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he had gained his point this question being settled they had gradually grown on the past present and future joys of eating at some one else s expense and in this bland and pleasing state of meditation they were still absorbed the horses were impatient and the muddy ground with many a toss of their long and tails the steam from their glossy coats mingling with the ever of the fog on the white stone steps of the residence before which they waited was an almost invisible bundle apparently and immovable neither of the two gorgeous personages in livery observed it it was too far back in a dim comer too for the casual regard of their lofty eyes suddenly the glass doors before mentioned were thrown apart with a noise a warmth and radiance from the entrance hall thus displayed streamed into the street and at the same instant the footman still with grave and countenance opened the an elderly lady richly dressed with diamonds sparkling in her gray hair came rustling down the steps bringing with her faint of and violet powder she was followed by a girl of doll like with a nose and little mouth who held up her satin and lace skirts with a sort of fastidious disdain as though she scorned to set foot on earth that was not with the best velvet pile l o the hired baby as they approached their carriage the dark bundle crouched in the comer started into life a woman with wild hair and eyes whose pale lips quivered with suppressed weeping as her piteous voice broke into sudden oh lady she cried for the love of god a trifle oh lady lady but the lady with a contemptuous and a shake of her scented garments passed her before she could continue her appeal and she turned with a sort of faint hope to the softer face of the girl oh my dear do have pity just the smallest little thing and god will bless you you are rich and happy and i am starving only a penny for the the poor little baby and she made as though she would open her tattered shawl and reveal some treasure hidden therein but shrunk back by the cold merciless gaze that fell upon her from those eyes in which youth dwelt without tenderness you have no business on our door step said the girl harshly go away directly or i shall tell my servant to call a policeman then as she entered the after her mother she addressed the respectable footman angrily giving him the benefit of a strong why do you let such dirty beggars come near the carriage what are you paid for i should like to know it is perfectly disgraceful to the house the hired baby l l ft tt very sorry miss said the footman gravely i did n t see the person before then shutting the door he turned with a dignified air to the unfortunate creature who still lingered near and with a sweeping gesture of his gold embroidered coat sleeve said do you ear then having thus performed his duty he mounted the box beside his friend the coachman and the rattled quickly away its gleaming lights soon lost in the smoke laden that drooped downward like funeral from the invisible sky to the scarcely visible ground left to herself the woman who had vainly sought charity from those in whom no charity existed looked up as one and seemed as though she would have given vent to some fierce exclamation when a feeble wail came forth from the folds of her shawl she restrained herself instantly and walked on at a rapid pace scarcely whither she went till she reached the catholic church known as the its unfinished fa loomed darkly out of the fog there was nothing picturesque or inviting about it yet there were people passing softly in and out and through the swinging to and fro of the red covered doors there came a comforting warm glimmer of light the woman paused hesitated and then having apparently made up her mind ascended the broad steps looked in and finally entered the place was the hired baby strange to her she knew nothing of its religious meaning and its cold appearance oppressed her there were only some half dozen persons scattered about like black in its vast white interior and the fog hung heavily in the dome and dark httle one comer alone blazed with brilliancy and colour this was the altar of the virgin toward it the tired made her way and on reaching it sank on the nearest chair as though exhausted she did not raise her eyes to the marble of the shrine one of the of old italian art she had been merely attracted to the spot by the glitter of the lamps and candles and took no thought as to the reason of their being though she was sensible of a certain comfort in the soft lustre shed around her she seemed still young her face rendered haggard by long and bitter showed traces of past beauty and her eyes full of feverish trouble were large dark and still her mouth alone that sensitive of the life s good and bad actions revealed that all had not been well with her its lines were hard and vicious and the curve of the upper lip spoke of pride not with reckless she sat for a moment or two motionless then with exceeding care and tenderness she began to her thin torn shawl by gentle degrees looking down with anxious solicitude at the object concealed within only a baby and withal a baby so tiny and white the hired baby and frail that it seemed as though it must melt like a beneath the touch as its were loosened it opened a pair of large solemn blue eyes and	39
gazed at the woman s face with a strange pitiful it lay quiet without moan a pinched pale miniature of suffering humanity an infant with sorrow s mark painfully impressed upon its drawn small features presently it stretched forth a hand and feebly its and this too with the faintest of a smile the woman responded to its affection with a sort of rapture she caught it fondly to her breast and covered it with kisses rocking it to and fro with broken words of my httle darting she whispered softly my little pet yes yes i know so tired so cold and hungry never mind baby never mind we will rest here a little then we will sing a song presently and get some money to take us home sleep awhile longer there now we are warm and again so saying she her shawl in closer and folds so as to protect the child more thoroughly while she was engaged in this operation a lady in deep mourning passed close by her and advancing to the very steps of the altar knelt down hiding her face with her clasped hands the tired s attention was attracted by this she gazed with a sort of dull wonder at the kneeling figure in rich rustling silk and and gradually her eyes wandered upward u w the hired baby they rested on the gravely sweet and serenely smiling marble image of the virgin and child she looked and looked again surprised incredulous then suddenly rose to her feet and made her way to the altar railing there she paused staring vaguely at a basket of flowers white and that had been left there by some she glanced doubtfully at the swinging silver lamps the twinkling candles she was conscious too of a subtle strange fragrance in the air as though a basket full of spring and had just been carried by then as her wandering gaze came back to the solitary woman in black who still knelt motionless near her a sort of choking sensation came into her throat and a moisture struggled in her eyes she strove to this hysterical sensation to a low laugh of disdain lord lord she muttered beneath her breath what sort of place is this where they pray to a woman and a baby at that moment the woman in black rose she was young with a proud fair but weary face her eyes lighted on her soiled and poverty stricken sister and she paused with a pitying look the street wanderer made use of the opportunity thus offered and in an urgent whisper implored charity the lady drew out a purse then hesitated looking wistfully at the bundle in the shawl you have a little child there she asked in gentle accents may i see it the hired baby yes lady and the was turned down sufficiently to disclose the tiny white face now more infinitely touching than ever in the pathos of sleep i lost my little one a week ago said the lady simply as she looked at it he was all i had her voice trembled she opened her purse and placed a half crown in the hand of her astonished you are happier than i am perhaps you will pray for me i am very lonely then dropping her long veil so that it completely hid her features she bent her head and moved softly away the woman watched her till her graceful figure was completely lost in the gloom of the great church and then again vaguely to the altar pray for her she thought i as if i could pray and she smiled bitterly again she looked at the statue in the shrine it had no meaning at all for her she had never heard of christianity save through the medium of a tract whose title had been stop you are going to hell religion of every sort was at by those among whom her lot was cast the name of christ was only used as a convenience to swear by and therefore this mysterious smiling gently inviting marble figure was incomprehensible to her mind as if i could pray she repeated with a sort of derision then she looked at the broad silver coin in her hand and the sleeping x the hired baby arms with a sudden impulse she dropped on her knees whoever you are she muttered addressing the statue above her it seems you ve got a child of your own perhaps you help me to take care of this one it is n t mine i wish it was anyway i love it more than its own mother does i dare say you won t listen to the likes of me but if there was god anywhere about i d ask him to bless that good soul that s lost her baby i bless her with all my heart but my blessing ain t good for much ah and she surveyed anew the virgin s serene white countenance you just look as if you understood me but i don t believe you do never mind i ve said all i wanted to say this time her strange petition or rather discourse concluded she rose and walked away the great doors of the church swung heavily behind her as she stepped out and stood once more in the muddy street it was steadily a fine cold penetrating rain but the coin she held was a against outer and she continued to walk on till she came to a clean looking where for a couple of pence she was able to the infant s long ago emptied but she purchased nothing for herself she had starved all day and was now too faint to eat soon she entered an and was driven to cross and at the great station brilliant with its electric light she paced up and the hired baby down	39
outside it several of the by and imploring their pity one man gave her a penny another young and handsome with a flushed face and a look of his boyhood still about him put his hand in his pocket and drew out all the loose it contained to three and an odd and dropping them into her outstretched palm said half gaily half boldly you ought to do better than that with those big eyes of yours she drew back and shuddered he broke into a coarse laugh and went his way standing where he had left her she seemed for a time lost in wretched reflections the wailing cry of the child she carried roused her and it softly she murmured yes yes darling it is too wet and cold for you we had better go and acting suddenly on her resolve she hailed another this time bound for court road and was after some dreary set down at her final destination a dirty alley in the worst part of seven entering it she was hailed with a shout of laughter from some rough looking men and women who were standing round a low gin shop at the comer here s cried one here s and the kid now old fork out how much ave you got treat us to a drop all round walked past them steadily the conspicuous curve of her upper lip came into full play and the hired baby her eyes flashed but she said nothing her silence exasperated a haired cat faced girl of some seventeen years who more than half drunk sat on the ground clasping her knees with both arms and rocking herself lazily to and fro mother cried she mother you re wanted here s come back with your as if her words had been a powerful to summon forth an evil spirit a door in one of the miserable houses was thrown open and a stout woman nearly naked to the waist with a swollen and most hideous countenance rushed out furiously and darting at shook her violently by the arm where s my she where s my gin out with it out with my an f none of yer ways with me a bargain s a bargain all the world over yer re a with my yer know y are pays yer a deal better than yer old trade don t say it don t yer knows it do yer not find such a sickly kid an it s the sickly pays an moves the arts of the ladies an good gentlemen this with an that excited the laughter and applause of her hearers yer ve got it cheap i kin tell yer an if yer don t pay up lar there s others that take the chance an thankful too she stopped for lack of breath and spoke quietly the hired baby it s all right mother she said with an attempt at a smile here s your shilling here s the four for the gin i don t owe you anything for the child now she stopped and hesitated looking down tenderly at the frail creature in her arms then added almost it s asleep now may i take it with me to night mother who had been the had given her by biting them with her large yellow teeth broke into a loud laugh take it with yer i like that take it with yer then with her huge red arms she added with a grin tell yer if yer likes to pay me a crown yer can ave it to an welcome another shout of merriment burst from the drink spectators of the little scene and the girl crouched on the ground removed her hands from her knees to clap them loudly as she exclaimed well done mother one doesn t let out at night for nothing t ought to be more expensive than the face of had grown white and rigid you know i can t give you that money she said slowly i have not tasted bit or drop all day i must live though it does n t seem worth while the child and her voice softened involuntarily is fast asleep it s a pity to wake it that s all it will cry and fret all ni ht a x d the hired baby i would make it warm and comfortable if you d let me she raised her eyes and anxiously will you mother was evidently a lady of an disposition the simple request seemed to drive her nearly frantic she raised her voice to an absolute scream thrusting her dirty hands through her still hair as the proper accompanying gesture to her will i will i she will i let out my for the night for will i no i won t i see yer into the middle of next week lor a ow an mighty we are to be sure the be quiet with you miss will it an it will cry an fret with its mother will it and at every sentence she approached more nearly increasing in fury as she advanced yer low d ye think i d let yer ave my for a hour unless yer paid for t as it is yer pays far too little i m an honest woman as works for my an drinks reasonable better than you by a long sight with yer stuck up airs a pretty you are gi me the ye a n t no business to keep it a longer and she made a at s shawl oh don t hurt it pleaded such a little don t hurt it mother stared so wildly that her eyes seemed from her head the hired baby k i it t i a right to do i likes with my it well i never look ere and she turned round on	39
the assembled neighbours t she a regular one she don t care for the law not she she s back a child from its mother and with that she made a fierce attack on the shawl and succeeded in dragging the infant from s reluctant arms thus roughly from its the poor set up a feeble wailing its mother enraged at the sound shook it violently till it gasped fo breath the e beast she cried why don t it choke an ave done with it and without the terrified of she flung the child roughly as though it were a ball through the open door of her lodgings where it fell on a heap of dirty clothes and lay motionless its wailing had ceased oh baby baby exclaimed in accents of distress oh you have killed it i am sure oh you are cruel cruel oh baby baby and she broke into a passion of sobs and tears the looked on in unmoved silence mother gathered her torn garments round her with a gesture of defiance and the air as though she said any one who wants to with me will get the worst of it there was a brief pause suddenly a man staggered out of the gin shop t e the hired baby of his hand across his mouth as he came a built ill favoured brute with a shock of red hair and small like eyes he stared at the weeping then at mother finally from one to the other of the who stood by s the row he demanded thickly s up ave it out fair joe stand by and see fair game fire away my fire fire away and with a idiot laugh into the pocket of his torn trousers and produced a pipe filling this leisurely from a greasy with such unsteady fingers that the tobacco dropped all over him he lighted it repeating with increased thickness of utterance s the row ave it out fair it s about your joe cried the girl before mentioned jumping up from her seat on the ground with such force that her hair came tumbling all about her in a dark mist through which her thin eager face peered has gone crazy she wants your to and she screamed with sudden laughter eh eh fancy wants a to the joe and sucked the stem of his pipe with apparent relish then as if he had been engaged in deep meditation on the subject he removed his smoky from his mouth and said w y not wants a to all right let er ave it w y not at these words looked up through the hired baby her tears but mother darted forward in indignation yer great drunken fool she to her are n t yer ashamed of let out yer for a whole night for it s lucky i ve got my wits about me an i say sha n t ave it there now the man looked at her and a dogged resolution darkened his repulsive countenance he raised his big fist it and hit straight out giving his wife a black eye in much less than a minute an i say she shall ave it where are ye now in answer to the mother might have said that she was all there for she returned her husband s blow with interest and force and in a couple of seconds the happy pair were engaged in a stand up fight to the intense admiration and excitement of all the inhabitants of the little alley every one in the place thronged to watch the and to hear the oaths and curses with which the battle was accompanied in the midst of the a bent old man who had been sitting at his door rags in a basket and apparently taking no heed of the around him made a sign to take the kid now he whispered nobody ii notice i ii see they don t cry ye thanked him by a look and rushing to the house where the child still lay seemingly on the floor among the soiled clothes the hired baby she caught it up eagerly and hurried away to her own poor garret in a tumble down at the farthest end of the alley the infant had been stunned by its fall but under her tender care and rocked in the warmth of her caressing arms it soon recovered though when its blue eyes opened they were full of a bewildered pain such as may be seen in the eyes of a shot bird my pet my poor little darling she murmured over and over again kissing its white face and soft hands i wish i was your mother lord knows i do as it is you re all i ve got to care for and you do love me baby don t you just a little little bit and as she renewed her embraces the tiny sad creature uttered a low sound of baby satisfaction in response to her a sound more sweet to her ears than the most exquisite music and which brought a smile to her mouth and a pathos to her dark eyes rendering her face for the moment almost beautiful holding the child closely to her breast she looked cautiously out of her narrow window and perceived that the fight was over from the shouts of laughter and that reached her ears joe had evidently won the day his wife had disappeared from the field she saw the little crowd most of those who composed it entering the gin shop and very soon the alley was comparatively quiet and deserted by and by she heard her name called in a low voice the hired baby she looked down and saw the old man who had promised her his protection in case mother should her is that you jim come upstairs it s better	39
than talking out there he obeyed and stood before her in the wretched room looking curiously both at her and the baby a faced being was jim as he was familiarly called though his own name was the aristocratic and singularly one of james he was more like an animal than a human creature with his straggling gray hair beard and sharp teeth like from beneath his upper lip his profession was that of an area thief and he considered it a sufficiently respectable calling mother has got it this time he said with a grin which was more like a joe s blood was up and he her nigh into a she leave ye quiet now so long as ye pay the hire regular ye ii have joe on yer side if so be as there s a bad day ye d better not come home at all i know said but she s always had the money for the child and surely it was n t much to ask her to let me keep it warm on such a cold night as this jim looked meditative makes yer care for that so much he asked t ain t sighed no she said sadly that s true but the hired baby it seems something to hold on to like see what my life has been she stopped and a wave of colour flushed her pallid features from a little girl nothing but the the long cruel streets and i just a bit of dirt on the pavement no more flung here flung there and at last swept into the all dark all useless she laughed a little fancy jim i ve never seen the country nor i said jim biting a piece of straw it must be powerful fine with naught but green trees an a an a there ain t many there though i m told went on scarcely him the to me like what the country must be all harmless and sweet and quiet when i hold it so my heart gets peaceful somehow i don t know why again jim looked he waved his bitten straw ye ve had t ye met no man like ye could care fur trembled and her eyes grew wild men she cried with bitterest scorn no men have come my way only brutes jim stared but was silent he had no fit answer ready presently spoke again more softly jim do you know i went into a great church to day worse luck said jim church ain t no use as fur as i can see the hired baby there was a figure there jim went on earnestly of a woman holding up a baby and people knelt down before it what do you s pose it was can t say replied the puzzled jim are ye sure t was a church most like t was a no no said t was a church for certain there were folks praying in it ah well growled jim much good may it do em i m not of the sort a woman an a did ye say don t ye get such notions into yer head women an are common enough too common by a long chalk an as for to jim s utter contempt and incredulity were too great for further expression and he turned away wishing her a good night good night said softly and long after he had left her she still sat silent thinking thinking with the baby asleep in her arms listening to the rain as it heavily like falling on a coffin lid she was not a good woman far from it her very motive in the infant at so much a day was entirely it was simply to gain money upon false by exciting more pity than would otherwise have been bestowed on her had she begged for herself alone without a child in her arms at first she had carried the baby about to serve as a mere trick of her trade but the warm feel of its little helpless body against her bosom day after day had softened the hired baby her heart toward its innocence and pitiful weakness and at last she had grown to love it with a strange intense passion so much that she would willingly have sacrificed her life for its sake she knew that its own parents cared nothing for it except for the money it brought them through her hands and often wild plans would form in her poor tired plans of running away with it altogether from the roaring devouring city to some sweet humble country village there to obtain work and devote herself to making this httle child happy poor poor bewildered ignorant london heathen as she was there was one fragrant flower in the desert of her soiled and wasted existence the flower of a e and love for one of those little ones of whom it hath been said by an divinity unknown to her suffer them to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of heaven the dreary winter days crept on and as they drew near christmas in the streets leading off the strand grew accustomed of nights to hear the plaintive voice of a woman singing in a peculiarly thrilling and pathetic manner some of the old songs and familiar and dear to the heart of every the banks of water the s daughter sally in our alley the last rose of summer all these well loved she sang one after the other and though her notes were neither fresh nor powerful the hired baby they were true and often tender more particularly in the but still melody of home sweet home windows were opened and freely on the street who was accompanied in all her wanderings by a fragile infant which she seemed	39
move on the hired baby smiled faintly and all right she answered striving to speak cheerfully and raising her eyes to the policeman s good natured countenance i did n t mean to fall asleep here i don t know how i came to do it i must go home of course of course said the policeman somewhat by her evident humility and touched in spite of himself by the pathos of her eyes then turning his lamp more fully upon her he continued is that a baby you ve got there yes said half proudly half tenderly poor little dear it s been but i think it s better now than it was and encouraged by his friendly tone she opened the folds of her shawl to show him her one treasure the bull s eye came into still closer as the kindly guardian of the peace peered at the tiny bundle he had scarcely looked when he started back with an exclamation god bless my soul he cried it s dead dead shrieked oh no no not dead don t say so oh don t don t say so oh you can t mean it oh for god s love say you did n t mean it it can t be dead not really dead no no indeed oh baby baby you are not dead my pet my angel not dead oh no and breathless frantic with fear she felt the little thing s hands and feet and face kissed it wildly and called it by a thousand names in vain in vain its tiny body was al the hired baby ready stiff and rigid it had been a corpse more than two hours the and brushed his thick glove across his eyes he was an of the law but he had a heart he thought of his bright eyed wife at home and of the little creature that clung to her bosom and with rapture whenever he came near look here he said very gently laying one hand on the woman s shoulder as she crouched shivering against the wall and staring at the motionless form in her arms it s no use about it he paused there was an uncomfortable lump in his throat and he had to cough again to get it down the poor little creature s gone there s no help for it the next world s a better place than this you know there there don t take on so about it this as shuddered and sighed a sigh of such complete despair that it went straight to his honest soul and showed him how futile were his efforts at consolation but he had his duty to attend to and he went on in firmer tones now like a good woman you just move off from here and go home if i leave you here by yourself a bit will you promise me to go straight home i must n t find you here when i come back on this beat d ye understand nodded that s right he resumed cheerily i give you just ten minutes you just go straight home ft the hired baby and with a good night uttered in accents meant to be comforting he turned away and paced on his measured tread echoing on the silence at first loudly then fainter and fainter till it altogether died away as his figure disappeared in the distance left to herself rose from her crouching rocking the dead child in her arms she smiled go straight home she half aloud home sweet home i yes baby yes my darling we will go home together and creeping cautiously along in the shadows she reached a flight of the broad stone steps leading down to the river she descended them one by one the black water against them heavily heavily the tide was full up she paused a deep toned iron voice rang through the air with solemn melody it was the great bell of st paul s the old year was dead straight home she repeated with a beautiful expectant look in her wild weary eyes my little darling yes we are both tired we will go home home sweet home we will go kissing the cold face of the baby corpse she held she threw herself forward there followed a sullen deep a slight and all was over the water against the steps heavily heavily as before the policeman passed once more and saw to his satisfaction that the coast was clear through the dark veil of the sky one star looked the hired baby out and for a brief instant then disappeared again a clash and of bells startled the brooding night here and there a window was opened and figures appeared in to listen they were ringing in the new year the festival of hope the birthday of the world but what were new years to her who with white face and arms that embraced an infant in the grip of death went drifting drifting solemnly down the dark river unseen by all those who awoke to new hopes and aspirations on that first morning of another life had gone gone to make her peace with god perhaps through the aid of her hired baby the little soul she had so fondly cherished gone to that sweetest home we dream of and pray for where the lost and bewildered of this earth shall find true welcome and rest from grief and exile gone to that fair far glory world where the divine master whose words still ring above the tumult of ages see that ye despise not one of these little ones for i say unto you that their angels do always behold the face of my father who is in heaven stories by english authors in this set of well printed and bound volumes the have gathered together the best short stories	39
always turned the scale but i am on such merry meetings as i have alluded to the master after making the certain approaches as a military man would say as the preparatory steps in laying siege to some of his servant might perchance pat thus by the by sir john addressing a distinguished guest pat has a very curious story which something you told me to day reminds me of you remember pat turning to the man evidently pleased at the notice thus paid to himself you remember that queer adventure you had in france i do sir forth pat what sir john in feigned surprise was pat ever in france indeed he was cries mine host and pat adds ay and farther your honour i assure you sir john continues mine host pat told me a story once that surprised me very much respecting the ignorance of the french indeed rejoined the really i always supposed the french to be a most accomplished people then they re not sir pat oh by no means adds mine host shaking his head emphatically i believe pat t was when you were crossing the atlantic says the master turning to pat with a air and leading into the full and true account for pat had thought fit to visit north for a he had in the autumn of the year ninety eight yes sir says pat the broad atlantic a it d n ft the favourite phrase of his which he gave with a as broad almost as the atlantic itself it was the time i was lost in the broad atlantic a home began pat into the recital the winds began to blow and the to that you d think the that was her name would not have a mast left but what would out of her well sure enough the went by the board at last and the were choked choke them for that same and the gained an us and to be filled with is neither good for man or and she was fast down as the sailors call it and faith i never was good at down in my life and i liked it then less nor ever accordingly we prepared for the worst and put out the boat and got a sack o and a o pork and a o and a o rum and any other httle we could think iv in the hurry we in and faith there was no time to be lost for my the went down like a lump o lead afore we many o the oar away from her well we away all that night and next we put up a blanket an the end a pole as well as we could and then we sailed for we n t show a o canvas the night before it was like bloody your presence and sure it s the of the world we n t d alive by the the well away we for more nor a week and before our two good eyes but the iv heaven and the wide ocean the broad atlantic not a thing was to be seen but the and the sky and though the and the sky is mighty things in themselves they re no great things when you ve else to look at for a week together and the rock in the world so it was land would be more and then soon enough our provisions began to run low the and the and the rum that was gone first of all god help and oh it was thin that starvation began to stare us in the face o captain says i i wish we could land anywhere says i more power to your elbow my boy says he for a good wish and it myself wishes the same says i that it may you sweet queen iv heaven supposing it was only a island says i inhabited sure they would n t be such bad as to refuse us a bit and a sup says the captain don t be talking bad of any one says he you don t know how soon you may want a good word put in for yourself if you should be called to in th other world all of a says he for you captain says i i called him and made free with him you the see makes us all for you captain jewel god and harm i own no man any spite and that was only well the last was out and by the itself was all gone ai last and we passed the night mighty well at the o day the sun most beautifully out o the waves that was as bright as silver and as clear as but it was only the more cruel upon us for we to feel terrible hungry when all at i thought i the land by i thought i felt my heart up in my throat in a and thunder an turf captain says i look to says i what for says he i think i see the land says i so he with his bring em near that s what the sailors call a spy glass sir and looks out and sure enough it was says he we re all right now pull away my boys says he take care you re not mistaken says i maybe it s only a fog bank captain says i oh no says he it s the land in oh then whereabouts in the wide world are we captain says i maybe it id be in or or the ocean t says i tut you fool says he for he had that way him himself nor any one else tut you fool says he that s y says he it t the it i an says i do you tell	39
me so and how do you know it s france it is captain dear says i this is the bay o we re in now says he i was so myself says i by the it has for i often it in regard of that same and the likes it i never seen before nor since and with the help of god never will well with that my heart began to grow light and when i seen my life was safe i began to grow twice nor ever so says i captain jewel i wish we had a why then says he thunder an turf says he what puts a into your head i m with the hunger says i and sure bad luck to you says he you could n t eat a says he you were z o the says he ate a says i in r m not such a all out as that anyhow but sure if we had a we could dress a says i but where s the says he sure could n t we cut a the pork says i by i never thought o that says the captain you re a clever fellow says he it the oh there s many a word said in joke says i for you says he well then says i if you put me ashore there for we were the land all the time and sure i can ax them for to me the loan of a says i oh by the s out o the in now says he you says he sure i told you before that s france and sure they re all there says the captain well says i and how do you know but i m as good a myself as any o what do you mane says he i mane says i what i you that i m as good a myself as any o make me says he by maybe that s more nor me or greater nor me could do says i and we all began to laugh at him for i thought i would pay him off for his bit o about the lave your says he i bid you and tell me what it is you mane at all at all says i oh your humble says he why by you re a scholar you may say that says i why you re a clever fellow says the captain like you re not the first that said that says i whether you joke or no ti t u tt t it r it t tt t tt t the oh but i m in says the captain and do you tell me says he that you says i by that and all the world knows the i never met the likes o you says he pull away boys and put ashore and maybe we won t get a good before long so with that it no sooner said nor done they pulled away and got close into shore in less than no time and run the boat up in a little creek and a beautiful creek it was with a lovely white an place for ladies to in the summer and out i got and it s stiff enough in the limbs i was bein cramped up in the boat and perished with the and hunger but i to scramble on one way or t other tow rd a little bit iv a wood that was close to the shore and the smoke out iv it quite like by the o war i m all right says i there s a house there and sure enough there was and a parcel of men women and their dinner round a table quite and so i up to the door and i thought i d be very civil to them as i the was always mighty p and i thought i d show them i knew what good manners was so i took my hat and making a low bow says i god save all here says i the well to be sure they all at and began to stare at me and faith they almost looked me out of countenance and i thought to myself it was not good manners at all more from which they call so mighty but i never minded that in regard o the and so says i i beg your pardon says i for the liberty i take but it only bein in in regard of says i that i made to and if you could me the loan of a says i i d be to ye by they all stared at me twice worse nor before and with that says i knowing what was in their minds indeed it s for you says i i m to pieces and god knows i look enough but it s by of the storm says i which us ashore here below and we re all says i so then they began to look at each other again and myself seeing at once dirty thoughts was in their heads and that they me for a poor beggar coming to charity with that says i oh not at all says i by no we have plenty of mate ourselves there below and we it says i if you would be to us the loan of a says i a low bow well sir with that they stared at me twice worse nor ever and faith i began to think that maybe the captain was wrong and that it the was not france at all at all and so says i i beg pardon sir says i to a fine ould man with a head of hair as white as silver maybe i m under a mistake says i but i thought i was in france sir are n t you says	39
i we says he then would you me the loan of a says i if you oh it was thin that they stared at me as if i had seven heads and faith myself began to feel flushed like and and so says i a bow and scrape ag in i know it s a liberty i take sir says i but it s only in the regard of bein cast away and if you sir says i we says he mighty sharp then would you me the loan of a says i and you me well sir the ould chap began to me but the a bit of a he d gi me and so i began to think they all for all their fine manners and my blood begun to rise and says i by my if it was you was in says i and if it was to ould ireland you it s not only the they d give you if you it but something to put an it too and the drop o into the bargain and mile well the word mile seemed to his heart and the ould chap cocked his the ear and so i thought i d give him another offer and make him at last and so says i more quite slow that he might understand we says he then me the loan of a says i and bad to you well bad win to the bit of it he d gi me and the ould chap begins and and said something or other about a long the yourself and your says i i don t want a at all at all but can t you listen to says i we then me the loan of a says i and your well what would you think but he shook his old as much as to say he would n t and so says i bad to the likes o that i ever seen if you in my it s not that away they d use you the curse o the an you you ould sinner says i the a longer i your door so he seen i was vexed and i thought as i was away i seen him begin to and that his conscience him and says i back well i give you one chance more you ould thief are you a at all some of s touching the french h the are you a says i that all the world calls so p bad luck to you do you understand your own language says i we says he then thunder an turf says i will you me the loan of a well sir the the bit of it he d gi me and so with that the curse o the hungry an you you ould villain says i the back o my hand and the o my foot to you that you may want a yourself says i and with that i left them there sir and away and in it s often sense that i thought that it was remarkable the emergency men by george h the emergency men by george h the fourth morning after his arrival in mr of new york entered the breakfast room of the hotel in a very bad humour he was sick of the city of the people and of his own company before leaving london he had written to his friend jack that he was coming to ireland and he had expected to find a reply at the for three days he had waited in vain and it was partly at least on jack s account that mr was in ireland at all when jack sailed from new york he had bound by a solemn promise to spend a few weeks at on his next visit to europe miss who had accompanied her brother on his american tour had echoed and the invitation had naturally expected to find at the hotel a letter urging him to take the first train for the south he had seen a great deal of the during their stay in the united states and jack and he had become firm friends he had the emergency men crossed at this unusual season mainly on jack s account on jack s account and his sister s so it was little wonder if the young man considered himself ill used he felt that he had been across the irish across the atlantic ocean itself on false but in a moment the cloud lifted from his brow a quick smile stirred under his yellow moustache and his eyes brightened for a waiter handed him a letter it lay address uppermost on the and bore the and the hand writing was the which he had often but now welcomed as jack s this is what read as he his coffee december d my dear home i come from yesterday and find your letter the best part of a week old kicking about among the bills and notices of meets that make the biggest end of my correspondence you must be destroyed entirely my poor fellow if you ve been three days in dear dirty and you not knowing a soul in it come down at once and you find a hearty welcome here if you won t find much else i don t see why you could n t have come anyhow without waiting to write but you were always so we re rather at and for the governor s got in how its with his tenants and we re it s not bad fun when you re used to it but a trifle inconvenient in certain small ways let me know what train you take and i meet you at the station you must be here for christmas day anyhow sends her regards and says she knew the letter was from you and she came near opening it	39
i m sure i wish she had and answered it for i m a poor fist at a letter yours truly jack the emergency men the first available train carried southward on the way he read the letter again the notion of entering a household amused and pleased him he had never been in ireland before and he was quite willing that his first visit should be well with the national of course he had his views on the irish question every american newspaper reader is cheerfully satisfied with the conviction that the race on its native sod has no real faults a constitutional to rent may exist but that is a national which owing doubtless to some peculiarity of the climate is almost in ireland elsewhere regarded as hardly respectable at any rate with the consciousness that he was about to come face to face with the much talked of s spirits rose and as he read s message they rose still higher he was a lively young fellow and fond of excitement and at one time as he recalled with a smile and a sigh he had been almost fond of when he alighted at the station a small place in the dusk of the early winter evening was closing in and recollected that his prompt departure from had prevented him from jack of his movements of course there would be no trap from to meet this train but that mattered httle half a dozen were already the merits of their various and imploring his patronage the emergency men selecting the best looking car he swung himself into his seat while the hoisted his on the other side where to yer honour inquired the latter climbing to his place to house answered where this question was asked with a vehemence that startled the young american don t you know the way he replied in an i do is it s yes answered drive on my good fellow it s growing late the man s only answer was to spring from his seat and seize s which he deposited on the road with no gentle hand what do you mean cried the young man indignantly i mane that ye d come down out o that afore i make ye was on the ground in a moment and approached the man with fists and flashing eyes how dare you you scoundrel will you drive me to or will you not the a answered the fellow sullenly controlled his anger by an effort there was nothing to be gained by a row with the man he turned to another driver the emergency men pick up that drive me out to mr s i pay double fare but they all with one consent like the guests in the began to make excuse one man s horse was lame another s car was broken down the services of a third had been few were as frank as the man first engaged but all prompt with obvious lies scarcely less than actual the station master appeared and attempted to use his influence in the traveller s behalf but he effected nothing you have to walk sir said the official i keep your here till mr sends for it and he carried the luggage back into the station how far is it to mr s inquired of a ragged who had strolled up with several companions fish an find out answered the with a grin we them to be emergency men down here said another the new was fast losing patience this is irish hospitality and native courtesy he remarked bitterly will any one tell me the road i am to follow folly yer nose a voice shouted and there was a general laugh in the midst of which the station master reappeared he pointed out the way and off to accomplish as best he might five irish miles the emergency men over and through the darkness of the december evening this was the young american s first practical experience of it was nearly seven o clock when tired and mud he reached but the warmth of his reception there went far to banish all recollection of the of his solitary tramp a hearty hand clasp from jack a frank and smiling greeting from she looked than ever thought with her black hair and soft dark gray eyes put him at his ease at once then came to the rest of the family mr stout and bade him welcome in a voice which owned more than a touch of mrs and good humoured was very for his comfort the children confused him at first there were so many of them of all sizes that abandoned for the present any attempt to distinguish them by name there was a tall lad of twenty or a faithful copy of his elder brother jack who was addressed as dick and a pretty fair haired girl of seventeen whom as s sister was prepared to like at once she was after these came a long array no less than nine more ending with a sturdy little chap of three whom presently picked up and carried off to bed mr of could boast of a full quiver there was a general chorus of laughter as the emergency men old related his experience at the railway station the had rested for several days under the ban of the most rigid and had become used to small they faced the situation bravely and turned all such petty troubles into jest but the american was sorely to learn that there was only one servant in the an old man who for many years had boots and cleaned knives for the family and who had refused to to heel under the lash of the stammered an apology for his visit but jack cut him short nonsense man the more the we re glad to have you and	39
if you can rough it a bit you won t find it half bad fun oh i don t mind i m sure said only i m afraid you d rather have your house to yourselves at such a time as this not we why we expect some emergency men down here in a few days we treat you as the advance guard we set you to work and give you your the same as an emergency man what is an emergency man inquired those drivers at the station seemed to think it was the worst name they could call me a hearty laugh went round the circle if they took ye for an emergency man it s small wonder they were none too on ye observed mr the emergency men but what does it mean asked the new well began the old gentleman there s good and bad in this world of ours when tenants kick and out an a s put on a man they d lave yer cattle to die an yer crops to rot for all they care it s what they want well there happens to be a few people left in ireland yet and they have got up an organization they call the emergency men they go to any part of the country and help out people that have been through no fault of their own plough their fields or reap their or dig their potatoes an generally knock the legs out from under the it stands to reason that the in these parts hate an emergency man as the hates holy water but ye may take it as a compliment that ye were for one for all that here dick thrust his head into the door of the large library in which the party was assembled dinner is served my lords and ladies he cried and there was a general movement toward the dining room no ceremony here my boy laughed jack as he led across the hall i be your and show you the way the girls are in the kitchen i suppose but miss and were already in the dining room and the party gathered round the well spread board and proceeded to do full justice the emergency men to the good things the meal was more like a than a set dinner old peter the last remaining had never attended at table so he confined himself to kitchen duties while the young waited on themselves and on each other a certain little maid whom by this time had identified as devoted herself to the stranger and took care that neither his glass nor his plate should be empty a glance of approval which he on its way from miss to her little sister told that had been given a charge concerning him and he appreciated the attention none the less on that account while he ate his dinner with the agreeable confidence that it had been prepared by miss s own fair hands everything at table was abundant and good of its kind and conversation was alert and merry as it is apt to be in a large family party so far the seemed to have anything but a effect though could not help smiling as he how it would have crushed to powder more than one family of his acquaintance after dinner jack rose saying that he must go round to the stables and bed down the horses for the night accompanied him and himself very well with a considering that he had little experience with such an dick had gone with a couple of the younger boys to chop for certain cattle which were being for the market the emergency men how did you come to be inquired with some curiosity as soon as he found himself alone with jack oh it does n t take much talent to accomplish that nowadays answered the young with a laugh in the first place the governor has a habit of asking for his rent which is an proceeding at the best of times in the second place i bought half a dozen from a farmer out way and is that all asked in astonishment notwithstanding his regard for his friend he had never doubted that there must have been some appalling piece of persecution to justify this determined all echoed jack laughing you don t know much of ireland my boy or you would n t ask that question we bought cattle that had been raised by a farmer on land from which a tenant had been men have been shot in these parts for less than that pleasant state of affairs remarked the new i don t much care jack went on lightly we re promised a couple of emergency men from in a few days and that will take the weight of the work off our hands it is n t as if it were a busy time no crops to be saved in winter you see and no farm work except the cattle that can t wait but your all the work of that big the emergency men house began who was thinking of we expect two girls down from to morrow that be all right we get all our from they won t sell us anything in and we mean to keep on doing so or no we have been about the best customers to the round here and it come near the town and serve them right the young man added with the first touch of bitterness he had displayed in speaking of the persecution of his family by next day the situation had improved a couple of servant girls arrived from the north they were expected and accordingly dick was on hand with the car to meet them and drive them from the station the emergency men had not yet appeared so jack and such of his brothers as	39
were old enough to be of use were kept pretty busy round the place had wished to return to england and his visit till a more convenient time but to this no one would listen he made no trouble he a bit in the way in fact he was a great help so said they all and the young new was quite willing to believe them he did occasionally offer assistance in stable or farm yard but he much preferred to spend his time rambling over the old place admiring the the woods the gardens all strangely silent and deserted now miss was often his the emergency men companion the from relieved her of some of the pressure of household cares and since her brothers were fully occupied it upon her to play host as well as hostess and point out to the stranger the various charms of this suited exactly he usually carried a gun and sometimes shot a rabbit or a but generally he was content to listen to s lively conversation and gaze into the depths of her eyes wondering why they looked darker and softer here under the shadow of her native woods than they had ever seemed in the glare and of a new york ball room was falling in love falling yet without a struggle he was beginning to that life could have nothing better in store for him than this tall graceful girl in her becoming cap and jacket whose little feet so stoutly and shod kept pace with his own over so many miles of pleasant one day it was the last of the old year miss and were strolling along a path on which the wintry sunshine was tracing fantastic patterns as it streamed through the naked branches of the giant trees the young man had a gun on his shoulder but he was paying little attention to the that now and then across the road he was thinking and thinking deeply the emergency men he could not hope for many more such quiet walks with his fair companion she would soon have more efficient than the children who often made a pretence of accompanying them but invariably dashed off of the sober pace of their elders before long next day probably he would be handed over to the tender of jack who had constantly lamented the occupations that prevented his paying proper attention to his guest the heir of had promised to show the young stranger some real good sport as soon as other duties would permit that time was close at hand now the emergency men had been at work for several days they were thoroughly at home in their duties besides the fat cattle would be finished very shortly and sent off to be sold in jack had announced his intention of stealing a holiday on the morrow and taking to a certain famous bottom where the game was to use dick s expression as thick as in one of s it was hard to guess when they might have such another and had much to say to the girl at his side and yet for the life of him he could not utter the words that were trembling on his lips i don t believe you care much for shooting mr a rabbit slowly across the road not twenty yards from the gun but had not noticed iu he roused himself with a start however at the sound of his companion s voice the emergency men oh yes i do sometimes he answered glancing to both sides of the road but no game was in sight for the moment if this frost should break up you may have some hunting pursued miss i m afraid you re having an awfully stupid time interposed an eager denial oh yes you must be insisted the yoimg lady but jack will find more time now and if we have a you will have a day with the hounds are you fond of hunting i am very fond of riding but i have never hunted answered the new just like me i am never so happy as when i am on horseback but mamma won t let me ride to hounds she says she does not approve of ladies on the field it is i suppose that every mistress of should oppose hunting indeed why so inquired why don t you know asked the girl has nobody told you our family ghost story no one as yet answered then mine be the pleasing task and there is a peculiar fitness in your hearing it just now for to morrow will be new year s day failed to see the of the date but he made no observation and miss went on ever so many years ago this place belonged to an of mine who was devoted to field the emergency men sports of all kinds he lived for nothing else people thought but suddenly he surprised all the world by getting married thought that if her remote grandmother had chanced to resemble the fair young girl at his side there was a good excuse for the but he held his tongue the bride was or perhaps she was only timid at any rate she used her influence to her husband from his pursuits especially hunting he must have been very much in love with her for she succeeded and he promised to give it all up after one day more it seems that he could not get out of this last run the meet was on the lawn the hunt breakfast was to be at house in short it was an affair that could neither be altered nor postponed this meet continued was on new year s day there was a great gathering and after breakfast the gentlemen came out and mounted at the door the hounds were on the lawn it must	39
have been a beautiful sight it must indeed assented well this old mr but you must understand that he was not old at all only all this happened so long ago he mounted his horse and his wife came out on the step to bid him and to remind him of his promise that this should be his last hunt and so it was poor fellow for while she was standing talking to him a gust of wind came and blew part of her dress right the emergency men into the horse s face mr was riding a very spirited animal it reared up and fell back on him killing him on the spot how horrible exclaimed wait the shock to the young wife was so great that she died the next day the poor girl don t waste your sympathy it was all very long ago and perhaps it never happened at all however the curious part of the story is to come every one that had been present at that meet men dogs horses everything died within the year to the ruin of the local companies remarked with a smile you need n t laugh they did and next new year s night between twelve and one o clock the whole hunt passed through the place and they have kept on doing it every new year s night since a most interesting and elaborate ghost story said pray miss may i ask if you yourself have seen the phantom hunt no one has ever done that replied but when there is moonlight they say the shadows can be seen passing over the grass and any new year s night you may hear the s horn i should like to hear it replied the young man have you ever heard this horn i have heard a horn the girl answered with some reluctance the emergency men on new year s night between twelve and one he pursued of but i can t swear it was blown by a ghost my brothers or some one may have been playing tricks you can sit up to night and listen for it yourself if you want nothing i should like better exclaimed will you sit up too oh yes we always wait to see the old year out and the new year in come mr it s almost luncheon time she added glancing at her watch and they turned back toward the house which was just visible through the trees walked at her side in silence he had heard a ghost story but the words he had hoped to speak that day were still loud were the when the little ones came that they might be allowed to sit up to see the old year die but mrs was inexorable the very young ones were sent off to bed at their usual hour cards and music passed the time pleasantly till the clock was almost on the stroke of twelve then wine was brought in and were drunk and warm cheerful wishes were uttered all the blessings that the new year might have in store hands were clasped and kisses were exchanged would willingly have been included in this last ceremony but that might not be however he could and did press s hand very warmly and the earnestness of the wishes ha the emergency men breathed in her ear called a bright colour to her cheek then came good night and the young american s heart grew strangely soft when he found himself included in mrs s blessing he thought he had never seen a happier a more united family the party was breaking up some had retired others were standing bedroom in their hands exchanging a last word when suddenly out of the silence of the night the melodious notes of a s horn echoed through the room recalled the legend and paused at the door mute and wondering jack and his father exchanged glances now which of you s to us this year asked the old man laughing while jack looked round and proceeded as he said to count noses this was a useless attempt for half the party that had sat up to wait for the new year had already disappeared dick sprang to the window and threw it open but the night was cloudy and dark again came the notes of the horn floating in through the open window and almost at the same moment there was a sound of hoofs the gravel of the drive as a dozen or more animals swept past at wild gallop this is past a joke cried jack i never heard of the old hunt in any such way as this the emergency men they rushed to the front jack mr all of them reached it first it open he stood on the step while the others crowded about him and peered out into the night only darkness rendered by the lights in the hall and from the distance fainter now came the measured beat of the galloping hoofs no other sound yes a long drawn quivering piteous sigh and as their eyes grew more accustomed to the night out of the darkness something white shaped itself something prone and helpless lying on the gravel beneath the lowest step they did not stop to as to what it might be with a single impulse jack and sprang down and between them they carried back into the hall the body of her eyes were closed and her face was as white as the muslin dress she wore clutched in her right hand was a hunting horn belonging to dick it was evident that the girl had stolen out unobserved to perhaps for the visitor s benefit the notes of the phantom this was a favorite joke among the young and scarcely a new year s night passed that it was not practised by one or other of	39
the large family but what had occurred to night whence came those galloping hoofs and what was the explanation of s condition the quickly yielded to the usual but even when she revived it was ft he emergency men before the girl could speak her voice was broken by hysterical sobs she trembled in every limb it was evident that her nerves had received a severe shock while the others were occupied with dick had stepped out on the gravel sweep where he was endeavouring by close examination to discover some clue to the puzzle suddenly he ran back into the house something s on fire he cried i believe it s the yard they all pressed to the open door all except mrs who still busied herself with her daughter and whose sole interest was in the girl he loved above a fringe of which the farm yard a red glow lit up the sky it was evident the buildings were on fire and even while they looked a man half dressed panting dashed up the steps it was tom one of the emergency men these men slept in the yard in the quarters by the coachman in a few breathless words the big raw told the story of the last half hour he and his comrade had been awakened by suspicious sounds in the yard descending they had found the cattle shed in flames had forced his way in and had and driven out the terrified the poor animals wild with terror had burst from the yard and galloped the emergency men off in the direction of the house this accounted for the hoofs that had swept across the lawn but scarcely for s terrified condition a country bred girl like miss would not lose her wits over the spectacle of a dozen fat oxen broken loose from their had the barn been purposely burned and had the girl fallen in with the retreating it seemed likely no one there doubted the origin of the fire and mr expressed the general feeling as he shook his head and muttered i that they would n t let us get them cattle out o the country without some trouble but where is demanded jack suddenly is n t he here asked the when we seen the fire he started up to the big house to give the alarm while i turned to to save the no he never came to the house answered jack and there was an added gravity in his manner as he turned to his brother get a lantern dick this thing must be looked into at once while the boy went in search of a light mr attempted to obtain from his daughter a connected statement of what had happened and how much she had seen but she was in no condition to answer questions the poor girl could only sob and moan and cover her face t the emergency men hands while shook her slight figure oh don t ask me papa don t speak to me about it it was dreadful dreadful i saw it all this was all they could gain from her don t the poor young lady interposed old peter sure the heart s put in her the fright lave her be till there seemed nothing else to be done so was left in charge of her mother and sister while the men headed by dick who carried a lantern set out to examine the grounds there was no trace of between the house and the farm yard the lawn was much cut up by the cattle for the frost had turned to rain early in the evening and a rapid was in progress the ground was quite soft on the surface and it was carefully for traces of footsteps but nothing could be distinguished among the prints of the in the yard all was quiet the fire had died down the roof of the cattle shed had fallen in and smothered the last embers the bam was a ruin but no other damage had been done and there were no signs of the missing man they turned back this time making a wider circle almost under the kitchen window grew a dense thicket of laurel and other shrubs dick stooped and let the light of the lantern penetrate beneath the overhanging branches the emergency there within three steps of the house lay pale and blood stained with a sickening in his temple a murdered man old peter was the first to break the silence the lord be good to him they ve done for him this time an no mistake the lifeless body was lifted gently and borne toward the house hastened in advance to make sure that none of the ladies were to be shocked by the sight the hall was deserted doubtless s condition demanded all their attention the girl saw him murdered muttered mr i thought it must have been something out of the common to upset her so d ye think did she sir asked old peter eagerly i have n t a doubt of it replied the old gentleman shortly thank goodness her evidence will hang the villain whoever he may be ah the poor thing the poor thing murmured the servant and then the sad procession entered the house the body was laid on a table it would have been useless to send for a surgeon there was not one to be found within several miles and it was but too evident that life was extinct the top of the man s head was beaten to a he had been to death if it costs me every shilling i have in the world and my life to the boot of it said mr the emergency men i see the that did the deed swing for their night s work assented peter solemnly and jack s handsome face darkened as he mentally	39
recorded an oath of vengeance there be little sleep for this house to night resumed the old gentleman after a pause i m goin to look round and see if the doors are locked an then take a look at an peter sir the first light in the it s only a few hours off he added with a glance at his watch you run over to the police station and give notice of what s happened i will yer honour come upstairs with me boys i want to talk with you good night mr this has been a business but there s no reason you should lose your rest for it mr left the room resting his arms on the shoulders of his two sons glanced at the motionless figure of the murdered man and followed he did not seek his bedroom however he knew it would be idle to think of sleep he entered the smoking room lit a cigar and threw himself into a chair to wait for morning all his ideas as to the irish question had been changing during his visit to this night s work had them he saw the not as he had been wont to read of it over by the new york the emergency men papers he saw it as it in all its naked brutal horror he had observed that there had been no attempt on the part of the to appeal to neighbours for help or sympathy in this time of trouble and he had asked jack the reason jack s answer had been brief and where s the good we re and that dead man lying on the table outside was only an example of carried to its logical conclusion the sound of a door closing softly aroused from his reverie a little leading from the servants quarters opened close to the smoking room window looked out and as the night had grown clearer he distinctly saw old peter making his way with elaborate caution down the path going to the police station i suppose mused well he has started then he resumed his seat and thought of what a shock for her poor girl to leave a happy home with her heart full of innocent mirth only murder lurking red handed at the very threshold i wish i had spoken to her to day he muttered goodness alone knows when i shall find a chance now i wonder how she is he that he could see nothing of her till breakfast time at any rate if indeed she would be strong enough to appear at that meal he the emergency men had been sitting in the dark he now threw aside his cigar and drawing his chair closer to the window set himself resolutely to watch for the dawn and solace his with dreams of a raw chill air blew into the room he noticed that a pane of glass was broken one of the children had thrown a ball through it a few days before and in the present situation of the household a was an luxury rose with the intention of moving his chair out of the draught but as he did so the sound of whispered words seemingly at his very ear made him pause the voices came from the below the window and in one of them he recognised the unmistakable of old peter had the man been to the police station and returned with the so quickly this was s first thought but he dismissed it as soon as formed peter had been barely half an hour absent and the station was several miles off where had he been then and with whom was he conversing bent his head close to the broken pane and listened are ye sure that the young woman seen us inquired a rough voice not peter s because this is goin to be an ugly job an there s no call for us to tackle it as whispered the old servant she was all of a as if she d met a the emergency men an all the words she had was i seen it i seen it all an she like a it s we did n t take notice to her for she must ha been powerful close to see us such a night i thought i the horn too an i the yard she out to blow it whispered peter most like it was stuck in the she was come on thin growled the other it s got to be done an the is all here ye left the httle on the latch i did that responded old peter and then a low soft whistle sounded in the darkness it was a signal rapidly but cautiously left the window and stole across the room he understood it all had seen the murder and had recognised the old was a traitor he had slipped out and warned the of the peril in which they stood and now they were here to seal their own safety by another crime by the sacrifice of a life far dearer to than his own swiftly silently he sped down the gloomy passage the lives of all beneath that roof were hanging on his speed breathless he reached the little door and flung himself against it with all his weight while his trembling fingers in the darkness for bolt or bar a heavy hand was laid on the latch and the door was tried from without the emergency men how s this peter inquired the rough voice i thought ye said it was n t locked no more it is it s only stiff it is bad to it push hard yer ye but at this moment s hand encountered the bolt with a sigh of relief he shot it into the and then searching farther he the with a massive	39
of the house poised by forty strong arms this ram was hurled against the front door carrying it clear oflf its hinges in the naked entry a crowd of rough men one another as they sprang forward with hoarse on their prey the garrison was at last not yet four shots rang out as one instantly repeated as the discharged their second barrels into the very teeth of the advancing mob then mr and jack the guns they had no time to and prepared to sell their lives dearly in a hand to hand struggle the emergency men as soon as she had fired dropped her weapon and in an instant had swept her behind him and stood revolver in hand his breast her the mob but the mob withered by the hesitated a moment the was streaming with blood and shrieking strove in vain to rise it was a sickening sight but there was the of anger in the air and no one faltered long on they came again with fury but again the rush was checked sharp and rang out the close reports of the american revolver and at each echo a man fell less noisy less terrific but far more deadly the took up the work where the had left it and covering with his body the girl he loved fired as steadily as if in a pistol gallery and made every shot tell he had not used his weapon in the first rush somewhere or other young had heard of the advantages of firing the lights had been extinguished and day was just breaking firing from the obscurity into the growing light the garrison had the best of the position but there were among the too and the balls whistled through the long hall and buried themselves in the but this could not last much as they had suffered in the assault the were too numerous to be longer held at bay with a feeling of despair recognised the futile click that the emergency men followed his pressure on the and told him that he had fired his last with a wild yell the rushed forward not a shot met them nothing stood between them and their vengeance but four pale determined men but a quick as of a body of horse was heard on the gravel without a sharp stern order reached the ears even of those in the house make ready present clubs and dropped from hands as the advancing mob paused faltered and then backward through the doorway the lust of vengeance gave way to the instinct of self preservation and the scattered in flight dick s gallant race against time had not been fruitless a of had reached the ground at the critical moment and was saved few of the escaped every avenue was guarded by mounted and the gang which had long the neighbourhood whose and example had done so much to convert the sullen discontent of the into violence was effectually broken up from that night the on the was raised red on the gallows the murder of the emergency man and nearly a score of others were to various terms of imprisonment for assault and the emergency men the attacking party had lost three men killed besides many wounded more or less severely by the shot guns the inquiry into the brought out details of the defence which struck terror to the hearts of the country people it was not likely that would be again and were married shortly after they are living in new york now in a pleasant flat overlooking central park they entertain a good deal and irish affairs are sometimes discussed at mr s table but so far he has failed to convince any of his american friends that there may be more than one side to the question in ireland nonsense remarked one gentleman who professed to be deeply read in the subject they are an oppressed and suffering people let them have their land and what is to become of the inquired with a wistful remembrance of her s beautiful home but to this question there has been no reply and none has been offered yet a lost by jane a lost by jane when heard that there was to be route marching next day in the neighbourhood of he determined upon going off for a long over the where there were no roads worth mentioning and no risks of an encounter with the in this he acted differently from all his neighbours most of whom upon learning the news began to and plan how they might see and hear as much as possible of their unwonted visitors opinions were chiefly divided as to whether the cross roads would be the best station to take up or the fork of the lane at house people who for one reason or another could not go so far consoled themselves by reflecting that the band at any rate would be likely to come through the village and would no doubt strike up a tune while passing as it had done a couple of years ago the last time the had appeared in and but that was the grand it done your heart good just to n s v a lost be the sound of it it did so old mrs said it was the sort of thunder storms they might be apt to have in heaven above than aught else she could think of might goodness forgive her for such a thing and said she d as as not have sat down and cried when t was passed beyond her listening it went that delightful the tune up over it the military authorities at were not ignorant of this popular sentiment and had considered it in the order of that day for experience had shown that a progress of troops through the surrounding country districts generally to the appearance before the officer	39
of sundry long loose and and a recent of this raw material made it seem expedient to bring such an influence to bear upon the new ground of remote certain and were accordingly directed to move under the general idea that an force from the had occupied while in of another general idea really more to the though not announced the accompanying band received instructions to be liberal and lively in its performances by the way all along their route through the wide brown land the soldiers might be sure of drawing as much sympathetic attention as that west country could on any given line probably a lost there would be no one disposed like to get out of the way unless some very small child roared and ran if of a size to have acquired the latter accomplishment at the sound of the drums to the great majority of these the spectacle would be a rare and gorgeous a memory across twilight time tracts as a vision of scarlet and golden and proudly pacing horses and music that made you feel you had never known how much life there was in you all the while some toll it is true had to be paid for this enjoyment when it had passed by things suddenly grew very flat and and there was a tendency to feel more or less vaguely because you could not go a yourself in cases however where circumstances rendered that obviously impossible as when people were too old or or were women or girls this thrill of discontent seldom very acute soon subsided by virtue of the self preserving instinct which us to persist in knocking our heads hard against our stone walls but it was different where the was so situated that he could imagine himself riding or after the to fields of peril and and glory without the of the picture by simultaneously supposing himself some quite other person the gleam in young m s eyes as he watched the red and twinkle out of sight was to the brightening up be a lost his grandfather s shaggy brows as the flash is to the sheet that are but a harmless reflection from far off storms and there indeed pleasure paid a duty if those who were liable to it did not imitate s prudence and hold aloof the reason may have been that they had not fortitude enough to turn away from excitement offered on any terms or that their position was less desperately than his and the latter explanation is the more probable one since few lads in and about can have had their martial aspirations by an so and yet so effectual there was nothing in the world to hinder from except just the of his mother and that was an so unreasonable as to verge upon what her neighbours would have called ould for though a widow woman and therefore entitled to occupy a pathetic position its privileges were defined by the opinion that she was not so badly off as she might ha been s departure need not have left her desolate since she had another son and daughter at home besides married in the village and settled down at where he was doing well and times and again asking her to come and live with then would have been able to help her out of his pay much more than he could do by his at where work was a lost slack and its low so that the result of a lad s daily labour sometimes seemed mainly the putting of a fine edge on a superfluous appetite all these points were most clearly seen by in the light of a fiercely burning desire but that availed him nothing unless he could set them as plainly before some one else who was not thus illuminated and not far from two years back he had resolved that he would attempt to do so no more the soldiers had been about in the district on the day before scattered like beds over the and and firing till the misty october air with excitement when you have lived your life among wide bounded where the silence is broken by the s pipe or the of some heavily flapping bird you will know the meaning of a call and his had acted as camp followers from early till late with ever one whereof was that he heard his especial definitely decide to go and at next monday which gave a turn more to the screw of his own wish it was with a scheme for whether there were any chance of bringing his mother round to a rational view of the matter that he and his friend dropped into her cabin next morning on the way to carry up a load of turf mrs was washing her couple of in an old brown butter and thought he had introduced the subject rather a lost happily when he told her she had a right to be her hands out of the and the finest she could and she the commander in of the army forces in to pay her a visit of course this statement required as it was intended to require so proceeded to it s himself s off to a monday he be in the light so the next time we set eyes on him it s along the street we see him like the boys we had here ah sure now that be grand said mrs we all be proud to behold him that way t is a fine thing for any yoimg man who s got a fancy to take up it then it is so said with emphasis promptly making for the opening given to him it is said there s like it said ah at all said mrs made no remark as she twisted a dripping apron into a shaped roll to the water out how much	39
triumphantly grand they turned out this time a on the whole of them i was me hand might maybe ha got out o them t is so long since i had e er a one for you but sure i bought a half stone of seconds the price of the little and that make a good few so it will jewel and then we must see after some more take one of the thick bits honey probably most of us have had experience of the methods which fate often chooses when communicating to us important arrangements we have seen by what a little seeming of an incident she may intimate that cherished hope has been struck dead or that the execution of some other decree has turned the current of life away it is sometimes as if she contemptuously sent us a grotesque and messenger who makes at us while telling us the bad news which is and scarcely dignified so we need not wonder if had to read the death warrant of his darling ambition in a pile of three cakes at any rate he did read it there swiftly as clearly most likely he knew it all before the plate was set on the table and his heart had already gone down with a run when he replied to his mother s that they looked first rate as he this praise with what appetite he could being indeed mechanically hungry the uppermost thought in his mind was how he should at once a lost let his mother understand that she had got the price she hoped for her pet hen and after considering for a while he said did you ever notice the sort of lane over the turf out there s on it i question had n t we done to have took a bit of ground for under it but i was this of what a different subject he had been thinking that next year i d it the back o th ould shed where there does be ne er a at all ay sure that ud be grand said mrs much more elated than if she had heard of a large fortune you could n t find an place for it in the width of this world she felt quite satisfied that her timed treat had the dreaded danger which actually was the case in a way but if would stay at home with her she was perfectly content to suppose that she came after a cake in his estimation her relief made her unusually but was reflecting between his answers how he must now tell that they were never to be comrades after all he went out on this mission immediately after supper the sun had gone down and the cold clearness left showed things plainly yet was not light in front of the cabin rows the small children of the place were over their final and quarrel as they did every evening fowls and and pigs were settling down for the night a lost with the and and which also took place every evening on the grass bank between s and o s old the blind was feebly and according to his custom every evening and for that matter all day long even the of straw and scraps of paper blowing down the middle of the wide seemed to have whirled over and over and caught in the rough patches of stone just so as often as the sun had set close to the met peter driving home a brood of a broad and man who says to a high of tiny yellow ducks and a long willow to keep them from straggling out of their trot does undoubtedly present rather an absurd appearance yet i cannot explain why the sight should have seemed to like a sting through the wide weary disgust which experienced as he stood in the waiting for to come out he had scarcely a to exchange for peter s cheerful fine what does it signify in a universal desert whether evenings be fine or foul altogether it was a bad time and acted wisely in taking precautions against its especially as the obstacles which had confronted him nearly two years back were now more hope than ever for the intervening months had not brought the desirable more wit to his unsteady brother who o a lost on the contrary was developing into one of those people whose good for is taken as a matter of course even by themselves and a bolt was thus so to speak drawn across s locked door he set off on his long it was a july morning the noon of summer by air and light as well as by the even the tracts of the land which vary their aspect as little as may be from shifting season to season were with golden blossom and with streaming of fairy cotton and sun warmed were fragrant rather hurried over this stage of his partly because he foresaw a blazing hot day and he wished to be among more broken ground where there are sheltered hollows in the and cool patches under their bushes and he entered the region of these things before his shadow had shrunk to its for not so very far beyond the smooth floor of the big itself into and as if it had caught the trick from its bounding ocean and the nearer it comes to the shore the higher it itself until at last it is cut short by a sheer cliff wall with storm and along the edge above a base line of weed and foam the long sea of this rock is by only a few narrow on the left hand facing the coast is a a lost of mountain straits and where you may see great shoulders and in their crystal calm at the of a dipping wing or add to the	39
terror of the tempest as they start out black and unmoved behind of mists on the right there is the same of land and water but wrought in less high relief a tract of lonely where shells and the grass and pink trail entangled with across the you are apt to happen on banks and curling foam when you are apparently deep among meadows and corn land or to come on sturdy green round some comer where you had confidently supposed the of the sea and the intricate ground plan of the district must be long studied before you can always feel sure whether the low edges by which you are walking frame salt or fresh water was bound eventually for one of those which the cliffs wall and give access to the shore generally by a sandy here under a tall bank there are a couple of besides another which having lost its roof may be reckoned as a half so that is not a large place even as places go in its neighbourhood he knew however that he could count upon getting something to eat at either of the two first mentioned and indeed at the bare one also if as a lost often chanced it was occupied by tim the and this prospect served for an feeble enough though it strengthened a little as the hours wore on so languid in fact was his resolution that at one moment he thought he would just home again without going any farther if he went everybody would have cleared out of before he got back but at this time he was sitting among some under which last year s withered black were strewn and he determined that if there were an odd number of seeds in the first one he opened he would go on to there were nine in it and he continued to he so much that when he came to the cliff the sun already hung low over the water and as he walked along the edge his away far inland across the pale and dark green of the fretted the sea a ceaseless of faint colour on which invisible breeze inscribed and mysterious curves and strokes like here and there it showed deep purple for a flight of little clouds were fluttering in from the atlantic followed at leisure by deep folded now on the horizon rim to the descending sun yet that tide with all its showed a broad band of foam wherever it touched the pebbles which lay dry before its slid a lost ing for it was on its way in it had nearly reached the cliff s foot in most places but presently came to a point where he looked down on a small field of very green grass set as an between the waves and the rock with a miniature chaos of heaped up to left and right a few of them were scattered over it and even the highest of these wore a of flat in token of occasional but amongst them grew and bushes and a of scarlet to the of its aspect this pasture was inhabited by a large cow who seemed to be enjoying the alternate of and which she off a thickly by the fact that the meal bade fair to be her last since the rising spring tide had already all but cut off access on either hand and would still flow for some hours now i be said standing still if that s not joe s ould cow you be apt to experience a ould woman if you don t quit out of there it s a man he is to lave the about in the of the tide he peered over the edge of the cliff evidently its smooth face and then he threw several stones and at the cow with shouts of hi out of that and along but his fell short of their mark and if his voice reached her she treated it with the placid disregard a lost of which her kind are mistress on such occasions and never raised her head have it your own way then said it s to me if you ve a mind to a taste of under he had not however strolled much farther when he met with somebody who was vastly more concerned about the impending fate this was old joe himself who out of the mouth of a steep sandy sprang up suddenly like a jack in the box one of the pattern but no jack in the box could have looked so distracted or have muttered to itself such queer as he did along a year s of bad luck to the of he was saying with when approached there s not a one of but ud do on herself sooner than lose a to be anybody if she could it no other way if it s th ould cow you re said she s down below yonder tell me i you not but what i m nigh as big a one as can be to go thrust her that little of mischief bad to it i must give me stiff leg a rest and she be up here after me before you can look round you may bet your she will yourself and save your penny said a lost whose temper was not at its best after his long day of hungry discontent and the a call you have to be about the you where she is she s apt to be until she gets the of goin out to say the turn of the tide and that s like enough to happen her and who at all was of the cow it s ould down below that has her tongue off of me at me for the poor pick her bit along the beach and it a strip of the finest grass in the when it	39
s above just goin to loss a couple of differ it does be in the of a day she s there but it s and over it th ould is this great while and she be and up sure that s what goes me to be so far her and herself as harm an ould as i hated the sight did n t i tell you so it s herself up as he spoke a very small meagre ragged old woman emerged swiftly from the lane accompanied by one younger and and less of foot her temporary neighbour mrs mrs seemed to bear out joe s character of her for now like s occasion ever as she went her tongue did walk and the path it took was not one of peace maybe after this some she could name might have the a lost wit to believe what other people who knew bitter than to be to feed a of an ould cow on sand and as if she was a or a and it a scandal to the place to her along down there the waves edges up to her nose and she to and the slippery stones fit to break her neck such was the purport of mrs s remarks which were by joe s that she would lave and and his appeals to the others to inform him whether they were n t all to be pitied for to put up the ould foolish talk sure that s the way they do be it up lad mrs called to him as if of high wind i pass you me word the two of stand at their doors of an and give bad to other across the breadth of the road till they have us all fairly the of and i on y wonder the does n t take and slip down on their ould heads it s lave of the likes i ought to be where i m to for me own cattle a growl of sarcastic thunder was just then observing to which flashed a response and then it s lave you had a right to be afore you sent off me poor son s bit of a pat to be his time your ould and himself in a lost the tide it s no thanks to you if the child is n t as like as not this minute under six of could instead of me in the full of me kettle that i m to him for this half hour and a sinner sight saints above is little pat along the cow said mrs much aghast i was i did n t see him this what s to become of him down there and it beyond the of as fast as it can flow sure this t was itself the wall back of our place fit to all before it why did n t you tell me the child was below said i d down there and fetch him up enough on y there was no use goin after the cow for a that took its stand on four hoofs ud its own th up the cliff unless it might be some little of a goat and the s deep alongside it afore now good gracious sure all i done was to bid the be an eye on her now and while he would be about there said joe and it s chances if he did at all off himself he be right enough be this time t is n t the of him to go to loss it s the five note he d fetch at fair he might ha broke his legs ss a lost on the rocks said mrs by the argument from and be there now for the say waves to wash the life out of him heaven pity the sure i step down and see what s gone him said the descent of the cliff though not was no great feat for an active youth and accomplished it safely but to httle purpose he thought at first since the cow appeared to be the sole of the shrinking beach however when he had shouted and scrambled for some time without result he came abruptly upon a nook among the piled up rocks where a very small black headed boy in tattered was digging the sandy floor with a shell it s there you are said stepping down from a ledge and what have you in it at all that you did n t hear me to you said pat almost too absorbed to glance off his work it s the way it did be in the school book at there s the guns he pointed to a row of black mouthed shells mounted on carriages and here s the sides of the valley i m long and it was just step round and look at it from where i am but don t be your on the french the s in it all said with a a lost den bitter vehemence which he accounted for to himself by adding as he pointed toward the white line d you see where that s come to you and you away here as if you were a dozen mile inland pat looked in the desired direction but the object to be the western sky where an fiery rose seemed to have scattered all its sure that s on y the sun red like he explained indifferently and would have resumed his if he had not been seized and half way up the cliff before he could his mind from his and both heads soon up over the edge without accident for pat climbed like a monkey when once he had grasped the situation his grandmother s attitude toward joe constrained her to receive him as prey snatched from the foaming jaws of death but it was out of mrs pocket that a	39
came to sweetly seal his new lease of life and what are you after now she said observing that instead of drawing himself up to level ground he stood poised on an uncomfortable perch and looked back the steep way he had come i m to slip down he said and see if be any manner of i could th ould round the rocks yonder the might n t be too deep there a lost at all she s between the and the deep say where she is now it s just a said joe scarce worth your bones after any way bones how are you sure there s no call to be bones in the matter said beginning to descend this was true enough if he had minded what he was about but then he did not so far from it he was saying to himself one ud ha thought she might ha took a sort of pride in it when the bottom of the world seemed to drop away from under his feet and his meditations ended in a down on the rocky pavement a long way below he never heard the shouts and shrieks which the incident occasioned above his head once only he became dimly conscious of a of flashes which he could not see through and a throb in his ears which made him murmur i thought i d got beyond of them drums in another moment what s took me he said with a start but the depths he sank among remain always dark and silent next day messengers from told mrs that the lord had took her son and that he had gone out to say the tide before they could get anybody to him and there was no where he might be up if ever he came to shore at all and the part of it was that joe mc a lost s ould cow that he went after had legged herself up somehow on the rocks out of reach and a harm on her when they found her in the but she d been all of a could quiver ever since and himself doubted if she d rightly over it might the mend her and she after bein the death of a fine young man sure every up at was annoyed about it even ould that was as cross tempered as a did be for the lad and joe was like an ould wet hen over his fire block out that he had n t the heart to be mrs said she did n t know what talk they had of the lord and the say and the ould cow but she d known well enough the way it was when come home last night he d just took off after the as he d a great notion one time she was as may have been observed rather a dull woman and hard to convince against her will a great notion she said on y she d scarce have thought he d go do such a thing on her in and i away indoors out of the of the when the band music was a to be just to see his bit of supper would n t be late on him and the grand little cake i had for him i may be it to the now unless might fancy a bit for we not be apt to set eyes on a lost him this three year and he that at home and a word out of him about the this long while if it had been poor itself t would ha been but i d scarce ha thought it of him for he d a of good nature mrs ma am he had so tub be sure woman dear said mrs or he might be warm in here this the back of me hand to blamed ould said mrs that sets the lads wild their around poor would be better them than where he is god have mercy on his soul said a neighbour solemnly but s mother continued to herself and i the best of all the tunes they played so was me for he d be for his supper and he home to me hungry and there s a terrible th of time in three year i would n t ha believed he d ha done it on me the rival by john the rival by john mr washington has already given to the public a version of an american legend which in a principal feature bears some likeness to the following of a popular irish one it may however be interesting to show this very coincidence between the descendants of a dutch colony and the native of ireland in the superstitious annals of both our tale moreover will be found original in all its circumstances that alluded to only returned a silent sorrowful man though a young one to his poor home after seeing laid in the grave his aged father the last rays of the setting sun were glorious shooting through the folds of their of scarlet clouds the last song of the from the bough nearest to his nest was the abundant though but crops around breathed of hope for the future but s bosom was covered with the rival the darkness that inward sunshine alone can the that should respond to song and melody had snapped in it for him the softly fields of green wheat or the patches of made a promise in vain he was poor and yet groaning under worn out by past and present suffering and without a prospect his father s corpse had just been buried by a among his neighbours collected in an old glove a penny or a half penny from by the most active of the humble community to whom his sad state was a subject of pity in the wretched shed which he called	39
home a young wife lay on a of straw listening to the hungry cries of two little children and awaiting her hour to become the weeping mother of a third and the recollection that but for an act of domestic treachery experienced by his father and himself both would have been comfortable and respectable in the world the bitterness of the feeling in which contemplated his lot he could himself faintly call to mind a time of early childhood when he lived with his parents in a house eating and sleeping and dressing well and surrounded by and workmen he further remembered that a day of great affliction came upon which strange and rude persons forced their way into the house and for some cause his infant observation did not reach father servants and workmen his mother had just died the rival were all turned out upon the road and doomed to seek the shelter of a mean roof but his father s discourse since he gained the years of manhood supplied with an explanation of all these circumstances as follows old had been the youngest son of a large farmer who divided his lands between two elder children and destined s father to the church sending him abroad for education and during its course supplying him with liberal upon the eve of the young student returned home to visit his friends was much noticed by neighbouring small gentry of each religion at the house of one of the opposite persuasion from his met a sister of the proprietor who had a fortune in her own right abandoned his views for her smiles with her married her privately incurred thereby the hostility of his own family but after a short time was received along with his wife by his generous brother in law under whose guidance both became settled in the house to which s early recollections pointed and where till he was about six years old he passed indeed a happy childhood but a little previous to this time his mother s good brother died unmarried and was succeeded by another of her brothers who had spent half his life as a lawyer in and who little of his s amiable character soon showed himself a foe to her and the rival her husband on account of her marriage with a roman catholic he did not appear to their visit shortly after his arrival in their neighbourhood and he never condescended to return it the affliction experienced by his sensitive sister from his conduct upon her a premature in which giving birth to a lifeless babe she unexpectedly died the event was matter of triumph rather than of sorrow to her unnatural brother for in the first place against the sudden result she had died in the next place he discovered that her private marriage had been celebrated by a roman catholic priest consequently could not according to law hold good and again could not give to her husband any right to her property upon which both had hitherto lived and which was now the sole means of existence to s father the lawyer speedily set to work upon these points and with little difficulty succeeded in supplying for s recollections a day of trouble already noticed in fact his father and he now without a shilling took refuge in a distant cabin where by the sweat of his parent s brow as a in the fields the ill fated hero of this story was fed and clothed until years enabled him to relieve the old man s hand of the and and in turn labour for their common wants becoming a little prosperous in the the rival world a few acres adjacent to his cabin and married the increase of his fields did not quite keep pace with the increase of his cares in the persons of new comers for whose well being he was bound to provide his ray of success in life soon became by the calls of the landlord and the in truth three years after his marriage he received a notice which it were vain to oppose to quit both his farm and his cabin and leave his few articles of furniture behind at this juncture his father was and his wife advanced in her third he put on his hat walked to the door fixed his eyes upon the ruins of an old abbey which stood on the slope of an opposite hill and formed his plan for present measures by the next evening he had constructed a shed covered with rushes and leaves against a in the interior of the ruin clearing away the and other rank weeds enclosed by his new house he discovered a long on which was carved a cross and letters to his eye this he made his to furnish the abode he fetched two large stones as seats for his wife and himself shook straw in either comer and laid in a bundle of twigs then he went to the cabin that was no longer his sent on his wife and two children to the abbey followed with his father on his back and laid him upon one of the straw two days afterward the old man was a corpse from his the rival funeral we now see returning and to such a home does he bend his heavy steps if to know that the enemy of his father and mother did not on the spoils of his oppression could have yielded any consolation in his lot he had long ago become aware of circumstances calculated to give this negative comfort his maternal uncle enjoyed indeed his newly acquired property only a few years after it came into his possession partly on account of his cruelty to his relations partly from a meanness and a of character which soon displayed itself in his novel situation and which it was believed had previously kept him in	39
the lowest walks of his profession as a attorney he found himself neglected and by the gentry of his neighbourhood to grow richer than those who thus insulted him to abroad reports of his wealth and to watch opportunities of using it to their injury became the means of revenge adopted by the his legitimate income not promising a rapid accomplishment of this plan he ventured using precautions that seemingly set suspicion at defiance to engage in adventures on a large scale for which his to the coast afforded a local opportunity notwithstanding all his cleverness the ex attorney was detected however in his traffic and to an amount which swept his real property driven to desperation by the of his failure as well as by the failure the rival itself he tried another grand effort to his fortune was again surprised by the officers in a personal struggle with them at the head of his band killed one of their body immediately from ireland for the last twenty years had not been heard of but it was believed lived under an assumed name in london an obscure existence from some mean pursuit of which the very nature enabled him to gratify to and other vices learned during his first career in life all this knew though only from report inasmuch as his uncle had himself while he was yet a child and without previously having become known to the eyes of the nephew he had so much injured but if occasionally drew a bitter and almost savage gratification from the of his no to the past could the misery of his present situation he passed under one of the open arches of the old abbey and then entered his shed reared against its wall his heart as shattered and as trodden down as the ruins around him no words of greeting ensued between him and his equally hopeless wife as she sat on the straw of her bed rocking to sleep with feeble and mournful cries her youngest infant he silently lighted a fire of withered twigs on his ready furnished put to roast among their embers a few potatoes which he had begged during the day divided them i the rival between her and her crying children and as the moon rising high in the heavens warned him that night asserted her full empire over the departed day sank down upon the couch from which his father s mortal remains had lately been borne himself and too but not hungry at least not conscious or that he was his wife and little ones soon slept soundly but lay for hours inaccessible to nature s claims for sleep as well as for food from where he lay he could see through the open front of his shed out into the ruins abroad after much abstraction in his own thoughts the silence the extent and the peculiar desolation of the scene almost by the magic effect of alternate and darkness of objects and of their parts at last diverted his mind though not to relieve it he remembered distinctly for the first time where he was an intruder among the of the dead he called to mind too that the present was their hour for revealing themselves among the remote loneliness and obscurity of their crumbling and intricate abode as his eye fixed upon a distant stream of cold or of blank shadow either the wavering of some from the walls or the flitting of some night bird over the aisle made motion which went and came during the instant of his alarmed start or else some around had and his vision so rapidly as to even the accompaniment of thought would however the rival io during these to his more real causes for terror and he knew not and to this day cannot distinctly tell whether he or slept when a n w circumstance absorbed his attention the moon struck fully under his propped roof upon the carved he had appropriated as a and turning his eye to the spot he saw the semblance of a man advanced in years though not very old standing motionless and very regarding him the still face of the figure shone like marble in the night beam without giving any idea of the of that material the long and deep shadows thrown by the forehead over the eyes left those unusually expressive features vague and uncertain upon the head was a close fitting black cap the dress was a loose garment of white descending to the ground and faced and otherwise with black and round the exactly the costume which had often studied in a httle framed and glazed print hung up in the of the humble chapel recently built in the neighbourhood of the ruin by a few descendants of the great religious to whom in its day of pride the abbey had belonged as he returned very though as he not now in alarm the fixed gaze of his midnight visitor a voice reached him and he heard these strange words go to london bridge and you will be a rich man he rival how will that come about your reverence cried jumping up from the straw but the figure was gone and stumbling among the black embers on the remarkable place where it had stood he fell prostrate a change of sensation and of of objects around which might be explained by supposing a transition from a sleeping to a waking state of mind the rest of the night he slept little thinking of the advice he had received and of the mysterious personage who gave it but he resolved to about his vision particularly to his wife lest in her present state of health the frightful story might distress her and as to his own conduct respecting it he determined to be guided by the future in fact he would wait to see if his came again he	39
and his family by the powers shouted at last thrown off his guard by the surpassing joy derived from this as well as by the effects of the ale and at the same time he jumped up cutting a with his legs and flourishing his the rival ii why what s the matter with you asked his friend glancing at him a frowning and look we ax pardon sir rallied his prudence an sure sorrow a thing is the matter me only the i believe made me do it as it ever and always does good luck to it for the same an is n t what we were about the biggest the sun sir only it s the bit in the world to me how you d have the about your own country that you did n t see for so many years sir for twenty long years i think you said sir had now a new object in putting his sly question if i said so i forgot answered the his suspicions of at an end but it is about twenty years indeed since i left ireland and by your speech sir and your i engage you were in a good way in the poor place afore you left it you guess correctly friend the gave way to vanity before misfortunes came over me i possessed along with a good hundred acres besides the very ground that the old ruin i saw in the foolish dream i told you stands upon an so did my curse o god s uncle thought his heart s blood beginning to boil though with a great effort he kept himself seemingly cool and this is the man me if he answers another word i ax him sir and sure that nonsense h rival makes your than ever and the ground the ould abbey is on sir and the good acres round it did you say they lay somewhere in the poor county myself came from what county is that friend demanded the again with a frown the ould county sure sir replied very deliberately no but the county of answered his companion was it screamed again springing up the cherished hatred of twenty years bursting out his uncle lay stretched at his feet after a renewed flourish of his and do you know who you are telling it to this morning did you ever hear that the you left a bit of a behind her that one day or other might you ay he continued keeping down the struggling man is poor that s by you ay and that has more to tell you the shed built over the old s was built by the hands you feel on your and that is his and continued beginning to bind the prostrate man with a rope snatched from a bench near them while you lie here awhile an no one to help you in the cool of the morning i just take a start of you on the road home to lift the flag and get the and follow me if you dare you know there s good money bid for your head in ireland so here goes yes the rival ii faith and this this to help me on the way he snatched up a heavy purse which had fallen from his uncle s pocket in the struggle and sure there s neither hurt nor harm in getting back a little of a body s own from you a bright uncle dear dragged his relative into the shop quickly shut to and locked the door flung the key over the house into the thames and the next instant was running at headlong speed he was not so deficient in the calculations of common sense as to think himself yet out of his uncle s power it appeared indeed pretty certain that neither for the violence done to his person nor for the purse appropriated by his nephew the murderer would raise a hue and cry after one who aware of his identity could deliver him up to the laws of his country but felt certain that it would be a race between him and his uncle for the treasure that lay under the s his simple nature supplied no stronger motive for a pursuit on the part of a man whose life now lay in the breath of his mouth full of his conviction however saw he had not a moment to lose until the roof of his shed in the old abbey again sheltered him so freely making use of his uncle s guineas he purchased a strong horse in the outskirts of london and to the surprise if not under heavy suspicions of the set off at a gallop upon the road by which he had the day before gained the great metropolis il the rival a ship was ready to sail at for ireland but to s discomfiture she waited for a wind he got aboard however and in the and hold often knelt down and with clasped hands and panting breast heaven for a favourable breeze but from morning until evening the wind remained as he had found it and his uncle meantime might have reached some other port and embarked for their country in the depth of his anguish he heard a brisk bustle upon deck up to investigate its cause and found the ship s sails already half to a wind that promised to bear him to his native shores by the next morning the last light of day yet lingered in the heavens he glanced now under way to the of a group who had been watching the departure of the vessel turned round to note the approach to them of a man who ran furiously toward the place where they stood pointing after her and evidently speaking with vehemence although no words s ear neither was his eye sure of this	39
person s features but his heart read them distinctly a boat shot from the the man stood up in it and its made a signal stepped to the as if preparing to his into the sea the captain took a speaking trumpet and informing the boat that he could not stop an instant advised her to wait for another which would sail in an the rival ii hour and during and after his speech his vessel cheerily on making as much way as she was adapted to accomplish s bosom felt lightened of its immediate terror but not freed of apprehension for the future the ship that was to sail in an hour haunted his thoughts he did not leave the deck and although the night proved very dark his anxious eyes were never turned from the english coast unusual fatigue and want of sleep now and then overpowered him and his senses swam in a wild and slumber but from this he would start crying out and clinging to the as the feverish dream of an instant presented him with the swelling canvas of a fast sailing ship which came suddenly bursting through the gloom of midnight alongside of his own morning dawned really to to him the object of his fears following almost in the wake of her rival he glanced in the opposite direction and beheld the shores of ireland in another hour he jumped upon them but his enemy s face watched him from the deck of the companion vessel now not more than a few ropes distant mounted a second good horse and toward home often did he look back but without seeing any cause for increased alarm as yet however the road had been level and winding and therefore could not allow him to span much of it at a glance after noon it ascended a high and lengthened hill surrounded by of il the rival as he gained the summit of this hill and again looked back a appeared sweeping to its foot galloped at full speed down the now quickly falling road then along its level for about a mile and then up another eminence more lengthened though not so steep as the former and from it still he looked back and caught the figure of the breaking over the of the hill he had passed for hours such was the character of the chase until the road and began to wind amid an and mountain wilderness here s horse tripped and fell the rider little injured assisted him to his legs and with lash and spur re urged him to pursue his course the animal went forward in a last effort and for still another span of time well his rider a rocky valley through which both had been galloping now opened at its farther end presenting to s eye in the distance the sloping ground and the ruin which with its walls encircled his poor home and the setting sun streamed golden rays through the windows and rents of the old abbey the fugitive gave a weak cry of joy and lashed his beast again the cry seemed to be answered by a shout and a second time after a wild plunge the horse fell now throwing off with a force that left him stunned and yet he heard the hoofs of another horse come thundering down the rocky way and while he made a faint effort the rival ii to rise on his hands and look at his the horse and were very near and the voice of his uncle cried stand at the same time that the speaker fired a pistol of which the ball struck a stone at s foot the next moment his uncle having left his saddle stood over him presenting a second pistol and he spoke in a low but distinct voice of a beggar this is not merely for the chance of riches given by our dreams though it seems in the teeth of all i ever thought that the devil tells truth at last no nor it is not quite for the blow but it is to close the lips that with a single word can kill me you die to let me live help s heart turning itself to heaven help me but now not for the sake of the either but for the sake of them that will be left on the wild world me for them help me great god hitherto his weakness and confusion had left him passive before his uncle spoke the last words his silent prayer was offered and had jumped upon his they struggled and dragged each other down felt the of the pistol at his breast heard it snap but only snap he seized and mastered it and once more the uncle was at the mercy of his nephew s hand was raised to deal a good blow but he checked himself and addressed the almost senseless ears of his captive no you re my mother s blood and a son of i the rival hers will never draw it from your heart but i can make sure of you again stop a bit he ran to his own prostrate horse took off its bridle and its saddle and with both secured his s limbs beyond all possibility of the being able to escape from their control there resumed lie there till we have time to send an ould friend to see you that i go will take good care of your four bones and do you know where i m going now you me on bridge that you knew at least pointing to the abbey ay and the ould that s to be found in it and so look at this uncle honey he upon his relative s horse i m just goin to lift it off o the barrel pot full of good ould and you have only to cry and	39
man in the parish was ready to support him he was clapped on the back until his bones were nearly in his body and his hand shaken until his arm lost its cunning at the needle for half a week afterward this to be e was a bitter business a state of being past endurance every man was his friend no man was his enemy a desperate position for any person to find himself in but doubly to a martial tailor many a complaint did make upon the misfortune of having none to wish him ill and what rendered this hardship doubly oppressive was the unlucky fact that no exertions of his however offensive could procure him a single foe in vain did he insult abuse and all his acquaintances in vain did he father upon them all the and he could think of he lied against them with a force and originality that would have made many a modem blush for want of invention but all to no purpose the world for once became christian it paid back all his efforts to excite its resentment with the purest of charity when struck it on the one cheek it meekly turned unto him the other it could scarcely be expected that would bear this to have the whole world in friendship with a man is beyond doubt an affliction not to have the face of a single enemy to look upon would decidedly be considered a of many i able sensations by most people as well as by m alone let who might sustain a loss or experience a calamity it was a matter of indifference to they were only his friends and he troubled neither his head nor his heart about them heaven help us there is no man without his trials and the reader was not from his what did it avail him that he carried a ready for all hostile or knit his brows and shook his at the of his fighting friends the moment he appeared they softened into downright cordiality his presence was the signal of peace for notwithstanding his to warfare he went abroad as the genius of though carrying in his bosom the disposition of a warrior just as the sun though the source of light himself is said to be dark enough at bottom it could not be expected that with whatever fortitude he might bear his other could bear such tranquillity like a hero to say that he bore it as one would be to surrender his character for what hero ever bore a state of tranquillity with courage it affected his cutting out it produced what calls a which was nothing else than an of courage that had no means of escaping if courage can without be ever said to escape he sat uneasy on his lap board instead of cutting out he flourished his as if he were heading a he wasted much chalk by his cloth in wrong places and even caught his hot goose without a these symptoms alarmed his friends who persuaded him to go to a doctor went to satisfy them but he knew that no could drive the courage out of him that he was too far gone in heroism to be made a coward of by stuff nothing in the could him into a pacific state his disease was simply the want of an enemy and an unaccountable of friendship on the part of his acquaintances how could a doctor remedy this by a impossible the doctor indeed recommended blood letting but to lose blood in a manner was not only cowardly but a bad cure for courage declined it he would lose no blood for any man until he could not help it which was giving the character of a hero at a single touch his blood was not to be thrown away in this manner the only ever applied to his relations was the and scorned to abandon the principles of his family his friends finding that he reserved his blood for more heroic purposes than knew not what to do with him his perpetual exclamation was as we have already stated i m blue for want of a they did everything in their power to cheer him with the hope of a told him he lived in an excellent country for a man afflicted with his malady and promised if it were at all possible to create i him a private enemy or two who they hoped in heaven might him to some purpose this sustained him for a while but as day after day passed and no appearance of action presented itself he could not choose but increase in courage his soul like a sword blade too long in the was beginning to get by he looked upon the point of his own needle and the bright edge of his with a bitter pang when he thought of the spirit within him he meditated fresh studied new plans and hunted out cunning devices for provoking his acquaintances to battle until by degrees he began to confound his own brain and to commit more grievous in his business than ever sometimes he sent home to one person a coat with the legs of a pair of trousers attached to it for sleeves and despatched to another the arms of the coat together as a pair of trousers sometimes the coat was made to button behind instead of before and he frequently placed the pockets in the lower part of the skirts as if he had been in league with this was a melancholy situation and his friends pitied him accordingly don t be cast down said they your friends feel for you poor fellow carry my replied sure there s not one o enough to be my an what i do i m for want of a seeing that their consolation was thrown away upon him they	39
resolved to leave him to his fate which they had no sooner done then had thoughts of taking to the as a last remedy in this mood he looked with considerable at his own shadow for several nights and it is not to be questioned but that some hard battles would have taken place between them had it not been for the cunning of the shadow which declined to fight him in any other position than with its back to the wall this occasioned him to pause for the wall was a fearful inasmuch as it knew not when it was beaten but there was still an alternative left he went to the garden one clear day about noon and hoped to have a bout with the shade free from interruption both approached apparently eager for the combat and resolved to conquer or die when a cloud happening to the light gave the shadow an opportunity of disappearing and found himself once more without an opponent it s known said you have n t the blood in you or you d come to the scratch like a man he now saw that fate was against him and that any further hostility toward the shadow was only a tempting of providence he lost his health spirits and everything but his courage his countenance became pale and peaceful looking the departed from him his body shrank up like a withered thrice was he compelled to take in his clothes and thrice did he ascertain that much of his time would be necessarily spent in pursuing his retreating person through the solitude of his almost deserted garments god knows it is difficult to form a correct opinion upon a situation so as was to be reduced to skin and bone by the downright friendship of the world was as the sagacious reader will admit next to a miracle we appeal to the conscience of any man who finds himself without an enemy whether he be not a greater skeleton than the tailor we will give him fifty guineas provided he can show a calf to his leg we know he could not for the tailor had none and that was because he had not an enemy no man in friendship with the world ever has to his legs to sum up all in a of our own invention for which we claim the full credit of originality we now assert that more have risen in the world by the injury of their enemies than have risen by the kindness of their friends you may take this in any sense apply it to hanging if you like it is still and true one day sat cross legged as usually sit in the act of pressing a pair of breeches his hands were placed backs up upon the handle of his goose and his chin rested upon the backs of his hands to judge from his sorrowful complexion one would suppose that he sat rather to be as a picture of misery or of heroism in distress than for the industrious purpose of pressing the of a garment there was a great deal of new street pathos in his countenance his face like the times was rather out of joint the sun was just setting and his golden beams fell with a splendor the tailor s the reader may fill up the picture in this position sat when mr o the whose he was turning for the third time entered the mr o himself was as finished a picture of misery as the tailor there was a patient subdued kind of expression in his face which indicated a very fair portion of calamity his eye seemed charged with affliction of the first water on each side of his nose might be traced two dry channels which no doubt were full enough while the tropical rains of his countenance lasted altogether to conclude from appearances it was a dead match in affliction between him and the tailor both seemed sad and o said the tailor when the entered won t you be pleased to sit down mr o sat and after wiping his forehead laid his hat upon the lap board put his in his pocket and looked upon the tailor the tailor in return looked upon mr o but neither of them spoke for some minutes in fact appeared to be wrapped up in his own misery and mr o in his or as we often have much sympathy for the of our friends we question but the tailor was wrapped up in mr o s misery and mr o in the tailor s mr o at length said are my finished i am now your replied but be my mr o it s not your i m of i m not the ninth part o what i was i d hardly make for a collar now are you able to carry a staff still i ve a light one that s handy said the tailor but where s the use o it i can get no one to fight sure i m my relations by the life i m i go to my grave ever a man or bein myself that s the vexation the row ever i was able to kick up in my life so that i m fairly for want of a but if you have patience patience said mr o with a shake of the head that was perfectly disastrous even to look at patience did you say ay said an be my if you deny that i said patience i break your head ah returned the other i don t deny it for though i m teaching philosophy knowledge and every day in my life yet i m learning patience myself both night and day no i have forgotten to deny anything i have not been guilty of a contradiction out of my own school for the	39
last fourteen years i once expressed the shadow of a doubt about twelve years ago but ever since i have abandoned even doubting that doubt was the last effort at maintaining my domestic authority but i suffered for it well said if you have patience i tell you what me from to i a have patience said mr o and he accordingly heard a dismal and indignant tale from the tailor you have told me that fifty times over said mr o after hearing the story your spirit is too martial for a pacific life if you follow my advice i will teach you how to ripple the calm current of your existence to some purpose marry a wife for twenty five years i have given instruction in three branches namely philosophy knowledge and i am also well in matrimony and i declare that upon my misery and by the contents of all my it is my solemn and melancholy opinion that if you marry a wife you will before three months pass over your state not have a single complaint to make touching a of peace or tranquillity or a love of fighting do you mane to say that any woman would make me said the tailor deliberately rising up and getting his i thank you merely to go over the words till i you an inch of your life that s all said the meekly i won t fight i have been too often subdued ever to presume on the hope of a single victory my spirit is long since i am like one of your own a mere do you not know how much my have shrunk in even within the last five years hear me and my words as if they proceeded from the lips of a prophet if you wish to taste the luxury of being subdued if you are as you say blue for want of a beating and sick at heart of a peaceful existence why marry a wife send my breeches home with all haste for they are wanted you understand farewell mr o having thus expressed himself departed and stood with the in his hand looking at the door out of which he passed with an expression of contempt and reflection strongly blended on the ruins of his once heroic many a man has happiness within his reach if he but knew it the tailor had been hitherto miserable because he pursued a wrong object the however suggested a train of thought upon which now fastened with all the of a temperament nay he wondered that the family spirit should have so completely seized upon the fighting side of his heart as to all thoughts of matrimony for he could not but remember that his relations were as ready for marriage as for fighting to doubt this would have been to throw a blot upon his own he therefore very asked himself to whom if he did not marry should he his courage he was a single man and dying as such he would be the sole of his own which like s secret must perish with him if he could have left it as a to such of his friends as were most remarkable for cowardice why the case would be altered but this was impossible and he had now no other means of preserving it to posterity than by creating a posterity to inherit it he saw too that the world was likely to become wars as everybody knew were certain to break out and would it not be an excellent opportunity for being father to a colonel or perhaps a general that might astonish the world the change visible in after the s last visit absolutely all who knew him the clothes which he had taken in to fit his limbs were once more let out the tailor expanded with a new spirit his joints ceased to be as in the days of his his eye became less fiery but more brilliant from being martial he got desperately gallant but somehow he could not afford to act the hero and lover both at the same time this perhaps would be too much to expect from a tailor his policy was better he resolved to bring all his available energy to bear upon the charms of whatever fair he should select for the honour of matrimony to waste his spirit in fighting would therefore be a from the single purpose in view the transition from war to love is by no means so remarkable as we might at first imagine we quote jack in proof of this or if the reader be disposed t reject our authority then we quote ancient pistol himself both of whom we consider as the most finished specimens of heroism that ever carried a safe skin acres would have been a hero had he worn gloves to prevent the courage from out at his palms or not felt such an unlucky to the snug lying in the abbey and as for captain he never had an opportunity of putting his plan for an army into practice we fear indeed that neither his character nor ben s knowledge of human nature is properly understood for it certainly could not be expected that a man whose spirit glowed to encounter a whole host could without his dignity if closely pressed condescend to fight an individual but as these remarks on may be felt by the reader as an introduction of a subject disagreeable to him we beg to hush it for the present and return to the tailor no sooner had begun to feel an inclination to matrimony than his friends knew that his principles had by the change now visible in his person and they saw he had from courage and joined love heretofore his life had been all winter darkened by storm and the virtues had played the devil with	39
him every word was thunder every look lightning but now all that had passed away before he was in re at present he was the in his existence was perfect spring beautifully all the amiable and softer qualities began to bud about his heart a genial warmth was diffused over him his soul got green within him every day was serene and if a cloud happened to become visible there was a rainbow of it on which sat a beautiful that laughed down at him and seemed to say why the don t you marry a wife could not resist the which descended on him an ethereal light he thought upon the face of nature the colour of the cloth which he cut out from day to day was to his eye like the colour of s wings all purple his visions were worth their weight in gold his dreams a credit to the bed he slept on and his feelings like blind young and alive to the milk of love and kindness which they drew from his heart most of this delight escaped the observation of the world for like your true lover became shy and mysterious it is difficult to say what he resembled no dark lantern ever had more light shut up within itself than had in his soul although his friends were not aware of it they knew indeed that he had turned his i i back upon but beyond this their knowledge did not extend was shrewd enough to know that what he felt must be love nothing else could him with happiness until his soul felt light and but love as an opens when expecting the tide so did his soul at the contemplation of matrimony labour ceased to be a trouble to him he sang and from morning till night his hot goose no longer burned him for his heart was as hot as his goose the of his head at each successive were no longer sad and melancholy there was a shake of exultation in them which showed that his soul was placid and happy within him endless honour be to for the originality with which he managed the tender sentiment he did not like your commonplace lovers first discover a pretty girl and afterward become of her no such thing he had the passion prepared beforehand cut out and made up as it were ready for any girl whom it might fit this was falling in love in the abstract and let no man condemn it without a trial for many a long argument could be urged in its defence it is always wrong to commence business without capital and had a good stock to begin with all we beg is that the reader will not confound it with which never but he is at full liberty to call it which takes unto itself a wife and suffers accordingly let no one suppose that forgot the s kindness or failed to be duly grateful for it mr o was the first person whom he consulted touching his passion with a cheerful soul he waited on that melancholy and man and in the very luxury of his heart told him that he was in love in love said the may i inquire with whom nobody in particular yet replied but o late i m got fond o the girls in general and do you call that being in love said mr o why what else would i call it returned the tailor am n t i fond o them then it must be what is termed the universal passion observed mr o although it is the first time i have seen such an illustration of it as you present in your own person i wish you would advise me how to act said i m as happy as a prince since i began to get fond o them an to think o marriage the shook his head again and looked rather miserable rubbed his hands with glee and looked perfectly happy the shook his head again and looked more miserable than before s happiness also increased on the second rubbing now to tell the secret at once mr o would not have appeared so miserable were it not for happiness nor so happy were it not for mr o s misery it was all the result of contrast but this you will not understand unless you be deeply read in modem novels mr o however was a man of sense who knew upon this principle that the longer he continued to shake his head the more miserable he must become and the more also would he increase happiness but he had no intention of increasing happiness at his own expense for upon the same it would have been for interest had he remained shaking his head there and getting miserable until the day of judgment he consequently declined giving the third shake for he thought that plain conversation was after all more significant and forcible than the most eloquent nod however translated said he could you by stretching your imagination contrive to rest contented with nursing your passion in solitude and love the sex at a distance how could i nurse and mind my replied the tailor i never nurse so long as i have the wife and as for it depends upon the grain o it whether i can stretch it or not i don t know that i ever made a coat o it in my life you don t understand me said the in marriage i was only driving one evil out of you by introducing another do you think that if you abandoned all thoughts of a wife you would get heroic again that is would you take once more to the love of fighting there is no doubt but i would said the tailor if i miss the wife i kick up such	39
a ox and i may have his blood to answer for and his discomfiture to feel for in addition to my own miseries on the evening of the wedding day about the hour of ten o clock whose spirits were uncommonly exalted for his heart within him danced with his after the dance he sat beside her and got eloquent in praise of her beauty and it is said too that he whispered to her and her chin with considerable gallantry the h continued for some time without exciting particular attention with one exception but that exception was worth a whole chapter of general rules mrs rose up then sat down again and took off a glass of the native she got up a second time all the wife rushed upon her heart she approached them and in a fit of the most exquisite sensibility knocked the down and gave the tailor a kick of affecting pathos upon the the whole scene was a touching one on both sides the tailor was sent on all to the floor but mrs took him quietly up put him under her arm as one would a lap dog and with stately step marched away to the apartment in which everything remained very quiet for the rest of the night l he next morning mr o presented him self to congratulate the tailor on his happiness as his friend shook hands with him gave the s fingers a squeeze such as a man gives who would gently entreat your sympathy the looked at him and thought he shook his head of this however he could not be certain for as he shook his own during the moment of observation he concluded that it might be a mere mistake of the eye or perhaps the result of a mind to be on the subject of shaking heads we wish it were in our power to draw a veil or curtain or blind of some description over the remnant of the tailor s narrative that is to follow but as it is the duty of every faithful historian to give the secret causes of appearances which the world in general does not understand so we think it but honest to go on and faithfully without shrinking from the responsibility that is frequently to truth for the first three days after matrimony felt like a man who had been translated to a new and more lively state of existence he had expected and flattered himself that the moment this event should take place he would once more resume his heroism and experience the pleasure of a this determination he kept a profound secret nor was it known until a future period when he disclosed it to mr o he intended therefore that marriage should be nothing more than a mere in his life a m alone kind of pointing in a note at the bottom to this single exception in his general conduct a to the spirit of a martial man that he had been peaceful only for a while in truth he was during the influence of love oyer him and up to the very day of his marriage secretly as blue as ever for want of a beating the heroic lay latent in his heart and he flattered himself that he was a capital upon the world at large that he was actually mankind in general and that such an excellent piece of tranquillity had never been before his time on the first week after his marriage there chanced to be a fair in the next market town after breakfast brought forward a bunch of in order to select the best the wife inquired the purpose of the selection and declared that he was resolved to have a fight that day if it were to be had he said for love or money the truth is he exclaimed with fortitude about the house the truth is that i ve done the whole of i m as blue mo as ever for want of a don t go said the wife i will go said with vehemence i go if the whole parish was to go to me in about another half hour sat down quietly to his business instead of going to the fair much ingenious speculation might be indulged in upon this abrupt termination to the tailor s most formidable resolution but for our own part we will prefer going on with the narrative leaving the reader at liberty to solve the mystery as he pleases in the meantime we say this much let those who cannot make it out carry it to their tailor it is a tailor s mystery and no one has so good a right to understand it except perhaps a tailor s wife at the period of his matrimony had become as plump and as stout as he ever was known to be in his and days he and the had been very intimate about this time but we know not how it happened that soon afterward he felt a modest bride like reluctance in meeting with that afflicted gentleman as the eve of his union approached he was in the habit during the s visits to his of alluding in rather a sarcastic tone considering the appearance of his friend to the increasing of his person nay he has often leaped up from his lap board and in the strong spirit of exultation thrust out his leg in of his assertion it moreover with a loud laugh of triumph that sounded like a to the happiness of his acquaintance the s philosophy however unlike his flesh never departed from him his usual observation was we are both receding from the same point you increase in flesh whilst i heaven help me am fast the tailor received these remarks with very boisterous mirth whilst mr o simply shook his head and looked sadly upon his	39
limbs now in a of garments somewhat resembling a slender thread of water in a shallow summer stream nearly wasted away and surrounded by an extent of channel the fourth month after the marriage arrived one day near its close began to dress himself in his best apparel even then when his waistcoat he shook his head after the manner of mr o and made observations upon the great extent to which it over folded him well thought he with a sigh this waistcoat certainly did fit me to a t but it s wonderful to think cloth stretches said the wife on perceiving him dressed where are you bound for faith y r life replied with a and i d as soon if it had been the will of he paused where are you going asked the wife a second time why he answered only to dance at s i be back early don t go said the wife i go said if the whole was to me thunder an woman who am i he exclaimed in a loud but rather voice am n t i that never met a man who d fight him that was never beat by man why an woman i get enraged some time an play the who s i say don t go added the wife a third time giving a significant look in the face in about another half hour sat down quietly to his business instead of going to the dance now turned himself like many a sage in similar circumstances to philosophy that is to say he began to shake his head upon principle after the manner of the he would indeed have preferred the bottle upon principle but there was no getting at the bottle except through the wife and it so happened that by the time it reached him there was little consolation left in it bore all in silence for silence his friend had often told him wa s a proof of wisdom soon after this one evening met mr o by chance upon a plank which crossed a river this plank was only a foot in breadth so that no two individuals could pass each other upon it we cannot find words in which to express the dismay of both on finding that they absolutely glided past each other without collision both paused and surveyed each other solemnly but the astonishment was all on the side of mr o said the by all the household gods i you to speak that i may be assured you live m alone the ghost of a blush crossed the churchyard of the tailor oh he exclaimed why the did you tempt me to marry a wife said his friend answer me in the most solemn manner possible throw into your countenance all the gravity you can assume speak as if you were under the hands of the with the rope about your neck for the question is indeed a trying one which i am about to put are you still blue for want of a beating the tailor collected himself to make a reply he put one leg the very leg which he used to show in triumph to his friend but alas how he opened his waistcoat and it him until he looked like a on its hind legs he then raised himself up on his and in an awful whisper replied no the a bit i m blue for want of a the shook his head in his own miserable manner but alas he soon perceived that the tailor was as great an at shaking the head as himself nay he saw that there was a refinement a delicacy of shake in the tailor s which gave to his own nod a very commonplace character the next day the tailor took in his clothes and from time to time continued to them to the dimensions of his shrinking person the and he whenever they could steal a mo m alone merit met and together mr o however bore up somewhat better than the latter was subdued in heart and in spirit thoroughly completely and intensely his features became sharpened by misery for a wife is the on which all the of a husband are painted by the devil he no longer as he was wont to do he no longer carried a as if he wished to a universal battle with mankind he was now a married man and with a cowardly crawl did he creep along as if every step brought him nearer to the gallows the s march of misery was far slower than s the latter him before three years passed he had shrunk up so much that he could not walk abroad of a windy day without in his pockets to keep him firm on the earth which he once trod with the step of a giant he again sought the with whom indeed he associated as much as possible here he felt certain of receiving sympathy nor was he disappointed that worthy but miserable man and often retired beyond the hearing of their respective wives and supported each other by every argument in their power often have they been heard in the dusk of evening singing behind a remote hedge that melancholy let us both be unhappy together which rose upon the twilight breeze with a cautious of sorrow truly and said mr o on one of those occasions here is a book which i recommend to your perusal it is called the afflicted man s companion try if you cannot some consolation out of it faith said i m forever to you but i don t want it i ve had the afflicted man s companion too long and not an o consolation i can get out of it i have one o them i tell you but be my i not undertake a pair o them the very name s	39
want to go to to day and i must be home early trembled she looked at him and said for heaven s sake john don t go today stay till some other day and god bless you for if you go to day i would give my oath there will something cross you that s bad nonsense woman said he make haste and get me my breakfast with tears in her eyes set about getting the breakfast ready and whilst she was so employed john was engaged in making preparations for his journey having now completed his other arrangements he sat down to breakfast and having concluded it he arose to depart ran to the door crying loudly she flung herself on her knees and said john john be the advised don t go to day take my advice i know more of the world than you do and i see plainly that if you go you will never enter this door again with your life ashamed to be influenced by the of an old he pushed her away with his hand and going out to the stable mounted his horse and departed followed him with her eyes whilst in sight and when she could no longer see him she sat down at the fire and wept bitterly it was a bitter cold day and the farmer having finished his business in town feeling himself chilly went into a public house to have a of punch and feed his horse there he met an old friend who would not part with him until he would have another glass with him and a little conversation as it was many years since they had met before one glass brought another and it was almost ere john thought of returning and having nearly ten miles to travel it would be dark night before he could get home still his friend would not permit him to go but called for more liquor and it was far advanced in the night before they parted john however had a good horse and having had him well fed he did not spare whip or spur but dashed along at a rapid pace through the gloom and silence of the winter s night and had the town upward of five miles when on arriving at a very desolate part of the road a fired from behind the bushes put an end to his mortal existence two strange men who had the been at the same public house in drinking observing that he had money and learning the road that he was to travel to rob and murder him and him in this lonely spot for that horrid purpose poor did not go to bed that night but sat at the fire every moment impatiently expecting his return often did she listen at the door to try if she could hear the tramp of the horse s footsteps approaching but in vain no sound met her ear except the sad wail of the night wind moaning through the tall bushes which surrounded the ancient dwelling or the sullen roar of a little dark river which wound its way through the at a small distance from where she stood tired with watching at length she fell asleep on the but that sleep was disturbed and broken and frightful and dreams incessantly haunted her imagination at length the morning appeared struggling through the wintry clouds and again opened the door to look out but what was her dismay when she found the horse standing at the stable door without his rider and the saddle all with blood she raised the the neighbours thronged round and it was at once declared that the man was robbed and murdered a party on horseback immediately set forward to seek him and on arriving at the fatal spot he was found stretched on his back in the ditch his head with shot and and the his body literally in a pool of blood on examining him it was found that his money was gone and a valuable gold watch and abstracted from his pocket his remains were conveyed home and after having been the customary time were committed to the grave of his ancestors in the little green churchyard of the village having no legitimate children the nearest heir to his property was a brother a cabinet maker who resided in london a letter was accordingly despatched to the brother announcing the sad catastrophe and calling on him to come and take possession of the property and two men were appointed to guard the place until he should arrive the two men to act as or as they are termed were old friends and comrades of the deceased and had served with him in the same corps jack o was a roman catholic a square and handsome fellow with a pleasant word for every one and full of that gaiety vivacity and for which the roman catholic of ireland are so particularly distinguished he was now about forty five years of age sternly attached to the of his religion and always remarkable for his and anti british principles he was brave as a lion and never before a man but though caring so little for a living man he was extremely afraid of a dead one and would go ten miles out of his road at the night to avoid passing a or haunted bush harry on the other hand was a a tall genteel looking man of proud and imperious aspect and full of reserve and the natural consequence of a consciousness of political and religious and superiority of intelligence and education which so marked the of the of those days harry too loved his glass as well as jack but was of a more peaceful disposition and as he was well educated and intelligent he was utterly opposed to superstition and laughed to scorn the mere idea of ghosts and thus	39
jack and harry were opposed to each other in every point except their love of the yet they never failed to seize every opportunity of being together and although they often blackened each other s eyes in their political and religious yet their quarrels were always settled and they never found themselves happy but in each other s society it was now the sixth or seventh night that jack and harry as usual kept their lonely watch in the kitchen of the murdered man a large turf fire blazed brightly on the hearth and on a bed of straw in the ample chimney corner was stretched old in a profound sleep on the between the two friends stood a small oak table on which was placed a large of a of boiled water and a bowl of sugar and the as if to add an idea of security to that of comfort on one end of the table were placed in a formidable looking and a brace of large brass pistols jack and his comrade perpetually renewed their acquaintance with the and laughed and and the adventures of their young days with as much as if the house which now witnessed their mirth never echoed to the cry of death or blood in the course of conversation jack mentioned the incident of the strange appearance of the and expressed a hope that she would not come that night to disturb their the devil shouted harry how superstitious you are i would like to see the of any man dead or alive who dare make his appearance here to night and seizing the and looking at jack he by i would drive the contents of this through their who dare annoy us better for you to shoot your mother than fire at the anyhow remarked jack said harry looking contemptuously at his companion i would think no more of the old s hide than i would of throwing off this and to suit the action to the word he drained off another of punch jack says harry now that we are in such prime humour will you give us a song with all the veins of my heart says jack what will it be the i anything you please your will must be my pleasure answered harry jack after and clearing his pipes forth in a bold and musical voice a rude called the royal which although of no merit yet as it expressed sentiments hostile to british connection and british government and favourable to the house of was very popular amongst the catholic of ireland whilst on the contrary it was looked upon by the as highly offensive and harry however wished his companion too well to oppose the song and he quietly awaited its conclusion jack said harry as soon as the song was ended that you may never lose your wind in the king s name now i board you for another song says jack harry without hesitation recognised his friend s right to demand a return and he instantly forth in a deep sweet and voice the following song ho boys i have a song divine come let us now in concert join and toast the banks of the of glorious memory t on s banks our fathers s with their blood ran red and from the our fled chains and slavery the dark superstition s blood stained sons pressed on but crack went william s guns and soon the gloomy monster runs fell headed then fill your glasses and fair let shouts of triumph the air whilst fills the chair we ll never bow to jack whose countenance had from the commencement of the song indicated his aversion to the sentiments it expressed now lost all patience at hearing his darling and seizing one of the pistols which lay on the table and whirling it over his comrade s head swore vehemently that he would his skull if he did not instantly drop that orange said harry quietly pushing away the arm i did not oppose your bit of treason awhile ago and besides the latter end of my song is more calculated to please you than to your feelings jack seemed and harry continued his strain f and fill a to the brim a flowing one and drink to him who let the world go sink or swim would arm for britain s liberty no matter what may be his hue or black or white or green or blue or pa or we ll drink to him right cordially the i jack was so pleased with the friendly turn which the latter part of harry s song took that he joyfully stretched out his hand and even joined in chorus to the concluding the fire had now decayed on the hearth the bottle was almost emptied and the two getting drowsy put out the candle and laid down their heads to slumber the song and the laugh and the jest were now hushed and no sound was to be heard but the incessant click of the clock in the inner room and the deep heavy breathing of old in the chimney comer they had slept they knew not how long when the old awakened with a wild shriek she jumped out of bed and crouched between the men they started up and asked her what had happened oh she exclaimed the the lord have mercy on us she is come again and i never heard her so wild and outrageous before jack o readily believed old s tale so did harry but he thought it might be some one who was committing some on the premises they both listened attentively but could hear nothing they opened the kitchen door but all was still they looked abroad it was a fine calm night and of twinkling stars were burning in the deep blue heavens they proceeded around the yard and hay	39
likes time an an poor fun tis for them that sit in the back row an stamp their boots for the honour the i was told oflf for to the scenes up this an down that light work ut was beer and tlie 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 god from the machine 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 he was ly 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 list 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 call an e i calls it tis right an natural an proper tis wrong an to steal a man s wan child she 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 the god from the machine accepted the and went on now i knew that the colonel was no foil any more than me for i was the man in the an the colonel was the best in asia so he said an 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 a scandal but i raised me hand on my an that was a now i come to it the dawn s said an we re no nearer ome than we was at the lend me your mine s all dust pitched his over and filled his pipe afresh so the came to an end an i was curious i stayed behind the 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 fresh 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 s the god from the machine all s over an you come to the station cool an in time for the two o clock where be your faith thinks i to myself thin there s a 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 old on s said you re 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 colour 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 the god from the machine 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 your s honour for five pack up all the miss s an look s order i going to the station we are i an that i laid my finger to my nose an looked the sinner i was says she so i knew she was in the business an i piled up all the sweet talk i d learnt in the on to this she an prayed her to put all the quick she knew into the thing while she packed i 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	39
into the for i ll have no mercy i m too says the no you don t i later i you where you are i ll come an bring you along with me you mind i called her 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 lo the god from the machine at the end oflf 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 till 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 very sick he is take him away an you say wan about you ve i ll 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 wouldn 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 order an 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 the god from the machine ii 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 lights the people from the was across 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 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 an all over 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 s this the n s voice in the an i could judge he was in a rage the god from the machine here i i ve found his about an now i ve found him oh the n s his name i stooped down an pretended to listen he his name s l 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 stop or you ll 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 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 the god from the machine 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 bt 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 dead and living as could not safely be introduced to the room here were gathered and fox of and more than doubtful for was an and pre eminent among a regiment of neat handed dog never again will the long lazy evenings return wherein whistling softly moved 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	39
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 private s story landed at last in the little stuff for which your soul longed back again in the smoky stone 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 was 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 di 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 been a christian she of her but they was 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 colonel him once or twice but didn t care an kept on his rounds wi his a as if he were flag i private s story to t world at lai e 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 why says i he s t an what he wants is his an like t rest on us happen a rat or two ud him it s low says i is rats but it s 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 private s story 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 you re right 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 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 her shoulder a us oh my i she sings out there s that dog would he let me stroke him soldier ay he would i for he s fond o here an to this kind an at t c i private story 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 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 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 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	39
settled himself to make a 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 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 private s story 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 tf was for is dog an wi bein tied up t beast s got nor ever it i t when t 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 i how sweet he looks i an just then t beauty an showed his teeth so down t lid and says ye ll be careful ye him out 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 private s story were miles away for fear anybody should recognise him an we were real good and kind soldier men we were an she me a bundle o notes an then up a few of her relations an friends to say good bye not more than seventy five there wasn t an we cuts away what to t three hundred and fifty s what i can tell yo but we melted it 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 thank 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 the big drunk we re goin ome we re 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 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 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 the big drunk 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 clothing 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 tm a now said you tell that i was a martial man don t answer you re 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 i 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 there s no p to morrow an no headed ril to give you his lip an i don t the big drunk know tis to be something ye were an meant to be an	39
fit to wake the dead twas no song that he sung though twas the s mass that i asked a bad egg is shut the army he sings the s mass for a good an that at from the 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 s mass is ten times worse an was ut the tent on the head his boot for each man that he cursed a powerful big voice had an a hard he was sober i 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 l the big drunk 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 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 i ll tear the hide off your back a i ve stopped say you so i tis clear as mud you ve forgotten me i ll assist your biography 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 lam 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 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 the big drunk 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 honour 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 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 he better still i there ll be big can t be too hard on a home he j the great thing is to get in ship faith you ve the half your lesson i but you to the d the big drunk you ll get in ship at all at all or there won t be a rag you do twas a dear little an by 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 lord 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 match they come round me an me an i i was in employ 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 even thin i was the peace i talked to me ould non was sober an me an we wore the over into their tents at the proper time the little the big drunk 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 tricks 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 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 tight on his a tent 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 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 the big drunk the he him out	39
who was always a lawyer an some of the men up the 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 i 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 i 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 about i hear i to the ould colour and i let me die in glory l i ve seen a man this a man he is ould the s as sick as a they ll all go down to the sea like that has the a gin i an good luck go him the big drunk 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 i you look to that little he has tis not child that the to an stretch on a wink from a an ould like i d be proud to serve you re a said so i am so i am is ut likely i forget ut but he was a all the same an i m 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 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 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 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 and the march of progress the solid 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 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 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 you the if that was ah i give her back to me had passed the treasure to my hand it the solid 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 great merits in the old days did i tell you continued calmly that i was more a than i am now you don t mean it said i was ril i was but as i say i was ril i was a of a man he was silent for nearly a minute while his mind among old memories and his eye glowed he bit upon the pipe stem and charged into his tale they was great times i m ould now me hide s wore oflf in patches has me an i m a married man tu but i ve had my day i ve had my day	39
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 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 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 the solid 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 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 time was one o clock of a stifling 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 m the of the guard and the men on the gate said is a necessity this ll lively till relieved he himself was stripped to the waist on the next was dripping from the of water which clad only in white trousers had just over his shoulders and a fourth private was muttering a with the main guard 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 who was feeling the heat being of build 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 ril wan year red hot on his c mission but like a fish he ll be gone before the weather s 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 j ou if it was you would we do quiet little man said putting him aside but very gently tis not me nor will ut with the main guard si be me s here i was but something bowed on his groaned 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 fed hot plain pop said wiping his forehead don t or til 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 w do hi know the drink answered the mess man ye ll have a martial on ye yet me son said but he opened a bottle i will not report ye this time s in the mess kid is for the belly as they say specially that mate is here s luck a bloody war or a no we ve got 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 begging 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 with the main guard 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 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 talk i said or we shall have loose and he ll be worse than was talk	39
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 and 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 hen of in with the main guard 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 colours as glory has ever been i they was 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 two hills as black as a bucket an as thin as a girl s waist there was over many for our in the an they called a reserve bein by our an was into some ments i think twas an are they re so an they get together god 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 with the main guard 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 ru 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 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 s a lie said dragging his nearer ah gotten an you it he threw up his arms and from the now first of the of da was captain o of the black the ballad of da with the main guard 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 was i of twas another man well you ll thin how we an the met a bang at the bottom an got past all among the ow it was a tight i was squeezed till i thought i d well bust said rubbing his stomach twas no place for a little man but wan 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 out an the most thing all was that we an they just rushed into each other s an there was no firing for a long time but knife an bay when we get our hands free an 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 as the was us forward closer an closer an hand over back a that was with the main guard i saw a sword out past s ear 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 the thickness a man s body turned the him the man bit the heel off s boot in his push men push ye 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 i t much to say faith me son ye said ut thin i the little 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 opened out no	39
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 with the main guard 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 better than for a mon can t wi an if he t he can f o f tis not i t books though me f 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 other s 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 arm pit 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 o with the main guard cold said up an under the e come down flat best for you e did my son this jam thing that i m 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 our 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 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 with the main guard i 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 action let me out i in among i m goin to be faith they gave me room at the though they would not ha given room for all 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 martial 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 in with the main guard the man that was on him will i go back to his mother an tell her that i ve 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 tears an ye do that i 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 i 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 he i m 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 he the an the begins pitiful to to be let go i but a bit him there he tis no child s work with the main guard this day by the same token he til that scent yours for my own has been the fork his hand was black	39
the 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 come on is this a martial the two us 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 an carries him to who was how the fight with the main guard him till the cries an thin for a the began to an our men roared double blow child blow for the honour 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 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 with the main guard 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 his mother kissed ut blood like a 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 t 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 u do well later very quiet for not bein allowed to kill yourself for i m a man the little put me arrest if you will but f with the main guard by my i d 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 on the this man was he was an his eyes were half shut an we hear him breath yards away he sees the little an comes up thick an drowsy to blood the young i 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 with the main guard 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 i you so i an that he wanted to help a i the to the ear they dare not do but curse the was like dogs over a 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	39
sharp tis a shameful sight i 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 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 with the main guard 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 does this a tail mane by the road his the staff blue an makes him pink by to the voice a woman an come 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 m s the relieved guard strolled with the main guard round the main on its way to the and grew almost looked into the fort ditch and across the plain ho it s weary for ma he but rd like to kill some more before my time s up war bloody war i 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 tis 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 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 at 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 slap in a box wrapped up in a soldier s cloak with the main guard 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 turned pink and the two walked away together the lifted up his voice and gave in thunder the chorus of the while at his side bin to a sing song you two said the who was taking his down to the morning gun you re 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 i ve 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 i i a soldier s life for me shout boys shout i for it makes you jolly and free the corps people who have seen say 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 rap out something severe at this point to check matters if she be tender hearted and send for a drink of water the chances are largely in favour of another girl laughing at the afflicted one and herself thus the trouble and may end in half of what answers to the lower 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 a few other things some amazing effects develop at least this is what folk say who have had experience in the matter of a private 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	39
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 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 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 honour 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 always know what is the matter with himself that is the this is the story was engaged to be married to miss m whose history is well known in the regiment and elsewhere he had his colonel s permission 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 in the matter of a private was going up to the hills with the bride none the less s grievance was that the affair would be only a hired carriage wedding and he felt that the of that was meagre miss m 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 contained less than six hundred words and the and whose views on every conceivable question they had heard many times before there was the of course and 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 excitement of fever or the men could only wait in the matter of a private 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 grew then began to wear away and men fell a brooding over real or imaginary for they had nothing else to think of the tone of the changed and instead of saying 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 another place 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 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 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 ye so which means swine and in the matter of a private several other things entirely unfit for publication he was a big gross man and he shook like a when the had the sentence correctly however shook with rage for all the room were laughing at him the was such a puff of green feathers and it 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 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 and held him till he 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	39
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 in the matter of a private of a rifle on it and blow away all the head in a flash had no right to be sleek and contented and well to do when he was the butt of the room some day perhaps he would show 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 liver 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 rumour ran abroad that it was men rejoiced openly hoping that it 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 for last posts when went to the box at the foot of his bed took out his pipe and the lid 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 in the matter of a private 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 ith your thinking ye dirty ye so chuckled the in the a well known voice now that was absolutely all the snapped fell back on the arm rack deliberately the men were 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 slipped 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 you re me to it get up an don t lie there you an your that me to it i 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 i ll 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 the brown in the matter of a private of the men on the but the bullet flew high and landed in the with a vicious that made some of the younger ones 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 i ll 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 i ll make you the man in the army come out colonel john c b come out and see me on the i m the crack shot of the in proof of which statement fired at the lighted windows of the private e ny on the cavalry p 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 in the matter of a private 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 to for there is small honour in being shot by a fellow private only rifle in hand threw himself down on the ground and his way towards the well don t shoot said he to the men round him as not you ll it me i ll catch the beggar ceased shouting for a while and the noise of trap wheels could	39
be heard across the plain major commanding the horse battery was coming back from a dinner in the civil lines was driving after his usual custom that is to say as fast as the horse could go a a blooming i shrieked i ll make a of that the trap stopped what s this demanded the major of you there drop your rifle why it s i ain t got no quarrel with you pass an all s well but had not the faintest intention of passing a dangerous murderer he was as his battery swore long and fervently without knowledge of fear and they were surely the best o in the matter of a private judges for it was notorious had done his possible to kill a man each time the battery went out he walked towards with the intention of rushing him and knocking him down don t make me do it sir said i ain t got nothing you ah you would the major broke into a run take that then the major dropped with a bullet through his shoulder and stood over him he had lost the satisfaction of killing in the desired way but here was a helpless body to his hand should he slip in another and blow off the head or with the butt in the white face he stopped to consider and a cry went up from the far side of the parade ground he s killed i but in the shelter of the well pillars was safe except when he stepped out to fire ril blow yer off said six an three is nine an one is ten an that leaves me another nineteen an one for myself he at the string of the second packet of crawled out of the shadow of a bank into the moonlight i see you said come a bit on an i ll do for you i m said briefly you ve done a bad day s work sim come out ere an come back with me come to laughed sending a home with his thumb not before i ve settled you an in the matter of a private i the was lying at full length in the dust of the parade ground a rifle under him some of the less cautious men in the distance shouted shoot im shoot im you move and or foot said an ril kick in and shoot you after i ain t said the raising his head you t it a man on is legs let go o an come out o that with your come an it me you t you i dare you lie you man you butcher you lie see there kicked the rifle away and stood up in the peril of his life come on now the temptation was more than could resist for the in his white clothes offered a perfect mark don t me shouted firing as he spoke the shot missed and the blind with rage threw his rifle down and rushed at from the protection of the well within striking distance he kicked savagely at s stomach but the knew something of s weakness and knew too the deadly guard for that kick bowing forward and drawing up his right leg till the heel of the right foot was set some three inches above the inside of the left knee cap he met the blow standing on one leg exactly as stand when they and ready for the fall that would follow there was an oath the o in the matter of a private fell over to his own left as met and the private his right leg broken an inch above the ankle pity you don t know that guard sim said out the dust as he rose then raising his voice come an take him i ve is leg this was not strictly true for the private had accomplished his own since it is the special merit of that leg g ard that the harder the kick the greater the s discomfiture walked to and hung over him with anxiety while weeping with pain was carried away you ain t badly sir said the major had fainted and there was an ugly ragged hole through the top of his arm knelt down and murmured s me i believe e s dead well if that ain t my blooming luck all over but the major was destined to lead his battery for many a long day with nerve he was removed and nursed and into while the battery discussed the wisdom of and blowing him from a gun they their major and his on parade brought about a scene nowhere provided for in the army great too was the glory that fell to s share the would have made him drunk thrice a day for at least a fortnight even the colonel of his own regiment him upon his coolness and the local paper called him a hero these things did not him up when the major offered him money and thanks the in the matter of a private virtuous took the one and put aside the other but he had a request to make and it with many a beg y pardon sir could the major see his way to letting the m wedding be adorned by the presence of four battery horses to pull a hired the major could and so could the battery excessively so it was a gorgeous wedding did i do it 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 i d a cared and they hanged private hanged him as high as in hollow square of the regiment and the colonel said it	39
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 but not a soul thought of comparing the bloody minded to the gaping with which this story opens black jack to the wake tim o came company all st s alley was there to see robert 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 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 two 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 black jack s 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 e s a listen 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 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 black jack lord ow we laughed e ye say tm 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 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 owl i m waiting for my 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 black jack 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 an ow said 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 goin to walk im e comes out two miles or three or said the footsteps within ceased i heard the dull of a falling on a followed by the rattle of arms ten minutes later dressed his lips tight and his face as black as a stalked into the sunshine on the and sprang from my side and closed in upon him both leaning towards him 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 to recognise me so i knew that his trouble must be heavy upon him i climbed one of the and watched the figures of the three grow smaller and black jack 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	39
a long 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 ril 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 woman 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 man knows the worst him but this much i 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 black jack 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 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 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 my cot an the man that ut into hospital for three days good o had put his spite on the room he was my colour 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 black jack let him go he ll get tired our foul an our 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 lar on a has he not put his spite on the us can we do that he will not check us for another 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 i m an i not mind him in the if ut was not that i m for my is that all ye will do another have ye no more than that ye blood calf blood i may be says i back to my cot an my line round ut 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 black jack 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 ny that was by way bein a mine i m 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 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 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 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 came from there was the twelve my room down in a black jack 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 you re 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	39
isn t it shameful on open hand for inspection miss d never mind that you can t mend it help me with this hateful i ve run the string and i ve run the string so and i make the fulness come right where would you put this waves lilies of the valley miss t as high up on the shoulder as possible miss d am i quite tall enough i know it makes may look sided miss t yes but may hasn t your shoulders hers are like a bottle bearer at door captain miss d jumping up wildly and hunting for body which she has discarded owing to the heat of the day captain what captain oh good gracious and i m only half dressed well i shan t bother miss t calmly you needn t it isn t foi us that s captain he is going for a ride with mamma he generally comes five days out of the seven voice from an inner apartment run out and give captain some tea and tell him i shall be ready in ten minutes and o come to me an instant there s a dear girl miss t oh bother aloud very well mamma exit and after five minutes flushed and rubbing her fingers poor dear mamma miss d you look pink what has happened miss t in a stage whisper a twenty waist and she won t let it out where are my on the toilet table and at her hair with a brush in the interval miss d who is this captain i don t think met him miss t you must have he belongs to the set i ve danced with him but i ve never talked to him he s a big yellow man just like a newly chicken with an e moustache he walks like this cavalry and he goes ha deep down in his throat when he can t think of anything to say mamma likes him i don t miss d does he wax that moustache miss t busy with powder puff yes i think so why miss d bending over the and sewing furiously oh only miss t sternly only what out with it miss d well may she s engaged to mr you know said promise you won t repeat this miss t yes i promise what did she say miss d that that being kissed with a by a man who wax his moustache was like eating an egg without salt miss t at her full height with crushing scorn may is a horrid nasty things and you can tell her i said so i m glad she doesn t belong to poor dear mamma my set i must go and feed this do i look miss d yes perfectly be quick and hand him over to your mother and then we can talk shall listen at the door to hear what you say to him miss t sure i don t care fm not afraid of captain in proof of this into drawing room with a stride followed by two short which produces the effect of a horse entering captain who is sitting in the shadow of the and round helplessly captain aside the by jove must ha picked up that action from the rising good evening miss miss t conscious that she is flushing good evening captain mamma told me to say that she will be ready in a few minutes won t you have some tea aside i hope mamma will be quick what am i to say to the creature aloud and abruptly milk and sugar g no sugar tha and very little milk ha miss t aside if he s going to do that i m lost i shall laugh i know i shall g pulling at his moustache and watching it sideways down his nose ha aside wonder what the little beast can talk about must make a shot at it miss t aside oh this is i must say something both have you been poor dear mamma g i beg your pardon you were going to say miss t has been watching the moustache with awed fascination won t you have some eggs g looking at the tea eggs aside o she must have a nursery tea at this hour s pose they ve wiped her mouth and sent her to me while the mother is getting on her aloud no thanks miss t crimson with confusion oh i didn t mean that i wasn t thinking of eggs for an instant i mean salt won t you have some sa sweets aside he ll think me a lunatic i wish mamma would come g aside it was a nursery tea and she s ashamed of it by jove she doesn t look half bad when she colours up like that helping himself from the dish have you seen those new at s miss t no i made these myself what are they like g these aside and that s a fact miss t aside oh bother he ll think i m fishing for compliments aloud no s of course g not to compare with these how d you make them i can t get my to understand the simplest thing beyond mutton and fowl miss t yes i m not a you know perhaps you frighten him you should never frighten a servant he loses his head it s very bad policy il poor dear mamma g he s so ly stupid miss t folding her hands in her lap you should call him quietly and say o g getting interested yes aside fancy that little saying to my miss t then you should explain the dinner dish by dish g but i can t speak the miss t you should pass the higher standard and try g i have but i	39
don t seem to be any the wiser are you miss t i never passed the higher standard but the is very patient with me he doesn t get angry when i talk about sheep s or order of grain when i mean g aside with intense indignation i d like to see being rude to that girl steady the aloud and do you understand about horses too miss t a little not very much i can t doctor them but i know what they ought to eat and i am in charge of our stable g indeed you might help me then what ought a man to give his in the hills my says eight because everything is so dear miss t six a month and one allowance neither more nor less and a grass cut gets six that s better than buying grass in the poor dear mamma g how do you know miss t i have tried both ways g do you ride much then i ve never seen you on the miss t aside i haven t pass d him more than fifty times aloud nearly every day g by jove i didn t know that ha at his moustache and is silent for forty seconds miss t desperately and wondering what will happen next it looks beautiful i shouldn t touch it if i were you aside it s all mamma s fault for not coming before i will be rude g under the tan and bringing down his hand very quickly eh at i oh yes ha ha laughs uneasily aside well of all the dashed cheek i never had a woman say that to me yet she must be a cool hand or else ah that nursery tea voice from the unknown g good gracious what s that miss t the dog i think aside has been listening and i ll never forgive her g aside they don t keep dogs here aloud didn t sound like a dog did it miss t then it must have been the cat let s go into the what a lovely evening it is i steps into and looks out across the hills into sunset the captain follows g aside superb eyes i wonder that i never noticed them before aloud there s ii poor dear mamma going to be a dance at lodge on wednesday can you spare me one miss t shortly no i don t want any of your charity dances you only ask me because mamma told you to i hop and i you know i do g aside that s true but little girls shouldn t understand these things aloud no on my word i don t you dance beautifully miss t then why do you always stand out after half a dozen turns i thought officers in the army didn t tell g it wasn t a believe me i really do want the pleasure of a dance with you miss t why won t mamma dance with you any more g more earnestly than the necessity demands i wasn t thinking of your mother aside you little miss t still looking out of the window eh oh i beg your pardon i was thinking of something else g aside well i wonder what she ll say next i ve never known a woman treat me like this before i might be dash it i might be an aloud oh please don t trouble i m not worth thinking about isn t your mother ready yet miss t i should think so but promise me captain you won t take poor dear mamma twice round any more it her so g she says that no exercise her miss t yes but she suffers afterwards you poor dear mamma don t know what is and you t to keep her out so late when it gets chill in the evenings g aside i thought she came off her horse rather in a bunch one lives and aloud fm sorry to hear that she hasn t mentioned it to me miss t of course not poor dear mamma never would and you mustn t say that i told you either promise me that you won t oh captain promise me you won t g i am dumb or i shall be as soon as you ve given me that dance and another if you can trouble yourself to think about me for a minute miss t but you won t like it one little bit you ll be awfully sorry afterwards g i shall like it above all things and i shall only be sorry that i didn t get more aside now what in the world am i saying miss t very well you will have only yourself to thank if your toes are trodden on shall we say seven g and eleven aside she can t be more than eight stone but even then if s an small foot looks at his own riding boots miss t they re beautifully shiny i can almost see my face in them g i was thinking whether i should have to go on for the rest of my life if you trod on my toes miss t very likely why not change eleven for a square poor dear mamma g no please i i want them both won t you write them down miss t don t get so many dances that i shall them you will be the g wait and see aside she doesn t dance perfectly perhaps but miss t your tea must have got cold by this time won t you have another cup g no thanks don t you think it s pleasanter out in the aside i never saw hair take that colour in the sunshine before aloud it s like one of s pictures miss t yes it s a	39
had dealings with a m his life virtuous if had three thousand a month paid from england i don t think td deal with a either yawning oh a sweet life i wonder whether matrimony would make it sweeter ask with his wife dying by inches go home and get a fool of a girl to come out to what is it says the splendid palace of an indian pro which reminds me my quarters like a i had fever last night from sleeping in a swamp and the worst of it is one can t do anything to a roof till the rains are over what s wrong with you you haven t eighty to take into a running stream no but i m mixed and bad language i m a regular job all over my body it s sheer poverty of blood and i don t see any chance of getting richer either way can t you take leave that s the pull you army men have over us ten days are nothing in your sight so important that government can t find a substitute if the world without i go away ye es i d like to be whoever his wife may be youve passed the turn of life that was speaking of indeed i have but i never yet had the to ask a woman to share my life out here on my soul i believe you re right thinking of mrs the woman s an absolute wreck exactly because she stays down here the only way to keep her fit would be to send her to the hills for eight months and the same with any woman i fancy i see myself taking a wife on those terms with the at one and sixpence the little would be little with a fine to bring home for the holidays and a pair of be for to wear free of expense presented by yes it s an prospect by the way the hasn t done falling yet the time will come when we shall think ourselves lucky if we only lose half our pay surely a third s loss enough who gains by the arrangement that s what i want to know the silver question i m going to bed if you begin thank goodness here s looking like a ghost enter indian medical staff very white and tired the world without evenings it s in sheets loo the roads are something ghastly how s mingle very and more frightened i handed him over to mingle might just as well have called him in the first place instead of me he s a nervous little chap what has he got this time can t quite say a very bad and a blue so fan he asked me at once if it was and i told him not to be a fool that soothed him poor devil i the does half the business in a man of that build lighting a i firmly believe the will kill him if he stays down you know the amount of trouble he s been giving for the last three weeks he s doing his very best to frighten himself into the grave general chorus poor little devil why doesn t he get away can t he has his leave all right but he s so dipped he can t take it and i don t think his name on paper would raise four that s in confidence though all the station knows it i suppose i shall have to die here he said all across the bed he s quite made up his mind to kingdom come and i know he has nothing more than a wet weather if he could only keep a hand on himself the world without that s bad that s very bad poor little good little chap too i say what do you say well look here anyhow if it s like that as you say i say fifty i say fifty i go twenty better of the bar i say fifty what do you say hi wake up eh what s that what s that we want a hundred from you you re a bachelor drawing a gigantic income and there s a man in a hole what man any one dead no but he ll die if you don t give the hundred here here s a you can see what we ve signed for and s man will come round to morrow to collect it so there will be no trouble one hundred e m j there you are feebly it isn t one of your jokes is it no it really is wanted you were the biggest last week and you ve the tax too long sign let s see three and a seventy two twenty three twenty say four hundred and twenty that ll give him a month clear at the hills many thanks you men i ll send round the to morrow you must engineer his taking the stuff and of course you mustn t the world without of course it would never do he d weep with gratitude over his evening drink that s just what he would do damn him oh i say you pretend to know everything have you heard about no divorce court at last worse he s engaged how much he be he is he s going to be married in a few weeks told me at the judge s this evening it s you don t say so holy moses there ll be a shine in the tents of regiment cut up rough think you don t know anything about the regiment it is then maybe do you mean to say that you men have forgotten or is there more charity in the world than i thought you don t look pretty	39
when you are trying to keep a secret you explain mrs i after a long pause to the room generally it s my notion that we are a set of fools nonsense that business was knocked on the head last season why young was a as such think a while recollect last season and the talk then or no did ever talk to any other woman the world without there s something in that it was slightly noticeable now you come to mention it but she s at and he s at he had to go to to look after a globe relative of his a person with a title uncle or aunt and there he got engaged no law prevents a man growing tired of a woman except that he mustn t do it till the woman is tired of him and the woman was not that she may be now two months of work wonders curious thing how some women carry a fate with them there was a mrs in the central provinces whose men invariably fell away and got married it became a regular proverb with us when i was down there i remember three men desperately devoted to her and they all one after another took wives that s odd now i should have thought that mrs s influence would have led them to take other men s wives it ought to have made them afraid of the judgment of providence mrs will make afraid of something more than the judgment of providence i fancy supposing things are as you say he ll be a fool to face her he ll sit tight at shouldn t be a bit surprised if he went off to to explain he s an unaccountable sort of man and she s likely to be a more than unaccountable woman the world without what makes you take her character away so confidently was her first and a woman doesn t allow her first man to drop away without she the first transfer of affection to herself by swearing that it is forever and ever consequently consequently we are sitting here till past one o clock talking scandal like a set of station cats it s all your fault we were perfectly respectable till you came in go to bed i m off good night all past one it s past two by jove and here s the coming for the late charge just heavens one two three to pay for the pleasure of saying that a poor little beast of a woman is no better than she should be i m ashamed of myself go to bed you and if i m sent to to morrow be prepared to hear i m dead before paying my the tents of only why should it be with pain at all why must i the leaves of put any kiss of pardon on thy brow why should the other women know so much and talk together such the look and such the smile he used to love with then as now any wife to scene a dinner for thirty four plate and carefully calculated to scale of rs per less exchange table split by bank of flowers mrs after conversation has risen to proper pitch ah didn t see you in the crush in the drawing room where have you been all this while captain turning from dinner partner and settling glasses good evening not quite so loud another time you ve no notion how your voice carries aside so much for the written explanation it ll have to be a verbal one now sweet prospect how on earth am i to tell her that i am a respectable engaged member of society and it s all over between us mrs h i ve a heavy score against you where the tents of were you at the monday pop where were you on tuesday where were you at the i was looking everywhere g for me i oh i was alive somewhere i suppose aside it s for s sake but it s going to be dashed unpleasant mrs h have i done anything to offend you i never meant it if i have i couldn t help going for a ride with the man it was promised a week before you came up g i didn t know mrs h it really was g anything about it i mean mrs h what has upset you to day all these days you haven t been near me for four whole days nearly one hundred hours was it kind of you and i ve been looking forward so much to your coming g have you mrs h you know i have i ve been as foolish as a about it i made a little and put it in my card case and every time the twelve o clock gun went off i scratched out a square and said that brings me nearer to my g with an uneasy laugh what will think if you neglect him so mrs h and it hasn t brought you nearer you seem farther away than ever are you about something i know your temper g no mrs h have i grown old in the last few months then reaches forward to bank of for card the tents of partner on left allow me hands mrs h keeps her arm at full stretch for three seconds mrs h to partner oh thanks i didn t see turns right again is anything in me changed at all g for goodness sake go on with your dinner you must eat something try one of those arrangements aside and i fancied she had good shoulders once upon a time i what an ass a man can make of himself i mrs h helping herself to a paper seven some stamped y and a of that isn t an answer	39
tell me whether i have done anything g aside if it isn t ended here there will be a ghastly scene somewhere else if only i d written to her and stood the at long range to han do aloud i ll tell you later on mrs h tell me now it must be some foolish misunderstanding and you know that there was to be nothing of that sort between us we of all people in the world can t afford it is it the man and don t you like to say so on my honour g i haven t given the man a thought mrs h but how d you know that haven t g aside here s my chance and may the devil help me through with it aloud and believe me i do not care how often or how tenderly you think of the man i the tents of mrs h i wonder if you mean that oh what is the good of and pretending to when you are only up for so short a time don t be a stupid follows during which he crosses his left leg over his right and continues his dinner g in answer to the in her eyes my worst mrs h upon my word you are the very man in the world til never do it again g aside no i don t think you will but i wonder what you will do before it s all over to ur do mrs h well haven t you the grace to bad man g aside i mustn t let it drift back now trust a woman for being as blind as a bat when she won t see mrs h i m waiting or would you like me to dictate a form of apology g desperately by all means dictate mrs h lightly very well your several christian names after me and go on profess my sincere repentance g sincere repentance mrs h for having behaved g aside at last i wish to goodness she d look away for having behaved as i have behaved and declare that i am thoroughly and heartily sick of the whole business and take this opportunity of making clear my intention of ending it now and forever aside if any one had told me i should be such a the tents of mrs h shaking a of into her plate that s not a pretty joke g no it s a reality aside i wonder if of this kind are always so raw mrs h really youve getting more absurd every day g i don t think you quite understand me shall i repeat it mrs h no for pity s sake don t do that it s too terrible even in fun g aside i ll let her think it over for a while but i ought to be mrs h i want to know what you meant by what you said just now g exactly what i said no less mrs h but what have i done to deserve it what have i done g aside if she only wouldn t look at me aloud and very slowly his eyes on his plate d you remember that evening in july before the rains broke when you said that the end would have to come sooner or later and you wondered for which of us it would come first mrs h yes i was only joking and you swore that as long as there was breath in your body it should never come and i believed you g card well it has that s all a long pause during which mrs h bows her head and rolls the twist into little g at the mrs h throwing k her head and laughing naturally they train us women well don t they the tents of g touching shirt so far as the expression goes aside it isn t in her nature to take things quietly there ll be an explosion yet mrs h with a shudder thank you b but even red indians allow people to when they re being tortured i believe slips fan front and slowly rim of fan level with chin partner on left very close to night isn t it you find it too much for you mrs h oh no not in the least but they really ought to have even in your cool t they turns dropping fan and raising eyebrows g it s all right aside here comes the storm i mrs h her eyes on the fan ready in right hand it was very cleverly managed and i congratulate you you swore you never contented yourself with merely saying a thing you swore that as far as lay in your power you d make my wretched life pleasant for me and you ve denied me the consolation of breaking down i should have done it indeed i should a woman would hardly have thought of this refinement my kind considerate friend fan guard as before you have explained things so tenderly and too you haven t spoken or written a word of warning and you have let me believe in you till the last minute you haven t condescended to give me your reason yet no a woman could not have managed it half so well are there many men like you in the world the tents of g i m sure i don t know to oh do mrs h you call yourself a man of the world don t you do men of the world behave like devils when they do a woman the honour to get tired of her g i m sure i don t know don t speak so loud mrs h keep us respectable o lord whatever happens don t be afraid of my you you ve chosen your ground far too	39
well and i ve been properly brought up lowering fan haven t you any pity except for yourself g wouldn t it be rather impertinent of me to say that i m sorry for you mrs h i think you have said it once or twice before you re growing very careful of my feelings my god i was a good woman once you said i was you ve made me what i am what are you going to do with me what are you going to do with me won t you say that you are sorry helps herself to g i am sorry for you if you want the pity of such a brute as i am fm ly sorry for you mrs h rather tame for a man of the world do you think that that admission you g what can i do i can only tell you what i think of myself you can t think worse than that mrs h oh yes i can and now will you tell me the reason of all this remorse has been suddenly conscience stricken g angrily his eyes still lowered no i the tents of the thing has come to an end on my side that s ail i mrs h that s all i as though i were a you used to make prettier speeches d you remember when you said g for heaven s sake don t bring that back call me anything you like and i ll admit it mrs h but you don t care to be reminded of old lies if i could hope to hurt you one tenth as much as you have hurt me to night no i wouldn t i couldn t do it liar though you are g i ve spoken the truth mrs h my dear sir you flatter yourself you have lied over the reason remember that i know you as you don t know yourself you have been everything to me though you are oh what a contemptible thing it is and so you are merely tired of me g since you insist upon my repeating it yes mrs h lie the first i wish i knew a word lie seems so ineffectual in your case the fire has just died out and there is no fresh one think for a minute if you care whether i despise you more than i do simply is it g yes aside i think i deserve this mrs h lie number two before the next glass you tell me her name g aside i ll make her pay for dragging into the business aloud is it likely the tents of mrs h very likely if you thought that it would flatter your vanity you d cry my name on the to make people turn round g i wish i had there would have been an end of this business mrs h oh no there would not and so you were going to be virtuous and were you to come to me and say i ve done with you the incident is i ought to be proud of having kept such a man so long g aside it only remains to pray for the end of the dinner a you know what i think of myself mrs h as it s the only person in the world you ever do think of and as i know your mind thoroughly i do you want to get it all over and oh i can t keep you back and you re going think of it to throw me over for another woman and you swore that all other women were my she can t care for you as i do believe me she can t is it any one that i know g thank goodness it isn t aside i expected a but not an earthquake mrs h she can t is there anything that i wouldn t do for you or haven t done and to think that i should take this trouble over you knowing what you are do you despise me for it g wiping his mouth to hide a smile again it s entirely a work of charity on your part mrs h but i have no right to resent it is she better looking than i who was it said a l the tents of g no not that mrs h ril be more merciful than you were don t you know that all women are alike g aside then this is the exception that proves the rule mrs h all of them i i ll tell you an you like i will upon my word i they only want the admiration from anybody no matter who anybody but there is always one man that they care for more than any one else in the world and would sacrifice all the others to oh do listen i i ve kept the man trotting after me like a and he believes that he is the only man i am interested in i ll tell you what he said to me g spare him aside i wonder what his version is mrs h he s been waiting for me to look at him all through dinner shall i do it and you can see what an idiot he looks g but what the of this gentleman mrs h watch sends a glance to the man who tries vainly to combine a of a satisfaction a glare of intense devotion and the of a british dining countenance g he doesn t look pretty why didn t you wait till the spoon was out of his mouth mrs h to amuse you she ll make an exhibition of you as i ve made of him and people will laugh at you oh can t you see that	39
till half past eleven with any amazement had a look at you then and you seemed to be sleeping as soundly as a condemned criminal g jack if you want to make those worn out jokes you d better go away with gravity it s the happiest day in my life m grimly not by a very long chalk my son you re going through some of the most refined torture you ve ever known but be calm am with you dress i g eh at m do you suppose that you are your own master for the next twelve hours if you do of course makes for the door g no for goodness sake old man don t do that you ll see me through won t you i ve been up that and can t remember a line of it m g s uniform go and tub don t bother me i ll give you ten minutes to dress in interval filled by the noise as of one in the bath room g emerging from dressing room what time is it m nearly eleven g five hours more o lord m aside first sign of that wonder if it s going to spread aloud come along to breakfast g i can t eat anything i don want any breakfast m aside so early aloud captain with any amazement i order you to eat breakfast and a dashed good breakfast too none of your airs and graces with me leads g downstairs and stands over him while he eats two g who has looked at his watch thrice in last five minutes what time is it m time to come for a walk light up g i haven t smoked for ten days and i won t now takes which m has cut for him and blows smoke through his nose we aren t going down the are we m aside they re all alike in these stages aloud no my we re going along the road we can find g any chance of seeing her m innocent no come along and if you want me for the final don t cut my eye out with your stick g spinning round i say isn t she the dearest creature that ever walked what s the time what comes after wilt thou take this woman m you go for the ring r it ll be on the top of my right hand little finger and just be careful how you draw it off because i shall have the s somewhere in my glove g walking forward hastily d the come along it s past twelve and i haven t seen her since yesterday evening spinning round again she s an absolute angel jack and she s a dashed deal too good for me look here does she come up the aisle on my arm or how with any amazement m if i thought that there was the least chance of your remembering anything for two minutes i d tell you stop about like that i g halting in the middle of the road i say jack m keep quiet for another ten minutes if you can you lunatic and walk two tramp at five miles an hour for fifteen minutes g what s the time how about that cursed wedding cake and the slippers they don t throw em about in church do they m in the leads off with his boots g confound your silly soul don t make fun of me i can t stand it and i won t m so old horse i you ll have to sleep for a couple of hours this afternoon g spinning round i m not going to be treated like a dashed child understand that m aside nerves gone to fiddle strings what a day we re having tenderly putting his hand on g s shoulder my david how long have you known this would i come up here to make a fool of you after all these years g i know i know jack but i m as upset as i can be don t mind what i say just hear me run through the and see if i ve got it all right to have and to hold for better or worse as it with any amazement was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end so help me god amen m with suppressed laughter yes that s about the of it i ll prompt if you get into a hat g earnestly yes you ll stick by me jack won t you i m ly happy but i don t mind telling you that i m in a blue m gravely are you i should never have noticed it you don t look like it g don t i that s all right spinning round on my soul and honour jack she s the sweetest little angel that ever came down from the sky there isn t a woman on earth fit to speak to her m aside and this is old aloud go on if it you g you can laugh that s all you wild of are fit for m you never would wait for the troop to come up you aren t quite married yet y know g that reminds me i don t believe i shall be able to get into my boots let s go home and try em on forward m wouldn t be in your shoes for anything that asia has to offer g spinning round that just shows your hideous blackness of soul your dense stupidity your brutal narrow there s only one fault about you you re the best of good fellows and i don t know what i should have done without you but you aren t married his head gravely take a wife jack with any	39
amazement m a face like a wall as whose for choice g if you re going to be a i m going on what s the time m an since twas very clear we drank only beer faith there must ha been some in the come back you i m going to take you home and you re going to lie down g what on earth do i want to lie down for m give me a light from your and see g watching butt quiver like a fork sweet state i m in m you are i ll get you a and you ll go to sleep they return and m a four finger g o i i it ll make me as drunk as an owl m curious thing t have the slightest effect on you drink it off yourself down there and go to bye bye g it s absurd i shan t sleep i know i shan t falls into heavy at end of seven minutes m watches him tenderly m poor old i ve seen a few turned off before but never one who went to the gallows in this condition can t tell how it affects em though it s the that sweat when they re backed into double harness and with any amazement that s the man who went through the guns at like a devil possessed of devils over g but this is worse than the guns old worse than the guns isn t it g turns in his sleepy and m touches him on the forehead poor dear old going like the rest of em going like the rest of em friend that closer than a brother eight years dashed bit of a slip of a eight weeks and where s your friend till church clock strikes three m up with you get into your g already isn t it too soon hadn t i better have a m no you re all right aside he d his chin to pieces g what s the hurry m you ve got to be there first g to be stared at m exactly you re part of the show where s the your spurs are in a shameful state g jack i be damned if you shall do that for me m more dry up and get dressed if i choose to clean your spurs you re under my orders g dresses m follows m walking round m yes you ll do only don t look so like a criminal ring gloves that s all right for me let your moustache alone now if the are ready we ll go with any amazement g nervously it s much too soon let s light up let s have a let s m let s make of ourselves bells without good all to prayers we call m there go the bells come on unless you d rather not th ride off bells we honour the king and joy do bring good tidings we tell and ring the dead s g at door of the church i say aren t we much too soon there are no end of people inside i say aren t we much too late stick by me jack what the devil do i do m strike an attitude at the head of the aisle and wait for her g groans as m wheels him into position before three hundred eyes m if you love me for pity s sake for the honour of the regiment stand up yourself into your uniform look like a man i ve got to speak to the a minute g breaks into a gentle perspiration if you wipe your face i ll never be your best man again stand up g visibly m returning she s coming now look out when the music starts there s the organ beginning to bride steps out of at church door g catches a glimpse of her and takes heart with any amazement organ the voice that breathed o er that earliest marriage day the marriage blessing it hath not passed away m g by jove he is looking well didn t think he had it in him g how long does this hymn go on for m it will be over directly anxiously beginning to and hold on and think o the regiment g i say there s a big brown crawling up that wall m my mother i the last stage of bride comes up to left of altar lifts her es once to g who is suddenly smitten mad g to himself again and again little s a woman a woman and i thought she was a little girl m in a whisper form the halt inward wheel g mechanically and the ceremony proceeds only unto her as long as ye both shall live g his throat useless ha m say you will or you won t there s no second deal here bride gives response with perfect coolness and is given away by the father g thinking to show his learning jack give me away now quick i i o with any amazement m youve given yourself away quite enough her right hand man i repeat repeat philip have you forgotten your own name g through which bride without a tremor m now the ring follow the don t pull off my glove here it is great he s found his voice g in a voice to be heard to the end of the church and turns on his heel m desperately rein back i back to your troop t half legal yet joined together let no man put asunder g with fear after blessing m quickly on your own front one length take her with you i don t come youve nothing to	39
say g up to altar m a piercing rattle meant to be a whisper kneel you stiff kneel whose daughters are ye so long as ye do well and are not afraid with any amazement m dismiss break off left wheel all troop to t sign m kiss her g rubbing the ink into his love eh at m taking one pace to bride if you don t i shall g an arm not this journey general kissing in which g is pursued by unknown female with any amazement i i g faintly to m this is can i wipe my face now m my responsibility has ended better ask g as though shot and procession is out of church to house where usual take place over t te wedding cake m at table up with you they expect a speech g after three minutes agony ha of applause m good for a first attempt now go and change your while mamma is weeping over the g m starts up tearing his hair it s not l al where are the shoes get an captain done gone band all m sword woman produce those shoes some one lend me a bread knife we mustn t crack s head more than it is heel off white satin and puts up his sleeve where is the bride to the company at large be tender with that rice it s a heathen custom give me the big bag bride slips out quietly into and towards the sunset m in the open stole away by jove i so much the worse for here he is now m i with any amazement this ll be than where s your horse g furiously seeing that the women are out of where the is my wife m half way to by this time you ll have to ride like young horse comes round on his hind legs refuses to let g handle him g oh you will will you get round you brute you you beast get round i horses head over nearly breaking lower jaw himself into saddle and sends home both spurs in the midst of a gale of best m for your life and your love ride and god bless you throws half a pound of rice at g who y bowed forward on the saddle in a cloud of dust m ive lost old lights and off singing you may it on his you may cut it on his card that a young man married is a young man miss from her horse really captain you are more plain spoken than polite m aside they say marriage is like wonder who ll be the next victim white satin from his sleeve and falls at his feet left wondering the garden of and ye shall be as gods i scene grass plot at back of the overlooking little wooded valley on the glimpse of the dead forest of on the rights hills in background line of the c apt now three weeks a husband is smoking the pipe of peace on a rug in the sunshine and tobacco on rug overhead the mrs g comes out of mrs g my husband g lazily with intense enjoyment eh at say that again mrs g i ve written to mamma and told her that we shall be back on the th g did you give her my love mrs g no i kept all that for myself sitting down by his side i thought you wouldn t mind g with mock i object ly how did you know that it was yours to keep mrs g i guessed g lit i mrs g i won t be called those sporting pet names bad boy i the garden of g you ll be called anything i choose has it ever occurred to you madam that you are my wife mrs g it has i haven t ceased wondering at it yet g nor i it seems so strange and yet somehow it doesn t confidently you see it could have been no one else mrs g softly no no one else for me or for you it must have been all arranged from the b tell me again what made you care for me g how could i help it you were you you know mrs g did you ever want to help it speak the truth g a twinkle in his eye i did darling just at the first but only at the very first i called you stoop low and i ll whisper a little beast ho ho ho mrs g taking him by the moustache and making him sit up a little beast stop laughing over your crime and yet you had the the awful cheek to propose to me g i d changed my mind then and you weren t a little beast any more mrs g thank you sir and when was i ever g never but that first day when you gave me tea in that coloured muslin gown thing you looked you did indeed dear such an absurd little and i didn t know what to say to you the garden of mrs g twisting moustache so you said little beast upon my word sir called you a but i wish now i had called you something worse g very meekly i but you re me ly you re welcome to torture me again on those terms mrs g oh why did you let me do it g looking across valley no reason in particular but if it amused you or did you any good you might wipe those dear little boots of yours on me mrs g stretching out her hands don t oh don t philip my king please don t talk like that it	39
s how feel you re so much too good for me so much too good g me i m not fit to put my arm round you puts it round mrs g yes you are but i what have i ever done g given me a bit of your heart haven t you my queen mrs g nothing any one would do that they couldn t help it g you ll make me horribly conceited just when i was beginning to feel so humble too mrs g humble i don t believe it s in your character g what do you know of my character impertinence mrs g ah but i shall shan t i i shall have time in all the years and years to come i the garden of to know everything about you and there will be no secrets between us g little witch i i believe you know me thoroughly already mrs g i think i can guess you re g yes mrs g foolish g very mrs g and a dear g that is as my lady pleases mrs g then your lady is pleased a pause d you know that we re two solemn serious grown up people g her straw hat over her eyes you grown up you re a baby mrs g and we re talking nonsense g then let s go on talking nonsense i rather like it i ll tell you a secret promise not to repeat mrs g ye es only to you g i love you mrs g re ally for how long g for ever and ever mrs g that s a long time g think so it s the shortest can do with mrs g you re getting quite clever g i m talking o mrs g prettily turned hold up your stupid old head and i ll pay you for it g affecting supreme contempt take it yourself if you want it the garden of mrs g ive a great mind to and i will takes it mid is repaid with interest g little it s my opinion that we are a couple of mrs g we re the only two sensible people in the world ask the eagle he s coming by g ah i he s seen a good many sensible people at they say that those birds live for ever so long mrs g how long g a hundred and twenty years mrs g a hundred and twenty years oh and in a hundred and twenty years where will these two sensible people be g what does it matter so long as we are together now mrs g looking round the horizon yes only you and i i and you in the whole wide wide world until the end sees the line of the how big and quiet the hills look d you think they care for us g can t say i ve consulted em particularly care and that s enough for me mrs g drawing nearer to him yes now but afterwards what s that little black on the g a forty miles away you ll see it move as the wind carries it across the face of that spur and then it will be all gone mrs g and then it will be all gone g anxiously not chilled pet are you better let me get your cloak mrs g no don t leave me stay i the garden of here i believe i am afraid oh why are the hills so horrid promise me promise me that you ll always love me g what s the trouble darling i can t promise any more than i have but i ll promise that again and again if you like mrs g her head on his shoulder say it then say it n no don t the the would laugh recovering my husband you ve married a little goose g very tenderly have i i am content whatever she is so long as she is mine mrs g quickly because she is yours or because she is me g because she is both i m not clever dear and i don t think i can make myself understood properly mrs g understand will you tell me something g anything you like aside i wonder what s coming now mrs g her eyes lowered you told me once in the old days centuries and centuries ago that you had been engaged before i didn t say anything then g innocently why not mrs g raising her eyes to his because because i was afraid of losing you heart but now tell about it please g there s nothing to tell i was old then nearly two and twenty and she was quite that mrs g that means she was older than you the garden of i shouldn t like her to have been younger well g well i fancied myself in love and about a bit and oh yes by jove i made up poetry ha ha mrs g you never wrote any for me i what happened g i came out here and the whole thing went she wrote to say that there had been a mistake and then she married mrs g did she care for you much g no at least she didn t show it as far as i remember mrs g as far as you remember do you remember her name hears it and bows her head thank you my husband g who but you had the right now little have you ever been mixed up in any dark and dismal tragedy mrs g if you call me mrs p i ll tell g throwing parade into mrs confess mrs g good heavens i never knew that you could speak in that terrible voice g you	39
don t know half my accomplishments yet wait till we are settled in the plains and ril show you how i bark at my troop you were going to say darling mrs g i i don t like to after that voice never you dare to speak to me in that tone whatever i may do g my poor little love why you re i the garden of all over i am so sorry of course i never meant to upset you don t tell me anything i m a brute mrs g no you aren t and i will tell there was a man g was there lucky man i mrs g jn a whisper and i thought i cared for him g still man well mrs g and i thought i cared for him and i didn t and then you came and i cared for you very very much indeed that s all face hidden you aren t angry are you g angry not in the least aside good lord what have i done to deserve this angel mrs g aside and he never asked for the name how funny men are but perhaps it s as well g that man will go to heaven because you once thought you cared for him wonder if you ll ever drag me up there mrs g firmly shan t go if you don t g thanks i say i don t know much about your religious you were brought up to believe in a heaven and all that weren t you mrs g yes but it was a heaven with hymn books in all the g his head with intense con never mind there is a heaven mrs g where do you bring that message from my prophet g here i because we care for each other so it s all right the garden of mrs g as a troop of crash through the branches so it s all right but says that we came from g placidly ah was never in love with an angel that settles it you brutes i indeed you shouldn t read those books mrs g folding her hands if it pleases my lord the king to issue g don t dear one there are no orders between us only i d rather you didn t they lead to nothing and bother people s heads mrs g like your first engagement g with an immense calm that was a necessary evil and led to you are you nothing mrs g not so very much am i g all this world and the next to me mrs g very softly my boy of boys shall i tell you something g yes if it s not dreadful about other men mrs g it s about my own bad little self g then it must be good go on dear mrs g slowly i don t know why i m telling you but if ever you marry again take your hand from my mouth or i ll bite i in the future then remember i don t know quite how to put it g indignantly don t try marry again indeed i mrs g i must listen my husband never the garden of never never tell your wife anything that you do not wish her to remember and think over all her life because a woman yes am woman forget g by jove how do you know that mrs g i don t tm only i am i was a silly little girl but i feel that i know so much oh so very much more than you dearest to begin with tm your wife g so i have been led to believe mrs g and i shall want to know every one of your secrets to share everything you know with you round desperately g so you shall dear so you shall but don t look like that mrs g for your own sake don t stop me i shall never talk to you in this way again you must not tell me at least not now later on when i m an old matron it won t matter but if you love me be very good to me now for this part of my life i shall never forget have i made you understand g i think so child have i said anything yet that you of mrs g will you be very angry that that voice and what you said about the engagement g but you asked to be told that darling mrs g and why you shouldn t have told me you must be the judge and oh dearly as i love you i shan t be able to help you i shall hinder you and you must judge in spite of me g we have a great the garden of many things to find out together god help us both say so but we shall understand each other better every day and i think tm beginning to see now how in the world did you come to know just the importance of giving me just that lead mrs g told you that i know only somehow it seemed that in all this new life i was being guided for your sake as well as my own g aside then was right they know and we we re blind all of us lightly getting a little beyond our depth dear aren t we i ll remember and if i fail let me be punished as i deserve mrs g there shall be no punishment we ll start into life together from here you and i and no one else g and no one else a paused your are all wet sweet was there ever such a quaint little absurdity mrs g was there	39
ever such nonsense talked before g knocking the ashes out of his pipe t what we say it s what we don t say that helps and it s all the philosophy but no one would understand even if it were put into a book mrs g the ideal no only we ourselves or people like ourselves if there are any people like us g all people not like ourselves are blind the garden of mrs g wiping her eyes do you think then that there are any people as happy as we are g must be unless appropriated all the happiness in the world mrs g looking towards poor just fancy if we have g then we ll hang on to the whole show for it s a great deal too jolly to eh wife o mine mrs g o how much of you is a solemn married man and how much a horrid g when you tell me how much of you was eighteen last birthday and how much is as old as the and twice as mysterious perhaps i ll attend to you lend me that the spirit me to at the sunset mrs g mind i it s not ah how that g turning it s difficult to keep a to proper pitch mrs g it s the same with all musical instruments what shall it be g vanity and let the hills hear sings through the first and half of the second verse turning to mrs g now chorus sing i both together con to the horror of the y who are settling for the night vanity all is vanity said wisdom me i clasped my true love s tender hand and answered frank and free ee if this be vanity who d be wise if this be vanity who d be wise the garden of if this be vanity who d be wi vanity let it be mrs g to the gray of the evening sky vanity let it be echo from the spur let it be and you may go into every room of the house and see that is there but into the blue room you must not go the story of beard scene the in the plains time ii a m on a sunday morning captain in his shirt sleeves is bending over a complete set of s from saddle to rope which is neatly spread over the floor of his study he is smoking an y and his forehead is with thought g to himself a jack s an ass there s enough brass on this to load a mule and if the americans know anything about anything it can be cut down to a bit only don t want the watering bridle either half a dozen sets of chains and for one horse rot scratching his head now let s consider it all over from the beginning by jove i ve forgotten the scale of ne er mind keep the bit only and every from the to no at all simple leather across the breast like the hi jack never thought of that i iii mrs g entering hastily her hand bound in a cloth oh my hand over that horrid horrid jam g eh at mrs g with round eyed reproach it aw v y i aren t you sorry and i did so want that jam to jam properly g poor little woman let me kiss the place and make it well you small sinner where s that i can t see it mrs g on the top of the little finger there i it s a most big burn g kissing little finger baby let look after the jam you know i don t care for sweets mrs g in deed g not of that kind anyhow and now run along and leave me to my own base devices i m busy mrs g calmly settling herself in long chair so i see what a mess you re making why have you brought all that leather stuff into the house g to play with do you mind dear mrs g let me play too i d like it g i m afraid you wouldn t don t you think that jam will burn or whatever it is that jam does when it s not looked after by a clever little housekeeper mrs g i thought you said could attend to it i left him in the stirring when i hurt myself so g his eye returning to the n po little woman three pounds four and seven is three eleven and that can be cut down to two eight with just a lee care without anything is all rot in hands what s the use of a shoe case when a man s he can t stick it on with a like a stamp the shoe i mrs g s what is this leather cleaned with g cream and champagne and look here dear do you really want to talk to me about anything important mrs g no i ve done my accounts and i thought i d like tp see what you re doing g well love now you ve seen and would you mind that is to say i really am busy mrs g you want me to go g yes dear for a little while this tobacco will hang in your dress and doesn t interest you mrs g everything you do interests me g yes i know i know dear i ll tell you all about it some day when i ve put a head on this thing in the meantime mrs g i m to be turned out of the room like a troublesome child g no o i don t mean that exactly but you see	39
i shall be up and down shifting these things to and fro and i shall be in your way don t you think so mrs g can t i lift them about let me try reaches forward to s saddle g good gracious child don t touch it you ll hurt yourself picking up saddle little girls aren t expected to handle now where would you like it put holds saddle above his head mrs g a break in her voice nowhere how good you are and how strong oh what s that ugly red streak inside your arm g lowering saddle quickly nothing it s a mark of sorts aside and jack s coming to with his notions all cut and dried mrs g i know it s a mark but i ve never seen it before it runs all up the arm what is it g a cut if you want to know mrs g want to know i of course i do i can t have my husband cut to pieces in this way how did it come was it an accident tell me g grimly no t an accident i got it from a man in mrs g in action oh and you never told me g i d forgotten all about it mrs g hold up your arm what a horrid ugly are you sure it doesn t hurt now how did the man give it you g desperately looking at his watch with a knife i came down old van loo did that s to say and fell on my leg so i couldn t run and then this man came up and began at me as i mrs g oh don t don t i that s enough well what happened i o g i couldn t get to my and came round the corner and stopped the performance mrs g how he s such a lazy man i don t believe he did g don t you i don t think the man had much doubt about it jack cut his head off mrs g cut his head off with one blow as they say in the books g i m not sure i was too interested in myself to know much about it anyhow the head was off and jack was old van loo in the ribs to make him get up now you know all about it dear and now mrs g you want me to go of course you never told me about this though i ve been married to you for ever so long and you never would have told me if i hadn t found out and you never do tell me anything about yourself or what you do or what you take an interest in g darling i m always with you aren t i mrs g always in my pocket you were going to say i know you are but you are always thinking away from me g trying to hide a smile am i i wasn t aware of it i m ly sorry mrs g oh don t make fun of me i you know what i mean when you are reading one of those things about cavalry by that prince why doesn t he be a prince instead of a stable boy g prince a stable boy oh my aunt never mind dear you were going to say i l mrs g it doesn t matter you don t care for what i say only only you get up and walk about the room staring in front of you and then comes in to dinner and after fm in the i can hear you and him talking and talking and talking about things i can t understand and oh i get so tired and feel so lonely i don t want to complain and be a trouble but i do indeed i do g my poor darling i never thought of that why don t you ask some nice people in to dinner mrs g nice people where am i to find them horrid and if i did i shouldn t be amused you know i only want g and you have me surely sweetheart mrs g i have not why don t you take me into your life g more than i do that would be difficult dear mrs g yes i suppose it would to you i m no help to you no companion to you and you like to have it so g aren t you a little unreasonable mrs g stamping her foot i m the most reasonable woman in the world when i m treated properly g and since when have i been treating you mrs g always and since the beginning you know you have i g i don t but fm willing to be convinced mrs g pointing to there g how do you mean mrs g what does all mean why am i not to be told is it so precious g i forget its exact government value just at present it means that it is a great deal too heavy mrs g then why do you touch it g to make it lighter see here little love i ve one notion and jack has another but we are both agreed that all this is about thirty pounds too heavy the thing is how to cut it down without any part of it and at the same time allowing the to carry everything he wants for his own comfort and shirts and things of that kind mrs g why doesn t he pack them in a little trunk g kissing her oh you darling pack them in a little trunk indeed don t carry trunks and it s a most important thing to	39
make the horse do all the carrying mrs g but why need bother about it you re not a g no but i command a few score of him and is nearly everything in these days mrs g more than me g stupid of course not but it s a matter that i m interested in because if i or jack or i and jack work out some sort of lighter and all that it s possible that we may get it adopted mrs g how g at home where they will make a sealed pattern a pattern that all the must copy and so it will be used by all the mrs g and that interests you g it s part of my profession y know and my profession is a good deal to me everything in a soldier s is important and if we can improve that so much the better for the soldiers and for us mrs g who s us g jack and i only jack s notions are too radical what s that big sigh for mrs g oh nothing and you ve kept all this a secret from me why g not a secret exactly dear i didn t say anything about it to you because i didn t think it would amuse you mrs g and am i only made to be amused g no of course i merely mean that it couldn t interest you mrs g it s work and and if you d let me i d count all these things up if they are too heavy you know by how much they are too heavy and you must have a list of things made out to your scale of lightness and g i have got both scales somewhere in my head but it s hard to tell how light you can make a for instance until you ve actually had a model made i mrs g but if you read out the list i could copy it down and pin it up there just above your table wouldn t that do g it would be nice dear but it would be giving you trouble for nothing i can t work that way i go by rule of thumb i know the present scale of and the other one the one that i m trying to work to will shift and vary so much that i couldn t be certain even if i wrote it down mrs g fm so sorry i thought i might help is there anything else that i could be of use in g looking round the room i can t think of anything you re always helping me you know mrs g ami how g you are you of course and as long as you re near me i can t explain exactly but it s in the air mrs g and that s why you wanted to send me away g that s only when i m trying to do work work like this mrs g s better then isn t he g of course he is jack and i have been thinking along the same for two or three years about this it s our and it may really be useful some day mrs g after a pause and that s all that you have away from me g it isn t very far away from you now take care the oil on that bit doesn t come off on your dress mrs g i wish i wish so much that i could really help you i believe i could if i left the room but that s not what i mean g aside give me patience i wish she would go aloud i assure you you can t do anything for me and i must really settle down to this where s my mrs g crossing to writing table here you are bear what a mess you keep your table in g don t touch it there s a method in my madness though you t think of it mrs g at table i want to look do you keep accounts g bending over of a sort are you among the troop papers be careful mrs g why i shan t disturb anything good gracious i had no idea that you had anything to do with so many sick horses g wish i hadn t but they insist on falling sick if i were you i really should not investigate those papers you may come across something that you won t like mrs g why will you always treat me like a child i know i m not the horrid things g very well then don t blame me if anything happens play with the table and let me go on with the slipping hand into trousers pocket oh the deuce mrs g her back to g what s that for g nothing aside there s not much in it but i wish i d torn it up i mrs g turning over contents of table know you ll hate me for this but i do want to see what your work is like a pause what are g would you really like to know they aren t pretty things mrs g this journal of science says they are of absorbing interest tell me g aside it may turn her attention gives a long and account of and mrs g oh that s enough don t go on g but you wanted to know then these things and and spread mrs g you re making me sick you re a horrid disgusting g on his knees among the you asked to be told it s not my fault if you worry me into talking about horrors mrs g why didn t you say no g good heavens child have you come	39
in here simply to bully me mrs g i bully you how could i you re so strong strong enough to pick me up and put me outside the door and leave me there to cry aren t you g it seems to me that you re an little baby are you quite well mrs g do i look ill returning to table who is your lady friend with the big gray envelope and the fat outside g aside then it wasn t locked up confound it aloud god made her therefore let her pass for a woman you remember what are like mrs g showing envelope this has nothing to do with them i m going to open it may i g certainly if you want to i d sooner you didn t though i don t ask to look at your letters to the girl mrs g you d better not sir takes letter front envelope now may i look if you say no i shall cry g you ve never cried in my knowledge of you and i don t believe you could mrs g i feel very like it to day don t be hard on me reads letter it begins in the middle without any dear captain or anything how funny g aside no it s not dear captain or anything now how funny mrs g what a strange letter reads and so the has come too near the candle at last and has been into shall i say respectability i congratulate him and hope he will be as happy as he deserves to be what does that mean is she you about our marriage g yes i suppose so mrs g still reading letter she seems to be a particular friend of yours g yes she was an excellent matron of sorts a mrs wife of a colonel i used to know some of her people at home long ago before i came out i mrs g some wives are young as young as me i knew one who was younger g then it couldn t have been mrs she was old enough to have been your mother dear mrs g i remember now mrs was talking about her at the before you came for me on tuesday captain said she was a dear old woman do you know i think is a very clumsy man with his feet g aside good old jack aloud why dear mrs g he had put his cup down on the ground then and he literally stepped into it some of the tea over my dress the gray one i meant to tell you about it before g aside there are the of a about jack though his methods are coarse a you d better get a new dress then aside let us pray that that will turn her mrs g oh it isn t stained in the least i only thought that tell you returning to letter what an extraordinary person reads but need i remind you that you have taken upon yourself a charge of what in the world is a charge of which as you yourself know may end in consequences g aside it s safest to let em see everything as they come across it but seems to me that there are exceptions to the rule aloud i told you that there was nothing to be gained from my table mrs g what does the woman mean she goes on talking about consequences almost inevitable consequences with a capital c for half a page flushing scarlet oh good gracious how abominable g promptly do you think so doesn t it show a sort of interest in us aside thank heaven always wrapped her meaning up safely aloud is it absolutely necessary to go on with the letter darling mrs g it s impertinent it s simply horrid what right has this woman to write in this way to you she t to g when you write to the girl i notice that you generally fill three or four sheets can t you let an old woman on paper once in a way she means well mrs g i don t care she shouldn t write and if she did you ought to have shown me her letter g can t you understand why i kept it to myself or must i explain at length as i explained the mrs g furiously i hate you this is as bad as those saddle bags on the floor never mind whether it would please me or not you ought to have given it to me to read g it comes to the same thing you took it yourself mrs g yes but if i hadn t taken it you wouldn t have said a word i think this it s like a name in a book is an interfering old thing g aside so long as you thoroughly understand that she is old i don t much care what you think aloud very good dear would you like to write and tell her so she s seven thousand miles away mrs g i don t want to have anything to do with her but you ought to have told me turning to last page of letter and she too ve never seen her reads i do not know how the world stands with you in all human probability i shall never know but whatever i may have said before i pray for her sake more than for yours that all may be well i have learnt what misery means and i dare not wish that any one dear to you should share my knowledge g good god can t you leave that letter alone or at least can t you refrain from reading it aloud i ve been through it once put it	39
back on the desk do you hear me mrs g i sh shan t looks at g s eyes oh please i didn t mean to make you angry deed i didn t i m so sorry i know i ve wasted your time g grimly you have now will you be good enough to go if there is nothing more in my room that you are anxious to into mrs g putting out her hands oh don t look at me like that i ve never seen you look like that before and it hu me i m sorry i t to have been here at all and and and sobbing oh be good to me be good to me there s only you anywhere breaks down in long chair hiding face in cushions g aside she doesn t know how she me on the raw aloud bending over chair i didn t mean to be harsh dear i didn t really you can stay here as long as you please and do what you please don t cry like that you ll make yourself sick aside what on earth has come over her aloud darling what s the matter with you mrs g her face still hidden let me go let me go to my own room only only say you aren t angry with me g angry with love of course not i was angry with myself i d lost my temper over the don t hide your face i want to kiss it lower mrs g right ann round his neck several and much sobbing mrs g in a whisper i didn t mean about the jam when i came in to tell you g bother the jam and the i mrs g still more faintly my finger wasn t at au i i wanted to speak to you about about something else and i didn t know how g speak away then looking into her eyes eh at here don t go away you don t mean mrs g to and hiding her face in its folds the the almost inevitable consequences through as g attempts to catch her and herself in her own room g his arms full of oh sitting down heavily in chair i m a brute a pig a bully and a my poor poor little darling made to be amused only the valley of the shadow knowing good and evil scene the in the plains in june asleep in where is walking up and down doctor s trap in porch junior drifting generally and uneasily through the house time a m heat in doctor coming into and touching g on the shoulder you had better go in and see her now g colour of good cigar ash eh at oh yes of course what did you say doctor syllable by syllable go in to the room and see her she wants to speak to you i shall have him on my hands next junior half lighted dining room isn t there any doctor savagely you little fool junior let me do my work stop a minute edges after g doctor wait till she sends for you at least at the valley of the shadow least man alive he ll kill you if you go in there i what are you him for junior coming into i ve given him a stiff brandy he wants it you ve forgotten him for the last ten hours and forgotten yourself too g enters bedroom which is lit by one night lamp on the floor pretending to be asleep voice from the bed all down the street such go and put them out how can i sleep with an of the in my room no not something else what was it g trying to control his voice fm here bending over bed don t you know me it s me it s it s your husband voice mechanically it s me it s it s your husband g she doesn t know me it s your own husband darling voice your own husband darling with an inspiration understanding all saying g make her understand me then quick i hand g s forehead t captain here voice do i know i m not fit to be seen aside to g say same as g good morning little woman how are we to day o the valley of the shadow voice that s poor old you fool i can t see you come nearer g it s me you know me voice who does not know the man who was so cruel to his wife almost the only one he ever had g yes dear yes of course of course but won t you speak to him he wants to speak to you so much voice they d never let him in the doctor would give even if he were in the house he ll never come o g putting out his arms they have let him in and he always was in the house oh my don t you know me voice in a half chant and it came to pass at the hour that this poor soul repented it knocked at the gates but they were shut tight as a plaster a great burning plaster they had our marriage all across the door and it was made of red hot iron people really ought to be more careful you know g what am i to do takes her in his arms speak to me to voice what shall i say oh tell me what to say before it s too late they are all going away and i can	39
v ce say that you ll always love me until the end g until the end carried away it s a lie it must be because we ve loved each other this isn t the end voice into semi delirium my church service has an ivory cross on the back and says so so it must be true till death do us part but that s a lie with a of g s the valley of the shadow manner a damned lie yes i can swear as well as i can t make my head think though that s because they cut off my hair how can one think with one s head all hold me keep me with you always and always but if you marry the girl when i m dead i ll come back and howl under our bedroom window all night oh bother you ll think i m a what time is it g a little before the dawn dear voice i wonder where i shall be this time tomorrow g would you like to see the voice why should i he d tell me that i am going to heaven and that wouldn t be true because you are here do you recollect when he upset the cream ice all over his trousers at the g yes dear voice i often wondered whether he got another pair of trousers but then his are so shiny all over that you really couldn t tell unless you were told let s call him in and ask g gravely no i don t think he d like that your head sweetheart voice faintly with a sigh of contentment gracious when did you last your chin s worse than the barrel of a musical box no don t lift it up i like it a pause you said you ve never cried at all you re crying all over my cheek g i i i can t help it dear the valley of the shadow voice how funny i couldn t cry now to save my life g i want to sing g won t it tire you better not perhaps voice why i won t be about begins in a hoarse cake ale all because her s coming home from the sea that s parade and she grows red as rose who was so pale and are you sure the church clock goes says she i knew i couldn t take the last note how do the bass run puts out her hands and begins playing piano on the sheet g up hands don t do that if you love me voice love you of course i do who else should it be a pause voice clearly i m going now something s choking me cruelly into the dark without you my heart but it s a lie dear we mustn t believe it forever and ever living or dead don t let me go my husband hold me tight they can t whatever happens a cough my not for always and so soon voice ceases pause of ten minutes g his face in the side of the bed while over bed from opposite side and feels mrs g s breast and forehead g rising doctor ko do still by bedside with a shriek ai ai my not getting not have got i the sweat has the valley of the shadow come fiercely to g doctor ko you go to the doctor oh my i doctor entering hastily come away over bed eh the what inspired you to stop the get out man go away wait outside go i here over his shoulder to g mind i promise nothing the dawn breaks as g into the garden m up at the gate on his way to parade and very old man how goes g dazed i don t quite know stay a bit have a drink or something don t run away you re just getting amusing ha ha m aside what am i let in for has aged ten years in the night g slowly y s your s too loose m so it is put it straight will you aside i shall be late for parade poor g links and chain and finally stands staring towards the the day doctor knocked out of professional gravity across flower beds and shaking g s hands it s it s it s there s a fair chance a dashed fair chance the y know the sweat y know i saw how it would be the y know clever woman that of yours stopped the just at the right time a dashed good chance no you don t go in we ll pull her through yet i promise on my reputation under providence send a man with this note to the valley of the shadow two heads better than one specially the we ll pull her round to house g his head on neck of m s jack i believe tm going to make a bloody of m openly and feeling in his left i b b believe tb doing it already old bad what i say tb as pleased as you you re one big idiot and i b pulling himself together sit tight here comes the devil junior who is not in the doctor s confidence we we are only men in these things i know that i can say nothing now to help m then don t say it leave him alone it s not bad enough to over here take the to and ride leather it ll do you good i can t go junior do him good smiling give me the and i ll drive let him lie down	39
your horse is my cart please i m slowly without back i beg your pardon i ll on paper if you like junior m s that ll do thanks turn in and i ll bring back hell for leather m it would have served me right if he d cut me across the face he can drive too i shouldn t care to go that pace in a cart what a faith he must have in his maker of harness i the valley of the shadow come you brute off to parade blowing his as tlie sun rises interval of five weeks mrs g very white and pinched in morning at breakfast table how big and strange the room looks and oh how glad i am to see it again i what dust though i must talk to the servants sugar i ve almost forgotten seriously wasn t i very ill g than i liked tenderly oh you bad little what a start you gave me mrs g i ll never do it again g you d better not and now get those poor pale cheeks pink again or i shall be angry don t try to lift the urn you ll upset it wait comes round to head of table and lifts urn mrs g quickly see butler get a kettle from the drawing down g s face to her own dear remember g what mrs g that last terrible night g then just you forget all about it mrs g softly her eyes filling never it has brought us very close together my husband there i m going to give a g i gave her fifty mrs g so she told me it was a reward was i worth it several don t here s the two or one sir the swelling of if thou hast run with the and they have wearied thee then how thou contend with horses and if in the land ol peace wherein thou they wearied thee then how wilt thou do in the swelling of scene the in the plains on a january morning mrs g arguing with bearer in back m rides up m mrs how s the infant phenomenon and the proud proprietor mrs g you ll find them in the front go through the house i m just now m about with cares of i fly passes into front where is junior aged ten months crawling about the m what s the trouble an honest man s europe morning this way seeing g junior by jove that s on any amount of bone below the knee there g yes he s a healthy little scoundrel don t you think his hair s growing j the swelling of m let s have a look hi come here general luck and we ll report on you mrs g within what absurd name will you give him next why do you call him that m isn t he our general of cavalry doesn t he come down in his seventeen two every morning the pink parade don t give us your private opinion on the way the third went past trifle ragged weren t they g a bigger set of than the new i don t wish to see they ve given me more than my fair share knocking the out of shape it s sickening m when you re in command you ll do better young un can t you walk yet grip my finger and try to g t won t hurt his will it g oh no don t let him though or he ll all the off your boots mrs g within who s destroying my son s character m and my s i m ashamed of you punch your father in the eye jack don t you stand it hit him again g put the down and come to the end of the i d rather the wife didn t hear just now m you look ly serious anything wrong g depends on your view entirely i say jack you won t think more hardly of me than you can help will you come farther this way the fact of the matter is that i ve made up my m the swelling of mind at least vm thinking cutting the service m g don t shout i m going to send in my papers m you are you mad g no only married m look here the meaning of it all you never intend to leave us you can l isn t the best of the best regiment of the best cavalry in all the world good enough for you g i his head his shoulder she doesn t seem to in this god forsaken country and there s the to be considered and all that you know m does she say that she doesn t like india g that s the worst of it she won t for fear of leaving me m what are the hills made for g not for my wife at any rate m you know too much and i don t like you any the better for it g never mind that she wants england and the would be all the better for it i m going to you don t understand m hotly i understand this one hundred and thirty seven new horses to be licked into shape somehow before luck comes round again a who ll give more trouble than the horses a camp next cold weather for a certainty ourselves the first on the the russian ready to come to a head at five minutes notice and you the the swelling of best of us all out of it all think a little you do it g hang it a man has some duties towards his family i suppose m i remember a man	39
though who told me the night after when we were under and he d left his sword by the way did you ever pay for that sword in an s head that man told me that he d stick by me and the as long as he lived i don t blame him for not sticking by me fm not much of a man but i do blame him for not sticking by the pink g uneasily we were little more than boys then can t you see jack how things stand t as if we were serving for our bread we ve all of us more or less got the filthy i m than some perhaps there s no call for me to serve on m none in the world for you or for us except the if you don t choose to answer to that of course g don t be too hard on a man you know that a lot of us only take up the thing for a few years and then go back to town and catch on with the rest m not lots and they aren t some of us g and then there are one s affairs at home to be considered my place and the rents and all that i don t suppose my father can last much longer and that means the title and so on m you won t be entered in the book correctly unless you go home take six ao the swelling of months then and come out in october if i could off a brother or two i s pose i should be a of sorts any fool can be that but it needs men men like you to lead properly don t you yourself into the belief that you re going home to take your place and about among pink you aren t built that way i know better g a man has a right to live his life as happily as he can you aren t married m no praise be to providence and the one or two women who have had the good sense to me g then you don t know what it is to go into your own room and see your wife s head on the pillow and when everything else is safe and the house shut up for the night to wonder whether the roof beams won t give and kill her m aside revelations first and second aloud so o i knew a man who got at our mess once and confided to me that he never helped his wife on to her horse without praying that she d break her neck before she came back all husbands aren t alike you see g what on earth has that to do with my case the man must ha been mad or his wife as bad as they make em m aside no fault of yours if either weren t all you say you ve forgotten the time when you were insane about the woman you always were a good hand at forgetting aloud not more mad than men who go to the other extreme the swelling of be reasonable your roof beams are sound enough g that was only a way of speaking i ve been uneasy and worried about the wife ever since that awful business three years ago when i nearly lost her can you wonder m oh a shell never falls twice in the same place youve paid your toll to misfortune why should your wife be picked out more than anybody else s g i can talk just as reasonably as you can but you don t understand you don t understand and then there s the deuce knows where the takes him to sit in the evening he has a bit of a cough haven t you noticed it m i the s jumping out of his skin with pure condition he s got a like a rose leaf and the chest of a two year old what s you g that s the long and the short of it m but what is there to g everything it s ghastly m ah i see you don t want to fight and by when we do you ve got the kid you ve got the wife you ve got the money too that s about the case eh g i suppose that s it but it s not for myself it s because of them at least i think it is m are you sure looking at the matter in a cold blooded light the wife is provided for even if the swelling of you were wiped out to night she has an home to go to money and the to carry on the illustrious name g then it is for myself or because they are part of me you don t see it my life s so good so pleasant as it is that i want to make it quite safe can t you understand m perfectly shelter pit for the s as they say in the line g and i have everything to my hand to make it so i m sick of the strain and the worry for their out here and there isn t a single real difficulty to prevent my dropping it altogether it ll only cost me jack i hope you ll never know the shame that i ve been going through for the past six months m hold on there i don t wish to be told every man has his moods and sometimes g laughing bitterly has he what do you call over to see where your near fore lands m in my case it means that i have been on the considerable bend and have come to parade with a head and	39
a hand it passes in three strides g lowering it never passes with me jack i m always thinking about it a fall on parade sweet picture isn t it draw it for me m gravely heaven forbid a man like you can t be as bad as that a fall is no nice thing but one never gives it a thought g doesn t one wait till you ve got a wife the swelling of and a of your own and then you ll know how the roar of the behind you turns you cold all up the back m aside and this man led at after went under and we were all mixed up together and he came out of the show dripping like a butcher aloud the men can always open out and you can always pick your way more or less we haven t the dust to bother us as the men have and whoever heard of a horse stepping on a man g never as long as he can see but did they open out for poor m oh this is childish i g i know it is worse than that i don t care you ve ridden van loo is he the sort of brute to pick his way specially when we re coming up in column of troop with any pace on m once in a blue moon do we gallop in column of troop and then only to save time aren t three enough for you g yes quite enough they just allow for the full development of the i m talking like a cur i know but i tell you that for the past three months i ve felt every of the in the small of my back every time that i ve led m but this is awful g isn t it lovely isn t it royal a captain of the pink watering up his before parade like the colonel of a black regiment m you never did g once only he like a the swelling of and the troop major cocked his eye at me you know old s eye i was afraid to do it again m i should think so that was the best way to old van loo s and make him you up you knew that g i didn t care it took the edge off him m took the edge off him you you you you know think of the men g that s another thing i am afraid of d you s pose they know m let s hope not but they re deadly quick to spot little things of that kind see here old man send the wife home for the hot weather and come to with me we ll start a boat on the or cross the shoot or loaf which you please only come i you re a bit off your and you re talking nonsense look at the colonel rascal that he is he has a wife and no end of a bow window of his own can any one of us ride round him and all i can t and i think i can a along a bit g some men are different i haven t the nerve lord help me i haven t the nerve i ve taken up a hole and a half to get my knees well under the i can t help it i m so afraid of anything happening to me on my soul i ought to be broke in front of the for cowardice m ugly word that i should never have the courage to own up g i meant to lie about my reasons when i began but i ve got out of the habit of lying to the swelling of you old man jack you won t but i know you won t m of course not half aloud the are paying dearly for their pride g eh at m don t you know the men have called mrs the pride of the pink ever since she came to us g t her fault don t think that it s all mine m what does she say g i haven t exactly put it before her she s the best little woman in the world jack and all that but she wouldn t counsel a man to stick to his calling if it came between him and her at least i think m never mind don t tell her what you told me go on the and landed gentry tack g she d see through it she s five times than i am m aside then she ll accept the sacrifice and think a little bit worse of him for the rest of her days g i say do you despise me m queer way of putting it have you ever been asked that question think a minute what answer used you to give g so bad as t i m not entitled to expect anything more but it s a bit hard when one s best friend turns round and m so have found but you will have and and liquid and the league and perhaps if you re the swelling of lucky the of a al ry regiment all uniform and no riding i believe how old are you g thirty three i know it s m at forty you ll be a fool of a j p landlord at fifty you ll own a bath chair and the if he takes after you will be fluttering the of what s the particular you re going to also mrs will be fat g this is rather more than a joke m d you think so isn t cutting the service a joke it generally takes a man fifty years to arrive at it	39
you re quite right though it is more than a joke you ve managed it in thirty three g don t make me feel worse than i do will it satisfy you if i own that i am a a and a coward m it will not because i m the only man in the world who can talk to you like this without being knocked down you mustn t take all that i ve said to heart in this way i only spoke a lot of it at least out of pure selfishness because because oh damn it all old man i don t know what i shall do without you of course you ve got the money and the place and all that and there are two very good reasons why you should take care of yourself g doesn t make it any the sweeter i m out i know i am i always had a soft drop in me somewhere and i t risk any danger to them m why in the world should you you re bound to think of your family bound to think the swelling of er if i wasn t a younger son i d go too be shot if i wouldn t i g thank you jack it s a kind lie but it s the you ve told for some time i know what i m doing and i m going into it with my eyes open old man i can t help it what would you do if you were in my place m aside couldn t conceive any woman getting permanently between me and the regiment aloud can t say very likely i should do no better i m sorry for you ly sorry but if them s your sentiments i believe i really do that you are acting wisely g do you i hope you do in a whisper jack be very sure of yourself before you marry i m an ungrateful to say this but marriage even as good a marriage as mine has been a man s work it his sword arm and oh it plays hell with his notions of duty sometimes good and sweet as she is sometimes i could wish that i had kept my freedom no i don t mean that exactly mrs g coming down what are you your head over m turning quickly me as usual the old sermon your husband is me to get married never saw such a one idea d man mrs g well why don t you i you would make some woman very happy g there s the law and the jack never mind the regiment make a woman happy aside o lord i m we ll see i must be off to make a troop i the swelling of cook desperately unhappy i won t have the fed on government train hastily surely black can t be good for the he s picking em off the and eating em here don come and talk to me lifts g junior in his arms want my watch you won t be able to put it into your mouth but you can try g junior drops breaking dial and hands mrs g oh captain i am so sorry jack you bad bad little villain m it s not the least consequence i assure you he d treat the world in the same way if he could get it into his hands everything s made to be played with and broken isn t it young un mrs g didn t at all like his watch being broken though he was too polite to say so it was entirely his fault for giving it to the child little are feeble aren t my jack in de box to g what did he want to see you for g shop as usual mrs g the regiment i always the regiment on my word i sometimes feel jealous of g wearily poor old jack i don t think you need isn t it time for the to have his nap bring a chair out here dear i ve got something to talk over with you and this is the end of the story of the l what is the moral who rides may read when the night is thick and the tracks are blind a friend at a pinch is a friend indeed but a fool to wait for the behind down to or up to the throne he travels the who travels alone white hands cling to the rein slipping the spur from the heel tenderest voices cry turn again red lips the steel high hopes faint on a warm hearth stone he travels the who travels alone one may fall but he falls by himself falls by himself with himself to blame one may attain and to him is the of the city in gold or fame plunder of earth shall be all his own who travels the and travels alone y ai l wherefore the more ye be and stayed stayed by a friend in the hour of toil sing the song i have made his be the labour and yours be the win by his aid and the aid he travels the who travels alone in black and white for jealousy is the rage of a man therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance 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	39
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 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 favour is great will there be room in the compound i have three horses and the bundles and the moreover remember that the police here hold me a horse thief what do these know of horse thieves 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 if the do not look to it the peace of god and the favour of his prophet be upon this house and all that is in it i 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 thrice i this is sweet water indeed sweet as the water of when it comes 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 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 carts and there is a story in of a priest i 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 fire bum 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 be it so what of that the roads are hard and the mare she bears a double burden and now i pray you give me permission to depart great favour and honour has the done me and g 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 my face remains there anything more to do will the give me eight to make smooth the injury and complete the insult foi ive 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 i the horses have been marched from the valley to this place and my eyes are dim and 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 into the same dish and thou hast been to me as a brother therefore i pay thee back with lies and ingratitude as a listen now when the grief of the soul is too heavy for endurance it may be a little by speech and moreover the mind of a true man is as well and the of confession dropped therein sinks and is no more seen from the valley have i come on foot league by league with a fire in my chest like the fire of the pit and why hast thou then so quickly forgotten our customs among this folk who sell their wives and their daughters for come back with me to the north and be among	39
men once more come back when this matter is accomplished and i call for thee the bloom of the is upon all the valley and here is only dust and a great there is a pleasant wind among the trees and the streams are bright with snow water and the go up and the go down and a hundred fires sparkle in the of the pass and tent answers hammer nose and pack horse to pack horse across the drift smoke of the evening it is good in the north now come back with me let us return to our own people come whence is my sorrow does a man tear out his heart and make thereof over a slow fire for aught other than a woman do not laugh friend of mine for your time will also be a woman of the was she and i took her to wife to the between our village and the men of i am no longer young the lime has touched my beard true i had no need of the wedding nay but i loved her what into whose heart love enters there is folly and naught else by a glance of the eye she hath blinded thee and by the eyelids and the fringe of the eyelids taken thee into the without and naught else dost thou remember that song at the in the camp among the of the the are dogs and their women the servants of sin there was a lover of her own people but of that her father told me naught my friend curse for me in your prayers as i curse at each praying from the to the the name of whose head is still upon his neck whose hands are still upon his wrists who has done me who has made my name a laughing stock among the women of little i went into at the end of two months to i was gone twelve days only but i had said that i would be fifteen days absent this i did to try her for it is written trust not the incapable coming up the alone in the falling of the light i heard the voice of a man singing at the door of my house and it was the voice of and the song that he sang was all three are one it was as though a heel rope had been slipped round my heart and all the devils were drawing it tight past endurance i crept silently up the hill road but the of my was with the rain and i could not from afar moreover it was in my mind to kill the woman also thus he sang sitting outside my house and anon the woman opened the door and i came nearer crawling on my belly among the rocks i had only my knife to my hand but a stone slipped under my foot and the two looked down the and he leaving his fled from my anger because he was afraid for the life that was in him but the woman moved not till i stood in front of her crying o woman what is this that thou hast done and she void of fear though she knew my thought laughed saying it is a little thing i loved him and m art a dog and coming by night strike and i being still blinded by her beauty for o my friend the women of the are very fair said hast thou no fear and she answered none but only the fear that i do not die then said i have no fear and she bowed her head and i smote it off at the neck bone so that it leaped between my feet thereafter the rage of our people came upon me and i off the breasts that the men of little might know the crime and cast the body into the that flows to the river i the body without the head the soul without light and my own heart all three are one all three are one that night making no halt i went to and demanded news of men said he is gone to for horses what thou of him there is peace between the villages i made answer ay the peace of treachery and the love that the devil bore to so i fired thrice into the gate and laughed and went my way in those hours brother and friend of my heart s heart the moon and the stars were as blood above me and in my mouth was the taste of dry earth also i broke no bread and my drink was the rain of the valley of upon my face at i found the writer sitting upon his and gave up my arms according to your law but i was not grieved for it was in my heart that i should kill with my bare hands thus as a man a 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 nostrils where is the i am as	39
thirsty as a in the first month your law what is your law to me when the horses fight on the runs do they r ard 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 coming and the girl said o look into my eyes i 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 i there shall no harm befall by cause of me i would have 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 i shall she be i 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 i is the tale a long one think how it was long to me 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 a man may turn the word twice even in his trouble the was no obstacle to me and i heard the voice above the noise of the waters beating on the big rock saying 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 i 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 was upon the right bank urging the horses into the water was upon the left for i i 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 away upon the road to and till upon a night the mare the fence of the rail that runs to and that place was and the head of the woman of the lay upon the sand between my feet thence i went to and they said that i was mad to bring starved horses there the voice was with me and i was not mad but only wearied because i could not find it was written that i should not find him at nor and i came into from the west and there also i found him not my friend i have seen many strange things in my wanderings i have seen devils across the as the riot in spring i have heard the calling to each other from holes in the sand and i have seen them pass before my face there are no devils say the they are very wise but they do not know all things about devils or horses ho	39
ho i say to you who are laughing at my misery that i have seen the devils at high noon and leaping on the of the and was i afraid my brother when the desire of a man is set upon one thing alone he fears neither god nor man nor devil if my vengeance failed i would the gates of paradise with the butt of my gun or i would cut my way into hell with my knife and i would call upon those who govern there for the body of what love so deep as hate do not speak i know the thought in your heart is the white of this eye clouded how does the blood beat at the wrist there is no madness in my flesh but only the vehemence of the desire that has eaten me up listen i south of i knew not the country at all therefore i cannot say where i went but i passed through many cities i knew only that it was laid upon me to go south when the horses could march no more i threw myself upon the earth and waited till the day there was no sleep with me in that and that was a heavy burden dost thou know brother of mine the evil of that cannot break when the bones are sore for lack of sleep and the skin of the temples with weariness and yet there is no sleep there is no sleep i i the eye of the sun the eye of the moon and my own eyes all three are one all three are one there was a city the name whereof i have forgotten and there the voice called all night that was ten days ago it has cheated me afresh i have come hither from a place called and behold it is my fate that i should meet with thee to my comfort and the increase of friendship this is a good omen by the joy of looking upon thy face the weariness has gone from my feet and the sorrow of my so long travel is forgotten also my heart is peaceful for i know that the end is near it may be that i shall find in this city going northward since a will ever head back to his hills when the spring and shall he see those hills of our country surely i shall overtake him surely my vengeance is safe surely god hath him in the hollow of his hand against my claiming there shall no harm befall till i come for i would fain kill him quick and whole with the life sticking firm in his body a is sweetest when the break away unwilling from the let it be in the that i may see his face and my delight may be crowned and when i have accomplished the matter and my honour is made clean i shall return thanks unto god the of the scale of the law and i shall sleep from the night through the day and into the night again i shall sleep and no dream shall trouble me and now o my brother the tale is all told i i the judgment of see the pale with his shirt on fire s they tell the tale even now among the groves of the hill and for point to the and mission house the great god the god of things as they are most terrible one eyed bearing the red elephant did it all and he who refuses to believe in will assuredly be smitten by the madness of the madness that fell upon the sons and the daughters of the when they turned aside from and put on clothes so says who is high priest of the shrine and of the red elephant but if you ask the assistant and agent in charge of the he will laugh not because he bears any malice against but because he himself saw the vengeance of executed upon the spiritual children of the reverend of the mission and upon his virtuous wife yet if ever a man good treatment of the gods it was the reverend one time of who on the faith of a call went into the the judgment of ness and took the blue eyed with him we will these heathen now by so darkened better make said in the early days of his career yes he added with conviction they shall be good and shall with their hands to work learn for all good christians must work and upon a more modest even than that of an english lay reader kept house beyond and the of beyond the river close to the foot of the blue hill of on whose summit stands the temple of in the heart of the country of the 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 by force headlong into the labours of the day there is no post there is no one of your own colour 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 con the judgment of and it is for	39
you 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 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 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 the judgment of 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 i 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 and the assistant of the 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 judgment is very bad 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 pre the judgment of did or i m 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 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 hang 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 the judgment of departed to risk 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 of the he was a knock young man 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 i m 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 girl baby on his saddle bow 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	39
first of the fold said and caught up the screaming morsel 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 s the judgment of 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 follow 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 own tribe would recognise her no more and 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 judgment of the temple of fell away in fowls and fish and how lightened 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 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 be merciful to us thy children and give us all their crops i 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 be pleased if you opened the chapel that he has managed to run up at any rate you ll see a great was the stir in the mission now he and r the judgment of 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 hills it yielded a cloth white and smooth almost as the of the south seas and that day the were to wear for the first times clothes made was proud of his work they shall in white clothes clothed to meet the and his well bom lady come down singing now thank we all our god then he will the chapel open and 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 was truer word spoken the mission was advancing exactly as he had said at first by little and of uneasiness but soon by the leaps of fly stung horses and the bounds of the judgment 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 horror stricken it is the judgment of i shouted a voice i burn i 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 i yesterday panted they had the ten what is this praise the lord all good spirits by land and by sea oh shame i with a bound and a scream there alighted 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 like a wild cat was it for this she her at was it for this	39
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 bum o i burn now i bum 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 the judgment of yesterday she taught in the school a b c d oh i it is the work of satan but was curiously regarding the maiden s where it had fallen at his feet he felt its texture drew back his shirt sleeve beyond the deep tan of his wrist and pressed a fold of the cloth against the flesh a of angry red rose on the white skin ah said calmly i 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 to work up no wonder they i 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 bum through their thick hides and then burst into laughter but was weeping in the arms of the s wife 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 i m 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 the judgment of 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 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 favour and on six yes for i have three little little children whose are always empty and com is now but forty 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 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 at 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 police i will speak true talk an evil came to the to ram the and and ram and and ram is in the jail for a space and so also is it was at the of on the road that leads to wherein are many we were all brave men wherefore we were sent to that which was eight miles from the next all day and all night we watched for why does the laugh nay i will make a confession the were too clever and seeing this we made no further trouble it was in the hot weather what can a man do in the hot days is the who is so strong is he even vigorous in that hour we made an arrangement with the for the sake of peace that was the work of the who was fat ho ho he is now getting thin in the jail among the carpets the said give us no trouble and we will give you no trouble at the end of the send us a man to lead before the judge a man of mind against whom the up case will break down thus we shall save our honour to this talk the	39
agreed and we had no trouble at the and could eat at in peace sitting upon our all day long sweet as sugar cane are the of now there was an assistant a in that district called he was hard hard even as is the who without doubt will give me the shadow of his protection many eyes had and moved quickly through his district men called him the tiger of because he would arrive and make his kill and before sunset would be giving trouble to the thirty miles away no one knew the or the of he had no camp and when his horse was weary he rode upon a i do not know its name but the sat in the midst of three silver wheels that made no creaking and them with his legs like a fed horse thus a shadow of a hawk upon the fields was not more without noise than the of it was here it was there it was gone and the was made and there was trouble ask the of how the hen stealing came to be known it fell upon a night that we of the slept according to custom upon our having eaten the evening meal and drunk tobacco when we awoke in the morning behold of our six not one remained also the big police book that was in the s charge was gone seeing these things we were very much afraid thinking on our parts that the regardless of honour had come by night and put us to shame then said at ram the be silent i the business is an evil business but it may yet go well let us make the case complete bring a kid and my see you not o fools a kick for a horse but a word is enough for a man we of the perceiving quickly what was in the mind of the and greatly fearing that the service would be lost made to take the kid into the inner room and attended to the words of the twenty came said the and we taking his words repeated after him according to custom there was a great fight said the and of us no man escaped the bars of the window were broken see thou to that and o men put speed into your work for a must go with the news to the tiger of leaning with his shoulder in the bars of the window and i beating her with a whip made the s mare among the beds till they were much trodden with prints these things being made i returned to the and the goat was slain and certain portions of the walls were blackened with fire and each man dipped his clothes a little into the blood of the goat know o that a wound made by man upon his own body can by those skilled be easily discerned from a wound wrought by another man therefore the taking his smote one of us lightly on the in the fat and another on the leg and a third on the back of the hand thus dealt he with all of us till the blood came and more eager than the others at took out much hair o never was so perfect an arrangement yea even i would have sworn that the had been treated as we said there was smoke and breaking and blood and trampled earth ride now said the to the house of the and carry the news of the do you also o run there and take heed that you are with sweat and dust on your the blood will be dry on the clothes i will stay and send a straight report to the and we will catch certain that ye know of villagers so that all may be ready against the s arrival thus rode and i ran hanging on the and together we came in an evil plight before the tiger of in the our tale was long and correct for we gave even the names of the and the issue of the fight and him to come but the tiger made no sign and only smiled after the manner of when they have a wickedness in their hearts swear ye to the said he and we said thy servants swear the blood of the fight is but newly dry upon us judge thou if it be the blood of the servants of the presence or not and he said i see ye have done well but he did not call for his horse or his devil carriage and the land as was his custom he said rest now and eat bread for ye be wearied men i will wait the coming of the now it is the order that the of the should send a straight report of all at to the at noon came he a fat man and an old and withal but we of the had no fear of his anger more the of the tiger of with him came ram the and the others guarding ten men of the village of all men evil affected towards the police of the as prisoners they came the irons upon their hands crying for mercy the farmer who had denied his wife to the and others ill against whom we of the bore spite it was well done and the was proud but the was angry with the for lack of zeal and said dam dam after the custom of the english people and the lay still in his long chair have the men sworn said ay and captured ten said the there be more abroad in your charge take horse ride and go in the name of the truly there be more abroad said but there is no need of a horse come all men with me i saw the mark	39
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 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 i it has been already sworn and i am a poor man whose honour is lost 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 t y 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 s the score and each man should give evidence not only against ah and but against the saying that he upon his white horse had called his 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 plan i told to my brother ram and he said that the arrangement was good and bade me take comfort and make swift work to be abroad again my heart was opened to my brother in my sickness and i told him the names of those whom i would call as witnesses all men in my debt but of that the magistrate could have no knowledge nor the the fever stayed with me and after the fever i was taken with and very terrible in that day i thought that my end was at hand but i know now that she who gave me the the sister of my father a widow with a widow s heart had brought about my second sickness ram my brother said that my house was shut and locked and brought me the big and my books together with all the that were in my house even the money that was buried under the floor for i was in great fear lest thieves should break in and dig i speak true talk there was but very little money in my house perhaps ten perhaps twenty how can i tell god is my witness that i am a poor man one night when i had told ram all that was in my heart of the that i would bring against the and ram had said that he had made the arrangements with the witnesses giving me their names written i was taken with a new	39
great sickness and they put me on the bed when i was a little recovered i cannot tell how many days afterwards i made inquiry for ram and the sister of my father said that he had gone to upon a i took medicine and slept very heavily without waking when my eyes were opened there was a great stillness in the house of ram and none answered when i called not even the sister of my father this filled me with fear for i knew not what had happened taking a stick in my hand i went out slowly till i came to the great square by the well and my heart was hot in me against the because of the pain of every step i took i called for the carpenter whose name was first upon the list of those who should bear evidence against the saying are all things ready and do you know what should be said answered what is this and whence do you come i said from my bed where i have so long lain sick because of the where is ram my brother who was to have made the arrangement for the witnesses surely you and yours know these things then said what has this to do with us o liar i have borne witness and i have been paid and the has by the order of o the court paid both the five hundred that he robbed from ram and yet other five hundred because of the great injury he did to your brother the well and the tree above it and the square of became dark in my eyes but i leaned on my stick and said nay this is child s talk and senseless it was i who suffered at the hands of the and i am come to make ready the case where is my brother ram but shook his head and a woman cried what lie is here what quarrel had the with you it is only a one and one without faith who profits by his brother s have these no i cried again saying by the cow by the oath of the cow by the temple of the blue i and i only was beaten beaten to the death let your talk be straight o people of and i will pay for the witnesses and i where i stood for the sickness and the pain of the beating were heavy upon me then ram who has his carpet spread under the tree by the well and writes all letters for the men of the town came up and said to day is the one and day since the beating and since these six days the case has been judged in the court and the assistant has given it for your brother ram allowing the robbery to which too i bore witness and all things else as the witnesses said there were many witnesses and twice ram became senseless in the court because of his wounds and the the gave him a chair before all the why do you howl these things fell as i have said was it not so and said that is truth i was there and there was a red cushion in the chair and ram said great shame has come upon the because of this judgment and fearing his anger ram and all his house have gone back to ram told us that you also had gone first the enmity being healed between you to open a shop in indeed it were well for you that you go even now for the has sworn that if he catch any one of your house he will hang him by the heels from the well beam and swinging him to and fro will beat him with till the blood runs from his ears what i have said in respect to the case is true as these men here can even to the five hundred i said was it five hundred and ram the said five hundred for i bore witness also and i groaned for it had been in my heart to have said two hundred only then a new fear came upon me and my turned to water and running swiftly to the house of ram i sought for my books and my money in the great wooden chest under my there remained nothing not even a s value all had been taken by the devil who said he was my brother i went to my own house also and opened the boards of the shutters but there also was nothing save the rats among the grain baskets in that hour my senses left me and tearing my clothes i ran to the well place crying out for the justice of the english on my brother ram and in my madness telling all that the books were lost when men saw that i would have jumped down the well they believed the truth of my talk more especially because upon my back and bosom were still the marks of the of the the carpenter me and turning me in his hands for he is a very strong man showed the upon my body and bowed down with laughter upon the well he cried aloud so that all heard him from the well square to the of the the have quarrelled and the gray one has been caught in the trap in truth this man has been beaten and his brother has taken the money which the court oh this shall be told for years against you the have quarrelled and moreover the books are burned o people indebted to and i know that ye be many the books are burned then all took up the cry that the books were burned that in my folly i had let that escape my mouth	39
and they laughed throughout the city they gave me the abuse of the which is a terrible abuse and very hot me also with sticks and cow till i fell down and cried for mercy ram the letter writer bade the people cease for fear that the news should get into and the might come down to inquire he said using many bad words this much mercy will i do to you though there was no mercy in your dealings with my sister s son over the matter of the has any man a pony on which he sets no store that this fellow may escape if the hears that one of the twain and god knows whether he beat one or both but this man is certainly beaten be in the city there will be a murder done and then will come the police making into each man s house and eating the sweet s stuff all day long ram the said i have a pony very sick but with beating he can be made to walk for two miles if he dies the hide will have the body then the hide said i will pay three for the body and will walk by this man s side till such time as the pony dies if it be more than two miles i will pay two only ram said be it so men brought out the pony and i asked leave to draw a little water from the well because i was dried up with fear then ram said here be four god has brought you very low and i would not send you away empty even though the matter of my sister s son s be an open sore between us it is a long way to your own country go and if it be so willed live but above all do not take the pony s bridle for that is mine and i went out of amid the laughing of the huge and the hide walked by my side waiting for the pony to fall dead in one mile it died and being full of fear of the i ran till i could run no more and came to this place but i swear by the cow i swear by all things whereon and and even the swear that i and not my brother was beaten by the but the case is shut and the doors of the law courts are shut and god knows where the the mother s milk is not dry upon his lip is gone i have no witnesses and the will heal and i am a poor man but on my father s soul on the oath of a from i and not my brother i was beaten by the what can i do the justice of the english is as a great river having gone forward it does not return do you take a pen and write clearly what i have said that the may see and the who is a yet by the mare so young is he i and not my brother was beaten and he is gone to the west i do not know where but above all things write so that may read and his disgrace be accomplished that ram my brother son of of is a swine and a night thief a of life an of flesh a without beauty or faith or cleanliness or honour at twenty two narrow as the deep as the pit and dark as the heart of a man s proverb a went out to reap but stayed to the corn ha ha i is there any sense in a glared at but as was blind was not impressed he had come to argue with and if chance favoured to make love to the old man s pretty young wife this was s grievance and he spoke in the name of all the five men who with composed the gang in number seven gallery of twenty two had been blind for the thirty years during which he had served the with pick and all through those thirty years 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 at twenty two 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 steam hauled cage to the pit bank and there called for his pony a rusty coal dusty beast 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 from 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	39
out workings were very far off and 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 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 at twenty two 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 women who loaded the coal into the little iron carriages that ran on the of the main galleries these were in the 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 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 was at least ten feet of water in the pit 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 there would be a certain amount of air cut 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 at twenty two by the holy grove what has happened to the air i it was a of gang in number nine 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 the three and the basket women left number nine gallery and went farther up number sixteen 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 as and manage 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 workings and the end of the mine far away down the gallery a small used for keeping dry a deep working and fed with steam from above was throbbing faithfully they heard it cease at twenty two they have cut oflf the steam said they have given the order to use all the steam for the pit bank they will clear out the water if the water has reached the smoking gallery said all the company s can do nothing for three days it is very hot moaned the there is a very bad air here because of the lamps put them out said why do you want lamps the lamps were put out and the company sat still in the utter dark somebody rose quietly and began walking over the coals it was who was touching the walls with his hands where is the ledge he murmured to himself sit sit said if we die we die the air is very bad but still stumbled and crept and tapped with his pick upon the walls the women rose tb their feet stay all where you are without the lamps you cannot see and i i am always seeing said then he paused and called out oh you who have been in the cutting more than ten years what is the name of this open place i am an old man and i have forgotten s room answered the who had complained of the of the air again said s room then i have found it said the name only had slipped my memory s gang s gallery is here t at twenty two a he said there have been no galleries in this place since my day three paces was the depth of the ledge muttered without and oh my poor bones i have found it it is here up this ledge come all you one by one to the place of my voice and i will count you there	39
right hand upon the and an oil can in his left he at twenty two 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 pit bank trying to dry himself by the pump fire and in the dreary dusk he saw the crowds on the dam scatter and fly 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 kept his hand upon the and proved his to the i say said the assistant to the manager a week later do you recollect at twenty two 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 i no i was thinking of the company s not the company s men sounds better to say so now but i don t believe you old fellow 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 to night they say that a cart has been washed down already and the that went over a half hour before you came has not yet reached the far side is the in haste i will drive the ford elephant 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 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 in flood time 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 are 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 the day after at the latest now why does the get so angry i am his servant before god did not create this stream i what can i do my hut and all that is therein is at the service of the and it is beginning to rain come away my lord how will the river go down for your throwing abuse at it in the old days the english people were not thus the fire carriage has made them soft in the old days when they 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 god not like a fire carriage which goes and goes and goes and would go though all the devils in the land hung on to its tail the fire carriage hath spoiled the english people after all what is a day lost or for that matter what are two days is the 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 is not angry in flood time his own wedding the mind of an old man is like the tree 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 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 i where did he learn that his own wedding i 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 seen	39
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 thirty years on the banks of the ford an old in flood time 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 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 fallen rain in the foot hills i swam the flood once on a night worse than this and by the favour of god i was released from death when i had come to the very gates thereof may i tell the tale very good talk i will fill the pipe anew thirty years ago it was when i was a young man and had but newly come to the ford i was strong then and the 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 pick of their cattle the bell of the drove so great was the honour in which i was held i but to day when the rain falls and the river rises i creep into my hut and like a dog my strength is gone from me i am an old man in flood time and the fire carriage 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 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 the wind parted the curtains and i saw her when they returned from pilgrimage the boy that was her husband had died and i saw her again in the cart by god these are fools what was it to me whether she was or or whole i would have married her and made in flood time her a home by the ford the seventh of the nine bars says that a man may not marry one of the is that truth both and say that a may not marry one of the is the a priest then that he knows so much i will tell him something that he does not know there is neither nor forbidden nor in love and the nine bars are but nine little that the flame of love utterly burns away in truth i would have taken her but what could i do the would have sent his men to break my head with i am not i was not afraid of any five men but against half a village who can prevail therefore it was my custom these things having been arranged between us twain to go by night to the village of and there we met among the crops no man knowing aught of the matter behold now i was wont to cross here the to the river bend where the railway bridge is and thence across the elbow of land to the light of the shrine was my guide when the nights were dark that near the river is very full of little that sleep on the sand and moreover her brothers would have slain me had they found me in the crops but none knew none knew save she and i and the blown sand of the river bed covered the track of my feet in the hot months it was an easy thing to pass from the ford to and in the first rains when the river rose slowly it was an easy thing also i set the strength of my body against the strength of	39
the stream and nightly i ate in my hut here and drank at in flood time yonder she had said that one a thief had sought her and he was of a village up the river but on the same bank all are dogs and they have refused in their folly that good gift of god tobacco i was ready to destroy that ever he had come nigh her and the more because he had sworn to her that she had a lover and that he would lie in wait and give the name to the unless she went away with him what are these after that news i swam always with a little sharp knife in my belt and evil would it have been for a man had he stayed me i knew not the face of but i would have killed any who came between me and her upon a night in the beginning of the rains i was minded to go across to the river was angry now the nature of the is this in twenty it comes down from the hills a wall three feet high and i have seen it between the lighting of a fire and the cooking of a grow from a to a sister of the when i left this bank there was a a down and i made shift to fetch it and draw breath there ere going forward for i felt the hands of the river heavy upon my heels yet what will a young man not do for love s sake there was but little light from the stars and to the a branch of the tree brushed my mouth as i swam that was a sign of heavy rain in the foot hills and beyond for the is a strong tree not easily shaken from the i made in flood time haste the river me but ere i had touched the the pulse of the stream beat as it were within me and around and behold the was gone and i rode high on the crest of a wave that ran from bank to bank has the ever been cast into much water that fights and will not let a man use his limbs to me my head upon the water it seemed as though there were naught but water to the world s end and the river me with its a man is a very little thing in the belly of a flood and this flood though i knew it not was the great flood about which men talk still my liver was dissolved and i lay like a log upon my back in the fear of death there were living things in the water crying and howling beasts of the forest and cattle and once the voice of a man asking for help but the rain came and lashed the water white and i heard no more save the roar of the below and the roar of the rain above thus i was whirled for the breath in me it is very hard to die when one is young can the standing here see the railway bridge look there are the lights of the mail train going to the bridge is now twenty feet above the river but upon that night the water was roaring against the work and against the came i feet first but much was piled there and upon the and i took no great hurt only the river pressed me as a strong man presses a weaker scarcely could i take hold of the work and crawl to the upper boom the water was foaming across the rails a foot deep judge there in flood time fore what manner of flood it must have been i could not hear i could not see 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 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 god s truth as a to the wind so the bridge turned thus and in no other manner i slid from the boom into deep water and in flood time 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 i it fell upon the knotted hair of the head of	39
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 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 u in flood time 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 love was already there weeping 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 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 i grieve to say that the of the ford is responsible here for two very bad in the r in flood time 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 of before the breaking of the day we two parted and 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 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 clay of the foot hills never had i seen such a flood never since that year have i seen the like and 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 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 or under the in flood time 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 i 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	39
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 kind no not even to give to the baby folk my house look you is empty and i am an old man ram i 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 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 service and effects in order to keep abreast of the times and choke off competition this religion was too elastic for ordinary use it stretched itself and embraced pieces of everything that the medicine men of all ages have it approved of and stole from the latter day 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 the sending of da 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 them 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 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 with his hands behind his back and studied the creed for the sending of da 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 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 which 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 married and forgotten all his old knowledge in the study of babies and things 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 the sending of da 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 form but most generally about the land in the e of a little purple cloud till it finds the and him it by changing into the form of a horse or a cat or a man without a face it is not strictly a native patent though of the skin and hide 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	39
not be quite correct but they accurately express the sense of the house when the englishman received the round robin it came by post he was startled and bewildered he sent into the 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 the sending of da 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 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 finds 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 or being by his in the when such a man finds 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 co thought that he was a individual but many said that if he had treated the first with proper respect as suited the sending of da 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 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 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 could not 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 the creed there was great joy at this for some of the weaker brethren seeing that an who had been working on independent lines could create whereas their own rulers had never gone beyond and broken at best were showing a desire to break line on their own trail in fact there was the promise of a a second round robin was to the englishman beginning o and ending with a selection of curses from the rites of and and the of who was a fifth the sending of da upon whose name an third once a is a compared to the of the englishman had been proved under the hand and seal of the old man of the mountains to have appropriated virtue and pretended to have power which in reality belonged only to the supreme head naturally the round robin did not spare him he handed the letter to da to into decent english the effect on da was curious at first he was furiously angry and then he laughed for five minutes i had thought he said that they would have come to me in another week i would have shown that i sent the sending and they would have the old man of the mountains who has sent this sending of mine do you do nothing the time has come for me to act write as i dictate and i will put them to shame but give me ten more at da s the englishman wrote nothing less than a formal challenge to the old man of the mountains it wound up and if this be from your hand then let it go forward but if it be from my hand i will that the sending shall cease in two days time on that day there shall be twelve and none at all the people shall judge between us this was signed by da who added and and a and half a dozen and a triple to his name just to show that he was all he laid claim to be the sending of da the challenge was read out to the gentlemen and ladies and they remembered then that da had laughed at them some years ago it was announced that the old man of the mountains would treat the matter with contempt da being an independent without a single round at the back of him but this	39
did not soothe his people they wanted to see a fight they were very human for all their lone who was really being worn out with submitted meekly to his fate he felt that he was being to prove the power of da as the poet says when the stated day dawned the shower of n some were white and some were and all were about the same age three were on his hearth rug three in his bath room and the other six turned up at intervals among the visitors who came to see the prophecy break down never was a more satisfactory sending on the next day there were no and the next day and all the other days were and quiet the people murmured and looked to the old man of the mountains for an explanation a letter written on a palm leaf dropped from the ceiling but every one except lone felt that letters were not what the occasion demanded there should have been cats there should have been cats ones the letter proved that there had been a in the current which with a identity had interfered with the activity all along the main line the were still going on but owing to some failure the sending of da in the developing they were not the air was thick with letters for a few days afterwards unseen hands played and on finger and clock shades but all men felt that life was a mockery without even lone shouted with the majority on this head da s letters were very insulting and if he had then offered to lead a new departure there is no knowing what might not have happened but da was dying of and in the englishman s and had small heart for honours they have been put to shame said he never was such a sending it has killed me nonsense said the englishman you are going to die da and that sort of stuff must be left behind i ll admit that you have made some queer things come about tell me honestly now how was it done give me ten more said da faintly and if i die before i spend them bury them with me the silver was counted out while da was fighting with death his hand closed upon the money and he smiled a grim smile bend low he whispered the englishman bent mission school box pearl merchant all mine english education out and made up name da england with american thought reading man and and you gave me ten several times i gave the s bearer two eight a month for cats little little cats i wrote and he put them about x the sending of da very clever man very few now in the ask lone s s wife so saying da gasped and passed away into a land where if all be true there are no and the making of new is discouraged but consider the gorgeous simplicity of it all on the city wall then she let them down by a cord through the window for her house was upon the town wall and she dwelt upon the ii is is a member of the most ancient profession in the world was her very great and that was before the days of eve as every one knows in the west people say rude things about s profession 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 s profession in the east must have husbands was a big tree her mamma who had married a fig tree 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 on the city wall i 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 window seat you dropped thirty feet sheer into the city ditch but if you stayed where you should and looked forth you saw all the cattle of the city being driven down to water the students of the government college playing the high grass and trees that fringed the river bank the great that the river the red of dead beyond the river and very far away through the 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 after he had made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the roman catholic church and the fold at the same time the found him out called him names but they did not 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 would use on the city wall with delight through nine hundred pages in reality he was only	39
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 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 few weeks 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 on the city wall 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 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 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 colour 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 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 on the city wall 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 as the license 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 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 so now you know as much as you ought about the mixture and the supreme government has not yet been described she would on the city wall need so says a thousand pens of gold and ink scented with she has been compared to the 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 with a silver collar a big pink and blue 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 wall there was a profusion of cushions and fat carpets everywhere and s silver studded with had a special little carpet all to	39
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 on the city wall 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 a consistent man said he fought you in when he was a warrior youth 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 wall if the pearl chooses to tell you the pearl is a fool i translated to who laughed i 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 i on the city wall 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 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 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 gentle on the city wall man 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 over to my authority and i m 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 i ll 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 if was by 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 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 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 on the city wall 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 as he grew more acquainted with the he his old heart of some of the passions that had withered it he	39
and i might be a leading i might be received even 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 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 his 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 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 on the city wall 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 general mourning for the and the heroes of the gilt and painted paper of their are borne with shouting and wailing music and through the principal of the city 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 anxiety to all the officials because if a riot breaks out the officials and not the are held responsible the former must foresee ever thing 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 on the city wall with the stars and a sleepy police then i went 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 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 on the city wall 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 going 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 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 i i 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 cross barred as the first a gorgeous ten	39
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 on the city wall 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 east and cheered themselves hoarse 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 north west wards the east and south east 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 upstairs 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 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 put my hands to the long red silk waist cloth on the city wall 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 swore 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 his had fallen over one eye and 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 murmured pretty things i was in no haste to stop her and being a 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 l raised him up and led him into the streets in crossing from the east to the west of the city there was no of avoiding the on the city wall troops and the crowd long before i reached the of the i heard the shouts of the british crying cheerily ye 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 gun for 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 there 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 made 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 helped the police 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 this is all new on the city wall s to 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 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	39
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 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 troops were driving the people to and fro while the police shouted to your houses get to your houses and the of the assistant district cracked terror stricken 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 on the city wall never was religious enthusiasm more and never were poor of the peace more utterly weary and 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 r 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 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 on the city wall not so clever when the news went abroad that had escaped from the fort i did not since i was then living this story not writing it connect myself or or the fat gentleman of the gold with his disappearance nor did it strike me that wall was the man who should have him across the city or that s arms round my neck were put there to hide the money that gave to and that had used me and my white face as even a better than who proved himself so all that i knew at the time was that when fort was taken up with the by the confusion to get away and that his two guards also escaped but later on i received full and so did he fled to those who knew him in the old days but many of them were dead and more were changed and all knew something of the wrath of the government he went to the young men but the of his name had passed away and they were entering native or government offices and could give them neither nor influence nothing but a glorious death with their back to the mouth of a gun he wrote letters and made promises and the letters fell into bad hands and a wholly insignificant subordinate officer of police them down and gained promotion thereby moreover was old and seed brandy was scarce and he had left his silver cooking pots in fort with his nice warm and the gentleman with the gold was told by those who had em z on the city wall him that as a popular leader was not worth the money paid great is the mercy of these fools of english said when the situation was put before him i will go back to fort of my own free will and gain honour give me good clothes to return in so at his own time knocked at the gate of the fort and walked to the captain and the who were nearly gray headed on account of correspondence that daily arrived from marked private i have come back captain said put no more guards over me it is no good out yonder a week later i saw him for the first time to my knowledge and he made as though there were an understanding between us it was well done said he and greatly i admired your in thus boldly facing the troops when i whom they would have doubtless torn to pieces was with you now there is a man in fort whom a bold man could with ease help to escape this is the position of the fort as i draw it on the sand but i was thinking how i had become s after all the end printed by r r limited en of by john in paper covers y u cloth is d by henry james by professor f r s johnson by by lamb charles by by by thomas by j c milton by mark pope by scott by r h by j a by mrs by w t bacon by dean church by professor r c by j a by john burns by principal by professor by professor by professor a w ward by h d by smith by w de by professor by professor a w ward by professor by by j a by william black ray by by john	39
a by professor by dean church by h d swift by by by f w h in crown vo j d each vol viii vol ix vol x vol xi vol xii pope johnson gray vol xiii bacon vol i vol ii milton vol iii vol iv vol v lamb swift vol vi scott burns vol vii and co london b of with portraits crown vo cloth s d each n by john sa a v review the obligation laid upon him to be brief and his own anxiety to leave nothing of first rate importance have combined to give us an al most ideal short life of by a g times it appears to us to be well done the narrative is easy the facts have been mastered and well and mr is excellent both in his and in his details n by times a sketch of a great soldier a fine character and a noble career mr writes with a practised and lively pen and his experience of warfare in many lands stands him in good stead in lord s services and by colonel sir william butler tor this is beyond all question the best of the of the r of general that have yet been published the fifth by dean church no page interest and whether the book is regarded as a sketch or as a chapter in english military history it is equally attractive by thomas tor th volume is an excellent instance of miniature biography la by sir richard temple le a temperate and impressive summary by george the story of the great duke s life is admirably told by mr by w s practical e of the sea him to discuss the life of two centuries ago with intelligence and vigour as a on s voyages this little book is among the best by sa a y review mr gives you the real man by h d a clear and accurate summary of s life especially as regards his irish government by sir alfred daily be pronounced without hesitation as the final and decisive verdict of the conduct and career of by w sa a y review an excellent piece of work captain cook by sir walter leader it is simply the best and most account of the great yet published by speaker there is no lack of good writing in this book and the narrative is sympathetic as well as spirited v e by colonel sir charles times sir charles whose literary skill b does ample justice to a great and congenial theme by colonel sir william butler y news the english men of action series contains no volume more fascinating both in matter and in style the king by c w c herald one of the best and most word pictures of the wars of the two roses to be found in the whole range of english literature by leader the most fascinating of all the fifteen that have so far appeared written really with excellent judgment in a and style by david g times a vivid sketch of one of our great naval heroes tor an admirable contribution to an admirable series by times a singularly vivid and picture of one of the most romantic figures in history by the hon john w daily news there are many excellent volumes in the english men of action series but none better written or more interesting than this and co london le globe cloth j per volume the of in criticism first series essays in criticism second series early and narrative poems and poems dramatic and later poems american by george third edition s tales by a w dean church s miscellaneous writings miscellaneous essays and other essays st i bacon the oxford movement twelve years x the beginning of the middle ages included in this series by permission of messrs and co literary and essays press s collected works with introduction by john i essays poems english traits and representative men the conduct of life and society and solitude letters and social aims letters of edward by w a s prose translated with by t thomas r s collected works in prose and verse by poems journals and essays letters notes on and works by john richard green stray studies from england and italy history of the english people the choice of books and other literary pieces by poems of thomas hood in vol i serious poems vol ii humorous poems with by in the press r h s collected essays literary essays essays on some of the modern guides of english thought in matters of faith essays on contemporary thought and a thomas henry s collected works method and results science and education science and hebrew tradition science and christian tradition with helps to the study of man s place in nature and other essay and and and other essays works by henry james partial portraits french poets and and co london cloth j per volume letters of john to his family and friends by charles s novels and poems westward ho i a a i vol a two years ago a the wake a poems a charles lamb s collected works with introduction and notes by the essays of poems plays and miscellaneous essays mrs s school and other writings tales from shakespeare by and mary lamb the letters of charles lamb a life of charles lamb by historical essays by j b d d the poetical works of john milton with introduction and notes by david m a i the minor poems ii paradise lost iii paradise regained and john s collected works in a and the a on compromise i vol j i vol i studies in literature x vol science and a future life and other essays by f w h	39
m a records of and by works by sir john r k c m g d the of england two courses ot lectures lectures and essays a survey of the life and work of christ natural religion lectures on political science s plays in with an introduction by the press works by james letters with an by and william with a portrait literary works by william life of swift by henry c b new edition from the writings of by h s salt essays in the history of religious thought in the west by b f d d d c l lord bishop of the works of william by professor knight poetical works prose works a and co london uniformly printed with tides by sir j e sir t w hunt arthur etc engraved on steel in uniform binding vo s d each net the golden treasury of the best songs and poems in the english language selected and arranged with notes by professor f t also large paper edition vo los d net large type edition crown vo los d the children s treasury of poetry selected by professor f t the children s from the best poets selected by poems of chosen and by also large paper edition los d net poetry of chosen and arranged by also large paper edition s poems of by s a also large paper edition s d poems by robert chosen and arranged by edward the poetical works of john by professor f t a selection from the poems of robert by professor f t selected poems of from the poems of a h and from the works of henry w love an by william song by mary the song book words and tunes selected and arranged by john the ballad book by william the fairy book selected by mrs the jest book arranged by mark shakespeare s songs and with notes by professor f t lamb s tales from shakespeare by rev m a from s poems with an introduction by mrs letters of william with introduction by rev w the book of praise selected by earl of the sunday book of poetry for the young selected by c f alexander the christian year by john with introduction by m la selected and arranged with notes by g and co london golden continued in uniform binding vo s d each net the golden treasury of the best german and poems selected by dr und being a selection of the best german and with introduction and notes by dr and rendered into english prose by also paper edition s the republic of translated by ll m a and d j also large paper edition vo i os d net the trial and death of being the apology and of translated by f t church i and a new translation by j bacon s essays and colours of good and evil with notes and index by w m a also large paper edition vo los d net the and his lady from the works of the first duke and of with an essay by edward the pilgrim s progress from this world to that which is to come by john also large paper edition vo los d net sir thomas s letters to a friend etc and christian morals by m d sir thomas s and the garden of by the late dr w a the essays of joseph chosen and by john richard green from walter savage by tom brown s by an old boy s art of worldly wisdom translated by j the speeches and table talk of the prophet translated by lane the story of the christians and in spain by m a book of golden deeds of all times and all countries by c m a book of by c m a book of golden thoughts by sir henry golden treasury the student s edition being an edition with notes of the arranged by four friends translated by s preface by c and co london catalogue oi s library of books for circulation only in india and the colonies s library a the volumes are issued in paper covers with edges cut and and in cloth south ad f s x have already commended the shown in the selection of books for in this library and predicted that a sure and wide demand would be created by a supply of the best works of the most popular authors of the present day at a uniform price but little in excess of a yellow back novel some indeed are of works which even now are not to be obtained in england under d the books are in all cases printed and neatly bound works of action are blended with those of a more serious and permanently interesting character the times of india for an expenditure of two or three pounds every can now start a library of sterling worth with the certainty that a little further every now and then will keep it abreast of the times to clubs school and native book clubs the library should be simply invaluable and we honestly commend it as the best endeavour we have ever seen to give english readers out here the same advantages that are enjoyed at home by those who live close to one of s or one of w h smith s the individual book and there are too few of them in india now will get a great deal more for his money than he ver got before it will be the fault of those ey address if s library for india and the colonies does not eventually rival the great of and the n the library extends to considerable dimensions and anything better than the selection that has been made so far it would be difficult to imagine those who are familiar with the famous series will be delighted to learn	39
that something even superior to has been placed within their reach at a price that puts out of the question each volume is a of the s art beautifully printed on excellent paper and clad in a bright attractive and each is a work of sterling merit by a right of established reputation messrs and co have made it possible not merely to every scattered group of but for every individual throughout the empire to acquire for a the of a really valuable library the history of by f g a mt the journal of fr d translated with an introduction and notes by mrs ward vol comrades in by arthur i vol an author s love being the letters of prosper s vol essays in criticism by i vol essays in criticism second series i vol writer and a critic whose place m english there seems no immediate prospect of filling the story of a by mrs a i vol the wild ass s skin by h de i vol at the sign of the cat and i vol i vol the i vol the country doctor i vol the quest of the absolute i vol i vol old i vol the s mass etc i vol the i vol the unknown i vol a bachelor s establishment i vol i vol c i vol i vol the village parson i vol i vol the i vol about de i vol a woman of thirty i vol station life in new by lady i vol a year s house in south africa illustrated i vol s by jane i vol mrs martin s company i vol a set of by frank i vol a by by mary i vol disturbing elements by m c and adventures in o v t ts v t and i vol under arms by the e i vol i vol the a l i vol a i vol a side saxon i vol vol a modem i vol the crooked stick i vol old memories i vol the cloak i vol a lost endeavour by i vol the judge of the pour comers by g b i vol a lover of the beautiful by the of vol the by james i vol i the last touches by mrs w k i vol and by c r and i vol j oi a family by i vol living or dead i vol by e h i vol it for god and gold by i vol the i vol beggars by l cope i vol miss by mrs i vol king arthur not a love story i vol about money and other things i vol mr a tale of modem by f vol dr a true story i vol a singer i vol a tale of a lonely parish i vol i vol i vol s i vol paul i vol with the i vol i vol i vol i a maker s i vol i vol the witch of i vol the three i children of the king i vol don i i vol i ol y n f ol the i vol adam s son i vol i vol i vol a the by s r i vol i vol daily chronicle writes exceedingly well vividly and above all his scotch is delightful and frequent though somewhat distributed smooth the path for the he has a keen sense of character under god s sky by i vol the by sir h s the i vol wheat and i vol i vol of by a i vol of the i vol kings in exile i vol of a literary man i vol thirty years in paris i vol jack i vol i vol elements of by i vol a mere by mary a i vol a vol prisoner s of silence i vol and imperial defence by sir c and s k vol by e a i vol and jack i vol tor very lively and spirited stories written with a good deal of the of such authors as extremely entertaining and du peter by george du i vol his honor and a lady by mrs s j by sir m k c i e i vol n the conduct of life by loi h traits i vol i vol de by author of x vol after the lives of and by dean d d f r s illustrated z vol field by mrs e m field i vol where cross by j s i vol f of some by ll d x vol a and battles i vol quarters and casual places i vol times mr writes vividly his experience of war is extensive and varied and he possesses a rare capacity for making military matters attractive intelligible and instructive to non military readers of the great by william i vol the of a by vol the story of dan by m e francis i vol wild by f francis i vol by mrs i vol i vol s e a ancient by j w human by p g i vol and a comparison i vol the life i vol westminster review his pages sparkle with many turns of expressions not a few well told anecdotes and many observations which are the fruit of attentive study and wise reflection on the complicated phenomena of human life as well as of unconscious nature the mayor of by thomas hardy i vol the i vol tales strange lively and commonplace i vol of the d i vol desperate i vol a pair of blue eyes i vol	39
they talk with the stranger bands dazed and newly alone when they walk in the stranger lands by roaring streets unknown blessing her where she stands for strength above their own on high to hold her fame that stands all fame beyond by oath to back the same most faithful foolish fond making her mere breathed name their bond upon their bond so thank i god my birth fell not in aside waste of the earth or tribes but that she lent me worth and gave me right to pride surely in toil or under an alien sky comfort it is to say of no mean city am i vii neither by service nor fee come i to mine estate mother of cities to me for i was born in her gate between the palms and the sea where the world end wait now for this debt i owe and for her far borne cheer must i make haste and go with tribute to her pier and she shall touch and after the use of kings orderly ancient fit my deep sea and purchase in all lands and this we do for a sign her power is over mine and mine i hold at her hands a song of the english fair is our o goodly is our humble ye my people and be fearful in your mirth for the lord our god most high he hath made the deep as dry he hath smote for us a pathway to the ends of all the earth yea though we and our rulers went from deep in all though we stained our garments hem oh be ye not dismayed though we stumbled and we strayed we were led by evil the lord shall deal with them hold ye the faith the faith our fathers us not with visions and song of t t except ye pay the lord single heart and single sword of your children in their bondage shall he ask them tale keep ye the law be swift in all obedience clear the land of evil drive the road and bridge the ford make ye sure to each his own that he reap what he hath sown by the peace among our let men know we serve the lord hear now a a song of broken a song of little cunning of a singer nothing worth through the naked words and mean may ye see the truth between as the singer knew and touched it in the ends of all the earth song of t our brows are with and the weed is on our knees our are battered us by the swinging smoking seas from and rock and over ness and the lights of england watch the ships of england go through the endless summer evenings on the level floors through the yelling channel tempest when the and by day the dipping house flag and by night the s trail as the sheep that behind us so we know them where they hail we bridge across the dark and bid the have a care the flash that inland wakes his sleeping wife to prayer song of tt e ff from our vexed head to gale we bind in burning chains the lover from the sea rim drawn his love in english lanes we greet the wing and wing that race the southern wool we warn the crawling cargo of and to each and all our equal lamp at peril of the sea the white wall sided or the of come up come in from eastward from the of the beat up beat in from o of the horn swift of an empire s loom that us main to main the lights of england give you welcome back again go get you gone up channel with the sea crust on your plates go get you into london with the burden of your song of haste for they talk of empire there and say if any seek the lights of england sent you and by silence shall ye speak ei e song of hear now the song of the dead in the north by the torn edges they that look still to the pole asleep by their hide stripped song of the dead in the south in the sun by their skeleton horses where the and through the dust of the river courses song of the dead in the east in the heat hollows where the dog in the in the of the song of the dead in the west in the the snow that betrayed them where the their from the camp and the grave mound they made them hear now the song of the dead song of tt e english i we were dreaming greatly in the town we beyond the sky line where the strange roads go down came the whisper came the vision came the power with the need till the soul that is not man s soul was lent us to lead as the deer breaks as the steer breaks from the herd where they in the faith of little children we went on our ways then the wood failed then the food failed then the last water dried in the faith of little children we lay down and died on the sand drift on the side in the we lay that our sons might follow after by the bones on the way follow follow after we have watered the root and the bud has come to blossom that for fruit l song of follow after we are waiting by the that we lost for the sound of many footsteps for the tread of a host follow after follow after for the harvest is sown by the bones about the ye shall come	39
slower to bless than to ban little used to lie down at the bidding of any man flesh of the flesh that i bred bone of the bone that i bare as your sons shall be stern as your fathers were deeper than speech our love stronger than life our but we do not fall on the neck nor kiss when we come together my arm is nothing weak my strength is not gone by sons i have borne many sons but my are not dry of ti e english look i have made ye a place and opened wide the doors that ye may talk together your and wards of the outer march lords of the lower seas ay talk to your gray mother that bore you on her knees that ye may talk together brother to brother s face thus for the good of your thus for the pride of the race also we will make promise so long as the blood i shall know that your good is mine ye shall feel that my strength is yours in the day of at the last great fight of all that our house stand together and the pillars do not fall draw now the three fold knot firm on the bands and the law that ye make shall be law after the rule of your lands this for the heath and that for the song of this for the leaf and that for the southern the law that ye make shall be law and i do not press my will because ye are sons of the blood and call me mother still now must ye speak to your and they must speak to you after the use of the english in straight flung words and few go to your work and be strong halting not in your ways the end half won for an instant of praise stand to your work and be wise certain of sword and pen who are neither children nor gods but men in a world of men the first mine was the woman to me i found her her dumb from the camp held her and bound her hot rose her tribe on our track ere i had proved her hearing her laugh in the gloom greatly i loved her swift through the forest we ran none stood to guard us few were my people and far then the flood barred us him we call son of the sea sullen and swollen panting we waited the death and stolen yet ere they came to my lance laid for the slaughter lightly she leaped to a log in the water i e first holding on high and apart skins that arrayed her called she the god of the wind that he should aid her life had the tree at that word praise we the like left he the bank for the full river far fell their behind flashing and ringing wonder was on me and fear yet she was singing low lay the land we had left now the blue bound us even the floor of the gods level around us whisper there was not nor word shadow nor showing still the light stirred on the deep glowing and growing then did he leap to his place from under he the the sun to our wonder nay not a league from our eyes blinded with gazing cleared he the of the world huge and amazing this we beheld and we live the pit of the burning then the god spoke to the tree for our returning o sl e first back to the beach of our flight fearless and slowly back to our he went but we were holy men that were hot in that hunt women that followed that were promised our bones trembled and over the necks of the tribe crouching and prophet and we came back from the dawning the last and there was no more sea thus said the lord in the vault above the calling to the angels and the souls in their degree lo earth has passed away on the smoke of judgment day that our word may be established shall we gather up the sea loud sang the souls of the jolly jolly plague upon the that made us and flee but the war is done between us in the deep the lord hath seen us our bones we ll leave the and god may sink the seal cast then said the soul of that him lord hast thou forgotten thy with me how once a year i go to cool me on the and ye take my day of mercy if ye take away the sea then said the soul of the angel of the off shore wind he that bits the thunder when the bull mouthed flee i have watch and ward to keep o er thy wonders on the deep and ye take mine honour from me if ye take away the seal loud sang the souls of the jolly jolly nay but we were angry and a hasty folk are we if we worked the ship together till she in foul weather are we that we should for a vengeance on the sea it e cast then said the souls of the slaves that men threw overboard in the a weary band were we but thy arm was strong to save and it touched us on the wave and we the long tides idle till thy trumpets tore the sea then cried the soul of the stout paul to god once we a ship and she there were fourteen score of these and they blessed thee on their knees when they learned thy grace and glory under by the sea loud sang the souls of the jolly jolly at their and they plucked our are rough and and the tune is something hard may	39
we lift a such as use at sea tt e cast ei then said the souls of the gentlemen wrist to bar all for red ho we in our chains o er the sorrow that was spain s heave or sink it leave or drink it we were masters of the sea up the soul of a gray he that led the in the of fair ho the and right whale and the fish we struck for sale will ye them all for that in the sea loud sang the souls of the jolly jolly crying under heaven here is neither lead nor must we sing for on the floor take back your golden and we ll beat to open sea cast then stooped the lord and he called the good sea up to him and his borders unto all eternity that such as have no pleasure for to praise the lord by measure they may enter into and serve him on the sea sun wind and cloud shall fail not from the face of it ringing nor the flying free and the ships shall go abroad to the glory of the lord who heard the silly sailor folk and gave them their sea i the king solomon drew because of his desire for and ivory from unto with out of which down but we be only that use in london town cross seas round the world and back again where the flaw shall head us or the full trade suits plain sail storm sail lay your board and tack again and that s the way we ll pay for his boots we bring no store of of or precious stones but that we have we gathered with sweat and aching bones in flame beneath the in frost upon the and of every wind that does between them go and some we got by purchase and some we had by trade and some we found by courtesy of and at midnight mid sea meetings for charity to keep and light the rolling homeward bound that rode a foot too deep by sport of bitter weather we re strained and from the on the to the upon the yard six had their will of us to carry all away our s in the and our boom s in bay i we ve off the with we ve slipped from with the at our heels we ve beyond the that the southern pole and dipped our under to the dread roll beyond all outer we sailed where none have sailed and saw the land lights burning on islands none have hailed our hair stood up for wonder but when the night was done there danced the deep to blue empty the sun strange rode beside us and brought us evil luck the witch fire climbed our channels and danced on and till through the red that lashed us nigh to blind we saw the plunging full canvas head to we ve heard the midnight that calls the black deep down ay thrice we ve heard the the thing that may not drown on frozen and the cloud her hosts when by more than signed with us we passed the isle o ghosts and north amid the a toss below we met the silent that know for down a cruel ice lane that opened as he sped we saw dead henry steer north by west his dead so dealt god s waters with us beneath the roaring skies so walked his signs and all naked to our eyes but we were heading homeward with trade to lose or make good lord they slipped behind us in the of our let go let go the now at heart are we to bring so poor a cargo home that had for gift the sea si let go the great bow ah fools were we and blind the worst we with utter toil the best we left behind cross seas round the world and back again whither the flaw shall fail us or the trades drive down plain sail storm sail lay your board and tack again and all to bring a cargo up to london town i s hymn lord thou hast made this world below the shadow of a dream an taught by time i it so always steam from to guide see thy hand o god in the stride o yon rod john might ha the certain slow ay wrought it in the furnace flame my institution i cannot get my sleep to night old bones are hard to please i ll stand the middle watch up here alone wi god an these my engines after ninety days o race an rack an strain through all the seas of all thy world home again bang too much they knock a the are loose but thirty thousand mile o sea has them fair excuse fine clear an dark a full draught breeze wi out o sight an hay old girl ye u walk to night his wife s at seventy one two three since he began three turns for mistress an who s to blame the man there s none at any port for me by fast or slow since went to thee lord thirty years ago the year the sands was burned oh roads we used to tread to to not but they re on the board ye ll hear sir say good back again an how s your to day but me my chair to drink wi three the fleet engineer that started as a when steam and he were low i mind the time we used to serve a broken pipe wi tow ten pound was all the pressure then eh i eh a man	39

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