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drive an here our give one fifty five we re on wi each new less weight an larger power there ll be the next an thirty knots an hour thirty an more what i ha seen since began leaves me no for the machine but what about the man the man that counts wi all his runs one million mile sea four time the span from earth to moon how far o lord from thee that beside him night an day ye mind my first it the on his way to wi the saloon three feet were on the just to an fro an cast me on a furnace door i have the marks to show marks i ha marks o more than burns deep in my soul an black an times like this when things go smooth my comes back the sins o four and forty years all up an down the seas an repeat like half fed s our nights when i d come on deck to mark wi envy in my gaze the couples in the dark between the stays years when i the ports wi pride to fill my cup o wrong judge not o lord my steps aside at gay street in blot out the hours of mine in sin when i abode jane s an number nine the an grant road an than all my sin rank an wild e i was not four and twenty then ye judge a child td seen the first that run new fruit new smells new air how could i tell blind wi sun the was there by day like scenes the shore slid past our sleepy eyes by night those soft stars from those velvet skies in port we used no cargo steam i d down the streets an in a dream for shells an an sticks o carved an stuffed an dried my wi the chief put till off head ye mind heard a ca milk warm wi breath o an bloom mc come firm clear an low no haste no hate the ghostly whisper went just facts all argument your s god s a the shadow o got out o books by clean on heaven an hell they him in the o cold an dirt a jealous lad that s only strong to hurt ye ll not go back to him again an kiss his rod b it come wi us now who were they an know the god that does not souls for sport or break a life in jest but the an the woman s breast an there it stopped cut off no more that quiet certain voice for me six months o twenty four to leave or take at choice twas on me like a it me through an through temptation past the show o speech an new the sin against the holy ghost an under all our screw e that storm blew by but left behind her swell thou all my heart an mind thou lord i fell third on the mary then and first that night in hell yet was thy hand beneath my head about my feet thy care clear to strait the trial o despair but when we touched the barrier thy answer to my prayer we dared na run that sea by night but lay an held our fire an i was on the sick sick wi doubt an tire better the sight of eyes that see than o desire ye mind that word clear as our again an once again when down through coral ran out our chain an by thy grace i had the light to see my duty plain light on the engine room no more clear as our burn s i ve lost it since a thousand times but never past return per we ll have here two thousand souls aboard think not i dare to justify myself before the lord but average fifteen souls safe borne port to port i am o service to my kind ye blame the thought maybe they steam from grace to wrath to sin by folly led it mine to judge their path their lives are on my head mine at the last when all is done it all comes back to me the fault that leaves six thousand ton a log upon the sea we ll one stretch three weeks an odd by any road ye steer cape town east to ye need an engineer fail time to your shaft ay eat it ere ye re spoke or make under sail three burned wi smoke an home again the run it s no child s play to go to bell for fourteen days snow an an blow the like that an turn an shift like the mills o god goes by the big south drift hail snow an ice that praise the lord i ve met them at their work an wished we had route or they yon s strain hard strain o head an hand for though thy power brings all skill to naught ye u understand a man must think things then at the last we ll get to port an their baggage clear the passengers wi gloves an an this is what i ll hear well thank ye for a pleasant voyage the tender s now while i go an watch the bow they ve words for but me shake hands wi half the crew e except the engineer the man they never knew an yet i like the for all we ve dam few here no an the most we earn s four pound a year better myself abroad maybe i d sooner starve than sail wi such as | 39 |
call a rod french for on my stores some do but i can not afford to lie like wi i m older than the board a on the coal i save ou ay the are close but when i grudge the strength ye gave i ll grudge their food to those there s bricks that i might recommend an the fire bars cruel no at the worst an damn all patent fuel inventions ye must stay in port to a patent pay my gear taught me how that business lay i blame no wi clearer head for aught they make or sell found that i could not invent an look to these as well so wi fretted like a but burned the plans last run wi all i hoped to earn ye know how hard an idol dies an what that meant to me e en it for a sacrifice acceptable to thee below there what s your ye find her hard ye needn t the cap wi this isn t the ye thought ye are not paid to think co sweat that off again it s to nor the name in vain men ay an women call me stern wi these to ye ll note i ve little time to burn on social the see what their elders miss they ll hunt me to an fro till for the sake well a kiss i em down below j mn that minds me of our sir s kin the chap wi russia leather an cap i showed him round last week o er all an at the last says he mc don t you think steam spoils romance at sea damned i d been that to see what the throws on my back the three inches from my nose romance those first class passengers they like it very well printed an bound in little books but why don t poets tell i m sick of all their an turns t ie loves an they dream lord send a man like burns to sing the song o steam to match wi s noblest speech yon sublime uplifted like the the tail rods mark the time the throws give the double bass the sobs an an now the main start their quarrel on the her time her own appointed time the rocking link head till hear that note the rod s return through the guides they re all true beat full power the chorus goes clear to the where they sit my absolute foreseen ordained to work ye ll note at any an every rate o speed lift to furnace bars backed bolted an stayed an like the stars for joy that they are made while out touch vanity the says not unto us the praise or man not unto us the praise now a together hear them lift their lesson theirs an mine law duty an restraint obedience discipline tt mill an try pit taught them that when they arose an i wonder if a soul was them wi the blows oh for a man to it then in one trip hammer strain till even first class passengers could tell the plain but no one cares except that serve an understand my seven thousand horse power here eh lord i they re grand they re grand am i when first in store the new made stood were ye cast down that breathed the word all things good not so that joy no after fall could vex ye ve left a glimmer still to cheer the the that holds in spite o knock and scale o waste an slip an by that light now mark my word we ll build the perfect ship i ll never last to judge her lines or take her i but i ha lived an i ha worked all thanks to thee most high an i ha done what i ha done judge thou if ill or well always thy grace me yon s the stand by bell pilot so soon his it is the watch is set well god be thanked as i was i m no yet now i ll on man have ye ever thought what your good costs in coal i ll burn tm down to port the miracles i sent a message to my dear a thousand and more to her the dumb sea thrilled to hear and lost bore to her behind my message hard i came and nigh had found a grave for me but that i launched of steel and flame did war against the wave for me the deep by gale on gale to bid me change my mind again he broke his teeth along my rail and roaring swung behind again i stayed the sun at noon to tell my way across the waste of it i read the storm before it fell and made the better haste of it e afar i hailed the land at night the towers i built had heard of me and ere my reached its height had flashed my love the word of me earth gave her chosen men of strength they lived and strove and died for me to drive my road a nations length and toss the miles aside for me i snatched their toil to serve my needs too slow their flew for me i tired twenty smoking and bade them bait a new for me i sent the forth to see where hour by hour she waited me among ten million one was she and surely all men hated dawn ran to meet us at my goal ah day no tongue shall tell again and little folk of little soul rose up to buy and sell again the native born we ve drunk to the | 39 |
god bless her we ve drunk to our mothers land we ve drunk to our english brother but he does not understand we ve drunk to the wide creation and the cross low to the last toast and of obligation a health to the native born i they change their skies above them but not their hearts that we learned from our wistful mothers to call old england home we read of the english sky lark of the spring in the english lanes but we screamed with the painted as we rode on the dusty plains i they passed with their old world legends their tales of wrong and our fathers held by purchase but we by the right of birth our heart s where they rocked our cradle our love where we spent our toil and our faith and our hope and our honour we pledge to our native soil i charge you charge your glasses i charge you drink with me to the men of the four new nations and the islands of the sea to the last least lump of coral that none may stand outside and our own good pride shall teach us to praise our comrade s pride to the hush of the breathless morning on the thin tin roofs to the haze of the burned back and the dust of the hoofs to the risk of a death by drowning to the risk of a death by to the men of a million acres to the sons of the golden south so native born to the sons of the golden south stand up and the life we live and know let a fellow sing o the little things he cares about if a fellow fights for the little things he cares about with the weight of a single blow j to the smoke of a hundred to the sheep on a thousand hills to the sun that never to the rain that never to the land of the waiting to our five meal meat fed men to the tall deep women and the children nine and ten and the children nine and ten stand up and the life we live and know let a fellow sing o the little things he cares about if a fellow fights for the little things he cares about with the weight of a two fold blow i bom to the far flung where the quick cloud shadows trail to our neighbour s barn in the and the line of the new cut rail to the plough in her league long with the gray lake behind to the weight of a half year s winter and the warm wet western wind to the home of the floods and thunder to her pale dry healing blue to the lift of the great cape and the smell of the baked to the growl of the stamp head to the and the water gold to the last and the largest empire to the map that is half to our dear dark foster mothers to the heathen songs they sung to the heathen speech we ere we came to the white man s tongue to the cool of our deep to the blaze of our main to the night to the palms in the moonlight and the fire fly in the cane native born to the hearth of our people s people to her well windy sea to the hush of our dread high where the abbey makes us we to the of the slow ground ages to the gain that is yours and mine to the bank of the open credit to the power house of the line we ve drunk to the queen god bless her we ve drunk to our mothers land we ve drunk to our english brother and we hope he ll understand we ve drunk as much as we re able and the cross low to the last and your foot on the table a health to the native born a health to the native born stand up we re six white men all bound to sing o the little things we care about all bound to fight for the little things we care about with the weight of a six fold blow t by the might of our cable tow take hands native born from the to the horn all round the world and a little to pull it by all round the world and a little to it a health to the native born i the king farewell romance the cave men said with bone well carved he went away flint arms the and tips the spear to day changed are the gods of hunt and dance and he with these farewell romance farewell romance the lake folk sighed we lift the weight of years the of the mountain side hold him who our lost hills whereby we dare not dwell guard ye his rest romance farewell farewell romance the soldier spoke by of sword we may not win but mid smoke of and honour is lost and none may tell who paid good blows romance farewell king farewell romance the cried our ha lain with every sea the dull returning wind and tide heave up the wharf where we would be the known and noted breezes swell our sail romance farewell good bye romance the said he vanished with the coal we burn our dial marks full steam ahead our speed is timed to half a turn sure as the trains we port and port romance good bye romance the season tickets mourn he never ran to catch his train but passed with coach and guard and horn and left the late again confound romance and all unseen romance brought up the nine fifteen his hand was on the laid his oil can | 39 |
soothed the worrying his whistle the grade his fog horn cut the banks in dock and deep and mine and mill the boy god reckless still crowned and he his spell where heart blood beat or hearth smoke curled with miracle in a backward gazing world then taught his chosen bard to say the king was with us yesterday the rhyme of the three away by the lands of the when the paper glow and the of all the shipping drink in the house of blood street joe at twilight when the breeze brings up the harbour noise and ebb of bay chattering through the in s dining rooms they tell the tale anew of a hidden sea and a hidden fight when the ran from the northern light and the fought the two i now this is the law of the that he proves with shot and steel when ye come by his in the smoky sea ye must not take the seal where the gray sea goes between the weed hung shelves l e of tt t and the little blue fox he is bred for his skin and the seal they breed for themselves for when the seek the shore to drop their the great man seal haul out of the sea band by band and when the first september have their wrath the great man seal haul back to the sea and no man knows their path then dark they lie and they lie and and the northern lights come down o nights to dance with the snow and god who the and the grinding he hears the cry of the little fox and the on the snow but since our women must walk gay and money their gear the boats they that way at hazard year by year english they be and that hang on the brown bear s flank and some be but the worst god and the thieves be l e bt tne of it was the northern light to the smoky seas she bore with a stuck from a port and the russian flag at her fore and northern light oh they were birds of a feather slipping away to the smoky seas three together and at last she came to a sandy and the lay therein but her men were up with the seal to drive and club and skin there were fifteen hundred skins cool and proper fur when the northern light drove into the and the sea mist drove with her the called her men and weighed she could not choose but run for a seen through the closing mist it shows like a four inch gun and loss it is that is sad as death to lose both trip and ship and lie for a on slip she turned and in the sea as a rabbit in the ei e fit of tt e and the northern light sent up her boats to steal the stolen skins they had not brought a load to side or slid their clear when they were aware of a of war and very near her flag she showed and her guns she showed three of them black and a white with the salt but never a show of steam there was no time to man the they knocked the free and the northern light stood out again to open sea for life it is that is worse than death by force of russian law to work in the mines of that loose the teeth in your jaw they had not ran a mile from shore they heard no shots behind when the smote his hand on his and threw her up in the wind raised out on a bluff said he for if my name s tom hall of tf e you must set a thief to catch a and a thief has caught us all by every butt in and every in the hand that the wind from her sail was the hand of he has and her with paint and and faith he has her well but i d know the s yet from here to the o hell oh once we ha met at and twice on boston pier but the day for you was the day that you came here the day that you came here my lad to scare us from our seal with your made o your painted cloth and your guns o rotten deal ring and blow for the now and head her back to the bay for we ll come into the game again with a double deck to play they rang and blew the call the cry o the sea and they raised the out of the mist and an angry ship was she of and blind they through the whirling white and blind to the bay again till they heard the of the s boom and the of her chain they laid them down by and boat their pistols in their and will you fight for it or will you share the a dog laugh laughed and his knife yea skin for skin and all that he hath a man will give for his life but i ve six thousand skins below and port to see and there s never a law of god or man runs north of fifty three so go in peace to the naked seas with empty holds to fill and i ll be good to your seal this catch as many as i shall kill answered the snap of a closing lock and the jar of a gun butt slid but the tender fog shut fold on fold to hide the wrong they did of tl e the weeping fog rolled fold on fold the wrath of man to cloak and the flame pale ran down the rail as the spoke | 39 |
the bullets bit on bend and butt the free little they trust to dust that stop the seal in his sea the thick smoke hung and would not shift leaden it lay and blue but three were down on the s deck and two of the s crew an arm s length out and the fog held them bound but as they heard or groan or word they fired at the sound for one cried out on the name of god and one to have him cease and the found them both and bade them hold their peace and one called out on a heathen and one on the virgin s name and the bullet leaped across and showed them whence they came and in the waiting the beneath of and each man drew his watchful breath slow taken the teeth and ear and eye knit brow and hard drawn lips his feet by and for the rolling of the ships till they heard the cough of a wounded man that fought in the fog for breath till they heard the torment of that upon his death the tides they ll go through race but i ll go never more and see the from ebb tide mark turn back to shore no more i ll see the drift below the bass rock ground or watch the tall fall steamer lights tear blazing up the sound sorrow is me in a lonely sea and a sinful fight i fall but if there s law o god or man you ll swing for it yet tom hall tom hall stood up by the quarter rail your words in your teeth said he fit of there s never a law of god or man runs north of fifty three so go in grace with him to face and an life behind and i ll take care your as many as i shall find a man shot blind and large and a was he and he hit tom hall with a bursting ball a hand over the knee tom hall caught hold by the lift and sat him down with an oath you ll wait a little he said the devil has called for both the devil is driving both this tide and the killing grounds are close and we ll go up to the wrath of god as the goes o men put back your guns again and lay your by we ve fought our fight and the best are down let up and let us die firing by the bow quit i call off the s crew i you re sure of hell as me or but wait till we get through fit of tee there went no word between the ships but thick and quick and loud the life blood on the dripping decks with the fog dew from the the sea pull drew them side by side to laid and they felt the pound and clear but never a word was said then cried out again before his spirit passed have i followed the sea for thirty years to die in the dark at last curse on her work that has me here with a trick unkind i have gotten my death where i got my bread but i dare not face it blind curse on the fog is there never a wind of all the winds i knew to clear the from off my chest and let me look at the blue the good fog heard like a sail to left and right she tore and they saw the sun dogs in the haze and the seal upon the shore of silver and gray ran spit and bay to meet the tide and pinched and white in the clearing light the stared o rainbow gay the red pools lay that and and spread and gold raw gold the spent shell rolled between the careless dead the dead that rocked so drunken wise to weather and to lee and they saw the work their hands had done as god had bade them see i and a little breeze blew over the rail that made the lift but no man stood by wheel or sheet and they let the drift and the rattle rose in s throat and he cast his soul with a cry and gone already tom hall he said then it s time for me to die his eyes were heavy with great sleep and yearning for the land and he spoke as a man that talks in dreams his wound beneath his hand of oh there comes no good in the wind that backs against the sun wash down the decks they re all too red and share the skins and run and northern light clean share and share for all you ll find the off but you will not find tom hall evil he did in water and sin on the deep but now he s sick of watch and trick and now he ll turn and sleep he ll have no more of the crawling sea that made him suffer so but he ll lie down on the killing grounds where the go and west you ll turn and south again beyond the sea fog s rim and tell the girls to burn a stick for him and you ll not weight him by the heels and him but carry him up to the sand hollows to die as died and make a place for that knows the fight was fair of and leave the two that did the wrong to talk it over there half steam ahead by guess and lead for the sun is mostly veiled through fog to fog by luck and log sail ye as sailed and if the light shall lift aright to give your plain north and by west from crest ye raise the crosses twain fair marks | 39 |
are they to the inner bay the reckless knows what time the see lead their sleek ever they hear the pack clear and the blast of the old bull whale and the deep seal roar that beats off shore above the gale ever they wait the winter s hate as the thundering calls where northward look they to st george and westward to st paul s ever they greet the hunted lone off of ti t when the that way at hazard year by year ever in men tell the tale anew of a hidden sea and a hidden fight when the ran from the northern light and the fought the two i the and reports the mary still at sea shipping news i was the of our fleet till the sea rose beneath our feet in hatred past all measure into his he stamped my crew blinded bound and threw bidding me wait upon his pleasure man made me and my will is to my maker still whom now the currents con the steer lifting forlorn to spy smoke along the sky falling afraid lest any come near as the lips of thirst dried and split and burst bone my decks wind to the n and at every roll the gear that was my soul answers the anguish of my beams complaining for life that crammed me full of the that shriek and on the for roar that the gale my pipes wail sobbing my heart out through the watches blind in the hot blue ring through all my points swing swing and return to shift the sun anew blind in my well known sky i hear the stars go by mocking the that can not hold one true white on my wasted path wave after wave in wrath his fellow where to send me flung forward heaved aside and dazed i bide the mercy of the that shall end me l e north where the the spray of seas unseen round my head and in the falling south where the breed the floating weed folds me and me on i that was clean to run my race against the sun strength on the deep am to all disaster whipped forth by night to meet my sister s careless feet and with a kiss betray her to my master man made me and my will is to my maker still to him and his our at their pier lifting in hope to spy smoke along the sky falling afraid lest any come near the song of the you couldn t pack a half a mile you mustn t leave a fiddle ip the you couldn t an organ up the and play it in an swamp travel with the cooking pots and m the coffee and the pork and when the dusty column and tails you should hear me spur the to a walk with my i o it s any tune that comes into my head so i keep em moving forward till they drop so i play em up to water and to bed in the silence of the camp before the fight when it s good to make your will and say your prayer song of tt e you can hear my explaining ten to one was always fair i m the prophet of the utterly absurd of the impossible and vain and when the thing that couldn t has occurred give me time to change my leg and go again with my pa in the desert where the fed curled there was never voice before us till i led our lonely chorus i the war drum of the white man round the world i by the bitter road the younger son must tread ere he win to hearth and saddle of his own mid the riot of the at the shed in the silence of the s hut alone in the twilight on a bucket down hear me what the won t confess i am memory and torment i am town i am all that ever went with evening dress f e song of with my a so the lights the london grow near and plain j so i em afresh towards the devil and the flesh till i bring my broken home again in desire of many over sea where the new raised city and i have sailed with young from the till the anchor down on stranger shores he is blooded to the open and the sky he is taken in a that shall not fail he shall hear me singing strongly till he die like the shouting of a in a gale with my haul o the green that aft along the deck are you sick o towns and men you must sign and sail again for it s pack your and t e song of through the that gives the stars at clear up the pass that the beneath our wheel round the bluff that sinks her thousand sheer down the valley with our where the groans and in the snow where the many and so i lead my reckless children from below till we sing the song of to the pine with my and the axe has cleared the mountain and crest so we ride the iron down to drink through the to the waters of the west and the tunes that mean so much to you alone common tunes that make you choke and blow your nose song of vulgar tunes that bring the laugh that brings the groan i can your very out with those with the and the folly and the fun and the lying and the and the drink and the merry play that drops you when you re done to the thoughts that burn like irons if you think with my | 39 |
here s a trifle on account of pleasure past ere the wit that made you win gives you eyes to see your sin and the heavier repentance at the last let the organ moan her sorrow to the i have told the naked stars the grief of man let the trumpets the to the i have known defeat and it as we ran my ye may not alter nor mistake when stand to the soul of things but the song of lost endeavour that i make is it hidden in the of the strings on of tt e with my ta ra ra ra t is it naught to you that hear and pass me by but the word the word is mine when the order moves the line and the lean locked ranks go roaring down to die the of my was the o the blue below the little huts that the stooping filled with fire till she bore my iron head and ringing by the wisdom of the centuries speak to the tune of set the truth the joy of life the greek the everlasting wonder song of youth with my j what d ye lack my noble masters what d ye lack so i draw the world together link by link yea from up to and back the she s a lady the she s a lady an she never looks nor the man o war s er an e gives er all she needs but oh the little cargo boats that sail the wet seas they re just the same as you an me a up an down in up an down round the yard all the way by down to ard any thin for business an we re old in up an down in the cold the she s a lady by the paint upon er face an if she meets an accident they call it sore disgrace a a x the man o war s er and e s always by but oh the little cargo boats they ve got to load or die the she s a lady and er route is cut an dried the man o war s er an e always keeps beside but oh the little cargo boats that t any man they ve got to do their business first and make the most they can the she s a lady and if a war should come the man o war s er and e d bid er stay at home but oh the little cargo boats that fill with every tide e d ave to up an fight for them for they are england s pride the she s a lady but if she wasn t made there still would be the cargo boats for ome an foreign trade e a the man o war s er but if we wasn t ere e wouldn t have to fight at all for ome an friends so dear ome an friends so dear round the yard all the way by down to ard for business an we re old ome an friends so dear in the cold s contract the fear was on the cattle for the gale was on the sea an the pens broke up on the lower deck an let the creatures free an the lights went out on the lower deck an no one down but me i had been to them to keep em quiet there for the lower deck is the constant care an give to me as the strongest man though used to drink and swear i see my chance was certain of bein or trod for the lower deck was packed with thicker n peas in a an more pens broke at every roll so i made a contract with god e contract an by the terms of the contract as i have read the same if he got me to port alive i would his name an praise his holy majesty till further orders came he saved me from the cattle an he saved me from the sea for they found me two ones where the roll had landed me an a four inch crack on top of my head as crazy as could be but that were done by a an not by a at all an i lay still for seven weeks of the fall an the shiny scripture in the s hospital an spoke to god of our contract an he says to my prayer never puts on my ministers no more than they can bear so back you go to the cattle boats an preach my gospel there contract for human life is at any kind of trade but most of all as well you know when the are mad afraid so you go back to the cattle boats an preach em as i ve said they must quit an they mustn t knife on a blow they must quit their wages and you must preach it so for now those boats are more like hell than anything else i know i didn t want to do it for i knew what should get an i wanted to preach religion handsome an out of the wet but the word of the lord were lain on me an i done what i was set i have been an bruised as warned would be the case an turned my cheek to the exactly as scripture says but following that i knocked him down an led him up to grace s contract an we have preaching on sundays whenever the sea is calm an i use no knife nor pistol an i never take no harm for the lord back of me to guide my fighting arm an sign for four pound ten a month and save the money clear an am in charge of | 39 |
romance from many inventions thy face is far from this our war our call and counter cry i shall not find thee quick and kind nor know thee till i die enough for me in dreams to see and touch thy garments hem thy feet have so near to god i may not follow them through if men profess they weary of thy parts e en let them die at and perish with their arts but we that love but we that prove thine excellence august while we discover more thee perfect wise and just since spoken word man s spirit stirred beyond his belly need what is is thine of fair design in thought and craft and deed so tt e each stroke aright of toil and fight that was and that shall be and hope too high wherefore we die has birth and worth in thee who holds by thee hath heaven in fee to his thereby and knowledge sure that he endure a child until he die for to make plain that man s disdain is but new beauty s birth for to possess in loneliness the joy of all the earth as thou teach all lovers speech and life all mystery so shalt thou rule by every school till love and longing die who or yet the lights were set a whisper in the void who shalt be sung through young when this is clean destroyed beyond the bounds our staring rounds across the pressing dark the children wise of outer skies look and mark so tt e a light that a glare that thus and thus not all forlorn for thou hast borne strange tales to them of us time hath no tide but must abide the servant of thy will tide hath no time for to thy rhyme the stars stand still of that lock our fears our hopes invisible oh twas at thy we fashioned heaven and hell pure wisdom hath no certain path that thy morning and captains bold by thee controlled most like to gods design thou art the voice to boys to lift them through the fight and of to give the dead good night a veil to draw god his law and man s infirmity a shadow kind to dumb and blind the where we die o t t romance a sum to trick th too base of odds the spur of trust the of lust thou of the gods oh charity all patiently abiding and oh faith that meets ten thousand yet drops no of faith devil and brute thou dost to higher show who art in that lovely truth the careless angels know thy face is far from this our war our call and counter cry i may not find thee quick and kind nor meet thee till i die yet may i look with heart on blow brought home or missed yet may i hear with equal ear the down the list yet set my lance above and ride the oh hit or miss how little tis my lady is not there the flowers to our private taste there is always something a little almost artificial in songs which under an english aspect and dress are yet so the product of other skies they affect us like the very and are alien remote the dog s tooth violet is but an ill substitute for the nor can we ever believe that the wood robin sings as sweetly in april as the english the buy my english and may of the under cliff wet with channel spray from a fur e buy my english and ril sell your hearts desire buy my english you that scorn the may won t you greet a friend from home half the world away green against the drift faint and frail and first buy my northern blood root and i ll know where you were nursed robin down the road come to me spring has found the grove the sap is running free all the winds o canada call the take the flower and turn the hour and kiss your love again buy my english here s to match your need buy a of royal heath buy a bunch of weed white as sand of spun before the gale buy my heath and lilies and i ll tell you whence you hail under hot broad the lie and the aching the sky io slow below the the take the flower and turn the hour and kiss your love again buy my english you that not turn buy my hot wood buy a o gathered where the leaps down the road to buy my christmas and i ll say where you were born west away from dust holidays begin they that mock at paradise at through the great south sings the great south main take the flower and turn the hour and kiss your love again buy my english here s your choice buy a blood red bloom buy the s gold flung for gift on s face sign that spring is come buy my clinging and i ll give you back your home behind the windy town o the pine bell bird in the leafy deep where the above the saddle bow upon the plain take the flower and turn the hour and kiss your love again buy my english ye that have your own buy them for a brother s sake alone weed ye floods his heart bird ye never oh she calls his dead to him far and far our homes are set round the seven seas woe for us if we forget we that hold by these unto each his mother beach bloom and bird and land masters of the seven seas oh love and understand the last rhyme of | 39 |
true thomas the king has called for priest and cup the king has taken spur and blade to true thomas a knight and all for the sake o the songs he made they have sought him high they have sought him low they have sought him over down and they have found him by the milk white thorn that guards the gates o twas bent beneath and blue above their eyes were held that they might not see the that between the oh they were the queens d now cease your song the king he said oh cease your song and get you to vow your vow and watch your arms for i will you a knight cast rt me of for i will give you a horse o pride wi and spur and page and squire wi keep and tail and and law and land to hold at your desire true thomas smiled above his harp and turned his face to the naked sky where blown before the wind the down she floated by i ha vowed my vow in another place and bitter oath it was on me i ha watched my arms the lee long night where five score fighting men would flee my lance is tipped the flame my shield is beat o the moonlight cold and i won my spurs in the middle world a thousand beneath the mould and what should i make wi a horse pride and what should i make wi a sword so brown but the rings o the gentle folk and my kin in the fairy town of state and what should i make wi and belt wi keep and tail and and fee and what should i do wi page and squire that am a king in my own for send east and i send west and i send far as my will may flee by dawn and dusk and the drinking rain and my return to me they come wi news of the earth they come wi news o the sea wi word of spirit and ghost and flesh and man that s among the three the king he bit his lip and smote his hand upon his knee by the faith o my soul true thomas he said ye waste no wit in as i desire unto my pride can i make by three and three to run before and ride behind and serve the sons o my body si e cast of and what care i for your row foot or all the sons o your body before they win to the pride o name i they all ask leave o me for i make honour wi mouth as i make shame wi feet to sing wi the priests at the market cross or run wi the dogs in the naked street and some they give me the good red gold and some they give me the white money and some they give me a o meal for they be people o low degree and the song sing for the counted gold the same i sing for the white money but best i sing for the o meal that simple people given me the king cast down a silver a silver o money if i come with a poor man s he said true thomas will ye harp to me cast fit at i harp to the children small they press me close on either hand and who are you true thomas said that you should ride while they must stand light down light down from your horse o pride ye talk too loud and hie and i will make you a triple word and if ye dare ye shall noble me he has lighted down from his horse o pride and set his back against the stone now guard you well true thomas said ere i your heart from your breast bone true thomas played upon his harp the fairy harp that lee and the first least word the proud king heard it the salt tear out o his ee oh i see the love that i lost long i touch the hope that i may not see and all that i did o hidden shame like little they hiss at me cast of the sun is lost at noon at noon the dread o doom has me true thomas hide me under your cloak god i m little fit to twas bent beneath and blue above twas open field and running flood where hot on heath and and wall the high sun warmed the s brood lie down lie down true thomas said the god shall judge when all is done but i will bring you a better word and lift the cloud that i laid on true thomas played upon his harp that and to his hand and the next least word true thomas made it the king take horse and brand oh hear the tread o the fighting men i see the sun on and spear i mark the arrow the that flies so low and sings so clear no cast of advance my standards to that war and bid my good knights and ride the shall watch as fierce a fight as e er was fought on the border side bent beneath and blue above twas nodding grass and naked sky where ringing up the wind the stooped upon the true thomas sighed above his harp and turned the song on the string and the last least word true thomas made he his dead youth back to the king now am prince and i do well to love my love fear to walk wi man in fellowship and breathe my horse behind the deer my hounds they bay unto the death the buck has beyond the burn my love she waits at her window to wash my hands when i return l e cast | 39 |
of m for that i live am content oh i have seen my true love s eyes to stand wi adam in and run in the woods o paradise twas nodding grass and naked sky twas blue above and bent below where checked against the wind the red deer to call the true thomas laid his harp away and low at the saddle side he has taken and rein and set the king on his horse o pride sleep ye or wake true thomas said that sit so still that muse so long sleep ye or wake till the latter sleep i ye ll not forget my song i ha a shadow out o the sun to stand before your face and cry i ha armed the earth beneath your heel and over your head i ha the sky ii cast of ha ye up to the throne o god i ha your secret soul in three i ha ye down to the hinges o hell and ye would make a knight o me the story of once on a glittering ice field ages and ages ago a maker of pictures fashioned an image of snow fashioned the form of a gaily he whistled and sung working the snow with his fingers read ye the story of pleased was his tribe with that image came in their hundreds to handled it smelt it and verily this is a man thus do we carry our thus is a war belt ay it is even as we are glory and honour to e of later he pictured an later he pictured a bear pictured the tooth tiger dragging a man to his pictured the hairy alone out of the love that he bore them them clearly on bone swift came the tribe to behold them peering and pushing and still men of the battered men of the hill hunters and and presently whispering low yea they are like and it may be but how does the picture man know hath he slept with the watched where the spoke on the ice with the bow head followed the tooth home nay these are toys of his fancy if he have cheated us so how is there truth in his image the man that he fashioned of snow of was that maker of pictures hotly he answered the call hunters and and children and fools are ye all look at the beasts when ye hunt them swift from the tumult he broke ran to the cave of his father and told him the shame that they spoke and the father of gave answer that was old and wise in the craft maker of pictures he leaned on his lance and laughed if they could see as thou they would do what thou hast done and each man would make him a picture and what would become of my son there would be no of the flung down at thy cave for a gift nor of the timber that with the drift no store of well needles nor of pale no new cut tongues of the nor meat of the whale n e of oh hast not toiled at the fishing when the nor worked the war boats outward through the rush of the rock seas yet they bring thee fish and plunder full meal and an easy bed and all for the sake of thy pictures and held down his head thou hast not stood to the when the red snow of the fight men have no time at the to count his curls aright and the heart of the hairy thou they do not see yet they save it whole from the and the best for thee and now do they press to thy pictures with open mouth and eye and a little gift in the doorway and the praise no gift can buy but sure they have doubted thy pictures and that is a grievous stain son that can see so clearly return them their gifts again of and looked down at his their broad shell bands and drew downward his and looked at his naked hands and he himself and departed and he heard his father behind son that can see so clearly rejoice that thy tribe is blind straight on that glittering ice field by the of the lost a maker of pictures fell to his on bone even to gaily he whistled and sung blessing his tribe for their blindness heed ye the story of the three the three volume novel is extinct full thirty foot she from to rail it cost a watch to steer her and a week to sail but spite all modern notions found her first and best the only certain packet for the islands of the fair held our breeze behind us twas warm with lovers prayers we d stolen wills for and a crew of missing they as able till the wicked nurse confessed and they worked the old three to the islands of the t and we waved to every wind we smoked good when our proved unkind with maids of beauty and we also took our manners to the islands of the we asked no social questions we no hidden shame we never talked when the little stranger came we left the lord in heaven we left the in hell we weren t exactly but didn t tell no moral doubt assailed us so when the port we the villain got his at the and we cheered twas in the twas on the mast for got married and i went ashore at last x t i left em all in couples on the decks i left the lovers loving and the parents in endless english comfort | 39 |
by county folk i left the old three at the islands of the that route is barred to you ll never lift again our purple painted or the keeps of spain they re just beyond the er so far you in a ram you damn you with a brace of swing round your aching search light show no haven s peace ay blow your shrieking to the deaf seas boom out the dripping oil bags to skin the deep s but you aren t a knot the nearer to the islands of the and when you re crippled with broken bridge and rail on a of dead convictions to hold you head to gale calm as the flying from to dressed you ll see the old three for the islands of the you ll see her canvas in silver spread you ll hear the long drawn thunder her leaping figure head while far so far above you her tall shine by wind or weather like the candles round a shrine down down and she to a speck with noise of pleasant music and dancing on her deck all s well all s well aboard her she s dropped you far behind with a scent of old world roses through the fog that ties you blind her crew are or j her port is all to make you re by truth and science and you steam for steaming s sake well up your engines you know your business best she s taking tired people to the islands of the an american the american spirit speaks if the led call it a strike or the papers call it a war they know not much what i am like nor what he is my through many roads by me possessed he forth in guise he is the and the jest and he the text himself applies the is in his heart and hand the is in his brain and nerve where planned he guards the s dry reserve his easy hearth he from to till out by friends he at on the stoop i american calm eyed he at sword and crown or panic blinded and he bids the world bow down or a of praise or sombre drunk at mine and he his dreary brethren kings his hands are black with blood his heart leaps as a babe s at little things but through the shift of mood and mood mine ancient humour him whole the devil in his blood that bids him mock his hurrying soul that bids him the law he makes that bids him make the law he till dazed by many doubts he wakes the guns that have no doubts that him foolish hot and fond that through his deepest ire that the of his but the goal of his desire n american shrill the mirth that leaves him careless mid his dead the scandal of the elder earth how shall he clear himself how reach our bar or weighed defence prefer a brother with alien speech and lacking all which knowledge him a space but while reproof around him rings he turns a keen face home to the instant need of things he th embarrassed gods nor fears to shake the iron hand of fate or match with destiny for he rules vast and in the teeth of all the schools i i shall save him at the last the mary i ve paid for your fancies i ve humoured your whim dick it s your dying you ve got to listen to him good for a fortnight am i the doctor told you he lied i shall go under by morning and put that nurse outside never seen death yet well now is your time to learn and you ll wish you held my record before it comes to your turn not counting the line and the the yards and the village too i ve made myself and a million but i m damned if i made you master at two and twenty and married at twenty three ten thousand men on the pay roll and forty at sea fifty years between em and every year of it fight and now i m sir dying a for i with his royal what was it the papers a had not least of our merchant princes that s me your didn t begin with took my job and i stuck and i took the chances they wouldn t an now they re calling it luck lord what boats i ve handled rotten and and old ran em or opened the cock precisely as i was told that ud bind you crazy and that ud turn you gray and a big fat lump of to cover the risk on the way the others they t do it they said they valued their life they ve served me since as went and i took my wife i over the world i drove em married at and your mother saving the money and making a man of me i was content to be master but she said there was better behind she took the chances i wouldn t and i followed your mother blind she me to borrow the money an she helped me clear the loan when we bought half shares in a cheap un and hoisted a flag of our own and on credit and living the lord knew how we started the red ox we ve thirty now and those were the days of and the were and we knew we were making our fortune but she died in by the little as you come to the union bank and we dropped her in fourteen i pricked it off where she sank owners we were full owners and the boat was for her and she died | 39 |
out there in my heart how young we so i went on a round and well nigh ran her ashore but your mother came and warned me and i wouldn t liquor no more strict i stuck to my business afraid to stop or i d think saving the money she warned me and letting the other men drink and i met in london i d saved five then and us we started the three and twenty men cheap for the cheap it paid and the business grew for bought me a steam patent and that was a gold mine too cheaper to build em than buy em said but he and we wasted a year in talking before we moved to the and the lines were all beginning and we all of us started fair building our engines like houses and staying the square i but e wanted with marble and and all and and velvet and and a social hall and pipes for all over and cutting the frames too light but he died in the and well i m dying to night i knew knew what was coming when we bid on the they and with iron i d given my orders for steel steel and the first it paid i tell you it paid when we came with our nine knot and the long run trade and they asked me how i did it and i gave em the scripture text you keep your light so shining a little in front o the next they copied all they could follow but they couldn t copy my mind and i left em and stealing a year and a half behind then came the but that was he was always best in the but better perhaps he died i went through his private papers the notes was than print and i m no fool to finish if a man ll give me a hint i remember his widow was angry so i saw what the drawings meant and i started the six inch and it paid me sixty per cent sixty per cent with failures and more than twice we could do and a quarter million to credit and i saved it all for you i thought it doesn t matter you seemed to favour your ma but you re nearer forty than thirty and i know the kind you are an college i ought to ha sent you to sea but i stood you an education an what have you done for me the things i knew was proper you wouldn t thank me to give and the things i knew was rotten you said was the way to live i si e for you with books and pictures an china an s an and your rooms at college was more like a s than a man s till you married that thin woman as white and as stale as a bone and she gave you your social nonsense but where s that kid o your own i ve seen your carriages the half of the road but never the doctor s to help the so there isn t even a an the family s done not like your mother she isn t she carried her freight each run but they died the pore little beggars at sea she had em they died only you an you stood it you haven t stood much beside weak a liar and idle and mean as a s for scraps in the no help my son was no help so he gets three thousand in trust and the interest paid l e i wouldn t give it you you see i made it in trade you re saved from your fingers and if you have no child it all comes back to the business won t your wife be wild calls and calls in her carriage her up to er eye i dear s l and doing her best to cry grateful oh yes i m grateful but keep er away from here your mother ud never ha stood er and anyhow women are queer there s women will say i ve married a second time not quite but give pore a hundred and tell her your lawyers ll fight she was the best o the boiling you ll meet her before it ends i m in for a row with the mother i ll leave you settle my friends for a man he must go with a woman which women don t understand or the sort that say they can see it they aren t the marrying brand si but i wanted to speak o your mother that s lady still i m going to up and see her without it s the will here take your hand off the bell pull five thousand s waiting for you if you ll only listen a minute and do as i bid you do they ll try to prove me a and if you they can and i ve only you to trust to o god why ain t he a man there s some waste money on the same as tried and but i call that sinful pride there s some ship bodies for burial we ve carried em and packed down in their wills they wrote it and nobody called them cracked but me i ve too much money and people might ah my fault it come o hoping for and buying that vault i m sick o the dam business i m going back where i came dick you re the son o my body and you ll take charge o the same i m going to lie by your mother ten thousand mile away and they ll want to send me to and | 39 |
that s where you ll earn your pay i ve thought it out on the quiet the same as it ought to be done quiet and decent and proper an here s your orders my son you know the line you don t though you write to the board and tell your father s death has upset you an you re goin to for a spell an you d like the mary i ve held her ready for this they ll put her in working order an you ll take her out as she is yes it was money idle when i patched her and put her aside thank god i can pay for my fancies the boat where your mother died by the little as you come to the union bank we dropped her i think i told you and i pricked it off where she sank i tiny she looked on the grating that sea hundred and eighteen east remember and south just three easy bearings to carry three south three to the dot but i gave a copy in case of dying or not and so you ll write to he s chief of the line they ll give him leave if you ask em and say it s business o mine built three boats for the an very well pleased they were an i ve known since the and knew me and her after the first stroke warned me i sent him the money to keep against the time you d claim it your to the deep for you are the son o my body and was my oldest friend i ve never asked im to dinner but he ll see it out to the end stiff beggar i ve heard he s prayed for my soul t but he couldn t lie if you paid him and he d starve before he stole hell take the mary in you ll find her a lively ship and you ll take sir that goes on his wedding trip lashed in our old deck cabin with all three wide the kick o the screw beneath him and the round blue seas outside sir s carriage our flag free ten thousand men on the pay roll and forty at sea he made himself and a million but this world is a show and he ll go to the wife of is bosom the same as he ought to go by the heel of the there isn t a chance to mistake and ll pay you the money as soon as the break five thousand for six weeks the afloat and he ll give you your the minute i m out the i s l he ll take you round to and you ll come back alone he knows what i want o the mary i ll do what i please with my own your mother ud call it but i ve thirty more i ll come in my private carriage and bid it wait at the door for my son e was never a credit e with books and art and e lived on sir s money and e broke sir s heart there isn t even a and the family s done the only one you left me o mother the only one an college me early an late an he thinks i m crazy and you re in strait flesh o my flesh my for ever an ever amen that first stroke come for a warning i ought to ha gone to you then cheap for a cheap un the doctors said i d do mary why didn warn me i ve to you i know about women but you are a spirit now an wife they was only women and i was a man that s how an a man e must go with a woman as you could not understand but i never talked em secrets i paid em out o hand thank i can pay for my fancies now what s five thousand to me for a berth off the in the haven where i would be believe in the if i read my bible plain but i wouldn t trust em at we re safer at sea again for the heart it shall go with the treasure go down to the sea in ships i m sick of the hired women i ll kiss my girl on her lips i ll be content with my fountain i ll drink from my own well and the wife of my youth shall charm me an the rest can go to hell z he will that s certain til lie in our bed an ll take her in and she best by the head down by the head an her fires are drawn and cold and the water s hollow on the skin of the empty hold an choking and quiet and and dark full to her lower and steady hark that was the after she s from stem to stern never seen death yet well now is your time to learn of the tramp royal in general i ave tried em all the roads that take you o er the world in general i ave found them good for such as cannot use one bed too long but must get ence the same as i ave done an go matters till they die what do it matter where or ow we die so long as we ve our to watch it all the different ways that different things are done an men an women in this world our chances as they come along an when they ain t they are good in cash or credit no it | 39 |
ain t no good you ave to ave the or you d die unless you lived your life but one day long nor didn t nor fret at all but drew your some ow from the world an never what you might ha done of al but what things are they i t done i ve turned my and to most an turned it good in various situations round the world for im that doth not work must surely die but that s no reason man should labour all is life on one same shift life s none so long from job to job i ve moved along pay couldn t old me when my time was done for something in my upset me all till i ad dropped whatever twas for good an out at sea be the dock lights die an met my mate the wind that the world it s like a book i think this world which you can read and care for just so long but presently you feel that you will die unless you get the page you re done an turn another likely not so good but what you re after is to turn em all bless this world whatever she done when awful long i ve found it good so write before die e liked it all room when smote is he d men sing by land an sea an what he thought y e might require e went an took the same as me the market girls the an the sailors too they old songs turn up again but it same as you they knew e stole e knew they they tell nor make a fuss but winked at down the road an e winked the same as us i back to the army again i m ere in a an a broken at a on to the i don t know a gun from a bat my shirt s duty for jacket my s out o my boots an i m the damned old goose step along o the new back to the army again back to the army again don t look so ard for i t no card i m back to the army again i done my six years service er majesty good day you ll please to come when you re rung for an ere s your back pay an four pence a day for an gen too an now you can make your fortune the same as your do back to again back to the army again back to the army again ow did i learn to do right about turn i m back to the army again a man p four an twenty that t learned of a beside reserve him e d better be never made i tried my luck for a quarter an that was enough for me an i thought of er majesty s an i thought i d go an see back to the army again back to the army again t my fault if i dress when i i m back to the army again the no questions but e winked the other eye e to me an i the same as in days gone by for e saw the set my shoulders an i couldn t straight when me an the other come under the gate sack to again back to the army again back to the army again oo would ha thought i could carry an port i m back to the army again i took my bath an i for i needed it so i smelt the smell o the i the go i the feet on the gravel the feet o the men what an i to my strings i to em peace be still back to the army again back to the army again oo said i knew when the was due i m back to the army again carried my to the tailor i to im none o your lip you tight em over the shoulders an loose em over the ip for the set o the s an e to me strike me dead but thought you was used to the business an so e done what i said back ta again back to the army again back to the army again rather too free with my fancies me i m back to the army again next week i ll ave em fitted i ll buy me a cane they ll let me free o the to walk on the again in the name o william that used to be edward clay an any pore beggar that wants it can draw my a day back to the army again back to the army again out o the cold an the rain out o the cold an the rain oo s there a man that s too good to be lost you a man that is an made a man that will pay what e cost you in the others their trade parade you re the pick o the army because you don t em remain but drives em to cheat to get out o the street an back to the army again birds of prey march march the mud is good about our front eyes front an watch the colour s front the faces of the women in the ain t the kind o things to take aboard the ship cheer an we ll never march to victory cheer an we ll never live to ear the cannon roar the large birds o prey they will carry us away an you ll never see your soldiers any more wheel oh keep your touch we re goin round a corner time mark time an let the men be ind us close i | 39 |
of lord the transport s full an our lot not on cheer o cheer we re going off where no one knows march the devil s none so black as e is painted cheer we ll ave some fun before we re put away an and er a woman s gone and fainted cheer get on the married men to day up you beggars to yer sorrow ear them say they want their tea an want it quick you won t have no mind for not to morrow no you ll put the decks stove out bein sick the married as all to go before us course it s blocked the up again of cheer o cheer the guards tender o er us us since eight this in the rain stuck in order and sick before our time to watch er an fall ere s your ome at last an stop your fall in along the troop deck silence all cheer for we ll never live to see no victory cheer an we never live to ear the cannon roar one cheer more the an the ave an appetite an you ii never see your soldiers any more i ip the eagle an the crow they are ever so an you ll never see your soldiers any more ip yes the large birds prey they will carry us away an you ii never see your soldiers any more soldier an sailor too as i was into the ditch aboard o the i seed a man on a man o war got up in the style e was the paint from off of er plates an i to im oo are you e i m a jolly er majesty s jolly soldier an sailor tool now is work begins at knows when and is work is never through e isn t one o the regular line nor e isn t one of the crew e s a kind of a giddy soldier an sailor too an after i met im all over the world a all kinds of things like with a gun to talk to them kings sailor too e sleeps in an instead of a cot an e with the deck on a an e like a jolly er majesty s jolly soldier an sailor too for there isn t a job on the top the earth the beggar don t know nor do you can leave im at night on a bald man s to is own e s a sort of a soldier an sailor too we ve fought em on we ve fought em in dock an drunk with em in when they called us the ry maids an we called em the ass but when we was down for a double fatigue from to we sent for the er majesty s soldier an sailor too they think for an they steal for and they never ask what s to do but they re an fed an they re up an fed before our s blew ho they ain t no soldier an sailor too too you may say we are fond of an cut or in yards or a board school along o the guards but once in a while we can finish in style for the ends of the earth to view the same as the er majesty s soldier an sailor too they come of our lot they was brothers to us they was beggars we d met an knew yes an inch in the chest an the arms they was o me an you for they weren t no special soldier an sailor too to take your chance in the thick of a rush with firing all about is nothing so bad when you ve cover to and an leave an to shout but to stand an be still to the is a damn tough bullet to an they done it the er majesty s soldier an sailor too their work was done when it t begun they was younger nor me an you an too their choice it was plain between in an bein by the screw so they stood an was still to the soldier an sailor too we re most of us we re of us thieves an the rest are as rank as can be but once in a while we can finish in style which i it won t to me but it makes you think better you an your friends an the work you may ave to do when you think the soldier an sailor too now there isn t no room for to say ye don t know they ave proved it plain and true that whether it s widow or whether it s ship s work is to do an they done it the er majesty s soldier an sailor too when the waters were dried an the earth did appear it s all one says the the lord he created the engineer her majesty s royal engineer with the rank and pay of a when the flood come along for an extra twas constructed the first to the plans of her majesty s etc but after fatigue in the wet an the sun old got drunk which he wouldn t ha done if he d trained with etc when the tower o had mixed up men s bat some clever was managing that an none of etc when the jews had a fight at the foot of an ill young ordered the sun to stand still for he was a captain of etc when the children of made bricks without straw they were the regular work of our corps the work of etc for ever since then if a war they would behold us a on history s page first page | 39 |
for etc we lay down their an help em an we sweep up their mess through the campaign in the style of etc they send us in front with a an a mine to blow up the gates that are rushed by the line but bent by etc they send us behind with a pick an a to dig for the guns of a which has asked for etc s we work under escort in an shirt an the heathen they us tail up in the dirt etc we blast out the rock an we the mud we make em good roads an they roll down the etc we make em their bridges their wells an their huts an the telegraph wire the enemy cuts an it s blamed on etc an when we return an from war we would cease they grudge us the of peace which are kept for etc we build em nice they swear they are bad that our are married or mad etc they haven t no manners nor gratitude too for the more that we help em the less will they do but mock at etc now the line s but a man with a gun in his hand an cavalry s only what horses can stand when helped by etc moves by the leave the ground but we are the men that do something all round for we are etc i have stated it plain an my argument s thus it s all one says the there s only one corps which is perfect that s us an they call us her majesty s her majesty s royal with the rank and pay of a that day it got beyond all orders an it got beyond all it got to wounded an from the companies was for the nearest road to slope it were just a knock an our fault now there ain t no chorus ere to give nor there ain t no band to play art i wish i was dead fore i done what i did or seen what i seed that day i we was sick o bein punished an we let em know it too an a company commander up an it us with a sword b x i an some one shouted it an it come to ki an we our from us oh my there was thirty dead an wounded on the ground we wouldn t keep no there wasn t more than twenty when the front begun to go but christ along the line o flight they cut us up like sheep an that was all we gained by so i the knives be ind me but i t face my man an i don t know where i went to cause i didn t to see till i a beggar out for quarter as e ran an i thought i knew the voice an it was me we was under more than a march away we was up like all about the country side i an the major cursed is maker cause e lived to see that day an the colonel broke is sword an cried we was rotten fore we started we was never we made it out a favour if an order was obeyed yes every little ad is rights an wrongs to mind so we had to pay for an we paid the papers id it but you know the army knows we was put to till the withdrew an they give us each a for england s foes an i you like my because it s true an there ain t no chorus ere to give nor there ain t no band to play but i wish i dead fore i done what i did or seen what i seed that day the men that fought at a song of instruction the men that fought at they was in their time so was them that fought at all the command from to they was once dam sweeps like you then do not be discouraged is your we ll learn you not to forget an you mustn t swear an curse or you ll only catch it worse for we ll make you soldiers yet the men that fought at they ad stocks beneath their six inch an more st e tt at t at but fatigue it was their pride and they would not be denied to clean the cook floor the men that fought at they ad served to em by name of and but they got it in the eye same as you will by an by when they their field the men that fought at they ad buttons up an down two an twenty dozen of em told but they didn t an at an hour s work they kept em bright as gold the men that fought at they was armed with also they was by i don t know what they were but the took good care they washed be ind their ears at the men that fought at they ad ever cash in and which they did not bank nor save but spent it gay an free on their such as me for the good advice i gave the men that fought at they was civil they was never didn t talk o rights an wrongs but they got it with the toe same as you will get it so for interrupting songs the men that fought at they was several other things which i don t remember clear but that s the reason why now the six year men are dry the will stand the beer then do not be discouraged is your we ll learn you not to forget an you mustn t swear an curse or you ll only catch it worse and we ll make | 39 |
im so bless im i ve got to tell im so d yer know what e s like bill now what in the devil would i care e s the image of an s monkey with a pound of in is air bless im an a pound o in is air an s pose you met bill now what in the devil ud ye do i d open is cheek to is chin an up is both eyes too bless im an up is both eyes too look ere where e comes bill now what in the devil will you say it isn t fit an proper to be on a sunday so i ll pass im the time o day bless im i ll pass im the time o day the mother lodge there was station master an of the rail an an o the jail an conductor our master twice was e with im that kept the europe shop old sir salute inside brother it doesn t do no arm we met upon the level we parted on the square i was junior in my mother lodge out there we d an the jew an din of the survey office too ct e there was an the an from the sheds the roman we t good an our lodge was old an bare but we knew the ancient an we em to a hair an on it backwards it often strikes me thus there ain t such things as per it s us for monthly after labour we d all sit down and smoke we t give no lest a brother s caste were broke an man on man got religion an the rest an every man of the god e knew the best so man on man got an not a brother stirred ob t till the an that dam brain fever bird we d say twas curious an we d all ride ome to bed with mo god an in our full oft on ment service this foot pressed an bore s to the east an west as commanded from to but i wish th t i might see them in my mother lodge once more i wish that might see them my brethren black an brown with the pleasant an the down an the old on the bottle floor like a master in good standing with my mother lodge once more y cigar lighter f butler she outside sir salute inside brother an it do no arm we met upon the level an we parted on the square art i was junior in my mother lodge out there follow me ome there was no one like im or foot nor any o the guns knew an because it was so why o course e went an died which is just what the best men do so it s knock out your pipes an follow met an if s finish up your an follow met oh ark to the big drum calling follow follow me f ome j is mare she the day long she the night through an she won t take er feed cause o for is step which s just what a beast would do is girl she goes with a before er month is through me an the are up in church for she s got the beggar which is just what a girl would do we fought bout a last week it were no more than a round or two but i im cruel ard an i wish i t now which is just what a man can t do e was all that i ad in the way of a friend an i ve ad to find one new but i d give my pay an for to get the beggar back which it s just too late to do so it s knock out your pipes an follow me an if s finish off your an follow me i oh ark to the a follow follow me ome take im away e s gone where the best men go take im away an the gun wheels slow me me take im away there s more from the place e come take im away with the an the drum for it s three rounds blank an r follow me an thirteen rank an follow me oh the love o women follow follow me f ome i the s e was warned that s what made im look she was warned im that is why she took wouldn t ear no reason went an done it blind we know all about em they ve got all to find cheer for the s give em one cheer more gray gun in the an a rogue is married to etc what s the use o lot she s been e s a robber an e keeps ow did e get is you needn t ask i made is forty out of every s watch im with is air cut count us by won t the colonel praise is pop i ty we ave scores to settle scores for more than beer she s the girl to pay that is why we re ere i see the see the women smile the married as they take the aisle keep your side arms quiet by the band ho you beggars cough be ind your and now it s done an over ear the organ voice that breathed o er ain t she got the cheek white an ribbons think yourself so fine i d pray to take yer tore i made yer mine si s escort to the wish im luck the brute the slippers after pity taint a boot like a lady like a lad oo would | 39 |
g his big pipe his umbrella and his tall sugar loaf hat with the nodding feathers in it he wrapped himself up in his patched made of every colour and material in the world sat down in a sunny comer of the very quiet and resting his arm on his waited for death the people brought him food and little of flowers and he gave his blessing in return he was nearly blind and his face was and lined and wrinkled beyond belief for he had lived in his time which was before the came within five hundred miles of s vi preface when we grew to know each other well would tell me tales in a voice most like the of heavy guns over a wooden bridge his tales were true but not one in twenty could be printed in an english book because the english do not think as natives do they brood over matters that a native would dismiss till a fitting occasion and what they would not think twice about a native will brood over till a fitting occasion then native and english stare at each other hopelessly across great of and what said one sunday evening is your honoured craft and by what manner of means earn you your daily bread i am said i a one who writes with a pen upon paper not being in the service of the then what do you write said come nearer for i cannot see your countenance and the light fails i write of all matters that lie within my understanding and of many that do not but chiefly i write of life and death and men and women and love and fate according to the measure of my ability telling the tale through the mouths of one two or more people then by the favour of the tales are sold and money to me that i may keep alive even so said that is the work vii preface of the story but he speaks straight to men and women and does not write anything at all only when the tale has aroused expectation and are about to befall the virtuous he stops suddenly and demands payment ere he continues the is it so in your craft my son i have heard of such things when a tale is of great length and is sold as a in small pieces ay i was once a of stories when i was begging on the road between and before the last pilgrimage that ever i took to i told many tales and heard many more at the rest houses in the evening when we were merry at the end of the march it is in my heart that grown men are but as little children in the matter of tales and the oldest tale is the most beloved with your people that is truth said but in regard to our people they desire new tales and when all is written they rise up and declare that the tale were better told in such and such a manner and doubt either the truth or the invention thereof but what folly is theirs said throwing out his knotted hand a tale that is told is a true tale as long as the telling lasts and of their talk upon it you know how iii preface that was the prince of tale said to one who him in the great rest house on the road go on my brother and finish that i have begun and he who took up the tale but having neither voice nor manner for the task came to a and the at supper made him eat abuse and stick half that night nay but with our people money having passed it is their right as we should turn against a in regard to shoes if those wore out if ever i make a book you shall see and judge and the said to the falling tree wait brother till i fetch a said with a grim chuckle god has given me eighty years and it may be some over i cannot look for more than day granted by day and as a favour at this tide be swift in what manner is it best to set about the task said i o of those who string with their tongue how do i know yet he thought for a little how should i not know god has made very many heads but there is only one heart in all the world among your people or my people they are children in the matter of tales but none are so terrible as the little ones if a man a word or in a second telling vary events by so much as one small devil ay i also have told tales to the little ones ii preface but do thou this his old eyes fell on the gaudy paintings of the wall the blue and red dome and the flames of the beyond tell them first of those things that thou hast seen and they have seen together thus their knowledge will piece out thy tell them of what thou alone hast seen then what thou hast heard and since they be children tell them of battles and kings horses devils and angels but omit not to tell them of love and such like all the earth is full of tales to him who and does not drive away the poor from his door the poor are the best of tale for they must lay their ear to the ground every night after this conversation the idea grew in my head and was pressing in his inquiries as to the health of the book later when we had been parted for months it happened that i was to go away and far off and i came to bid good bye it is farewell between us | 39 |
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 such a salt tale listen why do you ask that my clothes are because of the dust on the road my eyes in black and white 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 graciously has he shown his belief that the horses are stolen will it please him to send me to the to call a and have me led away by one of these men i am the s friend i have drunk water in the shadow of his house and he has blackened my face remains there anything more to do will the give me eight to make smooth the injury and complete the insult forgive me my brother i knew not i know not now what i say yes i lied to you i will put dust on my head and i am an the horses have been marched 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 a 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 for silver come back with me to the north and be among 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 and the go up and the go in black and white 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 sheep 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 t 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 | 39 |
the voice of and the song that he sang was dr war a 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 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 in black and white she knew my thought laughed saying it is a little thing i loved him and than art a dog and cattle thief coming by night strike and i being still blinded by her beauty for o my friend the women of the arc 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 oflf 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 water course that flows to the river 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 men said he is gone to for horses what thou of him there is peace between the villages i made answer aye 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 thirsty as a mother mare in the first month your law what is your law to me when the horses fight on the runs do they regard the in black and white 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 and i leaning upon her breast and looked into her eyes swearing that i spoke the very truth of god but she answered never fi waited fi with such eyes lie to god and the prophet but to a woman ye cannot lie get hence there shall no harm by cause of me i would have that girl but for the fear lo of your police and thus the hunting would have come to naught therefore i only laughed and departed and she leaned over the window bar in the night and me down the street her name is when i have made my account with the man i will return to and her lovers shall desire her no more for her beauty s sake she shall not be but the among trees ho ho shall she be at i bought the horses and grapes and the and dried fruits that the reason of my wanderings might be open to the government and that there might | 39 |
be no upon the road but when i came to he was gone and i knew not where to go i stayed one day at and in the night a voice spoke in my ears as i slept among the horses all night it flew round my head and would not cease from whispering i was upon my belly sleeping as the devils sleep and it may have been that the voice was the voice of a devil it said go south and thou shalt come upon listen my brother and among friends listen is the 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 to the i went but that was no in black and white to me ho ho 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 between my feet war a war a fire ashes and my couch all three are one all three are one now i was for 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 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 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 ho i say to you who i in black and white 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 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 the eye of the sun the eye h 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 | 39 |
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 d x ud 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 in black and white 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 is all told i there to the beach a poor exile of the dew on his wet robe hung heavy and chill ere the steamer that brought him had passed out of he was a bill american s ng once upon a time there was a king who lived on the road to very many miles in the his kingdom was eleven thousand feet above the sea and exactly four miles square but most of the miles stood on end owing to the nature of the country his were rather less than four hundred pounds yearly and they were expended in the maintenance of one elephant and a standing army of five men he was to the indian government who allowed him certain sums for keeping a section of the road in repair he further increased his by selling timber to the railway companies for he would cut the great trees in his one forest and they fell thundering into the river and were swept down to the plains three hundred miles away and became now and again this king whose name does in black and white not matter would mount a horse and ride scores of miles to town to confer with the lieutenant on matters of state or to assure the that his sword was at the service of the queen then the would cause a of drums to be sounded and the horse and the cavalry of the state two men in and the herald who bore the silver stick before the king would trot back to their own place which lay between the tail of a heaven climbing and a dark now from such a king always remembering that he possessed one veritable elephant and could count his descent for twelve hundred years i expected when it was my fate to wander through his no more than mere license to live the night had closed in rain and rolling clouds blotted out the lights of the villages in the valley forty miles away untouched by cloud or storm the white shoulder of pa the mountain of the council of the gods the evening star the sang sorrowfully to each other as they hunted for dry in the trees and the last puff of the day wind brought from the unseen villages the scent of damp hot cakes dripping and pine that is the true smell of the and if once it into the blood of a man that man will at the last forgetting all else return to the hills to die the clouds closed and the smell went away and there remained nothing in all the world except white mist and the boom of the river racing through the valley below a sheep who did not want to die at my tent door he was with the prime minister and the general of public education and he was a royal gift to me and my camp servants i expressed my thanks and asked if i might have audience of the king the prime minister his which had off in the struggle and assured me that the king would be very pleased to see me therefore i despatched two bottles as a and when the sheep had entered upon another went to the king s palace through the wet he had sent his army to escort me but the army stayed to talk with my cook soldiers are very much alike all the world over the palace was a four and mud and timber house the finest in all the hills for a day s journey the king was dressed in a purple velvet jacket white muslin trousers and a yellow of price he gave me audience in a little room opening off the palace which was occupied by the elephant of state the great beast was and in black and white from trunk to tail and the curve of his back stood out against the mist the prime minister and the general of public education were present to introduce me but all the court had been dismissed lest the two bottles should corrupt their morals the king cast a wreath of heavy scented flowers round my neck as i bowed and inquired how my honoured presence had the felicity to be i said that through seeing his countenance the mists of the night had turned into sunshine and that by reason of his beneficent sheep his good deeds would be remembered by the he said that since i had set my magnificent foot in his kingdom the crops would probably yield seventy per cent more than the average i said that the fame of the king had reached to the four corners of the earth and that the nations their teeth when they heard daily of the glories of his realm and the wisdom of his moon like prime minister and like general of public | 39 |
education then we sat down on clean white cushions and i was at the king s right hand three minutes later he was telling me that the state of the crop was something disgraceful and that the railway companies would not pay him enough for his timber the talk shifted to and fro with the bottles and we discussed very many stately things and the king became confidential on the subject of generally most of all he dwelt on the of one of his subjects who from all i could gather had been the in the old days said the king i could have ordered the elephant yonder to him to death now i must e en send him seventy miles across the hills to be tried and his keep would be upon the state the elephant eats everything what be the man s crimes said i he is an and no man of mine own people secondly since of my i gave him land upon his first coming he refuses to pay am i not the lord of the earth above and below entitled by right and custom to of the crop yet this devil establishing himself refuses to pay a single tax and he brings a poisonous of cast him into jail i said the king answered shifting a little on the cushions once and only once in these forty years sickness came upon me so that i was not able to go abroad in that hour i made a vow to my that i would never again cut man or woman from the light of the sun and the air of for i perceived the nature of the punishment how in black and white can i break my vow were it only the of a hand or a foot i should not delay but even that is impossible now that the english have rule one or another of my people he looked at the general of public education would at once write a letter to the and perhaps i should be deprived of my of drums he the of his silver water pipe fitted a plain and passed his pipe to me not content with refusing he continued this refuses also the this was the or forced labour on the roads and my people up to the like treason yet he is when he wills an expert there is none better or bolder among my people to clear a block of the river when the logs stick fast but he strange gods said the prime minister for that i have no concern said the king who was as as in matters of belief to each man his own god and the fire or mother earth for us all at last it is the rebellion that me the king has an army i suggested has not the king burned the man s house and left him naked to the night nay a hut is a hut and it holds the life of a man but once i sent my army against him when his excuses became wearisome of their heads he three across the top with a stick the other two men ran away also the guns would not shoot i had seen the of the of it was an old with a ragged hole where the should have been one third a wire bound with a worm eaten stock and one third a four bore flint duck gun without a flint but it is to be remembered said the king reaching out for the bottle that he is a very expert log and a man of a merry what shall i do to him this was interesting the timid hill folk would as soon have refused taxes to their king as to their gods if it be the king s permission i said i will not strike my tents till the third day and i will sec this man the mercy of the king is god like and rebellion is like unto the sin of moreover both the bottles and another be empty you have my leave to go said the king next morning a went through the state that there was a log jam on the river and that it all loyal subjects to remove it the people poured down from their villages to the moist warm valley of fields and the in black and white king and i went with them hundreds of dressed logs had caught on a of rock and the river was bringing down more logs every minute to complete the the water and and worried at the timber and the population of the state began the nearest logs with a pole in the hope of starting a general movement then there went up a shout of and a large red haired hurried up off his clothes as he ran that is he that is the rebel said the king now will the dam be cleared but why has he red hair i asked since red hair among hill folks is as common as blue or green he is an said the king well done oh well done had scrambled out on the jam and was out the butt of a log with a rude sort of boat hook it slid forward slowly as an moves three or four others followed it and the green water through the they had made then the villagers howled and shouted and scrambled across the logs pulling and pushing the obstinate timber and the red head of was chief among them all the logs swayed and and groaned as fi fi om up stream battered the new dam all gave way at last in a of foam racing logs black heads and confusion indescribable the river tossed everything before it i saw the red head go down with the last of the jam and disappear between the great grinding tree trunks it rose close | 39 |
to the bank and blowing like a wrung the water out of his eyes and made to the king i had time to observe him closely the of his shock head and beard was most startling and in the thicket of hair wrinkled above high cheek bones shone two very merry blue eyes he was indeed an but yet a in language habit and attire he spoke the dialect with an indescribable softening of the it was not so much a as an accent whence thou i asked from he pointed across the hills and grinned that grin went straight to my heart mechanically i held out my hand and shook it no pure would have understood the meaning of the gesture he went away to look for his clothes and as he climbed back to his village i heard a joyous yell that seemed it was the of you see now said the king why i would not kill him he is a bold man among my logs in black and white but and he shook his head like a i know that before long there will be complaints of him in the court let us return to the palace and do justice it was that king s custom to judge his subjects every day between eleven and three o clock i saw him decide in matters of and a little wife stealing then his brow clouded and he summoned me again it is he said not content with refusing on his own part he has bound half his village by an oath to the like treason never before has such a thing befallen me nor are my taxes heavy a rabbit faced with a blush rose stuck behind his ear advanced trembling he had been in the conspiracy but had told everything and hoped for the king s king said l if it be the king s will let this matter stand over till the morning only the can do right swiftly and it may be that yonder has lied nay for i know the nature of but since a guest asks let the matter remain wilt thou speak harshly to this red headed he may listen to thee i made an attempt that very evening but for the life of me i could not keep my countenance grinned and began to tell mc about a big brown bear in a field by the river would i care to shoot it i spoke on the sin of conspiracy and the certainty of punishment s face clouded for a moment shortly afterwards he withdrew from my tent and i heard him singing to himself softly among the pines the words were unintelligible to me but the tune like his liquid speech seemed the ghost of something strangely familiar han i to sang again and again and i my brain for that lost tune it was not till after dinner that i discovered some one had cut a square foot of velvet from the centre of my best cloth this made me so angry that i wandered down the valley in the hope of meeting the big brown bear i could hear him like a discontented pig in the field and i waited shoulder deep in the dew dripping indian com to catch him after his meal the moon was at full and drew out the rich scent of the crop then i heard the of a cow one of the little black no bigger than dogs two shadows that looked like a bear and her hurried past me i was in act to fire when i saw that in black and white they had each a brilliant red head the lesser animal was trailing some rope behind it that left a dark track on the path they passed within six feet of me and the shadow of the moonlight lay velvet black on their faces velvet black was exactly the word for by all the powers of moonlight they were in the velvet of my cloth i and went to bed next morning the kingdom was in uproar men said had gone forth in the night and with a sharp knife had cut off the tail of a cow belonging to the rabbit faced who had betrayed him it was unspeakable against the holy cow the state desired his blood but he had retreated into his hut the doors and windows with big stones and defied the world the king and i and the approached the hut cautiously there was no hope of the man without loss of life for from a hole in the wall projected the of an extremely well cared for gun the only gun in the state that could shoot had narrowly missed a just before we came up the standing army stood it could do no more for when it advanced pieces of sharp flew from the windows to these were added from time to time showers of water we saw red heads up and down in the hut the of were their and blood of defiance were the only answers to our prayers never said die king puffing has such a thing befallen my state next year i will certainly buy a little cannon he looked at me is there any priest in the kingdom to whom he will listen said i for a light was beginning to break upon me he his own god said the prime minister we can starve him out let the white man approach said from within all others i will kill send me the white man the door was thrown open and i entered the smoky interior of a hut crammed with children and every child had flaming red hair a raw cow s tail lay on the floor and by its side two pieces of black velvet my black velvet rudely into the semblance of and what is this shame | 39 |
said i he grinned more than ever there is no shame said he i did but cut off the tail of that man s cow he betrayed me i was minded to shoot him but not to death indeed not to death only in the legs and why at all since it is the custom to pay to the why at all in black and white by the god of my i cannot tell said and who was thy father the same that had this gun he showed me his weapon a tower bearing date and the stamp of the honourable india company and thy s name said i said he at the first i being then a little child it is in my mind that he wore a red coat of that i have no doubt but repeat the name of thy father thrice or four times he obeyed and i understood whence the accent in his speech came said he excitedly to this hour i worship his god may i see that god in a little while at twilight time thou aught of thy father s speech it is long ago but there is one word which he said often thus then i and my brethren stood upon our feet our hands to our sides thus even so and what was thy mother a woman of the hills we be of but me they call an because my hair is as thou the woman his wife touched him on the arm gently the long outside the fort had lasted far into the day it was now close upon twilight the hour of the very solemnly the red headed rose from the floor and formed a laid his gun against the wall lighted a little oil lamp and set it before a recess in the wall pulling aside a curtain of dirty cloth he revealed a worn brass leaning against the of a long forgotten east india regiment thus did my father he said crossing himself the wife and children followed suit then all together they struck up the wailing chant that i heard on the han i to i was puzzled no longer again and again they as if their hearts would break their version of the chorus of the wearing of the green they re hanging men and women too for the wearing of the green a inspiration came to me one of the a boy about eight years old was watching me as he sang i pulled out a held the coin between finger and thumb and looked only in black and white looked at the gun against the wall a grin of brilliant and perfect comprehension the face of the child never for an instant stopping the song he held out his hand for the money and then slid the gun to my hand i might have shot as he but i was satisfied the blood instinct of the race held true drew the curtain across the recess was over thus my father sang there is much more but i have forgotten and i do not know the purport of these words but it may be that the god will understand i am not of this people and i will not pay and why again that soul compelling grin what occupation would be to me between crop and crop it is better than bears but these people do not understand he picked the from the floor and looked in my face as simply as a child by what road thou attain knowledge to make these i said pointing i cannot tell i am but a of and yet the stuff which thou hast stolen nay surely did i steal i desired it so the stuff the stuff what else should i have done with the stuff he twisted the velvet between his fingers but the sin of the cow consider that that is true but oh that man betrayed me and i had no thought but the s tail waved in the moonlight and i had my knife what else should i have done the tail came off ere i was aware thou more than i that is true said stay within the door i go to speak to the king the population of the state were ranged on the i went forth and spoke to the king o king said i touching this man there be two courses open to thy wisdom thou either hang him fi om a tree he and his brood till there remains no hair that is red within the land nay said the king why should i hurt the little children they had poured out of the hut door and were making plump to everybody waited with his gun across his arm or thou the of the cow raise him to honour in thy army he comes of a race that will not pay a red flame is in his blood which comes out at the top of his head in that glowing hair make him chief of the army give him honour as may befall and full allowance of work but look to it o king that neither he nor his hold a foot of earth in black and white from thee feed him with words and and also liquor from certain bottles that thou of and he will be a of defence but deny him even a of grass for his own this is the nature that god has given him moreover he has brethren the state groaned but if his brethren come they will surely fig t with each other till they die or else the one will always give information concerning the other he be of thy army o king choose the king bowed his head and i said come forth and command the king s army thy name shall no more be | 39 |
in die mouths of men but for as hast said i know then new son of which is tim gone very wrong indeed clasped the king s feet the standing army and hurried in an agony of fi om temple to temple making for the sin of cattle and the king was so pleased with my that he offered to sell me a village for twenty pounds sterling but i buy no villages in the so long as one red head between die tail of the heaven climbing and the dark forest i know that breed the city of dreadful night the dense wet heat that hung over the face of land like a blanket prevented all hope of sleep in the first instance the helped the heat and the yelling the it was impossible to sit still in the dark empty echoing house and watch the beat the dead air so at ten o clock of the night i set my walking stick on end in the middle of the garden and waited to see how it would fall it pointed directly down the road that leads to the city of dreadful night the sound of its fell disturbed a hare she from her form and ran across to a burial ground where the and rough bones exposed by the july rains like mother o pearl on the rain soil the heated air and the heavy earth had driven the very dead upward for coolness sake the hare on curiously at a fragment of a lamp and died out in the shadow of a of trees the mat s hut under the lee of the it i bj ft c in black and white temple was full of sleeping men who lay like overhead blazed the eye of the moon darkness gives at least a false impression of coolness it was hard not to believe that the flood of light from above was warm not so hot as the sun but still sickly warm and the heavy air beyond what was our due straight as a bar of polished steel ran the road to the city of dreadful night and on either side of the road lay disposed on beds in fantastic attitudes one hundred and seventy bodies of men some all in white with bound up mouths some naked and black as in the strong light and one that lay upwards with dropped jaw fer away from the others silvery white and gray a asleep and the remainder wearied servants small and drivers from the hack stand hard by the scene a main approach to city and the night a warm one in august this was all that there was to be seen but by no means all that one could see the of the moonlight was everywhere and the world was horribly changed the long line of the naked dead by the rigid silver statue was not pleasant to look upon it was made up of men alone were the then forced to sleep in the shelter of the stifling mud huts as best they might the wail the city of dreadful night of a child from a low mud roof answered the question where the children are the mothers must be also to look after them they need care on these nights a black little peeped over the and a thin a painfully thin brown leg was slid over on to the pipe there was a sharp of glass a woman s arm showed for an instant above the itself round the lean little neck and the child was dragged back protesting to the shelter of the his thin high pitched shriek died out in the thick air almost as soon as it was raised for even the children of the soil found it too hot to weep more more stretches of white road a string of sleeping at rest by the a vision of asleep the harness still on their backs and the brass studded country carts in the moonlight and again more a grain cart a tree trunk a log a couple of and a few of cast a shadow the ground is covered with them they lie some face downwards arms folded in the dust some with clasped hands flung up above their heads some curled up dog wise some thrown like limp bags over the side of the and some bowed with their brows on their knees in the full glare of the moon it would be in black and white a comfort if they were only given to but they are not and the likeness to is unbroken in all respects save one the lean dogs snuff at them and turn away here and there a tiny child lies on his other s and a protecting arm is thrown round it in every instance but for the most part the children sleep with their mothers on the yellow are not to be trusted within reach of brown bodies a stifling hot blast from the mouth of the gate nearly ends my resolution of entering the city of dreadful night at this hour it is a compound of all evil animal and vegetable that a walled city can in a day and a night the temperature within the motionless groves of and orange trees outside the city walls seems chilly by comparison heaven help all sick persons and young children within the city tonight the high house walls are still heat savagely and from obscure side breezes that ought to poison a but the do not heed a drove of them are the vacant main street stopping now and then to lay their ponderous against the closed shutters of a grain dealer s shop and to blow like then silence follows the silence that is full of the night noises of a great city a the city of dreadful night ment | 39 |
of some kind is just and only just audible high overhead some one throws open a window and the rattle of the wood work echoes down the empty street on one of the roofs a is in full blast and the men are talking softly as the pipe a little farther on the noise of conversation is more distinct a of light shows itself between the sliding shutters of a shop inside a bearded weary eyed is his account books among the of cotton prints that surround him three figures bear him company and throw in a remark from time to time first he makes an entry then a remark then passes the back of his hand across his streaming forehead the heat in the built in street is fearful inside the shops it must be almost but the work goes on steadily entry growl and uplifted hand stroke succeeding each other with the precision of a policeman and asleep lies across the road on the way to the of a bar of moonlight falls across the forehead and eyes of the but he never it is close upon midnight and the heat seems to be increasing the open square in front of the is crowded with and a man must pick his way carefully for fear of treading on them the moonlight the s in black and white high front of coloured work in broad bands and each separate dreaming pigeon in the and comers of the throws a little shadow ghosts rise up wearily from their and into the dark depths of the building is it possible to climb to the top of the great and thence to look down on the city at all events the attempt is worth making and the chances are that the door of the staircase will be unlocked unlocked it is but a deeply sleeping lies across the threshold face turned to the moon a rat out of his at the sound of approaching footsteps the man opens his eyes for a minute turns round and goes to sleep again all the heat of a of fierce indian is stored in the pitch black polished walls of the staircase half way up there is something alive warm and and it driven from step to step as it catches the sound of my advance it to the top and itself as a yellow eyed angry of are asleep on this and the other and on the below there is the shadow of a cool or at least a less breeze at this height and refreshed thereby turn to look on the city of dreadful night might have drawn it could describe it this spectacle of sleeping thousands in the moonlight and in the shadow of the the city of dreadful night the roof tops are crammed with women and children and the air is full of noises they are restless in the city of dreadful night and small wonder the marvel is that they can even breathe if you gaze intently at the multitude you can see that they are almost as uneasy as a daylight crowd but the tumult is subdued everywhere in the strong light you can watch the turning to and fro shifting their beds and again them in the of the houses there is the same movement the pitiless moon shows it all shows too the plains outside the city and here and there a hand s breadth of the without the walls shows lastly a splash of glittering silver on a house top almost directly below the some poor soul has risen to throw a jar of water over his body the of the water strikes faintly on the ear two or three other men in far off comers of the city of dreadful night follow his example and the water flashes like a small cloud passes over the of the moon and the city and its inhabitants clear drawn in black and white before fade into masses of black and deeper black still the noise continues the sigh of a great city overwhelmed with the heat and of a people seeking in vain for rest it is in black and white only the lower class women who sleep on the what must the torment be in the where a few lamps are still twinkling there are in the court below it is the minister but he ought to have been here an hour ago to tell the faithful that prayer is better than sleep the sleep that will not come to the city the for a moment with the door of one of the awhile and a bull like roar a magnificent bass thunder tells that he has reached the top of the they must hear the cry to the banks of the itself even across the it is almost overpowering the cloud by and shows him in black against the sky hands laid upon his ears and broad chest heaving with the play of his lungs ho then a pause while another somewhere in the direction of the golden temple takes up the call ho again and again four times in all and from the a dozen men have risen up already i bear witness that there is no but god what a splendid cry it is the of the creed that brings men out of their beds by scores at midnight once again he through the same phrase shaking with the vehemence of his own voice and then far and near the night the city of dreadful night air rings with is the prophet of god it is as though he were flinging his defiance to the r off horizon where the summer lightning plays and leaps like a sword every in the city is in full cry and some men on the are beginning to kneel a long pause the last cry | 39 |
la and the silence up on it as the ram on the head of a cotton the down the dark grumbling in his beard he passes the arch of the entrance and then the stifling silence settles down over the city of dreadful night the on the sleep again more loudly the hot breeze comes up in and lazy and the moon down towards the horizon seated with both elbows on the of the tower one can watch and wonder over that heat tortured hive till the dawn how do they live down there what do they think of when will they awake more of water pots faint of wooden moved into or out of the shadows uncouth music of instruments softened by distance into a plaintive wail and one low of thunder in the of the the who lay across the threshold of the when i came up starts wildly in his sleep throws his hands above his head something and in black and white falls back again by the of the they like over i drop off into an uneasy conscious that three o clock has struck and that there is a slight a very slight coolness in the atmosphere the city is absolutely quiet now but for some dog s love song nothing save dead heavy sleep several weeks of darkness pass after this for the moon has gone out the very dogs are still and i watch for the first light of the dawn before making my way homeward again the noise of shuffling feet the morning call is about to begin and my night watch is over ho ho the east grows gray and presently the dawn wind comes up as though the had summoned it and as one man the city of dreadful night rises from its bed and turns its face towards the dawning day with return of life comes return of sound first a low whisper then a deep bass hum for it must be remembered that the entire city is on the my eyelids weighed down with the of long deferred sleep i escape from the through the and out into the square beyond where the have risen away the and are discussing the morning the minute s freshness of the air has gone and it is as hot as at first will the out of his kindness make the city of dreadful night room what is it something home on men s shoulders comes by in the half light and i stand back a woman s corpse going down to the burning and a says she died at midnight from the heat so the city was of death as well as night after all the judgment of see the pale martyr with his shirt on fire s r they tell the even now among the groves of the hill and for point to the and mission house the great 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 judgment of the gods it was the reverend one time of who on the faith of a call went into the wilderness 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 black and white in the morning with a of soft feet the the doubtful and the open troop up to the you must be infinitely kind and patient and above all clear sighted for you deal with the simplicity of childhood the experience of man and the of the savage your congregation have a hundred material wants to be considered and it is for you 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 | 39 |
you an overwhelming sense of the of your toil this must be against and the only spur in your side will be the belief that you are playing against the devil for the living soul it is a great a joyous belief but he who can hold it for four and twenty hours must be blessed with an abundantly strong and nerve ask the gray heads of the medical what manner of life their lead speak to the gospel agency those the judgment of 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 of the hills knowing firom the first that death was almost a certainty few will tell you of these things any more than they will speak of that young david of st bees who set apart for the lord s work broke down in the utter desolation and returned half to the head mission crying there is no god but i have walked with the devil 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 soul from a fantastic faith in wood spirits of the rock and river and the assistant of the country side cared for none of these things he had been long in the district and the loved him and brought him of fish fi om the dim moist heart of the forests and as much game as he could eat in return he gave them and with in black and white 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 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 be looking 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 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 the judgment of 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 have hanged some of the poor brutes be gentle with them but i don t think you ll do much not i said but my master we will with the little children begin many of them will be sick that is so after the children the mothers and then the men but i would greatly that you were in internal sympathies with us prefer departed to risk 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 their brethren of the he was a knock in black and white 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 fm monarch of all i survey and is my because himself on his supreme disregard of human life though he never extended the theory beyond his own he naturally rode forty miles to the mission with a tiny brown 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 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 her daughter alive as said was the custom of all men in | 39 |
did not think to frighten thee senseless little one look up am i angry are are are shall i weep too and of our tears make a great pond and us both and then thy father will never get well lacking thee to pull his beard peace peace and i will tell thee of the thou hast heard many tales very many now this is a new one which thou hast not heard long and long ago when the walked the of the gods with men as they do to day but that we have not faith to see the greatest of gods and his wife were walking in the garden of a temple which temple that in the ward said the child nay very far away maybe at or whither thou must make pilgrimage when thou art a man now there was sitting in the garden under the trees a that had worshipped for forty years and he lived on the of the pious and meditated night and day oh father was it thou said the child looking up with large eyes nay i have said it was long ago and moreover this was married did they put him on a horse with flowers on his head and forbid him to go to sleep all night long thus they did to me when they made my wedding said the child who had been married a few months before and what thou do said i i wept and they called me evil names and then i smote her and we wept together thus did not the said for he was a holy man and very poor perceived him sitting naked by the temple steps where all went up and down and she said to in black and white what shall men think of the gods when the gods thus scorn their for forty years yonder man has prayed to us and yet there be only a few of rice and some broken before him after all men s hearts will be hardened by this thing and said it shall be looked to and so he called to the temple which was the temple of his son of the elephant head saying son there is a without who is very poor what wilt thou do for him then that great elephant headed one awoke in the dark and answered in three days if it be thy will he shall have one of then and went away but there was a money in the garden hidden among the the child looked at the ball of blossoms in its hands ay among the yellow and he heard the gods talking he was a man and of a black heart and he desired that of for himself so he went to the and said brother how much do the pious give thee daily the said i cannot tell sometimes a little rice sometimes a little pulse and a few and it has been and dried fish that is good said the child its lips then said the money because i have the of the gods long watched thee and learned to love thee and thy patience i will give thee now five for all thy of the three days to come there is only a bond to sign on the matter but the said thou art mad in two months i do not receive the worth of five and he told the thing to his wife that evening she being a woman said when did ever make a bad bargain the wolf runs through the com for the sake of the fat deer our is in the hands of the gods pledge it not even for three days so the returned to the and would not sell then that wicked man sat all day before him offering more and more for those three days first ten fifty and a hundred and then for he did not know when the would pour down their gifts by the thousand till he had offered half a of upon this sum the s wife shifted her counsel and the signed the bond and the money was paid in silver great white bringing it by the but saving only all that money the received nothing from the at all and the heart of the money was uneasy on account of expectation therefore at noon of the third day the money went into the temple to spy upon the of the gods and to in black and white in what manner that gift might arrive even as he was making his prayers a crack between the stones of the floor and closing caught him by the heel then he heard the gods walking in the temple in the darkness of the columns and called to his son saying son what hast thou done in regard to the of for the and woke for the money heard the dry rustle of his trunk and he answered father one half of the money has been paid and the for the other half i hold here fast by the heel the child with laughter and the money paid the it said surely for he whom the gods hold by the heel must pay to the the money was paid at evening all silver in great carts and thus did his work a woman was calling in the dusk by the door of the the child began to that is my mother it said go then answered but stay a moment he a generous yard from his put it over the child s shoulders and the child ran away 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 | 39 |
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 in coming the blood will be dry on the clothes i will stay and send a straight report to the and we will in black and white 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 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 at 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 aye 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 of a string on the temples of does the presence know the torture of the cold draw i saw also the ce of the tiger of the evil smile was upon it and i stood back ready for what might befall well it was that i did this thing unlocked the door of his and smiled anew within lay the six and the big police book of the of he had come by night in the devil carriage that is noiseless as a and moving among us asleep had taken away both the guns and the book in black and white twice had he come to the taking each time three the liver of the was to water and he fell in the dirt about the boots of crying have mercy and i i m a and a young man with little children the s mare was in the compound i ran to her and rode the black wrath of the was behind me and i knew not whither to go till she dropped and died i rode the red mare and by the blessing of god who is without doubt on the side of all just men i escaped but the and the rest are now in jail i am a it is as the presence pleases will make the presence a lord and give him a rich as as a to wife and many strong sons if he makes me his orderly the mercy of heaven be upon the yes i will only go to the and bring my children to these so palace like quarters and then the presence is my father and my mother and i am his slave i also am of the household of the in flood time said ue 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 in black and white what are the to thee ram my my mountain of strength in go in no it is useless you can hear him trumpet he is telling that he cannot come over see he has swung round and is shaking his head he is no fool he knows what the means when it is angry indeed thou art no fool my child ram take him under the trees and see that he gets his well done thou among to the and go to sleep what is to be done the must wait till the down it will shrink to morrow morning if pleases or the day after at the latest now why does the get so angry i am his servant before did not create this stream what can | 39 |
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 in flood time devils in the land hung on to its tail the 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 his own wedding ho ho ho the mind of an old man is like the fruit bud blossom and the dead leaves of all the years of the past flourish together old and new and that which is gone out of remembrance all three are there sit on the and drink milk or would the in truth care to drink my tobacco it is good it is the tobacco of my son who is in service there sent it to me drink then if you know how to handle the the takes it like a where did he learn that his own wedding ho ho ho the says that there is no wedding in the matter at all now is it likely that the would speak true talk to me who am only a black man small wonder then that he is in haste thirty years have i beaten the at this ford but never have i seen a in such haste thirty years that is a very long time thirty years ago this ford was on the track of the and i have in black and white seen two thousand pack cross in one night now the rail has come and the fire carriage says and a hundred of slide across that big bridge it is very wonderful but the ford is lonely now that there are no to camp under the trees nay do not trouble to look at the sky without it will rain till the dawn listen the are talking to night in the bed of the river hear them they would be your bones had you tried to cross see i will shut the door and no rain can enter thirty years on the banks of the ford an old man am i and where is the oil for the lamp your pardon but because of my years i sleep no than a dog and you moved to the door look then look and listen a full half from bank to bank is the stream now you can see it under the stars and there are ten feet of water therein it will not shrink because of the anger in your eyes and it will not be quiet on account of your curses which is louder your voice or the voice of the river call to it perhaps it will be ashamed lie down and sleep afresh i know the anger of the when there has fallen rain in the foot hills i swam the flood once on a night worse than this and by the favour of god i in flood time 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 of the drove so great was the honour in which i was held but to day when the rain falls and the river rises i creep into my hut and like a dog my strength is gone from me i am an old man and the fire carriage has made the ford desolate they were wont to call me the strong one of the behold my face it is the 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 fer away down the stream that is the temple fire in the shrine of in black and white of the village of north under the big star is the village itself but t is hidden by a bend of the river is that far to si im 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 | 39 |
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 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 flood time in love and the nine bars are but nine little that the flame of love utterly 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 the stream and nightly i ate in my hut here and drank at yonder she had said that one a thief had sought her and he in black and white 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 half mile 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 in flood time 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 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 in black and white 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 therefore what manner of | 39 |
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 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 in flood time afraid i swear to you that i was not 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 i as a stone boat to the wind so the bridge turned thus and in no other manner i slid from the boom into deep water and behind me came the wave of the wrath of the river i heard its voice and the scream of the middle part of the bridge as it moved from the and sank and i knew no more till i rose in the middle of the great flood i put forth my hand to swim and lo it fell upon the knotted hair of the head of a man he was dead for no one but i the strong one of could have lived in that race he had been dead full two days for he rode high and was an aid to me i laughed then knowing for a that i should yet sec 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 in black and white have sunk the cold was in my and my flesh was and on my bones but be 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 home me to the which is the eastern boundary mark of the village of no other place i drew the dead man up on the grass for the service that he had done me and also because i knew not whether i should need him again then i went crying thrice like a to the appointed place which was near the of the s house but my 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 in flood time those days though i am an old man now ho ho dried com in truth without ho ho i 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 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 grieve to say that the of ford is responsible here for two very bad in the r k a in black and white under the pulpit board and i saw no | 39 |
more of before the breaking of the day we two parted and i moved towards such of the as was not with the full light i saw what i had done in the darkness and the bones of my body were loosened in my flesh for there ran two of raging water between the village of and the trees of the far bank and in the middle the 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 o no man living had done what i had done there was no return for me that day not for all the lands of the would i venture a second time without the shield of darkness that danger i went a up the river to the house of a blacksmith saying that the flood had swept me from my hut and they gave me food seven days i stayed with the blacksmith till a boat came and i to my house there was no trace of wall or roof or floor naught but a patch of mud judge therefore how the river must have risen in flood time it was written that i should not die either in my house or in the heart of the or under the w of the bridge for god sent down two days dead though i know not how the man died to be my and support has been in hell these twenty years and the thought of that night must be the flower of his torment listen the river has changed its voice it is going to sleep before the dawn to which there is yet one hour with the light it will come down afresh how do i know have i been here thirty years without knowing the voice of the river as a knows the voice of his son every moment it is talking less angrily i swear that there will be no danger for one hour or perhaps two i cannot answer for the morning be quick i will call ram and he will not 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 luck go with you once upon a time there was a coffee in india who wished to clear some forest land for coffee planting when he had cut down all the trees and burned the under wood the still remained is expensive and slow fire slow the happy medium for stump clearing is the lord of all beasts who is the elephant he will either push the stump out of the ground with his if he has any or drag it out with ropes the therefore hired by ones and and and fell to work the very best of all the belonged to the very worst of all the drivers or and the superior beast s name was he was the absolute property of his which would never have been the case under native rule for was a creature to be desired by kings and his name being translated meant the pearl elephant because the british government was in the land the enjoyed his property undisturbed he was dissipated when he had made much money through the strength of his elephant he would get extremely drunk and give a beating with a tent over the tender nails of the never trampled the life out of on these occasions for he knew that after the beating was over would embrace his trunk and weep and call him his love and his life and the liver of his soul and give him some liquor was very fond of liquor for choice though he would drink palm tree if nothing better offered then would go to sleep between s and as generally chose the middle of the public road and as mounted guard over him and would not permit horse foot or cart to pass by was till saw fit to wake up there was no sleeping in the on the s clearing the wages were too high to risk sat on s neck and gave him orders while rooted up the for he owned a magnificent pair of or pulled at the end of a rope for he had a magnificent pair of shoulders while kicked him behind the ears and said he was the king of at evening time would wash down his three hundred pounds weight of green food with a of and would take a share and sing songs s legs till it was time to go to bed once a week led down to the river and lay on his side in the while went over in black and white him with a and a brick never the blow of the latter for the of the former that warned him to get up and turn over on the other side then would look at his feet and examine his eyes and turn up the of his mighty ears in case of or after inspection the two would come up with a song from the sea all black and shining waving a torn tree branch twelve feet long in his trunk and up his own long wet hair it was a peaceful well paid life till felt the return of the desire to drink deep | 39 |
he wished for an the little draughts that led nowhere were taking the manhood out of him he went to the and my mother s dead said he weeping she died on the last plantation two months ago and she died once before that when you were working for me last year said the who knew something of the ways of then it s my aunt and she was just the same as a mother to me said weeping more than ever she has left eighteen small children entirely without bread and it is i who must fill their little said beating his head on the floor who brought you the news said the the post said there hasn t been a post here for the past week get back to your lines i a sickness has fallen on my village and all my wives are dying really in tears this time call who comes from s village said the has this man a wife he i said no not a woman of our village would look at him they d sooner marry the elephant wept and you will get into a difficulty in a minute said the go back to your work now i will speak heaven s truth with an inspiration i haven t been drunk for two months i desire to depart in order to get properly drunk afar off and distant from this heavenly plantation thus i shall cause no trouble a flickering smile crossed the s face said he you ve spoken the truth and i d give you leave on the spot if anything could be done with while you re away you know that he will only obey your orders may the light of the heavens live forty thousand years i shall be absent but ten little days that upon my faith and honour and soul i return as to the interval have i the gracious permission of the heaven born to call up in black and white permission was granted and in answer to s shrill yell the swung out of the shade of a of trees where he had been dust over himself till his master should return light of my heart protector of the drunken mountain of might give ear said standing in front of him gave ear and saluted with his trunk i am going away said s eyes he liked as well as his master one could snatch all manner of nice things from the roadside then but you you old pig must stay behind and work the twinkle died out as tried to look delighted he hated stump on the plantation it hurt his teeth i shall be gone for ten days o one hold up your near and i ll impress the upon it of a dried mud took a tent and ten times on the nails and from foot to foot ten days said you must work and haul and root trees as here shall order you take up and set him on your neck curled the tip of his trunk put his foot there and was swung on to the neck handed the heavy the iron elephant s bald head as a a be still of the s your for ten days and now bid me good bye beast after mine own heart oh my lord my king jewel of all created lily of the herd preserve your honoured health be virtuous adieu his trunk round and swung him into the air twice that was his way of bidding the man good bye hell work now said to the have i leave to go the nodded and into the woods went back to haul was very kind to him but he felt unhappy and forlorn notwithstanding gave him balls of and him under the chin and s little baby to him after work was over and s wife called him a darling but was a bachelor by instinct as was he did not understand the domestic emotions he wanted the light of his universe back again the drink and the drunken slumber the savage and the savage caresses none the less he worked well and the in black and white wondered had along the roads till he met a marriage procession of his own caste and drinking dancing and had drifted past all knowledge of the lapse of time the morning of the day dawned and there returned no was from his ropes for the daily he swung clear looked round shrugged his shoulders and began to walk away as one having business elsewhere hi ho come back you shouted come back and put me on your neck mountain return splendour of the of all india heave to or fu bang every toe off your fat gently but did not obey ran after him with a rope and caught him up put his ears forward and knew what that meant though he tried to carry it off with high words none of your nonsense with me said he to your devil son said and that was all that and the ears put his hands in his pockets a branch for a and strolled about the clearing making jest of the other who had just set to work reported the state of to the who came out with a dog whip and cracked it paid the white man the compliment of charging him nearly a quarter of a mile across the clearing and him into the then he stood outside the house to himself and shaking all over with the fun of it as an elephant will we ll him said the he shall have the finest that ever elephant received give and twelve foot of chain apiece and tell them to lay on twenty blows which means black snake and were two of the biggest in the lines and one of their duties was to administer | 39 |
the graver since no man can beat an elephant properly they took the chains and rattled them in their trunks as they up to meaning to him between them had never in all his life of thirty nine years been whipped and he did not intend to open new experiences so he waited weaving his head from right to left and measuring the precise spot in s fat side where a blunt would sink deepest had no the chain was his of authority but he judged it good to swing wide of at the last minute and seem to appear as if he had brought out the chain for amusement in black and white turned round and went home early he did not feel fighting fit that morning and so was left standing alone with his ears cocked that decided the to argue no more and rolled back to his inspection of the clearing an elephant who will not work and is not tied up is not quite so as an eighty one ton gun loose in a heavy sea way he old friends on the back and asked them if the were coming away easily he talked nonsense concerning labour and the rights of to a long and wandering to and fro thoroughly the garden till when he returned to his for food if you won t work you sha n t eat said angrily you re a wild elephant and no educated animal at all go back to your s little brown baby rolling on the floor of the hut stretched its fat arms to the huge shadow in the doorway knew well that it was the dearest thing on earth to he swung out his trunk with a at the end and the brown baby threw itself shouting upon it made fast and pulled up till the brown baby was in the air twelve feet above his father s head great chief said flour cakes of j the best twelve in number two feet across and soaked in rum shall be yours on the instant and two hundred pounds weight of fresh cut young sugar cane only to put down safely that insignificant who is my heart and my life to me tucked the brown baby comfortably between his that could have knocked into all s hut and waited for his food he ate it and the brown baby crawled away and thought of one of many mysteries connected with the elephant is that his huge body needs less sleep than anything else that lives four or five hours in the night suffice two just before midnight lying down on one side two just after one o clock lying down on the other the rest of the silent hours are filled with eating and and long grumbling at midnight therefore strode out of his for a thought had come to him that might be lying drunk somewhere in the dark forest with none to look after him so all that night he chased through the blowing and and shaking his ears he went down to the river and across the where used to wash him but there was no answer he could not find but he disturbed all the in the lines and nearly frightened to death some in the woods in black and white at dawn returned to the plantation he had been very drunk indeed and he expected to fall into trouble for his leave he drew a long breath when he saw that the and the plantation were still for he knew something of s temper and reported himself with many lies and had gone to his for breakfast his night exercise had made him hungry call up your beast said the and shouted in the mysterious elephant language that some believe came from china at the birth of the world when and not men were masters heard and came do not gallop they move from spots at varying of speed if an elephant wished to catch an express train he could not gallop but he could catch the train thus was at the s door almost before noticed that he had left his he fell into s arms with joy and the man and beast wept and over each other and handled each other from head to heel to see that no harm had befallen now we will get to work said lift me up my son and my joy g j swung him up and the two went to the coffee clearing to look for irksome the was too astonished to be very angry loo without benefit of clergy before my spring i autumn s out of her time my field was white with grain the year gave up her secrets to my woe forced and each sick season lay in mystery of increase and decay i saw the sunset ere men saw the day who am too wise in that i should not know i lord of my life it cannot be i have prayed for so many nights and sent gifts to s shrine so often that i know will give us a son a man child that shall grow into a man think of this and be glad my mother shall be his mother till i can take him again and the of the shall cast his send he be bom in an hour and then and then thou wilt never weary of me thy slave since when hast thou been a slave my queen since the beginning till this mercy came to in black and white me how could i be sure of thy love when i knew that i had been bought with silver nay that was the i paid it to thy mother and she has buried it and sits upon it all day long like a hen what talk is yours of i was bought as though i | 39 |
had been a dancing girl instead of a child art thou sorry for the sale i have but to day i am glad thou wilt never cease to love me now answer my king never never no not even though the the white women of thy own blood love thee and remember i have watched them driving in the evening they are very fair i have seen fire by the hundred i have seen the moon and then i saw no more fire clapped her hands and laughed very good talk she said then with an assumption of great it is enough thou hast my permission to depart if thou wilt the man did not move he was sitting on a low red couch in a room furnished only with a blue and white floor cloth some and a very complete collection of native cushions at his feet sat a woman of sixteen and she was all without benefit of clergy but all the world in his eyes by every rule and law she should have been otherwise for he was an englishman and she a s daughter bought two years before from her mother who being left without money would have sold shrieking to the prince of darkness if the price had been sufficient it was a contract entered into with a light heart but even before the girl had reached her bloom she came to fill the greater portion of john s life for her and the withered her mother he had taken a little house overlooking the great red walled city and found when the had sprung up by the well in the and had established herself according to her own ideas of comfort and her mother had ceased grumbling at the of the cooking places the distance from the daily market and at matters of housekeeping in general that the house was to him his home any one could enter his bachelor s by day or night and the life that he led there was an one in the house in the city his feet only could pass beyond the outer to the women s rooms and when the big wooden gate was bolted behind him he was king in his own territory with for queen and there was going to be added to this kingdom a third person whose arrival felt inclined to resent it interfered with in black and white his perfect happiness it the orderly peace of the house that was his own but was wild with delight at the thought of it and her mother not less so the love of a man and particularly a white man was at the best an affair but it might both women argued be held fast by a baby s hands and then would always say then he will never care for the white i hate them all i hate them all he will go back to his own people in time said the mother but by the blessing of god that time is yet off sat silent on the couch thinking of the future and his thoughts were not pleasant the of a double life are manifold the with singular care had ordered him out of the station for a fortnight on special duty in the place of a man who was watching by the bedside of a sick wife the verbal of the transfer had been edged by a cheerful remark that ought to think himself lucky in being a bachelor and a free man he came to break the news to it is not good she said slowly but it is not all bad there is my mother here and no harm will come to me unless indeed i die of pure joy thou to thy work and think no troublesome thoughts when the days are done i believe nay i am sure and and then i shall lay him without benefit of clergy in thy arms and thou wilt love me for ever the train goes to night at midnight is it not go now and do not let thy heart be heavy by cause of me but thou wilt not delay in returning thou wilt not stay on the road to talk to the bold white come back to me swiftly my life as he left the to reach his horse that was to the gate post spoke to the white haired old who guarded the house and bade him under certain despatch the up telegraph form that gave him it was all that could be done and with the sensations of a man who has attended his own funeral went away by the night mail to his exile every hour of the day he dreaded the arrival of the and every hour of the night he pictured to himself the death of in consequence his work for the state was not of first rate quality nor was his temper towards his of the most amiable the fortnight ended without a sign from his home and torn to pieces by his anxieties returned to be swallowed up for two precious hours by a dinner at the club wherein he heard as a man hears in a voices telling him how he had performed the other man s duties and how he had himself to all his associates then he fled on horseback through the night with his heart in black and white in his mouth there was no answer at first to his blows on the gate and he had just wheeled his horse round to kick it in when appeared with a lantern and held his has aught occurred said the news does not come from my mouth protector of the poor but he held out his shaking hand as the bearer of good news who is entitled to a reward hurried through the a light burned in | 39 |
the upper room his horse in the and he heard a shrill little wail that sent all the blood into the apple of his throat it was a new voice but it did not prove that was alive who is there he called up the narrow brick staircase there was a cry of delight from and then the voice of the mother tremulous with old age and pride we be two women and the man thy son on the threshold of the room stepped on a naked dagger that was laid there to and it broke at the under his impatient heel god is great in the half light thou hast taken his misfortunes on thy head ay but how is it with thee life of my life old woman how is it with her without benefit of clergy she has forgotten her sufferings for joy that the child is bom there is no harm but speak softly said the mother it only needed thy presence to make me all well said my king thou hast been very long away what gifts hast thou for me ah ah it is i that bring gifts this time look i my life look was there ever such a babe nay i am too weak even to clear my arm from him rest then and do not talk i am here little woman well said for there is a bond and a heel rope between us now that nothing can break look thou see in this light he is without spot or never was such a man child ta i he shall be a no a of the queen and my life dost thou love me as well as ever though i am faint and sick and worn answer truly yea i love as i have loved with all my soul lie still pearl and rest then do not go sit by my side here so mother the lord of this house needs a cushion bring it there was an almost movement on the part of the new life that lay in the hollow of s arm she said her voice breaking with love the babe is a champion from his birth he is kicking me in in black and white the side with mighty was there ever such a babe and he is ours to us thine and mine put thy hand on his head but carefully for he is very young and men are in such matters very cautiously touched with the tips of his fingers the head he is of the faith said for lying here in the night watches i whispered the call to prayer and the profession of faith into his ears and it is most marvellous that he was bom upon a friday as i was bom be careful of him my life but he can almost grip with his hands found one helpless little hand that closed feebly on his finger and the clutch ran through his body till it settled about his heart till then his sole thought had been for he began to that there was some one else in the world but he could not feel that it was a veritable son with a soul he sat down to think and lightly get hence said her mother under her breath it is not good that she should find you here on waking she must be still i go said here be see that my gets fat and finds all that he needs the of the silver roused i am his mother and no she said weakly shall i look to him more or less for the sake of without benefit of clergy money mother give it back i have bom my lord a son the deep sleep of weakness came upon her before the sentence was completed went down to the very softly with his heart at ease the old was with delight this house is now complete he said and without further comment thrust into s hands the of a worn many years ago when he served the queen in the police the of a goat came from the well there be two said two of the best i bought them and they cost much money and since there is no birth party assembled their flesh will be all mine strike tis an ill balanced at the best wait till they raise their heads from the and why said bewildered for the birth sacrifice what else otherwise the child being from fate may die the protector of the poor knows the fitting words to be said had learned them once with little thought that he would ever speak them in earnest the touch of the cold in his palm turned suddenly to the clinging grip of the child up stairs the child that was his own son and a dread of loss filled him in black and white strike said never life came into the world but life was paid for it see the have raised their heads now with a drawing cut hardly knowing what he did cut twice as he muttered the prayer that runs almighty in place of this my son i offer life for life blood for blood head for head bone for bone hair for hair skin for skin the waiting horse and bounded in his at the smell of the raw blood that over s riding boots well smitten said wiping the a was lost in thee go with a light heart heaven bom i am thy servant and the servant of thy son may the presence live a thousand years and the flesh of the is all mine drew back richer by a month s pay swung himself into the saddle and rode off through the low hanging wood smoke of the evening he was full of exultation with a vast vague directed | 39 |
towards no particular object that made him choke as he bent over the neck of his uneasy horse i never felt like this in my life he thought fu go to the club and pull myself together a game of pool was beginning and the room was full of men entered eager to get to no without benefit of clergy the light and the company of his fellows singing at the top of his voice in a walking a lady i did meet did you said the club secretary from his comer did she happen to tell you that your boots were wringing wet great goodness man it s blood said picking his cue from the rack may i cut in it s dew been riding through high crops my my boots arc in a mess though and if it be a girl she shall wear a wedding ring and if it be a boy he shall fight for his king with his and his cap and his little jacket blue he shall walk the quarter deck yellow on blue green next player said the he shall walk the quarter deck am i green he shall walk the eh that s a bad shot as his used to do i don t see that you have anything to crow about said a zealous junior the is not exactly pleased with your work when you relieved does that mean a from ill in black and white said with an abstracted smile i think i can stand it the talk beat up round the ever fresh subject of each man s work and till it was time to go to his dark empty where his butler received him as one who knew all his affairs remained awake for the greater part of the night and his dreams were pleasant ones ii how old is he now what a man s question he is all but six weeks old and on this night i go up to the with thee my life to count the stars for that is and he was bom on a friday under the sign of the sun and it has been told to me that he will us both and get wealth can we wish for aught better beloved there is nothing better let us go up to the roof and thou shalt count the stars but a few only for the sky is heavy with cloud the winter rains are late and maybe they come out of season come before all the stars are hid i have put on my richest jewels thou hast forgotten the best of all ai ours he comes also he has never yet seen the skies without benefit of clergy climbed the narrow staircase that led to the flat roof the child placid and lay in the hollow of her right arm gorgeous in silver fringed muslin with a small skull cap on his head wore all that she valued most the diamond nose that takes the place of the western patch in drawing attention to the curve of the the gold ornament in the centre of the forehead studded with drop and the heavy of beaten gold that was listened round her neck by the softness of the pure metal and the silver hanging low over the rosy ankle bone she was dressed in muslin as a daughter of the faith and from shoulder to elbow and elbow to wrist ran of silver tied with silk frail glass slipped over the wrist in proof of the of the hand and certain heavy gold that had no part in her country s ornaments but since they were s gift and fastened with a cunning european snap delighted her immensely they sat down by the low white of the roof overlooking the city and its lights they are happy down there said but i do not think that they are as happy as we nor do i think the white arc as happy and thou in black and white i know they are not how dost thou know they give their children over to the nurses i have never seen that said with a sigh nor do i wish to see she dropped her head on s shoulder i have counted forty stars and i am tired look at the child love of my life he is counting too the baby was staring with round eyes at the dark of the heavens placed him in s arms and he lay there without a cry what shall we call him among ourselves she said look art thou ever tired of looking he carries thy very eyes but the mouth is thine most dear who should know better than i tis such a feeble mouth oh so small and yet it holds my heart between its lips give him to me now he has been too long away nay let him lie he has not yet begun to cry when he cries thou wilt give him back eh what a man of mankind thou art if he cried he were only the dearer to me but my life what little name shall we give him the small body lay close to s heart it was utterly helpless and very soft he scarcely dared to breathe for fear of crushing it the green that is regarded as a sort of without benefit of clergy guardian spirit in most native moved on its perch and fluttered a drowsy wing there is the answer said has spoken he shall be the when he is ready he will talk and run about is the in thy in the tongue is it not why put me so far off said let it be like unto some english name but not wholly for he is mine then call him for that is english ay and that | 39 |
is still the forgive me my lord for a minute ago but in truth he is too little to wear all the weight of for name he shall be our to us thou o small one thou art she touched the child s cheek and he waking and it was necessary to return him to his mother who soothed him with the wonderful rhyme of which says oh crow go crow baby s sleeping sound and the wild grow in the only a penny a pound only a penny a pound only a penny a pound reassured many times as to the price of those himself down to sleep the two sleek white well in the were steadily the of their evening meal old at the head of in black and white den s horse his police across his knees pulling at a big water pipe that like a in a pond s mother sat spinning in the lower and the wooden gate was shut and barred the music of a came to the roof above the gentle hum of the city and a string of flying crossed the face of the low moon i have prayed said after a long pause i have prayed for two things first that i may die in thy stead if thy death is demanded and in the second that i may die in the place of the child i have prayed to the prophet and to the virgin mary thou either will hear from thy lips who would not hear the word i asked for straight talk and thou hast given me sweet talk will my prayers be heard how can i say god is very good of that i am not sure listen now when i die or the child dies what is thy living thou wilt return to the bold white log for kind calls to kind not always with a woman no with a man it is otherwise thou wilt in this life later on go back to thine own folk that i could almost endure for i should be dead but in thy very death thou without benefit of clergy wilt be taken away to a strange place and a paradise that i do not know will it be paradise surely for who would harm thee but we two i and the child shall be elsewhere and we cannot come to thee nor thou come to us in the old days before the child was bom i did not think of these things but now i think of them always it is very hard talk it will fall as it will to morrow we do not know but to day and love we know well surely we are happy now so happy that it were well to make our happiness assured and thy should listen to me for she is also a woman but then she would envy me it is not for men to worship a woman laughed aloud at s little of jealousy is it not why thou not turn me from worship of thee then thou a and of me my king for all thy sweet words well i know that i am thy servant and thy slave and the dust under thy feet and i would not have it otherwise see before could prevent her she stooped forward and touched his feet recovering herself with a little laugh she closer to her bosom then almost savagely in black and white is it true that the bold white log live for three times the length of my life is it true that they make their marriages not before they are old women they marry as do others when they are women that i know but they wed when they arc twenty five is that true that is true ta at twenty five who would of his own will take a wife even of eighteen she is a woman every hour twenty five i shall be an old woman at that age and those remain young for ever how i hate them what have they to do with us i cannot tell i know only that there may now be alive on this earth a woman ten years older than i who may come to thee and take thy love ten years after i am an old woman and the nurse of s son that is unjust and evil they should die too now for all thy years thou art a child and shalt be picked up and carried down the staircase have a care for my lord thou at least art as foolish as any babe tucked out of harm s way in the hollow of her neck and was carried downstairs laughing in without benefit of clergy s arms while opened his eyes and smiled after the manner of the lesser angels he was a silent in t and almost before could that he was in the world developed into a small gold coloured little god and of the house overlooking the city those were months of absolute happiness to and happiness withdrawn from the world shut in behind the wooden gate that guarded by day did his work with an immense pity for such as were not so fortunate as himself and a sympathy for small children that amazed and amused many mothers at the little station at nightfall he returned to full of the wondrous doings of how he had been seen to clap his hands together and move his fingers with intention and purpose which was a miracle how later he had of his own crawled out of his low on to the floor and swayed on both feet for the space of three and they were long for my heart stood still with delight said then took the beasts into his the well the little | 39 |
gray the that lived in a hole near the well and especially the whose tail he pulled and screamed till and arrived in black and white o villain i child of strength i this to thy brother on the house top but i know a charm to make him wise as and solomon and now look said she drew from an embroidered bag a handful of see we count seven in the name of god she placed very angry and on the top of his cage and herself between the babe and the bird she cracked and an less white than her teeth this is a true charm my life and do not laugh see i give the one half and the other with careful took his share from between s lips and she kissed the other half into the mouth of the child who ate it slowly with wondering eyes this i will do each day of seven and without doubt he who is ours will be a bold speaker and wise eh what wilt thou be when thou art a man and i am gray headed tucked his fat legs into he could crawl but he was not going to waste the spring of his youth in idle speech he wanted s tail to when he was advanced to the dignity of a silver belt which with a magic square engraved on silver and hung round his neck made up the greater part of his clothing he staggered on a perilous journey down the garden to without benefit of clergy and proffered him all his jewels in exchange for one little ride on s horse having seen his mother s mother with in the wept and set the feet on his own gray head in sign of and brought the bold adventurer to his mother s arms that would be a leader of men ere his beard was grown one hot evening while he sat on the roof between his father and mother watching the of the that the city boys flew he demanded a of his own with to fly it because he had a fear of dealing with anything larger than himself and when called him a spark he rose to his feet and answered slowly in defence of his new found individuality hum park hum i am no spark but a man the protest made choke and devote himself very seriously to a consideration of future he need hardly have taken the trouble the delight of that life was too perfect to endure therefore it was taken away as many things are taken away in india suddenly and without warning the little lord of the house as called him grew sorrowful and complained of pains who had never known the meaning of pain wild with terror watched him through the night and in the dawning of the second day in black and white the life was shaken out of him by fever the autumn fever it seemed altogether impossible that he could die and neither nor at first believed the evidence of the little body on the then beat her head against the wall and would have flung herself down the well in the garden had not restrained her by main force one mercy only was granted to he rode to his office in broad daylight and found waiting him an unusually heavy mail that de concentrated attention and hard work he was not however alive to this kindness of the gods ill the first shock of a bullet is no more than a brisk pinch the wrecked body does not send in its protest to the soul till ten or fifteen seconds later his pain slowly exactly as he had his happiness and with the same imperious necessity for hiding all trace of it in the beginning he only felt that there had been a loss and that needed comforting where she sat with her head on her knees shivering as from the house top called later all his world and the daily life of it rose up to hurt him it was an outrage that any one of without benefit of clergy the children at the band stand in the evening should be alive and when his own child lay dead it was more than mere pain when one of them touched him and stories told by over fond fathers of their children s latest performances cut him to the quick he could not declare his pain he had neither help comfort nor sympathy and at the end of each weary day would lead him through the hell of self questioning reproach which is reserved for those who have lost a child and believe that with a little just a little more care it might have been saved perhaps would say i did not take sufficient heed did i or did i not the sun on the roof that day when he played so long alone and i was my hair it may be that the sun then bred the fever if i had warned him from the sun he might have lived but oh my life say that i am thou that i loved him as i love thee say that there is no blame on me or i shall die i shall die there is no blame before god none it was written and how could we do aught to save what has been has been let it go beloved he was all my heart to me how can i let the thought go when my arm tells me every night that he is not here o come back to me come back again and let us be all together as it was before in black and white peace peace for thine own sake and for mine also if thou me rest by this i know thou dost not | 39 |
the next man who should fall there were twelve hours in each day when he could not see and she might die in three he was considering what his pain would be if he could not sec her for three months or if she died out of his sight he was absolutely certain that her death would be demanded so certain that when he looked up from the and saw breathless in the doorway he laughed aloud and said he without benefit of clergy when there is a cry in the night and the spirit into the throat who has a charm that will restore come swiftly heaven born it is the black galloped to his home the sky was heavy with clouds for the long deferred rains were near and the heat was stifling s mother met him in the she is dying she is nursing herself into death she is all but dead what shall i do was lying in the room in which had been bom she made no sign when entered because the human soul is a very lonely thing and when it is getting ready to go away hides itself in a misty where the living may not follow the black does its work quietly and without explanation was being thrust out of life as though the angel of death had himself put his hand upon her the quick breathing seemed to show that she was either afraid or in pain but neither eyes nor mouth gave any answer to s kisses there was nothing to be said or done could only wait and suffer the first drops of the rain began to fall on the roof and he could hear shouts of joy in the city the soul came back a little and the lips moved bent down to listen keep nothing of mine said take no hair from my in black and white head would make thee bum it later on that flame i should feel lower stoop lower remember only that i was thine and bore thee a son though thou wed a white woman to morrow the pleasure of receiving in thy arms thy first son is taken from thee for ever remember me when thy son is born the one that shall carry thy name before all men his misfortunes be on my head i bear witness i bear witness the lips were forming the words on his ear that there is no but thee beloved then she died sat still and all thought was taken from him till he heard s mother lift the curtain is she dead she is dead then i will mourn and afterwards take an of the furniture in this house for that will be mine the does not mean to resume it it is so little so very little and i am an old woman i would like to lie softly for the mercy of god be silent a while go out and mourn where i cannot hear she will be buried in four hours i know the custom i shall go ere she is taken away that matter is in thy hands look to it that the bed on which on which she lies that red bed i have long desired without benefit of clergy that the bed is left here untouched for my disposal all else in the house is thine hire a cart take everything go hence and before sunrise let there be nothing in this house but that which i have ordered thee to respect i am an old woman i would stay at least for the days of mourning and the rains have just broken whither shall i go what is that to me my order is that there is a going the house gear is worth a thousand and my orderly shall bring thee a hundred to night that is very little think of the cart hire it shall be nothing unless thou and with speed o woman get hence and leave me with my dead the mother down the staircase and in her anxiety to take stock of the house forgot to mourn stayed by s side and the rain roared on the roof he could not think by reason of the noise though he made many attempts to do so then four ghosts glided dripping into the room and stared at him through their they were the of the dead left the room and went out to his horse he had come in a dead stifling calm through ankle deep dust he found the a rain lashed pond alive with a torrent of yellow water ran under the gate and a in black and white roaring wind drove the of the rain like against the mud walls was shivering in his little hut by the gate and the horse was stamping uneasily in the water i have been told the s order said it is well this house is now desolate i go also for my monkey face would be a of that which has been concerning the bed i will bring that to thy house yonder in the morning but remember it will be to thee a knife turning in a green wound i go upon a pilgrimage and i will take no money i have grown in the protection of the presence whose sorrow is my sorrow for the last time i hold his he touched s foot with both hands and the horse sprang out into the road where the creaking were the sky and all the were could not see for the rain in his face he put his hands before his eyes and muttered oh you brute you utter brute the news of his trouble was already in his he read the knowledge in his butler s eyes when brought in food and for the first and last time in his life | 39 |
to he was simply da and declined to give further information for the sake of the sending of da 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 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 e 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 h in black and white 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 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 shape 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 the sending of da and nearly him very few natives care to for this reason let me despatch a sending said da i am nearly dead now with want and drink and but i should like to kill a man before i die i can send a sending anywhere you choose and in any form except in the shape of a man the englishman had no friends that he wished to kill but partly to soothe da whose eyes were rolling and partly to see what would be done he asked whether a modified sending could not be arranged for such a sending as should make a man s life a burden to him and yet do him no harm if this were possible he his to give da ten for the job i am not what i was once said da and i must take the money because i am poor to what englishman shall i send it send a sending to lone said the englishman a man who had been most bitter in him for his from the creed da laughed and nodded i could have chosen no better man myself said he i will see that he finds the sending about his path and about his bed he lay down on the hearth rug turned up the of his eyes shivered all over and began to this was magic or or the sending or all three when he opened his eyes he in black and white vowed that the sending had started upon the war path and was at that moment flying up to the town where lone lives give me my ten said da wearily and write a letter to lone telling him and all who believe with him that you and a friend are using a power greater than theirs they will see that you are speaking the truth he departed with the promise of some more if anything came of the sending the englishman sent a letter to lone in what he remembered of the of the creed he wrote i also in the days of what you held to be my have obtained and with has come power then he grew so deeply mysterious that the of the letter could make neither head nor tail of it and was impressed for he fancied that his friend had become a fifth when a man is a he can do more than and combined lone read the letter in five different fashions and was beginning a sixth interpretation when his bearer dashed in with the news that there was a cat on the bed now if there was one thing that lone hated more than another it was a cat he the bearer for not turning it out of the house the bearer said that he was afraid all the sending of da the doors of the bedroom had been shut throughout the morning and no real cat could possibly have entered the room he would prefer not to with the creature lone entered the room | 39 |
and there on the pillow of his bed and a white not a little beast but a like with its eyes barely opened and its lacking strength or direction a that ought to have been in a basket with its mamma lone caught it by the of its neck handed it over to the to be drowned and the bearer four that evening as he was reading in his room he fancied that he saw something moving about on the hearth rug outside the circle of light firom his reading lamp when the thing began to he it was a a white ten nearly blind and very miserable he was seriously angry and spoke bitterly to his bearer who said that there was no in the room when he brought in the lamp and real of tender age generally had mother cats in attendance if the presence will go out into the and listen said the bearer he will hear no cats how therefore can the on the bed and the on the hearth rug be real lone went out to listen and the bearer in black and white followed him but there was no sound of any one for her children he returned to his room having hurled the down the and wrote out the incidents of the day for the benefit of his co those people were so absolutely free fi om superstition that they ascribed anything a little out of the common to as it was their business to know all about the they were on terms of almost familiarity with of every kind their letters dropped from the ceiling and spirits used to up and down their all night but they had never come into contact with lone wrote out the facts noting the hour and the minute as every observer is bound to do and the englishman s letter because it was the most mysterious document and might have had a bearing upon anything in this world or the next an would have translated all the thus look out you laughed at me once and now i am going to make you sit up lone s co found that meaning in it but their translation was refined and full of four syllable words they held a and were filled with tremulous joy for in spite of their familiarity with all the other worlds and they had a very human awe of things sent from ghost land they met in lone s room in the sending of da and gloom and their was broken up by a among the on the a white nearly blind was and itself between the clock and the that stopped all or here was the in the flesh it was so far as could be seen devoid of purpose but it was a of they a round robin to the englishman the of old days him in the interests of the creed to explain whether there was any connection between the of some egyptian god or other i have forgotten the name and his communication they called the ra or or turn or something and when lone confessed that the first one had at his most instance been drowned by the they said that in his next life he would be a and not even a of the lowest grade these words may not be quite correct but they 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 in black and white but what in the world is this about egyptian gods asked the englishman cats said da with a for he had discovered the englishman s bottle cats and cats and cats never was such a sending a hundred of cats now give me ten more and write as i dictate da s letter was a curiosity it bore the englishman s signature and hinted at cats at a sending of cats the mere words on paper were and to behold what have you done though said the englishman i am as much in the dark as ever do you mean to say that you can 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 firom its folds when he opens it or goes out to dinner and finds the sending of da a little blind under his chair or stays at home and finds a under the or among his boots or hanging head downwards in his tobacco jar or being by his in the when such a man finds 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 highly favoured individual but many said that if he had treated the first with proper respect as suited a ra all | 39 |
this trouble would have been averted they compared him to the ancient but none the less they were proud of him and proud of the englishman who had sent the they did not call it a sending because magic was not in their programme after sixteen that is to say after one fortnight for there were three on the first day to impress the fact of the sending the whole camp was uplifted by a letter it came flying through a window from the old man of the mountains the head of all the creed explain in black and white ing the in the most beautiful language and up all the credit for it himself the englishman said the letter was not there at all he was a without power or who couldn t even raise a table by force of much less project an army of through space the entire arrangement said the letter was strictly worked and by the highest authorities within the pale of 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 and ending with a selection of curses from the rites of and and the of who was a fifth 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 tc the supreme head naturally the round robin did not spare him the sending of da 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 fi om 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 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 in black and white would the matter with contempt da h without a d at tlie back ot him but this did tu t hi people they wanted to sec a they very human lor all their lone s who wa being worn out with to his t ate he t that he was tr r i ned to prove the power of d mj da port says when dawned the shower beg m some were white and some and ail were about the same age three were on his hearth rug three in his and the six turned up at intervals among the visitors who came to see the prophecy break li never was a more sending there were no and th s all other days were i i he people and looked to i t t mountains tor an explanation s a palm dropped t rom the i b i le lone felt that i the occasion demanded t j en cats there should have been cars i the letter proved with a identity had v it activity all along e i h k the were still going on the sending of da but owing to some failure in the developing they were not the air was thick with letters for a few days afterwards unseen hands played and on 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 j in black and white mission school pearl merchant all mine english education out and made up name da england with american thought reading man and and you gave mc ten several times i gave the s bearer two eight a month for | 39 |
cats little little cats i wrote and he put them about 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 through the fire the policeman rode through the forest under the moss draped oaks and his orderly trotted after him it s an ugly business said the policeman where are they it is a very ugly business said and as for they are doubtless now in a fire than was ever made of let us hope not said the policeman for allowing for the difference between race and race it s the story of da knew nothing about da so he held his peace until they came to the clearing where the dying flames said whit as they fluttered and whispered over the white ashes it must have been a great fire when at full height men had seen it at pa across the valley and blazing through the night and said that the of were getting drunk but it was only of the io d by bt co in black and white native and a woman burning burning burning this was how things and the policeman s will bear me out was the wife of who was a one eyed and of a malignant disposition a week after their marriage he beat with a heavy stick a month later came that way to the cool hills on leave from his regiment and the villagers of with tales of service and glory under the government and the honour in which he was held by the colonel and listened to as have done all the world over and as she listened she loved i ve a wife of my own said though that is no matter when you come to think of it i am also due to return to my regiment after a time and i cannot be a i who intend to be there is no version of i could not love thee dear as much loved i not honour more but came near to making one never mind said stay with me and if tries to beat me you beat him very good said and he beat severely to the delight of all the of through the fire that is enough said as he rolled down the now we shall have peace but crawled up the grass slope again and hovered round his hut with angry eyes he ll kill me dead said to you must take me away there ll be a trouble in the lines my wife will pull out my beard but never mind said i will take you there was loud trouble in the lines and s beard was pulled and s wife went to live with her mother and took away the children that s all right said and said yes that s all right so there was only left in the hut that looks across the valley to pa and since the beginning of time no one has had any sympathy for husbands so unfortunate as he went to the man who keeps the talking monkey s head get me back my wife said i can t said until you have made the in the valley run up the pa no said and he shook his above s white head give all your money to the of the village said and they will hold a council and the council will send a message that your wife must come back in black and white so gave up all his worldly wealthy to twenty seven eight three and a silver chain to the council of and it fell as foretold they sent s brother down into s regiment to call home kicked him once round the lines and then handed him over to the who beat him with a belt come back s brother where to said to said he never said she then will send a curse and you will away like a tree in the said s brother slept over these things next morning she had i am beginning to away like a tree in the she said that is the curse of and she really began to away because her heart was dried up with fear and those who believe in curses die from curses too was afraid because he loved better than his very life two months passed and s brother stood outside the lines again and you are withering away come back through the fire i will come back said say rather that we will come back said ai but when said s brother upon a day very early in the morning said and he off to apply to the colonel for one week s leave i am withering away like a tree in the spring moaned you will be better soon said and he told her what was in his heart and the two laughed together softly for they loved each other but grew better from that hour they went away together travelling third class by train as the provided and then in a cart to the low hills and on foot to the high ones the scent of the pines of her own hills the wet hills it is good to be alive said said where is the road and where is the forest s house it cost forty twelve years ago said the forest handing the gun here are twenty said and you must give me the best bullets it is very good to be alive said wistfully the scent of the pine mould and they waited till the night had fallen upon in black and white and the pa had the dry wood for the next day s burning on the spur above | 39 |
his house it is courteous in to save us this trouble said as he stumbled on the pile which was twelve foot square and four high we must wait till the moon rises when the moon rose knelt upon the pile if it were only a government said down the wire bound barrel of the forest s gun be quick said and was quick but was quick no longer then he lit the pile at the four comers and climbed on to it the gun the little flames began to peer up between the big logs of the the government should teach us to pull the with our toes said grimly to the moon that was the last public observation of upon a day early in the morning came to the and shrieked very and ran away to catch the policeman who was on tour in the district the base bom has ruined four worth of wood gasped he has also killed my wife and he has left a letter which i cannot read tied to a pine bough through the fire in the stiff formal hand taught in the school had written let us be burned together if anything remain over for we have made the necessary prayers we have also cursed and the brother of both evil men send my service to the colonel the policeman looked long and curiously at the marriage bed of red and white ashes on which lay dull black the barrel of the s gun he drove his heel into a half log and the chattering sparks flew upwards most extraordinary people said the policeman said the little flames the policeman entered the dry bones of the case for the government does not approve of in his but who will pay me those four said the head of the district there s a more in the behind the old mud wall there s a less on the border trail and the queen s peace over all dear the queen s peace over all for we must bear our leader s blame on us the shame will if we lift our hand from a land and the queen s peace over all dear boys the queen s peace all thi i the had risen in flood without warning last night it was a shallow to night five miles of muddy water parted bank and bank and the river was still rising under the moon a litter borne by six bearded men all unused to the work stopped in the white sand that bordered the plain god s will they said wc dare not the head of the district cross to night even in a boat let us light a fire and cook food we be tired men they looked at the litter within the of the district lay dying of fever they had brought him across country six fighting men of a that he had won over to the paths of a moderate when he had broken down at the foot of their hills and his assistant rode with them heavy hearted as heavy eyed with sorrow and lack of sleep he had served under the sick man for three years and had learned to love him as men associated in toil of the hardest learn to love or hate dropping from his horse he parted the curtains of the litter and peered inside old man can you hear we have to wait till the river goes down worse luck i hear returned a dry whisper wait till the river goes down i thought we should reach camp before the dawn knows she ll meet me one of the litter men stared across the river and caught a faint twinkle of light on the far side he whispered to there are his camp fires and his wife they will cross in the morning for they have better boats can he live so long shook his head was very near to death what need to vex his soul in black and white with hopes of a meeting that could not be the river at the banks brought down a cliff of sand and the more the sought for fuel in the waste dried and refuse of the that had waited at the ford their sword as they moved softly in the haze of the moonlight and s horse to explain that he would like a blanket i m cold too said the voice firom the litter i this is the end poor the blankets seeing this stripped off his own coat and added it to the pile i shall be warm by the fire presently said he took the wasted body of his chief into his arms and held it against his breast perhaps if they kept him very warm might live to see his wife once more if only blind providence would send a three foot fell in the river that s better said faintly sorry to be a nuisance but is is there anything to drink they gave him milk and and felt a little warmth against his own breast began to it isn t that i mind dying he said it s leaving and the district thank god we have no children dick you know fm dipped awfully dipped debts in my first five years the head of the district vice it isn t much of a but enough for her she has her mother at home getting there is the difficulty and and you see not being a soldier s wife we ll arrange the passage home of course said quietly it s not nice to think of sending round the hat but good lord how many men i lie here and remember that had to do it s dead he was of my year is dead and he had children i remember he used to | 39 |
the people the district in south might with advantage he apprehended pass over to a younger of mr g c de s who had written a remarkably clever on the political value of sympathy in administration and mr g c de could be transferred northward to the was averse on principle to interfering with under in black and white control of the provincial he wished it to be understood that he merely recommended and advised in this instance as regarded the mere question of race mr de was more english than the english and yet possessed of that peculiar sympathy and insight which the best among the best service in the world could only win to at the end of their service the stem black bearded kings who sit about the council board of india divided on the step with the inevitable result of driving the very greatest of all the into the borders of and a bewildered obstinacy pathetic as that of a child the principle is sound enough said the weary eyed head of the red provinces in which lay for he too held theories the only difficulty is put the screw on the district officials de with a very strong on each side of him give him the best assistant in the province rub the fear of god into the people beforehand and if anything goes wrong say that his didn t back him up all these lovely little experiments on the district officer in the end said the knight of the drawn sword with a truthful that made the head of the red provinces shudder and on a understanding of this kind the transfer was the head of the district accomplished as quietly as might be for many reasons it is sad to think that what goes for public opinion in india did not generally see the wisdom of the s appointment there were not lacking indeed organs in the pay of a who more than hinted that his was a fool a of dreams a and worst of all a with the lives of men the s excellence published in was at pains to thank our beloved for once more and again thus the of the nations for extended and duties in foreign parts our ken we do not at all doubt that our excellent fellow mr de e q m a will the of the notwithstanding what and may be set on foot to bis fame and blast his prospects among the proud some of which will now have to serve under a despised native and take orders too how will you like that we entreat our beloved still to himself to race prejudice and and to allow the flower of this now our civil service all the full pays and granted to his more fortunate brethren in black and white iii when does this man take over charge fm alone just now and i gather that fm to stand ist under him would you have cared for a transfer said keenly then laying his hand on s shoulder we re all in the same boat don t desert us and yet why the devil should you stay if you can get another charge it was s said simply well it s de s now he s a of the crammed with code and case law a beautiful man so far as routine and go and pleasant to talk to they naturally have always kept him in his own home district where all his sisters and his cousins and his lived somewhere south of he did no more than turn the place into a pleasant little preserve allowed his to do what they liked and let everybody have a chance at the consequently he s immensely popular down there nothing to do with that how on earth am i to explain to the district that they are going to be governed by a do you does the government i mean suppose that the will sit quiet when they once know what will the heads of villages say how will the police and the head of the district how will they work under him we couldn t say anything if the appointed a but my people will say a good deal you know that it s a piece of cruel folly my dear boy i know all that and more i ve represented it and have been told that i am exhibiting and prejudice by jove if the don t exhibit something worse than that i don t know the border i the chances are that you will have the district alight on your hands and i shall have to leave my work and help you pull through i needn t ask you to stand by the man in every possible way you ll do that for your own sake for s i can t say that i care personally don t be an ass it s grievous enough god knows and the government will know later on but that s no reason for your tou must try to run the district you must stand between him and as much insult as possible you must show him the ropes you must the and just warn of the police to look out for trouble by the way i m always at the end of a telegraph wire and willing to peril my reputation to hold the district together you ll lose yours of course if you keep things straight and he isn t actually beaten with a stick when he s on tour he ll get all the credit if anything goes wrong in black and white you ll be told that you didn t support him i know what i ve got to do said wearily and i m going to do it but it s hard the work is with us the event is with as used | 39 |
to say when he was more than usually in hot water and rode away that two gentlemen in her majesty s civil service should thus discuss a third also in that service and a and man withal seems strange and yet listen to the of the blind of the priest of the sitting upon a rock overlooking the border five years before a chance hurled shell from a screw gun battery had dashed earth in the face of the then urging a rush of against half a dozen british so he became blind and hated the english none the less for the little accident knew his failing and had times laughed at him dogs you are said the blind to the listening round the fire whipped dogs because you listened to and called him father and behaved as his children the british government have how they regard you ye know is dead ai ai ai said half a dozen voices he was a man comes now in his stead whom the head of the district think ye a of an of fish from the south a lie said and but for the small matter of thy drive my gun butt first down thy throat art thou there of the english in to morrow across the border to pay service to s successor and thou shalt slip thy shoes at the tent door of a as thou shalt hand thy offering to a s black fist this i know and in my youth when a young man spoke evil to a holding the doors of heaven and hell the gun butt was not down the s no the blind hated with hatred both being rivals for the of the tribe but the latter was feared for bodily as the other for spiritual gifts looked at s ring and i go in tomorrow because i am not an old fool preaching war against the english if the smitten with madness have done this then then the thou wilt take out the young men and strike at the four villages within the border or thy neck black of for a bearer of ill tidings his long locks with great care put on his best belt a new in black and white cap and fine green shoes and accompanied by a few friends came down from the hills to pay a visit to the new of also he bore tribute four or five gold of s time in a white handkerchief these the would touch and the little ceremony used to be a sign that so r as s personal influence went the would be good boys till the next time especially if happened to like the new in s his visit concluded with a dinner and perhaps forbidden certainly with some wonderful tales and great good fellowship then would back to his hold that was one prince and another and that went a into british territory would be alive on this occasion he found the s tents looking much as usual regarding himself as privileged he strode through the open door to a in english costume writing at a table in the influence of education and not in the least caring for university degrees promptly set the man down for a the native clerk of the a hated and despised animal the head of the district said he cheerfully where s your master i am the said the gentleman in english now he the effects of university degrees and stared in the face but if from your earliest in you have been accustomed to look on battle murder and sudden death if blood affects your nerves as much as red paint and above all if you have faithfully believed that the was the servant of all and that all was vastly inferior to your own large self you can endure even though a very large amount of looking over you can even stare down a of an oxford college if the latter has been bom in a of stock bred in a and fearing physical pain as some men fear sin especially if your opponent s mother has frightened him to sleep in his youth with horrible stories of devils and dismal legends of the black north the eyes behind the gold spectacles sought the floor chuckled and swung out to find hard by here said he roughly thrusting the before him touch and that answers for my good behaviour but o has the government gone mad to send a black dog to us and am i to pay service to in black and white such an one and are you to work under him what does it mean it is an order said he had expected something of this kind he is a very clever s he a he s a a black man unfit to run at the tail of a s donkey all the of the earth have it is written thou when we of the north wanted women or plunder whither went we to where else what child s talk is this of after too of a truth the blind was right what of him asked uneasily he that old man with his dead eyes and his deadly tongue nay now because of the oath that i to when we watched him die by the river yonder i will tell in the first place is it true that the english have set the heel of the on their own neck and that there is no more english rule in the land i am here said and i serve the of england the said otherwise and further that because we loved the government sent us a pig to show that we were dogs who till now have been held by the strong hand also that they were taking away the white soldiers that the head of the district more might come | 39 |
and that all was changing this is the worst of ill considered handling of a very large country what looks so in so right in so in is misunderstood by the north and entirely changes its complexion on the banks of the explained as clearly as he could that though he himself intended to be good he really could not answer for the more reckless members of his tribe under the of the blind they might or they might not give trouble but they certainly had no intention whatever of obeying the new was perfectly sure that in the event of any border the force in the district could put it down promptly tell the if he talks any more fool s talk said that he takes his men on to certain death and his tribe to fine and blood money but why do i talk to one who no longer carries weight in the counsels of the tribe that insult he had learned something that he much wanted to know and returned to his hills to be by the whose tongue raging round the camp fires was flame than ever cake fed in black and white iv be pleased to consider here for a moment the unknown district of it lay cut by the under the line of the hills of useless earth and tumbled stone it was seventy miles long by fifty broad maintained a population of something less than two hundred thousand and paid taxes to the extent of forty thousand pounds a year on an area that was by rather more than half sheer hopeless waste the were not gentle people the for salt were less gentle still and the cattle least gentle of all a police post in the top right hand comer and a tiny mud fort in the top left hand comer prevented as much and cattle lifting as the influence of the could not put down and in the bottom right hand comer lay the district a pitiful knot of lime washed as houses with frontier fever in the rain and in the summer it was to this place that ch under de was travelling there formally to take over charge of the district but the news of his coming had gone before were as scarce as among the simple who cut each other s heads open with their long and worshipped im the head of the district partially at and they crowded to see him pointing at him and comparing him to a or a broken down horse as their limited range of prompted they laughed at his police guard and wished to know how long the were going to lead they inquired whether he had brought his women with him and advised him not to with theirs it remained for a wrinkled by the roadside to slap her lean breasts as he passed crying i have six that could have eaten six thousand of bim the government shot them and made this that a king a blue plough shouted have hope mother o mine he may yet go the way of thy and the children the little brown regarded curiously it was generally a good thing for infancy to stray into s tent where copper were to be won for the mere wishing and tales of the most such as even their mothers knew but the first half of no this fat black man could never tell them how hauled the eye teeth out of ten devils how the big stones came to lie all in a row on top of the hills and what happened if you shouted through the village gate to the gray wolf at even is dead meantime de talked hastily and much to after the in black and white manner of those who are more english than the english of oxford and home with much curious book knowledge of hunting runs and other sports of the alien we must get these fellows in hand he said once or twice uneasily get them well in hand and drive them on a tight rein no use you know being slack with your district and a moment later heard de who had followed his s fortune and hoped for the shadow of his protection as a whisper in better are dried fish at than drawn swords at brother of mine these men are devils as our mother said and you will always have to ride upon a horse that night there was a public audience in a broken down little town thirty miles from when the new in reply to the greetings of the subordinate native officials delivered a speech it was a carefully thought out speech which would have been very valuable had not his third sentence begun with three innocent words it is my order then there was a laugh clear and bell like from the back of the big tent where a few border sat and the laugh grew and scorn mingled with it and the lean keen face of de and turning to the head of the district tou you put up this arrangement upon that instant the noise of hoofs rang without and there entered the district of police and dusty the state had tossed him into a comer of the province for seventeen weary years there to check of salt and to hope for promotion that never came he had forgotten how to keep his white uniform clean had rusty spurs into patent leather shoes and clothed his head indifferently with a or a old worn with heat and cold he waited till he should be entitled to sufficient to keep him from starving said he de come outside i want to speak to you they withdrew it s this continued the have rushed and cut up half a dozen of the on s new canal killed a couple of men and carried off a woman i | 39 |
wouldn t trouble you about that is after them and my assistant with ten mounted police but that s only the beginning i fancy their fires are out on the heights and unless we re pretty quick there ll be a up all along our border they are sure to the four villages on our side of the line there s been bad blood between them for years and you know the in black and white blind has been preaching a holy war since went out what s your notion damn said thoughtfully they ve begun quick well it seems to me i d better ride off to fort and get what men i can there to among the villages if it s not too late commands at fort i think and ought to teach the canal thieves a lesson and no we can t have the head of the police guarding the treasury you go back to the canal i ll wire to come into with a strong police guard and sit on the treasury they won t touch the place but it looks well i i i insist upon knowing what this means said the voice of the who had followed the oh i said who being in the police could not understand that fifteen years of education must on principle change the into a there has been a fight on the border and heaps of men arc killed there s going to be another fight and heaps more will be killed what for because the millions of this district don t exactly approve of you and think that under your rule they are going to have a good time it strikes me that you had better the head of the district make arrangements i act as you know by your orders what do you advise i i take you all to witness that i have not yet assumed charge of the district stammered the not in the tones of the more english ah i thought so well as i was saying your plan is sound carry it out do you want an escort no only a decent horse but how about to i fancy from the colour of his cheeks that your superior officer will send some wonderful before the night s over let him do that and we shall have half the troops of the province coming up to see what s the trouble well run along and take care of yourself the upwards from below remember ho give the best of the horses and tell five men to ride to with the there is a hurry toward there was and it was not in the least by de clinging to a policeman s bridle and demanding the shortest the very shortest way to now originality is fatal to the should have stayed with his brother who rode for on the railway line thanking gods entirely un in black and white known to the most catholic of that he had not taken charge of the district and could still happy resource of a fertile race fall sick and i grieve to say that when he reached his goal two not devoid of rude wit who had been together as they in their arranged an entertainment for his it consisted of first one and then the other entering his room with prodigious details of war the of and devilish tribes and the burning of towns it was almost as good said these as riding with after each invention kept the at work for half an hour on which the sack of would hardly have justified to every power that could move a or transfer a terrified man de appealed he was alone his had fled and in truth he had not taken over charge of the district had the been despatched many things would have occurred but since the only in had gone to bed and the station master after one look at the tremendous pile of paper discovered that railway forbade the of imperial messages ram and were fain to the stuff into a pillow and slept on it very comfortably drove his spurs into a the head of the district bald with china blue eyes and settled himself for the forty mile ride to fort knowing his district he wasted no time hunting for short cuts but headed across the richer ground to the ford where had died and been buried the dusty ground the noise of his horse s the moon threw his shadow a restless before him and the heavy dew him to the skin that brushed against the horse s belly road where the whip like foliage of the lashed his forehead of with bent and with cattle waste and anew dragged themselves past and the was in the deep sand of the ford was conscious of no distinct thought till the nose of the boat on the farther side and his horse at the white of s grave then he uncovered and shouted that the dead might hear they re out old man wish me luck in the chill of the dawn he was with a iron at the gate of fort where fifty of that tattered regiment the were supposed to guard her majesty s interests along a few hundred miles of border this particular fort was commanded by a who bom of the ancient family of the naturally in black and white answered to the name of him found in a coat shaking with fever like an and trying to read the native s list of so you ve come too said he well we re all sick here and i don t think i can horse thirty men but we re willing stop does this impress you as a trap or a lie he tossed a scrap of paper to on which was written painfully in we cannot hold young horses | 39 |
they will feed after the moon goes down in the four border villages issuing from the pass on the next night then in english round hand your sincere friend good man said that s s work i know it s the only piece of english he could ever keep in his head and he is immensely proud of it he is playing against the blind for his own hand the treacherous young don t know the politics of the but if you re satisfied i am that was pitched in over the gate head last night and i thought we might pull ourselves together and see what was on oh but we re sick with fever here and no mistake is this going to be a big business think you said gave him briefly the outlines of the the head of the district case and whistled and shook with fever alternately that day he devoted to the art of war and the of the till at dusk there stood ready forty two lean worn and whom surveyed with pride and addressed thus o men if you die you will go to hell therefore endeavour to keep alive but if you go to hell that place cannot be than this place and we are not told that we shall there suffer from fever consequently be not afraid of dying file out there they grinned and went v it will be long ere the forget their night attack on the villages the had promised an easy victory and unlimited plunder but behold armed of the queen had risen out of the very earth cutting and riding down under the stars so that no man knew where to turn and all feared that they had brought an army about their ears and ran back to the hills in the panic of that flight more men were seen to drop from wounds inflicted by an knife upwards and yet more from long range fire then there rose a cry of treachery and when they reached their own guarded heights they had with some forty in black and white dead and sixty wounded all their confidence in the blind on the plains below they swore and argued round the fires the women wailing for the lost and the shrieking curses on the returned then eloquent and for he had taken no part in the fight rose to improve the occasion he pointed out that the tribe owed every item of its present misfortune to the blind who had lied in every possible particular and talked them into a trap it was undoubtedly an insult that a the son of a should presume to administer the border but that fact did not as the pretended herald a general time of license and lifting and the inexplicable madness of the english had not in the least their power of guarding their on the contrary the and out tribe would now just when their food stock was lowest be from any trade with until they had sent for good behaviour paid compensation for disturbance and blood money at the rate of thirty six english pounds per head for every that they might have slain and ye know that those dogs will make oath that we have slain scores will the pay the or must we sell our guns a low growl ran round the fires now seeing that all this is the s work the head of the district and that we have gained nothing but promises of paradise thereby it is in my heart that we of the lack a shrine to pray we are weakened and henceforth how shall we dare to cross into the border as has been our custom to kneel to s tomb the men will fall upon us and rightly but our is a holy man he has helped two score of us into paradise this night let him therefore accompany his flock and we will build over his body a dome of the blue of and bum lamps at his feet every friday night he shall be a saint we shall have a shrine and there our women shall pray for fi seed to fill the in our fighting tale how think you a grim chuckle followed the suggestion and the soft of knives followed the chuckle it was an excellent notion and met a long felt want of the tribe the sprang to his feet glaring with withered at the drawn death he could not see and calling down the curses of god and on the tribe then began a game of blind man s round and between the fires whereof the poet has sung in verse that will not die they him gently under the with the knife point he leaped aside screaming only to feel a cold blade drawn lightly over the back of his neck or a rifle rubbing his beard in black and white he called on his to aid him but most of these lay dead on the plains for had been at some pains to arrange their men described to him the glories of the shrine they would build and the little children clapping their hands cried run run there s a man behind you in the end when the sport wearied s brother sent a knife home between his ribs wherefore said with charming simplicity i am now chief of the no man him and they all went to sleep very stiff and sore on the plain below was on the beauties of a cavalry charge by night and bowed on his saddle was gasping because there was a sword dangling from his wrist with the blood of the the tribe that had kept in so well when a pointed out that the s right ear had been taken off at the root by some blind of its rider broke down altogether and laughed and sobbed till made him lie down | 39 |
for me the thing was under our hills asking the road to and showed him the road to being as thou but a fool remains now what the will do to us as to the who art thou of dog s flesh thundered to speak of terms and get hence to the hills go and wait there starving till it shall please the to call thy people out for punishment children and fools that ye be count your dead and be still rest assured that the government will send you a man ay returned for we also be men as he looked between the eyes he added and by may thou be that man the s his of g c s i and trusted ally of her imperial majesty the queen of england and of india is a gentleman for whom all people should have a profound regard like most other rulers he not as he would but as he can and the mantle of his authority covers the most turbulent race under the stars to the neither life property law nor are sacred when his own prompt him to rebel he is a thief by instinct a murderer by and training and frankly and by all three none the less he has his own crooked notions of honour and his character is to study on occasion he will fight without reason given till he is in pieces on other occasions he will refuse to show fight till he is driven into a comer he is as unaccountable as the gray wolf who is his and these men his rules by the only weapon that they understand the fear of death which among some is the beginning of ft cow the s wisdom some say that the s authority reaches no than a rifle bullet can range but as none are quite certain when their king may be in their midst and as he alone holds every one of the threads of his respect is increased among men the chief of the army is feared reasonably for he can all city fears the governor of who has power of life and death through all the wards but the of though tribes pretend otherwise when his back is turned is dreaded beyond chief and governor together his word is red law by the gust of his passion falls the leaf of man s life and his is terrible he has suffered many things and been a hunted fugitive before he came to the throne and he understands all the classes of his people by the custom of the east any man or woman having a complaint to make or an enemy against whom to be has the right of speaking ice to ce with the king at the daily public audience this is personal government as it was in the days of al of blessed memory whose times exist still and will exist long after the english have passed away the privilege of open speech is of course exercised at certain personal risk the king may be pleased and raise the speaker to honour for that very of speech which three minutes later in black and white brings a too to the edge of the ever ready blade and the people love to have it so for it is their right it happened upon a day in that the chose to do his day s work in the gardens which lie a short distance from the city of a light table stood before him and round the table in the open air were and ministers according to their degree the court and the long tail of chiefs men of blood fed and by blood stood in an irregular round the table and the wind from the blew among them all day long dashed in with letters from the districts with of rebellion famine failure of or of treasure on the road and all day long the would read the and pass such of these as were less private to the officials whom they directly concerned or call up a waiting chief for a word of explanation it is well to speak clearly to the ruler of then the grim head under the black cap with the diamond star in front would nod gravely and that chief would return to his fellows once that afternoon a woman for divorce against her husband who was bald and the hearing both sides of the case bade her pour over the bare and them off that the hair the s might grow again and she be contented here the court laughed and the woman withdrew cursing her king under her breath but when twilight was falling and the order of the court was a little relaxed there came before the king in a trembling haggard wretch sore with much but of stout enough build who had stolen three of such small matters does his take why did you steal said he and when the king asks questions they do themselves service who answer directly i was poor and no one gave hungry and there was no food why did you not work i could find no work protector of the poor and i was starving you lie you stole for drink for lust for idleness for anything but hunger since any man who will may find work and daily bread the prisoner dropped his eyes he had attended the court before and he knew the ring of the death tone any man may get work who knows this so well as i do for i too have been not like you but as any honest man may be by the of fate and the will of god in black and white growing warm the turned to his all and thrust the of his aside with his elbow you have heard this son of lies hear | 39 |
me tell a true tale i also was once starved and my belt on the sharp belly pinch nor was i alone for with me was another who did not me in my evil days when i was hunted before ever i came to this throne and wandering like a dog by my money melted melted melted till he flung out a bare palm before the audience and day upon day faint and sick i went back to that one who waited and god knows how we lived till on a day i took our best silk it was fine work of such as no needle now works warm and a for two and all that we had i brought it to a in a by lane and i asked for three upon it he said to me who am now the king you are a thief this is worth three hundred i am no thief i answered but a prince of good blood and i am hungry prince of wandering beggars said that money i have no money with me but go to my house with my clerk and he will give you two eight for that is all i will lend so i went with the clerk to the house and we talked on the way and he gave me the money we lived on it till it was spent and we hard and then that the s clerk said being a young man of a good heart surely the money will lend yet more on that and he offered me two these i refused saying nay but get me some work and he got me work and i even i of wrought day by day as a bearing burdens and of my hands receiving four a day for my sweat and but he this son of naught must steal for a year and four months i worked and none dare say that i lie for i have a witness even that clerk who is now my friend then there rose in his place among the and the one clad in silk who folded his hands and said this is the truth of god for i who by the favour of god and the am such as you know was once clerk to that there was a pause and the cried hoarsely to the prisoner throwing scorn upon him till he ended with the dread d r arid which justice so they led the thief away and the whole of him was seen no more together and the court out of its silence whispering before god and the prophet but this is a man at twenty two narrow as the deep as the pit and dark as the heart of a man a went out to reap but stayed to the com ha ha ha 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 at twenty two not add the oil to the common stock of his gang but would save and sell it i knew these workings before you were bom 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 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 firom 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 in black and white on the strength of this concession and his accumulated oil took a second wife a girl of the main stock of the and singularly beautiful could not see her beauty wherefore he took her on trust and forbade her to go down the pit he had not worked for thirty years in the dark without knowing that the pit was no place for pretty women he loaded her with ornaments not brass or but real silver ones and she rewarded him by with of number seven gallery gang was really the gang head but insisted upon all the work being entered in his own name and chose the men that he worked with custom stronger even than the company dictated that by right of his years should manage these things and should also work despite his blindness in indian mines where they cut into the solid coal with the pick and clear it out from | 39 |
deep down below a rush of black water caught the last gang waiting for the cage and as they in the whirl was about their the cage reached the pit bank and the manager called the roll the were all safe except gang gang and gang eighteen men with perhaps ten basket women who loaded the coal into the little iron carriages that ran on the of the main galleries these were in the out workings three quarters of a mile away on the extreme fringe of the mine once more the cage went down but with only two englishmen in it and dropped into a roaring current that had almost touched the roof of some of the lower side galleries one of the wooden with which they had propped the old workings shot past on the current just missing the cage if we don t want our ribs knocked out we d better go said the manager we can t even save the company s the cage drew out of the water with a splash and a few minutes later it was reported that there were at least ten feet of water in the pit s eye now ten feet of water there meant that all other places in the mine were except such galleries as were more than ten feet above the level of the bottom of the shaft the deep workings would be full the main galleries would be full but in the high workings reached by in in black and white 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 explain how water when you pour it down test the of twenty two was an illustration on a large scale by the holy grove what has happened to the air it was a of gang in number nine gallery and he was driving a six foot way through the coal then there was a rush fi om 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 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 further 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 at twenty two well a gallery where they used to smoke their 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 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 they have cut off 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 basket woman 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 in black and white sit sit said if wc die wc die the air is very bad but still stumbled and crept and tapped with his pick upon the walls the women rose to 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 a lie 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 was a rush in the dark and felt the first man s ce hit his knees as the scrambled up the ledge who cried at twenty two sit you down said who next one by one the women and the men crawled up the ledge which ran along one side of s room degraded pig eating and wild ran his hand over them all now follow after said he catching hold of my heel and the women catching the men s clothes he did not ask the men had brought their with them a black or white does not drop his pick one by one leading they crept into the old gallery a six foot way with a scant four feet from to roof the air is better here | 39 |
five with news and the could not hold their together presently surrounded by a crew in black and white 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 yes queer thing i thought of it in the cage when that went by why oh this business seems to be down was in my all this morning telling me that had with his wife or i think her name was and those were the cattle that you risked your life to clear out of twenty two no i was thinking of the company s not the company s men sounds better to say so but i don t believe you old fellow jews in my newly purchased house furniture was at the least the legs parted from the chairs and the tops from the tables on the slightest provocation but such as it was it was to be paid for and agent and for the local waited in the with the receipt he was announced by the servant as the jew he who believes in the brotherhood of man should hear my grinding the second word through his white teeth with all the scorn he dare show before his master was personally meek in manner so meek indeed that one could not understand how he had fallen into the profession of bill collecting he resembled an over fed sheep and his voice suited his figure there was a fixed mask of childish wonder upon his face if you paid him he was as one at your wealth if you sent him away he seemed puzzled at your hard never was jew more unlike his dread breed wore list slippers and coats of st co in black and white cloth so that the most brazen of british would have from them in fear very slow and deliberate was his speech and carefully guarded to give to no one after many weeks was induced to speak to me of his friends there be eight of us in and we are waiting till there are ten then we shall apply for a and get leave from to day we have no and i only i am priest and butcher to our people i am of the tribe of i think but i am not sure my father was of the tribe of and we wish much to get our i shall be a priest of that is a big city in the north of india counting its by the ten thousand and these eight of the chosen people were shut up in its midst waiting till time or chance sent them their full congregation the wife of two little children an orphan boy of their people s uncle a white haired old man his wife a jew from one and priest and butcher made up the list of the jews in they lived in one house on the outskirts of the great city amid heaps of rotten bricks herds of and a fixed pillar of dust caused by the incessant pass jews in ing of the beasts to the river to drink in the evening the children of the city came to the waste place to fly their and s sons held aloof watching the sport from the roof but never descending to take part in it at the back of the house stood a small brick in which prepared the daily meat for his people after the custom of the jews once the rude door of the square was suddenly smashed open by a struggle from inside and showed the meek bill at his work nostrils dilated lips drawn back over his teeth and his hands upon a half sheep he was attired in strange having no relation whatever to coats or list slippers and a knife was in his mouth as he struggled with the animal between the walls the breath came from him in thick sobs and the nature of the man seemed changed when the ordained slaughter was ended he saw that the door was open and shut it hastily his hand leaving a red mark on the timber while his children from the neighbouring house top looked down and open eyed a glimpse of busied in one of his religious was no thing to be desired twice summer came upon turning the trodden waste ground to iron and bringing sickness to the city it will not touch us said in black and white before the winter we shall have our my brother and his wife and children are coming up from and i shall be the priest of the the old man would crawl out in the stifling evenings to sit on the rubbish heap and watch the being borne down to the river it will not come near us said feebly for we are the people of god and my nephew will be priest of our let them die he crept back to his house again and barred the door to shut himself off from the world of the but the wife of looked out of the window at the dead as the passed and said that she was afraid comforted her with hopes of the to be and collected bills as was his custom in one night the two children died and were buried early in the morning by the | 39 |
deaths never appeared in the city returns the sorrow is my sorrow said and this to him seemed a sufficient reason for setting at naught the of a large flourishing and remarkably well governed empire the orphan boy dependent on the charity of and his wife could have felt no gratitude and must have been a he begged for whatever money his would give him jews in and with that fled down country for his life a week after the death of her children left her bed at night and wandered over the country to find them she heard them crying behind every bush or drowning in every pool of water in the fields and she begged the on the grand trunk road not to steal her little ones from her in the morning the sun rose and beat upon her bare head and she turned into the cool wet crops to lie down and never came back though and sought her for two nights the look of patient wonder on s face deepened but he presently found an explanation there are so few of us here and these people are so many said he that it may be our god has forgotten us in the house on the outskirts of the city old and grumbled that there was no one to wait on them and that had been to her race went out and collected bills and in the evenings smoked with till one dawning died having first paid all his debts to and sat alone in the empty house all day and when returned wept the easy tears of age till they cried themselves asleep a week later staggering under a huge in black and white bundle of clothes and cooking pots led the old man and woman to the railway station where the bustle and confusion made them we are going back to said to whose sleeve was clinging there are more of us there and here my house is empty he helped into the carriage and turning back said to me i should have been priest of the if there had been ten of us surely we must have been forgotten by our the remnant of the broken colony passed out of the station on their journey south while a turning over the books on the was whistling to himself the ten little boys but the tune sounded as solemn as the dead march it was the of the jews in and pie kissed the girls and made them ay when the girls came out to play ran away if you will admit that a man has no right to enter his drawing room early in the morning when the is setting things right and clearing away the dust you will that people who eat out of china and own card cases have no right to apply their standard of right and wrong to an unsettled land when the place is made fit for their reception by those men who are told off to the work they can come up bringing in their trunks their own society and the and all the other apparatus where the queen s law does not carry it is to expect an of other and weaker rules the men who run ahead of the cars of decency and propriety and make the ways straight cannot be judged in the same manner as the home folk of the ranks of the regular not many months ago the queen s law stopped ht hj ft co in black and white a few miles north of on the there was no very strong public opinion up to that limit but it existed to keep men in order when the government said that the queen s law must carry up to and the chinese border the order was given and some men whose desire was to be ever a little in advance of the rush of respectability forward with the troops these were the men who could never pass and would have been too pronounced in their ideas for the administration of worked provinces the supreme government stepped in as soon as might be with and and all but reduced new to the dead indian level but there was a short time during which strong men were necessary and a field for themselves among the fore of was reckoned by all who knew him a strong man he held an appointment in lower when the order came to break the frontier and his friends called him because of the singularly like manner in which he sang a song whose first line is something like the words most men who have been in will know the song it means puff puff puff puff great sang it to his and his shouted with delight so that you could hear them far away in the forest when he went to upper he had no special regard for god or man but he knew how to make himself respected and to carry out the mixed military civil duties that fell to most men s share in those months he did his office work and entertained now and again the of soldiers who through his part of the world in search of a flying party of sometimes he turned out and dressed down on his own account for the country was still and would blaze when least expected he enjoyed these but the were not so amused all the officials who came in contact with him departed with the idea that was a valuable person well able to take care of himself and on that belief he was left to his own devices at the end of a few months he wearied of his solitude and cast about for company and refinement the queen s law had hardly begun to be felt in the country and public opinion which is more powerful than the queen s law had yet to | 39 |
come also there was a custom in the country which allowed a white man to take to himself a wife of the daughters of upon due payment the marriage was not quite so binding as is the ceremony among but the wife was very pleasant when all our troops are back firom there in black and white will be a proverb in their mouths as as a wife and pretty english ladies will wonder what in the world it means the of the village next to s post had a daughter who had seen and loved him from afar when news went abroad that the englishman with the heavy hand who lived in the was looking for a housekeeper the came in and explained that for five hundred down he would his daughter to s keeping to be maintained in all honour respect and comfort with pretty dresses according to the custom of the country this thing was done and never repented it he found his rough and tumble house put straight and made comfortable his hitherto expenses cut down by one half and himself and made much of by his new acquisition who sat at the head of his table and sang songs to him and ordered his servants about and was in every way as sweet and merry and honest and winning a little woman as the of could have desired no race men say who know produces such good wives and heads of as the when the next by on the war path the in command found at s table a hostess to be to a woman to be treated in every way as one occupying an assured position when he gathered his men together next dawn and into the he thought of the nice little dinner and the pretty face and envied from the bottom of his heart yet be was engaged to a girl at home and that is how some men are constructed the name was not a pretty one but as she was promptly by the did not matter thought well of the and the general comfort and vowed that he had never spent five hundred to a better end after three months of domestic life a great idea struck him matrimony english matrimony could not be such a bad thing after all if he were so thoroughly comfortable at the back of beyond with this girl who smoked how much more comfortable would he be with a sweet english maiden who would not smoke and would play upon a piano instead of a also he had a desire to return to his kind to hear a band once more and to feel how it felt to wear a dress suit again decidedly matrimony would be a very good thing he thought the matter out at length of evenings while sang to him or asked him why he was so silent and whether she had done any in black and thing to him as he tho be smoked and as he smoked he looked at and in his fancy turned her into a fair amusing merry little girl with hair coming low down on her forehead and perhaps a between her lips certainly not a big thick of the brand that smoked he would wed a girl with s eyes and most of her ways but not all she could be improved then he blew thick smoke wreaths through his nostrils and stretched himself he would taste marriage had helped him to save money and there were six months leave due to him see here little woman he said we must put by more money for these next three months i want it that was a direct on s housekeeping for she herself on her but since her wanted money she would do her best you want money she said with a little laugh i have money look she ran to her own room and fetched out a small bag of of all that you give me i keep back some see one hundred and seven can you want more money than that take it it is my pleasure if you use it she spread out the money on the table and pushed it towards him with her quick little pale yellow fingers never referred to economy in the household again three months later after the despatch and receipt of several mysterious letters which could not understand and hated for that reason said that he was going away and she must return to her s house and stay there wept she would go with her god from the world s end to the world s end why should she leave him she loved him i am only going to said i shall be back in a month but it is safer to stay with your father i will leave you two hundred if you go for a month what need of two hundred fifty are more than enough there is some evil here do not go or at least let me go with you does not like to remember that scene even at this date in the end he got rid of by a compromise of seventy five she would not take more then he went by steamer and rail to the mysterious letters had granted him six months leave the actual flight and an idea that he might have been treacherous hurt severely at the time but as soon as the big steamer was well out into the blue things were easier and s in black and white face and the queer little house and the memory of the rushes of shouting by night the cry and struggle of the first man that he had ever killed with his own hand and a hundred other more intimate things faded and out of s heart and the vision of approaching england took its place the steamer was full of | 39 |
men on leave all jovial souls who had shaken off the dust and sweat of upper and were as merry as they helped to forget then came england with its luxuries and and comforts and walked in a pleasant dream upon of which he had nearly forgotten the ring wondering why men in their senses ever left town he accepted his keen delight in his as the reward of his services providence further arranged for him another and greater delight all the pleasures of a quiet english quite different from the brazen of the east when half the community stand back and bet on the result and the other half wonder what mrs so and so will say to it it was a pleasant girl and a perfect summer and a big country house near where there arc acres and acres of purple and high water meadows to wander through felt that he had at last found something worth the living for and naturally assumed that the next thing to do was to ask the girl to share his life in india she in her ignorance was willing to go on this occasion there was no with a village there was a fine middle class wedding in the country with a stout papa and a weeping mamma and a best man in purple and fine linen and six girls from the sunday school to throw roses on the path between the up to the church door the local paper described the affair at great length even down to giving the hymns in full but that was because the direction were starving for want of material then came a at and the mamma wept before she allowed her one daughter to sail away to india under the care of the bridegroom beyond any question was immensely fond of his wife and she was devoted to him as the best and greatest man in the world when he reported himself at he felt justified in demanding a good station for his wife s sake and because he had made a little mark in and was beginning to be appreciated they allowed him nearly all that he asked for and posted him to a station which we will call it stood upon several hills and was a for the good reason that the was utterly in black and white neglected here settled down and found married life come very naturally to him he did not as do many over the strangeness and delight of seeing his own true love sitting down to breakfast with him every morning as though it were the most natural thing in the world he had been there before as the americans say and checking the merits of his own present grace by those of he was more and more inclined to think that he had done well but there was no peace or comfort across the bay of under the trees where lived with her father waiting for to return the was old and remembered the war of he had been to and knew something of the ways of the sitting in front of his door in the evenings he taught a dry philosophy which did not console her in the least the trouble was that she loved just as much as the french girl in the english history books loved the priest whose head was broken by the king s one day she disappeared from the village with all the that had given her and a very small of english also gained from the was angry at first but lit a fresh and said something about the sex in general had started on a search for who might be in or across the black water or dead for aught that she knew chance favoured her an old policeman told her that had crossed the black water she took a passage from and went to keeping the secret of her search to herself in india every trace of her was lost for six weeks and no one knows what trouble of heart she must have undergone she reappeared four hundred miles north of steadily heading very worn and haggard but very fixed in her determination to find she could not understand the language of the people but india is infinitely charitable and the women folk along the grand trunk gave her food something made her believe that was to be found at the end of that pitiless road she may have seen a who knew him in but of this no one can be certain at last she found a regiment on the line of march and met there one of the many whom had invited to dinner in the far off old days of the hunting there was a certain amount of amusement among the tents when threw herself at the man s feet and began to cry in black and white there was no amusement when her story was told but a collection was made and that was more to the point one of the knew of s whereabouts but not of his marriage so he told and she went her way joyfully to the north in a railway carriage where there was rest for tired feet and shade for a dusty little head the from the train through the hills into were trying but had money and in carts gave her help it was an almost miraculous journey and felt sure that the good spirits of were looking after her the hill road to is a chilly stretch and caught a bad cold still there was at the end of all the trouble to take her up in his arms and pet her as he used to do in the old days when the was shut for the night and he had approved of the evening meal went forward as fast as she could and her good spirits did her one last favour | 39 |
mother died of that same sickness so we were alone my brother who had twelve years i who had eight and the sister who could not see yet were there the and the oil press remaining and we made shift to press the oil as before but the grain cheated us in his dealings and it was always a stubborn to drive we put flowers for the upon the neck of the and upon the great that rose through the roof but we gained nothing thereby and was a hard man muttered the wives to cheat a child so but we know what the folk are sisters in black and white the press was an old press and we were not strong men my brother and i nor could we fix the neck of the beam firmly in the nay indeed said the clad wife of the head groom joining the circle that is a strong man s work when i was a maid in my s house peace woman said the head groom go on boy it is nothing said little the big beam tore down the roof upon a day which is not in my memory and with the roof fell much of the hinder wall and both together upon our whose back was broken thus we had neither home nor press nor my brother myself and the sister who was blind we went crying away firom that place hand in hand across the fields and our money was seven and six pie there was a famine in the land i do not know the name of the land so on a night when we were sleeping my brother took the five that remained to us and ran away i do not know whither he went the curse of my father be upon him but i and the sister begged food in the villages and there was none to give only all men said go to the englishmen and they will give i did not know what the englishmen were but they said that they were white living in tents i went forward but i cannot say whither i went little and there was no more food for myself or the sister and upon a hot night she weeping and calling for food we came to a well and i bade her sit upon the and thrust her in for in truth she could not see and it is better to die than to starve ai the wives in chorus he thrust her in for it is better to die than to starve i would have thrown myself in also but that she was not dead and called to me from the bottom of the well and i was afraid and ran and one came out of the crops saying that i had killed her and the well and they took me before an englishman white and terrible living in a tent and me he sent here but there were no witnesses and it is better to die than to starve she could not sec with her eyes and was but a little child was but a little child echoed the head groom s wife but who art thou weak as a fowl and small as a day old what art thou i who was empty am now full said little stretching himself upon the dust and i would sleep the groom s wife spread a cloth over him while slept the sleep of the just great is the justice of tke white man greater the power of a lie native pr this is your english justice protector of the poor look at my back and which are beaten with sticks heavy sticks i am a poor man and there is no justice in courts there were two of us and we were bom of one birth but i swear to you that i was bom the first and ram is the younger by three full the said so and it is written in my the of but we were alike i and my brother who is a beast without honour so alike that none knew together or apart which was i am a of in and an honest man this is true talk when we were men we left our s house in and went to the where all the people are mud heads and sons of we took shop together in i and my brother near the big well where the governor s camp draws water but ram who is without truth made quarrel with me and we were divided he took his books and his pots and his mark and became a a money in the long street of near the of the road that goes to it was not my fault that we pulled each other s i am a of and i always speak true talk ram was the thief and the liar now no man not even the little children could at one glance see which was ram and which was but all the people of may they die without sons said that we were thieves they used much bad talk but i took money on their and their cooking pots and the standing crop and the calf from the well f n the big square to the gate of the road they were fools these people unfit to cut the toe nails of a from i lent money to them all a little very little only here a and there a god is my witness that i am a poor man the money is all with ram may his sons turn christian and his daughter be a burning fire and a shame in the house from generation to generation may she die and be the mother of a multitude of let the | 39 |
light go out in the house of ram my brother this i pray daily twice with and charms thus the trouble began we divided the town in black and white of between us i and my brother there was a beyond the gates living but one short mile out on the road that leads to and his name was son of a he was a great devil and drank wine so long as there were women in his house and wine and money for the marriage he was merry and wiped his mouth ram lent him the money a or half a how do i know and so long as the money was lent the cared not what he signed the people of were my portion and the and the out town were the portion of ram for so we had arranged i was the poor man for the people of were without wealth i did what i could but ram had only to wait without the door of the s garden court and to lend him the money taking the bonds from the hand of the steward in the autumn of the year after the ram said to the pay me my money but the gave him abuse but ram went into the courts with the papers and the bonds all correct and took out against the and the name of the government was across the of the ram took field by field and tree by tree and well by well putting in his own men of the out town of to cultivate the crops so he crept up across the land for he had the papers and the name of the government was across the till his men held the crops for him on all sides of the big white house of the it was well done but when the saw these things he was very angry and cursed ram after the manner of the and thus the was angry but ram laughed and claimed more fields as was written upon the bonds this was in the month of i took my horse and went out to speak to the man who makes upon the road that leads to because he owed me a debt there was in front of me upon his horse my brother ram and when he saw me he turned aside into the high crops because there was hatred between us and i went forward till i came to the orange bushes by the s house the were flying and the evening smoke was low down upon the land here met me four men and with their faces bound up laying hold of my horse s bridle and crying out this is ram beat me they beat with their heavy bound about with wire at the end such weapons as those swine of use till having cried for mercy i fell down senseless but these ones still beat me saying o ram in black and white 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 it has been already and i am a poor man whose honour is lost when these four had gone away laugh ing my brother ram came out of the crops and mourned over me as one dead but i opened my eyes and prayed him to get me water when i had drunk he carried me on his back and by 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 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 either a lean she dog without teeth said that ram had the right and went with him into her hands because she knew and many ram my brother put me faint with the beating and much bruised even to the pouring of blood from the mouth when i had two days sickness the fever came upon me and i set aside the fever to the account written in my mind against the the of are all the sons of and a she ass but they are very good witnesses bearing testimony whatever the may say i would purchase witnesses by the score and each man should give evidence not only against and but against the saying that he upon his white horse had called his men to beat me and further that they had robbed | 39 |
in black and white mc 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 a r 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 door key 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 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 great sickness and they put me on the bed when i was a little recovered i cannot tell how many days afterwards i made 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 i in black and white 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 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 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 in black and white true as these men here can testify even to the five hundred i said was it five hundred and | 39 |
then he sat on the fore grating eating salt fish and and singing the songs of a far country the food belonged to the or head man of the sailors he had just cooked it for himself turned to borrow some salt and when he came back s dirty black fingers were into the rice a is a person of importance far above a though the draws better pay he by ft co the of sets the chorus of ah when the captain s is pulled up to the he the lead too and sometimes when all the ship is lazy he puts on his muslin and a big red and plays with the passengers children on the quarter deck then the passengers give him money and he it all up for an at or or ho you fat black barrel you re eating my food said in the other that begins where the tongue stops and runs from port said eastward till east is west and the of the islands gossip with the strayed son of monkey dried s liver pig man i am the and the commander of all this ship take away your and thrust the empty rice plate into s hand beat it into a basin over s head drew his knife and in the leg drew bis but dropped down into the darkness of the hold and through the grating at who was the clean fore deck with his blood only the white moon saw these things for the were looking after the and the passengers were tossing in their close all in black and white right said and went forward to tie up his leg we will settle the account later on he was a bom in india married once in where his wife had a cigar shop on the road once in to a chinese girl and once in to a woman who sold fowls the english sailor cannot owing to and telegraph marry as as he used to do but native sailors can being by the barbarous inventions of the western savage was a good husband when he happened to remember the existence of a wife but he was also a very good and it is not wise to offend a because he does not forget anything moreover in s case blood had been drawn and food spoiled next morning rose with a blank mind he was no longer of but a very hot so he went on deck and opened his jacket to the morning breeze till a knife came like a flying fish and stuck into the of the cook s half an inch from his right he ran down below before his time trying to remember what he could have said to the owner of the weapon at noon when all the ship s were feeding advanced into their midst and being a placid man with a large regard for his own skin he opened saying men of the ship last night i was the of drunk and this morning i know that i behaved to some one or another of you who was that man that i may meet him face to face and say that i was drunk measured the distance to s naked breast if he sprang at him he might be tripped up and a blind blow at the chest sometimes only means a on the breast bone ribs are difficult to thrust between unless the subject be asleep so he said nothing nor did the other their faces immediately dropped all expression as is the custom of the oriental when there is killing on the carpet or any chance of trouble looked long at the white he was only an african and could not read characters a big sigh almost a groan broke from him and he went back to the the took up the conversation where he had interrupted it they talked of the best methods of cooking rice suffered considerably from lack of fresh air during the run to he only came on deck to breathe when all the world was about and even then a heavy block once dropped from a within a foot of his head and an apparently firm lashed grating on which he set his foot began to turn over with the intention of dropping him on the cargo fifteen feet below and one night the knife dropped in black and white from the fo c s le and this time it drew blood so made complaint and when the reached fled and buried himself among eight hundred thousand people and did not sign articles till the ship had been a month gone from the port waited too but his wife grew and he was forced to sign in the to because he that all play and no work gives jack a ragged shirt in the china seas he thought a great deal of and when lay in port with the inquired after him and found he had gone to england the cape on the came to england on the the met her by the light was going out with the to the coast want to find a friend my trap mouthed said a gentleman in the service nothing easier wait at the till he comes every one comes to the wait you poor heathen the gentleman spoke truth there are three great doors in the world where if you stand long enough you shall meet any one you wish the head of the canal is one but there death comes also cross station is the second for inland work and the is the third at each of these places are men and women looking the of for those who will surely come so waited at the time was no object to him and the wives could wait as he did from day to day week to week and month to month by | 39 |
wine in your house my brother or has become a of brandy i would not that drink should end him but the well mixed draught leads to madness consider and now in regard to this land of the follows that thou hast demanded god is my witness that i have to understand all that i saw and a little of what i heard my words and intention are those of truth yet it may be that i write of nothing but lies since the first wonder and bewilderment of my beholding is gone we note the jewels in the ceiling dome but later the on the floor i see clearly that this town london which is as large as all is accursed being dark and devoid of sun and full of low bom who are perpetually drunk and howl in the streets like view of the question men and women together at nightfall it is the custom of countless thousands of women to descend into the streets and sweep them roaring making and demanding liquor at the hour of this attack it is the custom of the to take their wives and children to the and the places of entertainment evil and good thus returning home together as do from the pools at i have never seen any sight like this sight in all the world and i doubt that a double is to be found on the hither side of the gates of hell touching the mystery of their craft it is an ancient one but the in herds being men and women and cry aloud to their god that it is not there the said women at the doors without moreover upon the day when they go to prayer the drink places are only opened when the are shut as who should dam the river for friday only therefore the men and women being forced to accomplish their desires in the shorter space become the more furiously drunk and roll in the together they are there regarded by those going to pray further and for visible sign that the place is forgotten of god there falls upon certain days without warning a cold darkness whereby the sun s light is altogether cut off from all the city and the people male and female and the drivers of the in black and white and howl in this pit at high noon none seeing the other the air being filled with the smoke of hell and pitch as it is written they die speedily with and so are buried in the dark this is a terror beyond the pen but by my hand i write of what i have seen i it is not true that the worship one god as do we of the faith or that the differences in their creed be like those now running between and i am but a fighting man and no caring as thou as much for as but i have spoken to many people of the nature of their gods one there is who is the head of the i and he is worshipped by men in blood red clothes who shout and become without sense another is an image before whom they bum candles and incense in just such a place as i have seen when i went to to buy for the yet a third has naked a great assembly of dead to him they sing chiefly and for others there is a woman who was the mother of the great prophet that was before the common folk have no god but worship those who may speak to them hanging from the lamps in the street the most wise people worship themselves and such things as they have made with their mouths and their hands and this is to be salvation army one view of the question found among the barren women of whom there are many thou wilt not believe this my brother nor did i when i was first told but now it is nothing to me so greatly has the foot of travel let out the holes of belief but thou wilt say what matter to us whether s beard or s be the longer speak what thou of the accomplishment of desire would that thou here to talk face to face to walk abroad with me and with this people it is a matter of heaven and hell whether s beard and s or differ but by a hair thou the system of their it is this certain men themselves go about and speak to the low bom the the leather workers and the cloth and the women saying give us leave by your favour to speak for you in the council securing that permission by large promises they return to the council place and sitting some six hundred together speak at random each for himself and his own ball of the and of the must ever beg money at their hands for unless more than a half of the six hundred be of one heart towards the spending of the neither horse can be shod rifle loaded or man clothed throughout the land remember this very continually the six hundred are above the em in black and white press above the of india above the head of the army and every other power that thou hast ever known because they hold the they are divided two the one perpetually abuse at the other and bidding the low bom and rebel against all that the other may devise for government that they sit and so call each other liar dog and without fear even under the shadow of the s throne they are at bitter war which is without any end they pit lie against lie till the low bom and common folk grow drunk with lies and in their begin to lie and refuse to pay the further they divide | 39 |
their women into bands and send them into this fight with yellow flowers in their hands and since the belief of a woman is but her lover s belief stripped of judgment very many wild words are added well said the slave girl to in the pages of the son of oppression and the sword thy breath slowly but at last if they desire a thing they declare that it is true if they desire it not though that were death itself they cry aloud it has never been thus their talk is the talk of children and like children one view of the question they snatch at what they not considering whether it be their own or another s and in their when the army of has come to the of dispute and there is no more talk left on either side they dividing count heads and the will of that side which has the larger number of heads makes that law but the side run speedily among the common people and bid them on that law and the officers thereof follow slaughter by night of men and the slaughter of cattle and to women they do not cut off the noses of women but they crop their hair and scrape the flesh with pins then those ones of the council stand up before the judges wiping their mouths and making oath they say before god we are free from blame did we say heave that stone out of that road and kill that one and no other so they are not made shorter by the head because they said only here are stones and yonder is such a fellow obeying the law which is no law because we do not desire it read this in the s ear and ask him if he remembers that season when the refused not because they could not pay but because they judged the extreme i and thou went out with the all one day and the black raised the so that there was hardly any need of firing and no man was in black and white slain but this land is at secret war and veiled killing in five years of peace they have slain within their own borders and of their own kin more men than would have fallen had the ball of been left to the of the army and yet there is no hope of peace for soon the sides again divide and then they will cause to be slain more men and in the fields and so much for that matter which is to our advantage there is a better thing to be told and one tending to the accomplishment of desire read here with a fresh mind after sleep i write as i understand above all this war without honour lies that which i find hard to put into writing and thou i am of the pen i will ride the of inability sideways at the wall of expression the earth is sick and sour with the much handling of man as a under cattle and the air is sick too upon the ground they have laid in this town as it were the boards of a stable and through these boards between a thousand thousand houses the rank of the earth sweat through to the over air that returns them to their breeding place for the smoke of their cooking fires keeps all in as the cover the of the sheep and in like manner there is a green sickness among the people and especially among the six one view of the question hundred men who talk neither winter nor autumn that malady of the soul i have seen it among women in our own country and in boys not yet blooded to the sword but i have never seen so much thereof before through the peculiar operation of this air the people abandon ing honour and question all authority not as men question but as girls with in the back when the back is turned and if one cries in the streets there has been an injustice they take him not to make complaint to those appointed but all who pass drinking his words fly to the house of the accused and write evil things of him his wives and his daughters for they take no thought to the weighing of evidence but are as women and with one hand they beat their who guard the streets and with the other beat the for that beating and fine them when they have in all things made light of the state they cry to the state for help and it is given so that the next time they will cry more such as are oppressed riot through the streets bearing that hold four days labour and a week s bread in cost and toil and when neither horse nor foot can pass by they are satisfied others receiving wages refuse to work till they get more and the priests help them and also men of the six hundred for where rebellion is in black and white one of those men will come as a to a dead and priests and men together declare that it is because these will not work that no may attempt in this manner thej have so confused the and the of the ships that come to this town that in sending the s guns and harness i saw fit to send the cases by die train to another ship that sailed from another place there is now no certainty in any sending but who the merchants the door of well being on the city and the army and ye know what sa the when he the of the there no man can keep because he tell how his will go they have made the servant greater than the master for that he is the | 39 |
his field and he not the connection of affairs from pole to pole they boast openly that the and the others are their servants when the masters are mad what shall the servants do some hold that all war is sin and death the greatest fear under god others declare with the prophet that it is evil to drink to which teaching their streets bear evident witness and others there are specially the low born who that all do one view of the question is wicked and of the sword accursed these protested to me making as it were an apology that their kin should hold and hoping that some day they would withdraw knowing well the breed of white man in our borders i would have laughed but remembering that these had power in the counting of heads yet others cry aloud against the of under the rule to this i assent remembering the yearly mercy of the when the of the come through the corn and the women s go into the melting pot but i am no good speaker t bat is the duty of the boys from hill with an eastern from and the like these moving among fools represent themselves as the sons of some one being beggar taught offspring of of bottles and as thou now we of owe naught save friendship to the english who took us by the sword and having taken us let us go assuring the s succession for all time but base bom having won their learning through the mercy of the government attired in english clothes the faith of their fathers for gain spread rumour and debate against the government and are therefore very dear to certain of the six hundred i have heard these in black and white cattle speak as princes and rulers of men and i have laughed but not altogether once it happened that a son of some grain bag sat with me at meat who was arrayed and speaking after the manner of the english at each he committed against the salt that he had eaten the men and women when he had oppression and invented wrong together with the of his gods he demanded in the name of his people the government of all our land and turning laid palm to my shoulder saying here is one who is with us he another ith he will bear out my words this he delivered in english and as it were exhibited me to that company preserving a smiling countenance i answered in our own tongue take away that hand man without a father or the folly of these folk shall not save thee nor my silence guard thy reputation sit herd and in their speech i said he speaks truth when the favour and wisdom of the english allows us yet a little larger share in the burden and the reward the will deal with the he alone saw what was in my heart i was merciful towards him because he was our desires but remember that his is one in lay thy hand upon bis one view of the question if ever chance sends it is not good that bottle and should the sons of princes i walk abroad sometimes with the man that all the world may know the and are one but when we come to the streets i bid him walk behind me and that is sufficient honour and why did i eat dirt thus my brother it seems to my heart which has almost burst in the consideration of these matters the and the beggar taught boys know well that the power to govern comes neither from the nor the head of the army but from the hands of the six hundred in this town and peculiarly those who talk most they will therefore yearly address themselves more and more to that protection and working on the green sickness of the land as has ever been their custom will in time cause through the perpetually interference of the six hundred the hand of the indian government to become so that no measure nor order may be carried through without and argument on their part for that is the delight of the english at this hour have i the bounds of possibility no even thou must have heard that one of the six hundred having neither knowledge fear nor reverence before his eyes has made in sport a new and a written scheme for the government of ben q in black and white and openly shows it abroad as a king might read his crowning and this man in affairs of state speaks in the council for an assemblage of leather makers of boots and harness and openly glories in that he has no god has either minister of the or any other raised a voice against this leather man is not his power therefore to be sought and that of his like with it thou the telegraph is the servant of the six hundred and all the in india not one are the servants of the telegraph yearly too thou the beggar taught will hold that which they call their first at one place and then at another with rumour echoing the talk among the low bom people here and demanding that they like the six hundred control the and they will bring every point and letter over the heads of the and the lieutenant and whoever hold authority and cast it at the feet of the six hundred here and certain of those word and the barren women will assent to their demands and others will weary of thus fresh confusion will be thrown into the of the even as an island near by is helped and comforted into the smothered war of which i have written then yearly as they have one view of the question begun and we have seen | 39 |
the low born men of the six hundred anxious for honour will for our land and staying a little while will gather round them and before the beggar taught and these departing from their side will assuredly inform the and the fighting men for whom there is no employ that there is a change toward and a coming of help from over the seas that rumour will not grow smaller in the spreading and most of all the when it is not under the eye of the six hundred who though they and death pretend great reverence for the law which is no law will stepping aside deliver uneasy words to the speaking as it has done already of the of and promising a new rule that is to our advantage but the flower of danger is in the seed of it thou what evil a rumour may do though in the black year when thou and i were young our standing to the english brought gain to and enlarged our borders for the government gave us land on both sides of the itself nothing is to be feared that ten could not remove but if its words too soon the minds of those waiting or of princes in idleness a flame may come before the time and since there are now many white hands to it all will return to the former condition if the flame be kept under we need have no fear because in black and white and panting the one on the other the white people here are digging their own graves the hand of the will be the hearts of the will be downcast and all eyes will turn to england any orders meantime keeping on the sword against the hour when the score must be made smooth by the blade it is well for us to assist and greatly the that he may get control of the and the posts we must even write to england that we be of one blood with the it is not long to wait by my head it is not long this people are like the great king who eaten with the of long idleness plucked off his crown and danced naked among the hills but i have not forgotten the profitable end of that tale the set him upon a horse and led him into battle presently his health returned and he caused to be on the crown though i was cast away by the king yet through god i returned and he added to my two great and if this people be and out by battle their sickness may go and their eyes be cleared to the necessities of things but they are now far gone in even the too long heel forgets how to fight and these men one view of the question are i do not lie when i say that unless they are and taught with the whip they will hear and obey all that is said by the and the black men here hoping to turn our land into their own for the men of the six hundred being chiefly low bom and unused to authority desire much to exercise rule extending their arms to the sun and moon and shouting very greatly in order to hear the echo of their voices each one saying some new strange thing and parting the goods and honour of others among the that he may obtain the favour of the common folk and all this is to our advantage therefore write that they may read of gratitude and of love and the law i myself when i return will show how the dish should be dressed to take the taste here for it is here that we must come cause to be established in a newspaper and fill it with of their papers a beggar taught may be brought from for thirty a month and if he writes in our people cannot read create further other than the of village by village and district by district them beforehand what to say according to the order of the print all these things in a book in english and send it to this place and to every man of the six hundred bid the beggar taught in black and white write in front of all that follows fast on the english plan if thou the shrine at and it is ripe the and perhaps the marriage tax with great but above all things keep the troops ready and in good pay even though we the with the wheat and the s women ail must go softly protest thou thy love for the voice of the common people in all things and to despise the troops that shall be taken for a witness in this land the of the troops must be mine see that s wits go wandering over the wine but do not send him to god i am an old man but i may yet live to lead if this people be not out and regain strength we watching how the tide runs when we see that the shadow of their hand is all but lifted from must bid the demand the removal of the or set going an uneasiness to that end we must have a care neither to hurt the life of the englishmen nor the honour of their women for in that case six times the six hundred here could not hold those who remain from making the land swim we must care that they are not by the but escorted while the land is held down with the threat of the sword if a hair of their heads fall thus we shall gain a good name one view of the question and when rebellion is by as has lately befallen in a far country the english honour call it by a new name even one who has been | 39 |
a minister of the but is now at war against the law praises it openly before the common folk so greatly are they changed since the days of and then if all go well and the who through continual checking and will have grown sick at heart see themselves abandoned by their kin for this people have allowed their greatest to die on dry sand through delay and fear of expense we may go forward this people arc swayed by names a new name therefore must be given to the rule of and that the may settle among themselves and there will be many writings and oaths of love such as the little island over seas makes when it would fight more bitterly and after that the are diminished the hour comes and we must strike so that the sword is never any more questioned by the favour of god and the of the these many years contains very much plunder which we can in no way eat hurriedly there will be to our hand the of the house of state for the shall continue to do our work and must account to us for a once of some in india in black and white the and learn his seat in the order of things whether the kings of the west will break in to share that spoil before we have swept it altogether thou better than i but be certain that strong hands will seek their own and it may be that the days of the king of will return if we only our desires pay due obedience to the outward appearances and the names thou the old song thou not called it love i had said it were a drawn sword but since thou hast spoken i believe and i die it is in my heart that there will remain in our land a few of returning to england these we must cherish and protect that by their skill and cunning we may hold together and preserve unity in time of war the kings will never trust a in the core of their counsels i say again that if we of the faith confide in them we shall upon our enemies is all this a dream to thee gray fox of my mother s bearing i have written of what i have seen and heard but from the same clay two men will never alike nor from the same facts draw equal conclusions once more there is a green sickness upon all the people of this country they eat dirt even now to stay their one view of the question honour and have departed from their and the knife of has brought down upon their heads the flapping tent flies of confusion the is old they speak of her and hers in the street they despise the sword and believe that the tongue and the pen sway all the measure of their ignorance and their soft belief is greater than the measure of the wisdom of solomon the son of david all these things i have seen whom they regard as a wild beast and a spectacle by god the of intelligence if the in india could breed sons who lived so that their houses might be established i would almost fling my sword at the s feet saying let us here fight for a kingdom together thine and mine the across the water write a letter to england saying that we love them but would depart from their and make all clean under a new crown but the die out at the third generation in our land and it may be that i dream dreams yet not altogether until a white calamity of steel and the bearing of burdens the trembling for life and the hot rage of insult for would them if eyes not unused to men see clear befall this people our path is safe they are sick the fountain of power is a which all may and the voices of the men are by the in black and white of and the of barren if through become wise then my brother strike with and for them and later when thou and i are dead and the disease grows up again the young men bred in the school of fear and trembling and word have yet to live out their appointed span those who have fought on the side of the english may ask and receive what they choose at present seek quietly to and delay and and make of no effect in this business four score of the six hundred are our true now the pen and the ink and the hand weary together as thy eyes will weary in this reading be it known to my house that i return soon but do not speak of the hour letters without name have come to me touching my honour the honour of my house is thine if they be as i believe the work of a dismissed groom lai that ran at the tail of my wine coloured his village is beyond look to it that his tongue no longer itself on the names of those who are mine if it be otherwise put a guard upon my house till i come and especially see that no of or have entrance to the women s rooms we rise by our slaves and by our slaves we fell as it was said to all who are of my remembrance i bring according to their one view of the question i have written twice of the gift that i would cause to be given to the blessing of god and his prophet on thee and thine till the end which is appointed give me felicity by informing me of the state of thy health my head is at the s feet my sword is at his left side a little | 39 |
even break the great idol called which as the newspapers say lives between and cape were the day of doom to dawn to morrow you would find the supreme government taking measures to popular excitement and putting guards upon the that the dead might troop forth orderly the youngest would arrest on his own responsibility if the could not produce a s permission to make music or other noises 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 on the city wall 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 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 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 in black and white beautiful exceedingly according to the native 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 arc 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 cut glass hung from the ceiling of the reception room a petty had given the horror and she kept it for politeness sake the floor of the room was of polished white as a window of carved wood was set in one wall there was a profusion of cushions and fat carpets everywhere and s silver studded with had a special little carpet all to its shining self was nearly as permanent a as the as i have said he lay in the window seat and meditated on life and death and specially the feet of the young men of the city tended to her and then retired for was a particular maiden slow of speech reserved of mind and not on the city wall in the least inclined to which were nearly certain to end in strife if i am of no value i am unworthy of this honour said if i am of value they are unworthy of me and that was a crooked sentence in the long hot nights of latter april and may all the city seemed to in s little white room to smoke and to talk of the and most persuasion who had lost all belief in the prophet and retained but little in god wandering priests passing southward on their way to the central india and other affairs in black gowns with spectacles on their noses and wisdom in their bearded of the wards with all the details of the latest scandal in the golden temple red eyed priests from beyond the border looking like wolves and talking like m a s of the university very superior and very all these people and more also you might find in the white room lay in the window seat and listened to the talk it is s said to me and it is is not that the word outside of a s lodge i have never seen such t here i dined once with a jew a he into the city ditch with apologies for allowing national feelings to in black and white overcome him though i have lost every belief in the world said he and try to be proud of my losing i cannot help a jew admits no jews here but what in the world do all these men do i asked the curse of our country said they talk it is like the always hearing and telling some new thing ask the pearl and she will show you how much she knows of the news of the city and the province knows everything i said at random she was talking to a gentleman of the persuasion who had come in from god knows where when the th regiment go to it does not go at all said without turning her head they have ordered the th to go in its stead that regiment goes to in three months unless they give a fresh order that is so said without a shade of doubt can you with your and your newspapers do better always hearing and telling some new thing he went on my friend has your god ever smitten a european nation for in the india has for centuries always standing in the until the soldiers go by therefore you are here to on the city wall day instead of starving in your | 39 |
own country and i am not a i am a product a product that also i owe to you and yours that i cannot make an end to my sentence without quoting from your authors he pulled at the and mourned half half in earnest for the shattered hopes of his youth was always mourning over something or other the country of which he or the creed in which he had lost faith or the life of the english which he could by no means understand never mourned she played little songs on the j r and to hear her sing o cry again was always a fresh pleasure she knew all the songs that have ever been sung from the of the south that make the old men angry with the young men and the young men angry with the state to the love songs of the north where the swords like angry in the pauses between the kisses and the passes fill with armed men and the lover is torn firom his beloved and cries ai she knew how to make up tobacco for the so that it smelt like the gates of paradise and you gently through them she could strange things in gold and silver and dance softly with the moonlight when it came in at the window also she knew the hearts of men and the heart of the city and whose wives were and whose in black and white and more of the secrets of the government offices than are good to be set down in this place her maid said that her was worth ten thousand pounds and that some night a thief would enter and murder her for its possession but said that all the city would tear that thief limb from limb and that he whoever he was knew it so she took her and sat in the and sang a song of old days that had been sung by a girl of her profession in an armed camp on the eve of a great battle the day before the of the ran red and fled fifty miles to with a at his horse s tail and another on his saddle bow it was what men call a and it said their warrior forces before the the children of the san and fire behind him turned and fled and the chorus said with them there fought who rides so free with sword and red the warrior youth who his fee at peril of his head at peril of his head said in english to me thanks to your all on the city wall our heads are protected and with the at my command his eyes i might be a distinguished member of the local administration perhaps in time i might even be a member of a council don t speak english said bending over her afresh the chorus went out from the city wall to the blackened wall of fort which the city no man knows the precise extent of fort three kings built it hundreds of years ago and they say that there are miles of rooms beneath its walls it is peopled with many ghosts a of garrison and a company of in its prime it held ten thousand men and filled its with at peril of his head sang again and again a head moved on one of the the gray head of an old man and a voice rough as skin on a sword sent back the last line of the chorus and broke into a song that i could not understand though and 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 if but you had learned the trick of blowing men in black and white from guns too well now he is old but he would still fight if he could is he a then why should he answer to a if he be or said i i do not know said he has lost perhaps his religion perhaps he wishes to be a king perhaps he is a king i do not know his name that is a lie if you know his career you must know his name that is quite true i belong to a nation of i would rather not tell you his name think for yourself finished her song pointed to the fort and said simply hm said if the pearl chooses to tell you the pearl is a fool i translated to who laughed i choose to tell what i choose to tell they kept in said she they kept him there for many years until his mind was changed in him so great was the kindness of the government finding this they sent him back to his own country that he might look upon it before he died he is an old man but when he looks upon this his country his memory will come moreover there be many who remember him he is an interesting said h on the city wall 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 | 39 |
senior captain commanding fort was away on leave but the his had drifted down to the club where i found him and 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 gentleman whoever he is of course i did all i could for him he had his two servants and some in black and white 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 flag staff 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 it 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 that he doesn t get away queer thing though looking after a old enough to be your grandfather isn t it come to the fort one of these days and see him 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 on the city wall s window a gray head and a harsh voice but natives told me that day by day as he looked upon the fair lands round his memory came back to him and with it the old hatred against the government that had been nearly in fer off so he raged up and down the west face of the fort from morning till noon and from evening till the night vain things in his heart and war songs when sang on the city wall as he grew more acquainted witli the he his old heart of some of the passions that had withered it he used to say tapping his stick against the when i was a young man i was one of twenty thousand who came out of the city and rode round the plain here i was the leader of a hundred then of a thousand then of five thousand and now he pointed to his two servants but from the beginning to to day i would cut the throats of all the in the land if i could hold me fast lest i get away and return to those who would follow me i forgot them when i was in but now that i am in my own country again i remember everything do you remember that you have given me your honour not to make your a hard matter said the yes to you only to you said in black and white to you because you are of a pleasant countenance if my turn comes again i will not hang you nor cut your throat thank you said the gravely as he looked along the line of guns that could pound the city to powder in half an hour let us go into our own quarters come and talk with me after dinner would sit on his own cushion at the s feet drinking heavy scented brandy in great and telling strange stories of fort which had been a palace in the old days of and tortured to death aye in the very chamber that now served as a mess room would tell stories of that made the s cheeks flush and with pride of race and of the rising from which so much was expected and the of which was shared by a hundred thousand souls but he never told tales of because as he said he was the s guest and is a year that no man black or white cares to speak of once only when the brandy had slightly affected his head he said speaking now of a matter which lay between and the affair of the it was ever a wonder to us that you stayed your hand at all and that having stayed it you did not make the land one prison now i hear from without on the city wall that you do great honour to all men of our country and by your own hands are destroying the terror of your name which is your strong rock and defence this is a foolish thing will oil and water mix now in i was not bom then said the and to his quarters the would tell me of these conversations at the club and my desire to see increased but sitting in the window seat of the house on the city wall said that it would be a cruel thing to do and pretended that i preferred the society of a old to hers here is tobacco here is talk here are many friends and all the news of the city and above all here is myself | 39 |
year think that there will be trouble he turned down a side street and left me alone 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 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 eat more bitterly scornful of his faith and its than i had ever known him s maid was very busy cutting up and mix h on the city wall ing tobacco for the guests we could hear the thunder of the drums as the accompanying each marched to the central gathering place in the plain outside the city preparatory to their triumphant re entry and circuit within the walls all the streets seemed with and only fort was black and silent when the noise of the drums ceased no one in the white room spoke for a time the first has moved off said looking to the plain that is very early said the man with the it is only half past eight the company rose and departed some of them were men from said when the last had gone they brought me brick tea such as the sell and a 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 tonight he said all the city thinks so and f ox is r ox as the say now i tell you that at the comer 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 in black and white saying ta ta twenty thousand times in a night all the there were two and twenty of them were now well within the city walls the drums were beating afresh the crowd were howling ta ta and beating their breasts the brass bands were playing their and at every comer 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 feet high was borne aloft on the shoulders of a score of stout men into the semi darkness of the of the a through its and sides into thy hands o lord murmured pro as a yell went up from behind and a native officer of police his horse through the crowd another followed and the staggered and swayed where it had stopped go on in the name of the go forward shouted the policeman but there was an ugly and of shutters and the crowd halted with oaths and before the house whence the had been thrown then without any warning broke the storm on the city wall not only in the of the but in half a dozen other places the rocked like ships at sea the long pole dipped and rose round them while the men shouted the are the strike strike into their temples for the faith the six or eight with each drew their and struck as long as they could in the hope of forcing the mob forward but they were overpowered and as of poured into the streets the fight became general half a mile away where the were yet untouched the drums and the shrieks of ta ta continued but not for long the priests at the comers of the streets knocked the legs from the that supported their and smote for the faith while stones fell from the silent houses upon friend and foe and the packed streets din din din a caught fire and was dropped for a flaming barrier between and at the comer of the then the crowd forward and drew me close to the stone pillar of a well it was intended from the beginning he shouted in my ear with more heat than blank should be guilty o the bricks were carried up to the houses beforehand these swine of we shall be in their temples to night in black and white after some burning others torn to pieces hurried past us and the mob with them howling shrieking and striking at the house doors in their flight at last we saw the reason of the rush the assistant district of police a boy of twenty had got together thirty and was forcing the crowd through the streets his old gray police showed no sign of uneasiness as it was breast on into the crowd and the long dog whip with which he had armed himself was never still they know we haven t enough police to hold em he cried as he passed me a cut on his face they know we haven t aren t any of the men from the club coming down to help get on you sons of burnt the cracked across the backs and the smote afresh with and gun butt with these passed the lights and the shouting and began to swear under his breath from fort shot up a single | 39 |
then two side by side it was the signal for troops the covered with dust and sweat but calm and gently smiling up the clean swept street in rear of the main body of the no one killed yet he shouted i ll keep em on the run till dawn don t let em halt trot em about till the troops come on the city wall the science of the defence lay solely in keeping the mob on the move if they had they would halt and fire a house and then the work of restoring order would be more difficult to say the least of it flames have the same effect on a crowd as blood has on a wild beast word had reached the club and men in evening dress were beginning to show themselves and lend a hand in heading off and breaking up the shouting masses with or chance found they were not very often attacked for the had sense enough to know that the death of a european would not mean one hanging but many and possibly the appearance of the thrice dreaded the in die city the had descended into the streets in real earnest and ere long the mob returned it was a strange sight there were no only their and there were no police here and there a city or was vainly imploring his co to keep quiet and behave themselves advice for which his white beard was pulled then a native officer of police but still using his spurs with effect would be borne along warning all the crowd of the danger of insulting the government everywhere men struck with sticks grasping each other by the throat howling and foaming with rage or beat in black and white with their bare hands on the doors of the houses it is a lucky thing that they are fighting with natural weapons i said to else we should have half the city killed i turned as i spoke and looked at his ce his nostrils were his eyes were fixed and he was himself softly on the breast the crowd poured by with renewed riot a gang of hard pressed by some hundred left my side with an oath and shouting ta plunged into the thick of the fight where i lost si t of him i fled by a side alley to the grate where i found s horse and thence rode to the fort once outside the city wall the tumult sank to a dull roar very impressive under the stars and reflecting great credit on the fifty thousand angry able men who were making it the troops who at the s instance had been ordered to quietly near the fort showed no signs of being impressed two companies of native a of native cavalry and a company of british were kicking their heels in the shadow of the face waiting for orders to march in i am sorry to say that they were all pleased pleased at the chance of what they called a little on the city wall the senior officers to be sure grumbled at having been kept out of bed and the english troops pretended to be sulky but there was joy in the hearts of all the and whispers ran up and down the line no ball what a shame d you think the beggars will really stand up to us hope i shall meet my money there i owe him more than i can afford oh they won t let us even swords up goes the fourth fall in there the garrison who to the last cherished a wild hope that they might be allowed to the city at a hundred yards range lined the above the and cheered themselves hoarse as the british doubled along the road to the main grate of the city the cavalry on to the grate 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 in black and white 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 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 on the city wall arms round my neck and murmured pretty | 39 |
things i was in no haste to stop her and being a of tact turned to the big jewel chest that stands in the comer 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 by take this old man across the city the troops are everywhere and they might hurt him for he is old to the gate there i think he may find a carriage to take him to his house he is a friend of mine and thou art more than a friend therefore i ask this bent over the old man tucked something into his belt and i raised him up and led him into the streets in crossing from the east to the west of the city there was no chance of avoiding the troops and the crowd long before i reached the of the i heard the shouts of the british crying 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 for not a had been fixed my companion and as we walked on until we were carried back by the crowd and in black and white 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 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 firom 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 in try 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 to me moaned my companion how many troops are there in the city perhaps five hundred i said a of men beaten by five hundred and among them surely surely i am an old on the city wall man but the grate is new who pulled down the stone lions where is the i am a very old man and alas i i cannot stand he dropped in the shadow of the gate where there was no disturbance a fat gentleman wearing gold came out of the darkness you are most kind to bring my old friend he said he is a of he should not be in a big 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 dog whip 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 on their backs stamping with shouting and song upon the toes of and never was religious en in black and white more and never were poor of the peace more utterly weary and they were out of holes and comers 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 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 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 a r we could hear the soldiers sing on the city wall ing two lovely black eyes as they drove the remnant of the within doors of course you can guess what happened i was not so clever when the news went abroad that had escaped firom 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 was the man who should have him across the city or that s arms round my neck were put | 39 |
there to hide the money that gave to and that had used me and my white 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 offices and could give them neither nor in black and white influence nothing but a glorious death with their backs to the mouth of a gun he wrote letters and made promises and the letters fell into bad hands and a wholly insignificant subordinate officer of police 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 employed 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 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 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 on the city wall i admired your in thus boldly 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 of m p because half a dozen under a make the field ring with their while thousands of great cattle beneath the shadow of the british oak the and are silent pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field of course they are many in number or that after all they are other than the little meagre though loud and troublesome insects of the hour j ri on the revolution in france they were sitting in the of the splendid palace of an indian pro surrounded by all the glory and mystery of the east in plain english it was a one mud set in a dry garden of dusty trees and divided from the road by a low mud wall the green screamed overhead as they flew in to the river for their morning drink beyond the wall clouds of fine dust showed where the cattle and of the city were passing to the white light of the winter sunshine of northern india lay upon of m p thing and improved nothing from the wheel by the lawn court to the long perspective of level road and the blue of saints just visible above the trees a happy new year said to his guest it s the first ever spent out of england isn t it yes happy new year said smiling at the sunshine what a divine climate you have here just think of the brown cold fog hanging over london now and he rubbed his hands it was more than twenty years since he had last seen his and their paths in the world had divided early the one had quitted college to become a wheel in the machinery of the great indian government the other more blessed with goods had been whirled into a similar position in the scheme three successive had not affected s position with a loyal and he had grown to regard himself in some sort as a pillar of the empire whose real worth would be known later on after a few years of conscientious attendance at many divisions after newspaper battles innumerable and the publication of interminable correspondence and more hasty than in his calmer moments he cared to think upon it in black and white occurred to him as it had occurred to many of his fellows in parliament that a tour to india would enable him to sweep a larger and address himself to the problems of imperial administration with a firmer hand accepting therefore a general invitation extended to him by some years before had taken ship to and only over night had been received with joy by the of they had sat late discussing the changes and chances of twenty years recalling the names of the dead and weighing the of the living as is the custom of men meeting after intervals of action next morning they smoked the after breakfast pipe in the still regarding each other curiously in a light gray frock coat and garments much too thin for the time of the year and a sun hat carefully and in a shooting coat riding breeches brown boots with spurs and a battered he had ridden some miles in the early morning to inspect a doubtful river dam the men s faces differed as much as their attire s worn and wrinkled about the eyes and at the temples was the harder and more square of the two and it was with something like envy that the owner looked at | 39 |
the comfortable outlines of s of m p the clear skin the eye and the clean shaved lips and this is india said for the twentieth time staring long and intently at the gray of the one portion of india only it s very much like this for miles in every direction by the way now that you have rested a little i wouldn t ask the old question before what d you think of the country tis the most country ever yet was seen i acquired several pounds of your country coming up from the air is heavy with it and for miles and miles along that eternity of rail there s no horizon to show where air and earth separate yes it isn t easy to see truly or far in india but you had a decent passage out hadn t you very good on the whole your indian may be about one s political views but he has reduced ship life to a science the indian is a political orphan and if he s wise he won t be in a hurry to be adopted by your party but how were your companions well there was a man called a judge somewhere in this country it seems and a capital partner at by the way and when i wanted to talk to him about the progress of in black and white india in a political sense hid a grin which might or might not have been sympathetic the national movement and other things in which as a member of parliament i m of course interested he shifted the subject and when i once him he looked me calmly in the eye and said that s all rot come and have a game at bull you may laugh but that isn t the way to treat a great and important question and knowing who i was well i thought it rather rude don t you know and yet is a thoroughly good fellow yes he s a friend of mine and one of the men i know i suppose like many indians he felt it was hopeless to give you any just idea of any indian question without the documents before you and in this case the documents you want are the country and the people precisely that was why i came straight to you bringing an open mind to bear on things i m anxious to know what popular feeling in india is really like y know now that it has into political life the national in spite of must have caused great excitement among the masses on the contrary nothing could be more tranquil than the state of popular feeling and as to excitement the people would as soon be excited over the rule of three as over the of m p excuse me but do you think you are a fair judge isn t the official indian naturally jealous of any external influences that might move the masses and so much opposed to liberal ideas truly liberal ideas that he can scarcely be expected to regard a popular movement with what did say about rot think a moment old man you and i were brought up together taught by the same read the same books lived the same life and thought as you may remember in parallel lines come out here learn new languages and work among new races while you more fortunate remain at home why should i change my mind our mind because i change my sky why should i and the few hundred englishmen in my service become unreasonable prejudiced while you and your friends alone remain bright and open minded you surely don t fancy are members of a league of course not but the mere position of an english official gives him a point of view which cannot but bias his mind on this question moved his knee up and down a little uneasily as he spoke that sounds plausible enough but like more plausible notions on indian matters i believe it s a mistake you ll find when you come to consult the in black and white that our fault as a class i speak of the now is rather to the progress that has been made towards liberal institutions it is of english origin such as it is and the stress of our work since the only thirty years ago has been in that direction no i think you will get no fairer or more view of the business than such men as i can give you but i may as well say at once that those who know most of india from the inside are inclined to wonder at the noise our scarcely begun experiment makes in england but surely the gathering together of is of itself a new thing there s nothing new under the sun when europe was a half asia to the of and for centuries the people have gathered at and in immense numbers a great meeting what you call a mass meeting is really one of the oldest and most popular of indian institutions in the case of the meetings the only notable feet is that the priests of the altar are british not or and that the whole thing is a british contrivance kept alive by the efforts of messrs and you mean to say then it s not a spontaneous movement of m p what movement was ever spontaneous in any true sense of the word this seems to be more than usual you seem to know a great deal about it try it by the of a coarse but and there is scarcely the colour of money in it the write from england that they are out of pocket for working expenses railway and the mere and of their show it is in feet from mere financial but you cannot | 39 |
deny that the people of india who are perhaps too poor to are mentally and morally moved by the agitation insisted that is precisely what i do deny the native side of the movement is the work of a limited class a as lord described it when compared with the people proper but still a very interesting class seeing that it is of our own creation it is composed almost entirely of those of the literary or who have received an english education surely that s a very important class its members must be the ordained leaders of popular thought anywhere they might be leaders but they have no social weight in this land and though they have been employed in in black and white work for generations they have no practical knowledge of affairs a ship s clerk is a useful person but he is scarcely the captain and an writer however smart he may be is not the colonel you see the writer class in india has never till now to anything like command it wasn t allowed to the indian gentleman for thousands of years past has resembled victor s noble un tire le main il and the little he most likes to make have been pretty deeply by the sword but this is childish and nonsense precisely and from your or rather our point of view the pen is than the sword in this country it s otherwise the fault lies in our indian not yet adjusted to and measures well at all events this literary class represent the natural aspirations and wishes of the people at large though it may not exactly lead them and in spite of all you say i defy you to of m p find a really sound english radical who would not with those aspirations spoke with some warmth and he had scarcely ceased when a well appointed dog cart turned into the compound gates and rose saying here is the master of the lodge i neglect so diligently come to talk about accounts i suppose as the vehicle drove up under the porch also rose saying with the trained bom of much practice but this is also my friend my old and valued friend fm delighted to see you i knew you were in india but not exactly where then it isn t accounts mr said cheerily why no sir i heard mr was coming and as our works were closed for the new year i thought i would drive over and see him a very happy thought mr you may not know was a leading member of our radical club at when i was beginning political life and i owe much to his exertions there s no pleasure like meeting an old friend except perhaps making a new one i suppose mr you stick to the good old cause well you see sir things are different out here there s precious little one can find to say in black and white against the government which was the main of our talk at home and them that do say things are not the sort o people a man who respects himself would like to be mixed up with there are no politics in a manner of speaking in india it s all work surely you are mistaken my good friend why i have come all the way from england just to see the working of this great national move ment i don t know where you re going to find the nation as moves to begin with and then you ll be hard put to it to find what they are moving about it s like this sir said who had not quite being called my good they haven t got any grievance nothing to hit with don t you see sir and then there s not much to hit against because the is more like a kind of general providence directing an old established state of things than that at home where there s something new thrown down for us to fight about every three months you are probably in your full of english out of the way of learning what the masses think i don t know so much about that there are four of us english and between seven and eight hundred native painters and such like of m r and they are full of the of course never hear a word of it from year s end to year s end and i speak the talk too but i wanted to ask how things are going on at home old and brown and the rest we will speak of them presently but your account of the indifference of your men surprises me almost as much as your own i fear you are a from the good old doctrine spoke as one who mourned the death of a near relative not a bit sir but i should be if i took up with a parcel of and as never did a day s work in their lives and couldn t if they tried and if you was to us english railway men and the like of that all up and down the country from to you would find us mostly in a tale together and yet you know we re the same english you pay some respect to at home at time and we have the pull o knowing something about it this is very curious but you will let me come and see you and perhaps you will kindly show me the railway works and we will talk things over at leisure and about all old friends and old times added with quick insight a look of disappointment in the s u e in black and white nodding briefly to mounted his dog cart and drove off it s very said the member to who while his friend with had been | 39 |
looking over a bundle of sketches drawn on gray paper in purple ink brought to him by a don t let it trouble you old chap said look here a moment here arc some sketches by the man who made the screen you admired so much in the and wanted a copy of and the artist himself is here too a native said of course was the reply is his name and he has two brothers to help him when there is an important job to do the three go into but they spend most of their time and all their money in over an inheritance and fm afraid they are getting involved of the old rock obstinate and cunning but good men for all that here is shall we ask bim about the but who approached with a respectful had never heard of it and he listened with a puzzled face and obviously feigned interest to s account of its aims and objects finally shaking his vast white with great of m p significance when he learned that it was promoted by certain named by and by educated natives he began with respect to explain how he was a poor man with no concern in such matters which were all under the control of god but presently broke out of into familiar the mere sound of which had a rustic of village smoke and plough tail as he the of white coats the with words who his field from him the men whose backs were never bowed in honest work and poured scorn on the he and one of his brothers had seen and being at work there had given to them as those said black were more and as for the the click needed no interpretation but translated the rest while gazed with interest at the he seems to have a most prejudice against the said the m p yes it s very sad that for ages outside there should be so bitter a prejudice pride of race which also means race hatred is the plague and curse of india and it hi pointed with his riding whip to the large map of india on the wall in black and white see i begin with the north said he there s the and as a he all the in with the exception of the whom he hates as cordially as the hates him the and and the that s a little lower down across this yellow blot of desert has a strong objection to put it mildly to the who by the way hates the let s go north a minute the hates everybody i ve mentioned very good we ll take less warlike races the of northern india over the man in the next province and the of the north west the they are all at one on that point i m giving you merely the possible outlines of the facts of course his clean cut nostrils still quivering watched the large sweep of the whip as it travelled from the frontier through the and till it rested by the valley of the hate eternal and hate concluded the lash of the whip across the large map from east to west as he sat down remember s advice to lord never write or speak of indian things without looking at a map opened his eyes resumed and of m p the race hatred is only a part of it what s really the matter with is class hatred which unfortunately is even more intense and more widely spread that s one of the little of caste which some of your recent english writers find an system the wood was glad to be recalled to the business of his craft and his eyes shone as he received instructions for a carved wooden doorway for which he promised should be splendidly executed and despatched to england in six months it is an detail but in spite of s fourteen months elapsed before the work was finished business over hung about reluctant to take his leave and at last joining his hands and approaching with breath and whispering said he had a petition to make s face suddenly lost all trace of expression speak on said he and the in a tone explained that his case against his brothers was fixed for hearing before a native judge and here he dropped his voice still lower till he was stopped by who sternly pointed to the gate with an emphatic showing but little sign of respectfully to the friends and departed looked inquiry with complete re in black and white co very of his usual replied it s nothing only the old story he wants his case to be tried by an english judge they all do that but when he began to hint that the other side were in improper relations with the native judge i had to shut him up ram the man he wanted to make about may not be very bright but he s as honest as daylight on the bench but that s just what one can t get a native to believe do you really mean to say these people prefer to have their cases tried by english judges why certainly drew a long breath i didn t know that before at this point a entered the compound and rose with confound it there s old come to pay one of his tiresome duty calls i m afraid we shall never get through our little discussion was an almost silent spectator of the grave of a visit paid by a old gentleman to an indian official and was much impressed by the distinction of manner and fine appearance of the when the exchange of polite came to a pause he expressed a wish to learn the visitor s opinion of the national reluctantly interpreted and with | 39 |
a smile which even politeness could not of m p save from bitter scorn intimated that he knew nothing about it and cared still less it was a kind of talk encouraged by the government for some mysterious purpose of its own and for his own part he wondered and held his peace was far from satisfied with this and wished to have the old gentleman s opinion on the propriety of managing all indian affairs on the basis of an system did his best to explain but it was plain the visitor was bored and bewildered frankly he didn t think much of they had a committee at and had elected a servant an orderly as a member he had been informed of this on good authority and after that had ceased to interest him but all was according to the rule of government and please god it was all for the best what an old it is cried as returned from seeing his guest to the door just like some old blue blooded of spain what does he really think of the after all and of the system hates it all like poison when you are sure of a majority election is a fine system but you can scarcely expect the the most and powerful in the country to contemplate their own with joy the worst of it is that he and his co in black and white who are many and the landed also of race are frightened and put out by this election business and by the importance we have bestowed on lawyers writers and the like who have up to now been in abject submission to them they say little but after all they are the most important in the great bundle of and all the in the world would not pay for their they have controlled the land but i am assured that experience of local in your has been most and when once the principle is accepted in your don t you know it is bound to spread and these important ah m people of yours would it like the rest i see no difficulty at all and the smooth lips closed with the complacent snap habitual to m p the man of cheerful and confident to looked at him with a dreary smile the privilege of election has been most reluctantly withdrawn from scores of others have had to be suppressed and outside the towns the actual work done has been badly performed this is of less moment perhaps it only sends up the local death than the feet that the public interest in never very strong has of m p and is in spite of careful nursing on the part of government servants can you explain this lack of interest said putting aside the rest of s remarks you may find a ward of the key in the feet that only one in every thousand of our population can spell then they are infinitely more interested in religion and caste questions than in any sort of politics when the business of mere existence is over their minds are occupied by a series of interests pleasures and the like based on centuries of tradition and usage you perhaps find it hard to conceive of people absolutely devoid of curiosity to whom the book the daily paper and the printed speech are unknown and you would describe their life as blank that s a profound mistake you are in another land another century on the bed rock of society where the family merely and not the community is all important the average oriental cannot be brought to look beyond his his life too is more complete and self and less sordid and low than you might imagine it is and slow in some respects but it is never empty you and i are inclined to put the cart before the horse and to forget that it is the man that is not the book the corn and the cattle are all my care and the rest is the will of god in black and white why should such folk look up from their appointed round of duty and interests to with the unknown and fuss with how would you of all your interests care to conduct even one tenth of your life according to the manners and customs of the let s say that s what it comes to but if they won t take the trouble to vote why do you anticipate that and the rest would be crushed by of them again disregarded the closing sentence because though the would not move a finger on any purely political question they could be raised in dangerous excitement by religious already the first note of this has been sounded by the people who are trying to get up an agitation on the cow killing question and every year there is trouble over the but who looks after the popular rights being thus the of her majesty the queen of india in which if the are to be believed the people have an trust for the circular specially prepared for rustic comprehension says the movement is for the of tax the advancement of and the of the british govern of m p ment this paper is headed in large letters may the prosperity of the of india endure really said that shows some cleverness but there are things better worth imitation in our english methods of er political statement than this sort of amiable fraud anyhow resumed you perceive that not a word is said about and the principle and the of the here shows they are wise in their generation but the principle must triumph in the end and the little difficulties you seem to anticipate would give way on the introduction of a scheme capable of indefinite extension but is it possible to | 39 |
devise a scheme which always assuming that the people took any interest in it without enormous expense of the administration and danger to the public peace can satisfy the aspirations of mr and his following and yet the interests of the the landed and wealthy classes the the native christians and others who are each important and in their way attention however was diverted to the gate where a group of stood in apparent hesitation in black and white here arc the twelve by jove come straight out of s said the m p with the fresh appreciation of a new comer to be interrupted impatiently towards the villagers and their leader handing his long staff to one of his companions advanced to the house it is old the or head man of find and a very intelligent man for a the had removed his shoes and stood smiling on the edge of the his strongly marked features glowed with bronze and his bright eyes gleamed under deeply set brows contracted by life long exposure to sunshine his beard and moustache with gray swept from bold cliffs of brow and cheek in the large sweeps one sees drawn by michael and of long black hair mingled with the piled wreaths and folds of his the of stout blue cotton cloth thrown over his broad shoulders and round his narrow hung from his tall form in folds and he would have made a superb model for an artist in search of a greeted him cordially and after a polite pause the started off with a long story told with impressive earnestness listened and smiled interrupting the speaker at times to of m p argue and reason with him in a tone which could hear was kindly and finally checking the of words was about to dismiss him when suggested that he should be asked about the national but had never heard of it he was a poor man and such things by the of his honour did not him what s the matter with your big friend that he was so terribly in earnest asked when he had left nothing much he wants the blood of the people in the next village who have had and cattle plague pretty badly and by the help of a a and several pigs have passed it on to his own village wants to know if they can t be run in for this awful crime it seems they made a dreadful at the village boundary threw a quantity of spell bearing objects over the border a s skull and other things then a what you would call a on his hinder parts and drove him and a number of pigs over into s village says he can bring evidence to prove that the directing these proceedings who is a has been guilty of cattle killing and murder but would prefer to have him punished for them and in black and white and how on earth did you answer such a lunatic lunatic the old fellow is as sane as you or i and he has some ground of complaint against those i asked if he would like a native of police with some men to make inquiries but he objected on the grounds the police were rather worse than small and criminal tribes put together criminal tribes er i don t quite understand said we have in india many tribes of people who in the slack british days became robbers in various kind and on the people they are being restrained and little by little and in time will become useful citizens but they still cherish hereditary traditions of crime and are a difficult lot to deal with by the way what about the political rights of these folk under your schemes the country people call them but i suppose they would be with the rest nonsense special provision would be made for them in a well considered scheme and they would doubtless be treated with fitting severity said with a air severity yes but whether it would be fitting is doubtful even those poor devils have rights of m p and after all they only practise what they have been taught but yes with and of crime gods and of crime and a hundred songs and sayings in praise of it isn t it it s simply dreadful they ought to be put down at once are there many of them not more than about sixty thousand in this province for many of the tribes described as criminal are really vagabond and criminal only on occasion while others are being settled and they are of great antiquity a from the past the golden glorious past of and the rest of your philosophers an orderly brought a card to who took it with a movement of irritation at the interruption and handed it to a large card with a ruled border in red ink and in the centre in school boy copper plate mr give said the and there entered in haste a slender youth clad in a closely fitting coat of gray tight trousers patent leather shoes and a small black velvet cap his thin cheek and his eyes wandered for the young man was evidently nervous and uncomfortable though striving to assume a and easy air in black and white your honour may perhaps remember me he said in english and him keenly i know your face somehow you belonged to the district i think when i was in charge there yes sir my father is writer at and your honour gave me a prize when i was first in the middle school examination five years ago since then i have my studies and i am now second year s student in the mission college of course you are s son the boy who said he liked geography better than play or sugar | 39 |
cakes and i didn t believe you how is your father getting on he is well and he sends his but his circumstances are depressed and he also is down on his luck you learn english at the mission college it seems yes sir they are the best and my ordered me to ask your honour to say a word for him to the present incumbent of your honour s shoes the of which he is not worthy to open and who knows not joseph for things are different at now and my father wants promotion your is a good man and i will do what i can for him at this point a was handed to of m p who after glancing at it said he must leave his young friend whom he introduced to a member of the english house of who wishes to learn about india had scarcely retired with his when began perhaps you can tell me something of the national movement sir it is the greatest movement of modem times and one in which all educated men like us must join all our students are for the excepting i suppose and the christians said quick to use his recent instruction these are some mere exceptions to the universal rule but the people outside the college the working classes the your father and mother for instance my mother said the young man with a visible effort to bring himself to pronounce the word has no ideas and my father is not nor working class he is of the caste but he had not the advantage of a education and he does not know much of the it is a movement for the educated young man connecting and in a sort of ah yes said feeling he was a little in black and white off the rails and what arc the benefits you expect to gain by it oh sir everything england owes its to institutions and we should at once gain the same high position in scale of nations sir we wish to have the the arts the the with steam engines and other motive powers and public meetings and already we have a club in connection with the college and elect a mr speaker sir the progress must come you also are a member of parliament and worship the great lord said the youth and his black eyes flashed as he finished his sentences well said it has not yet occurred to me to worship his although i believe he is a very worthy man and i am not sure that england owes quite all the things you name to the house of you see my young friend the growth of a nation like ours is slow subject to many influences and if you have read your history aright sir i know it all all conquest mr milton and mr and i have read something of mr and s decline and fall mysteries of the court and of m p felt like one who had pulled the string of a shower bath unawares and hastened to stop the torrent with a question as to what particular of the people of india the attention of an elected assembly should be first directed but young mr was slow to there were many very many demanding consideration mr would like to hear of one or two typical examples the of the arms act was at last named and the student learned for the first time that a license was necessary before an englishman could carry a gun in england then natives of india ought to be allowed to become if they chose and the absolute equality of the oriental with his european fellow subject in civil should be proclaimed on principle and the indian army should be considerably reduced the student was not however prepared with answers to mr s questions on these points and he to vague leaving the m p so much impressed with the of his views that he was glad on s return to say good bye to his very interesting young what do you think of young india asked curious very curious and and yet the replied one can scarcely help with him for his mere in black and white youth s sake the young of the oxford union arrived at the same conclusions and showed doubtless just the same enthusiasm if there were any political between india and england if the thousand races of this empire were one if there were any chance even of their learning to speak one language if in short india were a of the room and not a real land this kind of talk might be worth listening to but it is all based on and ignorance of the but he is a native and knows the facts he is a sort of english but married three years and the father of two and knows less than most english you saw all he is and knows and such ideas as he has acquired are directly hostile to the most cherished convictions of the vast majority of the people but what does he mean by saying he is a student of a mission college is he a christian he meant just what he said and he is not a christian nor ever will he be people in america scotland and england most of whom would never dream of education for their own sons are themselves to bestow it in pure waste on indian youths their scheme is an attack on the theory being that with the jam of education leading to a university degree the of m p of moral or religious instruction may be down the heathen but does it succeed do they make they make no for the subtle oriental the jam and the but the mere example of the sober righteous and lives of the and professors who are most excellent | 39 |
and devoted men must have a certain moral value yet as lord pointed out the other day the market is with of our who look for employment in the administration an immense number are employed but year by year the college mills grind out increasing lists of youths to failure and disappointment and meanwhile trade and the arts are neglected and in fact regarded with contempt by our new literary in but our young friend said he wanted and said yes he would like to direct such concerns he wants to begin at the top for manual labour is held to be and he would never his hands by the which the and of england cheerfully undergo and he would be aghast to learn that the leading names of enter in black and white in england belonged a generation or two since or now belong to men who wrought with their own hands and though he talks of he refuses to see that the indian of the future will be the despised workman of the present it was proposed for example a few weeks ago that a certain in this province should establish an school for the sons of workmen the stress of the opposition to the plan came from a who owed all he had to a college education bestowed on him by and you would have fancied some fine old tory squire of the last generation was speaking these people he said want no education for they learn their trades from their others and to teach a workman s son the elements of and physical science would give him ideas above his business they must be kept in their place and it was idle to imagine that there was any science in wood or iron work and he carried his point but the indian workman will rise in the social scale in spite of the new literary caste in england we have scarcely begun to that there is an class in this country yet i suppose the example of men like for instance must tell said thoughtfully that you shouldn t know much about it is of m p natural enough for there are but few sources of information india in this as in other respects is like a badly kept not written up to date and men like are in reality who by and example are teaching more lessons than they know only a few however of their crowds of seem to care to try to them and aim at individual advancement the rest drop into the ancient indian caste how do you mean asked well it is found that the new railway and factory workmen the the smith the and the rest are already forming separate hereditary you may notice this down at in one of the oldest railway and at other places and in other they are following the same inexorable indian law which means it means that the rooted habit of the people is to gather in small self family groups with no thought or care for any interests but their own a habit which is scarcely with the right of the principle yet you must admit that though our young friend was not able to the faith that is in him your indian army is too big in black and white not nearly big enough for its main purpose and as a side issue there are certain powerful of fighting folk whose interests an is bound to consider arms is as much a means of as civil employ under and law and it would be a heavy strain on british to hold down and to abide by the of a majority opposed to their interests leave the majority to itself without the british a flock of sheep might as reasonably hope to manage a troop of this complaint about excessive growth of the army is akin to another of the party they protest against the of the whole of the raised by additional taxes as a famine fund to other purposes you must be aware that this special famine fund has all been spent on frontier roads and and railway schemes as a protection against russia but there was never a special famine fund raised by special and put by as in a box no sane would dream of such a thing in a time of prosperity a minister rejoicing in a margin proposed to apply a million and a half to the construction of rail of m p ways and for the protection of districts liable to and to the of the annual for public works but times were not always prosperous and the minister had to choose whether he would hang up the scheme for a year or impose fresh when a firmer hasn t got the little he hoped to have for buying a new and a low lying field comer you don t accuse him of if he what he has on the necessary work of the rest of his form a clatter of was heard and looked up with vexation but his brow cleared as a halted under the porch just looked in to ask if you are coming to on tuesday we want you badly to help to up the team explained that he had to go out into the district and while the visitor complained that though good men wouldn t play were always keen and that his side would probably be beaten rose to look at his mount a red mare with a curious like of the ears quite a little in all other respects said the m p and presented mr manager of the and bank to his friend yes she s as good as they make em and she s all the female i possess and spoiled in con in black and white aren t you old girl said pat ting the mare s glossy neck as she | 39 |
backed and plunged mr said has been asking me about the what is your opinion turned to the m p with a frank smile well if it s all the same to you sir i should say damn the but then i m no but only a business man you find it a tiresome subject yes it s all that and worse than that for this kind of agitation is anything but wholesome for the country how do you mean it would be a long job to explain and here won t stand but you know how sensitive capital is and how timid are all this sort of rot is likely to frighten them and we can t afford to frighten them the passengers aboard an ocean steamer don t feel reassured when the ship s way is stopped and they hear the workmen s at the engines down below the old ark s going on all right as she is and only wants quiet and room to move them s my sentiments and those of some other people who have to do with money and business then you are a thick and thin of the government as it is why no the indian is much of m too timid with its money like an old maiden aunt of mine always in a about her they don t spend half enough on for instance and they are slow in a general way and ought to be made to sit up in all that concerns the encouragement of private enterprise and out into use the millions of capital that lie in the country the mare was dancing with impatience and was evidently anxious to be off so the men wished him good bye who is your genial friend who both and government in a breath asked with an amused smile just now he is on than on anything else but if you went to the and bank to morrow you would find mr a very capable man of business known and liked by an immense north and south of this do you think he is right about the government s want of enterprise i should hesitate to say better consult the merchants and chambers of commerce in and but though these bodies would like as puts it to make government sit up it is an consideration in governing a country like india which must be administered for the benefit of the people at in black and white large that the of those who resort to it for the sake of making money should be weighed and not allowed to the rest they are welcome guests here as a matter of course but it has been found best to restrain their influence thus the rights of plantation victory and the like have been protected and the eager to get on has not always regarded government action with it is quite conceivable that under an system the commercial of the great towns might find means to secure on labour questions and on financial matters they would act at least with intelligence and consideration intelligence yes but as to consideration who at the present moment most bitterly the tender solicitude of for the and protection of the indian english and native running cotton mills and but is the solicitude of in this matter entirely disinterested it is no business of mine to say i merely indicate an example of how a powerful commercial interest might a intent in the first place on the larger interests of humanity broke oflf to listen a moment there s of m r dr talking to my wife in the said he surely not that s a lady s voice and if my ears don t deceive me an american exactly dr chief of the new women s hospital here and a very good fellow good morning doctor he said as a graceful figure came out on the you seem to be in trouble i hope mrs was able to help you your wife is real kind and good i always come to her when i m in a fix but i fear it s more than comforting i want you work too hard and wear yourself out said kindly let me introduce my friend mr just fresh from home and anxious to learn his india you could tell him something of that more important half of which a mere man knows so little perhaps i could if i d any heart to do it but i m in trouble i ve lost a case a case that was doing well through nothing in the world but on the part of a nurse i had begun to trust and when i spoke only a small piece of my mind she in a heap on the floor it is hopeless the men were silent for the blue eyes of the lady doctor were dim recovering herself she looked up with a smile half sad half humorous in black and white and i am in a heap too but what phase of indian life are you particularly interested in sir mr to study the political aspect of things and the possibility of institutions on the people wouldn t it be as much to the purpose to bestow point lace on them they need many things more than why it s like giving a bread for a broken leg er i don t quite follow said uneasily well what s the matter with this country is not in the least political but an all round of physical social and moral evils and all more or less due to the unnatural treatment of women you can t gather from and so long as the system of infant marriage the of the of the imprisonment of wives and mothers in a worse than confinement and the from them of any kind of education or treatment as rational beings continues | 39 |
take more n this to me over he said ignorant that he was lighting that terrible article a dot we shall see said the german where are we now mr just there or mr said the engineer we ll be on the grand bank to night but in a general way o we re all among the fishing fleet now we ve shaved three an near the boom ofl a frenchman since noon an that s close ye may say you like my cigar eh the german asked for s eyes were full of tears fine full flavor he answered through shut teeth guess we ve down a little have n t we i out and see what the log says i might if i you said the german staggered over the wet decks to the nearest rail he was very unhappy but he saw the deck steward chairs together and since he had boasted before the man that captains courageous he was never his pride made him go aft to the second saloon deck at the stern which was finished in a back the deck was deserted and he crawled to the extreme end of it near the flag pole there he doubled up in limp agony for the joined with the and jar of the screw to out his soul his head swelled sparks of fire danced before his eyes his body seemed to lose weight while his heels wavered in the breeze he was fainting from and a roll of the ship him over the rail on to the smooth lip of the back then a low gray mother wave swung out of the fog tucked under one arm so to speak and pulled him off and away to the great green closed over him and he went quietly to sleep he was roused by the sound of a such as they used to blow at a he had once attended in the slowly he remembered that he was drowned and dead in but was too weak to fit things together a new smell filled his nostrils wet and ran down his back and he was helplessly full of salt water when he opened his lo captains courageous eyes he perceived that he was still on the top of the sea for it was running round him in silver colored hills and he was lying on a pile of half dead fish looking at a broad human back clothed in a blue it s no good thought the boy i m dead sure enough and this thing is in charge he groaned and the figure turned its head showing a pair of little gold rings half hidden in curly black hair you feel some pretty well now it said lie still so we trim better with a swift jerk he the flickering boat head on to a sea that lifted her twenty full feet only to slide her into a pit beyond but this mountain climbing did not interrupt blue s talk fine good job say that i catch you eh at better good job say your boat not catch me how you come to fall out i was sick said sick and could n t help it just in time i blow my horn and your boat she a little then i see you come all down eh at i think you are cut into by the screw but you to me and i make a big fish of you so you shall not die this time v pulled him off and away i captains courageous where am i said who could not see that life was particularly safe where he lay you are with me in the my name and i come from we re here of i live to by and by we get supper eh at he seemed to have two pairs of hands and a head of cast iron for not content with blowing through a big shell he must needs stand up to it swaying with the sway of the flat and send a grinding shriek through the fog how long this entertainment lasted could not remember for he lay back terrified at the sight of the smoking he fancied he heard a gun and a horn and shouting something bigger than the but quite as lively loomed alongside several voices talked at once he was dropped into a dark heaving hole where men in gave him a hot drink and took off his clothes and he fell asleep when he he listened for the first breakfast bell on the steamer wondering why his state room had grown so small turning he looked into a narrow cave lit h captains courageous by a lamp hung against a huge square beam a three table within arm s reach ran from the angle of the bows to the at the after end behind a well used stove sat a boy about his own age with a flat red face and a pair of twinkling gray eyes he was dressed in a blue and high rubber boots several pairs of the same sort of foot wear an old cap and some lay on the floor and black and yellow swayed to and fro beside the the place was packed as full of smells as a is of cotton the had a peculiarly thick flavor of their own which made a sort of background to the smells of fish burnt paint and stale tobacco but these again were all together by one smell of ship and salt water saw with disgust that there were no sheets on his bed place he was lying on a piece of dingy full of and then too the boat s motion was not that of a steamer she was neither sliding nor rolling but rather herself about in a silly way like a at the end of a ran by close to his ear and beams ie | 39 |
must needs stand up to op the flat and s shriek through captains courageous and about him all these things made him and think of his mother better said the boy with a grin some coffee he brought a tin cup full and it with is n t there milk said looking round the dark double tier of as if he expected to find a cow there well no said the boy ner there ain t likely to be till mid september t ain t bad coffee i made it drank in silence and the boy handed him a plate full of pieces of crisp pork which he ate i ve dried your clothes guess they ve shrunk some said the boy they ain t our style much none of em twist round an see ef you re hurt any stretched himself in every direction but could not report any injuries that s good the boy said heartily fix an go on deck wants to see you i m his son dan they call me an i m cook s an everything else aboard that s too dirty for the men there ain t no boy here me went overboard an he i captains courageous was only a an twenty year old at that how d you come to fall off in a dead flat ca am t was n t a calm said it was a gale and i was guess i must have rolled over the rail there was a little common swell yes day an last night said the boy but ef s your notion of a gale he whistled you ll know more fore you re through hurry s like many other unfortunate young people had never in all his life received a direct order never without long and sometimes tearful explanations of the advantages of obedience and the reasons for the request mrs lived in fear of breaking his spirit which perhaps was the reason that she herself walked on the edge of nervous he could not see why he should be expected to hurry for any man s pleasure and said so your can come down here if he s so anxious to talk to me i want him to take me to new york right away it pay him dan opened his eyes as the size and beauty of this joke dawned on him say captains courageous he shouted up the he says you kin slip down an see him ef you re anxious that way hear the answer came back in the deepest voice had ever heard from a human chest quit dan and send him to me dan and threw his shoes there was something in the tones on the deck that made the boy his extreme rage and console himself with the thought of gradually the tale of his own and his father s wealth on the voyage home this rescue would certainly make him a hero among his friends for life he hoisted himself on deck up a perpendicular ladder and stumbled aft over a score of to where a small clean shaven man with gray eyebrows sat on a step that led up to the quarter deck the swell had passed in the night leaving a long sea dotted round the horizon with the sails of a dozen fishing boats between them lay little black showing where the were out fishing the with a riding sail on the played easily at anchor and except for the man by the cabin roof house they call it she was deserted captains courageous good afternoon i should say you ve nigh the clock around young was the greeting said he did not like being called young and as one rescued from drowning expected sympathy his mother suffered agonies whenever he got his feet wet but this did seem excited let s hear all it it s quite first an last fer all concerned what might be your name where from we it s york an where we it s europe gave his name the name of the steamer and a short history of the accident winding up with a demand to be taken back immediately to new york where his father would pay anything any one chose to name h m said the shaven man quite unmoved by the end of s speech i can t say we think special of any man or boy even that falls overboard from that kind o packet in a flat ca am least of all when his excuse is he s excuse cried d you suppose i d fall overboard into your dirty little boat for fun captains courageous not what your notions o fun may be i can t rightly say young but if i was you i would n t call the boat which under providence was the means o ye names in the first place it s blame in the second it s annoy in to my s an i m troop o the we we here o which you don t seem rightly to know i don t know and i don t care said i m grateful enough for being saved and all that of course but i want you to understand that the sooner you take me back to new york the better it pay you troop raised one shaggy over a suspiciously mild blue eye dollars and cents said delighted to think that he was making an impression cold dollars and cents he thrust a hand into a pocket and threw out his stomach a little which was his way of being grand you ve done the best day s work you ever did in your life when you pulled me in i m all the son has he s bin favored said captains courageous and if you don t know who is you don t | 39 |
know much that s all now turn her around and let s hurry had a notion that the greater part of america was filled with people discussing and his father s dollars i do an i don t take a in your young it s full o my heard a chuckle from dan who was pretending to be busy by the stump and the blood rushed to his face we pay for that too he said when do you suppose we shall get to new york i don t use york any ner boston we may see eastern point september an your pa i m real sorry i t tell of him may give me ten dollars all your talk then o course he may n t ten dollars why see here i into his pocket for the of bills all he brought up was a packet of not lawful an bad for the lungs heave em overboard young and try it s been stolen cried hotly captains courageous you to wait till you see your pa to reward me then a hundred and thirty four dollars all stolen said hunting wildly through his pockets give them back a curious change flitted across old troop s hard face what might you have been at your time o life with one hundred an thirty four dollars young it was part of my pocket money for a month this thought would be a knock down blow and it was indirectly oh one hundred and thirty four dollars is only part of his pocket money for one month only you don t remember anything when you fell over do you crack a le s say old man o the east wind troop seemed to be talking to himself he tripped on a an the with his head three weeks afterwards old man he would it that the east wind was a commerce man o war an so he declared war on island because it was an the run too far they him up in a his head an feet fer the rest captains courageous o the trip an now he s to home in play in with little rag choked with rage but troop went on we ve sorry fer you we re very sorry fer you an so young we won t say no more the money i guess course you won t you stole it suit yourself we stole it ef it s any comfort to you goin back we could do it which we can t you ain t in no fit state to go back to your home an we ve jest come on to the banks fer our bread we don t see the ha af of a hundred dollars a month let alone pocket money an with good luck we be ashore again the first weeks o september but but it s may now and i can t stay here nothing just because you want to fish i i tell you right an jest jest right no one asks you to do there s a heap as you can do for he went overboard on le have i he lost his grip in a gale we fund there he never come back to deny it you ve turned up plain captains courageous for all concerned i though there s few things you kin do ain t so i can make it lively for you and your crowd when we get ashore said with a vicious nod murmuring vague threats about at which troop almost not quite smiled talk i d forgot that you ain t asked to talk more n you ve a mind to aboard the ive we here keep your eyes open an help dan to do he s bid an an i give you you ain t it but i give ten an a ha af a month r say thirty five at the end o the trip a little work will ease up your head an you kin tell us all your an your ma an your money she s on the steamer said his eyes filling with tears take me to new york at once poor woman poor woman when she has you back she it all though there s eight of us on the we re here an ef we went back it s more n a thousand mile we d lose the season the men they would n t it i was agreeable captains courageous but my father would make it all right he d try i don t doubt he d try said troop but a whole season s catch is eight men s bread an you be better in your health when you see him in the fall go forward an help dan it s ten an a ha af a month i said an o course all fund same the rest o us do you mean i m to clean pots and and things said an other things you ve no call to shout young i won t my father will give you enough to buy this dirty little fish kettle stamped on the deck ten times over if you take me to new york safe and and you re in a hundred and thirty by me anyway ha ow said troop the iron face darkening how you know how well enough on top of all that you want me to do work was very proud of that till the fall i tell you i will you hear troop regarded the top of the with deep interest for a while as fiercely all around him captains courageous he said at last i m out my in my own mind it s a matter o dan stole up and plucked by the | 39 |
elbow don t go to with any more he pleaded you ve called him a thief two or three times over an he don t take that from any bein i won t almost shrieked the advice and still troop meditated seems kinder he said at last his eye down to i don t blame you not a young nor you won t blame me when the s out o your be sure you sense what i say ten an a ha af fer second boy on the an all fund fer to teach you an fer the sake o your health yes or no no said take me back to new york or i see you he did not exactly remember what followed he was lying in the holding on to a nose that while troop looked down on him serenely dan he said to his son i was this young when i first saw him on account o hasty never you be led captains courageous astray by hasty dan i m sorry for him because he s clear distracted in his upper works he ain t responsible fer the names he s give me nor fer his other statements nor fer overboard which i m ha af convinced he did you be gentle with him dan r i give you twice what i ve give him them the head let him it off troop went down solemnly into the cabin where he and the older men leaving dan to comfort the heir to thirty millions chapter ii i warned ye said dan as the drops fell thick and fast on the dark ain t hasty but you fair earned it there s no sense on so s shoulders were rising and falling in of dry sobbing i know the first time laid me out was the last and that was my first trip makes ye feel an know it does moaned that man s either crazy or drunk and and i can t do anything don t say that to whispered dan he s set all liquor an well he told me you was the madman what i n creation made you call him a thief he s my sat up his nose and told the story of the missing of bills i m not crazy he wound up only your father has never seen more than a five dollar captains courageous bill at a time and my father could buy up this boat once a week and never miss it you don t know what the we re here s worth your must a pile o money how did he it can t shake out a straight go ahead in gold mines and things west i ve read o that kind o business out west too does he go around with a pistol on a trick pony same the they call that the wild west and i ve heard that their spurs an was solid silver you are a said amused in spite of himself my father has n t any use for when he wants to ride he takes his car car no his own private car of course you ve seen a private car some time in your life he one said dan cautiously i saw her at the union in boston with three her run dan meant cleaning the windows but he owns every railroad on long island they say an they say he s bought ha af an run a captains courageous line fence around her an filled her up with lions an an bears an an an such all he s a i ve seen his car yes well my father s what they call a and he has two private cars one s named for me the and one for my mother the hold on said dan don t ever let me swear but i guess e can fore we go ahead i want you to say hope you may die if you re lying of course said ain t say hope i may die if i ain t truth hope i may die right here said if every word i ve spoken is n t the cold truth hundred an thirty four dollars an all said dan i heard ye to an i ha af looked you d be up same s protested himself red in the face dan was a shrewd young person along his own lines and ten minutes questioning convinced him that was not lying much besides he had bound himself by the most captains courageous terrible oath known to boyhood and yet he sat alive with a red ended nose in the upon said dan at last from the very bottom of his soul when had completed an of the car named in his honor then a grin of mischievous delight his broad face i believe you s made a mistake fer once in his life he has sure said who was meditating an early revenge he be mad clear through jest hates to be in his dan lay back and his oh don t you the catch by on i don t want to be knocked down again i get even with him though never heard any man ever got even with but he d knock ye down again sure the more he was the more he d do it but gold mines and pistols i never said a word about pistols cut in for he was on his oath s so no more you did two private cars then one named fer you an one fer her an two hundred dollars a month all knocked into the fer not captains courageous fer ten an a ha af a month it s the top haul o the season he exploded with noiseless then i was right said who thought he had found | 39 |
a you was wrong the kind o wrong you take right hold an pitch in o me or you catch it an i catch it fer you up always gives me double helps cause i m his son an he hates folk guess you re kinder mad at i ve been that way time an again but s a mighty jest man all the fleet says so looks like justice this don t it pointed to his outraged nose s lets the shore blood outer you did it for yer health say though i can t have s with a man that thinks me or or any one on the we we here s a thief we ain t any common wharf end crowd by any manner o means we re an we ve together for six years an more don t you make any mistake on that i told ye don t let me swear he calls em vain oaths and pounds me but ef i could say what you captains courageous said your an his i d say that your dollars i what was in your pockets when i dried your fer i did n t look to see but i d say using the very same words you used jest now neither me nor an we was the only two that you after you was brought aboard knows any thin the money s my say the blood letting had certainly cleared s brain and maybe the of the sea had something to do with it that s all right he said then he looked down seems to me that for a fellow just saved from drowning i have n t been over and above grateful dan well you was shook up and silly said dan anyway there was only an me aboard to see it the cook he don t count i might have thought about losing the bills that way said half to himself instead of calling everybody in sight a thief where s your father in the cabin what d you want o him again you see said and he stepped rather for his head was still singing captains courageous to the cabin steps where the little ship s clock hung in plain sight of the wheel troop in the and yellow painted cabin was busy with a note book and an enormous black pencil which he sucked hard from time to time i have n t acted quite right said surprised at his own what s wrong said the walked into dan ye no it s about you i m here to listen well i i m here to take things back said very quickly when a man s saved from drowning he ey you make a man yet ef you go on this way he ought n t begin by calling people names jest an right right an jest said troop with the ghost of a dry smile so i m here to say i m sorry big troop heaved himself slowly off the he was sitting on and held out an eleven inch hand i t would do you sights o good an this shows i were n t in captains courageous my a smothered chuckle on deck caught his ear i am very seldom in my the eleven inch hand closed on s it to the elbow we put a little more to that tore we ve done with you young an i don t think any worse of ye fer s gone by you was n t fairly responsible go right your business an you won t take no hurt you re white said dan as regained the deck flushed to the tips of his ears i don t feel it said he i did n t mean that way i heard what said when allows he don t think the worse of any man s give himself away he hates to be in his too ho ho has a he d sooner dip his colors to the british than change it i m glad it s settled right up s right when he says he can t take you back it s all the we make here the men be back like after a dead whale in ha af an hour what for said supper o course don t your tell you you ve a heap to learn captains courageous guess i have said looking at the of ropes and blocks overhead she s a said dan misunderstanding the look wait till our s bent an she walks home with all her salt wet there s some work first though he pointed down into the darkness of the open main between the two what s that for it s all empty said you an me an a few more got to fill it said dan that s where the fish goes alive said well no they re so s to be dead an flat an salt there s a hundred o salt in the an we t more n covered our to now where are the fish though in the sea they say in the boats we pray said dan quoting a s proverb you come in last night with forty of em he pointed to a sort of wooden pen just in front of the quarter deck you an me we that out when captains courageous they ve through send we full pens to night i ve seen her down ha af a foot with fish to clean an we stood to the tables till we was ourselves o them we was so sleepy yes they re in dan looked over the low at half a dozen toward them over the shining sea i ve never seen the sea from so low down said it s fine the low sun made the water all purple and with golden | 39 |
lights on the barrels of the long and blue and green shades in the hollows each in sight seemed to be pulling her towards her by invisible strings and the little black figures in the tiny boats pulled like toys they ve struck on good said dan between his half shut eyes t room fer another fish low a lily in still water ain t he which is i don t see how you can tell em way off as you do last boat to the south ard he fund you last night said dan pointing rows ye can t mistake him captains courageous east o him he s a heap better n he rows is loaded with by the looks of him east o him see how pretty they string out all along with the shoulders is long jack he s a man south boston where they all live mostly an mostly them men are good in a boat north away yonder you hear him tune up in a minute is tom man o war s man he was on the old first of our navy he says to go the horn he never talks of much else when he sings but he has fair there what did i tell you a melodious stole across the water from the northern heard something about somebody s hands and feet being cold and then bring forth the the see where them meet the clouds are thick around their heads the mists around their feet full boat said dan with a chuckle if he gives us o captain it s full captains courageous the continued and to thee o most earnestly i pray that they shall never bury me in church or gray double game for tom he tell you all about the old to morrow see that blue behind him he s my uncle s own brother an ef there s any bad luck loose on the banks she fetch up uncle sure look how tender he s i lay my and share he s the only man stung up to day an he s stung up good what sting him said getting interested mostly sometimes an sometimes an yes he s stung up from his elbows down that man s luck s perfectly we take a o the an em in is it true what you told me jest now that you never done a hand s turn o work in all your born life must feel kinder awful don t it i m going to try to work anyway captains courageous replied stoutly only it s all dead new lay a o that tackle then behind ye at a rope and long iron hook dangling from one of the stays of the while dan pulled down another that ran something he called a as drew alongside in his loaded the smiled a brilliant smile that learned to know well later and with a short handled fork began to throw fish into the pen on deck two hundred and thirty one he shouted give him the hook said dan and ran it into s hands he slipped it through a of rope at the s bow caught dan s tackle it to the and into the pull shouted dan and pulled astonished to find how easily the rose hold on she don t nest in the dan laughed and held on for the boat lay in the air above his head lower away dan shouted and as lowered dan swayed the light boat with one hand till it landed softly just behind captains courageous the they don t weigh empty was right smart fer a passenger there s more trick to it in a sea way ah ha said holding out a brown hand you are some pretty well now this time last night the fish they fish for you now you fish for fish eh at i m i m ever so grateful stammered and his unfortunate hand stole to his pocket once more but he remembered that he had no money to offer when he knew better the mere thought of the mistake he might have made would cover him with hot uneasy in his there is no to be thankful for to me t said how shall i leave you all around the banks now you are a eh at he bent backward and forward stiffly from the to get the out of himself i have not cleaned boat to day too busy they struck on my son clean for me moved forward at once here was something he could do for the man who had saved his life captains courageous dan threw him a and he leaned over the up the but with great good will out the they slide in them said dan em an lay em down never let a foot board jam ye may want her bad some day here s long jack a stream of glittering fish flew into the pen from a alongside you take the tackle i fix the tables clear s boat long jack s on the top of her looked up from his at the bottom of another just above his head jest like the puzzle boxes ain t they said dan as the one boat dropped into the other takes to ut like a duck to water said long jack a long man bending to and fro exactly as had done in the cabin growled up the and they could hear him his pencil wan an forty nine an a half bad luck to ye said long jack i m to fill your captains courageous slate ut for a bad catch the has me came another alongside and more fish shot into the pen two hundred and three let s look at the passenger the speaker was even larger than the man and his | 39 |
face was made curious by a purple cut running from his left eye to the right corner of his mouth not knowing what else to do each as it came down pulled out the foot boards and laid them in the bottom of the boat he s caught on good said the man who was tom watching him there are two ways o everything one s fashion any end first an a slippery over all an the other s what we did on the old t dan interrupted brushing into the knot of men with a long board on legs out o here tom an leave me fix the tables he one end of the board into two in the kicked out the leg and just in time to avoid a swinging blow from the man o war s man captains courageous an they did that on the too see said tom laughing guess they was eyed then fer it did n t home and i know who find his boots on the main ef he don t leave us alone haul ahead i m busy can t ye see ye lie on the cable an sleep all day said long jack you re the an i m persuaded ye corrupt our in a week his name s said dan waving two strangely shaped knives an he be worth five of any sou boston fore long he laid the knives on the table cocked his head on one side and admired the effect think it s forty two said a small voice and there was a roar of laughter as another voice answered then my luck s turned fer i m forty five though i be stung outer all shape forty two or forty five i ve lost count the small voice said it s an uncle catch this beats the any day said dan jest look at em captains courageous come in come in roared long jack it s wet out children forty two ye said this was uncle i count again then the voice replied meekly the two swung together and into the s side patience o snapped uncle water with a splash what a farmer like you to set foot in a boat beats me you ve nigh stove me all up i am sorry mr i came to sea on account of nervous you advised me i think you an your be drowned in the whale hole roared uncle a fat and little man you re down on me did ye say forty two or forty five i ve forgotten mr let s count don t see as it could be forty five m forty five said uncle you count troop came out of the cabin you pitch your fish in at once he said in the tone of authority captains courageous don t the catch dan murmured them two are on y jest mother delight he s them wan by wan howled long jack as uncle got to work laboriously the little man in the other counting a line of on the that was last week s catch he said looking up his forefinger where he had left off dan who darted to the after tackle and leaning far slipped the hook into the stern rope as made her fast forward the others pulled gallantly and swung the boat in man fish and all one two four nine said tom counting with a practised eye you re it dan let the run and slid him out of the stern on to the deck amid a torrent of his own fish hold on roared uncle by the waist hold on i m a bit mixed in my he had no time to protest but was and treated like forty one said tom beat by a farmer an you a sailor too captains courageous t were n t fair said he stumbling out of the pen an i m stung up all to pieces his thick hands were and white some folks will find bottom said dan addressing the newly risen moon ef they to fer it seems to me an others said uncle eats the fat o the land in an their own blood kin seat ye seat ye a voice had not heard called from the troop tom long jack and went forward on the word little bent above his square deep sea and the tangled lay down full length on the deck and dan dropped into the hold where heard him with a hammer salt he said returning soon as we re through supper we to dressing down you pitch to tom an they together an you hear em we re second ha af you an me an an the youth an beauty o the boat what s the good of that said i m hungry captains courageous they ll be through in a minute she smells good to night ships a good cook ef he do suffer with his brother it s a full catch to day ain t it he pointed at the pens piled high with what water did ye twenty father said the they strike on good an some day i show you the moon was beginning to walk on the still sea before the elder men came aft the cook had no need to cry second half dan and were down the and at table ere tom last and most deliberate of the elders had finished wiping his mouth with the back of his hand followed and sat down before a tin pan of s tongues and sounds mixed with scraps of pork and a loaf of hot bread and some black and powerful coffee hungry as they were they waited while solemnly asked a blessing then they in silence till dan drew breath over his tin cup and demanded of how he felt most full but there s just room for | 39 |
another piece the cook was a huge jet black negro and captains courageous unlike all the had met did not talk himself with smiles and dumb show invitations to eat more see said dan with his fork on the table it s jest as i said the young an handsome men like me an an you an we re second ha af an we eats when the first ha af are through they re the old fish and they re mean an an their has to be so they come first which they don t deserve ain t that so doctor the cook nodded can t he talk said in a whisper to along not much o anything we know his natural tongue s kinder curious comes from the of cape he does where the farmers speak scotch cape s full o whose folk run in there war an they talk like the farmers all that is not scotch said that is so i read in a book reads a heap most of what he says is so when it comes to a o fish eh does your father just let them say how captains courageous many they ve caught without checking them said why yes where s the sense of a man fer a few old was a man once lied for his catch put in lied every day ten twenty more fish than come he say there was where was that said dan none o folk frenchman of ah them west shore don t anyway stands to reason they can t ef you run any of their soft hooks you know why said dan with an awful contempt always more and never less every time we come to dress long jack roared down the and the second ha af scrambled up at once the shadow of the and with the never riding sail rolled to and fro on the heaving deck in the moonlight and the pile of fish by the stern shone like a of silver in the hold there were and where troop and captains courageous tom moved among the salt dan passed a and led him to the end of the rough table where uncle was impatiently with a knife a tub of salt water lay at his feet you pitch to an tom down the an take uncle don t cut yer eye out said dan swinging himself into the hold i pass salt below and stood knee deep among in the pen flourishing drawn knives long jack a basket at his feet and on his hands faced uncle at the table and stared at the and the tub hi shouted stooping to the fish and bringing one up with a finger under its and a finger in its eye he laid it on the edge of the pen the knife blade with a sound of tearing and the fish from throat to vent with a nick on either side of the neck dropped at long jack s feet hi said long jack with a of his hand the s liver dropped in the basket another and sent the head and flying and the empty fish captains courageous slid across to uncle who fiercely there was another sound of tearing the flew over the and the fish and open in the tub sending the salt water into s astonished mouth after the first yell the men were silent the moved along as though they were alive and long ere had ceased wondering at the miraculous dexterity of it all his tub was full pitch uncle without turning his head and pitched the fish by and down the hi pitch em shouted dan don t scatter uncle is the best in the fleet watch him mind his book indeed it looked a little as though the round uncle were cutting magazine pages against time s body cramped over from the stayed like a statue but his long arms the fish without ceasing little toiled but it was easy to see he was weak once or twice found time to help him without breaking the chain of supplies and once howled because he had caught his finger in a french captains courageous man s hook these hooks are made of soft metal to be after use but the very often get away with them and are again elsewhere and that is one of the many reasons why the boats despise the down below the sound of rough salt rubbed on rough flesh sounded like the of a a steady to the click nick of the knives in the pen the and of torn heads dropped liver and flying the of uncle s knife away and the of wet opened bodies falling into the tub at the end of an hour would have given the world to rest for fresh wet weigh more than you would think and his back ached with the steady but he felt for the first time in his life that he was one of a working gang of men took pride in the thought and held on sullenly knife oh shouted uncle at last doubled up gasping among the fish bowed back and forth to himself and long jack leaned over the the cook appeared noiseless as a black captains courageous shadow collected a mass of and heads and retreated blood ends for breakfast an head said long jack his lips knife oh repeated uncle waving the flat curved s weapon look by your foot cried dan below saw half a dozen knives stuck in a in the he dealt these around taking over the ones water said troop butt s for ard an the s alongside hurry said dan he was back in a minute with a big of stale brown water which tasted like and this jaws of and tom these are said they ain t tom nor yet silver bars i ve told | 39 |
you that every single time we ve sailed together a matter o seven seasons returned tom coolly good s good all the same an there s a right an a wrong way o even if you d ever seen four hundred ton o iron set into the hi with a yell from the work o captains courageous began again and never stopped till the pen was empty the instant the last fish was down troop rolled aft to the cabin with his brother and long jack went forward tom only waited long enough to slide home the ere he too disappeared in half a minute heard deep in the cabin and he was staring at dan and i did a little better that time said whose eyelids were heavy with sleep but i think it is my duty to help clean would n t your conscience fer a thousand said dan turn in you ve no call to do boy s work draw a bucket oh these in the butt fore you sleep kin you keep awake that long took up the heavy basket emptied them into a with a top lashed by the then he too dropped out of sight in the cabin boys clean up after down an first watch in ca am weather is boy s watch on the we re here dan the pen the table set it up to captains courageous i dry in the moonlight ran the red knife blades through a of and began to them on a tiny as threw and overboard under his direction at the first splash a silvery white ghost rose bolt upright from the water and sighed a weird whistling sigh started back with a shout but dan only laughed said he fer fish heads they up way when they ve hungry breath on him like the t he a horrible of decayed fish filled the air as the pillar of white sank and the water t ye never seen a up before you see em by hundreds tore ye re through say it s good to a boy aboard again was too old an a at that him an me we fought ble would n t ha fer ef he d a christian tongue in his head sleepy dead sleepy said nodding forward must n t sleep on watch rouse up an see ef our anchor light s bright an you re on watch now captains courageous what s to hurt us bright s day jest when things happen says fine weather s good sleeping an fore you know you re cut in two by a an seventeen brass bound officers all gen lift their hand to it that your lights was an there was a thick fog i ve kinder took to you but ef you nod more i lay into you with a rope s end the moon who sees many strange things on the banks looked down on a slim youth in and a red staggering around the decks of a seventy ton while behind him waving a knotted rope walked after the manner of an a boy who yawned and nodded between the blows he dealt the lashed wheel groaned and kicked softly the riding sail a little in the of the light wind the and the miserable procession continued threatened and at last wept outright while dan the words on his tongue spoke of the beauty of and away with the rope s end the as often as captains courageous he hit at last the clock in the cabin struck ten and upon the tenth stroke little crept on deck he found two boys in two tumbled heaps side by side on the main so deeply asleep that he actually rolled them to their chapter iii it was the forty slumber that the soul and eye and heart and sends you to breakfast they emptied a big tin dish of fragments of fish the the cook had collected they cleaned up the plates and of the elder mess who were out fishing pork for the midday meal down the filled the lamps drew coal and water for the cook and the fore hold where the boat s stores were it was another perfect day soft mild and clear and breathed to the very bottom of his lungs more had crept up in the night and the long blue seas were full of sails and far away on the horizon the smoke of some her invisible the blue and to eastward a big ship sails just lifting made a square nick captains courageous in it troop was smoking by the roof of the cabin one eye on the craft around and the other on the little fly at the head when that way said dan in a whisper he s some fer all hands i lay my an share we make berth soon he knows the an the fleet they know knows see em up one by one fer in particular o course but on us all the time there s the prince she s a chat ham boat she s up last night an see that big one with a patch in her an a new she s the from west chat ham she won t keep her canvas long her luck s changed since last season she don t do much drift there ain t an anchor made hold her when the smoke up in little rings like that s the fish ef we speak to him now he mad time i did he jest took an a boot at me troop stared forward the pipe between his teeth with eyes that saw nothing as his son said he was studying the fish captains courageous his knowledge and experience on the banks against the in his own sea he accepted the presence of the inquisitive on the horizon as a compliment to his powers but | 39 |
now that it was paid he wished to draw away and make his berth alone till it was time to go up to the virgin and fish in the streets of that roaring town upon the waters so troop thought of recent weather and currents and other domestic arrangements from the point of view of a twenty pound was in fact for an hour a himself and looked remarkably like one then he removed the pipe from his teeth said dan we ve done our can t we go a piece it s good weather not in that cherry colored ner them ha af baked brown shoes give him fit to wear s pleased that settles it said dan dragging into the cabin while troop pitched a key down the steps keeps my spare where he kin it cause ma i m he through a and in less than captains courageous three minutes was adorned with s rubber boots that came half up his a heavy blue well at the elbows a pair of and a sou ye look like said dan hurry keep nigh an handy said troop an don t go the fleet ef any one asks you what i m latin to do speak the truth fer ye don t know a little red s lay of the dan hauled in the painter and dropped lightly on to the bottom boards while tumbled after that s no way o into a boat said dan ef there was any sea you d go to the bottom sure you got to learn to meet her dan fitted the pins took the forward and watched s work the boy had rowed in a lady like fashion on the but there is a difference between pins and well balanced light and eight foot sea oars they stuck in the gentle swell and short row short said dan ef you captains courageous your oar in any kind o sea you re liable to turn her over ain t she a mine too the little was clean in her bows lay a tiny anchor two of water and some seventy of thin brown a tin dinner horn rested in just under s right hand beside an ugly looking a short and a shorter wooden stick a couple of lines with very heavy leads and double hooks all neatly on square were stuck in their place by the where s the sail and mast said for his hands were beginning to dan chuckled ye don t sail much ye pull but ye need n t pull so hard don t you wish you owned her well i guess my father might give me one or two if i asked em replied he had been too busy to think much of his family till then that s so i forgot your s a you don t act any but a an craft an gear dan spoke as though she were a captains courageous costs a heap think your u d give you one fer fer a pet like should n t wonder it would be most the only thing i have n t stuck him for yet must be an expensive kinder kid to home den t way short s the trick because no sea s ever dead still an the crack the loom of the oar kicked under the chin and knocked him backwards that was what i was goin to say i to learn too but was n t more than eight years old when i got my regained his seat with aching jaws and a frown no good mad at things says it s our own fault ef we can t handle em he says le s try here give us the water the was rocking fully a mile away but when dan up ended an oar he waved his left arm three times thirty said dan a salt on to the hook over with the bait same s i do an don t your dan s line was out long before had captains courageous mastered the mystery of and heaving out the leads the drifted along easily it was not worth while to anchor till they were sure of good ground here we come dan shouted and a shower of spray rattled on s shoulders as a big and kicked alongside under your hand quick evidently could not be the dinner horn so passed over the and dan stunned the fish before he pulled it and out the hook with the short wooden stick he called a stick then felt a and pulled up why these are he shouted look the hook had among a bunch of red on one side and white on the other perfect of the land fruit except that there were no leaves and the stem was all and don t em em off don t the warning came too late had picked them from the hook and was admiring them captains courageous he cried for his fingers as though he had grasped many ye know what bottom means fish should be with the naked fingers says em off the an bait up won t help any it s all in the wages smiled at the thought of his ten and a half dollars a month and wondered what his mother would say if she could see him hanging over the edge of a fishing in mid ocean she suffered agonies whenever he went out on lake and by the way remembered distinctly that he used to laugh at her anxieties suddenly the line flashed through his hand even through the the supposed to protect it he s a give him room to his strength cried dan i help ye no you won t snapped as he hung on to the line it s my first fish is is it a whale dan peered down into the water | 39 |
bucket long towards an set the to the butt same s ef t a cow s bag he s much farmer well an he they ran the farm up way t uncle he sold it this spring to a from boston as wanted to build a summer an he got a heap for it well them two scratched along till one day s church he d belonged to the found out where he drifted an an wrote to uncle never what they said exactly but uncle was mad he s a mostly but he jest let em it both sides o the bow s if he was a an he war n t goin to give up to any blame con o captains courageous in or else then he come to was two back an he an must fish a trip fer their health guess he thought the would n t hunt the banks fer jacob was agreeable fer uncle he d been off an on fer thirty years when he war n t patent an he took quarter share in the we re here an the trip done so much good made a habit o him some day he remember his wife an an an then like s not he die don t ye talk ner such things to r uncle he heave ye overboard poor murmured i should n t ever have thought uncle cared for him by the look of em together i like though we all do said dan we ought to ha give him a tow but i wanted to tell ye first they were close to the now the other boats a little behind them you need n t heave in the till after dinner said troop from the deck we dress right off fix table boys captains courageous i deeper n the whale deep said dan with a wink as he set the gear for dressing down look at them boats that edged up they ve all on see em they are all alike to me and indeed to a the nodding around seemed run from the same they ain t though that dirty packet with her that way she s the of nick s her the meanest man on the banks we tell him so when we strike the main ledge way off s the day s eye the two own her she s from too an good luck but he d find fish in a them other three side along they re the smith rose and s all home guess we see the m won t we they re all over from the o you won t see many boats to morrow when troop called his son it was a sign that the old man was pleased boys we re too crowded he went on addressing the crew as they captains courageous we leave em to bait big an catch small he looked at the catch in the pen and it was curious to see how little and level the fish ran save for s there was nothing over fifteen pounds on deck i m on the weather he added ye have to make it yourself for there s no sign can see said long jack sweeping the clear horizon and yet half an hour later as they were dressing down the bank fog dropped on them between fish and fish as they say it drove steadily and in wreaths curling and smoking along the water the men stopped dressing down without a word long jack and uncle slipped the into their and began to heave up the anchor the as the wet cable strained on the barrel and tom gave a hand at the last the anchor came up with a sob and the riding sail as troop her at the wheel up and said he slip em in the shouted long jack making fast the sheet while the others raised the rattling rings of the and the fore boom as the captains courageous we re here looked up into the wind and off into blank whirling white there s wind behind this fog said troop it was all wonderful beyond words to and the most wonderful part was that he heard no orders except an occasional from troop ending with that s good my son never seen anchor weighed before said tom to gaping at the damp canvas of the no where are we going fish and make berth as you find out fore you ve bin a week aboard it s all new to you but we never know what may come to us now take me tom i d never ha thought it s better than fourteen dollars a month an a bullet in your belly said troop from the wheel ease your a grind dollars an cents better returned the man o war s man doing something to a big with a wooden tied to it but we did n t think o that when we the on the miss jim buck out u s n captains courageous side harbor with fort hot shot at our stern an a gale of all where was you then jest here or replied my bread on the deep waters an sorry i can t accommodate you with red hot shot tom but i guess we come all right on wind fore we see eastern point there was an incessant and chatter at the bows now varied by a solid and a little of spray that down on the the drops and the men along the lee of the house all save uncle who sat stiffly on the main nursing his stung hands guess she d carry stays l said rolling one eye at his brother guess she would n t to any profit what s the sense o canvas the farmer sailor replied the wheel almost in s hands | 39 |
bait with selected of the as the fish were cleaned an improvement on in the little bait barrels below the were full of neatly line carrying a big hook each few feet and the and of every single hook with the of the line so that it should run clear when shot from the was a scientific business dan managed it in the dark without looking while caught his fingers on the and his fate but the hooks flew through dan s fingers like on an old maid s lap i helped bait up ashore fore i could well walk he said but it s a job all the same oh this shouted towards the where and tom were how many you reckon we need three hurry there s three hundred to each tub dan explained more n enough to lay out to night slipped up there i did he stuck his finger in his mouth i tell you there ain t money in captains courageous loi ter u d hire me to ship on a lar it may be but that it s the est business top of earth i don t know what this is if t is n t regular said my fingers are all cut to this is jest one o s blame experiments he don t less there s mighty good reason fer it knows s why he s he is we her full when we take her up er we won t see a fin and uncle cleaned up as had ordained but the boys little no sooner were the furnished than tom and long jack who had been exploring the inside of a with a lantern snatched them away loaded up the and some small painted and the boat overboard into what regarded as an exceedingly rough sea they be drowned why the s loaded like a freight car he cried we be back said long jack an in case you not be for us we lay into you both if the s captains courageous the up on the crest of a wave and just when it seemed impossible that she could avoid against the s side slid over the ridge and was swallowed up in the damp dusk take here an keep steady said dan passing the of a bell that hung just behind the rang for he felt two lives depended on him but in the cabin in the log book did not look like a murderer and when he went to supper he even smiled at the anxious this ain t no weather said dan why you an me could set they ve only gone out jest far so s not to foul our cable they don t need no bell cling kept it up varied with occasional rub a for another half hour there was a and a alongside and dan to the hooks of the tackle long jack and tom arrived on deck together it seemed one half the north atlantic at their backs and the followed them in the air landing with a clatter captains courageous said tom as he you do yet the pleasure your company to the said long jack the water from his boots as he like an elephant and stuck an oil arm into s face we do be to honor the second half our presence and off they all four rolled to supper where stuffed himself to the brim on fish and and fell fast asleep just as produced from a a lovely model of the his first boat and was going to show the ropes never even his fingers as pushed him into his it must be a sad thing a very sad thing said watching the boy s face for his mother and his father who think he is dead to lose a child to lose a out o this said dan go aft and finish your game with uncle tell i stand s watch ef he don t keen he s played ver good boy said slipping out of his boots and disappearing into the black i captains courageous shadows of the lower he make good man i no see he is any so mad as your he says eh at dan chuckled but the chuckle ended in a it was thick weather outside with a rising wind and the elder men stretched their watches the hours struck clear in the cabin the bows and with the seas the stove pipe and as the spray caught it and the boys slept on while long jack tom and uncle each in turn aft to look at the wheel forward to see that the anchor held or to out a little more cable against with a glance at the dim anchor light between each round chapter iv to find the first half at breakfast the door drawn to a crack and every square inch of the singing its own tune the black bulk of the cook balanced behind the tiny over the glare of the stove and the pots and in the pierced wooden board before it and to each plunge up and up the climbed yearning and and quivering and then with a clear like came down into the seas he could hear the bows cut and and there was a pause ere the divided waters came down on the deck above like a of followed the sound of the cable in the hole a and of the a a and a kick and the re here gathered herself together to repeat the motions now ashore he heard long jack say z io captains courageous ing ye ve an ye must do in any weather here we re well clear of the fleet an we ve no an that s a good night all he passed like a big snake from the table to his and began to smoke tom followed his example uncle with | 39 |
fought his way up the ladder to stand his watch and the cook set for the second half it came out of its as the others had entered theirs with a shake and a it ate till it could eat no more and then filled his pipe with some terrible tobacco himself between the post and a forward cocked his feet up on the table and smiled tender and indolent smiles at the smoke dan lay at length in his with a gaudy gilt stopped whose tunes went up and down with the of the we re here the cook his shoulders against the where he kept the dan was fond of potatoes with one eye on the stove in event of too much water finding its way down the pipe and the general smell and were past all description considered affairs wondered that captains courageous he was not sick and crawled into his again as the and safest place while dan struck up i don t want to play in your yard as accurately as the wild allowed how long is this for asked of till she get a little quiet and we can row to perhaps to night perhaps two days more you do not like eh at i should have been crazy sick a week ago but it does n t seem to upset me now much that is because we make you these days if i was you when i to i would give two three big candles for my good luck give who to be sure the virgin of our church on the hill she is very good to all the time that is why so few of us men ever are drowned you re a roman catholic then i am a man i am not a boy shall i be then eh at i always give candles two three more when i come to the good virgin she never forgets me io captains courageous i don t sense it that way tom put in from his his face lit up by the glare of a match as he sucked at his pipe it stands to reason the sea s the sea and you jest about what s goin candles or fer that matter t is a mighty good thing said long jack to have a at though i m o s way o about tin years back i was crew to a sou boston market boat we was off s ledge a butt first of us thicker n the ould man was his chin on the an i to myself if i stick my boat into t wharf again i show the saints manner o craft they saved me out now i m here as ye can well see an the model of the ould that took me a month to make i gave ut to the priest an he hung ut up the altar there s more sense in a model that s by way o bein a work art than any candle ye can buy candles at store but a model shows the good saints ye ve trouble an are grateful captains courageous d you believe that irish said tom turning on his elbow would i do ut if i did not wa al fuller he made a model o the old and she s to museum now mighty pretty model too but i guess he never done it fer no sacrifice an the way i take it is there were the of an hour long discussion of the kind that love where the talk runs in shouting circles and no one proves anything at the end had not dan struck up this cheerful rhyme up jumped the with his striped back in the and haul on the tack for it s windy weather here long jack joined in and it s weather when the winds begin to blow pipe all hands together dan went on with a cautious look at tom holding the low in the up jumped the with his chuckle head went to the main chains to heave at the lead for it s windy weather etc no captains courageous tom seemed to be hunting for something dan crouched lower but sang louder up jumped the that to the ground chuckle head chuckle head mind where ye sound tom s huge rubber boot whirled across the and caught dan s uplifted arm there was war between the man and the boy ever since dan had discovered that the mere whistling of that tune would make him angry as he heaved the lead thought i d fetch yer said dan returning the gift with precision ef you don t like my music out your fiddle i ain t goin to lie here all day an listen to you an long jack candles fiddle tom or i learn here the tune tom leaned down to a and brought up an old white fiddle s eye and from somewhere behind the post he drew out a tiny thing with wire strings which he called a t is a concert said long jack beaming through the smoke a lar boston concert ca o o n td o ca h o o o o pa h w n ib o a o n w o captains courageous there was a burst of spray as the opened and in yellow descended ye re just in time s she outside jest this he dropped on to the with the push and heave of the we re here we re to our down ye lead course said long jack guess there ain t more n two old songs i know an ye ve them both his excuses were cut short by tom into a most tune like unto the moaning of winds and the creaking of with his eyes fixed on the beams above began this ancient ancient tom flourishing | 39 |
all round him to make the tune and words fit a little a there is a crack packet crack packet o fame she from york an the s her name you may talk o your swallow tail and black ball but the s the packet that can beat them all captains courageous now the she lies in the river because of the boat to take her to sea but when she s off you shortly will know chorus she s the liverpool packet o lord let her go now the she s the banks o where the water s all shallow and the bottom s all sand all the little fishes that swim to an chorus she s the liverpool packet o lord let her go there were scores of verses for he worked the every mile of the way between liverpool and new york as as though he were on her deck and the and the fiddle beside him tom followed with something about the rough and tough who would pilot the vessel in then they called on who felt very flattered to contribute to the entertainment but all that he could remember were some pieces of s ride that he had been taught at the camp school in the it seemed that they might be appropriate to the time and place but he had captains courageous no more than mentioned the title when brought down one foot with a bang and cried don t go on young that s a mistaken one o the worst kind too it s to the ear i ha warned you said dan what s wrong said surprised and a little angry all you re goin to say said a dead wrong from start to finish an he s to blame i have no special call to right any man but t were n t no fault o s my father he told me the tale time an again an this is the way t for the wan time put in long jack under his breath ben he was o the young home the banks that was before the war of but is at all times they fund the active o an o that town he was her they fund her off cape light there was a ble gale on an they was the home s fast as they could her well he said there war n t any sense to a boat in that sea ii captains courageous the men they would n t it and he laid it before them to stay by the active till the sea run a piece they would n t that either the cape in any weather or no they jest up stays l an quit rally with em folks to was mad at him not the risk and day when the sea was ca am they never stopped to think o tha y some of the active s folk was took off by a man they come into with their own tale to tell say in how had his town an so forth an so on an s men they was scared public em an they went back on an swore he was ble for the act t were n t the women neither that and him women don t act that way t was a o men an boys an they him town in an old till the bottom fell an he told em they d be sorry for it some day well the facts come later same s they usually do too late to be any ways useful to an honest man an he come along an picked up the slack of a tale an and ben all over more after he captains courageous was dead t was the only time ever slipped up an t were n t fair i dan good when he brought that piece back from school you don t know no better o course but i ve give you the facts hereafter an to be remembered ben were n t no kind o man as makes my father he knew him well before an after that business an you beware o hasty young next had never heard talk so long and with burning cheeks but as dan said promptly a boy could only learn what he was taught at school and life was too short to keep track of every lie along the coast then touched the little to a queer tune and sang something in about ending with a full handed sweep that brought the song up with a jerk then obliged with his second song to an old fashioned tune and all joined in the chorus this is one now is over and melted the snow and outer we shortly must tow yes out o we shortly must clear we re the that never see wheat in the ear ii captains courageous here the fiddle went very softly for a while by itself and then wheat in the ear my true love s wheat in the ear we re goin off to sea wheat in the ear i left you fit for when i come back a loaf o bread you be that made almost weep though he could not tell why but it was much worse when the cook dropped the potatoes and held out his hands for the fiddle still leaning against the door he struck into a tune that was like something very bad but sure to happen whatever you did after a little he sang in an unknown tongue his big chin down on the fiddle tail his white glaring in the lamp light swung out of his to hear better and amid the straining of the and the wash of the waters the tune and moaned on like lee surf in a blind fog till it ended with a wail christmas gives | 39 |
me the blue said dan what in thunder is it the song of fin said the cook when he going to his captains courageous was not thick but all clear cut as though it came from a faith i ve been to but i did n t make that noise t is like some of the old songs though said long jack sighing don t let s another between said dan and the struck up a rattling tune that ended it s six an twenty sundays we saw the land with fifteen an fifteen old an grand hold on roared tom d ye want to nail the trip dan that s sure less you sing it after all our salt s wet no t ain t is it not unless you sing the very verse you can t learn me anything on what s that said what s a a s anything that spoils the luck sometimes it s a man sometimes it s a boy or a bucket i ve known a knife two till we was on to her said tom i captains courageous there s all sorts o jim was one till he was drowned on i d never ship with jim not if i was there a green on the flood was a too the worst sort o drowned four men she did an used to shine fiery o nights in the nest and you believe that said remembering what tom had said about candles and models have n t we all got to take what s served a of ran round the yes things can happen said don t you go a mock of young well ain t no day after we him dan cut in we had a good catch the cook threw up his head and laughed suddenly a queer thin laugh he was a most murder said long jack don t do that again doctor we ain t used to ut what s wrong said dan ain t he our and did n t they strike on good after we d struck him captains courageous oh said the cook i know that but the catch not finish yet he ain t goin to do us any harm said dan hotly where are ye an to he s all no harm no but one day he will be your master that all said dan placidly he t not by a master said the cook pointing to man and he pointed to dan that s news soon said dan with a laugh in some years and i shall see it master and man man and master how in thunder d ye work that out said tom in my head where i can see this from all the others at once i do not know but so it will be he dropped his head and went on the potatoes and not another word could they get out of him well said dan a heap o things to come fore s any master o mine but i m glad the doctor ain t to mark him for a now i captains courageous uncle fer the in the fleet his own special luck ef it s same s he ought to be on the that boat s her own sure an gear make no differ to her christmas she loose in a flat ca am we ve well clear o the fleet anyway said an all there was a on the deck uncle has his luck said dan as his father departed it s blown clear cried and all the tumbled up for a bit of fresh air the fog had gone but a sullen sea ran in great behind it the we re here slid as it were into long sunk avenues and which felt quite sheltered and if they would only stay still but they changed without rest or mercy and flung up the to crown one peak of a thousand gray hills while the wind through her as she down the slopes far away a sea would burst in a sheet of foam and the others would follow suit as at a signal till s eyes swam with the vision of and four or five mother captains courageous s chickens round in circles shrieking as they swept past the bows a rain or two strayed over the hopeless waste ran down wind and back again and melted away seems to me i saw jest over yonder said uncle pointing to the can t be any of the fleet said peering under his eyebrows a hand on the as the solid bows into the sea s over fast don t you want to up a piece an see how lays in his big boots trotted rather than climbed up the main this consumed with envy himself around the cross trees and let his eye till it caught the tiny black flag on the shoulder of a mile away swell she s all right he hailed sail o dead to the no th ard down like smoke she be too they waited yet another half hour the sky clearing in patches with a of sickly sun from time to time that made patches of olive green water then a stump captains courageous lifted and disappeared to be followed on the next wave by a high stern with wooden s horn the sails were red shouted dan no t ain t neither da ad that s no french said your blame luck holds n a screw in a head i ve eyes it s uncle you can t tell fer sure the head king of all groaned tom oh why was n t you an asleep how could i tell said poor as the swung up she might have been the very flying so foul and was every rope and stick aboard her was some four or five feet high and | 39 |
her flew knotted and tangled like weed at a wharf end she was running before the wind her let down to act as a sort of extra they call it and her out over the side her cocked up like an old fashioned captains courageous s her boom had been and and nailed and beyond further repair and as she herself forward and sat down on her broad tail she looked for all the world like a bad old woman at a decent girl that s said full o gin an men an the judgments o providence fer him an never good he s run in to bait way he run her under said long jack that s no fer this weather not he r he d a done it long ago replied looks s if he to run us under ain t she by the head more n natural tom ef it s his style o her she ain t safe said the sailor slowly ef she s her he d better to his mighty quick the creature up wore round with a clatter and rattle and lay head to wind within ear shot a gray beard over the and a thick voice something could not understand but s face dark captains courageous he d every stick he to carry bad news says we ve in fer a shift o wind he s in fer worse he waved his arm up and down with the gesture of a man at the and pointed forward the crew him and laughed ye an strip ye an trip ye uncle gale a gale cast up fer your last trip all you you won t see no more no more crazy full as usual said tom wish he had n t us though she drifted out of hearing while the something about a dance at the bay of and a dead man in the shuddered he had seen the decks and the savage eyed crew an that s a fine little hell fer her draught said long jack i what mischief he s been at ashore he s a dan explained to an he runs in fer bait all along the coast oh no not home he don t go he along the south an east shore up yonder he nodded in the direction of the pitiless won t captains courageous never take me ashore there they re a mighty tough crowd an s the you saw his boat well she s nigh seventy year old they say the last o the old heel they don t make them any more don t use though he ain t wanted there he s in debt an like you ve heard bin a fer years an years he liquor the boats fer an selling winds an such crazy i guess t won t be any use the to night said tom with quiet despair he come alongside special to us i d give my an share to see him at the o the old fore we quit jest six dozen an sam em on cross the heel danced down wind and all eyes followed her suddenly the cook cried in his voice it his own death made him speak so he i tell you look she sailed into a patch of watery sunshine three or four miles distant the patch and faded out and even as the captains courageous light passed so did the she dropped into a hollow and was not run under by the great hook block shouted jumping aft drunk or sober we ve got to help em heave short and break her out smart was thrown on the deck by the shock that followed the setting of the and for they short on the cable and to save time jerked the anchor bodily from the bottom heaving in as they moved away this is a bit of brute force seldom resorted to except in matters of life and death and the little we re here complained like a human they ran down to where s craft had vanished found two or three a gin bottle and a stove in but nothing more let em go said though no one had hinted at picking them up i would n t a match that belonged to aboard guess she run clear under must ha been her fer a week an they never thought to pump her that s one more boat gone along o port all hands drunk glory be said long jack we d ha been obliged to help em if they was top o water u is is a captains courageous o that myself said tom said the cook rolling his eyes he taken his own luck with him ver good thing i think to tell the fleet when we see eh at said if you that way before the wind and she work open her he threw out his hands with an indescribable gesture while sat down on the house and sobbed at the sheer horror and pity of it all could not realize that he had seen death on th s open waters but he felt very sick then dan went up the cross trees and them back to within sight of their own just before the fog the sea once again we go mighty quick when we do go was all he said to you think on that fer a spell young that was liquor after dinner it was calm enough to fish from the decks and uncle were very zealous this time and the catch was large and large fish has took his luck with him said the wind t backed captains courageous ner ner how the i despise superstition anyway tom insisted that they had much better haul the thing and make a new berth but the cook said the luck in two | 39 |
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