he that is her chamber door said l you are here with her alone he asked and who else would i haye got to stay with as f ones l i win do him the justice to admit that he pale david this is said he this is a you are rights we must hold an explanation so saying he passed me by and i must own the tall old rogue appeared at that moment extraordinary dignified he had now for the first time the view of my chamber which i i may say with his eyes a bit of morning sun in by the window pane and showed it off my bed my and washing dish with some disorder of my clothes and the chimney made the only no mistake but it looked bare and cold and the most place to harbour a young lady at the same time came in on my mind the recollection of the clothes that i had bought for her and i thought this contrast of poverty and bore an ill appearance he looked all about the chamber for a seat and finding nothing else to his purpose except my bed took a place upon the side of it where after i had closed the door i could not very well avoid joining him for this extraordinary interview might end it pass if possible without waking and the one thing needful was that we should sit close and talk low but i can scarce picture what a pair we made he in his great coat which the coldness of my chamber made extremely suitable i shivering in my shirt and	38
he with very much the air of a judge and i whatever ft i looked with very much the feelings of a has heard the last trumpet well says he and well i began but found myself to go further you tell me she is here said he again but now with a of that seemed to brace me up she is in this house said i and i knew the circumstance would be called unusual but you are to consider how very unusual the whole business was from the beginning here is a young lady landed on the coast of europe with two shillings and a penny penny she is directed to yon man in i hear you call him your agent all i can say is he could do nothing but damn and swear at the mere mention of your name and i must fee him out of my own pocket even to receive the of her effects you speak of circumstances mr if that be the name you prefer here was a circumstance if you like to which it was to have exposed her but this is what i cannot understand the least said james my daughter was placed into the charge of some responsible persons whose names i have forgot was the name said i and there is no doubt that mr have gone ashore with her at but he did not mr and david i think yon might praise k d that i was there to offer in his place i shall have a word to say to mr before done said he as for yourself i think it might haye that yon were somewhat young for a post bat the choice was not between me and somebody else it was between me and nobody i cried nobody offered in my place and i most say i think yon show a very small degree of gratitude to me that did i shall wait until i understand my obligation a little more in the particular says he indeed and i think it you in the then said l your child was deserted she waa clean flung away in the midst of europe with scarce two shillings and not two words of any language spoken there i must say a business i i brought her to this place i gave her the name and the tender ness due to a sister all this has not gone without expense but that i scarce need to hint at they were services due to the young lady s character which i respect and i think it would be a too if i was to be singing her praises to her father you are a young man he began so i hear yon tell me said i with a good deal of heat you are a yery young man he repeated or hate understood the of the david i speak very at your cried l what else was i to do it is a fact i might have hired some decent poor woman to be a third to ns and i declare i never thought of it until this moment but where was i to her that am a foreigner myself and let me point out to your observation mr that it would have cost me money out of my pocket for here is just what it comes to that i had to pay through the nose for your neglect and there is only the one story to it just that you were so and so careless as to have lost your daughter he that lives in a glass house should not be casting stones says he and we will finish inquiring into the behaviour of miss before we go on to sit in judgment on her father but i will be into no such attitude said i the character of miss is far above inquiry as her father ought to know so is mine and i am telling you that there are but the two ways of it open the one is to express your thanks to me as one gentleman to another and to say no more the other if you are so difficult as to be still dissatisfied is to pay me that which i have expended and be done he seemed to soothe me with a hand in the air there there said he you go too fast you go too fast mr it is a good thing that i have david learned to be more patient and i that i have yet to see my daughter i began to be a little relieved upon this and a change in the man s manner that i in him as soon as the name of money fell between as i was thinking it would be more fit if you will excuse the of my dressing in your that i should go forth and leave you to encounter her alone said i what i would have looked for at your hands f says he and there was no mistake but what he said it i thought this better and better and as i began to pull on my recalling the man s impudent at i determined to pursue what seemed to be my victory if you have any mind to stay some while in den said i this room is very much at your disposal and i can easy find another for myself in which way we shall have the least amount of flitting possible there being only one to change why sir said he making his bosom big i think no shame of a poverty i have come by in the service of my king i make no secret that my affairs are quite involved and for the moment it would be even impossible for me to undertake a journey until you have occasion to communicate with your friends said i perhaps it might be convenient	38
david for yon as of would be honourable to my self if were to r ard yourself in the light of my guest sir said he when an offer is frankly made i think i honour myself most to imitate that frankness your hand mr david you have the character that i respect the most you are one of those from whom a gentleman can take a f and no more words about it i am an old soldier he went on looking rather disgusted like around my chamber and you need not fear i shall prove i have ate too often at a side drank of the and had no roof but the rain i should be you said i that our break are sent in about this time of morning i propose i should go now to the tavern and bid them add a cover for yourself and delay the meal the matter of an hour which will give you an interval to meet your daughter in his nostrils at this an hour says he that is perhaps superfluous half an hour mr david or say twenty minutes i shall do very well in that and by the way he adds me by the coat what is it you drink in the morning whether ale or wine to be frank with you sir says i i drink ing else but spare cold water tut tut says he that is fair destruction to the david take an old s word for our spirit at home is perhaps the most wholesome bnt as that is not come at able or a white wine of will be next best i shall make it my business to see yon are plied said l why very good said he and we make man of you yet mr david by this time i can hardly say that i was him at all beyond an odd thought of the kind of father in law that he was like to prove and all mj cares about the his daughter to whom i determined to convey some warning of her visitor i stepped to the door accordingly and cried through the knocking at the same time miss here is your father come at last with that i went forth upon my errand having bj two words my chapter xxvi thb me or not i was to be so blamed or rather perhaps pitied i mast leave others to judge of hy of which i have a good deal too seems not great with the ladies no doubt at the moment when i her i was thinking a good deal of the effect upon james more and when i re turned and we were all sat down to breakfast i con to behave to the young lady with deference and distance as i still think to have been most wise her father had cast doubts upon the innocence of my friendship and these it was my first business to but there is a kind of an excuse for also we had shared in a scene of some tenderness and passion and given and received caresses i had thrust her from me with violence i had called aloud upon her in the night from the one room to the other she had passed hours of and weeping and it is not to be supposed i had been absent from her pillow thoughts upon the back of this to be with formality under the name of miss and to be used with a great deal of distance david and respect led her entirely in error on mj sentiments and she was indeed so abused as to imagine me and trying to draw off i the ns seems to have been this that whereas i since i had first set eyes on his great hat thought singly of james more his return and suspicions she made so little of these that i may say she scarce remarked them and all he r troubles and doings regarded what had passed between us in the night before this is partly be explained by the innocence and boldness of her character and partly because james more sped so ill in his interview with me or had his mouth closed by my said no word to her upon the subject at the breakfast accordingly it soon appeared we were at cross purposes i had looked to find her in clothes of her own i found her as if her father were forgotten wearing some of the best that i had bought for her and which she knew or thought that i admired her in i had looked to find her imitate my affectation of distance and be most precise and formal instead i found her flushed and wild like with eyes extraordinary bright and a painful and varying expression calling me by name with a sort of appeal of tenderness and referring and to my thoughts and wishes like an anxious or a suspected wife but this was not for long as i beheld her so regardless of her own interests which i had vou a ma u ud l david and was now to recover i my own boldness in the manner of a lesson to the girl the more she came forward the further i drew back the more she betrayed the of our intimacy the more civil i until even her father if lie had not been so engrossed with eating might have observed the opposition in the midst of which of a she became wholly changed and i told myself with a good deal of relief that she had took the hint at last all day i was at my classes or in quest of my new lodging and though the hour of our customary walk hung miserably on my hands i cannot say but i was happy on the whole to find my way cleared the girl again in	38
proper keeping the father satisfied or at least and myself free to my love with honour at supper as at all our meals it was james more that did the talking ko doubt but he talked well if anyone could have believed him but i speak of him presently more at large the meal at an end he rose got his great coat and looking bs i thought at me observed he had affairs abroad i took this for a hint that i was to be going also and got up whereupon the girl who had scarce given me greeting at my entrance turned her eyes on me wide open with a look that bade me stay i stood between them like a fish out of water turning from one to the other neither seemed to observe me she r on the floor he but david his which swelled my this of upon her side a good deal of anger yery near to burst ont upon his i thought it horribly alarming i made there was a tempest there and considering that to be the chief peril turned towards him and put myself so to speak in the man s hands i do anything for you mr f says l he stifled a which again i thought to be why mr david said he since you are so obliging as to propose it you might show me the way to a certain tavern of which he gave the name where i hope to fall in with some old companions in arms there was no more to say and i got my hat and to bear him company and as for you he says to his daughter you had best go to your bed i shall be late home and early to bed and early to rise have eyes j whereupon he kissed her with a good deal of ness and ushered me before him from the door this was so done i thought on purpose that it was scarce possible there should be any parting salutation but i observed she did not look at me and set it down to terror of james more it was some distance to that tavern he talked ao the way of matters which did not interest me the smallest and at the door dismissed me with empty manners thence i walked to my new lodging where i had not bo much aa a chimney to hold me warn and no society bat my own thoughts these were still bright enough i did not so much as dream that was turned against me i thought we were like folk pledged i thought we had been too near and spoke too warmly to be severed least of all by what were only steps in a most needful policy and the chief of my concern was only the kind of father in law that i was getting which was not at all the kind i hare chosen and the matter of how soon i ought to speak to him which was a delicate point on sides in the first place when i thought how young i was i blushed all over and could almost have found it in my heart to have only that if once i let them go from without explanation i might lose her altogether and m the second place there was our very irregular situation to be kept in view and the rather scant measure of satisfaction i had given james more that morning i concluded on the whole that delay would not hurt anything yet i would not delay too long neither and got to my cold bed with a full heart the next day as james more seemed a little on the complaining hand in the matter of my chamber i offered to have in more furniture and coming in the with bringing chairs and tables m david the girl once more left to herself she greeted me on my bat withdrew at once to her own room of which she shut the door i made my disposition and paid and dismissed the men so that she might hear them go when i supposed she would at once ome forth again to speak to me i waited yet awhile then knocked upon her door t said i the door was opened so quickly before i had the word out that i thought she must have stood behind it listening she remained there in the interval quite still but she had a look that i cannot put a name on as of one in a bitter trouble are we not to haye our walk to day either so i faltered i am thanking you said she i will not be much to walk now that my father is come home but i think he has gone out himself and left you here alone said l and do you think that was very kindly said she asked it was not meant i replied what jou p what have i done to you that yon should turn from me like this i do not turn from you at all she said speaking very carefully i will ever be grateful to my friend was good to me i will ever be his friend in all that david i am able bat now that my father james more is come again there is a difference to be made and i think there are some things said and done that be better to be forgotten bat i will ever be friend in all that i am able and if that is not all that if it is not so much not that yon will be caring i but i would not have you think of me too hard it was true what you said to me that i was too young to be advised and i am hoping you will remember i waa a child	38
i not like to lose your friendship at all she began this very pale but before she was done the blood was in her face like scarlet so that not her words only but her face and the trembling of her very hands me to be gentle i saw for the first time how very wrong i had done to place the child in that position where she had been into a weakness and now stood before me like a person miss i said and stuck and made the same beginning once again i wish you could see into my heart i cried tou would read there that my respect is if that were possible i should say it was increased this is but the result of the mistake we made and had to come and the less said of it now the better of all of oar life here i promise you it shall never pass my lips i would like to promise you too that i would never think of it but it s a memory david i b that will be always dear to me and as for a friend hate one here that would die for i am thanking yon said she we stood awhile silent and my sorrow for myself be to get the upper hand for here were all my dreams to a sad tumble and my lost and myself alone again in the world as at the beginning well said i we shall be friends always that s a certain thing but this is a kind of a too a kind of a farewell after all i shall always ken miss but this is a farewell to my i looked at her i could hardly say i saw her but she seemed to grow great and in my eyes and with that i suppose i must have lost my head for i out her name again and made a step at her with my hands reached forth she shrank back like a person struck her face but the blood sprang no faster up into her cheeks than what it flowed back upon my own heart at sight of it with and concern i found no words to excuse myself but bowed before her very deep and went my ways out of the house with death in my bosom i think it was about days that followed without any change i saw her scarce ever but at and then of course in the company of james more if we ere alone for a moment i made it my to the more and to always in my mind s eye that of david the girl shrinking and flaming in a blush and in my heart more pity for her than i in words i was sorry enough for myself i need not dwell on that fallen all my length and more than all my height in a few seconds but indeed i was near as for the girl and sorry enough to be scarce angry with her save by fits and starts her plea was good she was bat a child she had been placed in an unfair position if she had deceived herself and me it was no more than was to have been looked for and for another thing she was now very much alone her father when he was by was rather a caressing par ent but he was very easy led away by his affairs and pleasures neglected her without or remark spent his nights in when he had the money which was more often than i could at all account for and even in the course of these few days failed once to come to a meal which and i were at last compelled to partake of without him it was the evening meal and i left immediately that i had eaten observing i supposed she would prefer to be alone to which she agreed and strange as it may seem i quite believed her indeed i thought myself but an to the girl and a of a moment s weakness that she now to think of so she must sit alone in that room where she and i had been so merry and in the of that chimney whose light had shone upon our many difficult and tender moments there she must sit alone and think of herself as of a mud who had most proffered her affections and had the same rejected and in the meanwhile i be alone some other place and reading myself i was tempted to be angry lessons npon human and female delicacy and altogether i suppose there were never two poor fools made more unhappy in a greater as for james he paid not so much heed to us or to anything in nature but his pocket and his belly and his own talk before twelve hours were gone he had raised a small loan of me before thirty he had asked for a second and been refused money and refusal he took with the same kind of high good nature indeed he had an outside air of that was very well fitted to impose upon a daughter and the light in which he was constantly presented in his talk and the man s fine presence and great ways went together pretty so that a man that had no business with him and either very little penetration or a furious deal of prejudice might almost have been taken in to me after my first two he was as plain as print i saw him to be perfectly selfish with a perfect in the same and i would to his talk of arms and an old soldier and a poor gentleman and the strength of my country and my friends as i might to the of a david the odd thing was that i fancy he believed some part of it himself or did	38
at times i think he was so false all through that he scarce knew when he was lying and for one thing his moments of must have been wholly there were times when he be the most silent affectionate clinging creature possible holding s hand like a big baby and begging of me not to leave if i had any love to him of which indeed i had none but all the more to his daughter he would press and indeed us to entertain him with our talk a thing very in the state of our relations and again break forth in pitiable regrets for his own land and friends or into singing this is one of the melancholy airs of my native land he would say you may think it strange to see a soldier weep and indeed it is to make a near friend of you says he but the notes of this singing are in my blood and the words come out of my heart and when i mind upon my red mountains and the wild birds calling there and the brave streams of water running down i would scarce think shame to weep before my enemies then he would sing again and to me pieces of the song with a great deal of and much expressed contempt against the english language it says here he would say that the sun is gone down and the battle is at an end and the brave chiefs are defeated and it tells david here how the stars see them into strange tries or lying dead on the red mountain and they will never more the call of battle or wash their feet in the streams of the but if yon had only some of this language yon would weep also because the words of it are beyond all expression and it is mere to tell you it in english well i thought there was a good deal of mockery in the business one way and another and yet there was some feeling too for which i hated him i think the worst of all and it used to cut me to the quick to see so much concerned for the old rogue and weeping herself to see him weep when i was sure one half of his distress flowed from his last night s drinking in some tavern there were times when i was tempted to lend him a round sum and see the last of him for good but this would have been to see the last of as well for which i was scarcely so prepared and besides it went against my conscience to my good money on one who was so little of a husband xx ii a i it was about the fifth da j and i know at least that james was in one of his fits of gloom when i received three letters the first was from offer ing to me in the other two were ont of scotland and prompted by the same affair which was the death of my and my own complete accession to my rights s was of wholly in the business view miss s was like herself a little more witty than wise full of blame to me for not written though how was i to write with such in and of talk about which it cut me to the quick to read in her very presence for it was of course in my own rooms that i found them when i came to dinner so that i was surprised ont of my news in the very first moment of reading it this made a welcome diversion for all three of us nor could any have foreseen the ill consequences that ensued it was accident that brought the three letters the same day and that gave them into my hand in the same room with james more and of all the events that david t b flowed from accident and which i might have prevented if i had held my the is that they were before came into land or set oat upon his travels the first that i opened was naturally s and what more natural than that i comment on his design to visit me p bat i observed james to sit up with an air of immediate attention is that not that was suspected of the accident he inquired i told him ay it was the same and he withheld me some time from my other letters asking of our acquaintance of s manner of life in france of which i knew very little and further of his visit as now proposed all we folk hang a little together he explained and besides i know the gentleman and though his descent is not the thing and indeed he has no true right to use the name of he was very much admired in the day of he did there like a soldier if some that need not be named had done as well the need have been so melancholy to remember there were two that did their best that day and it makes a bond between the pair of us says he i could scarce refrain from shooting out my tongue at him and could almost have wished that had been there to have inquired a little further into that david mention of his birth they tell me the same was indeed not wholly meanwhile i had opened miss giant s and could not withhold an exclamation i cried forgetting the first time since her father was arrived to address her by a handle i am come into my kingdom fairly i am the d of indeed my is dead at last she clapped her hands together leaping from her seat the next moment it must have come oyer both of us at once what little cause of joy was left to either and	38
we stood opposite staring on each other sadly but james showed himself a ready my daughter says he ms this how my cousin learned yon to mr has lost a near friend and we should first with him on his sir said i turning to him in a kind of anger i can make no such faces his death is as news as i got it s a good soldier s philosophy says james tis the way of we must all go all go and if the gentleman was so far from your favour why very well i but we may at least congratulate you on your accession to your estates nor can i say that either i replied with the same heat it is a good estate what matters that to a lone man that has enough already i had a good before in my and but for the man s david death which me to me that must it i i see not how anyone is to be bj this change come come said he are more affected than yon let on or yon never make yourself ont so lonely here are three letters that means three that wish yon well and i name two more here in this very chamber i have known you not so long but when we are alone is never done with the singing of your praises she looked up at him a little wild at that and he slid off at once into another matter the extent of my estate which during the most of the dinner time he continued to dwell upon with interest but it was to no purpose he he had touched the matter with too a hand and i knew what to expect dinner was scarce ate when he plainly discovered his designs he reminded of an errand and bid her attend to it i do not see you should be gone beyond the he added and friend david will be good enough to bear me company till you return she made haste to obey him without words i do not know if she understood i believe not but i was completely satisfied and sat my mind for what should follow the door had scarce closed behind her departure when the man leaned back in his chair and addressed me with a good affectation of only the one david thing betrayed him and that was his face which sad shone all over with fine points of sweat i am rather glad to have a word alone with yon says he in onr first interview there were some expressions yon and i have long meant to set you right npon my daughter stands beyond doubt so do you and i would make that good with my sword against all but my dear david this world is a place as who should know it better than myself who have lived ever since the days of my late departed father ood him i in a perfect of we have to face to that yon and me have to consider of that we have to con of that and he his head like a minister in a pulpit to what effect mr said i i would be obliged to you if you would approach your point ay ay says he laughing your character indeed i and what i most admire in it but the point worthy fellow is sometimes in a bit he filled a glass of wine though between you and me that are such fast friends it need not bother us long the point i need scarcely tell you is my daughter and the first thing is that i have no thought in my mind of you in the unfortunate circumstances what could you do else deed and i cannot tell david t i thank yon for that said i pretty dose mj guard i have besides studied character he went on talents are fair yon seem to haye a moderate which does no harm and one thing with another i am very happy to have to announce to you that i have decided on the latter of the two ways open i am afraid i am dull said l what ways are these he bent his brows upon me and un crossed his legs why sir says he i think i need scarce describe them to a gentleman of your condition either that i should cut your throat or that you should marry my daughter you are pleased to be quite plain at last said i and i believe i have been plain from the begin cries he i am a careful parent mr but i thank god a patient and man there is many a father sir that would have you at once either to the altar or the field my esteem for your character mr i interrupted if you have any esteem for me at all i will beg of you to moderate your voice it is quite needless to at a gentleman in the same chamber with yourself and you his best attention david t why yery true says he with an immediate and yon the of a parent i understand yon then i continued for i will take no note of year other which perhaps it was a pity yon let fall i understand you rather to offer me encouragement in case i should desire to apply for your daughter s hand it is not possible to express my meaning better said he and i see we shall do well together that remains to be yet seen said i but so much i need make no secret of that i bear the lady you refer to the most tender affection and i could not fancy even in a dream a better fortune than to get her i was sure of it i felt certain of you david he cried	38
and reached out his hand to me i put it by you go too fast mr said i there are conditions to be made and is a difficulty in the path which i see not entirely how we shall come over i have told you that upon my side there is no objection to the marriage hut i have good reason to believe there will be much on the young lady s this is all beside the mark says he i will engage for her acceptance i think you forget mr said i that even in dealing with myself you have been betrayed david into two three expressions i will hate none such employed to the lady i am here td and think for the two of ns and i yon to understand that i would no more let a wife be forced upon myself than what i would let a husband be forced on the young lady he sat and at me like one in doubt and a good deal of temper so that this is to be the way of it included i will marry miss and that if she is entirely willing but if there be the least as i haye reason to fear marry her will i never well well said he this is a small affair as soon as she returns i will sound her a bit and hope to you but i cut in again not a finger of you mr or i cry off and you can seek a husband to your daughter somewhere else said i it is i that am to be the only dealer and the only judge i shall satisfy myself exactly and none else shall you the least of all upon my word sir he exclaimed and who are you to be the judge the bridegroom i believe said i this is to he cried you turn your back upon the facts the my daughter has no choice left to exercise her character is gone david and i ask your pardon said i but while this matter lies between her and you and me that is not bo what security have i he cried am i to let my daughter s reputation depend upon a chance you should have thought of all this long ago said i be ore you were so as to lose her and not afterwards when it is quite too late i refuse to regard as any way for your neglect and i til be by no man living my mind is quite made up and come what may i will not depart from it a hair s breadth you and me are to sit here in company till her return upon which without either word or look from you she and i are to go forth again to hold our talk if she can satisfy me that she is willing to this step i will then make it and if she cannot i wiu not he leaped out of his seat like a man stung i can spy your he cried you would work upon her to refuse i maybe ay and maybe no said l that is the way it ib to be and if i refuse cries he then mr it will have to come to the throat cutting said i what with the size of the man his great length of arm in which he came near his father and his at weapons t did not use this word with david out some to say nothing at all of the that he was s father but i might have spared myself from the of my lodging he does not seem to have remarked his daughter s dresses which were indeed all equally new to him and from the fact that i had shown myself averse to lend he had embraced a strong idea of my poverty the sudden news of my estate convinced him of his error and he had made but the one bound of it on this fresh venture to which he was now so wedded that i believe he would have suffered anything rather than fall to the alternative of fighting a little while longer he continued to dispute with me until i hit upon a word that silenced him if i find you so averse to let me see the lady by herself said i i must suppose you have very good grounds to think me in the right about her he some kind of an excuse but all this is very to both of our i added and i think we would do better to preserve a judicious silence the which we did until the girl returned and i must suppose would have cut a very ridiculous fi had there been any there to view us i am left al n i the door to and stopped her on the threshold your father wishes us to take our walk said l she looked to james more who nodded and at that like a trained soldier she turned to go with ma we took one of onr old ways where we had gone often together and been more happy than i can tell of in the past i came a half a step behind so that i could watch her the knocking of her little shoes upon the way sounded extraordinary pretty and sad and i thought it a strange moment that i should be so near both ends of it at once and walk in the midst between two and could not tell whether i was hearing these steps for the last time or whether the sound of them was to go in and out with me till death should part us she avoided even to look at me only walked before her like one who had a guess of what was coming i saw i must speak soon before my	38
that lie has let me see you so there will never be the girl made that would not scorn you i had borne a good deal pretty patiently but this was over the mark david ton haye no right to speak to me like tliat said l what have i done bat to be good to yoa oi to f and here is my t it is too much v she kept looking at me with a smile ck w ard i said she the word in your throat and in your father s cried i have dared him this day already in your interest i will dare him again the nasty pole cat little i care which of us should fall said i back to the house with us let us be done with it let me be done with the whole crew of you i you will see what you think when i am dead she shook her head at me with that same smile i could have struck her for o smile away i cried i have seen your father smile on the wrong side this day that i mean he was afraid of course i added hastily but he preferred the other way of it what is this p she asked when i offered to draw with him said l you offered to draw upon james she cried and i did so said i and found him backward enough or how would we be here p there is a meaning upon this said she what is it you are meaning p he was to make you take me i replied and i would not have it i said you should be free and i david most speak with yon alone little i supposed it would be such a speaking i and what if i refuse f says he then it must come to the throat cutting says for i no more have a husband forced on that young lady than what i would have a wife forced upon myself these were my words they were a friend s words have i been paid for them i now you have refused me of your own clear free will and there lives no father in the or out of them that can force on this marriage i will see that your wishes are respected i will make the same my business as i have all through but i think you might have that decency as to affect gratitude deed and i thought you knew me better i i have not behaved quite well to you but that was weakness and to think me a coward and such a coward as that my there was a for the last of it i how would i guess she cried this is a dreadful business i me and mine she gave a kind of wretched cry at the word me and mine are not fit to speak to you i could be kneeling down to you in the street i could be kissing your hands for your forgiveness i i will keep the kisses i have got from you already cried i i will keep the ones i wanted and that were something worth i will not be kissed in what can be of this miserable girl f says she david what i am trying to tell you all this while i said i that yon had best leave me alone whom yon can make no more if yon tried and attention to james more father with whom yoa are like to have a queer to wind that i must be going ont into the world alone with a man she cried and seemed to catch herself in with a great effort but trouble yourself no more for that said she he does not know what kind of nature is in my heart he will pay me dear for this day of it dear dear will he pay she turned and began to go home and i to accompany her at which she stopped i will be going alone she said it is alone i must be seeing him some little while i raged about the streets and told myself i was the worst lad in anger choked me it was all very well for me to breathe deep it seemed there was not air enough to supply me and i thought i would have burst like a man at the bottom of the sea i stopped and laughed at myself at a street corner a minute together laughing out loud so that a passenger looked at me which brought me to myself well i thought i have been a and a and a soft long enough time it was done here is a good lesson to have nothing to do with that accursed sex that was the ruin of the man in the david be and will be so to the end ood knows i was enough before ever i saw her ood knows i can be happy enough again when i have seen the last of her that seemed to me the chief affair to see them go i upon the idea fiercely and presently slipped on in a kind of to consider how very poorly they were like to fare when was no longer by to be their milk cow at which to my own very great surprise the disposition of my mind turned bottom up i was still angry i still hated her and yet i thought i owed it to myself that she should suffer nothing this carried me home again at once where i found the drawn out and ready fastened by the door and the father and daughter with every mark upon them of a recent was like a wooden doll james more breathed hard his face was d with white spots and his nose upon one side ab	38
soon as i came in the girl looked at him with a steady clear dark look that might very well have been followed by a blow it was a hint that was more contemptuous than a command and i was surprised to see james more accept it it was plain he had had a master talking to and i could see there must be more of the devil in the girl than i had guessed and more good humor about the man than i had given him the credit of david he began at least calling me mr and plainly speaking from a lesson bat he not yery far for at the first swell of his voice cut in i will tell you what james more is meaning said she he means we have come to yon beggar folk and have not to you yery well and we are ashamed of our and ill now we are wanting to go away and be forgotten and my father will guided his gear so ill that we cannot do that unless you will give us some more for that is what we are at all events beggar folk and by your leave miss said i i must speak to your father by myself she went into her own room and shut the door with out a word or a look you must excuse her mr says james more she has no delicacy i am not here to discuss that with you said i but to be quit of you and to that end i must talk of your position now mr i have kept the run of your affairs more closely than you for i know you had money of your own when you were mine i know you have had more you were here in though you concealed it even from your daughter i bid you beware i will stand no more i v he broke out i am sick of her and you what kind of a damned trade is this to be a parent i have had expressions to me there he broke ofl sir this is the heart of a soldier and a parent he went on again laying his hand on his bosom outraged in both characters and i bid yon beware if you would have let me finish says i you would haye found i spoke for your advantage my dear friend he cried i know i might have relied upon the generosity of your character man will you let me speak said i the fact is that i cannot win to find out if you are rich or poor but it is my idea that your means as they are mysterious in their source so they are something n amount and i do not choose your daughter to be if i speak to herself you may be certain i never dream of trusting it to you because i know you like the back of my hand and all your talk is much wind to me however i believe in your way you do still care something for your daughter after all and i must just be doing with that ground of confidence such as it is whereupon i arranged with him that he was to com with me as to his whereabouts and s welfare in consideration of which i was to serve him a he heard the business out with a deal of eager ness and when it done my dear fellow my david ear son he cried oat this is more like than any of it yet i i will serve you with a soldier a s let me hear no more of it i says l ton haye got me to that pitch that the bare name of soldier rises on my stomach oar traffic is settled i am now going forth and will return in one half hour when i expect to find my chambers of you i gave them good measure of time it was my one fear that i might see again because tears and weakness were ready in my heart and i cherished my anger like a piece of dignity perhaps an hour went by the sun had gone down a little of a new moon was following it across a scarlet sunset already there were stars in the east and in my chambers when at last i entered them the night lay blue i lit a and the rooms in the first there remained nothing so much as to awake a memory of those who were gone but in the second in a corner of the floor i a little heap that brought my heart into my mouth she had left behind at her departure all that ever she had of me it was the blow that i felt perhaps because it was the last and i fell upon that pile of clothing and behaved myself more foolish than i care to tell of late in the night in a strict frost and my teeth chattering i came again by some portion of my manhood and considered with myself the sight of these david poor and ribbons and her and the stockings was not to be endured and if i were to re any constancy of mind i saw i must be rid of them ere the morning it was my first thought to have made a fire and them but my disposition has always been opposed to for one thing and for another to have burned these things that she had worn so close upon her body seemed in the nature of a cruelty there was a comer cupboard in that chamber there i determined to bestow them the which i did and made it a long business folding them with very little skill indeed but the more care and sometimes dropping them with my tears all the heart was gone out	38
of me i was weary as though i had run miles and sore like one beaten when as i was folding a hat she wore often at her neck i observed there was a comer neatly cut from it it was a of a very pretty hue on which i had frequently remarked and once that she had it om i remembered telling her by way of a that she wore my colours there came a glow of hope and like a tide of sweetness in my bosom and the next moment i was plunged back in a fresh despair for there was the comer in a knot and cast down by itself in another part of the floor but when i argued with myself i grew more hopeful she had cut that comer off in some childish that was tender that she had cast it away d david again was little to be wondered at and i was to dwell more npon the first than upon the second and to be more pleased that she had ever conceived the idea f that than concerned because she had it from her in an of natural resentment ik then i was scarce so miserable the next days but what i had many hopeful and happy myself with a good deal of constancy upon my studies and made out to endure the time till should arrive or i might hear word of by the means of james more i had altogether three letters in the time of our separation one was to announce their arrival in the town of in france from which place james shortly after started alone upon a private mission this was to england and to see lord and it has always been a bitter thought thai my good money helped to pay the charges of the same but he has need of a long spoon who with the or james more either during this absence the time was to fall due for another letter and as the letter was the condition of his he had been so careful as prepare it beforehand and leave it with to be despatched the fact of our correspondence aroused her suspicions and he was no sooner gone than she had burst the seal what i received began accordingly ill the writing of james more david my dear sir your esteemed favour came to hand duly and i have to acknowledge the according to agreement it shall be all faithfully expended on my daughter who is well and desires to be remembered to her dear friend i find her in rather a melancholy disposition but in the mercy of gk d to see her re established our manner of life is very much alone but we solace ourselves with the melancholy tunes of our native mountains and by walking upon the margin of the sea that lies next to scotland it was better days with me when i lay with five wounds upon my body on the field of i have found employment here in the of a french nobleman where my experience is valued but my dear sir the wages are so exceedingly that i would be ashamed to mention them which makes your the more necessary to my daughter s comfort though i the sight of old friends would be still better my dear sir obedient servant james below it began again in the hand of do not be believing him it is all lies together c m d not only did she add this but i think she must have come near the letter for it came long after date and was closely followed by the third in the time them had arrived and made another life to me with his merry conversation i had been presented to his cousin of the dutch a man that drank more than i could have thought possible and david was not otherwise of interest i had been entertained to many jovial dinners and given some myself all with no great change npon my sorrow and we two by which i mean and myself and not at all the cousin had discussed a good deal the nature of my relations with james more and his daughter i was naturally s to give particulars and this disposition was not anyway lessened by the nature of s upon those i i make h ad nor tail of it he would say but it sticks in my mind made a of yourself there s few people that has had more experience than and i can never call to mind to have heard tell of a like this one of yours the way that you tell it the thing s fair impossible ye must have made a terrible of the business david there are that i am of the same mind said i the strange thing is that ye seem to have a kind of a fancy for her too i said the biggest kind said i and i think take it to my grave with me well ye beat me whatever he would conclude i showed him the letter with s and here again he cried impossible to deny a kind of decency to this and sense i as for james more the man s as as a drum he s david just a and a words though never deny that he reasonably well at and it s true what he says here about the five wounds but the loss of him is that the man s ye see said i it goes against the grain with me to leave the maid in such poor hands te find poorer he admitted but are ye to do with it it s this way about a man and a woman ye see the have got no kind of reason to them either they like the man and then a goes fine or else they just	38
him and ye may spare your breath ye can do there s just the two sets of them them that would sell their coats for ye and them that never look the road ye re on that s a that there is to women and you seem to be such a that ye tell the the well and i m afraid that s true for me said i and yet there s easier t cried i could easy learn ye the science of the thing but ye seem to me to be bom blind and there s where the comes in and can you no help me p i asked you that s so clever at the trade te see david i here said he fm like a field officer that has but blind men for and j aud what would he ken p but it sticks in my mind that ye u have made some kind david of and if i was yon i would have a by at her again would ye so man said l i would e en says he the third letter came to my hand while we were deep in some such talk and it will be seen how pat it fell to the occasion james professed to be in some concern upon his daughter s health which i was better in kind expressions to myself and finally proposed that i should visit them at you will now be enjoying the society of my old comrade mr he wrote why not accompany him so far in his to france p i have something very particular for mr s ear and at any rate i would be pleased to meet in with an old and one so as himself as for you my dear sir my daughter and i would be proud to receive our benefactor whom we regard as a brother and a son the french nobleman has proved a person of the most filthy of character and i have been to leave the tou will find us in consequence a little poorly lodged in the of a man on the but the situation is and i make no doubt but we might spend some very pleasant days when mr and i could recall our services and you and my daughter divert yourselves in a manner more your age i beg at david least that mr come here my with him opens a yery wide door what does the man want with me p cried when he had read what he wants with yon is clear enough it s but what can lie want with it ll be just an said l he is still after this marriage which i wish from my heart that we could bring about and he asks you because he thinks i would be less likely to come wanting yon well i wish that i says him and me were never pack we used to at like a pair of something for my ear he ill maybe haye something for his hinder end before we re through with it i m thinking it would be a kind of a to gang and see what he ll be after i that i could see your then what say ye will ye ride with tou may be sure i was not backward and s running towards an end we set forth presently upon this joint adventure it was near dark of a january day when we rode at last into the town of we left our horses at the post and found a guide to s inn which lay beyond the walls was quite fallen so that we were the last to leave that fortress and heard the doors of it close behind us as we passed the bridge on the other side there lay a lighted which we david for a while then turned into a dark lane and presently found ourselves in the night among deep sand where we could hear a of the sea we travelled in this fashion for some while our conductor mostly by the sound of his voice and i had begun to think he was perhaps us when we came to the top of a small and there appeared out of the darkness a dim light in a window h says the guide his lips an lonely bit said he and i thought by his tone he was not wholly pleased a little after and we stood in the lower of the house which was all in the one apartment with a stair leading to the chambers at the side benches and tables by the the cooking fire at the one end of it and shelves of bottles and the cellar trap at the other here who was an ill looking big man told us gentleman was gone abroad he knew not where but the young lady was above and he would call her down to us i took from my breast the wanting the comer and knotted it about my throat i could hear my heart go and patting me on the shoulder with some of his expressions i could scarce refrain from a sharp word but the time was not long to wait i heard her step pass overhead and saw her on the stair this she descended very quietly and david greeted me with a pale face and certain seeming at earnestness or uneasiness in her manner that extremely dashed ma my father james more will he here soon he will be pleased to see yon she said and then of a sudden her face her eyes lightened the speech stopped upon her lips and i made sure she had observed the it was only for a breath that she was bat it was with a new animation that she turned to welcome and you will be his friend she cried many is the dozen times i will	38
have heard him tell of you and i love you already for all bravery and goodness well well says holding her hand in his and her and so this is the young lady at the last of it i david you re an awful poor hand of a description i do not know that ever i heard him speak so straight to people s hearts j the sound of his voice was like song what will he have been describing me she cried little else of it since i ever came out of says he a bit of one night in scotland in a of wood by but cheer up my dear ye re th n what he said and now there s one thing sure you and me are to be a pair of friends i m a kind of a to here i m like a at his heels and whatever he cares for i ve david got to care for too and by the holy aim i they ve got to care for me i so now yon can see what way yon stand with and ye ll find ye u hardly lose the transaction he s no very my dear bnt he s to them he loves i thank yon with my heart for good words said she i have that for a honest man thai i cannot find any to be answering with travellers freedom we spared to for james more and sat down to meat we had sit by him and wait upon his wants he made her drink first ont of his glass he her with continual kind and yet never gave me the most small occasion to be jealous and he kept the talk so much in his own hand and that in so merry a note that neither she nor i remembered to be embarrassed if any one had seen us there it have been posed that was the old friend and i the stranger indeed i had often cause to love and to admire the man bnt i never loved or admired him better than that night and i not help remarking to myself what i was sometimes rather in danger of forgetting that he had not only much experience of life bnt in his own way a great deal of natural ability besides as fox she seemed quite carried away her waa like a peal of bells her face gay as a may morning and i own although i was very well pleased yet i was a little sad also and thought myself a dull david in comparison of my friend and to come into a maid s e and perhaps down her gaiety bat if that was like to be my part i at least that i was not alone in it for james more returning suddenly the girl was changed into a piece of stone through the rest of that evening until she made an excuse and slipped to bed i kept an eye upon her with out cease and i can bear testimony that she smiled scarce spoke and looked mostly on the board in front of her so that i really to see so as it used to be changed into the very sick ness of hate of james more it is unnecessary to say much yoa know the man already what there was to know of him and i am of writing out his lies enough that he drank a great deal and told us yery little that was to any possible purpose as for the business with that was to be for the morrow and his private hearing it was the more easy to be put off because and i were pretty weary with our day s ride and sat not very late after we were soon alone in a chamber where we were to make shift with a single bed looked on me with a queer smile ye ass said he what do ye mean by that i cried david mean f what do i mean it s extraordinary man says he that yon should be so mortal again i begged him to speak out weu it s this of it said he i told ye there were the two kinds of women them that would sell their for ye and the others yon try for my man i but what s that at i told him i it was something there about said he nor would he say another word though i him long with chapter xxx the the ship showed ns how solitary the stood ft was plainly hard upon the sea yet ont of all view of it and beset on every side with hills of there was indeed only one thing in the nature of a prospect where there stood out over a the two sails of a like an ass s ears bnt with the ass hidden it was strange after the wind rose for at first it was dead calm to see the turning and following of each other of these great sails behind the scarce any road came by there but a number of travelled among the in all directions up to mr s door the truth is he was a man of many trades not any one of them honest and the position of his inn was the best of his frequented it political agents and persons bound across the water came there to await their passages and i there was worse behind for a whole family might have been in that house and nobody the wiser i slept little and ill long ere it was day i had slipped from beside my and was warming myself at the fire or walking to and fro before the door david dawn broke mighty sullen but a little af ter sprang up a wind out of the west which burst the clouds let through	38
the sun and set the mill to the turning there was something of spring in the sunshine or else it was in my heart and the appearing of the great sails one after another from behind the hill diverted me extremely at times i could hear a of the machinery and by half past eight of the day began to sing in the house at this i would have cast my hat in the air and i thought this dreary desert place was like a paradise for all which as the day drew on and nobody came near i began to be aware of an uneasiness that i could scarce explain it seemed there was trouble the sails of the as they came up and went down over the hill were like persons and outside of all fancy it was surely a strange neighbourhood and for a young lady to be brought to dwell in at breakfast which we took late it was manifest that james more was in some danger or perplexity manifest that was alive to the same and watched him close and this appearance of upon the one side and vigilance upon the other held me on live coals the meal was no sooner over than james seemed to come to a resolve and began to make apologies he had an appointment of a private nature in the town it was with the french nobleman he told me and we would please excuse him till noon meanwhile he car david his daughter aside to the far end of the room he seemed to speak rather earnestly and she to listen much i am caring less and less about this man james said there s something no right with the man james and i wonder but what would give an eye to him this day i would like fine to see yon french nobleman and i you could find an employ to yourself and that would be to at the for some news of your a just tell it to her plainly tell her ye re a ass at the ofi set and then if i were you and ye could do it i would just to her i was in some kind of a danger a likes that i lee i da it says i mocking him the more fool you i says he then yell can tell her that i recommended it that ll set her to the laughing and i wonder but what that was the next best but see to the pair of them i if i feel just sure of the and that she was awful pleased and chief with i would think there was some kind of about yon and is she so pleased with ye then i asked she thinks a heap of me says he and fm no you fm one that can tell that she does she thinks a heap of and fm thinking a david s good deal of him and with your i be getting a the so that i can see what way james goes one after another went till i was left alone beside the breakfast table james to him np the stairs to her own chamber i very well how she avoid to be alone with me yet was none the better pleased with it for that and bent my mind to her to an inter view before the men returned upon the whole the best appeared to me to do like if i was out of view among the sand hills the fine morning would de her out and once i had her in the open i could please myself no sooner said than done nor was i long under the of a before she appeared at the inn door looked here and there and seeing nobody set out by a path that led directly and by which i followed her i was in no haste to make my presence known the further she went i made sure of the longer hearing to my suit and the ground being all sandy it was easy to follow her unheard the path rose and came at last to the head of a thence i had a picture for the first time of what a desolate wilderness that inn stood hidden in where was no man to be seen nor any house of man except just s and the wind mill only a little further on the sea appeared and or three ships upon it pretty as a drawing one of david f extremely close in to be so great a and aware of a shock of new when i i the trim of the what should an t h p doing near in france why was v ht into her neighbourhood and that in a place so any hope of rescue and was it by accident or design that the daughter of james more walk t j t day to the presently i came forth behind her in the front of the i and hills and above the beach it was here long and solitary with a man o war s boat drawn up about the middle of the prospect and an in charge and pacing the sands like one who waited i sat immediately down where the rough grass a good deal covered me and looked for what should follow went straight to the boat the met her with they had ten words together i saw a letter changing hands and there was returning at the same time as if this was all her business on the the boat oft and was headed for the but i observed the officer to remain behind and disappear among the i liked the business little and the more i considered of it liked it less was it the officer was seeking or she drew near with her head down looking constantly on the sand	38
and made so tender a picture that i could not bear to doubt her the next she raised her face and recognised me david seemed to hesitate and then came on but more and i thought with a changed colour and at thai thought all else that was upon my bosom fears suspicions the care of my friend s was clean swallowed up and i rose to my feet and stood waiting her in a of hope i gave her good morning as she came up which she returned with a good deal of composure will you my followed you said i i know you are always meaning kindly she replied and then with a little outburst but why will you be sending money to that man it must not be i never sent it for him said i but for you as you know well and you have no right to be sending it to either one of us said she david it is not right it is not it is all wrong said i and i pray god he will help this dull fellow if it be at all possible to make it better this is no kind of life you to lead and i ask your pardon for the word but yon man is no fit father to take care of you do not be speaking of him even was her cry and i need speak of him no more it is not of him that i am thinking be sure of that says i i think of the one thing i have been alone now this long time in and when i was by way of at my studies still i was thinking of that next and i went among soldier men to their big din david and still i had the same and it was the same before when i had her there beside me do you see this at my throat p you cut a corner from it once and then cast it from the re your colours now i wear them in my heart my dear i cannot want you try to put up with i stepped before her so as to her walking try to put up with me i was saying try and bear me with a little still she had never the word and a fear began to rise in me like a fear of death i cried gazing on her hard is it a mistake again am i quite lost she raised her face to me breathless do yon want me truly said she and i could hear her say it i do that said i sure you know it i do that i have nothing left to give or to keep back said she i was all yours from the first day if you would have had a gift of me she said this was on the summit of a the place was windy and conspicuous we were to be seen there even from the english ship but i down before her in the sand and embraced her knees and burst into that storm of weeping that i thought it must have broken me all thought was wholly beaten from my david mind by the of my i knew not where i was i had forgot why i was happy only i knew she stooped and i felt her cherish me to her face and bosom and heard her words out of a whirl she was saying is this what you think of me is it so that you were caring for poor me with that she wept also and our tears were in a perfect gladness it might have been ten in the day before i came to a clear sense of what a mercy had befallen me and sitting over against her with her hands in mine gazed in her face and laughed out loud for pleasure like a child and called her foolish and kind names i have never seen the place look so pretty as these by and the sails as they over the were like a tune of music i know not how much longer we might have continued to forget all else besides ourselves had i not chanced upon a reference to her father which brought us to reality my little friend i was calling her again and again rejoicing to summon up the past by the sound of it and to gaze across on her and to be a little distant my little friend now you are mine altogether mine for good my little friend and that man s no longer at all there came a sudden whiteness in her face she plucked her hands from mine david take me away from him she cried there s something wrong he s not true there will be something wrong i have a dreadful terror here at my heart what will he be wanting at all events with that king s ship what will this word be saying and she held the letter forth my mind me it will be some ill to open it open it and see i took it and looked at it and shook my head no said i it goes against me i cannot open a man s letter not to save your friend she cried i tell said l i think not if i was only sure i and you have but to break the seal i said she i know it said i but the thing goes against me give it here said she and i will open it myself nor you neither said i you least of all it concerns your father and his honour dear which we are both no question but the place is dangerous like and the english ship being here and your father having word of it and yon that stayed ashore i he would	38
not be alone either there must be more along with him i we are upon this minute ay no doubt the letter should be opened but somehow not by you nor me i was about this far with it and my spirit very much overcome with a of danger and hidden enemies david i back again from following james and walking by himself among the sand hills he was in his soldier s of and mighty fine but i could not avoid to shudder when i thought how little that jacket would avail him if he were once caught and flung in a and carried on board of the a a rebel and now a condemned murderer there said i there is the man that has the best right to open it or not as he thinks fit with which i called upon his name and we both stood up to be a mark for him if it is so if it be more will you can bear it p she asked looking upon me with a burning i was asked something of the same question when i had seen you but the once said l what do you think i answered that if i liked you as i thought i did and but i like you better i would marry you at his gallows foot the blood rose in her face she came dose up and pressed upon me holding my hand and it was so that we awaited he came with one of his queer smiles what was i telling ye david says he there is a time for all things said i and this time is serious how have you sped tou speak out plain before this friend of ours david i haye been upon a fool s errand said he i we haye done better than then said i and at least here is a great deal of matter that yon must judge of do yon see that p i went on pointing to the ship that is the i should ken her too says i had enough with her when she was stationed in the forth but what the man to come so close p i will tell you why he came there first said l it was to this letter to james more why he stops here now that delivered what wa likely to be about why there s an officer hiding in the and whether or not it s probable that he s alone i rather you considered for yourself a letter to james more p said the same said i well and i can tell ye more than that said for last eight when you were fast asleep i heard the man with some one in the french and then the door of that inn to be opened and shut i cried i you slept all night and i am here to prove it ay but i would never trust whether he was asleep or waking i says he but the business looks bad s see the letter i gave it him said he yell have to excuse me my david dear but there s nothing less than my fine bones upon the of it and have to break this seal it is my wish said he opened it glanced it through and his hand in the air the i says he and crammed the paper in his pocket here let s get our things the this place is fair death to me and he began to walk towards the inn it was who spoke the first he has sold you she asked sold me my dear said bat thanks to yon and i ll can him let me win npon my horse i he added must come with us said i she can have no more traffic with that man she and i are to be married at which she pressed my hand to her side are ye there with it says looking back the best day s work that ever either of ye did yet and i m bound to say my ye make a real couple the way that he was following brought us close in by the where i was aware of a man in seaman s trousers who seemed to be from behind it only of course we took him in the rear see said i said he this is my affairs the man was no doubt a little bj the of the mill and we got up close before he noticed then he tamed and we saw he was a big fellow with a mahogany face i think sir says that yon speak the english non says he with an incredible bad accent cries mocking him is that how they learn yon french on the t ye here s a boot to your english and bounding on him before he could escape he dealt the man a kick that laid him on his nose then he stood with a savage smile and watched him scramble to his feet and off into the sand but it s high time i was clear of these empty i said and continued his way at top speed and we still following to the back door of s inn it chanced that as we entered by the one door we came face to face with james more entering by the other here i said i to quick i upstairs with you and make your this is no fit scene for you in the meanwhile james and had met in the midst of the long room she passed them close by to david the stairs and after she was some way up i saw her turn and glance at them again though without pausing indeed they were worth looking at wore as they met one of his best appearances of courtesy and friendliness yet with something warlike	38
so that james danger off the man as folk smell fire in a house and stood prepared for accidents time pressed s situation in that solitary place and his enemies about him might hare it made no change in him and it was in his old spirit of mockery and that he began the interview a good day to ye again mr said he yon business of yours be just about p why the thing being private and rather of a long story says james i think it will keep very well till we hare eaten fm none so sure of that said it sticks in my mind if s either now or never for the fact is me and mr here have gotten a line and we re thinking of the road i saw a little surprise in james s eye but he held himself stoutly i have but the one word to say to cure you of that said he and that is the name of my business say it then says i minds for it k a matter that would make us both rich men said james do ye tell me that cries a do sir said james the plain foot is that k s treasure no i cried haye ye got word of it i ken the place mr and can take yon there said james this crowns all says well and tm glad i came to and so this was your ness was it i m thinking that is the business sir says james well well says and then in the same tone of interest it has to do with the then he asked with what says james or the lad that i have just kicked the bottom of behind yon p pursued hut man have done with your i i have s letter here in my you re by with it james more you can show your face again with folk james was taken all with it he stood a second motionless and white then swelled with the anger do you talk to me you he roared out ye glee d swine i cried and hit him a sounds ing on the mouth and the next wink of time their blades together david at the first of the bare steel i leaped back from the collision the next i saw james a thrust so nearly that i thought him and it up in my mind that this was the girl s f and in a manner almost my and i drew and ran in to them keep back are ye p damn ye keep back i roared blood be on your ain then i i beat their blades down twice i was knocked against the wall i was back again they took no heed of me at each other like two i can think how i avoided being myself or one of these two and the whole business turned about me like a piece of a dream in the midst of which i heard a great cry from the stair and sprang before her father in the same moment the point of my sword encountered something yielding it came back to me i saw the blood flow on the girl s and stood sick will you be killing him before my eyes and me his daughter after all she cried my dear i have done with him said and went and sat on a table with his arms and the sword naked in his hand awhile she stood before the man panting with big eyes then swung suddenly about and faced him david i was her word take your shame out c my sight leave me with clean folk i am a daughter of t shame of the sons of i it was said with so much passion as awoke me from the horror of my own sword the two stood facing she with the red stain on her he white as a rag i knew him well enough i knew it have pierced him in the quick place of his soul but he himself to a air why says he his sword though still with a bright eye on if this is oyer i will but get my there goes no out of this with me says sir i cries james james more says this lady daughter of yours is to marry my friend upon the which so count i let you pack with a hale but take you my advice of it and get that out of harm s way or late little as you suppose it there are to my temper be damned sir but my money s there f said james i m vexed about that too says with his funny face but now ye see if s mines and then with more gravity be you advised james more yoa leave this house james seemed to cast about for a moment in his vi l but it s to be thought he had enough of s for he suddenly put off his hat to us and with a face like one of the damned bade well in a series with which he was gone at the same time a spell was lifted from me i cried it was me it was my sword are ye much hurt i know it i am you for the pain of it it was done defending that bad man my father she said and showed me a bleeding scratch see you have made a man of me now i will carry a wound an old soldier joy that she should be so little hurt and the of ner brave nature transported me i embraced her i kissed the wound and am i to be out of the kissing me that never lost a chance says and putting me aside and taking by either shoulder my dear he said	38
was wan i knew he was over his belt in money borrowed from natives besides a lot other which in regard for your i will a little i knew the colonel knew for he have none him an that i m by happened the n knew soldiers three m wan day bein idle or they never ha ut the gave an ladies you ve seen the likes time an an poor fun tis for them that sit in the back row an stamp their boots for the honor the i was told off for to the scenes up this an down that light work ut was beer and the that the ladies but she died in twelve years gone an my tongue s the me they was a play thing called which you may ha heard an the colonel s daughter she was a lady s maid the n was a boy called spread was his name in the play thin i saw ut come out in the i saw before an that was that he was no gentleman they was too much together two a behind the scenes i shifted an some what they said i heard for i was death blue death an ivy on the comb the god from the machine he was her to fall in some his an she was to stand out against him but not as though she was set in her will i wonder now in days that my ears did not grow a yard on me head but i looked straight me an hauled up this an dragged down that such as was my duty an the ladies one to another i was out listen reach an young man is this ril i was a ril then i was but no i was a ril well this business on like most an i t till the that i saw for certain that two he the an she no wiser than she should ha been had put up an a what said i e you an ladies call an e i calls it be soldiers three tis right an natural an proper tis wrong an to steal a man s wan child not her own mind there was a in the who set my face upon e i ll tell you about that stick to the captains said is low accepted the and went on now i knew that the colonel was no fool any more than me for i was the man in the an the colonel was the best in asia so he said an i said was a truth we knew that the n was bad but for reasons which i have already i knew more than me colonel i ha rolled out his face the butt my gun before him to steal the saints knew he ha married her and he didn t she be in great an the what you call a scandal the god from the e but i raised me hand on my an that was a now i come to it the dawn s said an no nearer ome than we was at the lend me your mine s all dust pitched his across and filled his pipe afresh so the came to an end an i was curious i stayed behind the scene was ended an i ha been in as flat as a under a painted cottage thing they was in whispers an she was an like a fi fish are you sure you ve got the hang the he or to that as the martial sure as death she but i tis cruel hard on my father damn your father he or twas he thought the arrangement is as clear as mud will drive the ge all s over an you come to the station soldiers three cool an in time for the two o clock where til be your faith thinks i to myself thin there s a in the business tu a powerful bad thing is a don t you have any wan thin he began her an all the an ladies left an they put out the lights to explain the theory the flight as they say at you must understand that this was ended there was another little bit a play called couples some kind couple or another the was in this but not the man i he d go to the station the s at the end the first piece twas the that me for i knew for a n to go about the the lord knew what a on his was an be worse than the flag so far as the talk d on s said youve an man me son a s married all her an are which portion an tis the same she s away even the biggest on the list so i made my plan campaign the colonel s house was a good two miles away i to my you love me lend me your for me heart is an me feet is sore to and from this foolishness at the an lent ut a red in the shafts they was all settled down to their for the first scene which was a long wan i slips outside and into the mother but i made that horse walk an we came into the colonel s compound as the through in there was no one there the an i round to the back an found the girl s ye black brazen i i i j s v i i iii mv sinner i a s s she i knew she was in the business an i up all the sweet talk id in ihe on to this she an prayed her to put all the quick she knew into the thing she packed i	39
outside an for i was wanted for to the second scene i tell you a young s e as much baggage as a on the line march saints help s springs thinks i as i the stuff into the for fu have no mercy i m too says the no you i later you where you are i ll come an bring you along with me you mind i called the god from the machine thin i for the an by the special providence for i was a good work you will s springs now the n goes for that thinks i he ll be at the end off the n runs in his to the colonel s house an i sits down on the steps and laughs an again i slipped in to see how the little piece was goin an ut was near i stepped out all among the carriages an sings out very softly that a ge began to move an i waved to the i an he t i judged he was at proper distance an thin i him fair an square the eyes all i knew for good or bad an he a like the beer engine ut s low thin i ran to the an out all the an piled it into the ge the sweat down my face in go home i to the you ll find a man close here s three very sick he is take him away an you say wan about youve v you till your own wife won t who you are thin i heard the feet at the ind the play an i ran in to let down the curtain they all came out the to hide herself behind wan the pillars an in a voice that t ha scared a hare i run over to s ge an up the old horse blanket on the box wrapped my head an the rest me in ut an up to where she was miss i going to the station captain s order an a sign she jumped in all among her own i laid to an like steam to the colonel s house before the colonel was there an she screamed an i thought she was goin off out comes the saying all sorts things about the n come for the an gone to the station take out the luggage you i or i ll you the god from the machine the lights the people from the was the parade ground an by this an that the way two women worked at the bundles an was a caution i was to help but i didn t want to be known i sat the blanket me an an thanked the saints there was no moon that night all was in the house again i asked for but in the site way from the other ge an put out my lights i saw a man in the road i slipped down before i got to him for i providence was me all through that night twas his nose smashed in flat all dumb sick as you please s man must have him out the he came to i but he began to howl you black lump dirt i is this the way you your that has been all over soldiers three the country this whole night an you as as s sow get up you i louder for i heard the wheels a in the dark get up an light your lamps or you ll be run into this was on the road to the railway station the this the n s voice in the an i could judge he was in a rage here i i ve found his about an now i ve found oh the n s his name i stooped down an pretended to listen he his name s i my the n to his man an that he gets down the whip an lays into just mad rage an like the he was i thought a while he kill the man so i or vou ll the god from the him that all his fire on me an he cursed me into an out again i to an saluted i man in this had his rights i m that more than wan be beaten to a for this night s work that never came off at all as you see now thinks i to myself you ve cut your own throat for he ll an you ll knock him down for the good his an your own but the n never said a single he choked where he an thin he went into his good night an i back to and then said and i together that was all said another word did i hear the whole thing all i know was that there was no e an that was i wanted now i put ut to you is ten days c b a fit an a proper for a man who has behaved as me soldiers three well any ow said t this ere daughter an you was when you tried to wash in the fort ditch that said finishing the champagne is a an observation private s story and he told a tale of far from the haunts of company officers who insist upon far from keen who the pipe stuffed into the roll two miles from the tumult of the lies the trap it is an old dry well by a twisted tree and with high grass here in the years gone by did private establish his and for such possessions living and dead as could not safely be introduced to the here were gathered and fox of and more than doubtful for was an and pre eminent among a regiment of neat handed soldiers three never again will the long lazy evenings return wherein whistling	39
softly moved surgeon wise among the of his craft at the bottom of the well when sat in the giving sage counsel on the management of and from the of the overhanging waved his enormous boots in above our heads us with tales of love and war and strange experiences of cities and men landed at last in the little stuff bird shop for which your soul longed back again in the smoky north amid the of the tender and very wise on the of a central india line judge if i have forgotten old days in the trap as thinks he more than other said she wasn t a real but a i don t as her was a bit like but she te s v a why she rode iv a carriage an good too an her air was that as you could see your in it an she wore rings an a chain an silk an satin dresses as a cost a deal for it isn t a cheap shop as keeps enough o one pattern to fit a figure like hers her name was mrs an t i to be acquainted wi her was along of our colonel s s dog i ve seen a vast o dogs but was t prettiest of a fox at i set eyes on he could do you like but an t colonel s set more store by him than if he had been a christian she of her but they was i england and seemed to get all t and as belonged to a by good right but were a bit on a an a habit o out o like and round t as if he were t magistrate round the him once twice but soldiers three didn t care an kept on his rounds wi his a as if he were flag to t world at large at he was on nicely thank yo and how s yo sen an then t colonel as was sort of a hand wi a dog him a real of a dog an it s wonder yon mrs should a fancy him s one o t ten says yo t your s ox nor his but it doesn t say about his dogs an happen s t reason why mrs tho she went to church lar along wi her husband who was so darker at if he t such a good his back yo might ha called him a black man and nut tell a lee they said he his brass i an he d a rare lot on it well you seen when they up t poor lad didn t enjoy very good so t colonel s sends for me as ad a for bein about a dog an what s wi him private s story why says i he s f an what he wants is his an like f rest on us happen a rat or two ud him low says i is rats but t nature of a dog an s round an another dog or two an t time o day an a bit of a turn up wi him like a christian so she says her dog fight an christians fought then what s a soldier for says i an i explains to her t qualities of a dog at when yo to think on t is one o t things as is for they to behave like gentlemen born fit for t o they tell me t herself is fond of a good dog and one when she sees it as well as body then on t other hand a round after cats an mixed i all manners o street rows an rats an like t colonel s says well i t agree wi you but youve right soldiers three in a way o an i should like yo to out a wi you sometimes but yo t let him fight nor chase cats nor do an them was her very an me out a o s he bein a dog as did credit a man an i catches a lot o rats an we a bit of a match on in an dry bath at back o t an it was none so long afore he was as bright as a button again he a way o at them big dogs as if he was a a bow an though his weight were he em so like they rolled over like in a an when they he stretched after em as if he were with cats when he get t cat o one him an me was a compound wall after one of them at he d started an we was busy round a bush an when we looks up there was mrs wi a te s story her shoulder a us oh my she sings out there s that dog would he let me stroke him soldier ay he would i for he s fond o s here an to this kind an at t clean up like t gentleman he was a shy nor oh you beautiful you dog she says an her speech in a way them has o their i would like a dog like you you are so so an all sort o talk at a dog o sense thinks on tho he it by reason o his an then i him my cane an hands an beg an lie dead an a lot o them tricks as dogs though i t with it for it s a fool o a good dog to do such like soldiers three an at length it out at she d been sheep s eyes as t is at for many a day yo see her was grown up an she d to do an were fond of a dog she me if i	39
d to an we goes into t drawn room her was a they a fuss t dog an i has a bottle o an he gave me a handful o cigars i away but t sings out oh soldier please again and bring that dog i didn t let on to t colonel s about mrs and he says an i again an time there was a good an a handful o good an i t a more about than i d ever how he t prize at dog show and cost three pounds from t man as bred him at his own brother was t o t prince o an at he had a as long as a s an te s v she it all an were tired o him but when f took to me money an i seed at she were fair fond about t dog i began to suspicion body may give a soldier t price of a pint in a friendly way an s no arm done but when it to five into your hand sly like why it s what t fellows calls an corruption specially when mrs hints how t cold weather would soon be an she was goin to an we was goin to an she would see any more somebody she on be kind her i tells an all t to end tis that wicked ould says t tis she is ye into my but i ll your i ll save ye from the wicked that wealthy ould woman an i ll go ye this and to soldiers three her the truth an honesty but says he his twas not hke ye to all that good an fine cigars to while here an me have been round throats as dry as lime and to smoke but twas a to play on a comrade for why should you be yourself on the butt a satin chair as if was not the anybody who in let alone me sticks in but that s like life them s really fitted to society get no show while a like you nay says i it s none o t she wants it s he s t gentleman this journey t next day an an me goes to mrs s an t bein a she a bit shy at but yo ve talk an yo may believe as he fairly t she let out at she wanted to away te s k wi her to then changes his tune an her if she d thought o f consequences o two poor but honest soldiers sent t islands mrs began to cry so turns round t other tack and her down at ud be a vast better off in t hills than down i and twas a pity he shouldn t go he was so well and he went on an an up t she felt as if her life warn t worth if she didn t t dog then all of a he says but ye shall have him for i ve a heart not like this could blooded but cost ye not a penny less than three don t yo believe him says i t colonel s wouldn t five hundred for him who said she would says it s not him i mane but for the sake o this kind good i ll do what i soldiers three never to do in my life i ll stale him don t say steal says mrs he shall have the happiest home dogs often get lost you know and then they stray an he likes me and i like him as i liked a dog yet an i must him if i got him at t last minute i could carry him off to and nobody would now an again looked at me an though i could o what he was after i concluded to take his well i says i never to down to dog but if my comrade sees how it could be done to oblige a like yo sen i m nut t man to back tho it s a bad business i m an three hundred is a poor set off again t chance of them islands as talks on ril it three fifty says mrs de only let me t dog so we let her persuade us an she private s story i s measure an then an sent to s to order a silver collar again t time when he was to be her which was to be t day she set off for says i when we was outside you re goin to let her an would ye disappoint a poor old woman says he she shall have a an s he to come through says i my man he sings out you re a pretty man your inches an a good comrade but your head is made isn t our friend a an a artist his white fingers an what s a but a man who can do ye mind the white dog that belongs to the bad to him he that s lost half his time an the rest he shall be lost for good now an do ye mind that he s the very spit in shape an size the colonel s that his tail is an inch too long an he has none the color that the an soldiers three his is that his an worse but is an inch on a dog s tail an to a professional like is a few black brown an white at all at all then we meets an that little man bein sharp as a needle seed his way through t business in a minute an he went to work a air the very next day on some white he had an then he all s s on t back of a white	39
so as to get his and in an be sure of his colors brown into black as as life if a fault it was too but it was lar an settled himself to make a rate job on it when he got o t s dog was a dog as for bad temper an it did nut get no better when his tail to be an inch an a half shorter but they may talk o royal as they like seed a bit o animal to beat t copy as made of te s story s marks t itself was all t time an to get at to be copied as good as as conceit on as would lift a an he so wi his sham he for him to mrs before she went away but an me stopped s work though so was skin deep an at last mrs fixed t day for to we was to to t i a basket an hand him just when they was ready to start an then she d give us t brass as was agreed upon an my it were high time she were off for them air upon t cur s back took a vast of to keep t tho spent a matter o seven six i t best shops i an t was for is dog an wi bein tied up t beast s got nor ever soldiers three it i t when f train started an we mrs wi about sixty boxes an then we gave her t basket for pride his work us to let him along wi us an he couldn t help t lid an t cur as he lay oh says t the beau tee how sweet he looks an just then t beauty an showed his teeth so down t lid and says ye ll be careful ye him but he s to travelling by t railway an he ll be sure to want his mistress an his friend so ye ll make allowance for his feelings at she would do all an more for the dear good an she would nut t basket till they were miles away for fear anybody should recognize him an we were real good and kind soldier men we were an she bonds me a bundle o notes an then up a few of her relations an friends to say good by not more than there wasn t an we cuts away private s story what to t three hundred and fifty s what i can tell you but we melted it it was share an share alike for said if got hold of mrs first sure twas i that the s dog just in the nick time an was the artist that made a work art out that ugly piece ill nature yet by way a that i was not led into by that wicked ould woman i ll send a to father victor for the poor people he s always for but me an he bein an i bein pretty far north did nut see it i t way we d t brass an we to keep it an we did for a short time we a more o t our went to an t he got himself another o t one at got lost so lar an was lost for good at last i the big drunk we re goin ome goin ome our ship is at the shore an you pack your for we won t come back no more ho don t you grieve for me my lovely mary ann for i ll marry you yet on a ny bit as a time expired ma a an room ballad an awful thing has happened my friend private who went home in the time expired not very long ago has come back to india as a it was all s fault she could not stand the little lodgings and she missed her servant more than words could tell the fact was that the had been out here too long and had lost touch of england knew a on one of the new central india lines and wrote to him for the big drunk a some sort of work the said that if could pay the passage he would give him command of a gang of for old sake s sake the pay was eighty five a month and said that if did not accept she would make his life a therefore the came out as which was a great and terrible fall though tried to disguise it by saying that he was on the railway line an a man he wrote me an invitation on a tool form to visit him and i came down to the funny little construction at the side of the line had planted peas about and about and nature had spread all manner of green stuff round the place there was no change in except the change of which was deplorable but could not be helped he was standing upon his a gang man and his shoulders were as well and his big thick chin was as clean shaven as ever soldiers three tm a now said you tell that i was a martial man don t answer youve a an a lie there s no now she s got a house her own go inside an out in the room an thin we ll like christians the tree here ye folk there s a come to call on me an that s more than he ll do for you you run get out an go on up the earth quick till when we three were comfortably settled under the big in front of the and the first rush of questions and answers about and and old times and places had died away said glory be	39
there s no p to morrow an no ril to give you his lip an i don t know tis to be something ye were an meant to be an all the ould days shut up along your papers i m rusty an tis the big drunk the will god that a man mustn t serve his for time an all he helped himself to a fresh and sighed furiously let your beard grow said i and then you won t be troubled with those notions you ll be a real had confided to me in the drawing room her desire to into letting his beard grow twas so like said poor who hated her husband s for his old life you re a to an scraped man said without replying to me grow a beard on your own chin and lave my alone they re all that stand me and dis ability i didn t i be an for there s so to the throat as a big goat beard the chin ye t have me always by the same token you re me now let me look at that soldiers three the was lent and returned but who had been just as eager as her husband in asking after old friends rent me with i take shame for you down here though the saints know you re as as the daylight you do come an s head your nonsense about about s much better forgotten he bein a now an you was aught else can you not let the rest tis not good for i took refuge by for has a temper of her own let be let be said tis only in a way i can talk about the ould days then to me ye say is well an his lady tu i knew how i liked the gray till i was shut him an asia was the of the colonel commanding s old regiment will you be him again you will thin tell him s eyes began to twinkle tell him the big si interrupted now the an all his angels an the fly away the an the sin me swear be on your confession i tell ye s best obedience that but for me the last time expired be still hair on their way to the sea he threw himself back in the chair chuckled and was silent mrs i said please take up the and don t let him have it until he has told the story whipped the bottle away saying at the same time tis nothing to be proud and thus captured by the enemy twas on week i was round the on the i ve taught the how to step an stop a head comes up to me about two inches shirt tail hanging round his neck an a s soldiers three light in his oi he there s a an a half soldiers up at the red out an they to hang me in my cloth he an there will be murder an ruin an in the place before nightfall they say they re down here to wake us up what will we do our women folk fetch my i my heart s sick in my ribs for a wink at anything the s uniform on ut fetch my an six the men and run me up in he his best coat said reproachfully twas to do honor to the i ha done no less you and your interfere the the narrative have you i look like me head shaved as well as my chin you bear that in your mind i was up six miles all to get a the big drunk at that i knew twas a spring goin home for there s no more s the pity praise the virgin murmured but did not hear i was about three quarters a mile off the rest camp along fit to i heard the noise the men an on my i catch the voice like a the belly ache you that was in d ny a red hairy a on his jaw that cleared out the blue lights meeting the cook room last year thin i knew ut was a of the ould n i was sorrow for the that was in charge we was s at any time did i tell you how went into as the shirts the ril an file his an he was a man but i m tis a shame both to the and the soldiers three down little a strong men mad liquor an the shut india an a punishment that s fit to be given right down an away firom to the dock tis this i am my time fm the articles war an can be whipped on the for but ive served my time fm a reserve man an the articles war haven t any on me an cant do to a him to tis a wise a time expired does not have any bein on the move all the time tis a solomon a is that i like to be to the man who ut tis easier to get from a horse fair into than to take a bad over ten miles country that for fear that the men be hurt by the little no the nearer my came to the rest camp the was the shine an the louder was the voice the big drunk js tis good i am here thinks i to myself for alone is to two or three he bein i well knew as as a faith that rest camp was a sight the tent ropes was all an the looked as as the men fifty the s an s an s s the ould i tell you they were than any men you ve ever seen	39
in your life how does a get how does a get fat they ut in through their there was on the in his shirt wan shoe off an wan shoe on a tent over the head his boot an fit to wake the dead twas no song that he sung though twas the s mass what s that i asked a bad is shut the army he sings the s mass for a good an that at from the s soldiers three in chief down to the room ril such as you in your days heard some men can swear so as to make green turf crack have you heard the curse in an orange lodge the mass is ten times worse an was ut the tent on the head his for each man that he cursed a powerful big voice had an a hard he was sober stood him an twas not me oi alone that tell was as a good i he breath the tint gen i ve put on my best coat to see you i thin take ut off again away the boot take ut off an dance ye that he begins ould being so full he clean the major an the judge gen the big drunk do you not know me i though me blood was hot in me being called a an him a decent married man i do not but or sober til tear the hide off your back a ive stopped say you so i tis clear as mud you ve forgotten me assist your that i stretched boot an all an into the camp an awful sight ut was where s the in charge the i to the little worm that ever walked there s no ye ould cook we re a republic are you that i thin i m o the an by this you will to a civil tongue in your rag box that i stretched an to the s tent twas a new little not wan i d seen before soldiers three he was in his tent not to ave ear the i saluted but for the life me i to shake hands i went in twas the sword on the tent pole changed my will can t i help i tis a strong man s job they ve given you an you ll be help by he was a that child an a sit down he not before my i an i him my service was i ve heard you he you the town faith thinks i that s honor an glory for twas lift did that job i m ye i if i m use they ha sent you down the your i tis only lift in the ould can manage a home i ve had charge of men like this the big drunk before he the pens on the table an i see by the shut your oi to the i till the s into blue by the you ve got to up for the night or they ll be foul my an a half through the country can you trust your non yes he good i there ll be before the night are you to the next station better still i there ll be big can t be too hard on a home he the great thing is to get faith you ve the half your lesson i but you to the you ll get in ship at all at or there won t be a rag you do twas a dear little an by soldiers three way his heart up i him i saw in a in egypt what was that said i an fifty men on the bank a canal at a poor little an that they d made into the an pitch the things out the boats for their high that made me indignation soft an i you ve had your in hand since you left wait till the night an your work will be ready to you your permission i will investigate the camp an talk to my ould tis no manner use to the now that i out into the camp an to man sober enough to me i was some wan in the ould days an the was glad to see me all a eye like a five days in the an a nose to they come round me an me an i i was in employ the big k l an income me own an a room fit to the s an me lies an me an gin rally i kept em quiet in wan way an another the camp twas bad even thin i was the peace i talked to me ould non they was sober an me an we wore the over into their tents at the proper time the little he comes round an civil spoken as might be rough quarters men he but you can t look to be as comfortable as in we must make the best things i ve shut my eyes to a dog s trick to day an now there must be no more ut no more we will come an have a me son where he me little his you re a sulky swine you are an at that the men in the tent began to laugh i you me had soldiers three he cut as near as might be on the oi that i d we first met the tent him out i in a him out me up loud just as if twas p an he his from the the non a handful he was an in three he was out chin down on his a to each arm an leg fit to turn a white i a an ut into his ugly jaw bite on that i the night is frosty	39
an you ll be before the but for the you d be on a bullet now at the i a the was out their tents bein tis the he him out who was always a lawyer an some of the men up the the big drunk out that man my his an the non in and out by the side i see that the was the men not to do get to your tents me put a over these two men the men back into the tents like an the rest the night there was no noise at all the the over the two an like a child twas a chilly night an faith ut just before my comes out an loose those men an send to their tents away a word but stiff the like a sheep to make his he was sorry for the goat there was no in the ut fell in for the march an a i hear s three i to the ould color and i let me die in glory i ive seen a man this day a man he is ould the s as sick as a they ll all go down to the sea like that has the a i an good luck go him he be by land or by sea let me know how the gets clear an do you know how they did that so i was by letter from em down to the dock till they t call their their own from the time they left me oi till they was decks not wan was more than an by the holy articles war they aboard they cheered him till they t an that mark you has not come about a in the ry man you look to that little he has tis not child that the to an stretch on a wink the big drunk from a an ould like be proud to serve youve a said so i am so i am is ut likely i forget ut but he was a all the same an tm only a a on my the s in the heel your hand your good lave we ll to the ould three fingers up and we drank r the solid did ye see john his brand new hat did ye see how he walked like a grand there was flags an high an and were shown but the best all the company was john john this in the old days and as my friend private was specially careful to make clear the there had been a royal dog fight in the at the back of the rifle between s and s blue rot both hounds chiefly ribs and teeth it lasted for twenty happy howling minutes and then blue rot and paid three and we were all very thirsty a dog fight is a most entertainment quite apart from the shouting because fight over a couple of acres of ground later when the the solid sound of belt against the necks of beer bottles had died away conversation drifted from dog to man fights of all kinds resemble red deer in some respects any talk of fighting seems to wake up a sort of in their breasts and they bell one to the other exactly like this is noticeable even in men who consider themselves superior to of the line it shows the influence of civilization and the march of progress tale provoked tale and each tale more beer even dreamy s eyes began to and he himself of a long history in which a trip to a girl at a himself and a pair of were mixed in an so ah s from t chin to t hair an he was for t matter o a month concluded came out of a reverie he was lying down and flourished his heels in the soldiers three air you re a man said he but you ve only fought men an that s an day but i ve up to a ghost an that was not an day no said throwing a cork at him you up an address the you an yer is it a bigger one nor usual twas the answered stretching out a huge arm and catching by the collar now where are ye me son will ye take the the out my mouth another time he shook him to the question no else though said making a dash at s pipe it and holding it at arm s length i ll it the ditch if you don t let me go you tis the only i loved handle her or i ll the if that was ah give her back to me the solid had passed the treasure to my hand it was an absolutely perfect clay as shiny as the black ball at pool i took it reverently but i was firm will you tell us about the ghost fight if i do i said is ut the that s you course i will i to all along i was only at ut my own way as said they found him to ram a down the fall away he released the little took back his pipe filled it and his eyes he has the most eloquent eyes of any one that i know did i tell you he began that i was the a man you did said with a childish gravity that made yell with laughter for was always upon us his merits in the old days did i tell you continued calmly that i was more a than i am now soldiers three you don t mean it said i was ril i was but as i say i was i was a of a man he was silent for nearly a minute while his mind among old memories and his eye	39
glowed he bit upon the pipe stem and charged into his tale they was great times i m ould now me hide s wore off in patches has me an i m a married man tu but i ve had my day i ve had my day an can take away the taste that oh my time past i put me through wan the tin between and lights out blew the off a wiped me the back me hand an slept on ut all as quiet as a little child but ut s over ut s over an come back to me not though i prayed for a week sundays was there any wan in the ould to touch ril that the solid same was turned out for i met him woman that was not a witch was worth the in those days an man was my dearest or i had stripped to him an we knew which was the the tu i was i not ha changed the colonel no nor yet the in chief i be a there was i not be mother look at me am i now but no i must get to the other ghosts not the in my ould head we was in a big tis no manner use names for ut might give the an i was the the earth to my own mind an wan or tu women thought the same small blame to we had lain there a year the color e ny an took a wife that was lady s maid to some big lady in the station she s dead now is died in child bed at or ut may ha been s three seven nine years gone an he married but she was a pretty woman her to society she had eyes like the brown a s wing the sun catches ut an a waist no thicker than my arm an a little button a mouth i ha gone through all asia bay to get the kiss an her hair was as long as the tail the colonel s forgive me that in the same with but twas all gold an time was a lock ut was more than di to me there was pretty woman yet an i ve had a few open the door to twas in the chapel i saw her first me oi rolling round as usual to see was to be seen you re too good for my love thinks i to but that s a mistake i can put straight or my name is not now take my for ut you the solid there an an out the married quarters as i did not no good comes ut an there s always the chance your bein found your face in the dirt a long in the back your head an your hands playing the on the tread another man s twas so we found o he that killed six years gone when he to his death his hair o his teeth out the married quarters i say as i did not tis tis dangerous an tis else that s bad but o my tis while ut lasts i was always about there i was off duty an wasn t but a sweet word did i get from tis the the i to an gave my cap another cock on my head an straightened my back twas the back a major in those days an off as tho i did not care all the women in the married quarters i was most soldiers three are vm that no woman born woman stand against me i up me little finger i had reason for that way till i met time an i was in the dusk a man go past me as quiet as a cat that s thinks i for i am or i should be the only man in these parts now what can be up to thin i called myself a for such things but i thought all the same an that mark you is the way a man wan i said mrs no to you who is that man i had seen the though i get sight his face who is that ril man that comes in always i m goin away mother god she as white as my belt have you seen him too seen him i i have did ye want me not to see him for we were in the outside the the solid s quarters you d tell me to shut me eyes fm mistaken he s come now an sure enough the man was to us his head down as though he was ashamed good night mrs i very cool tis not for me to interfere your a but you might manage these things more i m off to i i turned on my heel an away i give that man a that him about the married quarters for a month an a week i had not ten paces before was on to my arm an i feel that she was all over stay me she vou re flesh an blood at the least are ye not i m all that i an my anger away in a flash will i want to be asked twice soldiers three that i slipped my arm round her waist for i fancied she had at discretion an the honors war were mine is this she up on the tips her dear little toes the mother s milk not on your mouth let go she did ye not say just now that i was flesh and blood i i have not changed since i an i my arm where ut was your arms to she an her eyes sure tis only human nature i an	39
i my arm where ut was nature or no nature she you take your arm away or i ll tell an he ll alter the nature your head d you take me for she a woman i the prettiest in a wife she the in that i dropped my arm fell back tu the solid paces an saluted for i saw that she she said then you know something that some men would give a good deal to be certain of how could you tell i demanded in the interests of science watch the hand said she her hand tight thumb down over the take up your hat an go you ll only make a fool you but the hand lies on the lap or you see her to shut ut an she can t go on she s not past well as i was i fell back saluted an was goin away me she look he s again she pointed to the an by the impart the ril man was out s quarters he s done that these five s past oh will i do he ll not do ut again i for i was mad soldiers three away from a man that has been a crossed in love till the died down he like a brute beast i up to the man in the as sure as i sit to knock the life out him he slipped into the open are you about here ye the i polite to give him his warning for i wanted him ready he lifted his head but z mournful an as if he thought i be sorry for him i can t find her he my i you ve lived too long you an your s an s in a married woman s quarters up your head ye frozen thief i an you ll find all you want an more but he up an i let go from the shoulder to where the hair is short over the eyebrows that ll do your business i but it nearly did mine i put my behind the blow but i hit nothing at the solid all an near put my out the man was not there an who had been from the throws up her heels an carries on like a cock his neck s wrung by the i back to her for a woman an a woman like is more than a p full ghosts never seen a woman faint before an i like a calf her whether she was dead an her for the love me an the love her husband an the love the virgin to her blessed eyes again an all the names the for her my miserable a i ought to ha her an this ril man that had lost the number his mess i i said but i was not so far gone that i not hear a on the dirt outside twas in an by the same token was to i jumped to the far end the an looked as if butter t melt so soldiers three in my mouth but mrs the quarter masters wife that was had about my round tm not pleased you his sword for he had been on duty that s bad i an i knew that the were in what for i come outside he an til show you why fm i but my are none so ould that i can afford to lose tell me now who do i go out i r he was a quick man an a just an saw i be mrs s husband he he might ha known by me that favor that i had done him no wrong we to the back the an i stripped to him an for ten minutes twas all i do to prevent him himself against my he was mad as a dumb dog just rage but he had no t the solid me in reach or or anything else will ye hear reason i his first wind was out not i can see he that i gave him both one after the other through the low that he d been taught he was a boy an the shut down on the cheek bone like the wing a sick crow will you hear reason now ye brave man i not i can speak he up blind as a stump i was to do ut but i round an swung into the jaw side on an shifted ut a half pace to the will ye hear reason now i i can t keep my much longer an tis like i will hurt you not i can stand he out one corner his mouth so i closed an threw him blind dumb an sick an the jaw straight you re an ould fool l soldiers three youve a young thief he an youve my heart you an you thin he began like a child as he lay i was sorry as i had been before tis an awful thing to see a strong man cry ril swear on the cross i i care for none your oaths he come back to your quarters i an if you don t believe the you shall listen to the dead i i hoisted him an him back to his quarters mrs i here s a man that you can cure quicker than me you ve me before my wife he have i so i by the look on mrs s face i think i m for a down worse than i gave you an i was was indignation there was not a name that a woman use that was not given my way i ve had my colonel walk me like a a for fifteen in ly room i into the the solid ner shop an but all that i from his a tongue was pop to	39
me an that mark you is the way a woman ut was done for want breath an was over her husband i tis all an fm a an you re an honest woman but will you tell him of wan service that i did you as i finished the man came up to the an the moon was up an we see his face i can t find her the ril man an out like the puff a candle saints stand us an evil himself that s the who was he i for he has given me a this day us that was a ril who lost his wife in those quarters three years gone an mad an walked they buried him for her soldiers three well i to he s been out to company mrs for the last fortnight you may tell mrs my love for i know that she s been to you an you ve been that she ought to the differ a man an a ghost she s had three husbands i an you ve got a wife too good for you id which you lave her to be by ghosts an an all manner evil i ll go in the way politeness to a man s wife again to you both i an that i away fought woman man and all in the heart an hour by the same token i gave father victor wan to say a mass for s soul me him by my fist into his your ideas of politeness seem rather large i said that s as you look at ut said calmly cared for me the solid s for all that i did not want to leave anything me that could take to be angry her about an ha cleared all up there s nothing like ye let me put me oi to that bottle for my throat s as as i thought i get a kiss from an that s fourteen years gone cork s own city an the blue sky above ut an the times that was the times that was with the main guard der sit round open mouth while tell of in the south und moral lessons how before der battle take a little prayer to und a long drink of mary mother mercy the us to take an this answer me that it was who was speaking the hour was one o clock of a stifling hot june night and the place was the main gate of fort most desolate and least desirable of all in india what i was doing there at that hour is a question which only concerns the of the guard and the men on the gate with the main guard said is a necessity this lively till relieved he himself was stripped to the waist on the next was dripping from the of water which arrayed only in white trousers had just over his shoulders and a fourth private was muttering uneasily as he open mouthed in the glare of the great guard lantern the heat under the was the night that i is all hell loose this tide said a puff of burning wind lashed through the gate like a wave of the sea and swore are ye more he said to put yer between your legs it ll go in a minute ah don t care ah would not care but ma heart is on ma ribs let me die oh leave me die groaned the huge man who was feeling the heat being of build t iv soldiers three the under the lantern roused for a moment and raised himself on his elbow die and be damned then he said m damned and i can t die who s that i whispered for the voice was new to me gentleman born said wan year red hot on his but like a fish he ll be gone before the here so he slipped his boot and with the naked toe just touched the of his misunderstood the movement and the next instant the s rifle was dashed aside while stood before him his eyes blazing with reproof you said my you i if it was you would we do quiet little man said putting him aside but very gently tis not me nor will ut be me s here i was but something bowed on his groaned with the main guard and the gentleman sighed in his sleep took s and we three smoked gravely for a space while the dust devils danced on the and the red hot plain without pop said wiping his forehead don t or ril you into your own block an fire you off chuckled and from a in the produced six bottles of where did ye get ut ye said tis no pop ow do hi know the drink answered the mess man ye u have a martial on ye yet me son said but he opened a bottle i will not report ye this time s in the is for the belly as they say specially that mate is here s luck a bloody war or a no we ve got s three the sickly season war thin he waved the innocent pop to the four quarters of heaven bloody war north east south an west ye come an but half mad with the fear of death in the swelling veins of his neck was imploring his maker to strike him dead and fighting for more air between his prayers a second time the quivering body with water and the giant revived an ah t see a mon is i for on to live an ah t see there is for t for hear now lads ah m tired tired there s i ma bones let me die the hollow of the arch gave back s broken whisper	39
in a bass boom looked at me hopelessly but i remembered how the madness of despair had once fallen upon that weary weary afternoon in the banks of the river and how it had been by the skilful with the main guard i talk i said or we shall have loose and he ll be worse than was talk he ll answer to your voice almost before had thrown all the of the guard on s the s voice was uplifted as that of one in the middle of a story aiid turning to me he said in or out of it as you say an is the an more tis only fit for a young man oh the is an an in the field war my first was an to the heart their was they an so they fought for the than most bein they was the black you ve heard heard of them i knew the black for the collection of dog robbers of soldiers three hen of innocent citizens and daring heroes in the army list half europe and half asia has had cause to know the black good luck be with their tattered colors as glory has ever been they hot an i cut a man s head tu deep my belt in the days my youth an some circumstances which i will i came to the ould the character a man hands an feet but as i was goin to tell you i fell the black wan day we wanted powerful bad me son was the name that place where they wan ny us an wan the a hill an down again all for to the something they d learned before twas don t know what the called it we called it silver s you know that sure silver s theatre so twas a be with the main guard tune two hills as black as a bucket an as thin as a waist there was over many for our in the an they called a reserve bein by our an was into some i think twas an are they re so an they get together god well as i was they wan ny the ould an wan the to double up the hill an out the reserve was scarce in days an not care an we was out only wan for the ny but he was a man that had his feet beneath him an all his teeth in their who was he i asked captain o old him that i ye that tale he was in he was a man the a little but a bit was he in command as til we an they came over the brow the hill wan on each side the an there was that reserve down below like rats in a pit on men who a mother s care us always some rocks on by way we hadn t more than an the was to swear the little the out the valley the devil an all are you the fun for my men do ye not see they ll stand faith that s a rare wan mind the rocks men come along down an take there s damned little sugar in ut my rear rank man but heard have ye not all got he an down we as fast as we bein sick at the base he was not there with the main guard s a lie sa d dragging his nearer ah gotten an you it he threw up his arms and from the right arm pit ran through the fell of his chest a thin white line near the fourth left my mind s goin said the ye were there i was of twas another man well thin how we an the met a bang at the bottom an got past all among the ow it a tight hi was till i thought td well bust said rubbing his stomach twas no place for a little man but little man put his hand on s shoulder saved the life me there we for a bit did the an a bit dare we our business bein to clear em o the soldiers three most thing all was that we an they just rushed into each other s an there was no firing for a long lime but knife an bay when we get our hands free that was not often we was breast on to an the was behind us in a way i didn t see the lean at first but i knew later an so did the knee to knee sings out a laugh the rush our into the an he was a hairy great neither bein able to do anything to the other tho both was breast to breast he says as the was us forward closer an closer an hand over back a that was i saw a sword out past s ear like a snake s tongue an the was in the apple his throat like a pig at fair thank ye brother inner guard cool as a salt i wanted that room an he forward by with the main guard the thickness a man s body turned the him the man bit the heel off s boot in his death bite push men push ye paper backed beggars he am i to pull ye through so we pushed an we kicked an we swung an we swore an the grass bein slippery our heels wouldn t bite an god help the front rank man that down that day ave you ever bin in the pit o the on a thick night interrupted it was worse nor that for they was goin one way an we wouldn t ave it hi t much to say faith me son ye said ut thin i the little	39
man my knees as long as i but he was his bay an the devil of a man is in a aren t ye said don t make game said the i i wasn t no good then but i em from the flank when we soldiers three opened out no he said bringing down his hand with a on the a bay ain t no good to a little man might as well ave a rod i ate a mess but a that s wore out a bit an one year in store to let the powder kiss the bullet an put me where i ain t trod on by swine like you an s me i could bowl you over five times outer seven at height would yer try you no ye i ve seen ye do ut i say there s better than the bay a long reach a double twist ye can an a slow recover the bay said who had been listening intently look a here he picked up a rifle an inch below the foresight with an action and used it exactly as a man would use a dagger said he softly s better than for a mon can t wi an if h t be can t o t with the main guard tis not i t books though me t butt each does ut his own way like love said quietly the butt or the bay or the bullet to the the man well as i was we there in each others faces an powerful the mother that bore him he was not three inches taller he duck ye lump an i can get at a man over your you ll blow me head off i my arm clear go through under my ye little i but don t me or i ll your ears round was ut ye gave the man me him that cut at me i t move hand or foot hot or was ut cold said up an under the e come down flat best for you e did my son this jam thing that f a i soldiers three fm about lasted for five minutes good an thin we got our arms clear an in i exactly i did but i didn t want to be a at the thin after some we again an the was us dogs an an all manner names we their way the thinks i they ve the s a most fight here a man behind me an in a whisper let me get at for the love mary give me room beside ye ye tall man an who are you that s so anxious to be i my head for the long knives was in front like the sun on bay ut s rough we ve seen dead he into me our dead that was men two days gone an me that was his cousin by blood could not bring tim off let me get on he let me get to or i ll run ye through the back with the main guard loi my thinks i if the have seen their dead god help the this day an thin i knew why the was behind us as they was i gave room to the man an he ran forward the lift on his bay an swung a clear off his feet by the belly band the brute an the iron at the ring tim easy to night he a grin an the next his head was in two and he down by sections the was an in an our men was at an was away in front us all his sword arm like a pump handle an his revolver like a cat but the strange thing ut was the quiet that lay upon twas like a fight in a except for that was dead i gave room to the i was an forlorn in my inside tis a way i have your in i soldiers three action let me out i in among fm goin to be faith they gave me room at the though they would not ha given room hell the chill off when i got clear i was your sick i had heavy that day well an far out harm was a the on the little who had stopped from the rocks oh he was a beautiful an the long black curses was sliding out his mouth like jew from a rose have you got there i to the wan her majesty s his spurs up he he s goin to me let me go the little let me go and command my men thereby the black which was beyond any command ay even they had made the a field his father my mother s cow feed the main guard in the man that was on him will i go back to his mother an tell her that ive let him throw himself away lie still ye little pinch an martial me good i tis the likes him makes the likes the in chief but we must d you want to do i very kill the beggars kill the beggars he his big blue eyes fairly tears an how u ye do that l you ve off your revolver like a child a you can make no play that fine large sword yours an your hand s like an on a leaf lie still and grow l get back to your ny he you re all in good time i but i ll have a first just thin comes up blue an white all over where he wasn t red soldiers three he tm dead oh but it s a day he half a and the rest he into his chest an it fair on the hairy hide him he sees the little the s yonder	39
he the an the begins pitiful to to be let go but a bit him there he tis no child s work this day by the same token he i ll that scent yours for my own has been the fork his hand was black the back spit the machine so he the s revolver ye may look but by my faith there s a more done in the field than gets into field i come on is this a martial the two us with the main guard back together into the mess an the were still up they was not too impart though for the was wan to another to tim stopped outside the strife an looked anxious his eyes is ut i can i get ye anything where s a he i into the crowd our men was breath the who was like in an i came little our among the best a rifle an bay is you re paid for ye limb i him by the come out that an to your duty i but the was not pleased i ve got wan he big as you an fair half as ugly let me go get another i was at the that remark so i him under my arm i soldiers three an carries him to who was how the fight him till the cries an thin for a the began to an our men roared double blow child blow for the honor the british that blew like a an the an we out as the broke an i saw that had gone before be an to was to come we d into a broad part the they gave an thin we out an fair danced down the valley before us oh twas lovely an too there was the on the what was left us touch an the fire was from flank to flank an the was we out the the valley an the valley we closed again like the on a lady s fan an at the far ind the where they to stand we fair blew them off their feet for we had with the main guard very little by reason the knife work hi used thirty rounds goin down that valley said an it was gentleman s work might a done it in a white an pink silk s that part hi was on in that piece you could ha heard the a mile away said an twas all their do to get off they was mad mad mad sits down in the quiet that fell we had gone down the valley an covers his face his hands we all came back again to our natures and for they mark you show through the hide a man in that hour to himself i we could ha engaged at long range an saved men than me he looked at our dead an said no more captain dear a man the up his mouth bigger than bis mother kissed ut blood like a i soldiers three whale captain dear he if wan or two in the have been the gallery have enjoyed the a thin i knew that man for the dock rat he was wan the that made the silver s theatre gray before his time out the the benches an into the pit so i passed the that i knew when i was in the an we lay in i don t know who twas i whispers an i don t care but i ll knock the face you tim the man was you there too we ll call ut silver s theatre half the the ould place ut up so we called ut silver s theatre the little the was an he had no heart for the that he talked so big upon ye ll do well later very quiet for not bein allowed to kill yourself for with the main guard io tm a man the little put me arrest if you will but by my do ut again sooner than face your mother you dead the that had sat on his head to attention an but the young wan only cried as tho his little heart was thin another man the came up the fog on him the what fog you know that like love ut takes each man now i can t help bein powerful sick i m in action here stops from ind to ind an the only time that his mouth to sing is he is other people s heads for he s a is sometime cry an sometime they don t know they do an sometime they are all for throats an such like but some men get heavy dead on the this man was he was no soldiers three an his eyes were half shut an we hear him breath yards away he sees the h an comes up thick an drowsy to blood the young he blood the young an that he threw up his arms an dropped at our feet dead as a an there was sign or scratch on him they said twas his heart was rotten but oh twas a thing to see thin we to bury our dead for we not lave to the an in among the we nearly lost that little he was for wan and him against a rock be careful i a wounded s worse than a live wan my before the words was out of my mouth the man on the ground fires at the over him an i saw the fly i dropped the butt on the face the man an his pistol the little turned very white for the hair half his head was away with the mai a guard ill i you so an that he wanted to help a i the to the ear they dare not do but curse the was like dogs over a	39
bone that has been taken away too soon for they had seen their dead an they wanted to kill on the ground that he d blow the hide off any man that himself but seeing that ut was the first time the had seen their dead i do not they were on the sharp tis a shameful sight i first saw ut i ha given quarter to any man north of the no nor woman either for the women used to come out well we buried our dead an away our wounded an come over the brow the hills to see the an the taking with the in we were a gang for the blood had the dust an the sweat had cut the cake an our bay soldiers three was like ur legs an most us were marked one way or another a staff man clean as a new rifle rides up an what damned are you a ny her majesty s black an wan the ould very quiet our visitors the as twas oh the staff did you that reserve no an the laughed thin the have ye done ut an he took us on but not before that was in the aloud his voice somewhere in his in the name misfortune this a tail mane by the road his the staff blue an makes him pink by to the voice a woman an come with the main guard an kiss me major dear for me husband s at the wars an i m all alone at the the staff away an i see s his ril lave me alone a wink i was his before he was married an he knows i mane you don t there s like in the society d you that hi do e died in next week it was cause i bought his an i remember after that turn out the relief had come it was four o clock i ll catch a for you said hastily into his come up to the top the fort an we ll our into s the relieved guard strolled round the main on its way to the swimming bath and grew almost looked into the fort ditch and across the plain ho it s sold ers three weary for ma he but rd like to kill some more before my time s up war bloody war north east south and west amen said slowly s here said checking at a of white by the foot of the old box he stooped and touched it it s why are ye out your mother s bed at this time the two year old child of must have wandered for a breath of cool air to the very verge of the of the fort ditch her tiny night shift was gathered into a round her neck and she moaned in her sleep see there said poor lamb look at the heat rash on the skin her hard hard even for us must it be for these wake up your mother will be about you the child might ha fallen into the ditch with the main guard s he picked her up in the growing light and set her on his shoulder and her fair curls touched the of his temples and followed snapping their fingers while smiled them a sleepy smile then clear as a lark dancing the baby on his arm if any young man should marry you say about the joke that ye in a box wrapped up in a soldier s cloak though on my he said gravely there was not much cloak about you mind you won t like this ten years to come kiss your friends an run along to your mother set down close to the married quarters nodded with the quiet obedience of the soldier s child but ere she off over the path held up her lips to be kissed by the three wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and swore il s three turned pink and the two walked away together the lifted up his voice and gave in thunder the chorus of the box y while at his side bin to a sing song you two said the who was taking his down to morning gun youve over merry for these dashed days i bid ye take care o the said he for it comes of a noble race the voices died out in the swimming bath oh i said dropping into s speech when we were alone it s you that have the tongue he looked at me wearily his eyes were sunk in his head and his face was drawn and white said he through the night somehow but can that helps others help answer me that and over the of fort broke the pitiless day in the matter of a private a soldier s life for me shout boys shout for it makes you jolly and free the corps people who have seen state that one of the spectacles of human is an outbreak of in a girls school it starts without warning generally on a hot afternoon among the elder pupils a girl till the gets beyond control then she throws up her head and cries like a wild goose and tears mix with the laughter if the mistress be wise she will say something severe at this point to check matters if she be and send for a drink of water the chances are largely in favor of another girl laughing at the afflicted one and herself thus the trouble and may end in half of what answers to the lower il soldiers three sixth of a boys school rocking and together given a week of warm weather two stately per a heavy mutton and rice meal in the middle of the day a certain amount of from the teachers and	39
a few other things some really amazing effects can be secured at least this is what folk say who have had experience now the mother superior of a and the colonel of a british regiment would be justly shocked at any comparison being made between their respective charges but it is a fact that under certain circumstances thomas in bulk can be worked up into rippling he does not weep but he shows his trouble and the consequences get into the newspapers and all the good and virtuous people who hardly know a from a say take away the brute s thomas isn t a brute and his business which is to look after the virtuous people demands that he shall have his in the ma of a te to his hand he doesn t wear silk stockings and he really ought to be supplied with a new to help him to express his opinions but for all that he is a great man if you call him the heroic of the national honor one day and a brutal and the next you naturally him and he looks upon you with suspicion there is nobody to speak for thomas except people who have theories to work off on him and nobody understands thomas except thomas and he does not know what is the matter with himself that is the this is the story was engaged to be married to miss whose history is well known in the regiment and elsewhere he had secured his colonel s leave and being popular with the men every arrangement had been made to give the wedding what private called it fell in the heart of the hot weather and after the wedding was going up to the hills with the bride none the less s sold s three grievance was that the affair would be only a hired carriage wedding and he felt that the of that was meagre miss did not care so much the s wife was helping her to make her wedding dress and she was very busy was just then the only contented man in all the rest were more or less miserable and they had so much to make them happy too all their work was over at eight in the morning and for the rest of the day they could lie on their backs and smoke and swear at the they enjoyed a fine full flesh meal in the middle of the day and then threw themselves down on their and and slept till it was cool enough to go out with their whose j contained less than six hundred words and the and whose views on every conceivable question they had heard many months before there was the of course and in the matter of a private til there was the room with the second hand papers in it but a man of any profession cannot read for eight hours a day in a temperature of or in the shade running up sometimes to at midnight very few men even though they get a of flat stale muddy beer and hide it under their can continue drinking for six hours a day one man tried but he died and nearly the whole regiment went to his funeral because it gave them something to do it was too early for the modified excitement of fever or the men could only wait and wait and wait and watch the shadow of the creeping across the blinding white dust that was a gay life they about it was too hot for any sort of game and almost too hot for vice and themselves in the evening and filled themselves to with the healthy food provided for them and the more they the less exercise they took and more they t soldiers three grew then the began to wear away and men fell a brooding over real or imaginary they had nothing else to think of the tone of the changed and instead of saying light ril knock your silly face in men grew laboriously polite and hinted that the were not big enough for themselves and their enemy and that there would be more space for one of the two in a place which it is not polite to mention it may have been the devil who arranged the thing but the fact of the case is that had for a long time been worrying in an way it gave him occupation the two men had their side by side and would sometimes spend a long afternoon swearing at each other but was afraid of and dared not challenge him to a fight he thought over the words in the hot still nights and half the hate he felt towards he on the wretched bought a in the and in the matter of a private put it into a little cage and lowered the cage into the cool darkness of a well and sat on the well shouting bad language down to the he taught it to say sim j ye so which means swine and several other things entirely unfit for publication he was a big gross man and he shook like a when the caught the sentence correctly however shook with rage for all the room were laughing at him the was such a puff of green feathers and looked so human when it used to sit swinging his fat legs on the side of the cot and ask the what it thought of the would answer ye so good boy used to say scratching the s head ye ear that sim and used to turn over on his stomach and make answer i ear take you don t ear something one of these days in the restless nights after he had been asleep all day fits of blind rage came upon soldiers three and held him till he	39
trembled all over while he thought in how many different ways he would sometimes he would picture himself the life out of the man with heavy boots and at others in his face with the butt and at others jumping on his shoulders and dragging the head back till the cracked then his mouth would feel hot and and he would reach out for another sup of the beer in the but the fancy that came to him most frequently and stayed with him longest was one connected with the great roll of fat under s right ear he noticed it first on a moonlight night and thereafter it was always before his eyes it was a fascinating roll of fat a man could get his hand upon it and tear away one side of the neck or he could place the of a rifle on it and blow away all the head in a flash had no right to be sleek and contented and well when he was the butt of the room some day perhaps he would show in the matter of a private those who laughed at the ye so joke that he was as good as the rest and held a man s life in the of his forefinger when hated him more bitterly than ever why should be able to sleep when had to stay awake hour after hour tossing and turning on the with the dull pain into his right side and his head throbbing and aching after he thought over this for many many nights and the world became to him he even his naturally fine appetite with beer and tobacco and all the while the talked at and made a mock of him the heat continued and the wore away more quickly than before a s wife died of heat in the night and the ran abroad that it was men rejoiced openly hoping that would spread and send them into camp but that was a false alarm it was late on a tuesday evening and the men were waiting in the deep double soldiers three for last posts when went to the box at the foot of his bed took out his pipe and the down with a bang that echoed through the deserted like the crack of a rifle ordinarily speaking the men would have taken no notice but their nerves were fretted to fiddle strings they jumped up and three or four into the room only to find kneeling by his box ow it s you is it they said and laughed foolishly we thought twas rose slowly if the accident had so shaken his fellows what would not the reality do you thought it was did you and what makes you think he said himself into madness as he went on to hell with your thinking ye dirty f ye so chuckled the in the a voice and that was absolutely all the snapped fell back on the arm rack deliberately the men were in the matter of a private at the far end of the room and took out his rifle and packet of don t go playing the goat sim said put it down but there was a in his voice another man stooped his boot and hurled it at s head the prompt answer was a shot which fired at random found its in s throat fell forward without a word and the others scattered you thought it was you re me to it i tell you youve me to it get up an don t lie there you an your that me to it but there was an unaffected reality about s pose that showed what he had done the men were still in the appropriated two more of and ran into the moonlight muttering til make a night of it thirty s an the last for myself take you that you dogs he dropped on one knee and fired into soldiers three the brown of the men in the but the bullet flew high and landed in the with a vicious that made some of the younger men turn pale it is as observe one thing to fire and another to be fired at then the instinct of the chase up the news spread from to and the men doubled out intent on the capture of the wild beast who was heading for the cavalry parade ground stopping now and again to send back a shot and a curse in the direction of his ru learn you to spy on me he shouted i ll learn you to give me s names come on the lot o you colonel john c b he turned towards the mess and shook his rifle you think yourself the devil of a man but i tell you that if you put your ugly old outside o that door fu make you the poorest man in the army come out colonel john c b come out and see me on the in the matter of a private fm the crack shot of the in proof of which statement fired at the lighted windows of the private e ny on the cavalry ground sir with thirty rounds said a to the colonel right and sir shot private what s to be done sir colonel john c b out only to be saluted by a of dust at his feet pull up said the second in command i don t want my step in that way colonel he s as dangerous as a mad dog shoot him like one then said the colonel bitterly if he won t take his chance my regiment too if it had been the i could have understood private had occupied a strong position near a well on the edge of the parade ground and was the regiment to come on the regiment was not anxious i	39
for said for the o course ain t a beauty to look at but i wasn t goin to ave a hired turn out if i t a wanted something sim might ha blooming into for aught td a cared and they hanged private hanged him as high as in hollow square of the regiment and the colonel said it was drink and the was sure it was the devil and fancied it was both but he didn t know and only hoped his fate would be a warning to his companions and half a dozen intelligent wrote six beautiful leading articles on the of crime in the army in the matter of a private but not a soul thought of comparing the bloody minded to the gaping with which this story opens that would have been too absurd black jack to the wake tim o came company all st s alley was there to see the wake of tim o there is a writer called mr robert louis who makes most delicate in black and white and out to the of a hair he has written a story about a suicide club wherein men for death because other amusements did not bite sufficiently my friend private knows nothing about mr but he once assisted at a meeting of almost such a club as that gentleman has described and his words are true as the three share their silver tobacco and liquor together as they protect each other in or camp and as they rejoice together over the joy of one so do black jack they divide their sorrows when s irrepressible tongue has brought him into for a season or has run through his and or has indulged in strong waters and under their influence his commanding officer you can see the trouble in the faces of the untouched twain and the rest of the regiment know that comment or jest is generally the three avoid orderly room and the corner shop that follows leaving both to the young who have not sown their wild but there are occasions for instance was sitting on the of the main gate of fort with his hands in his pockets and his pipe bowl down in his mouth was lying at full length on the turf of the kicking his heels in the air and i came round the corner and asked for into the ditch and shook his head no good im now said a listen three i heard on the flags of the opposite to the which are close to the guard room a measured step that i could have identified in the tramp of an army there were twenty paces a pause and then twenty that s im said my that s im all for a button you could see your face in an a bit o lip that a would a back was doing pack was compelled that is to say to walk up and down for certain hours in full marching order with rifle and overcoat and his offence was being dirty on parade i nearly fell into the fort ditch with astonishment and wrath for is the man that ever mounted guard and would as soon think of turning out as of with his trousers who was the that checked him i asked o course said there ain t no other man would whip im black jack i i on the so but ain t a man e s a dirty little that s e is what did say he s not the make of man to take that quietly said bin better for im if e d shut is mouth lord ow we laughed e ye say i m dirty well e when your wife lets you blow your own nose for yourself perhaps you ll know dirt is you re e an then we fell in but after p e was up an was black in the face at ly room that ad called im a swine an lord knows all you know e ll ave is broke in one o these days e s too big a liar for consumption three hours can an the colonel not for bein dirty on p but for said to tho i do not believe e you said e said you said an fell away you know e never speaks to the colonel for fear o fresh soldiers three a very young and very much married whose manners were partly the result of innate and partly of imperfectly board school came over the bridge and most rudely asked what he was doing me said ow fm waiting for my c mission seed it along turned purple and passed on there was the sound of a gentle chuckle from the where lay e expects to get his c mission some day explained the mess that ave to put their into the same as im time d you make it sir power be out in an hour you don t want to buy a sir do you a you can trust by the colonel s grey i answered sternly for i knew what was in his mind do you mean to say that i didn t mean to money o you any ck j a ck i ow said td a sold you the good an cheap but but i know want after we ve walked im an i ain t got nor e t neither i d sooner sell you the sir s i would a shadow fell on the and began to rise into the air lifted by a huge hand upon his collar but t said quietly as he held the over the ditch but t ma son ah ve got one eight of ma own he showed two and replaced on the rail very good i said where are you going to coin to walk im e	39
comes out two miles or three said the footsteps within ceased i heard the dull of a falling on a followed by the rattle of arms ten minutes later attired his lips compressed and his face as black as s three a stalked into the sunshine on the and sprang from my side and closed in upon him both leaning towards as horses lean upon the pole in an instant they had disappeared down the sunken road to the and i was left alone had not seen fit o recognize me wherefore i felt that his trouble must be heavy upon him i climbed one of the and watched the figures of the three grow smaller and smaller across the plain they were walking as fast as they could put foot to the ground and their heads were bowed they fetched a great compass round the parade ground skirted the cavalry lines and vanished in the belt of trees that the low land by the river i followed slowly and sighted them dusty but still keeping up their long swinging tramp on the river bank they through the forest reserve headed towards the bridge of boats and presently established themselves on the bow black jack of one of the i rode cautiously till i saw three of white smoke rise and die out in the clear evening air and knew that peace had come again at the they waved me forward with gestures of welcome tie up your shouted an come on sir all ome in this ere boat from the bridge head to the forest officer s is but a step the mess man was there and would see that a man held my horse did the require aught else a or beer had left half a dozen bottles of the latter but since the was a friend of and he the mess man was a poor man i gave my order quietly and returned to the bridge had taken off his boots and was his toes in the water was lying on his back on the and was to row with a big fm an ould fool said soldiers three lively you two out here i was the black dog like a child me that was when an be damned to him was on a for shillings a week an that not paid took you miles out natural s the odds as long as you re said applying himself afresh to the as well ere as anywhere else held up a and an bit and shook his head sorrowfully five mile from t all along o s i know ut said why will ye come me an yet i be sorry if ye did not any time though i am ould enough to know but i will do penance i will take a the butler of the forest was standing near the with a basket uncertain how to down to the black jack might v know d you d v got liquor out o desert sir said gracefully to me then to the mess easy with them there bottles they re worth their weight in gold ye long armed beggar get out o that an em down had the basket on the in an instant and the three gathered round it with dry lips they drank my health in due and ancient form and thereafter tobacco tasted sweeter than ever they absorbed all the beer and disposed themselves in picturesque attitudes to admire the setting sun no man speaking for a while s head dropped upon his chest and we thought that he was asleep what on earth did you come so far for i whispered to to walk im o course when e s been checked we walks im e ain t fit to be spoke to those times nor e ain t fit to leave alone neither so we takes im till e is s three raised his head and stared straight into the sunset i had my rifle said he an i had my an came round the corner an he looked in my face an grinned tou can t blow your own nose he now i cannot tell s may ha been but mother god he was nearer to his death that than i have been to mine and that s less than the a hair yes said calmly you d look fine with all your buttons took an the band in front o you slow time we re both front rank men me an when the ment s in square fine you d look the lord an the lord with that there drop blessed be the o the lord he in a quaint and suggestive fashion s said slowly ah d take a o ma hand behind me be a fool black jack i ton were not checked for you did not do an made a mock twas for less than that ha sent o to hell him go by his own shot him retorted and who stopped the from doing it i asked that ould fool who s ry he didn t stick the pig his head dropped again when he raised it he shivered and put his hands on the shoulders of his two companions ye ve walked the out me said he shot out the red hot of his pipe on the back of the hairy fist they say ell s than that said he as swore aloud you be warned so look yonder he pointed across the river to a ruined temple me an you an he indicated me by a jerk of his head was one day when hi made a show o myself you an im iso soldiers three stopped me such an hi was on y for to desert you are a bigger show o yourself	39
now don t mind him i said won t let you hang yourself yet awhile and you don t intend to try it either let s hear about the and o shot him for with his wife what happened before that there s no fool like an ould fool you know you can do me i m did i say i like to cut s liver out i deny the for fear that here report me ah you tip me into the river you sit quiet little man is not worth the trouble an p an i will him the an o o an the ould days are hard to bring back into the mouth but they re always inside the head followed a long pause o was a though i saved black jack i si him for the honor the from his death that time i say it now he was a a long black haired which way asked women then i know another not more than in reason if you mane me ye i have been young an for why should i not have what i did i i was use the rise my rank wan step an that taken away more s the sorrow an the fault me to a as o did did i i was ril lay my spite upon a man an make his life a dog s life from day to day did i lie as o lied till the young in the turned white the fear the judgment god all in a lump as ut killed the an at i did not i have my sins an i have made my an father victor knows the worst me o was before he on s an no soldiers three man knows the worst him but this much i know the was any fashion in the ould days a from a from a from an that was a bad here there and but the large was black now there are an the good are good as the best but the bad are than the tis this way they together in pieces as fast as thieves an no wan knows they will do till wan turns an the gang is but ut begins again a day later in holes an corners an bloody oaths an a man in the back an away an thin for the blood money on the reward papers to see if ut s worth enough those are the black an tis they that bring upon the name an i kill as i nearly killed wan but to my room twas before i was married was twelve black jack the the earth the s the mane men that neither laugh nor talk nor yet get as a man they some their dog s on me but i a line round cot an the man that ut into hospital for three days good o had put his spite on the room he was my color an we do to him i was younger than i am now an i what i got in the way dressing down and my tongue in my cheek but it was the others an why i cannot say that some men are mane an go to where a fist is more than enough a they changed their to me an was ly all twelve o in chorus i o s a and i m not for ut but is he the only man in the let him go he ll get tired our foul an our s three we will not let him go they thin take him i an a dashed poor yield you will get for your is he not himself s wife another she s common to the i has made ye this particular on a has he not put his spite on the us can we do that he will not check us for another that s i will ye not help us to do aught another a big man like you i will break his head upon his he puts hand on me i i will give him the lie he says that tm an i not mind him in the if ut was not that fm for my is that all ye will do another have ye no more than that ye blood calf blood i may be says i black jack back to my cot an my line round lit but ye know that the man who comes this mark will be more blood than me no man gives me the name in my mouth i i will have no part you in ye do nor will i raise my fist to my is any wan on i they made no move tho i gave full time but an together at wan ind the room i up my cap and out to no little an there i grew most in my legs my head was all reasonable i to a man in e company that was by way bein a mine fm from the belt down do you give me the touch your to my formation an march me the ground into the high grass i ll sleep ut off there i an he s dead now but good he was while he lasted walked me me the touch soldiers three i wide we came to the high grass an my faith the sky an the earth was fair me i made for where the grass was an there i off my liquor an easy conscience i did not desire to come on books too my been for the good half a year i roused the was out in me an i felt as though a she cat had in my mouth i had not learned to my liquor	39
comfort in days tis little i am now i will get to pour a bucket over my head thinks i an i ha risen but i heard some wan say can take the blame ut for the hound he is i an my head rang like a guard room is the blame that this young man must take to oblige tim for twas tim that i turned on my belly an crawled through the grass a bit at a time to where the black jack came from there was the twelve my room down in a little patch the grass above their heads an the sin black in their hearts i put the stuff aside to get clear view s that wan man up a dog says youve a nice hand to this job as i said will take the blame ut comes to a pinch tis to swear a man s life away a young wan thank ye for that thinks i now the are you against me tis as easy as your at seven or will come to the married quarters goin to call on s wife the swine wan us ll pass the to the room an we the an all a shine an on an t our boots about thin o will come to give us the to be quiet the more by token the s soldiers three room lamp will be knocked over in the he will take the straight road to the ind door where there s the lamp in the an that ll bring him clear against the light as he he will not be able to look into the wan us will loose off an a close shot ut will be an shame to the man that be s rifle she that is at the head the rack there s no that cross eyed even in the the thief my ould piece out jealousy i was that an ut made me more angry than all but goes on o will an by the time the light s lit again there ll be some six us on the chest an s cot is near the ind door an the rifle will be him we ve knocked him over we know an all the knows that has given o more lip than any man us will black jack there be any doubt at the martial twelve swear away the life a dear quiet man such as is his line pipe clay his cot us we ut as we can truthful testify mary mother mercy thinks i to it is this to have an an fit to use o the hounds the big ran down my face for i was wake the liquor an had not the full my wits about me i laid an heard themselves up to swear my life by tales time i had put my mark on wan or another an my faith they was few that was not so twas all in the way fair fight though for did i raise my hand they had provoked me to ut tis all well wan but who s to do this tis will do that at the martial l o soldiers three he will so the man but whose hand is put to the in the room who ll do ut round but a man they began to till kiss that was always five the that he his an out the greasy an they all fell in the notion deal on a big oath an the black curse come to the man that will not do his duty as the say black jack is the kiss black jack i to you is the ace which from time has been intimately connect battle an death kiss dealt an there was no sign but the men was the s their twice kiss dealt an there was a gray shine on their cheeks like the mess an three times kiss dealt an they was blue have ye not lost him black the sweat on him let s ha done quick quick ut is kiss him the an ut fell face up on his knee black jack thin they all duty wan an damned cheap at that price but i see they all a little away from an him the no word for a but licked his lips cat ways thin he threw up his head an made the men swear by oath known an unknown to stand by him not alone in the room but at the martial that was to set on me he off five the biggest to stretch me on my cot the shot was fired an another man he off to put out the light an yet another to load my rifle he not do that himself an that was for twas but a little thing thin they swore over again that they not wan another an out the grass in ways two by two a mercy ut was that they did not come on me soldiers three was sick fear in the pit my sick sick sick they was all gone i back to an called for a to put a thought in me was there heavy an to me beyond reason will i do will i do thinks i to away the comes in an on not pleased any wan the bein new to the in those days we used to play the mischief her twas a long time before i get out the way to pull back the back sight an her over as if she was a tailor men do they give me to work the arm here s his nose flat as a table laid by for a week an ny their in knocked to small s wrong i wrong the arm i black jack showed him as though i	39
that lamp ye dogs an that he turned away an i saw him off s wife she to wipe off the on the front his her handkerchief a brave man you are thinks i a brave man an a bad woman no wan said a word for a time they was all ashamed past d you think he will do wan at last he knows we re all in ut are we so i from my cot the man that that to me will be hurt i do i o soldiers three not know i you have but by what seen i know that you cannot commit another man s rifle such you are fm goin to i an you can blow my head off i lay i did not though for a long time can ye wonder next the news was through all the an there was that the men did not tell o reports fair an easy that was come to grief through his rifle in all for to show the an by my he had the impart to say that he was on the at the time an that ut was an you might ha knocked my down a straw they heard that twas lucky for that the were always to find out how the new rifle was made an a lot had come up for the pull by bits grass an such in the part the lock that showed near the the first issues of the black jack i i was not covered in an i have the pull mine time an a light pull is ten points on the range to me i will not have this foolishness the colonel i will twist the tail off he but he saw him all tied up an in hospital he changed his will make him an early he to the doctor an was made so for a his big bloody an face up to wan side did more to the from the their than any o gave no reason for he d said an all my were too glad to inquire tho he put his spite upon more than before wan day how he me apart very polite for he be that at the you re a good tho you re a damned man he fair words i or i may be insolent again tis not like you he to lave your soldiers three rifle in the rack the pin for the pin she was fired i should ha found the break ut in the eyes the holes else he i your life ha been worth the pin had been in place for on my my life be worth just as much to me i you whether ut was or was not be thankful the bullet was not there i that s he pulling his but i do not believe that you for all your lip was in that business i i hammer the life out a man in ten my if that man me for i am a good an i will be as such an my are my own they re strong enough for all work i have to do they do not fly back towards me i him the eyes you re a good man he me the eyes an oh he was built man to see you re a good man he black jack an i wish for the pure ut that i was not a or that you were not a an you will think me no coward i say this thing i do not i i saw you the rifle but i take the from me now as man to man the off tho tis little right i have to talk me being i am by this time ye no harm an next time ye may not but in the ind so sure as s wife came into the so sure will ye take harm an bad harm have thought i is ut worth ut ye re a man he a very man but i am a man tu do you go your way an i will go mine we had no further thin or but wan by another he the twelve my room out into other rooms an got spread among the for they was not a good breed to live together an soldiers three the ny saw ut they ha shot me in the night they had known i knew but that they did not an in the ind as i said o met his death from for his wife he his own way too well too well to that affair to the right or to the he an may the lord have mercy on his ear ear said pointing the moral with a wave of his pipe an this is im oo would be a all for the sake of an a button never went after a woman in his life mrs she saw im one day i said hastily for the of private are slightly too daring for publication look at the sun it s a quarter past six oh lord three quarters of an hour for five an a miles we ll ave to run like o the three on to the bridge and departed hastily in the black jack direction of the road when i overtook them i offered them two and a tail which they accepted held the tail and in this manner we trotted steadily through the shadows by an road at the turn into the we heard carriage wheels it was the colonel s and in it sat the colonel s wife and daughter i caught a suppressed chuckle and my beast sprang forward with a lighter step the three had vanished into the night l e n v o i and they were stronger hands than mine that the from the earth	39
more cunning brains that made it worth the large desire of a king and bolder hearts that through the went down the perfect pearl to bring soldiers three lo i have wrought in common clay rude figures of a rough race for pearls not the market place in this my town of where with the shifting dust i play and eat the bread of discontent yet is there life in that i make oh thou who turn and see as thou hast power over me so have i power over these because i wrought them for thy sake and breathed in them mine agonies small mirth was in the making now i lift the cloth that the clay and wearied at thy feet i lay my wares ere i go forth to sell the long will praise but thou heart of my heart have i done well i only a not only to enforce by command but to encourage by example the energetic discharge of duty and the steady endurance of the difficulties and inseparable from military service army they made pass an examination at he was a gentleman before he was so when the announced that gentleman robert was posted as second lieutenant to the tail at he became an officer and a gentleman which is an thing and there was joy in the house of where mamma and all the little fell upon their knees and offered incense to by virtue of his achievements papa had been a in his day holding authority over three millions of men in the division build soldiers three ing great works for the good of the land and doing his best to make two blades of grass grow where there was but one before of course nobody knew anything about this in the little english village where he was just old mr and had forgotten that he was a companion of the order of the star of india he patted on the shoulder and said well done my boy there followed while the uniform was being prepared an interval of pure delight during which took rank as a man at the women parties and tea fights of the village and i dare say had his joining time been extended would have fallen in love with several girls at once little country villages at home are very full of nice girls because all the young men come out here to make their fortunes india said papa is the place had thirty years of it and i d like to go back again when you join the tail you ll be among friends if every y a one hasn t forgotten of and a lot of people will be kind to you for our the mother will tell you more about than i can but remember this stick to your regiment stick to your regiment you ll see men all round you going into the staff corps and doing every possible sort of duty but and you may be tempted to follow suit now so long as you keep within your allowance and i haven t you there stick to the line the whole line and nothing but the line be careful how you back another young fool s bill and if you fall in love with a woman twenty years older than yourself don t tell me about it that s all with these counsels and many others equally valuable did papa ere that last awful night at when the officers quarters held more inmates than were provided for by the and the liberty men of the ships fell foul of the for india and the battle raged long and loud from the l o ers three gates even to the of while the of came down and scratched the faces of the queen s officers with an ugly on his nose a sick and to in ship and the comfort of fifty scornful females to attend to had no time to feel till the reached mid channel when he combined his emotions with a little guard visiting and a great deal of the tail were a most particular regiment those who knew them least said that they were eaten up with side but their reserve and their internal arrangements generally were merely some five years before the colonel commanding had looked into the fourteen fearless eyes of seven plump and who had all applied to enter the staff corps and had asked them why the three stars should he a colonel of the line command a dashed nursery for bottle who put on condemned only a l l tin spurs and rode qualified at the heads of forsaken black he was a rude man and a terrible wherefore the remnant took measures with the half butt as an engine of public opinion till the went abroad that young men who used the tail as a to the staff corps had many and varied trials to endure however a regiment had just as much right to its own secrets as a woman when came up from and took his place among the tail it was gently but firmly borne in upon him that the regiment was his father and his mother and his wedded wife and that there was no crime under the of heaven than that of bringing shame on the regiment which was the best shooting best best set up most illustrious and in all respects most desirable regiment within the compass of the seven seas he was taught the legends of the mess plate from the great grinning golden gods that had come out of the summer l soldiers three palace in to the silver mounted horn snuff presented by the last c o he who to the seven and every one of those legends told him of battles fought at long odds without fear as without support of hospitality catholic as	39
an s of deep as the sea and steady as the fighting line of honor won by hard r for honor s sake and of instant and devotion to the regiment the regiment that claims the lives of all and lives forever more than once too he came into contact with the colors which looked like the of a s hat on the end of a stick did not kneel and worship them because british are not constructed in that manner indeed he condemned them for their weight at the very moment that they were filling with awe and other more noble sentiments but best of all was the occasion when he moved with the tail in review order only a at the breaking of a november day allowing for duty men and sick the regiment was one thousand and eighty strong and belonged to them for was he not a of the line the whole line and nothing but the line as the tramp of two thousand one hundred and sixty sturdy boots he would not have changed es with of the horse battery whirling by in a pillar of cloud to a chorus of strong right strong left or of the white leading his for all it was worth with the price of thrown in or trying to live up to his fierce blue and gold while the of the cavalry stretched to a gallop in the wake of the long of the white they fought through the clear cool day and felt a little thrill run down his when he heard the of the empty cases from the blocks after the roar of the soldiers three for he knew that he should live to hear that sound in action the review ended in a glorious chase across the plain thundering after cavalry to the huge disgust of the white and the tail hunting a regiment till the lean panted with exhaustion was dusty and dripping long before noon but his enthusiasm was merely not diminished he returned to sit at the feet of his that is to say the captain of his company and to be instructed in the dark art and mystery of managing men which is a very large part of the profession of arms if you haven t a taste that way said between his of his you ll never be able to get the hang of it but remember t isn t the best though is nearly everything that a regiment through hell and out on the other side it s the man who knows how to handle men goat men swine men and so on y a sub a l for instance said i think he comes under the head of fool men he like a sick owl that s where you make your mistake my son isn t a fool yet but he s a dashed dirty soldier and his room makes fun of his before inspection being two thirds pure brute goes into a corner and how do you know said because a company commander has to know these things because if he does not know he may have crime ay murder under his very nose and yet not see that it s there is being out of his mind big as he is and he hasn t intellect enough to resent it he s taken to quiet when the butt of a room goes on the drink or takes to by himself measures are necessary to him out of himself what measures man can t run round his men forever soldiers three no the men would precious soon show him that he was not wanted you ve got to here the color entered with some papers reflected for a while as looked through the company forms does do anything asked with the air of one continuing an interrupted conversation no sir does is like a said the who delighted in long words a dirty soldier and e s under full for new it s covered with scales sir scales what scales fish scales sir e s always in the mud by the river an a them s i with is was still absorbed in the company papers and the who was grimly fond of continued e generally goes down there when e s got is your pardon sir an they do say that the more in e is the more fish e catches only a they call the in the company sir signed the last paper and the retreated it s a filthy amusement sighed to himself then aloud to are you really worried about a little you see he s never mad enough to send to hospital or drunk enough to run in but at any minute he may up brooding and as he does he any interest being shown in him and the only time i took him out shooting he all but shot me by accident fish said with a face i hire a country boat and go down the river from thursday to sunday and the amiable goes with me if you can spare us both you blazing young fool said but his heart was full of much more pleasant words the captain of a with private for mate dropped down the soldiers three river on thursday morning the private at the bow the at the the private glared uneasily at the who respected the reserve of the private after six hours paced to the stern saluted and said beg y pardon sir but you ever on the canal no said come and have some they ate in silence as the evening fell private broke forth speaking to himself hi was on the canal such a night come next week twelve month a of my toes in the water he smoked and said no	39
more till the of the dawn turned the gray river reaches to purple gold and and it was as though the crept across the of a new heaven private his head out of his blanket and gazed at the glory below and around only a well damn my eyes said private in an awed whisper this ere is like a gallantry show for the rest of the day he was dumb but achieved an through the cleaning of big fish the boat returned on saturday evening had been struggling with speech since noon as the lines and luggage were being he found tongue beg y pardon sir he said but would you would you with me sir of course not said and he shook accordingly returned to and to mess he wanted a little quiet and some fishing i think said my aunt but he s a filthy sort of animal have you ever seen him clean them h with is anyhow said three weeks later he s doing his best to keep his things clean i go soldiers three when the spring died joined in the general scramble for hill leave and to his surprise and delight secured three months as good a boy as i want said the admiring the best of the said the to the colonel keep back that young sir and let make him sit up so departed to with a tin box of gorgeous son of old of ask him to dinner dear said the aged men what a nice boy said the and the maids first class place oh ri said and ordered new cord breeches on the strength of it in a bad way wrote to at the end of two months since you left the regiment has taken to fever and is fairly rotten with it two hundred in y a sub a l i i about a hundred in drinking to keep off fever and the companies on parade fifteen file strong at the outside there s rather more sickness in the out villages than i care for but then i m so with heat that fm ready to hang myself what s the about your a miss up there not serious i hope you re over young to hang round your neck and the colonel will turf you out of that in double quick time if you attempt it it was not the colonel that brought out of but a much more to be respected the sickness in the out villages spread the was put out of bounds and then came the news that the tail must go into camp the message flashed to the hill stations leave stopped officers recalled alas for the white gloves in the neatly boxes the rides and the dances and that were to be the love half spoken and the debt i without soldiers three and without question fast as could fly or pony gallop back to their and their as though they were hastening to their fled the received his on returning from a dance at lodge where he had but only the girl knows what had said or how many he had claimed for the next ball six in the morning saw at the office in the rain the whirl of the last still in his ears and an due neither to wine nor in his brain good man shouted of the horse battery through the mists you raise tm coming with you ow but i ve a head and half didn t sit out all night they say the battery s awful bad and he leave the what at the what s its name leave the flock without shelter leave the corpse leave the bride at the altar only a my faith it ll be more corpse than bride though this journey jump in i on the platform waited a of officers discussing the latest news from the stricken and it was here that learned the real condition of the tail they went into camp said an elderly major recalled from the tables at to a sickly native regiment they went into camp with two hundred and ten sick in carts two hundred and ten fever cases only and the balance looking like so many ghosts with sore eyes a regiment could have walked through em but they were as fit as be damned when i left them said then you d better make them as fit as be damned when you said the major pressed his forehead against the rain window pane as the train across the and prayed soldiers three for the health of the tail had sent down her with all speed the of the road staggered into to the full stretch of their strength while from cloudy the mail whirled up the last of the little army that was to fight a fight in which was neither nor honor for the winning against an enemy none other than the sickness that in the and as each man reported himself he said this is a bad business and went about his own forthwith for every regiment and battery in the was under canvas the sickness bearing them company fought his way through the rain to the tail temporary mess and could have fallen on the boy s neck for the joy of seeing that ugly wholesome once more keep em amused and interested said they went on the drink poor fools after the first two cases and there was only a no improvement oh it s good to have you back is a never mind came over from the camp to attend a dreary mess dinner and contributed to the general gloom by nearly weeping over the condition of his beloved battery so far forgot himself as to that the presence of the officers could do no earthly good and that	39
the best thing would be to send the entire regiment into hospital and let the doctors look after them was with fear nor was his peace of mind restored when said coldly oh the sooner you go out the better if that s your way of thinking any public school could send us fifty good men in your place but it takes time time and money and a certain amount of trouble to make a regiment s pose you re the person we go into camp for eh whereupon was overtaken with a great and chilly fear which a in the rain did not and two days later soldiers three quitted this world for another where men do fondly hope are made for the weaknesses of the flesh the major looked wearily across the mess tent when the news was announced there goes the worst of them he said it ll take the best and then please god it ll stop the were silent till one said it couldn t be and all knew of whom was thinking through the tents of his company mildly as is consistent with the the faint hearted the sound into the watery sunlight when there was a break in the weather and bidding them be of good cheer for their trouble was nearly at an end on his pony round the outskirts of the camp and heading back men who with the innate of british soldiers were always wandering into villages or drinking deeply from rain comforting the panic stricken with rude only a speech and more than once tending the dying who had no friends the men without with and burnt cork sing songs which should allow the talent of the regiment full play and generally as he explained playing the giddy garden goat all round youve worth half a dozen of us said his in a moment of enthusiasm how the devil do you keep it up made no answer but had looked into the breast pocket of his coat he might have seen there a of badly written letters which perhaps accounted for the power that possessed the boy a letter came to every other day the was not above reproach but the sentiments must have been most satisfactory for on receipt s eyes softened and he was wont to fall into a tender abstraction for a while ere shaking his head he charged into his work anew by what power he drew after him the hearts of the and the tail soldiers three counted in their ranks some rough diamonds indeed was a mystery to both and c o who learned from the that was considerably more in request in the hospital tents than the reverend john the men seem fond of you are you in the much said the colonel who did his daily round and ordered the men to get well with a that did not cover his bitter grief a little sir said shouldn t go there too often if i were you they say it s not but there s no use in running unnecessary risks we can t afford to have you down y know six days later it was with the utmost difficulty that the post his way out to the camp with the mail bags for the rain was falling in torrents received a letter bore it off to his tent and the programme for the next week s sing song being satisfactorily disposed of sat down to answer it for an hour the pen toiled only a over the paper and where sentiment rose to more than normal tide level stuck out his tongue and breathed heavily he was not used to letter writing beg y pardon sir said a voice at the tent door but s bad sir an they ve taken him sir damn private and you too said running the over the half finished letter tell him v come in the morning e s awful bad sir said the voice hesitatingly there was an of heavy boots well said impatiently beforehand for the liberty e says it would be a comfort for to assist im sir if here come in out of the rain till tm ready what you are that s brandy drink some you want it hang on to my and tell me if i go too fast strengthened by a four finger s three which he absorbed without a wink the hospital orderly kept up with the slipping mud stained and very disgusted pony as it to the hospital tent private was certainly bad he had all but reached the stage of and was not pleasant to look upon this said bending over the man youve not going out this time you ve got to come fishing with me once or twice more yet the blue lips parted and in the ghost of a whisper said beg y pardon sir of you now but would you my and sir sat on the side of the bed and the icy cold hand closed on his own like a forcing a lady s ring which was on the little finger deep into the flesh set his lips and waited the water dripping from the hem of his trousers an hour passed and the grasp of the hand did not nor did the expression of the drawn face change with infinite craft lit himself a only a l with the left hand his right arm was to the elbow and resigned himself to a night of pain dawn showed a very white faced sitting on the side of a sick man s cot and a doctor in the doorway using language unfit for publication have you been here all night you young ass said the doctor there or said he s frozen on to me s mouth shut with a click he turned his head and sighed the clinging hand opened and s arm	39
fell useless at his side he ll do said the doctor quietly it must have been a toss up all through the night think you re to be congratulated on this case oh said i thought the man had gone out long ago only only i didn t care to take my hand away rub my arm down there s a good chap what a grip the brute has i m chilled to soldiers three the he passed out of the tent shivering private was allowed to his of death by strong waters four days later he sat on the side of his cot and said to the mildly i d a to a spoken to im so i should but at that time was reading yet another letter he had the most persistent correspondent of any man in camp and was even then about to write that the sickness had and in another week at the outside would be gone he did not intend to say that the chill of a sick man s hand seemed to have struck into the heart whose for affection he dwelt on at such length he did intend to the illustrated programme of the whereof he was not a little proud he also intended to write on many other matters which do not concern us and doubtless would have done so but for the slight feverish headache which made him dull and at mess only a you are it said his might give the rest of us credit of doing a little work you go on as if you were the whole mess rolled into one take it easy i will said i m feeling done up somehow looked at him anxiously and said nothing there was a flickering of about the camp that night and a that brought men out of their to the tent doors a of the naked feet of and the rush of a galloping horse s up asked twenty tents and through twenty tents ran the answer e s down they brought the news to and he groaned any one but and i shouldn t have cared the major was right not going out this journey gasped as he was lifted from the not going out this journey then with an air of supreme conviction i you see soldiers three not if i can do anything said the surgeon major who had hastened over from the mess where he had been dining he and the surgeon fought together with death for the hfe of their were interrupted by a hairy apparition in a blue gray who stared in round eyed horror at the bed and cried ow my it can t be until an indignant hospital orderly him away if care of man and desire to live could have done aught would have been saved as it was he made a fight of three days and the surgeon major s brow we ll save him yet he said and the surgeon who though he with the captain had a very youthful heart went out upon the word and in the mud not going out this journey whispered gallantly at the end of the third day said the surgeon major that s the way to look at it only a s as evening fell a gray shade gathered round s mouth and he turned his face to the tent wall wearily the surgeon major frowned tm awfully tired said very faintly what s the use of me with medicine i don t want it let me alone the desire for life had departed and was content to drift away on the easy tide of death it s no good s id the surgeon major he doesn t want to live he s meeting it poor child and he blew his nose half a mile away the band was playing the to the sing song for the men had been told that was out of danger the clash of the brass and the wail of the horns reached s ears is there a single joy or pain that i should never ow you do not love me tis in vain bid me good by and go an expression of hopeless irritation crossed soldiers three the boy s face and he tried to shake his head the surgeon major bent down what is it not that muttered our own our very own dear with this sentence he sank into the stupor that gave place to death early next morning his eyes red at the and his nose very white went into s tent to write a letter to papa which should bow the white head of the ex of in the keenest sorrow of his life s store of papers lay in confusion on the table and among them a half finished letter the last sentence ran so you see darling there is really no fear because as long as i know you care for me and i care for you nothing can touch me stayed in the tent for an hour when he came out his eyes were than ever only a private sat on a turned down bucket and listened to a not tune private was a and should have been tenderly treated ho said private there s another ed the bucket shot from under him and his eyes filled with a of sparks a tall man in a blue gray bed gown was regarding him with deep you ought to take shame for yourself til learn you to the likes of im bloom in that s e is and the hospital orderly was so satisfied with the justice of the punishment that he did not even order private back to his cot in black and white by the to my father when i was in your and we went	39
together in the of the among the you had me how in all he forth a word to that had in his ci to the better of a or at the the of and each man run to his which is as we and as he of and council the the and fall and then lay to in i back a the from this my and of labour have to you who were my and as it were in your yet that others may that if i have here done aught of and it is come from your as but by i degree as though it had been the of that you made for me in how may i here tell of that tender diligence which in my and was in all about me to the and and s that in due bred that rare and terrible the which for of a more the has man the in which you about to the same a at a in and by what hand when i have a and pen in all and hell of the pitiful confidence of was i in and to the i in fort from the that is not by any to be the small and that to the of my all and other council that though i then not hath since is my debt to you father and for i have set for you if you will take it my the more and no other it is of common knowledge that men do rather a gathered under the or place that they gone to travel in then the way of though that may be the better wrought your and the large that i nowhere i gone from your shall look upon it and the foul and that do as it as toil of me none the it is before that the which though when the and one by one examined is but of such men and women as you in form and i would in inward yet in is a great and gk d like unto upon a man offer of his alone or the which they pack him if i in you shall take me and me more which is but the and made as our take is in the and speak in but i that if i fail or if i my from the god and thus dance perpetually before that altar till he be the that made in my when i was to and the sweep and swing temperate of the pen that when i was me and the most of that shall be to me in the and though i am more rich than the my can but make return in which your toil has the of the writer your son introduction by through your favor this is a book written by my i know that he wrote it because it was his custom to write far into the night i greatly desiring to go to my house but there was no order therefore it was my fate to sit without the door until the work was accomplished then came i and made shut all the papers in the office box and these papers by the peculiar operation of time and owing to the skilful manner in which i picked them up from the floor became such a book as you now see god alone knows what is written therein for i am a poor man and the is my father and my mother and i have no concern with his writings until he has left his table and gone to bed l introduction clerk says that it is a book about the black men common people this is a manifest lie for by what road can my have acquired knowledge of the common people have i not for several years been perpetually with the and throughout that time have i not stood between him and the other servants who would him with complaints or vex him with idle tales about my work did i not the groom only yesterday in the matter of the of the which i had procured i am the head of the s household and hold his purse without me he does not know where are his or his clean so great is my power over the and the love that he bears to me have ever told the about the customs of servants or black men am i a fool i have said very good talk upon all occasions i have always cut smooth his with and warned him of the passing away of his tobacco that he might not be left upon a sunday more than this i have not done the cannot go out to dinner lacking my aid how then should he know aught that i did not tell him certainly is a liar none the less this is a book and the wrote it for his name is in it and it is not his washing book now such is the wisdom of the log that upon opening this thing they will instantly discover the purport yet i would of their favor beg them to observe how correct is the order of the pages which i have counted from the first to the last thus one is followed by two and two by three and so forward to the end of the book even as i picked the pages one by one with great trouble from the floor when the had gone to bed so have they been placed and there is not a fault in the whole account and this is my work it was a great burden but i accomplished it and if the gains honor by introduction that which he has written and god knows what he is always writing about i his servant also have a claim to honor contents page the judgment of	39
at at twenty two in flood time the sending of da on the city wall for jealousy is the rage of a man therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance vii and grapes from or a pony of the if the will only come with me he is thirteen three plays goes in a cart carries a lady and holy and the blessed it is the himself my heart is made fat and my eye glad may you never be tired as is cold water in the so is the sight of a friend in a far place and what do you in this accursed land south of you know the saying rats are the men and the women it was an order an order is an order till one is strong enough to o my brother o my friend we have met in an hour is all well in black and white in the heart and the body and the house in a lucky day have we two come together again i am to go with you your favor is great will there be room in the compound i have three horses and the bundles and the horse boy moreover remember that the police here hold me a horse thief what do these know of do you remember that time in when on the gates of that he was and lifted the colonel s horses all in one night is dead now but his nephew has taken up the matter and there will be more horses a missing if the do not look to it the peace of god and the favor of his prophet be upon this house and all that is in it rope the mare under the tree and draw water the horses can stand in the sun but double the over the nay my friend do not trouble to look them over they are to sell to the officer fools who know so many things of the horse the mare is heavy in the gray is a devil and the but you know the trick of the when they are sold i go back to or it may be the valley of o friend of my heart it is good to see you again i have been bowing and lying all day to the officer in respect to those horses and my mouth is dry for straight talk before a meal tobacco is good do not join me for we are not in our own country sit in the and i will spread my cloth here but first i will drink in the name of god returning thanks y thrice this is sweet water indeed sweet as the water of when it comes from the they are all well and pleased in the north and the others has come down with the horses from six and thirty head only and a full half pack and has said openly in the that you english should in black ai d white send guns and blow the into hell there are fifteen now on the road and at when he thought he was clear was stripped of all his by the governor this is a great injustice and is hot with rage and of the others is still at writing god knows what is in jail for the business of the police post beg came down from ki with a belt for thee my brother at the closing of the year but none knew whither thou gone there was no news left behind the cousins have taken a new run near to breed for the government arts and there is a story in of a priest such a salt tale listen why do you ask that my clothes are because of the dust on the road my eyes are sad because of the glare of the sun my feet are swollen because i have washed them in bitter water and my cheeks are hollow because the food here is bad a vow fire burn your money what do i want with it i am rich and i thought you were my friend but you are like the others a is a man sad give him money say the is he give him money say the hath he a wrong upon his head give him money say the such are the and such art thou even thou nay do not look at the feet of the pity it is that i ever taught you to know the legs of a horse foot sore be it so what of that the roads are hard and the mare foot sore she bears a double burden and now i pray you give me permission to depart great favor and honor has the done me and graciously has he shown his belief that the horses are stolen will it please him to send me to the to call a and have me led away by one of these men i am the s friend i have drunk water in the shadow of his house and he has blackened in black and white my face remains there anything more to do will the give me eight to make smooth the injury and complete the insult forgive me my brother i knew not i know not now what i say yes i lied to you i will put dust on my head and i am an the horses have been marched foot sore from the valley to this place and my eyes are dim my body for the want of sleep and my heart is dried up with sorrow and shame but as it was my shame so by god the of justice by al it shall be my own revenge we have spoken together with naked hearts before this and our hands have dipped	39
bunch of said has even now gone hot foot to and he will pick up his horses upon the road to for it is said that the company are buying horses there by the load eight horses to the and that was a true saying then i saw that the hunting would be no little thing for the man was gone into your borders to save himself against my wrath and shall he save himself so am i not alive though he run northward to the and the snow or to the black water i will follow him as a lover follows the footsteps of his mistress and coming upon him i will take him tenderly so tenderly in my arms saying well hast thou done and well shalt thou be repaid and out of that embrace shall not go forth with the breath in his where is the i am as thirsty as a mother mare in the first month war a vow your law what is your law to me when the horses fight on the runs do they regard the boundary pillars or do the of forbear because the lies under the shadow of the the matter began across the border it shall finish where god pleases here in my own country or in hell all three are one listen now of the sorrow of my heart and i will tell of the hunting i followed to from and i went to and fro about the streets of like a dog seeking for my enemy once i thought that i saw him washing his mouth in the in the big square but when i came up he was gone it may be that it was he and seeing my face he had fled a girl of the said that he would go to i said o heart s heart does visit thee and she said even so i said i would fain see him for we be friends parted for two years hide me i pray here in the shadow of the window and i will wait for his in black and white coming and the girl said o look into my eyes and i turned leaning upon her breast and looked into her eyes swearing that i spoke the very truth of god but she answered never friend waited friend with such eyes lie to god and the prophet but to a woman ye cannot lie get hence there shall no harm befall by cause of me i would that girl but for the fear of your police and thus the hunting would have come to naught therefore i only laughed and departed and she leaned over the window bar in the night and me down the street her name is when i have made my account with the man i will return to and her lovers shall desire her no more for her beauty s sake she shall not be but the among trees ho ho shall she be at i bought the horses and grapes and the and dried fruits that the reason of my wanderings might be open to the government and that there might be no upon the road but when i came to he was gone and i knew not where to go i stayed one day at and in the night a voice spoke in my ears as i slept among the horses all night it flew round my head and would not cease from whispering i was upon my belly sleeping as the devils sleep and it may have been that the voice was the voice of a devil it said go south and thou shalt come upon listen my brother and among friends listen is the tale a long one think how it was long to i have trodden every league of the road from to this place and from my guide was only the voice and the lust of vengeance to the i went but that was no to me ho ho a man may turn the word twice even in his trouble the was no obstacle to me nd i heard the voice above the noise of the waters beating on the big rock saying in black and white go to the right so i went to and in those days my sleep was taken from me utterly and the head of the woman of the was before me night and day even as it had fallen between my feet fire ashes and my couch all three are one all three are one now i was far from the winter path of the who had gone to and so south by the rail and the big road to the line of but there was a in camp at who bought from me a white mare at a good price and told me that one had passed to with horses then i saw that the warning of the voice was true and made swift to come to the salt hills the was in flood but i could not wait and in the crossing a bay was washed down and drowned was god hard to me not in respect of the beast of that i had no care but in this while i wa upon the right bank urging the horses into the water was upon the left for the hoofs of my mare scattered the hot ashes of his fires when we came up the hither bank in the light of morning but he had fled his feet were made swift by the terror of death and i went south from as the flies i dared not turn aside lest i should miss my vengeance which is my right from i skirted by the for i thought that he would avoid the desert of the but presently at i turned	39
black and white the naked good tempered timid lazy do you know what life at a mission means try to imagine a loneliness exceeding that of the smallest station to which government has ever sent you that upon the waking eyelids and drives you headlong into the labors of the day there is no post there is no one of your own color to speak to there are no roads there is indeed food to keep you alive but it is not pleasant to eat and whatever of good or beauty or interest there is in your life must come from yourself and the grace that may be planted in you in the morning with a of soft feet the the doubtful and the open troop up to the you must be infinitely kind and patient and above all clear sighted for you deal with the simplicity of childhood the experience of man and the of the savage your congregation have a hundred material wants to be considered and it is for you the judgment of as you believe in your personal responsibility to your maker to pick out of the crowd any grain of that may lie therein if to the cure of souls you add that of bodies your task will be all the more difficult for the sick and the will profess any and every creed for the sake of healing and will laugh at you because you are simple enough to believe them as the day wears and the of the morning dies away there will come upon you an overwhelming sense of the of your toil this must be against and the only spur in your side will be the belief that you are playing against the devil for the living soul it is a great a joyous belief but he who can hold it for four and twenty hours must be blessed with an abundantly strong and nerve ask the gray heads of the medical what manner of life their lead speak to the gospel agency those lean americans whose boast in black and white is that they go where no englishman dare follow get a of the mission to talk of his experiences if you can you will be referred to the printed reports but these contain no mention of the men who have lost youth and health all that a man may lose except faith in the of english maidens who have gone forth and died in the fever stricken of the hills knowing from the first that death was almost a certainty few will tell you of these things any more than they will speak of that young david of st bees who set apart for the lord s work broke down in the utter desolation and returned half to the head mission crying there is no god but i have walked with the devil the reports are silent here because heroism failure doubt despair and self on the part of a mere white man are things of no weight as compared to the saving of one half human soul from a fantastic faith in wood spirits of the rock and river the judgment of and the assistant of the country side cared for none of these things he had been long in the district and the loved him and brought him of fish from the dim moist heart of the forests and as much game as he could eat in return he gave them and with the high priest controlled their simple when you have been some years in the country said at the table you grow to find one creed as good as another til give you all the assistance in my power of course but don t hurt my they are a good people and they trust me i will them the word of the lord teach said his round face beaming with enthusiasm and i will assuredly to their prejudices no wrong hastily without thinking make but o my friend this in the mind of creed is very bad in black and white ho said i have their bodies and the district to see to but you can try what you can do for their souls only don t behave as your did or tm afraid that i can t your life and that said handing him a cup of tea he went up to the temple of to be sure he was new to the country and began old over the head with an umbrella so the turned out and him rather savagely i was in the district and he sent a to me with a note saying persecuted for the lord s sake send wing of regiment the nearest troops were about two hundred miles off but i guessed what he had been doing i rode to and talked to old like a father telling him that a man of his wisdom ought to have known that the had and was mad you never saw a people more sorry in your life sent wood and milk and fowls and all the judgment of i sorts of things and i gave five to the shrine and told that he had been he said that i had bowed down in the house of but if he had only just gone over the brow of the hill and insulted the idol of the he would have been on a long before i could have done anything and then i should have had to have hanged some of the poor brutes be gentle with them but i don t think you ll do much not i said but my master we will with the little children begin many of them will be sick that is so after the children the mothers and then the men but i would greatly that you were in internal sympathies with us prefer departed to risk	39
his life in mending the rotten bridges of his people in killing a too persistent tiger here or there in sleeping out in the or in the who had taken a few heads from their brethren of the in black white a knock young man was naturally devoid of creed or reverence with a longing for absolute power which his district gratified no one wants my post he used to say grimly and my only his nose in when he s quite certain that there is no fever fm monarch of all i survey and is my because himself on his supreme disregard of human life though he never extended the theory beyond his own he naturally rode forty miles to the mission with a tiny brown baby on his here is something for you said he the leave their children to die don t see why they shouldn t but you may rear this one i picked it up beyond the fork i ve a notion that the mother has been following me through the woods ever since it is the first of the fold said and caught up the screaming morsel the judgment of to her bosom and hushed it while as a wolf hangs in the field who had borne it and in accordance with the law of her tribe had exposed it to die panted weary and in the watching the house with hungry mother eyes what would the assistant do would the little man in the black coat eat her daughter alive as said was the custom of all men in black coats waited among the through the long night and in the morning there came forth a fair white woman the like of whom had never seen and in her arms was s daughter clad in knew little of the tongue of the but when mother calls to mother speech is easy to understand by the hands stretched timidly to the hem of her gown by the passionate and the longing eyes understood with whom she had to deal so took her child again would be a servant even a slave to this wonderful white woman for her in black white own tribe would recognize her no more and i wept with her after the german fashion which much blowing of the nose first the child then the mother and last the man and to the glory of god all said the hopeful and the man came with a bow and arrows very angry indeed for there was no one to cook for him but the tale of the mission is a long one and i have no space to show how forgetful of his smote the husband of for his how was startled but being released from the fear of instant death took heart and became the faithful ally and first convert of how the little gathering grew to the huge disgust of how the priest of the god of things as they are argued with the priest of the god of things as they should be and was how the of the temple of fell away in fowls and fish and how lightened the judgment of the curse of eve among the women and how did his best to introduce the curse of adam how the at this saying that their god was an idle god and how partially overcame their scruples against work and taught them that the black earth was rich in other produce than pig nuts only all these things belong to the history of many months and throughout those months the white haired meditated revenge for the neglect of with savage cunning he feigned friendship towards even at his own but to the congregation of he said darkly they of the s flock have put on clothes and worship a busy god therefore will them till they throw themselves howling into the waters of the at night the red elephant and groaned among the hills and the faithful and said the god of things as they are revenge against the back in black and white be merciful to us thy children and give us all their crops late in the cold weather the and his wife came into the country go and look at s mission said he is doing good work in his own way and i think he d te pleased if you opened the chapel that he has managed to run up at any rate you ll see a civilized great was the stir in the mission now he and the gracious lady will that we have done good work with their own eyes see and yes we will him our in all their new clothes by their own hands constructed exhibit it will a great day be for the lord always said and said amen had in his quiet way felt jealous of the weaving mission his own being but had induced some of them to the glossy of a plant that grew on the hill it yielded a cloth white the judgment of and smooth almost as the of the south seas and that day the were to wear for the first time clothes made was proud of his work they shall in white clothes clothed to meet the and his well born lady come down singing now thank we all our god then he will the chapel open and yes even to believe will begin stand so my children two by two and why do they thus themselves it is not to my child the will be here and be pained the his wife and climbed the hill to the mission station the were drawn up in two lines a shining band nearly forty strong said the whose bent of mind led him to believe that he had the institution from the first advancing i see by leaps and bounds never	39
was truer word spoken the mission was advancing exactly as he had said s in black a ad white at first by little and of uneasiness but soon by the leaps of fly stung horses and the bounds of from the hill of the red elephant delivered a dry and the ranks of the wavered broke and scattered with and shrieks of pain while and stood it is the judgment of shouted a voice i burn i burn to the river or we die the mob wheeled and headed for the rocks that the stamping twisting and shedding its garments as it ran pursued by the thunder of the trumpet of and fled to the almost in tears i cannot understand yesterday panted they had the ten what is this praise the lord all good spirits by land or by sea oh shame with a bound and a scream there alighted the judgment of on the rocks above their heads once the pride of the mission a maiden of fourteen good and virtuous now naked as the dawn and hke a wild cat was it for this she her at was it for this i left my people and for the fires of your bad place blind little dried fish that you are you said that i should never burn o i burn now i burn now have mercy god of things as they are she turned and flung herself into the and the trumpet of the last of the of the mission had put a quarter of a mile of rapid river between herself and her teachers yesterday she taught in the school a b c d oh it is the work of satan but was curiously regarding the maiden s where it had fallen at his o in black and white feet he felt its texture drew back his shirt sleeve beyond the deep tan of his hand and pressed a fold of the cloth against the flesh a of angry red rose on the white skin ah said calmly thought so what is it said i should call it the shirt of but where did you get the fibre of this cloth from said he showed the boys how it should be the old fox do you know that he has given you the ia to work up no wonder they why it even when they make bridge ropes of it unless it s soaked for six weeks the cunning brute it would take about half an hour to burn through their thick hides and then burst into laughter but was weeping in the arms of the s wife the judgment of d u ra and had covered his face with his hands repeated why didn t you tell me i could have saved you this woven fire anybody but a naked would have known it and if tm a judge of their ways you ll never get them back he looked across the river to where the were still and wailing in the and the laughter died out of his eyes for he saw that the mission to the was dead never again though they hung mournfully round the deserted school for three months could or back even the most promising of their flock no the end of was the fire of the bad place fire that ran through the limbs and into the bones who dare a second time tempt the anger of let the little man and his wife go elsewhere the would have none of them an message to that if a i in black and white hair of their heads were touched and the priests of would be hanged by at the temple shrine protected and from the poisoned arrows of the but neither fish nor fowl salt nor young pig were brought to their doors any more and alas man cannot live by grace alone if meat be wanting let us go mine wife said there is no good here and the lord has willed that some other man shall the work take in good time in his own good time we will go away and i will yes some if any one is anxious to convert the afresh there lies at least the core of a mission house under the hill of but the chapel and school have long since fallen back into at his own shoe his own head native proverb as a messenger if the heart of the presence be moved to so great favor and on six yes for i have three little little children whose are always empty and corn is now but twenty pounds to the i will make so clever a messenger that you shall all day long be pleased with me and at the end of the year bestow a i know all the roads of the station and many other things i am clever give me service i was in the police a bad character now without doubt an enemy has told this tale never was i a i am a man of clean heart and all my words are true they knew this when i was in the in black and white police they said is a true speaker in whose words men may trust i am a all are good men you have seen yes it is true that there be many among the how wise is the nothing is hid from his eyes and he will make me his messenger and i will take all his notes secretly and without nay god is my witness that i meant no evil i have long desired to serve under a true a virtuous many young are as devils with these i would take no service not though all the of my little children were crying for bread why am i not still in the	39
a he was a great devil and drank wine so long as there were women in his house and wine and money for the he was merry and wiped his mouth ram lent him the money a or half a how do i know and so long as the money was lent the cared not what he signed the people of were my portion and the and the out town was the portion of ram for so we had arranged i was the poor man for the people of were without wealth i did what i could but ram had only to wait without the door of the s and to lend him the money taking the bonds from the hand of the steward in the autumn of the year after the ram said to the pay me my money but the gave him abuse but ram went into the courts with the papers and the bonds all correct and took out against the and the name of the government was across the of the ram took field by field and tree by tree and well by well putting in his own men of the out town of in black and white to cultivate the crops so he crept up across the land for he had the papers and the name of the government was across the till his men held the crops for him on all sides of the big white house of the it was well done but when the saw these things he was very angry and cursed ram after the manner of the and thus the was angry but ram laughed and claimed more fields as was written upon the bonds this was in the month of i took my horse and went out to speak to the man who makes upon the road that leads to because he owed me a debt there was in front of me upon his horse my brother ram and when he saw me he turned aside into the high crops because there was hatred between us and i went forward till i came to the orange bushes by the s house the were flying and the evening smoke was low down upon the land here met me four men and with their faces bound up laying hold of my horse s bridle and crying out this is ram beat me they beat with their heavy bound about with wire at the end such weapons as those swine of use till having cried for mercy i fell down senseless but these ones still beat me saying o ram this is your interest well weighed and counted into your hand ram i cried aloud that i was not ram but his brother yet they only beat me the more and when i could make no more they left me but i saw their faces there was who runs by the side of the s white horse and ah the keeper of the door and the very strong cook and the messenger all of the household of the these things i can swear on the cow s tail if need be but i it has been already sworn and i am a poor man whose honor is lost o in black and white when these four had gone away laughing my brother ram came out of the crops and mourned over me as one dead but i opened my eyes and prayed him to get me water when i had drunk he carried me on his back and by by ways brought me into the town of my heart was turned to ram my brother in that hour because of his kindness and i lost my enmity but a snake is a snake till it is dead and a liar is a liar till the judgment of the gods takes hold of his heel i was wrong in that i trusted my brother the son of my mother when we had come to his house and i was a little restored i told him my tale and he said without doubt it is me whom they would have beaten but the law courts are open and there is the justice of the above all and to the law courts do thou go when this sickness is now when we two had left in the old years there fell a famine that ran from to and touched in the south at that time the sister of my father came away and lived with us in for a man must above all see that his folk do not die of want when the quarrel between us twain came about the sister of my father a lean she dog without teeth said that ram had the right and went with him into her hands because she knew and many ram my brother put me faint with the beating and much bruised even to the pouring of blood from the mouth when i had two days sickness the fever came upon me and i set aside the fever to the account written in my mind against the the of are all the sons of and a she ass but they are very good witnesses bearing testimony whatever the may say i would purchase witnesses by the score and each man should give evidence not only against and but against the saying that he upon his white horse had called his in black and white men to beat me and further that they had robbed me of two hundred for the latter testimony i would a little of the debt of the man who sold the and he should say that he had put the money into my hands and had seen the robbery from afar but being afraid had run away this	39
black and white and all through those thirty he had regularly every morning before going down drawn from the his allowance of lamp oil just as if he had been an eyed what s gang resented as hundreds of had resented before was s selfishness he would not add the oil to the common stock of his gang but would save and sell it i knew these workings before you were born used to reply i don t want the light to get my coal out by and i am not going to help you the oil is mine and i intend to keep it a strange man in many ways was the white haired hot tempered who had turned all day long except on sundays and when he was usually drunk he worked in the twenty two shaft of the as cleverly as a man with all the senses at evening he went up in the great cage to the pit bank and there called for his pony a rusty dusty beast at twenty two nearly as old as the pony would come to his side and would on to its back and be taken at once to the plot of land which he like the other received from the company the pony knew that place and when after six years the company changed all the to prevent the acquiring rights represented with tears in his eyes that were his holding shifted he would never be able to find his way to the new one my horse only knows that place pleaded and so he was allowed to keep his land on the strength of this concession and his accumulated oil took a second wife a girl of the main stock of the and singularly beautiful could not see her beauty wherefore he took her on trust and forbade her to go down the pit he had not worked for thirty years in the dark without knowing that the pit was no place for pretty women he loaded her with ornaments not brass in black and white or but real silver ones and she rewarded him by with of no gallery gang was really the gang head but insisted upon all the work being entered in his own name and chose the men that he worked with custom stronger even than the company dictated that by right of his years should manage these things and should also work despite his blindness in indian mines where they cut into the solid coal with the pick and clear it out from floor to ceiling he could come to no great harm at home where they the coal and bring it down in crashing from the roof he would never have been allowed to set foot in a pit he was not a popular man because of his but all the admitted that knew all the or workings that had ever been sunk or worked since the company first started operations on the fields pretty little only knew that hei old at twenty two j husband was a fool who could be managed she took no interest in the except in so far as they swallowed up five days out of the seven and covered him with coal dust was a great workman and did his best not to get drunk because when he had saved forty was to steal everything that she could find in s house and run with over the hills and far away to countries where there were no mines and every one kept three fat and a while this scheme was it was his amiable custom to drop in upon and worry him about the oil sat in a corner and nodded approval on the night when had quoted that objectionable proverb about grew angry listen you pig said he blind i am and old i am but before ever you were born i was gray among the coal even in the days when the twenty two was and there were not two thousand in black and white men here i was known to have all knowledge of the what is there that i do not know from the bottom of the shaft to the end of the last drive is it the the oldest or the twenty two where s gallery runs up to number five hear the old fool talk said nodding to no gallery of twenty two will cut into five before the end of the rains we have a month s solid coal before us the says so what do these fat from know he draws and draws and draws and talks and talks and talks and his maps are all wrong i know that this is so when a man has been shut up in the dark for thirty years god gives him knowledge the old gallery that s gang made is not six feet from number five without doubt god gives the blind knowledge said with a look at let it be as you say i for my at part do not know where lies the gallery of s gang but am not a withered monkey who needs oil to his joints with swung out of the hut laughing and turned his eyes towards his wife and swore i have land and i have sold a great deal of lamp oil mused but i was a fool to marry this child a week later the rains set in with a vengeance and the about in coal at the pit banks then the big mine were made ready and the manager of the through the wet towards the river swelling between its banks lord send that this doesn t said the manager and he went and took counsel with his assistant about the but the very much indeed after a fall of three inches of rain in an hour it was obliged	39
to do something it its bank and joined the flood water that was hemmed between two in black and white low hills just where the of the main line crossed when a good part of a rain fed river and a few acres of flood water make a dead set for a nine foot the may its finest but the water cannot all get out the manager upon one leg with excitement and his language was improper he had reason to swear because he knew that one inch of water on land meant a pressure of one hundred tons to the acre and here were about five feet of water forming behind the railway over the workings of twenty two you must understand that in a coal mine the coal nearest the surface is worked first from the central shaft that is to say the may clear out the stuff to within ten twenty or thirty feet of the surface and when all is worked out leave only a of earth by some few pillars of coal in a deep mine where they know that they have any amount of material at hand men prefer to get all their out at one at i shaft rather than make a number of little holes to tap the comparatively unimportant surface coal and the manager watched the flood the a nine foot but the water still formed and word was sent to clear the men out of twenty two the came up crammed and crammed again with the men nearest the pit eye as they call the place where you can see daylight from the bottom of the main shaft all away and away up the long black galleries the lamps were and dancing like so many fire flies and the men and the women waited for the rattling thundering to come down and fly up again but the out workings were very far off and the word could not be passed quickly though the heads of the and the assistant shouted and swore and and stumbled the manager kept one eye on the great troubled pool behind the and prayed that the would give way and let the water in black and white through in time with the other eye he watched the come up and saw the counting the roll of the with all his heart and soul he swore at the who controlled the iron drum that wound up the wire rope on which hung the in a little time there was a down draw in the water behind the a all yellow and the water had smashed through the skin of the earth and was pouring into the old shallow workings of twenty two deep down below a rush of black water caught the last gang waiting for the cage and as they in the whirl was about their the cage reached the pit bank and the manager called the roll the were all safe except gang gang and gang eighteen men with perhaps ten basket women who loaded the coal into the little iron carriages that ran on the of the main galleries these were in the out work at twenty two three quarters of a mile away on the extreme fringe of the mine once more the cage went down but with only two englishmen in it and dropped into a roaring current that had almost touched the roof of some of the lower side galleries one of the wooden with which they had propped the old workings shot past on the current just missing the cage if we don t want our ribs knocked out we d better go said the manager we can t even save the company s the cage drew out of the water with a splash and a few minutes later it was reported that there were at least ten feet of water in the pit s eye now ten feet of water there meant that all other places in the mine were except such galleries as were more than ten feet above the level of the bottom of the shaft the deep workings would be full the main galleries would be full but in the high workings reached by from the main roads would be a certain amount of air cut in black and white off so to speak by the water and squeezed up by it the little science explain how water when you pour it down test the of twenty two was an illustration on a large scale by the holy grove what has happened to the air it was a son thai of gang in no gallery and he was driving a six foot way through the coal then there was a rush from the other galleries and gang and gang stumbled up with their basket women water has come in the mine they said and there is no way of getting out i went down said down the slope of my gallery and i felt the water there has been no water in the cutting in our time the women why cannot we go away be silent said long ago when my father was here water came to ten no eleven cutting and there was great trouble let us get away to where the air is better at twenty the three and the basket women left no gallery and went further up no at one turn of the road they could see the black water on the coal it had touched the roof of a gallery that they knew well a gallery where they used to smoke their and conduct their seeing this they called aloud upon their gods and the who are thrice strove to recollect the name of the prophet they came to a great open square whence nearly all the coal had been extracted it was the end of the out	39
men from s gallery in our cutting making connection through the north side of the gallery take us to the cage said at the pit bank of twenty two some thousand people and wept and shouted one hundred men one thousand men had been drowned in the cutting they would all go to their homes to morrow where were their men little her with the rain stood at the pit mouth calling down the shaft for in black and white they had swung the clear of the mouth and her only answer was the murmur of the flood in the pit s eye two hundred and sixty feet below look after that woman she ll herself down the shaft in a minute shouted the manager but he need not have troubled was afraid of death she wanted the assistant was watching the flood and seeing how far he could into it there was a lull in the water and the had the mine was full and the people at the pit bank howled my faith we shall be lucky if we have five hundred hands in the place fo said the manager there s some chance yet of running a temporary dam across that water in anything and carts if you haven t enough bricks make them work if they never worked before hi you make them work little by little the crowd was broken into and pushed towards the water at ty with promises of the dam making began and when it was fairly under way the manager thought that the hour had come for the there was no fresh into the mine the tall red iron rose and fell and the and and shrieked as the first water poured out of the pipe we must run her all to night said the manager wearily but there s no hope for the poor devils down below look here if you are proud of your engines show me what they can do now grinned and nodded with his right hand upon the and an oil can in his left he could do no more than he was doing but he could keep that up till the dawn were the company s to be beaten by the of that troublesome river never never and the sobbed and panted never never the manager sat in the shelter of the trying to dry himself by the pump fire and in the dreary dusk in black and white he saw the crowds on the dam scatter and fly that s the end he groaned take us six weeks to persuade em that we haven t tried to drown their mates on purpose oh for a decent rational but the flight had no panic in it men had run over from five with news and the could not hold their together presently surrounded by a crew and and ten basket women walked up to report themselves and pretty little stole away to s hut to prepare his evening meal alone i found the way explained and now will the company give me the simple pit folk shouted and leaped and went back to the dam reassured in their old belief that whatever happened so great was the power of the company whose salt they ate none of them could be killed but only his white teeth and at kept his hand upon the and proved his to the i say said the assistant to the manager a week later do you recollect yes queer thing i thought of it in the cage when that went by why oh this business seems to be down was in my all this morning telling me that had with his wife or i think her name was and those were the cattle that you risked your life to clear out of twenty two no i was thinking of the company s not the company s men sounds better to say so now but i don t believe y u old fellow r in flood time said till what ye still till said though ye wi speed an i yet where ye ae man i there is no getting over the river tonight they say that a cart has been washed down already and the that went oyer a half hour before you came has not yet reached the far side is the in haste i will drive the in to show him there in the shed bring out ram and if he will face the current good an elephant never lies and ram is separated from his friend he in flood time too wishes to cross to the far side well done well done my king go half way across and see what the river says well done ram pearl among go into the river hit him on the head fool was the made only to scratch thy own fat back with strike strike what are the to thee ram my my mountain of strength go in go in no it is useless you can hear him trumpet he is telling that he cannot come over see he has swung round and is shaking his head he is no fool he knows what the means when it is angry indeed thou art no fool my child ram take him under the trees and see that he gets his well done thou among to the and go to sleep what is to be done the must wait till the river goes down it will shrink to morrow morning if god pleases or t l in black and white day after at the latest now why does the get so angry i am his servant before god did not create this stream what can i do my hut and all that is therein is at the service of the and it is beginning to rain come away my lord how will	39
the river go down for your throwing abuse at it in the old days the english people were not thus the fire carriage has made them soft in the old days when they behind horses by day or by night they said naught if a river barred the way or a carriage sat down in the mud it was the will of gk d not like a fire carriage which goes and goes and goes and would go though all the devils in the land hung on to its tail the fire carriage hath spoiled the english people after all what is a day lost or for that matter what are two days is the going to his own wedding that he is so mad with haste ho ho ho i am an old man and see few forgive me if i have forgotten the respect that is due to them the s is not angry in flood time his own wedding ho ho ho the mind of an old man is like the fruit bud blossom and the dead leaves of all the years of the past flourish together old and new and that which is gone out of remembrance all three are there sit on the and drink milk or would the in truth care to drink my tobacco it is good it is the tobacco of my son who is in service there sent it to me drink then if you know how to handle the the takes it like a where did he learn that his own wedding ho ho ho the says that there is no wedding in the matter at all now is it likely that the would speak true talk to me who am only a black man small wonder then that he is in haste thirty years have i beaten the at this ford but never have i seen a in such haste thirty years that is a very long time thirty years ago this ford was on the track of the and i have in black and white seen two thousand pack cross in one night now the rail has come and the fire carriage says and a hundred of slide across that big bridge it is very wonderful but the ford is lonely now that there are no to camp under the trees nay do not trouble to look at the sky without it will rain till the dawn listen the are talking to night in the bed of the river hear them they would be your bones had you tried to cross see i will shut the door and no rain can enter a hi thirty years on the banks of the ford an old man am i and where is the oil for the lamp your pardon but because of my years i sleep no than a dog and you moved to the door look then look and listen a full half from bank to bank is the stream now you can see it under the stars and there are ten feet of tn flood time water therein it will not shrink because of the anger in your eyes and it will not be quiet on account of your curses which is louder your voice or the voice of the river call to it perhaps it will be ashamed lie down and sleep afresh i know the anger of the when there has fallen rain in the foot hills i swam the flood once on a night worse than this and by the favor of god i was released from death when i had come to the very gates thereof may i tell the tale very good talk i will fill the pipe anew thirty years ago it was when i was a young man and had but newly come to the ford i was strong then and the had no doubt when i said this ford is clear i have toiled all night up to my shoulder blades in running water amid a hundred mad with fear and have brought them across losing not a when all was done i fetched the shivering men and they gave me for reward the in black and li pick of their cattle the bell of the drove so great was the honor in which i was held but to day when the rain falls and the river rises i creep into my hut and like a dog the strength is gone from me i am an old man and the has made the ford desolate they were wont to call me the strong one of the behold my face it is the face of a monkey and my arm it is the arm of an old woman i swear to you that a woman has loved this face and has rested in the hollow of this arm twenty years ago believe me this was true talk twenty years ago come to the door and look across can you see a thin fire very far away down the stream that is the temple fire in the shrine of of the village of north under the big star is the village itself but it is hidden by a bend of the river is that far to swim would you take off your clothes and adventure yet i in flood time swam to not once but many times and there are in the river too love knows no caste else why should i a and the son of a have sought a woman a widow of the the sister of the of but it was even so they of the s household came on a pilgrimage to when she was but newly a bride silver were upon the wheels of the cart and silken curtains hid the woman i made no haste in their conveyance for	39
i could but lie on the boom and for breath after a while the rain ceased and there came out in the sky certain new washed stars and by their light i saw that there was no end to the black water as far as the eye could travel and the water had risen upon the rails there were dead beasts in the in flood time on the and others caught by the neck in the work and others not yet drowned who strove to find a on the work and and wild pig and deer one or two and and past all counting their bodies were black upon the left side of the bridge but the smaller of them were forced through the work and whirled down stream thereafter the stars died and the rain came down afresh and the river rose yet more and i felt the bridge begin to stir under me as a man in his sleep ere he wakes but i was not afraid i swear to you that i was not afraid though i had no power in my limbs i knew that i should not die till i had seen her once more but i was very cold and i felt that the bridge must go there was a trembling in the water such a trembling as goes before the coming of a great wave and the bridge lifted its flank to the rush of that coming so that the right dipped under water and the left rose clear on my beard i am speaking in black and white god s truth as a stone boat to the wind so the bridge turned just thus and in no other manner i slid from the boom into deep water and behind me came the wave of the wrath of the river i heard its voice and the scream of the middle part of the bridge as it moved from the and sank and i knew no more till i rose in the middle of the great flood i put forth my hand to swim and lo it fell upon the knotted hair of the head of a man he was dead for no one but i the strong one of could have lived in that race he had been dead full two days for he rode high and was an aid to me i laughed then knowing for a that i should yet see her and take no harm and i twisted my fingers in the hair of the man for i was far spent and together we went down the stream he the dead and i the living lacking that help i should have sunk the cold was in my and my flesh was and on my bones but he had no fear who had known the of in flood time the power of the river and i let him go where he chose at last we came into the power of a side current that set to the right bank and i strove with my feet to draw with it but the dead man swung heavily in the whirl and i feared that some branch had struck him and that he would sink the tops of the brushed my knees so i knew we were come into flood water above the crops and after i let down my legs and felt bottom the ridge of a field and after the dead man stayed upon a under a fig tree and i drew my body from the water rejoicing does the know whither the of the flood had borne me to the which is the eastern boundary mark of the village of no other place i drew the dead man up on the grass for the service that he had done me and also because i knew not whether i should need him again then i went crying thrice like a to the appointed place which was near the of the s house but my in black and white love was already there weeping upon her knees she feared that the flood had swept my hut at the ford when i came softly through the ankle deep water she thought it was a ghost and would have fled but i put my arms round her and i was no ghost in those days though i am an old man now ho ho dried corn in truth without ho ho i told her the story of the breaking of the bridge and she said that i was greater than mortal man for none may cross the in full flood and i had seen what never man had seen before hand in hand we went to the where the dead lay and i showed her by what help i had made the ford she looked also upon the body under the stars for the latter end of the night was clear and hid her face in her hands crying it is the body of i said the swine is of more use dead than living my beloved and she said i grieve to say that the of the ford is responsible here for two very bad in the r k in flood time surely for he has saved the dearest life in the world to my love none the less he cannot stay here for that would bring shame upon me the body was not a from her door then said i rolling the body with my hands god hath judged between us that thy blood might not be upon my head now whether i have done thee a wrong in keeping thee from the burning do thou and the settle together so i cast him adrift into the flood water and he was drawn out to the open ever his thick black beard like a priest under the pulpit board and i saw no more	39
of before the breaking of the day we two parted and i moved towards such of the as was not with the full light i saw what i had done in the darkness and the bones of my body were loosened in my flesh for there ran two of raging water between the village of and the trees of the far bank and in the middle the black and white of the bridge showed like broken teeth in the jaw of an old man nor was there any life upon the waters neither birds nor boats but only an army of drowned things and horses and men and the river was than blood from the of the foot hills never had i seen such a flood never since that year have i seen the like and o no man living had done what i had done there was no return for me that day not for all the lands of the would i venture a second time without the shield of darkness that danger i went a up the river to the house of a blacksmith saying that the flood had swept me from my hut and they gave me food seven days i stayed with the blacksmith till a boat came and i returned to my house there was no trace of wall or roof or floor naught but a patch of mud judge therefore how far the river must have risen it was written that i should not die either in my house or in the heart of the in flood time or under the wreck of the bridge for god sent down two days dead though i know not how the man died to be my and support has been in hell these twenty years and the thought of that night must be the flower of his torment listen the river has changed its voice it is going to sleep before the dawn to which there is yet one hour with the light it will come down afresh how do i know have i been here thirty years without knowing the voice of the river as a father knows the voice of his son every moment it is talking less angrily i swear that there will be no danger for one hour or perhaps two i cannot answer for the morning be quick i will call ram and he will not turn back this time is the tightly upon all the baggage with a mud head the elephant for the and tell them on the far side that there will be no crossing after daylight money nay i am not of that black white kind no not even to give to the baby folk my house look you is empty and i am an old man ram good luck go with you the sending of da when the devil rides on your chest remember the native proverb once upon a time some people in india made a new heaven and a new earth out of broken tea cups a missing or two and a hair brush these were hidden under bushes or stuffed into holes in the and an entire civil service of subordinate gods used to find or mend them again and every one said there are more things in heaven and earth than are of in our philosophy several other things happened also but the religion never seemed to get much beyond its first though it added an air line and effects in order to keep abreast of the times and stall off competition this religion was too elastic for ordinary black white use it stretched itself and embraced pieces of everything that medicine men of all ages have it approved of and stole from the of half their pet words took any fragments of egyptian philosophy that it found in the as many of the as had been translated into french or english and talked of all the rest built in the german of what is left of the encouraged white gray and black magic including fortune telling by cards hot double nuts and would have adopted and had it known anything about and showed itself in every way one of the most arrangements that had ever been invented since the birth of the sea when it was in thorough working order with all the machinery down to the complete da came from nowhere with nothing in his hands and wrote the sending of da a chapter in its history which has hitherto been he said that his first name was and his second was da now setting aside of the new york sun is a name and da fits no native of india unless you accept the de as the original da is lap or and da was neither chin lap jew nor anything else known to he was simply da and declined to give further information for the sake of and as roughly indicating his origin he was called the native he might have been the original old man of the mountains who is said to be the only head of the tea cup creed some people said that he was but da used to smile and deny any connection with the explaining that he was an independent as i have said he came from nowhere in black and white with his hands behind his back and studied the creed for three weeks sitting at the feet of those best competent to explain its mysteries then he laughed aloud and went away but the laugh might have been either of devotion or derision when he returned he was without money but his pride was he declared that he knew more about the things in heaven and earth than those who taught him and for this was abandoned altogether his next appearance in public life was at a big in upper india and he was	39
then telling fortunes with the help of three leaden a very dirty old cloth and a little tin box of he told better fortunes when he was allowed half a bottle of but the things he invented on the were quite worth the money he was in reduced circumstances among other people s he told the fortune of an englishman who had once been interested in the creed but who later on had the sending of da married and forgotten all his old knowledge in the study of babies and exchange the englishman allowed da to tell a fortune for charity s sake and gave him five a dinner and some old clothes when he had eaten da professed gratitude and asked if there were anything he could do for his host in the line is there any one that you love said da the englishman loved his wife but had no desire to drag her name into the conversation he therefore shook his head is there any one that you hate said da the englishman said that there were several men whom he hated deeply very good said da upon whom the and the were beginning to tell only give me their names and i will despatch a sending to them and kill them now a sending is a horrible arrangement first invented they say in it is a thing sent by a and may take any in black and white form but most generally about the land in the shape of a little purple cloud till it finds the and him it by changing into the form of a horse a cat or a man without a face it is not strictly a native patent though can if irritated despatch a sending which sits on the breast of their enemy by night and nearly him very few natives care to for this reason let me despatch a sending said da i am nearly dead now with want and drink and but i should like to kill a man before i die i can send a sending anywhere you choose and in any form except in the shape of a man the englishman had no friends that he wished to kill but partly to soothe da whose eyes were rolling and partly to see what would be done he asked whether a modified sending could not be arranged for such a sending as should make a man s life a burden to him and yet do him no harm if this were possible he his the sending of da to give da ten for the job i am not what i was once said da and i must take the money because i am poor to what englishman shall i send it send a sending to lone said the englishman a man who had been most bitter in him for his from the tea cup creed da laughed and nodded i could have chosen no better man my self said he i will see that he finds the sending about his path and about his bed he lay down on the hearth rug turned up the of his eyes shivered all over and began to this was magic or or the sending or all three when he opened his eyes he vowed that the sending had started upon the war path and was at that moment flying up to the town where lone lives give me my ten said da wearily and write a letter to lone in black and white telling him and all who believe with him that you and a friend are using a power greater than theirs they will see that you are speaking the truth he departed with the promise of some more if anything came of the sending the englishman sent a letter to lone in what he remembered of the of the creed he wrote i also in the days of what you held to be my have obtained and with has come power then he grew so deeply mysterious that the of the letter could make neither head nor tail of it and was impressed for he fancied that his friend had become a fifth when a man is a fifth he can do more than and combined lone read the letter in five different fashions and was beginning a sixth interpretation when his bearer dashed in with the news that there was a cat on the bed now the sending of da if there was one thing that lone hated more than another it was a cat he the bearer for not turning it out of the house the bearer said that he was afraid all the doors of the bedroom had been shut throughout the morning and no real cat could possibly have entered the room he would prefer not to with the creature lone entered the room and there on the pillow of his bed and a white not a little beast but a like with its eyes barely opened and its lacking strength or direction a that ought to have been in a basket with its mamma lone caught it by the of its neck handed it over to the to be drowned and the bearer four that evening as he was reading in his room he fancied that he saw something moving about on the hearth rug outside the circle of light from his reading lamp when the thing began to he realized that it was a a white in black and white nearly blind and very miserable he was seriously angry and spoke bitterly to his bearer who said that there was no in the room when he brought in the lamp and real of tender age generally had mother cats in attendance if the presence will go out into the and listen said the bearer he will hear no cats how therefore can the on the bed and the	39
on the hearth rug be real lone went out to listen and the bearer followed him but there was no sound of for her children he returned to his room having hurled the down the and wrote out the incidents of the day for the benefit of his co those people were so absolutely free from superstition that they ascribed anything a little out of the common to as it was their business to know all about the they were on terms of almost familiarity with of every kind their letters dropped the sending of da from the ceiling and spirits used to up and down their all night but they had never come into contact with lone wrote out the facts noting the hour and the minute as every observer is bound to do and the englishman s letter because it was the most mysterious document and might have had a bearing upon anything in this world or the next an would have translated all the thus look out you laughed at me once and now i am going to make you sit up lone s co found that meaning in it but their translation was refined and full of four syllable words they held a and were filled with tremulous joy for in spite of their familiarity with all the other worlds and they had a very human awe of things sent from they met in lone s room in and gloom and their was broken up by a among in black and white the frames on the mantel piece a white nearly blind was and itself between the clock and the that stopped all or here was the in the flesh it was so far as could be seen devoid of purpose but it was a of they a round robin to the englishman the of old days him in the interests of the creed to explain whether there was any connection between the of some egyptian god or other i have forgotten the name and his communication they called the ra or or or or something and when lone confessed that the first one had at his most instance been drowned by the they said that in his next life he would be a and not even a of the lowest grade these words may not be quite correct but they express the sense of the house accurately the of da when the englishman received the round robin it came by post he was startled and bewildered he sent into the for da who read the letter and laughed that is my sending said he i told you i would work well now give me another ten but what in the world is this about egyptian gods asked the englishman cats said da with a for he had discovered the englishman s bottle cats and cats and cats never was such a sending a hundred of cats now give me ten more and write as i dictate da s letter was a curiosity it bore the englishman s signature and hinted at cats at a sending of cats the mere words on paper were and to behold what have you done though said the englishman i am as much in the dark as ever do you mean to say that you can so in black and white actually send this absurd sending you talk about judge for yourself said da what does that letter mean in a little time they will all be at my feet and yours and i o glory will be or drunk all day long da knew his people when a man who hates cats wakes up in the morning and finds a little on his breast or puts his hand into his pocket and finds a little half dead where his gloves should be or opens his trunk and finds a vile among his dress shirts or goes for a long ride with his on his saddle bow and shakes a little from its folds when he opens it or goes out to dinner and find a little blind under his chair or stays at home and finds a under the or among his boots or hanging head downwards in his tobacco jar or being by his in the when such a man finds the sending of da one neither more nor less once a day in a place where no rightly could or should be he is naturally upset when he dare not murder his daily because he believes it to be a an an and half a dozen other things all out of the regular course of nature he is more than upset he is actually distressed some of lone s thought that he was a highly favored individual but many said that if he had treated the first with proper respect as suited a ra all this trouble would have been averted they compared him to the ancient but none the less they were proud of him and proud of the englishman who had sent the they did not call it a sending because magic was not in their programme after sixteen that is to say after one fortnight for there were three on the first day to impress the fact of the sending the whole camp was uplifted by a letter i y in black and white it came flying through a window from the old man of the mountains the head of all the creed explaining the in the most beautiful language and up all the credit of it for himself the englishman said the letter was not there at all he was a without power or who couldn t even raise a table by force of much less project an army of through space the entire arrangement said the letter was strictly worked and by the highest authorities within the pale of	39
and write lectures about it and the lectures to young persons in order that morality may be preserved in the east where the profession is hereditary descending from mother to daughter nobody writes lectures or takes any notice and that is a distinct proof of the inability of the east to manage its own affairs s real husband for even ladies of in black and white s profession in the east must have husbands was a great big tree her mamma who had married a fig spent ten thousand on s wedding which was blessed by forty seven of mamma s church and distributed five thousand in charity to the poor and that was the custom of the land the advantages of having a tree for a husband are obvious you cannot hurt his feelings and he looks imposing s husband stood on the plain outside the city walls and s house was upon the east wall facing the river if you fell from the broad seat you dropped thirty feet sheer into the city ditch but if you stayed where you should and looked forth you saw all the cattle of the city being driven down to water the students of the government college playing the high grass and trees that fringed the the great sand bars that the river the red of dead beyond the river and very far away through the on the city wall blue heat haze a of the of the used to lie in the window seat for hours at a time watching this view he was a young who was suffering from education of the english variety and knew it his father had sent him to a mission school to get wisdom and had absorbed more than ever his father or the intended he should when his father died was independent and spent two years with the of the earth and reading books that are of no use to anybody had made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the roman catholic church and the fold at the same time the found him out and called him names but they didn t understand his trouble he discovered on the city wall and became the most constant of her few admirers he possessed a head that english artists at home would over and paint amid impossible surroundings a face that female in black and white would use with delight through nine hundred pages in reality he was only a clean bred young with eyebrows small cut nostrils little feet and hands and a very tired look in his eyes by virtue of his twenty two years he had grown a neat black beard which he with pride and kept delicately scented his life seemed to be divided between books from me and making love to in the window seat he composed songs about her and some of the songs are sung to this day in the city from the street of the mutton to the copper ward one song the prettiest of all says that the beauty of was so great that it troubled the hearts of the british government and caused them to lose their peace of mind that is the way the song is sung in the streets but if you examine it carefully and know the key to the explanation you will find that there are three in it on beauty heart and peace of mind so that it runs by the of on the city wall the administration of the government was troubled and it lost such and such a man when sings that song his eyes glow like hot coals and back among the cushions and throws of at but first it is necessary to explain something about the supreme government which is above all and below all and behind all gentlemen come from england spend a in india walk round this great of the plains and write books upon its ways and its works or it as their own ignorance consequently all the world knows how the supreme government itself but no one not even the supreme government knows everything about the administration of the empire year by year england sends out fresh for the first fighting line which is called the indian civil service these die or kill themselves by or are worried to death or broken in health and hope in order that the land may be protected from in black and white death and sickness famine and war and may eventually become capable of standing alone it will never stand alone but the idea is a pretty one and men are willing to die for it and yearly the work of pushing and and scolding and the country into good living goes forward if an advance be made all credit is given to the native while the englishmen stand back and wipe their if a failure occurs the englishmen step forward and take the blame tenderness of this kind has bred a strong belief among many natives that the native is capable of the country and many devout englishmen believe this also because the theory is stated in beautiful english with all the latest political there be other men who though see visions and dream dreams and they too hope to administer the country in their own way that is to say with a of red such men must exist among two hundred million people and if on the city wall l t they are not attended to may cause trouble and even break the great idol called which as the newspapers say lives between and cape were the day of doom to dawn to morrow you would find the supreme government taking measures to popular excitement and putting guards upon the that the dead might troop forth orderly the youngest would arrest on his own responsibility if the could not produce a s permission to make music or other noises	39
as the form says whence it is easy to see that mere men of the flesh who would create a tumult must fare badly at the hands of the supreme government and they do there is no outward sign of excitement there is no confusion there is no knowledge when due and sufficient reasons have been given weighed and approved the machinery moves forward and the of dreams and the of visions is gone from his friends and m j r black and white following he the hospitality of government there is no upon his movements within certain limits but he must not confer any more with his brother once in every six months the supreme government itself that he is well and takes formal acknowledgment of his existence no one against his because the few people who know about it are in deadly fear of seeming to know him and never a single newspaper takes up his case or on his behalf because the newspapers of india have got behind that lying proverb which says the pen is than the sword and can walk delicately and with so now you know as much as you ought about the mixture and the supreme government has not yet been described she would need so says a thousand pens of gold and ink scented with she has been compared to the on the city wall moon the lake a spotted a the sun on the desert of the dawn the stars and the young these imply that she is beautiful exceedingly according to the native standards which are practically the same as those of the west her eyes are black and her hair is black and her eyebrows are black as her mouth is tiny and says witty things her hands are tiny and have saved much money her feet are tiny and have trodden on the naked hearts of many men but as sings is and when you have said that you have only come to the of knowledge the little house on the city wall was just big enough to hold and her maid and a cat with a silver collar a big pink and blue cut glass hung from the ceiling of the reception room a petty had given the horror and she kept it for politeness sake the floor of the room was of polished white as a window of carved wood was set in one in black and white wall there was a profusion of cushions and fat carpets everywhere and s silver studded with had a special little carpet all to its shining self was nearly as permanent a as the as i have said he lay in the window seat and meditated on life and death and specially the feet of the young men of the city tended to her and then retired for was a particular maiden slow of speech reserved of mind and not in the least inclined to which were nearly certain to end in strife if i am of no value i am unworthy of this honor said if i am of value they are unworthy of me and that was a crooked sentence in the long hot nights of latter april and may all the city seemed to in s little white room to smoke and to talk of the and most persuasion who had lost all belief in the prophet and retained but little in god wandering priests on the city wall passing southward on their way to the central india and other affairs in black gowns with spectacles on their noses and wisdom in their bearded of the wards with all the details of the latest scandal in the golden temple red eyed priests from beyond the border looking like wolves and talking like m a s of the university very superior and very all these people and more also you might find in the white room lay in the window seat and listened to the talk it is s said to me and it is is not that the word outside of a s lodge i have never seen such there i dined once with a jew a he into the city ditch with apologies for allowing national feelings to overcome him though i have lost every belief in the world said he and try to be proud of my losing i cannot help a jew admits no jews here in black and white but what in the world do all these men do i asked the curse of our country said they talk it is like the always hearing and telling some new thing ask the pearl and she will show you how much she knows of the news of the city and the province knows everything i said at random she was talking to a gentleman of the persuasion who had come in from god knows where when does the th regiment go to it does not go at all said without turning her head they have ordered the th to go in its stead that regiment goes to in three months unless they give a fresh order that is so said without a shade of doubt can you with your and your newspapers do better always hearing and telling some new thing he went on my friend has your god on the city wall ever smitten a european nation for in the india has for centuries always standing in the until the soldiers go by therefore you are here to day instead of starving in country and i am not a i am a product a product that also i owe to you and yours that i cannot make an end to my sentence without quoting from your authors he pulled at the and mourned half half in earnest for the shattered hopes of his youth was always mourning over something	39
or other the country of which he or the creed in which he had lost faith or the life of the english which he could by no means understand never mourned she played little songs on the v r and to hear her sing o cry again was always a fresh pleasure she knew all the songs that have ever been sung from the war songs of the south that make the old men angry with the young men and the young men angry with iv black and white the state to the love songs of the north where the swords like angry in the pauses between the kisses and the passes fill with armed men and the lover is torn from his beloved and cries ai at she knew how to make up tobacco for the a so that it smelt like the gates of paradise and you gently through them she could strange things in gold and silver and dance softly with the moonlight when it came in at the window also she knew the hearts of men and the heart of the city and whose wives were faithful and whose and more of the secrets of the government offices than are good to be set down in this place her maid said that her was worth ten thousand pounds and that some night a thief would enter and murder her for its possession but said that all the city would tear that thief limb from limb and that he whoever he was knew it so she took her and sat in the win on the city wall dow seat and sang a song of old days that had been sung by a girl of her profession in an armed camp on the eve of a great battle the day before the of the ran red and fled fifty miles to with a at his horse s tail and another on his saddle bow it was what men call a and it said their warrior forces before the led the children of the sun and fire behind him turned and fled and the chorus said with them there fought who rides so free with sword and red the warrior youth who his fee at peril of his head at peril of his head said in english to me thanks to your government all our heads are protected and with the at my command his eyes i might be a distinguished member of the local in black and white tion perhaps in time i might even be a member of a council don t speak english said bending over her afresh the chorus went out from the city wall to the blackened wall of fort which the city no man knows the precise extent of fort three kings built it hundreds of years ago and they say that there are miles of rooms beneath its walls it is peopled with many ghosts a of garrison and a company of in its prime it held ten thousand men and filled its with at peril of his head sang again and again a head moved on one of the the gray head of an old man and a voice rough as skin on a sword sent back the last line of the chorus and broke into a song that i could not understand though and wall listened intently what is it i asked who is it on the city wall a consistent man said wall he fought you in when he was a warrior youth re fought you in and he tried to fight you in but you had learned the trick of blowing men from guns too well now he is old but he would still fight if he could is he a then why should he answer to a if he be or said i i do not know said he has lost perhaps his religion perhaps he wishes to be a king perhaps he is a king i do not know his name that is a lie if you know his career you must know his name that is quite true i belong to a nation of i would rather not tell you his name think for yourself finished her song pointed to the fort and said simply hm said if the pearl chooses to tell you the pearl is a fool i translated to who laughed i in black white choose to tell what i choose to tell they kept in said she they kept him there for many years until his mind was changed in him so great was the kindness of the government finding this they sent him back to his own country that he might look upon it before he died he is an old man but when he looks upon this his country his memory will come moreover there be many who remember him he is an interesting said pulling at the he returns to a country now full of and political reform but as the pearl says there are many who remember him he was once a great man there will never be any more great men in india they will all when they are boys go after strange gods and they will become citizens fellow citizens illustrious fellow citizens what is it that the native papers call them seemed to be in a very bad temper looked out of the window on the city wall and smiled into the dust haze i went away thinking about who had once made history with a thousand followers and would have been a but for the power of the supreme government the senior captain commanding fort was away on leave but the his had drifted down to the club where i found him and inquired of him whether it was really true that a political prisoner had been added to the	39
attractions of the fort the explained at great length for this was the first time that he had held command of the fort and his glory lay heavy upon him yes said he a man was sent in to me about a week ago from down the line a thorough gentleman whoever he is of course i did all i could for him he had his two servants and some silver cooking pots and he looked for all the world like a native officer i called him just as well to be on the safe side y know look here i said you re handed tn black and white over to my authority and supposed to guard you now i don t want to make your life hard but you must make things easy for me all the fort is at your disposal from the to the dry ditch and i shall be happy to entertain you in any way i can but you mustn t take advantage of it give me your word that you won t try to escape and til give you my word that you shall have no heavy guard put over you i thought the best way of getting at him was by going at him straight y know and it was by jove the old man gave me his word and moved about the fort as contented as a sick crow he s a chap always asking to be told where he is and what the buildings about him are i had to sign a slip of blue paper when he turned up acknowledging receipt of his body and all that and i m responsible y know that he doesn t get away queer thing though looking after a old enough to be your grandfather isn t it come to the fort one of these days and see him on the city wall for reasons which will appear i never went to the fort while was then within its walls i knew him only as a gray head seen from s window a gray head and a harsh voice but natives told me that day by day as he looked upon the fair lands round his memory came back to him and with it the old hatred against the government that had been nearly in far off so he raged up and down the west face of the fort from morning till noon and from evening till the night vain things in his heart and war songs when sang on the city wall as he grew more acquainted with the he his old heart of some of the passions that had withered it he used to say tapping his stick against the when i was a young man i was one of twenty thousand who came out of the city and rode round the plain here i was the leader of a hundred then of a thousand then of five thousand and now he o in black and white pointed to his two servants but from the beginning to to day i would cut the throats of all the in the land if i could hold me fast lest i get away and return to those who would follow me i forgot them when i was in but now that i am in my own country again i remember everything do you remember that you have given me your honor not to make your a hard matter said the yes to you only to you said to you because you are of a pleasant countenance if my turn again i will not hang you nor cut your throat thank you said the gravely as he looked along the line of guns that could pound the city to powder in half an hour let us go into our own quarters come and talk with me after dinner would sit on his own cushion at the s feet drinking heavy on the city wall l scented seed brandy in great and telling strange stories of fort which had been a palace in the old days of and tortured to death ay in the very chamber that now served as a mess room would tell stories of that made the s cheeks flush and with pride of race and of the rising from which so much was expected and the of which was shared by a hundred thousand souls but he never told tales of because as he said he was the s guest and is a year that no man black or white cares to speak of once only when the seed brandy had slightly affected his head he said speaking now of a matter which lay between and the affair of the it was ever a wonder to us that you stayed your hand at all and that having stayed it you did not make the land one prison now i hear from without that you do great honor to all men of our country and by your own hands are destroying the terror of your name which in black and white is your strong rock and defence this is a foolish thing will oil and water mix now in i was not born then said the and to his quarters the would tell me of these conversations at the club and my desire to see increased but sitting in the seat of the house the city wall said that it would be a cruel thing to do and pretended that i preferred the society of a old to hers here is tobacco here is talk here are many friends and all the news of the city and above all here is myself i will tell you stories and sing you songs and will talk his english nonsense in your ears is that worse than watching the animal yonder go to morrow then if you must but to day	39
such and such an one will be here and he will speak of wonderful things it happened that to r came on the city wall and the warm heat of the latter rains gave place to the chill of early october almost before i was aware of the flight of the year the captain commanding the fort returned from leave and took over charge of according to the laws of the captain was not a nice man he called all natives which besides being extreme bad form shows gross ignorance what s the use of telling oflf two s to watch that old said he i fancy it his vanity said the the men are ordered to keep well out of his way but he takes them as a tribute to his importance poor old beast i won t have line men taken off regular guards in this way put on a couple of native said the lifting his eyebrows they re all alike these black and the captain talked to in a manner which hurt that old gentleman s feelings fifteen years in black and white before when he had been caught for the second time every one looked upon him as a sort of tiger he liked being regarded in this light but he forgot that the world goes forward in fifteen years and many are promoted to the captain pig is in charge of the fort said to his native guard every morning and the native guard said yes in deference to his age and his air of distinction but they did not know who he was in those days the gathering in s little white room was always large and talked more than before the said who had been my books the inhabitants of the city of where they were always hearing and telling some new thing secluded their women who were mostly fools hence the glorious institution of the women is it not who were amusing and not fools all the greek philosophers delighted in their company on the city wall tell me my friend how it goes now in greece and the other places upon the continent of europe are your women folk also fools i said you never speak to us about your women folk and we never speak about ours to you that is the bar between us yes said it is curious to think that our common meeting place should be here in the house of a common how do you call her f he pointed with the pipe mouth to is nothing else but i said and that was perfectly true but if you took your place in the world and gave up dreaming dreams i might wear an english coat and i might be a leading i might even be received at the s parties where the english stand on one side and the natives on the other in order to promote social intercourse throughout the empire heart s heart said he to in black and white quickly the says that i ought to quit you the is always talking stupid talk returned with a laugh in this house i am a queen and thou art a king the she put her arms above her head and thought for a moment the shall be our thine and mine because he has said that thou leave me laughed and i laughed too be it so said he my friend are you willing to take this government appointment what shall bis pay be but began to sing and for the rest of the time there was no hope of getting a sensible answer from her or when the one stopped the other began to quote poetry with a triple in every other line some of it was not strictly proper but it was all very funny and it only came to an end when a fat person in black with gold sent up his name on the city wall to and dragged me into the twinkling night to walk in a big rose garden and talk about religion and and a man s career in life the the great mourning festival of the was close at hand and the things that said about religious would have secured his from the thinking there were the rose bushes round us the stars above us and from every quarter of the city came the boom of the big drums you must know that the city is divided in fairly equal proportions between the and the and where both belong to the fighting races a big religious festival gives ample chance for trouble when they can that is to say when the authorities are weak enough to allow it the do their best to arrange some minor feast day of their own in time to clash with the period of al mourning for the and heroes of the gilt and painted paper black a d white of their are borne with shouting and wailing music and through the principal of the which are called their passage is laid down beforehand by the police and of police accompany each lest the should throw bricks at it and the peace of the queen and the heads of her loyal subjects should thereby be broken time in a fighting town means to all the officials because if a riot breaks out the officials and not the are held responsible the former must foresee everything and while not making their precautions elaborate must see that they are at least adequate listen to the drums said that is the heart of the people empty and making much noise how think you will the go this year think that there will be trouble he turned down a side street and left me alone with the stars and a sleepy police on the city wall then i went	39
to bed and dreamed that had the city and i was made with s silver for mark of office all day the drums beat in the city and all day of tearful gentlemen the with assurances that they would be murdered ere next dawning by the which said the in confidence to the head of police is a pretty fair indication that the are going to make unpleasant i think we can arrange a little surprise for them i have given the heads of both fair warning if they choose to disregard it so much the worse for them there was a large gathering in s house that night but of men that i had never seen before if i except the fat gentleman in black with the gold lay in the window seat more bitterly scornful of his faith and its than i had ever known him s maid was very in black and white busy cutting up and mixing tobacco for the guests we could hear the thunder of the drums as the accompanying each marched to the central gathering place in the plain outside the city preparatory to their triumphant re entry and circuit within the walls all the streets seemed with and only fort was black and silent when the noise of the drums ceased no one in the white room spoke for a time the first has moved off said looking to the plain that is very early said the man with the it is only half past eight the company rose and departed some of them were men from said when the last had gone they brought me brick tea such as the sell and a tea urn from show me now how the english make tea the brick tea was abominable when it was finished suggested a descent on the city wall into the streets i am nearly sure that there will be trouble to night he said all the city thinks so and is as the say now i tell you that at the corner of the gate you will find my horse all this night if you want to go about and to see things it is a most disgraceful exhibition where is the pleasure of saying ta ta twenty thousand times in a night all the there were two and twenty of them were now well within the city walls the drums were beating afresh the crowd were howling ta ta and beating their breasts the brass bands were playing their and at every corner where space allowed were telling the lamentable story of the death of the it was impossible to move except with the crowd for the streets were not more than twenty feet wide in the quarters the shutters of all the shops were up and as the first a gorgeous in black and white ten feet high was borne aloft on the shoulders of a score of stout men into the semi darkness of the of the a through its and sides into thy hands o lord murmured as a yell went up from behind and a native officer of police his horse through the crowd another followed and the staggered and swayed where it had stopped go on in the name of the go forward shouted the policeman but there was an ugly and of shutters and the crowd halted with oaths and before the house whence the had been thrown then without any warning broke the storm not only in the of the but in half a dozen other places the rocked like ships at sea the long dipped and rose round them while the men shouted the are the strike i strike into on the city wall their temples for the faith the six or eight with each drew their and struck as long as they could in the hope of forcing the mob forward bi they were overpowered and as of poured into the streets the fight became general half a mile away where the were yet untouched the drums and the x s oi ta i ta continued but not for long the priests at the corners of the streets knocked the legs from the that supported their and smote for the faith while stones fell from the silent houses upon friend and foe and the packed streets din din din k caught fire and was dropped for a flaming barrier between and at the corner of the then the crowd forward and drew me close to the stone pillar of a well it was intended from the beginning he shouted in my ear with more heat than blank should be guilty of the in black and white bricks were carried up to the houses beforehand these swine of we shall be in their temples to night after some burning others torn to pieces hurried past us and the mob with them howling shrieking and striking at the house doors in their flight at last we saw the reason of the rush the assistant district of police a boy of twenty had got together thirty and was forcing the crowd through the streets his old gray police horse showed no sign of uneasiness as it was breast on into the crowd and the long dog whip with which he had armed himself was never still they know we haven t enough police to hold em he cried as he passed me a cut on his face they we haven t aren any of the men from the club coming down to help get on you sons of burnt fathers the dog whip cracked across the backs and the smote afresh with and gun on the city wall butt with these passed the lights and the shouting and began to swear under his breath from fort shot up a single then two side by side it was the signal for troops the covered with dust and sweat	39
but calm and gently smiling up the clean swept street in rear of the main body of the no one killed yet he shouted til keep em on the run till dawn don t let em halt trot em about till the troops come the science of the defence lay solely in keeping the mob on the move if they had breathing space they would halt and fire a house and then the work of restoring order would be more difficult to say the least of it flames have the same effect on a crowd as blood has on a wild beast word had reached the club and men in evening dress were beginning to show themselves and lend a hand in heading off and breaking up the shouting masses with stir in black a ad white or chance found they were not very often attacked for the had sense enough to know that the death of a european would not mean one hanging but many and possibly the appearance of the thrice dreaded the in the city the had descended into the streets in real earnest and ere long the mob returned it was a strange sight there were no only their and there were no police here and there a city or was vainly imploring his co to keep quiet and behave themselves advice for which his white beard was pulled with then a native officer of police but still using his spurs with effect would be seen borne along in the throng warning all the world of the danger of insulting the government everywhere were men striking with sticks grasping each other by the throat howling and foaming with rage or beating with their bare hands on the doors of the houses on the city wall z it is a lucky thing that they are fighting with natural weapons i said to else we should have half the city killed i turned as i spoke and looked at his face his nostrils were his eyes were fixed and he was himself softly on the breast the crowd poured by with renewed riot a gang of by some hundred left my side with an oath and shouting ta ta plunged into the thick of the fight where i lost sight of him i fled by a side alley to the gate where i found s house and thence rode to the fort once outside the city wall the tumult sank to a dull roar very impressive under the stars and reflecting great credit on the fifty thousand angry able men who were making it the troops who at the instance had been ordered to quietly near the fort showed no signs of being impressed two companies of native in black a ad white a of native and a company of british were kicking their heels in the shadow of the east face waiting for orders to march in i am sorry to say that they were all pleased pleased at the chance of what they called a little fun the senior officers to be sure grumbled at having been kept out of bed and the english troops pretended to be sulky but there was joy in the hearts of all the and whispers ran up and down the line no ball what a shame d you think the beggars will really stand up to us hope i shall meet my money there i owe him more than i can afford oh they won t let us even swords up goes the fourth fall in there the garrison who to the last cherished a wild hope that they might be allowed to the city at a hundred yards range lined the above the and cheered themselves hoarse on the city wall as the british doubled along the road to the main gate of the city the cavalry on to the gate and the native marched slowly to the gate of the the surprise was intended to be of a distinctly unpleasant nature and to come on top of the defeat of the police who had been just able to keep the from firing the houses of a few leading the bulk of the riot lay in the north and wards the east and were by this time dark and silent and i rode hastily to s house for i wished to tell her to send some one in search of the house was but the door was open and i climbed up stairs in the darkness one small lamp in the white room showed and her maid leaning half out of the window breathing heavily and evidently pulling at something that refused to come thou art late very late gasped without turning her head help us now o fool if thou hast not spent thy strength o in black and white howling among the pull and i can do no more o is it you the have been hunting an old round the ditch with clubs if they find him again they will kill him help us to pull him up i laid my hands to the long red silk that was hanging out of the window and we three pulled and pulled with all the strength at our command there was something very heavy at the end and it was swearing in an unknown tongue as it kicked against the city wall pull oh pull said at the last a pair of brown hands grasped the window sill and a venerable tumbled upon the floor very much out of breath his jaws were tied up and his had fallen over one eye he was dusty and angry hid her face in her hands for an instant and said something about that i could not catch then to my extreme gratification she threw her arms round my neck and on the city wall pretty things i was in no haste o	39
stop her and being a hand maiden of tact turned to the big jewel chest that stands in the corner of the white room and among the contents the sat on the floor and glared one service more since thou hast come so said wilt thou it is very nice to be thou ed by take this old man across the city the troops are everywhere and they might hurt him for he is old to the gate there i think he may find a carriage to take him to his house he is a friend of mine and thou art more than a friend therefore i ask this bent over the old man tucked something into his belt and i raised him up and led him into the streets in crossing from the east to the west of the city there was no chance of avoiding the troops and the crowd long before i reached the of the i heard the shouts of the british crying cheerily ye in black white beggars ye devils get along go forward there then followed the ringing of rifle and shrieks of pain the troops were the bare toes of the mob with their not a had been fixed my companion and as we walked on until we were carried back by the crowd and had to force our way to the troops i caught him by the wrist and felt a the iron of the but i had no suspicions for had only ten minutes before put her arms round me thrice we were carried back by the crowd and when we won our way past the british it was to meet the cavalry driving another mob before them with the of their what are these dogs said the old man of the cavalry father i said and we edged our way up the line of horses two abreast and found the his smashed on his head surrounded by a knot of men who had come down from the club as amateur and had the police on the city wall we ll keep em on the run till dawn said who s your friend i had only time to say the protection of the when a fresh crowd flying before the native carried us a hundred yards nearer to the gate and was swept away like a shadow i do not know i cannot see it is all new to me moaned my companion how many troops are there in the city perhaps five hundred i said a of men beaten by five hundred and among them surely surely i am an old man but the gate is new who pulled down the stone lions where is the i am a very old man and alas i i cannot stand he dropped in the shadow of the gate where there was no disturbance a fat gentleman wearing gold came out of the darkness you are most kind to bring my old friend he said he is a of he should not be in a big in black a ad white city when there is religious excitement but i have a carriage here you are quite truly kind will you help me to put him into the carriage it is very late we the old man into a hired victoria that stood close to the gate and i turned back to the house on the city wall the were driving the people to and fro while the police shouted to your houses get to your houses and the dog whip of the assistant district cracked clung to the of the cavalry crying that their houses had been robbed which was a lie and the patted them on the shoulder and bade them return to those houses lest a worse thing should happen parties of five or six british soldiers joining arms swept down the side their on their backs stamping with shouting and song upon the toes of and never was religious enthusiasm more and never were poor of on the city wall s the peace more utterly weary and foot sore they were out of holes and corners from behind well pillars and and to go to their houses if they had no houses to go to so much the worse for their toes on returning to s door i stumbled over a man at the threshold he was sobbing and his arms like the wings of a goose it was and and at the mouth the flesh on his chest bruised and bleeding from the vehemence with which he had smitten himself a broken torch handle lay by his side and his quivering lips murmured ta ta as i stooped over him i pushed him a few steps up the staircase threw a at s city window and hurried home most of the streets were very still and the cold wind that comes before the dawn whistled down them in the centre of the square of the a man was bending o in black and white over a corpse the skull had been smashed in by gun butt or it is expedient that one man should die for the people said grimly raising the head these brutes were beginning to show their teeth too much and from afar we could hear the soldiers singing two lovely black eyes as they drove the remnant of the within doors of course you can guess what happened i was not so clever when the news went abroad that had escaped from the fort i did not since i was then living the story not writing it connect myself or or the fat gentleman of the gold with his disappearance nor did it strike me that was the man who should have him across the city or that s arms round my	39
bag the third bag his majesty the king the drums of the fore and aft poor mamma the world without the tents of with any amazement the garden of the valley of the shadow the swelling of l tales from the hills look yoa cast out lore i what gods are you bid me please the three in one the one in three not so i to my own gods i go it may be they shall give me greater case than your cold christ and tangled was the daughter of a hill man and h his wife one year their failed and two bears spent the night in their only field just above the valley on the side so next season they turned christian and brought their baby to the mission to be the her elizabeth and is the hill or later came into the valley and carried off and h and became half servant half companion to the wife of the then of this was after the reign of the but before had quite her title of mistress of the northern hills whether christianity improved or whether the gods of her own people would have done as much for her under any circumstances i do not know but she grew very lovely when a hill girl grows lovely she is worth travelling fifty miles over bad ground to look upon had a greek face one of those faces people paint so often and see so seldom she was of a pale ivory color and for her race extremely tall also she ey th t w e and had she not been dressed in the abominable print affected by you would meeting her on the hill side unexpectedly have thought her the original of the going out to took to christianity readily and did not abandon it when she reached womanhood as do some hill girls her own people hated her because she had they said become a and washed herself daily and the s wife did not know what to do with her somehow one cannot ask a stately goddess five foot ten in her shoes to clean plates and dishes so she played with the s children and took classes in the sunday school and read all the books in the house and grew more and more beautiful like the in fairy tales the s wife said that the girl ought to take service in as a nurse or something genteel but did not want to take service she was very happy where she was when travellers there were not many in those in to used to lock herself into her own room for fear they might take her away to or somewhere out into the unknown world one day a few months after she was seventeen years old went out for a walk she did not walk in the manner of english ladies a mile and a half out and a ride back again she covered between twenty and thirty miles in her little all about and about between and this time she came back at full dusk stepping down the break neck descent into with something in her arms the s wife was in the drawing room when came in breathing hard and very exhausted with her burden put it down on the sofa and said simply this is my husband i found him on the road he has hurt himself we will nurse him and when he is we l your husband shall marry him to me this was the first mention had ever made of her matrimonial views and the s wife shrieked with horror however the man on the sofa needed attention first he was a young englishman and his head had been cut to the bone by something jagged said she had found him down the so she had brought him in he was breathing and was unconscious he was put to bed and tended by the who knew something of medicine and waited outside the door in case she could be useful she explained to the that this was the man she meant to marry and the and his wife her severely on the of her conduct listened quietly and repeated her first proposition it takes a great deal of christianity to wipe out eastern instincts such as falling in love at first sight having found the man she worshipped did not see why she should keep silent as to her choice she had no intention of being sent away either she was going to nurse that englishman until he was well enough to marry her this was her little programme after a fortnight of slight fever and the englishman recovered and thanked the and his wife and especially for lo their kindness he was a traveller in the east he they never talked about globe in those days when the p k o fleet was young and small and had come from to hunt for plants and among the hills no one at therefore knew anything about him he fancied he must have fallen over the cliff while a on a rotten tree trunk and that his must have stolen his baggage and he thought he would go back to when he was a little stronger he desired no more he made small haste to go away and recovered his strength slowly objected to being advised either by the or his wife so the latter spoke to the englishman and told him how matters stood in s heart he laughed a good deal and said it was very pretty and romantic a perfect of the but as he was engaged to a girl at home he fancied that nothing would happen certainly he would behave with discretion he did that still he found it very pleasant to talk to and walk with and say nice things to her and call her pet	39
names while he was getting strong enough to go away it meant nothing at all to him and everything in the world to she was very happy while the fortnight lasted because she had found a man to love being a savage by birth she took no trouble to hide her feelings and the englishman was amused when he went away walked with him up the hill as far as very troubled and very miserable the s wife being a good christian and anything in the shape of fuss or scandal was beyond her management entirely had told the english man to tell that he i as coming back to marry ii her she is but a child you know and i fear at heart a heathen said the s wife so all the twelve miles up the hill the englishman with his arm around s waist was assuring the girl that he would come back and marry her and made promise over and over again she wept on the ridge till he had passed out of sight along the path then she dried her tears and went in to again and said to the s wife he will come back and marry me he has gone to his own people to tell them so and the s wife soothed and said he will come back at the end of two months grew impatient and was told that the englishman had gone over the seas to england she knew where england was because she had read little geography but of course she had no conception of the nature of the sea being a hill g there was an old puzzle map of the world in the house had played with it when she was a child she it ag n and put it together of evenings and cried to herself and tried to imagine where her englishman was as she had no ideas of distance or her notions were somewhat it would not have made the least difference had she been perfectly correct for the englishman had no intention of coming back to marry a hill girl he forgot all about her by the time he was butterfly hunting in he wrote a book on the east afterwards s name did not appear at the end of three months made daily pilgrimage to to see if her englishman was coming along the road it gave her comfort and the s wife finding her happier thought that she was getting over her barbarous and most folly a little later the walks ceased to help and her l temper grew very bad the s wife thought this a profitable time to let her know the real state of affairs that the englishman had only promised his love to keep her quiet that he had never meant anything and that it was wrong and improper of to think of marriage with an englishman who was of a superior clay besides being promised in marriage to a girl of his own people said that all this was clearly impossible because he had said he loved her and the s wife had with her own lips asserted that the englishman was coming back how can what he and you said be asked we said it as an excuse to keep you quiet child said the s wife then you have lied to me said you and he the s wife bowed her head and said nothing was silent too for a little time then he went out down the valley and returned in the dress of a hill girl dirty but without the nose and ear rings she had her hair into the long helped out with black thread that hill women wear i am going back to my own people said she you have killed there is only left old h s daughter the daughter of a the servant of you are all you english by the time that the s wife had recovered from the shock of the announcement that had to her mother s gods the girl had gone and she never came back she took to her own people savagely as if to make up the of the life she had stepped out of and in a time she married a wood who beat her after the manner of and her beauty faded soon there is no law whereby you can account for the of the heathen said the s wife and i believe that was always at heart an seeing she had been taken into the church of england at the mature age of five weeks this statement does not do credit to the s wife was a very old woman when she died she always had a perfect command of english and when she was sufficiently drunk could sometimes be induced to tell the story of her first love affair it was hard then to realize that the wrinkled creature so like a of rag could ever have been of the mission three and an extra three and an extra when and ropes are slipped do not give chase with but with ah proverb after marriage arrives a reaction sometimes a big sometimes a little one but it comes sooner or later and must be over by both parties if they desire the rest of their lives to go with the current in the case of the this reaction did not set in till the third year after the wedding was hard to hold at the best of times but he was a beautiful husband until the baby died and mrs wore black and grew thin and mourned as if the bottom of the universe had fallen out perhaps to have comforted her he tried to do so i think but the more he comforted the more mrs grieved and consequently the more uncomfortable grew the fact was that they	39
both needed a and they got it mrs can afford to laugh now but it was no laughing matter to her at the time you see mrs appeared on the horizon and where she existed was fair chance of trouble at her bye name was the stormy she had won that title five times to my own certain knowledge she was a little brown thin almost woman with big rolling violet blue eyes and the sweetest manners in the world you had only to mention her name at afternoon for every woman in the room to rise up and call her well not blessed she was clever witty three and an extra and sparkling beyond most of her kind but possessed of many devils of malice and she could be nice though even to her own sex but that is another story went off at score after the baby s death and the general discomfort that followed and mrs him she took no pleasure in hiding her she him publicly and saw that the public saw it he rode with her and walked with her and talked with her and with her and at s with her till people put up their eyebrows and said shocking mrs stayed at home turning over the dead baby s and crying into the empty cradle she did not care to do anything else but some eight dear affectionate lady friends explained the situation at to her in case she should miss the cream of it mrs listened quietly and thanked them for their good she was not as clever as mrs but she was no fool she kept her own counsel and did not speak to of what she had heard this is worth remembering speaking to or crying over a husband never did any good yet when was at home which was not often he was more affectionate than usual and that showed his hand the affection was forced partly to soothe his own conscience and partly to soothe mrs it failed in both regards then the a d c in waiting was commanded by their lord and lady to invite mr and mrs to on july th at p m dancing in the bottom left hand corner i can t go said mrs it is too soon after poor little but it need not stop you tom and an extra she meant what she said then and said he would go just to put in an appearance here he spoke the thing which was not and mrs knew it she guessed a woman s guess is much more accurate than a man s certainty that he had meant to go from the first and with mrs she sat down to think and the of her thoughts was that the memory of a dead child was worth considerably less than the affections of a living husband she made her plan and her all upon it in that hour she discovered that she knew tom thoroughly and this knowledge she acted on tom said she i shall be dining out at the on the evening of the th you d better dine at at the club this saved from making an excuse to get away and dine with mrs so he was grateful and felt small and mean at the same time which was wholesome left the house at five for a ride about half past five in the evening a large leather covered basket came in from for mrs she was a woman who knew how to dress and she had not spent a week on that dress and having it and hemmed and and tucked and or whatever the terms are for nothing it was a gorgeous dress slight mourning i can t describe it but it was what the queen calls a creation a thing that hit you straight between the eyes and made you gasp she had not much heart for what she was going to do but as she glanced at the long mirror she had the satisfaction of knowing that she had never looked so well in her life she was a large and when she chose carried herself aft r the dinner at the she went on to the three and an extra dance a little late and encountered with mrs on his arm that made her flush and as the men crowded round her for dances she looked magnificent she filled up all her dances except three and those she left blank mrs caught her eye once and she knew it was war real war between she started in the struggle for she had ordered about just the least little bit in the j too much and he was beginning to resent it moreover he had never seen bis wife look so lovely he stared at her from and glared at her from passages as she went about with her partners and the more he stared the more taken was he he could scarcely believe that this was the woman with the red eyes and the black stuff gown who used to weep over the eggs at breakfast mrs did her best to hold him in play after two dances he crossed over to his wife and asked for a dance tm afraid you ve come too late she said with her eyes twinkling then he begged her to give him a dance and as a great favor she allowed him the fifth luckily stood vacant on his programme they danced it together and there was a little flutter round the room had a sort of a notion that his wife could dance but he never knew she danced so at the end of that he asked for another as a favor not as a right and mrs said show me your programme dear he showed it as	39
a naughty little hands up sweets to a master there was a fair of h on it besides h at supper mrs said nothing but she smiled contemptuously ran her pencil through and two h s and returned the her own name x three an extra written above a pet name that only she and her husband used then she shook her finger at him and said laughing oh you silly boy mis heard that and she owned as much felt she had the worst of it accepted and gratefully they danced and out in one of the little tents what said and what mrs did is no concern of any one s when the band struck up the roast beef of old england the two went out into the and began looking for his wife s this was before days while she went into the mrs came up and said you take me into supper i think mr turned red and looked foolish ah h m i m going home w h my wife mrs i think there has been a little mistake being a man he spoke as though mrs we e entirely responsible mrs came out of the cloak room in a cloak with a white cloud round her head she looked radiant and she had a right to the couple went off into the darkness together riding very close to the then says mrs to me she looked a trifle faded and in the take my word for it the women can manage a clever man but it needs a very clever woman to manage a fool then we went in to supper away thrown away and some are sulky some will plunge so ho steady stand you some you must gentle and some you must there who to kill you f some there are losses in every trade will break their hearts ere and made will fi ht uke as the rope cuts hard and die dumb mad in the breaking yard chorus to rear a boy under what parents call the sheltered life system is if the boy must go into the world and for himself not wise unless he be one in a he has certainly to pass through many troubles and may possibly come to extreme grief simply from ignorance of the proper proportions of things let a eat the soap in the bath room or a newly boot he and until by and by he finds out that and old brown make him very sick so he that soap and boots are not wholesome any old dog about the house will soon show him the of biting big dogs ears being young he remembers and goes abroad at six months a well little beast with a appetite if he had been kept away from boots and soap and big dogs till he came to the and with developed teeth just consider how fearfully sick and he would be i apply that motion to the sheltered life and see how it works it does not sound pretty but it is the better of two evils wn a wa v there was a boy once who had been brought up under the sheltered life theory and the theory killed him dead he stayed with his people all his days from the hour he was bom till the hour he went into nearly at the top of the list he was beautifully taught in all that wins marks by a private and carried the extra weight of never having g ven his parents an hour s anxiety in his life what he learnt at beyond the regular routine is of no great consequence he looked about and he found soap and so to speak very good he ate a little and came out of not so high as he went in then there was an interval and a scene with his people who expected much from him next a year of living from the world in a third rate where all the were children and all the old women and lastly he came out to india where he was cut off from the support of his parents and had no one to fall back on in time of trouble except now india is a place all others where one must not take things too seriously the mid day sun always too much work and too much energy kill a man just as as too much vice or too much drink does not matter because every one is being transferred and either you or she leave the station and never return good work does not matter because a man is judged by his worst and another man takes all the credit of his best as a rule bad work does not matter because other men do worse and hang on longer in india than anywhere else amusements do not matter because you must repeat them as soon as you have accomplished them once and most amusements only mean trying to win another person s money sickness thrown away not matter because it s all in the day s work and ii u die another man takes over your place and your office in the eight hours between death and burial nothing matters except home and acting and these only because they are scarce this is a slack country where all men work with imperfect instruments and the wisest thing is to take no one and nothing in earnest but to escape as soon as ever you can to some place where amusement is amusement and a reputation worth the having but this boy the tale is as old as the hills came out and took all things seriously he was pretty and was he took the seriously and fretted over women not worth a pony to call upon he found	39
answer then we went up to the house calling for the boy by name but there was no answer oh he s out shooting said i just then i saw through one of the windows a little lamp burning this was at four in the afternoon we both stopped dead in the holding our breath to catch every sound and we heard inside the room the of a multitude of flies the major said nothing but he took off his and we entered very softly the boy was dead on the in the centre of the bare lime washed room he had shot his head nearly to pieces with his revolver the gun cases were still so was the and on the table lay thrown a wa y the boy s writing case with photographs he had gone away to die like a poisoned rat the major said to himself softly poor boy i poor poor devil then he turned away from the bed and said i want your help in this business knowing the boy was dead by his own hand i saw exactly what that help would be so i passed over to the table took a chair lit a and began to go through the writing case the major looking over my shoulder and repeating to himself we came too late like a rat in a hole poor poor devil the boy must have spent half the night in writing to his people to his colonel and to a girl at home and as soon as he had finished must have shot himself for he had been dead a long time when we came in i read all that he had written and passed over each sheet to the major as i finished it we saw from his accounts how very seriously he had taken everything he wrote about disgrace which he was unable to bear shame criminal folly wasted life and so on besides a lot of private things to his father and mother much too sacred to put into print the letter to the girl at home was the most pitiful of all and i choked as i read it the major made no attempt to keep i respected him for that he read and rocked himself to and fro and simply cried like a woman without caring to hide it the letters were so dreary and hopeless and touching we forgot all about the boy s follies and only thought of the poor thing on the and the sheets in our hands it was utterly impossible to let the letters go they would have broken his father s heart and killed his mother after killing her belief in her son t thrown a wa y at last the major dried his eyes openly and said nice sort of thing to spring on an english i what shall we do i said knowing what the major had brought me out for j the boy died of we were with him at the time we can t commit ourselves to half measures come along then began one of the most grimly comic scenes i have ever taken part in the of a big written lie with evidence to soothe the boy s people at home i began the rough of the letter the major throwing in hints here and there while he gathered up all the stuff that the boy had written and burnt it in the fire place it was a hot still evening when we began and the lamp burned very badly in due course i got the to my satisfaction forth how the boy was the pattern of all virtues beloved by his regiment with every promise of a great career before him and so on how we had helped him through the sickness it was no time for little lies you will understand and how he had died without pain i choked while i was putting down these things and thinking of the poor people who would read them then i laughed at the of the affair and the laughter mixed itself up with the choke and the major said that we both wanted drinks i am afraid to say how much we drank before the letter was finished it had not the least effect on us then we took off the s watch and rings lastly the major said we must send a lock of hair too a woman that but there were reasons why we could not find a lock fit to send the boy was black haired and so was the major luckily i cut off a piece of the major s hair above the temple with a knife and put it into the packet wn a wa y tj we w re making the laughing fit and the got hold of me again and i had to stop the major was nearly as bad and we both knew that the worst part of the work was to come we sealed up the packet photographs ring letter and lock of hair with the boy s wax and the boy s seal then the major said for god s sake let s get outside away from the room and think we went outside and walked on the banks of the canal for an hour eating and drinking what we had with us until the moon rose i know now exactly how a murderer feels finally we forced ourselves back to the room with the lamp and the other thing in it and began to take up the next piece of work i am not going to write about this it was too horrible we burned the and dropped the ashes into the canal we took up the of the room and treated that in the same way i went off to a	39
village and borrowed two big i did not want the villagers to help while the major arranged the other matters it took us four hours hard work to make the grave as we worked we argued out whether it was right to say as much as we remembered of the burial of the dead we things by saying the lord s prayer with a private prayer for the peace of the soul of the boy then we filled in the grave and went into the not the to lie down to sleep we were dead tired when we woke the major said wearily we can t go back till to morrow we must give him a decent time to die in he died early his morning remember that seems more natural so the major must have been lying awake all the time thinking l thrown a wa y i said then why didn t we bring the body back to the major thought for a minute because the people bolted when they heard of the and the has gone that was strictly true we had forgotten all about the pony and he had gone home so we were left there alone all that stifling day in the canal rest house and re our story of the boy s death to see if it was weak in any point a native turned up in the afternoon but we said that a was dead of and he ran away as the dusk gathered the major told me all his fears about the boy and awful stories of suicide or nearly suicide tales that made one s hair crisp he said that he himself had once gone into the same valley of the shadow as the boy when he was young and new to the country so he understood how things together in the boy s poor head he also said that in their moments consider their sins much more serious and than they really are we talked together all through the evening and the story of the death of the boy as soon as the moon was up and the boy just buried we struck across country for the station we walked from eight till six o clock in the morning but though we were dead tired we did not forget to go to the boy s rooms and put away his revolver with the proper amount of in the also to set his writing case on the table we found the colonel and reported the death feeling more like than ever then we went to bed and slept the clock round for there was no more in us the tale had as long as was necessary for thrown a wa y every one forgot about the boy before a fortnight was over many people however found time to say that the major had behaved in not bringing in the body for a funeral the thing of all was the letter from the boy s mother to the major and me with big all over the sheet she wrote the sweetest possible things about our great kindness and the obligation she would be under to us as long as she lived all things considered she was under an obligation but not exactly as she meant jo miss miss s when man and woman are agreed what can the do proverb some people say that there is no romance in india those people are wrong our lives hold quite as much romance as is good for us sometimes more was in the police and people did not understand him so they said he was a doubtful sort of a man and passed by on the other side had himself to thank for this he held the extraordinary theory that a policeman in india should try to know as much about the natives as the natives themselves now in the whole of upper india there is only one man who can pass for or ox as he pleases he is feared and respected by the natives from the to the and he is supposed to have the gift of and control over many devils but what good has this done him with the government none in the world he has never got for his charge and his name is almost unknown to englishmen was foolish enough to take that man for his model and following out his absurd theory in places no respectable man would think of exploring all among the native he educated himself in this peculiar way for seven years and people not appreciate it he was perpetually going among natives which of course no man with miss any sense believes in he was into at once when he was on leave he knew the song of the and the dance which is a religious can can of a startling kind when a man knows who dance the and how and when and where he knows something to be proud o he has gone deeper than the skin but was not proud though he had helped once at at the painting of the death bull which no englishman must even look upon had mastered the thieves of the had taken a horse thief alone near and had stood under the rd of a border and conducted service in the manner of a his crowning achievement was spending eleven days as l in the gardens of at and there picking up the threads of the great murder case but people said justly enough why on earth can t sit in his office and write up his and and keep quiet instead of showing up the of his so the murder case did him no good but after his first feeling of wrath he returned to his custom of into native life by the way when a man once a taste for this	39
particular amusement it with him all hi days it is the most fascinating thing in the world love not where other men took ten days to the hills took leave for what he called put on the disguise that appealed to him at the time stepped down into the brown crowd and was swallowed up for a while he was a quiet dark young fellow spare black eyed and when he was not thinking of something else a very interesting companion on native progress as he had seen it was worth hearing natives hated miss sa s but they were afraid of him he knew too much when the came into the station very gravely as he did everything fell in love with miss and she after a while fell in love with him because she could not understand him then told the parents but mrs said she was not going to throw her daughter into the worst paid department in the empire and old said in so many words that he s ways and works and would thank him not to speak or write to his daughter any more very well said for he did not wish to make his lady love s life a burden after one long talk with miss he dropped the business entirely the went up to in april in july secured three months leave on f private affairs he locked up his house though not a native in the province would have touched s gear for the world and went down to see a friend of his an old at here all trace of him was lost until a met me on the with this extraordinary note dear old man please a box of no i or preference they are at the club i ll repay when i but at present fm out of society e i ordered two boxes and handed them over to the with my love that was and he was in miss old s employ attached to miss s the poor fellow was suffering for an english smoke and knew that whatever happened i should hold my tongue till the business was over later on mrs who was wrapped up in her servants began talking at houses where she called of her among the man who was never too busy to get up in the morning and pick flowers for the breakfast table and who actually the hoofs of his horse like a london coachman the of miss s was a wonder and a delight found his reward in the pretty things that miss said to him when she went out riding her parents were pleased to find she had forgotten all her foolishness for young and said she was a good girl vows that the two months of his service were the most rigid mental discipline he has ever fc through quite apart from the little fact that the wife of one of his fellow sa s fell in love with him and then tried to poison him with because he would have nothing to do with her he had to school himself into keeping quiet when miss went out riding with some man who tried to with her and he was forced to trot behind carrying the blanket and hearing every word also he had to keep his temper when he was in porch by a policeman especially once when he was abused by a he had himself from village or worse still when a young called him a pig for not making way quickly enough but the life had its he obtained great insight into the ways and of enough he says to have convicted half the ss of the if he had been on business he became one of the leading players at bones which and many play while they are waiting outside the government house or the gaiety theatre of nights he learned to smoke tobacco that was three and he heard the wisdom of the of the government house whose words are valuable he saw many things which amused him and he states on honor that no man can appreciate properly till he has seen it from the s point of view he also says that if he chose to write all he saw his head would be broken in several places s account of the agony he endured on wet nights hearing the music and seeing the lights in with his toes for a and his head in a horse blanket is rather amusing one of these days is going to write a little book on his experiences that book will be worth buying and even more worth thus he served faithfully as jacob served for and his leave was nearly at an end when the explosion came he had really done his best to keep his temper in the hearing of the i have mentioned but he broke down at last an old and very distinguished general took miss for a ride and began that specially offensive youve only a little girl sort of most difficult for a woman to turn aside and most to listen to miss was shaking with fear at the things he said in the hearing of her stood it as long as he could then he caught hold of the general s bridle and in most english invited him to step of and be heaved over the cliff next minute miss s began crying and saw that he had hopelessly given himself away and everything was over the general nearly had a fit while miss was sobbing out the story of the disguise and the engagement that wasn t recognized by the parents was furiously angry with himself and more angry with the general for forcing his hand so he said nothing but held the horse s head	39
and prepared to the general as some sort of satisfaction but when the general had thoroughly grasped the story and knew who was he began to puff and blow in the saddle and nearly rolled off with laughing he said deserved a v c if it were only for putting on a s blanket then he called himself names and vowed that he deserved a but he was too old to lake it from then he miss on her lover the scandal of the business never struck him for he was a nice old man with a weakness for then he laughed again and said that old was a fool let go of the s head and suggested that the general had better help them if that was his opinion knew s weakness for men with titles and letters after their names and high ofl position rather like a forty minute farce said the general but i will help if it s only to escape that tremendous i deserved go along to your home my and change into decent and i ll attack mr miss may i ask you to home and wait about seven minutes later there was a wild at the club a with blanket and head rope was asking all the men he knew for heaven s sake lend me decent clothes i as the men did not recognize him there jo j ss were some peculiar scenes before could get a hot bath with in it in one room a shirt here a collar there a pair of trousers elsewhere and so on he galloped off with half the club wardrobe on his back and an utter stranger s pony under him to the house of old the general arrayed in purple and fine linen was before him what the general had said never knew but received with moderate civility and mrs touched by the devotion of the transformed was almost kind the general beamed and chuckled and miss came in and almost before old knew where he was the parental consent had been out and had departed with miss to the telegraph office to wire for his the final embarrassment was when an utter stranger attacked him on the and asked for the stolen pony so in the end and miss were married on the strict understanding that should drop his old ways and stick to routine which pays best and leads to was far too fond of his wife just then to break his word but it was a sore trial to him for the streets and the and the sounds in them were full of meaning to and these called to him to come back and take up his wanderings and his discoveries some day i will tell you how he broke his promise to help a friend that was long since and he has by this time been nearly spoilt for what he would call he is forgetting the and the beggar s cant and the marks and the signs and the drift of the which if a man would master he must always continue to learn but he fills in his returns beautifully an with an n i am dying for and you are dying for another proverb when the tender left the p o steamer for and went back to catch the train to town there were many people in it crying but the one who wept most and most openly was miss she had reason to cry because the only man she ever or ever could love so she said was going out to india and india as every one knows is divided equally between and leaning over the side of the steamer in the rain felt very unhappy too but he did not cry he was sent out to tea what tea meant he had not the idea but fancied that he would have to ride on a horse over hills covered with and draw a salary for doing so and he was very grateful to his uncle for getting him the berth he was really going to reform all his slack ways save a large proportion of his magnificent salary yearly and in a very short time return to marry had been lying loose on his friends hands for three years and as he had nothing to do he naturally fell in love he was very nice but he was not strong in his views and opinions and principles and though he never came to actual grief his friends were thankful when he said good bye and went out to this mysterious tea business near with an they said god bless you dear let us never see your face again or at least that was what was given to understand when he sailed he was very full of a great plan to prove himself several hundred times better than any one had given him credit for to work like a horse and triumphantly marry lai ten he had many good points besides his good looks his only fault being that he was weak the least little bit in the world weak he had as much notion of economy as the morning sun and yet you could not lay your hand on any one item and say is extravagant or reckless nor could you point out any particular vice in his character but he was unsatisfactory and as as went about her duties at home her family objected to the engagement with red eyes while was sailing to a port on the ocean as his mother used to tell her friends he was popular enough on board ship made many acquaintances and a large liquor bill and sent off huge letters to at each port then he fell to work on this plantation somewhere between and and though the salary and the horse and the work	39
were not quite all he had fancied he fairly well and gave himself much unnecessary credit for his perseverance in the course of time as he settled more into collar and his work grew fixed before him the face of went out of his mind and only came when he was at leisure which was not often he would forget all about her for a fortnight and remember her with a start like a school boy who has forgotten to his lesson she did not forget because she was of the kind that never with an forgets only another man a really desirable young man presented himself before mrs and the chance of a marriage with was as far off as ever and his letters were so unsatisfactory and there was a certain of domestic pressure brought to bear on the girl and the young man really was an eligible person as go and the end of all things was that married him and wrote a of a letter to in the of and said she should never know a happy moment all the rest of her life which was a true prophecy got that letter and held himself ill treated this was two years after he had come out but by dint of thinking of and looking at her photograph and patting himself on the back for being one of the most constant lovers in history and warming to the work as he went on he really fancied that he had been very hardly used he sat down and wrote one final letter a really pathetic world without end amen explaining how he would be true to eternity and that all women were very much alike and he would hide his broken heart etc etc but if at any future time etc etc he could afford to wait etc etc unchanged affections etc etc return to her old love etc etc for eight pages from an artistic point of view it was very neat work but an ordinary who knew the state of s real feelings not the ones he rose to as he went on writing would have called it the thoroughly mean and selfish work of a thoroughly mean and selfish weak man but this verdict would have been paid for the and felt every word he had written for at least two days and a half it was the last before the light went out that letter made very unhappy and she with a cried and put it away in her desk and became mrs somebody else for the good of her family which is the first duty of every christian maid went his ways and thought no more of his letter except as an artist thinks of a neatly touched in sketch his ways were not bad but they were not altogether good until they brought him across the daughter of a ex major of our native army the girl had a strain of hill blood in her and like the hill women was not a where met her or how he heard of her does not matter she was a good girl and handsome and in her way very clever and shrewd though of course a little hard it is to be remembered that was living very comfortably denying himself no small luxury never putting by an very satisfied with himself and his good intentions was dropping all his english one by one and beginning more and more to look upon this land as his home some men fall this way and they are of no use afterwards the climate where he was stationed was good and it really did not seem to him that there was anything to go home for he did what many have done before him that is to say he made up his mind to marry a hill girl and settle down he was seven and twenty then with a long life before him but no spirit to go through with it so he married by the forms of the english church and some fellow said he was a fool and some said he was a wise man was a thoroughly honest girl and in spite of her reverence for an englishman had a reasonable estimate of her husband s weaknesses she managed him tenderly and became in less than a year a very imitation of an with an lady in dress and carriage it is curious to think that a hill man after a life time s education is a hill man still but a hill woman can in six months master most of the ways of her english sisters there was a woman once but that is another story dressed by preference in black and yellow and looked well meantime the letter lay in s desk and now and again she would think of poor resolute hard working among the and of toiling in the vain hope that she might come back to him her husband was worth ten except that he had of the heart three years after he was married and after he had tried nice and for his complaint he went to where he died and set free being a devout woman she looked on his death and the place of it as a direct of providence and when she had recovered from the shock she took out and re read s letter with the etc etc and the big and the little and kissed it several times no one knew her in she had her husband s income which was a large one and was close at hand it was wrong and improper of course but she decided as do in novels to find her old lover to offer him her hand and her gold and with him spend the rest of her life in some spot far from souls she sat for two	39
months alone in s hotel this decision and the picture was a pretty one then she set out in search of assistant on a tea plantation with a more than usually name she found him she spent a month over it for his plantation was not in the district at all but with an nearer was very little altered and was very nice to her now the particular sin and shame of the whole business is that who really is not worth thinking of twice was and is loved by and more than loved by the whole of whose life he seems to have spoilt worst of all is making a decent man of him and he will be ultimately saved from through her training which is j false dawn to night god knows what thing shall tide the earth is and faint expectant sleepless open eyed and we who from the earth were made thrill with our mother s pain in no man will ever know the exact truth of this story though women may sometimes whisper it to one another after a dance when they are putting up their hair for the night and comparing lists of victims a man of course cannot assist at these functions so the tale must be told from the outside in the dark all wrong never praise a sister to a sister in the hope of your compliments reaching the proper ears and so preparing the way for you later on sisters are women first and sisters afterwards and you will find that you do yourself harm knew this when he made up his mind to propose to the elder miss was a strange man with few merits so far as men could see though he m as popular with women and carried enough conceit to stock a s council and leave a little over for the commander in chiefs staff he was a very many women took an interest in perhaps because his manner to them was offensive if you hit a pony over the nose at the outset of your acquaintance he may not love you but he will take a deep interest in your movements ever afterwards the false elder miss was nice plump winning and pretty the younger was not so pretty and from men the hint set forth above her style was and both girls had practically the same figure and there was a strong likeness between them in look and voice though no one could doubt for an instant which was the of the two made up his mind as soon as they came into the station from to marry the elder at least we all made sure that he would which comes to the same thing she was two and twenty and he was thirty three with pay and of nearly fourteen hundred a month so the match as we arranged it was in every way a good one was his name and summary was his nature as a man once said having his resolution he formed a select committee of one to sit upon it and resolved to take his time in our unpleasant the girls hunted in couples that is to say you could do nothing with one without the other they were very loving sisters but their mutual affection was sometimes inconvenient held the balance hair true between them and none but himself could have said to which side his heart inclined though every one guessed he rode with them a good deal and danced with them but he never succeeded in them from each other for any length of time women said that the two girls kept together through deep each fearing that the other would steal a march on her but that has nothing to do with a man was silent for good or bad and as attentive as he could be having due regard to his work and his beyond doubt both were fond of him false dawn as the hot weather drew nearer and made no sign women said that you could see their trouble in the eyes of the girls that they were looking strained anxious and irritable men are quite blind in these matters unless they have more of the woman than the man in their composition in which case it does not matter what they say or think i maintain it was the hot april days that took the color out of the girls cheeks they should have been sent to the hills early no one man or woman feels an angel when the hot weather is approaching the younger sister g more cynical not to say in her ways and uie of the elder wore thin there was more effort in it now the station wherein all these things happened was though not a little one off the line of rail and suffered through want of attention there were no gardens or bands or amusements worth speaking of and it was nearly a day s journey to come into for a dance people were grateful for small things to interest them about the beginning of may and just before the final of hill when the weather was very hot and there were not more than twenty people in the station gave a moonlight riding at an old tomb six miles away near the bed of the river it was a s ark and there was to be the usual arrangement of quarter mile intervals between each couple on account of the dust six couples came altogether including moonlight are useful just at the very end of the season before all the girls go away to the hills they lead to and should be encouraged by especially those whose girls look sweetest in riding habits i knew false dawn a case once but that is another story that was called the great pop because every one	39
r would propose then to the eldest miss and besides his affair there was another which might possibly come to happiness the social atmosphere was heavily charged and wanted clearing we met at the parade ground at ten the night was fearfully hot the horses even at walking pace but anything was better than sitting still in our own dark houses when we moved off under the full moon we were four couples one and mr rode with the girls and i at the tail of the procession wondering with whom would ride home every one was happy and contented but we all felt that things were going to happen we rode slowly and it was nearly midnight before we reached the old tomb facing the ruined in the decayed gardens where we were going to eat and drink i was late in coming up and before i went in to the garden i saw that the horizon to the north carried a faint colored feather but no one would have thanked me for so well managed an entertainment as this and a dust storm more or less does no great harm we gathered by the some one had brought out a which is a most sentimental instrument and three or four of us sang you must not laugh at this our amusements in out of the way stations are very few indeed then we talked in groups or together lying under the trees with the sun baked roses dropping their on our feet until supper was ready it was a beautiful supper as cold and as as you could wish and we stayed long over it i had felt that the air was growing and but nobody seemed to notice it until the moon went out false dawn and a burning hot wind began the orange trees with a sound like the noise of the sea before we knew where we were the dust storm was on us and everything was roaring whirling darkness the was blown bodily into the we were afraid of staying anywhere near the old tomb for fear it might be blown down so we felt our way to the orange trees where the horses were and waited for the storm to blow over then the little light that was left vanished and you could not see your hand before your face the air was heavy with dust and sand from the bed of the river that filled boots and pockets and drifted down necks and eyebrows and it was one of the worst dust storms of the year we were all huddled together close to the trembling horses with the thunder chattering overhead and the lightning like water from a all ways at once there was no danger of course unless the horses broke loose i was standing with my head and my hands over my mouth hearing the trees each other i could not see who was next me till the flashes came then i found that i was packed near and the eldest miss with my own horse just in front of me i recognized the eldest miss because she had a ri round her and the younger had not all the in the air had gone into my body and i was quivering and from head to foot exactly as a corn shoots and before rain it was a grand storm the wind seemed to be picking up the earth and it to in great heaps and the heat beat up from the ground like the heat of the day of judgment the storm slightly after the first half hour and i heard a despairing little voice close to my ear saying to itself quietly and softly as if some lost soul were flying false dawn about with the wind o my god i then the younger miss stumbled into my arms saying where is my horse get my horse i want to go home i want to go home take me home i thought that the lightning and the black darkness had frightened her so i said there was no danger but she must wait till the storm blew over she answered it is not thai it is not that i i want to go home o take me away from here i i said that she could not go till the light came but i felt her brush past me and go away it was too dark to see where then the whole sky was split open with one tremendous flash as if the end of the world were coming and all the women shrieked almost directly after this i felt a man s hand on my shoulder and heard in my ear through the of the trees and howling of the wind i did not catch his words at once but at last i heard him say i ve proposed to the wrong one what shall i do had no occasion to make this confidence to me i was never a friend of his nor am i now but i fancy neither of us were ourselves just then he was shaking as he stood with excitement and i was feeling queer all over with the i could not think of anything to say except more fool you for proposing in a dust storm but i did not see how that would improve the mistake then he shouted where s was the younger sister i answered out of my astonishment what do you want with would you believe it for the next two minutes he and i were shouting at each other like he that it was the younger sister he had meant to propose o all along and i telling him till my throat was hoarse false da wn that he must have made a mistake i i can t account for this except again by the fact	39
that we were neither of us ourselves everything seemed to me like a bad dream from the stamping of the horses in the darkness to telling me the story of his loving since the first he was still my shoulder and begging me to tell him where was when another lull came and brought light with it and we saw the dust cloud forming on the plain in front of us so we knew the worst was over the moon was low down and there was just the glimmer of the false dawn that comes about an hour before the real one but the light was very faint and the cloud roared like a bull i wondered where had gone and as i was wondering i saw three things together first s face come smiling out of the darkness and move towards who was standing by me i heard the girl whisper george and slide her arm through the arm that was not my shoulder and i saw that look on her face which only comes once or twice in a life time when a woman is perfectly happy and the air is full of trumpets and gorgeous colored fire and the earth turns into cloud because she loves and is loved at the same time i saw s face as he heard s voice and fifty yards away from the of orange trees i saw a brown holland habit getting upon a horse it must have been my state of over excitement that made me so quick to with what did not concern me was moving off to the habit but i pushed him back and said stop here and explain i ll fetch her back and i ran out to get at my own horse i had a perfectly unnecessary notion that everything must be done decently and in order and that s first care false da wn was to wipe the happy look out of s face all the time i was up the chain i wondered how he would do it i after thinking to bring her back slowly on some pretence or another but she galloped away as soon as she saw me and i was forced to ride after her in earnest she called back over her shoulder oh go y two or three times but my was to catch her first and argue later the ride just fitted in with the rest of the evil dream the ground was very bad and now and again we rushed through the whirling choking in the skirts of the flying storm there was a burning hot wind blowing that brought up a of stale brick with it and through the half light and through the dust devils across that desolate plain the brown holland habit on the gray horse she headed for the station at first then she wheeled round and set off for the river through beds of burnt down bad even to ride pig over in cold blood i should never have dreamed of going over such a country at night but it seemed quite right and natural with the lightning over head and a like the smell of the pit in my nostrils i rode and shouted and she bent forward and lashed her horse and the of the dust storm came up and caught us both and drove us like pieces of paper i don t know how far we rode but the of the horse hoofs and the roar of the wind and the race of the faint blood red moon through the yellow mist seemed to have gone on for years and years and i was literally with sweat from my to my when the grey stumbled recovered himself and pulled up dead lame my brute was used up altogether false was in a sad state with dust her and crying bitterly why can t you let me alone she said i only wanted to get away and g o home oh please let me go you have got to come back with me miss has something to say to you it was a foolish way of putting it but i hardly knew miss and though i was playing providence at the cost of my horse i could not tell her in as many words what had told me i thought he could do that better himself all her pretence about being tired and wanting to go home broke down and she rocked herself to and fro in the saddle as she sobbed and the hot wind blew her black hair to i am not going to repeat what she said because she was utterly this if you please was the cynical miss here was i almost an utter stranger to her trying to tell her that loved her and she was to come back to hear him say so i believe i made understood for she gathered the gray together and made him somehow and we set off for the tomb while the storm went thundering down to and a few big drops of warm rain fell i found out that she had been standing close to when he proposed to her sister and had wanted to go home to cry in peace as an english girl should she her eyes with her pocket handkerchief as we went along and id me out of sheer lightness of heart and that was perfectly unnatural and yet it seemed all right at the time and in the place all the world was only the two girls and i in with the lightning and the dark and the guidance of this world seemed to lie in my hands false dawn when we returned to the tomb in the deep dead stillness that followed the storm the dawn was just breaking and nobody had gone away they were waiting for our return most of all his face	39
rose to the occasion she played her game alone knowing what people would say of her and she played it for the sake of a girl she had never seen was to come out under of an aunt in october to be married to the rescue of at the beginning of august mrs discovered that it was time to interfere a man who rides much knows exactly what a horse is going to do next before he does it in the same way a woman of mrs s experience knows accurately how a boy will behave under certain circumstances when he is with one of mrs s stamp she said that sooner or later little would break off that engagement for nothing at all simply to gratify mrs who in return would keep him at her feet and in her service just so long as she found it worth her while she said she knew the signs of these things if she did not no one else could then she went forth to capture under the guns of the enemy just as mrs carried away under mrs s eyes this particular engagement lasted seven weeks we called it the seven weeks war and was fought out inch by inch on both sides a detailed account would fill a book and would be then any one who knows about these things can fit in the details for himself it was a superb fight there will never be another like it as long as stands and was the prize of victory people said shameful things about mrs they did not know what she was playing for mrs fought partly because was useful to her but mainly because she hated mrs and the matter was a trial of strength between them no one knows what thought he had not many ideas at the best of times and the few he possessed made him conceited mrs said the boy must be caught and the only way of catching him is by treating him well so she treated him as a man of the world and of the rescue op experience so long as the issue was doubtful little by little fell away from his old and came over to the enemy by whom he was made much o he was never sent on out post duty after any more nor was he given dances which never came off nor were the on his purse continued mrs held him on the and after his treatment at mrs s hands he appreciated the change mrs had broken him of talking about himself and made him talk about her own merits mrs acted otherwise and won his confidence till he mentioned his engagement to the girl at home speaking of it in a high and mighty way as a piece of boyish folly this was when he was taking tea with her one afternoon and in what he considered a gay and fascinating style mrs had seen an earlier generation of his stamp bud and blossom and decay into fat captains and at a moderate estimate there were about three and twenty sides to that lady s character some men say more she began to talk to after the manner of a mother and as if there had been three hundred years instead of fifteen between them she spoke with a sort of in her voice which had a soothing effect though what she said was anything but soothing she pointed out the exceeding folly not to say mean ness of conduct and the of his views then he stammered something about trusting to his own judgment as a man of the world and this paved the way for what she wanted to say next it would have withered up had it come from any other woman but in the soft style in which mrs put it it only made feel limp and as if he had been in some superior kind of church little by the rescue of little very softly and pleasantly she began taking the conceit out of as you take the ribs out of an umbrella before re covering it she told him what she thought of him and his judgment and his knowledge of the world and how his performances had made him ridiculous to other people and how it was his intention to make love to herself if she gave him the chance then she said that marriage would be the making of him and drew a pretty little picture all rose and of the mrs of the future going through life on the judgment and knowledge of the world of a husband who had nothing to reproach himself with how she reconciled these two statements she alone knew but they did not strike as conflicting hers was a perfect little much better than any clergyman could have given and it ended with touching allusions to mamma and papa and the wisdom of taking his bride home then she sent out for a walk to think over what she had said left blowing his nose very hard and holding himself very straight mrs laughed what had intended to do in the matter of the engagement only mrs knew and she kept her own counsel to her death she would have liked it spoiled as a compliment i fancy enjoyed many talks with mrs during the next few days they were all to the same end and they helped in the path of virtue mrs wanted to keep him under her wing to the last therefore she his going down to to get married goodness only knows what might happen by the way i she said the rescue of is cursed with the curse of and india is no fit place for him in the end the arrived with her aunt and having reduced his affairs to some sort of	39
order here again mrs helped him was married mrs gave a sigh of relief when both the i wills had been said and went her way took her advice about going home he left the service and is now raising cattle inside green painted fences somewhere at home i believe he does this very he would have come to extreme grief out here for these reasons if any one says anything more than usually nasty about mrs tell him the story of the rescue of arrows s arrows pit where the cooled his hide by the hot sun emptied and and dried log in the r grass hidden and lone where the earth rat s are cave in the bank where the sly stream that at the belly and heels jump if you dare on a safer it is to go wide go wide hark from in front where the best men ride pull to the off boys wide go wider the hunt once upon a time there lived at a very pretty girl the daughter of a poor but honest district and judge she was a good girl but could not help knowing her power and using it her mamma was very anxious about her daughter s future as all good should be when a man is a and a bachelor and has the right of wearing open work jam jewels in gold and on his clothes and of going through a door before every one except a member of council a lieutenant governor or a he is worth marrying at least that is what ladies say there was a in in those days who was and wore and did ail i have said he was a plain man an ugly man the man in asia with two exceptions his was a face to dream about and try to on a pipe head afterwards his name was and six letters to arrows follow he was one of the best men the government of india owned he was like a when he turned his attentions to miss i believe that mrs wept with delight at the reward providence had sent her in her old age mr held his tongue he was an easy going man now a is very rich his pay is beyond the dreams of is so enormous that he can afford to save and scrape in a way that would almost a member of council most are mean but was an exception he entertained he himself well he gave dances he was a power in the land and he behaved as such consider that everything i am writing of took place in an almost pre historic era in the history of british india some folk may remember the years before was born when we all played there were seasons before that if you will believe me when even had not been invented and which was revived in england in was as great a as lawn is now people talked about holding and bows pound bows backed or self bows as we talk about returns and i miss shot over ladies distance yards that is and was acknowledged the best lady in men called her bar paid her great attention and as i have said the heart of her mother was uplifted in consequence took matters more calmly it was plea s arrows ant to be out by a with letters after his name and to fill the hearts of other girls with bad feelings but there was no denying the fact that was ugly and all his attempts to adorn himself only made him more grotesque he was not the which means gray for nothing it was pleasant thought to have him at her feet but it was better to escape from him and ride with the the man in a regiment at the boy with a handsome face and no prospects liked more than a little he never pretended for a moment that he was anything less than head over heels in love with her for he was an honest boy so fled now and again from the stately of to the company of young and was by her mamma in consequence but mother she said mr is such such a is so fearfully ugly you know my dear said mrs we cannot be other than an all ruling providence has made us besides you will take of your own mother you know think of that and be reasonable then put up her little chin and said things about and and matrimony mr rubbed the top of his head for he was an easy going man late in the season when he judged that the time was ripe developed a plan which did great credit to his powers he arranged an for with a most as prize he drew up his terms and every one saw that the was a gift to miss the acceptance carrying with it the hand s arrows and the heart of the terms were a st s round thirty six shots at sixty yards under the rules of the society all was invited there were beautifully arranged tea tables under the at where the grand stand is now and alone in its glory in the sun sat the diamond in a blue velvet case miss was anxious almost too anxious to on the appointed afternoon all rode down to to witness the judgment of paris turned down rode with young and it was easy to see that the boy was troubled in his mind he must be held innocent of everything that followed was pale and nervous and looked long at the was dressed even more nervous than and more hideous than ever mrs smiled as the mother of a and the shooting began all the world standing	39
a as the ladies came out one after the other nothing is so tedious as an competition they shot and they shot and they kept on shooting till the sun left the valley and little breezes got up in the and people waited for miss to shoot and win was at one horn of the round the and at the other miss was last on the list the had been weak and the was hers to a certainty the strung her bow with his own sacred hands she stepped forward looked at the and her first arrow went true to a hair full into the heart of the gold counting nine points young on the left turned white and his devil prompted to smile now horses used to shy when smiled saw that smile she looked to her left front gave an almost nod to and went on shooting i wish i could describe the scene that followed it was out of the ordinary and most improper miss fitted her arrows with immense deliberation so that every one might see what she was doing she was a perfect shot and her pound bow suited her to a she pinned the wooden legs of the with great care four successive times she pinned the wooden top of the once and all the ladies looked at each other then she began some fancy shooting at the white which if you hit it counts exactly one point she put five arrows into the white it was wonderful but seeing that her business was to make and win the turned a delicate green like young water grass next she shot over the twice then wide to the left twice always with the same deliberation while a chilly hush fell over the company and mrs took out her handkerchief then shot at the ground in front of the and split several arrows then she made a red or seven points just to show what she could do if she liked and she finished up her amazing performance with some more fancy shooting at the here is her score as it was pricked off gold red blue black white total total score miss i i o o looked as if the last few arrow heads had been driven into his legs instead of the s and the deep stillness was broken by a half grown girl saying in a shrill voice of triumph then i ve won i mrs did her best to bear up but she wept in the presence of the people no training could help her through such a disappointment her bow with a vicious jerk and went back to her place while was trying to pretend that he enjoyed snapping the on the girl s raw red wrist it was an awkward scene most awkward every one tried to depart in a body and leave to the mercy of her mamma but took her away instead and the t isn t worth i the three the three an when the war began we chased the bold a han an we made the for to flee boys o t an we marched into and we the an we taught em to the british soldier room and are in fi company of a line regiment and personal friends of mine i think but am not certain they are the worst men in the regiment so far as genial goes they told me this story the other day in the refreshment room while we were waiting for an up train i supplied the beer the tale was cheap at a and a half of course you know lord he is a duke or an earl or something also a peer also a globe on all three counts as says e didn t deserve no consideration he was out here for three months collecting materials for a book on our eastern and himself upon everybody like a in evening dress his particular vice because he was a radical i suppose was having turned out for his inspection he would then dine with the officer commanding and insult him across the mess table about the appearance of the troops that was s way three he turned out troops once too often he came to on a tuesday he wished to go in the on wednesday and he desired the troops to be turned out on a thursday on a thursday the officer commanding could not well refuse for was a lord there was an indignation meeting of in the mess room to call the colonel pet names but the said was in b ny we three it climbed on to the refreshment bar settled himself comfortably by the beer and went on the row was at ut s an b ny was fur goin out to this man on the p here takes up his an was ut ye said ah said said us t brass a lads for to put off t p an if t p s not put off ah ll t brass back s ah said all b ny me ah took a big eight an ah went to turn t job over an with me we three raises the in couples gin rally explained here interrupted ave you read the papers said he sometimes i said we ad read the papers an we put a a a ye said or no great odds any ow we arrange to an put out o the way till thursday was or e too busy to the about p hi was the man said we ll make a few off o the business we a council war continued by the ry lines i was was minister an little here was a i hi made the show pay this bit a man said did the for us	39
himself for on me we hadn t a notion what was to come the next he was in the on twas dusk thin an we the little man in an out the shops to the to his hai he up his full an he in a way out his little belly me good men he have ye seen the b says there s no b here s that shows him wan down the an he how i i will ride on a i saw thin that our saint was for over to us neck an i a an i to the i ye black limb there s a for this he wants to go to the twas about tu away to shoot you ke tis no manner to the he doesn t your hai he anything just you and go for the first from then ke an the you an the you the better will that be an here s a for ye the knew there was out the the three common in the air he grinned and i goin damn i prayed that the s b t arrive till me by the grace god was weigh the little man puts his into the an in like a fat guinea pig us the price of a for our services in him home he s off to the i to the others took up the tale then little up was the son of one of the e would made a newspaper boy in london bein sharp and fly to all manner o games e ad bin us into s temporary an e what ave you been a of e e caught im by the ear an e ah says went on young mon that mon s to have t out o thursday an s more work for you young mon now a lai an a an ride tha to t there and tell t driver iv your you ve to his place t doesn t speak t bat an he s a little mon drive t into t into t leave t an an here s a for tha then and spoke together in alternate fragments leading you must pick out the two as best you can he was a little was e an cuts a wink in his oi but hi there s money to be made an i want to see the end the campaign so hi says we ll double bout to the and save the little man from bein by the an turn like in a victoria the so we doubled for ih an there was the of a behind us an three on come by along for the dear life s me bob t raised a regular of to do the job in an we ran an they ran with till we gets near the and ears sounds of distress on the hair was growing poetical under the influence of the beer the leading again thin we heard the to the man an wan of the young brought his down on the top the an howled an death takes the reins and like mad for the j hit the oo up to us an e that s m with devil s work ave you led me into hall right we you that there pony an come along this s been an we re going to im i says the driver that s the be shot we tis a the hills there s about eight im the you that an you ll get another then we heard the the over an a splash water an the voice upon god to forgive his sins an an is friends in the water like boys in the here the three retired simultaneously into the beer well what came next said i answered wiping his mouth you let three lave the the three the house lords to be an in we formed line column an we upon the for the better part tin minutes you could not hear the was scream in in an s army an the was the an was the his an look out for their knives an me into the dark right an holy mother moses twas more than thrown in a while an his have ye seen a live lord to hide his nobility a an a half brown tis the image a the it to me he was not willed an more to get out the the come up the battle he a hand in the was sick the fear we escorted him back very slow to for that an the chill to into him glory be to the saint but it to the lord i here slowly with immense pride e you bar my noble e you a to the british e with that e describes the band of set on im there was about forty of em an e was by numbers so e was but e never lost is presence of mind so e didn t e the xvi x five for is noble an e said e would see to us after e ad spoken to the for we was a to the regiment we was an we three said with a have the par ti lar a the three more than but he s a good little man is go on me son then we leaves im at the sick an we cuts over to b ny an we we ave saved from a bloody doom an the chances was there bein p on thursday about ten minutes later come three one for each of us s me bob if the old t us a apiece sixty four in the on thursday e was in	39
from s encounter with a gang of an b ny was inter by so there never was no thursday p but the when e of our conduct e hi know there s been some e but hi can t bring it ome to you three an my is said getting off the bar and turning his glass down that they had known they t have brought ut home tis in the face nature second the an third the will to hold p good ma son said but young mon what s t for let be said this time next month we re in the tis fame the gentleman s goin to give us but it till we re out the range me little and i have obeyed s order chance in life n his chance in then a of heads he laid thirty thousand heaped on high all to please the maid where the b grimly love made this thing a man s story if you go straight away from and govern ment house lists past trades balls far beyond every thing and everybody you ever knew in your respectable life you cross in time the border line where the last drop of white blood ends and the full tide of black sets in it would be easier to talk to a new made on the spur of the moment than to the folk without some of their or their feelings the black and the white mix very in their ways sometimes the white shows in of fierce childish pride which is pride of race run crooked and sometimes the black in still and humility half customs and strange unaccountable impulses to crime one of these days this people understand they are far than the class whence the man who sprung will turn out a writer or a poet and then we shall know how they live and what they feel in the meantime any stories about them cannot be absolutely correct in fact or miss came from across the to look his chance in life after some children who belonged to a lady until a ordained nurse could come out the lady said miss was a bad dirty nurse and it never struck her that miss had her own life to lead and her own affairs to worry over and that these affairs were the most important things in the world to miss very few admit this sort of reasoning miss was as black as a boot and to our standard of taste ugly she wore cotton print gowns and shoes and when she lost her temper with the children she abused them in the language of the which is part english part and part native she was not attractive but she had her pride and she preferred being called miss every sunday she dressed herself wonderfully and went to see her mamma who lived for the most part on an old cane chair in a greasy silk and a big rabbit of a house full of and and a floating population of besides fragments of the day s stale incense clothes thrown on the floor hung on strings for old bottles dried plaster images of the virgin and hats without crowns miss drew twenty a month for acting as nurse and she weekly with her mamma as to the to be given towards housekeeping when the quarrel was over d used to across the low mud wall of the compound and make love to miss after the fashion of the which is about with much ceremony was a poor sickly weed and very black but he had his pride he would not be seen smoking a for anything and he looked down on natives as only a man with seven native ms chance in life blood in his veins can the family had their pride too they traced their descent from a who had worked on the bridge when were new in india and they valued their english origin was a telegraph on rs a month the fact that he was in government employ made mrs to the of his ancestors there was a legend the tailor brought it from that a black jew of had once married into the d family while it was an open secret that an uncle of mrs d was at that very time doing work connected with cooking for a club in southern india he sent mrs d seven eight a month but she felt the disgrace to the family very keenly all the same however in the course of a few sundays mrs brought herself to overlook these and gave her consent to the marriage of her daughter with on condition that should have at least fifty a month to start married life upon this wonderful prudence must have been a lingering touch of the plate s blood for across the people take a pride in marrying when they please not when they can having regard to his prospects miss might as well have asked to go away and come back with the moon in his pocket but was deeply in love with miss and that helped him to endure he accompanied miss to mass one sunday and after mass walking home through the hot stale dust with her hand in his he swore by several saints whose names would not interest you never to forget miss and she swore bv her honor and the saints the ms ce w e oath runs rather curiously whatever the name of the she saint is and so forth ending with a kiss on the forehead a kiss on the left cheek and a kiss on the mouth never to forget next week was transferred and miss dropped tears upon the window of the as he left the station if you look at the telegraph map	39
and an ordinary leather guard there is no great difference between one watch and another none at all in the station knew the colonel s lip he was not a man but he liked people to believe he had been one once and he fantastic stories of the hunting bridle to which this particular lip had belonged otherwise he was painfully religious and the colonel were dressing at the club both late for their engagements and both in a hurry that was the two watches were on a shelf below the looking glass guards hanging down that was carelessness changed first snatched a watch looked in the glass settled his tie and ran forty seconds later the colonel did exactly the same thing man taking the other s watch watches of the night fit you may have noticed that many religious people are deeply suspicious they seem for purely religious purposes of e to know more about than the perhaps they were specially bad before they became converted i at any rate in the of things evil and in putting the worst construction on things innocent a certain type of good people may be trusted to all others the colonel and his wife were of that type but the colonel s wife was the worst she the station scandal and talked to her nothing more need be said the colonel s wife broke up the s home the colonel s wife stopped the engagement the colonel s wife induced young to keep his wife down in the plains through the first year of the marriage whereby little mrs died and the baby with her these things will be remembered against the colonel s wife so long as there is a regiment in the country but to come back to the colonel and they went their several ways from the dressing room the colonel dined with two while went to a and to follow mark how things happen i if s had put the new saddle on the mare the of the would not have worked through the worn leather and the old into the mare s when she was coming home at two o clock in the morning she would not have reared bolted fallen into a ditch upset the cart and sent flying over an hedge on to mrs s well kept lawn and this tale would never have been written but the mare did all these things and while was rolling over and over on the turf like a shot rabbit the watch and guard flew from his waistcoat as an major s hope out of the when they are a a watches of the and rolled and rolled in the moonlight till it stopped under a window stuffed his handkerchief under the put the cart straight and went home mark again how works i this would not hap pen once in a hundred years towards the end of his dinner with the two the colonel let out his waistcoat and leaned over the table to look at some mission reports the bar of the watch guard worked through the and the watch s watch slid quietly on to the carpet where the bearer found it next morning and kept it then the colonel went home to the wife of his bosom but the driver of the carriage was drunk and lost his way so the colonel returned at an hour and his excuses were not accepted if the colonel s wife had been an ordinary vessel of wrath appointed for destruction she would have known that when a man stays on purpose his excuse is always sound and original the very of the colonel s explanation proved its truth see once more the workings of the colonel s watch which came with hurriedly on to mrs s lawn chose to stop just under mrs s window where she saw it early in the morning recognized it and picked it up she had heard the crash of s cart at two o clock that morning and his voice calling the mare names she knew and liked him that day she showed him the watch and heard his story he put his head on one side winked and said how disgusting i shocking old man i with his religious training too i i should send the watch to the colonel s wife and ask for explanations mrs thought for a minute of the watches of the night whom she had known when and his wife believed in each other and answered i will send it i think it will do her good but remember we must never tell her the truth guessed that his own watch was in the colonel s possession and thought that the return of the lip with a soothing note from mrs would merely create a small trouble for a few minutes mrs knew better she knew that any poison dropped would find good holding ground in the heart of the colonel s wife the packet and a note containing a few remarks on the colonel s calling hours were sent over to the colonel s wife who wept in her own room and took counsel with if there was one woman under heaven whom the colonel s wife hated with holy it was mrs mrs was a frivolous lady and called the colonel s wife old cat the colonel s wife said that somebody in revelations was remarkably like mrs she mentioned other scripture people as well from the old testament but the colonel s wife was the only who cared or dared to say anything against mrs every one else accepted her as an amusing honest little body wherefore to believe that her husband had been shedding watches under that thing s window at hours coupled with the fact of his late arrival on the previous night was at this point	39
she rose up and sought her husband he denied everything except the of the watch she him for his soul s sake to speak the truth he denied afresh with two bad words then a stony silence held the colonel s wife while a man could draw his breath five times watches of the night the speech that followed is no affair of mine or it was made up of and womanly jealousy knowledge of old age and sunk cheeks deep born oi the text that says even little babies hearts are as bad as they make them hatred of mrs and the of the creed of the colonel s wife s over and above all was the lip away in the palm of her shaking withered hand at that hour i think the colonel s wife realized a little of the restless suspicion she had into old s mind a little of poor miss s misery and some of the that ate into s heart as he watched his wife dying before his eyes the colonel stammered and tried to explain then he remembered that his watch had disappeared and the mystery grew greater the colonel s wife talked and prayed by turns till she was tired and went away to devise means for the stubborn heart of her husband which translated means in our tail twisting you see being deeply impressed with the doctrine of original sin she could not believe in the face of appearances she knew too much and jumped to the wildest conclusions but it was good for her it spoilt her life as she had spoilt the life of the she had lost her faith in the colonel and here the creed suspicion came in he might she argued have many times before a merciful providence at the hands of so unworthy an instrument as mrs had established his guilt he was a bad wicked gray haired this may sound too sudden a for a long wedded wife but it is a venerable fact that if a man or woman makes a practice of and takes a delight in believing and watches op the spreading evil of people indifferent to him or her he or she will end in believing evil of folk very near and dear you may think also that the mere incident of the watch was too small and trivial to raise this misunderstanding it is another aged fact that in life as well as racing all the worst accidents happen at little and cut down fences in the same way you sometimes see a woman who would have made a of arc in another century and climate herself to pieces over all the mean worry of housekeeping but that is another story her belief only made the colonel s wife more wretched because it insisted so strongly on the of men remembering what she had done it was pleasant to watch her and the penny attempts she made to hide it from the station but the station knew and laughed for they had heard the story of the watch with much dramatic gesture from mrs s lips once or twice said to mrs seeing that the colonel had not cleared himself this thing has gone far enough i move we tell the wife how it happened mrs shut her lips and shook her head and vowed that the colonel s wife must bear her punishment as best she could now mrs was a frivolous woman in whom none would have suspected deep hate so took no action and came to believe gradually from the colonel s silence that the colonel must have run off the line somewhere that night and therefore preferred to stand sentence on the lesser count of rambling into other people s out of forgot about the watch business after a while and moved down country with his regiment mrs went home when her husband s tour of indian service expired she never forgot of the night but was quite right when he said that the joke had gone too far the and the tragedy of it which we cannot see and do not believe in are killing the colonel s wife and are making the colonel wretched if either of them read this story they can depend upon its being a fairly true account of the case and can kiss and make friends shakespeare to the pleasure of watching an engineer being by his own battery now this shows that poets should not write about what they do not understand anyone could have told him that and are perfectly different branches of the service but if you correct the sentence and substitute for the moral comes the same the other j the other man when the earth was sick and the skies were gray and the woods were with rain the dead man rode through the autumn day to visit his k ve again old ballad far back in the before they had built any public offices at and the broad road round lived in a pigeon hole in the p w d her parents made miss marry colonel he could not have been much more than years her senior and as he lived on two hundred a month and had money of his own he was well off he belonged to good people and suffered in the cold weather from complaints in the hot weather he on the brink of heat but it never quite killed him understand i do not blame he was a good husband according to his lights and his temper only failed him when he was being nursed which was some seventeen days in each month he was almost generous to his wife about money matters and that for him was a concession still mrs was not happy they married her when she was this side of twenty and had given all her poor little	39
heart to another man i have forgotten his name but we will call him the other man he had no money and no prospects he was not even good looking and i think he the other was in the or transport but in spite of all these things she loved him very badly and there was some sort of an engagement between the two when appeared and told mrs that he wished to marry her daughter then the other engagement was broken off washed away by mrs s tears for that lady governed her house by weeping over to her authority and the lack of reverence she received in her old age the daughter did not take after her mother she never cried not even at the wedding the other man bore his loss quietly and was transferred to as bad a station as he could find perhaps the climate consoled him he suffered from fever and that may have distracted him from his other trouble he was weak about the heart also both ways one of the was affected and the fever made it worse this showed itself later on then many months passed and mrs took to being ill she did not pine away like people in story books but she seemed to pick up every form of illness that went about a station from simple fever upwards she was never more than ordinarily pretty at the best of times and the illness made her ugly said so he himself on speaking his mind when she ceased being pretty he left her to her own devices and went back to the of his she used to trot up and down in a forlorn sort of way with a gray hat well on the back of her head and a shocking bad saddle under her s generosity stopped at the horse he said that any saddle would do for a woman as nervous as mrs she never was asked to dance because she did not dance well and she was so dull and uninteresting that thb other man her box very seldom had any cards in it that if he had known that she was going to be such a scare crow after her marriage he would never have married her he always himself on speaking his mind did he left her at one august and went down to his regiment then she revived a little but she never recovered her looks i found out at the club that the other man is coming up sick very sick un an off chance of recovery the fever and the heart had nearly killed him she knew that too and she knew what i had no interest in knowing when he was coming up i suppose he wrote to tell her they had not seen each other since a month before the wedding and here comes the unpleasant part of the story a late call kept me down at the hotel till dusk one evening mrs had been flitting up and down the all the afternoon in the rain coming up along the cart road a passed me and my pony tired with standing so long set off at a just by the road down to the office mrs dripping from head to foot was waiting for the i turned up hill as the was no affair of mine and just then she began to shriek i went back at once and saw under the office lamps mrs kneeling in the wet road by the the back seat of the newly arrived screaming then she fell face down in the dirt as i came up sitting in the back seat very square and firm with one hand on the and the wet pouring off his hat and moustache was the other man dead the sixty mile up hill had been too much for his i suppose the driver said this died two tub other ma stages out of therefore i tied him with a rope lest he should fall out by the way and so came to will the give me it pointing to the other man should have given one the other man sat with a grin on his face as if he enjoyed the joke of his arrival and mrs in the mud began to groan there was no one except us four in the office and it was heavily the first thing was to take mrs home and the second was to prevent her name from being mixed up with the affair the driver received five to find a for mrs he was to tell the afterwards of the other man and the was to make such arrangements as seemed best mrs was carried into the shed out of the rain and for three quarters of an hour we two waited for the the other man was left exactly as he had arrived mrs would do everything but cry which might have helped her she tried to scream as soon as her senses came back and then she began praying for the other man s soul had she not been as honest as the day she would have prayed for her own soul too i waited to hear her do this but she did not then i tried to get some of the mud off her habit lastly the came and i got her away partly by force it was a terrible business from beginning to end but most of all when the had to squeeze between the wall and the and she saw by the lamp that thin yellow hand grasping the she was taken home just as was going to a dance at lodge it was then and the doctor found out that she had fallen from her horse that i had picked her up at the back of and really deserved great credit for the	39
prompt manner in which i the other man i had secured medical aid she did not die men of s stamp marry woman who don t die easily they live and grow ugly she never told of her one meeting since her marriage with the other man and when the chill and cough following the exposure of that evening allowed her abroad she never by word or sign alluded to having met mc by the office perhaps she never knew she used to trot up and down the on that shocking bad saddle looking as if she expected to meet some one round the comer every minute two years afterward she went home and died at i think when he grew at mess used to talk about my poor dear wife he always set great on speaking his mind did s consequences consequences in the had rise ye may nd their teachers still under s hill seek ye read what flood the tells us of the dominant that runs through the of the read my story last and see at her there are yearly and two yearly ap and five yearly at and there are or used to be permanent whereon you stayed up for the term of your natural life and secured red cheeks and a nice income of course you could descend in the cold weather for is rather dull then came from goodness knows where all away and away in some forsaken part of central india where they call a and drive behind trotting i believe he belonged to a regiment but what he really wanted to do was to escape from his regiment and live in forever and ever he had no preference for anything in particular beyond a good horse and a nice partner he thought he could do ever thing well which is a beautiful belief when you hold it with all your heart he was clever in many ways and good to look at and always made people round him comfortable even in central india so he went up to and because he was clever and amusing he naturally to mrs consequences who could forgive everything but stupidity once he did her great service by changing the date on an for a big dance which mrs wished to attend but couldn t because she had quarrelled with the a d c who took care being a mean man to invite her to a small dance on the th instead of the big ball of the th it was a very clever piece of and when mrs showed the a d c her invitation card and him mildly for not better managing his he really thought that he had made a mistake and which was wise realized that it was no use to fight with mrs she was grateful to and asked what she could do for him he said simply i m a up here on leave on the look out for what i can i haven t a square inch of interest in all my name isn t known to any man with an appointment in his gift and i want an appointment a good sound one i believe you can do anything you turn yourself to will you help me mrs thought for a minute and passed the lash of her riding whip through her lips as was her custom when thinking then her eyes sparkled and she said i will and she shook hands on it having perfect confidence in this great woman took no further thought of the business at all except to wonder what sort of an appointment he would win mrs began calculating the prices of all the heads of and members of council she knew and the more she thought the more she laughed because her heart was in the game and it amused her then she took a civil list and ran over a few of the there are some beautiful in the civil list eventually she decided that though was too good for the political department she consequences had better begin by trying to get him in there what were her own plans to this end does not matter in the least for luck or fate played into her hands and she had nothing to do but to watch the course of events and take the credit of them all when they first come out pass through the secrecy it wears off in time but they all catch it in the beginning because they are new to the country the particular who was suffering from the complaint just then this was a long time ago before lord ever came from canada or lord from the bosom of the english it very badly and the result was that men who were new to keeping official secrets went about looking unhappy and the himself on the way in which he had notions of into his staff now the supreme government have a careless custom of committing what they do to printed papers these papers deal with all sorts of things from the payment of rs to a secret service native up to administered to and of native states and rather letters to native princes telling them to put their houses in order to refrain from women or filling with red and of that kind of course these things could never be made public because native princes never and their states are as well administered as our also the private to various queer people are not exactly matters to put into newspapers though they give quaint reading sometimes when the supreme government is at these papers are prepared there and go round to the people who ought to see them in office boxes or by post the principle of secrecy was to that quite as important as the practice and he held that a benevolent like ours should	39
never allow even little things such as of subordinate clerks to out till the proper time he was always remarkable for his principles there was a very important of papers in preparation at that it had to travel from one end of to the other by hand it was not put into an official envelope but a large square pale pink one the matter being in ms on soft paper it was addressed to the head clerk etc etc now between the head clerk etc etc and mrs and a flourish is no very great difference if the address be written in a very bad hand as this was the who took the envelope was not more of an idiot than most he merely forgot where this most cover was to be delivered and so asked the first he met who happened to be a man riding down to in a great hurry the englishman hardly looked said and went on so did the because that letter was the last in stock and he wanted to get his work over there was no book to sign he letter into mrs s bearer s hands aud went off to smoke with a friend mrs was expecting some cut out pattern things in paper from a friend as soon as she got the big square packet therefore she said oh the dear creature and tore it open with a paper knife and all the ms tumbled out on the floor mrs began reading i have said the was rather important that is quite enough for you to know it referred to some correspondence two measures a order to a native chief and two dozen consequences other things mrs gasped as she read for th first glimpse of the naked machinery of the great indian government stripped of its and and paint and guard rails even the most stupid man and mrs was a clever woman she was a little afraid at first and felt as if she had laid hold of a lightning flash by the tail and did not quite know what to do with it there were remarks and at the side of the papers and some of the remarks were rather more severe than the papers the belonged to men who are all dead or gone now but they were great in their day mrs read on and ht calmly as she read then the value of her struck her and she cast about for the best method of using it then dropped in and they read through all the papers together and not knowing how she had come by them vowed that mrs was the greatest woman on earth which i believe was true or nearly so the honest course is always the best said after an hour and a half of study and conversation all things considered the intelligence branch is about my form either that or the foreign office i go to lay siege to the high gods in their temples he did not seek a little man or a little big man or a weak head of a strong department but he called on the biggest and strongest man that the government owned and explained that he wanted an appointment at on a good salary the compound insolence of this amused the strong man and as he had to do for the moment he listened to the proposals of the audacious you have i presume special besides the gift of self assertion for the claims you put forward said the strong map consequences that sir said is for you to judge then he began for he had a good memory quoting a few of the more important notes in the papers slowly and one by one as a man drops into a glass when he had reached the order and it a order the strong man was troubled and i fancy that special edge of this kind is at least as valuable for let us say a berth in the foreign office as the fact of being the nephew of a distinguished officer s wife that hit the strong man hard for the last appointment to the foreign office had been by black favor and he knew it i ll see what i can do for you said the strong man many thanks said then he left and the strong man to see how the appointment was to be blocked followed a pause of eleven days with and and much td n the appointment was not a very important one carrying only between rs and rs a month but as the said it was the principle of secrecy that had to be maintained and it was more than likely that a boy so well supplied special information would be worth so they translated him they must have suspected him though he protested that his information was due to singular talents of his own now much of this story including the after history of the missing envelope you must fill in for yourself because there are reasons why it cannot be written if you do not know about things up above you won t understand how to fill in and you will say it is impossible what the said when was introduced to him was so this is the boy who rushed the govern consequences ment of india is it recollect sir that is not done im so he must have known something what said when he saw his appointment ted was if mrs were twenty years younger and i her husband i should be of india in fifteen years what mrs said when thanked her almost with tears in his eyes was first i told you so nd next to what op m the of ride with an idle whip ride with an unused heel but once in a way there will	39
come a day the must be to feel the lash that and the that and the sting of the s this is not a tale exactly it is a tract and i am immensely proud of it making a tract is a feat every man is entitled to his own religious opinions but no man least of all a junior has a right to thrust these down other men s throats the government sends out weird now and again but was the for a long time he was clever brilliantly clever but his cleverness worked the wrong way instead of keeping to the study of the he had read some books written by a man called i think and a man called and a professor you will find these books in the library they deal with people s from the point of view of men who have no there was no order against his reading them but his mamma should have him they in his head and he came out to india with a religion over and above his work it was not much of a creed it only proved that men had no souls and there was no god and no hereafter and that you must worry along somehow for the good of humanity too of a m one of its minor seemed to be that the one thing more sinful than giving an order was obeying it at least that was what said but i suspect he had his i do not say a word against this creed it was made up in town where there is nothing but machinery and and building all shut in by the fog naturally a man grows to think that there is no one higher than himself and that the board of works made everything but in this country where you really see humanity raw brown naked humanity with nothing between it and the blazing sky and only the used up over handled earth the notion somehow dies away and most folk come back to theories life in india is not long enough to waste in proving that there is no one in particular at the head of affairs for this reason the is above the assistant the above the the lieutenant governor above the and the above all four under the orders of the secretary of state who is responsible to the if the be not responsible to her maker if there is no maker for her to be responsible to the entire system of our administration must be wrong which is impossible at home men are to be excused they are up a good deal and get when you take a gross horse to exercise he and over the bit till you can t see the horns but the bit is there just the same men do not get in india the climate and the work are against playing bricks with words if had kept his creed with the capital letters and the in to himself no one would have cared but his on both sides had the of m o and the preaching strain came out in his mind he wanted at the club to see that they had no souls too and to help him to his creator as a good many men told him he undoubtedly had no soul because he was so young but it did not follow that his were equally and whether there was another world or not a man still wanted to read his papers in this but that is not the point that is not the point i used to say then men threw sofa cushions at him and told him to go to any particular place he might believe in they him the he said he came from a family of that name somewhere in the pre historic ages and by insult and laughter strove to choke him dumb for he was an nuisance at the club besides being an offence to the older men his who was working on the frontier when was rolling on a bed told him that for a clever boy was a very big idiot and you know if he had gone on with his work he would have been caught up to the in a few years he was just the type that goes there all head no and a hundred theories not a soul was interested in s soul he might have had two or none or somebody else s his business was to obey orders and keep abreast of his instead of the club with he worked brilliantly but he could not accept any order without trying to better it that was the fault of his creed it made men too responsible and left too much to their honor you can sometimes ride an old horse in a but never a took more trouble over his cases than any of the men of his year he may have fancied that thirty page judgments on fifty cases both sides to the advanced the the version of a m cause of humanity at any rate he worked too much and worried and fretted over the he received and away on his ridiculous creed out of office till the doctor had to warn him that he was it no man can toil eighteen in the in june without but was still and proud of himself and powers and he would take no hint he worked nine hours a day steadily very well said the doctor you ll break down because you are over for your beam was a little chap one day the came as as if it had been meant to a tract it was just before the rains we were sitting in the in the dead hot close air gasping and praying that the black blue	39
clouds would let down and brings ihe cool very very far away there was a faint whisper which was the roar of the rains breaking over the river one of the men heard it got out of his chair listened and said naturally enough thank god then the turned in his place and said why i assure you it s only the result of perfectly natural causes phenomena of the simplest kind why you should therefore return thanks to a being who never did exist who is only a the man in the next chair dry up and throw me over the we know all about your the reached out to the table took up one paper and jumped as if something had stung him then he handed the paper over as i was saying he went on slowly and with an effort due to perfectly natural causes perfectly natural causes i mean hi you ve given me the tub of a m the dust got up in little while the tree tops rocked and the whistled but no one was looking at the coming of the rains we were all staring at the who had risen from his chair and was fighting with his speech then he said still more slowly perfectly dictionary red oak cause retaining alone s drunk said one man but the was not drunk he looked at us in a dazed sort of way and began with his hands in the half light as the clouds closed overhead then with a scream what is it can t e market obscure but his speech seemed to in him and just as the lightning shot two tongues that cut the whole sky into three pieces and the rain fell in quivering the was struck dumb he stood and like a hard held horse and his eyes were full of terror the doctor came over in three minutes and heard the story it s he said take him to his room i knew the would come we carried the across in the pouring rain to his quarters and the doctor gave him of to make him sleep then the doctor came back to us and told us that was like all the of head falling in a lump and that only once before in the case of a had he met with so complete a case i myself have seen mild in an man but this sudden was though as the himself might have said due to perfectly natural causes of a m hell have to take leave after this said the doctor he won t be fit for work for another three months it isn t insanity or anything like it it s only complete loss of control over the speech and memory i fancy it will keep the quiet though two days later the found his tongue ag n the first question he asked was what was it the doctor enlightened him but i can t understand it said the i m quite sane but i can t be sure of my mind it seems my own memory can i go up into the hills for three months and don t think about it said the doctor but i can t understand it repeated the it was my own mind and memory i can t help it said the doctor there are a good many things you can t understand and by the time you have put in my length of service you ll know exactly how much a man dare call his own in this world the stroke the he could not understand it he went into the hills in fear and trembling wondering whether he would be permitted to reach the end of any sentence he began this gave him a wholesome feeling of the legitimate explanation that he had been himself failed to satisfy him something had wiped his lips of speech as a mother the lips of her child and he was afraid horribly afraid so the club had rest when he returned and if ever you come across laying down the law on things human he doesn t seem to know as much as he used to about things divine put your forefinger on your lip for a moment and see what happens don t blame me if he throws a glass at your head i the of the taking of so we a an we made the beggars cut an when our was emptied out we used the butt my i don t yer come when is a with the an the butt room ballad my friend private told me this sitting on the of the road to when we were hunting together he had theories about the army and colored clay pipes perfectly he said that the young soldier is the best to work with on account the surpassing the child now listen said throwing himself full length on the wall in the sun i m a bom the room i the army s mate an to me i m wan the few that can t quit ut i ve put in years an the s in the me i have kept out wan big a month i have been a hon ry lift by this time a to my a to my an a curse to bein i am i m no good pay an a thirst always me little i know as much about the army as most men i said something here be shot you an me an that but io the taking of net he s a sort a wan oi on the an the an the other on his blessed playing an a lump now is a little man an a few three year td any army	39

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