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that the fire carriage has borne to her scores upon scores of such anxious ones and knows that she has held her among the that are fed by the fire carriage who smote at under the image there her thousands in a day and a night and bound the sickness to the wheels of the fire carriages so that it ran from one end of the land to the other who but before the fire carriage came it was a heavy toil the fire carriages have served thee well mother of death but i speak for mine own who am not of the common folk but men go to and fro making words and telling talk of strange gods and i listen faith follows faith among my people in the schools and i have no anger for when all words are said and the new talk is ended to men return at the last true it is true murmured to and to the others mother they return i creep from temple to temple in the north where they worship one god and his prophet and presently my image is alone within their small thanks said the buck turning his head slowly i am that one and his prophet also the bridge even father said and to the south i go who am the oldest of the gk ds as men know the gods and presently i touch the of the new faith and the woman whom we know is and still they call her mary small thanks brother said the i am that woman even so sister and i go west among the fire carriages and stand before the bridge in many shapes and because of me they change their and are very wise ho i ho i am the of bridges bridges between this and that and each bridge leads surely to us in the end be content neither these men nor those that follow them mock thee at all am i alone then heavenly ones shall i smooth out my flood lest unhappily i bear away their walls will dry my springs in the hills and make me crawl humbly between their shall i bury me in the sand ere i offend and all for the sake of a little iron bar with the truly mother is always yoimg i said the elephant a child had not spoken more foolishly let the dirt dig in the dirt ere it to the dirt i know only that my people grow rich and praise me has said that the men of the schools do not forget is content for his crowd of the common people and laughs surely i laugh said the my are few beside those of or but the fire carriages bring me new from beyond the black water the bridge the men who that their is toil i run before them and they follow give them the toil that they desire then said the make a bar across my flood and throw the water back upon the bridge once thou strong in stoop and lift my bed who gives life can take life the scratched in the mud with a long forefinger and yet who would profit by the killing very many would die there came up from the water a snatch of a love song such as the boys sing when they watch their cattle in the noon of late spring the screamed along his branch with lowered head as the song grew louder and in a patch of clear moonlight stood revealed the young herd the darling of the g the idol of dreaming maids and of mothers ere their children are the well beloved he stooped to knot up his long wet hair and the fluttered to his shoulder fleeting and singing and singing and fleeting those make thee late for the brother and then said with a laugh throwing back his head ye can do little without me or here he the s and laughed again what is this sitting and talking together i heard mother roaring in the dark and so came quickly from a hut where i lay warm and what have ye done to that he is so wet and silent and what does mother here are the heavens full that ye must come in the mud beast wise what do they do the bridge has prayed for a vengeance on the bridge and is with her now she bids the bridge that her honour may be made great cried the i waited here knowing that thou come o my master i and the heavenly ones said nothing did and the mother of sorrows out talk them did none speak for my people nay said moving from foot to foot i said it was but dirt at play and why should we stamp it flat was content to let them well content said what had i to do with s anger said the bull i am of the folk and this my staff is of all i spoke for the people thou the young gk d s eyes sparkled am i not the first of the gods in their mouths today for the sake of the common people i very many wise things which i have now forgotten but this my turned impatiently saw the at his feet and kneeling slipped an arm the cold neck mother he said gently get thee to thy flood again the matter is not for thee what harm shall thy honour take of this live dirt thou given them their fields new year after year and by thy flood they are made strong they come all to thee at the last what need to them now have pity mother for a little and it is only for a little if it be only for a the slow beast began the bridge are they then returned with a laugh his eyes looking into	39
the dull eyes of the river be certain that it is only for a little the heavenly ones have heard thee and presently justice will be done gk now mother to the flood again men and cattle are thick on the the banks the villages melt because of thee but the the bridge stands the turned into the as rose it is ended said the there is no more justice from the heavenly ones ye have made shame and sport of who asked no more than a few score lives of my who lie under the leaf roofs of the village of the young girls and the young men who sing to them in the of the child that will be bom next of that which was to night said and when all is done what profit to morrow sees them at work ay if ye swept the bridge out from end to end they would begin anew hear me i is drunk always his people with new nay but they are very old ones the said laughing hears the talk of the schools and the dreams of the holy men thinks only of his fat but i i live with these my people asking for no gifts and so receiving them and very tender art thou of thy people said the they are my own the old women dream of me the bridge turning in their sleep the maids look and listen for me when they go to fill their hy the river i walk hy the young men waiting without the gates at dusk and i call over my shoulder to the white ye know heavenly ones that i alone of us all walk upon the earth continually and have no pleasure in our heavens so long as a green blade springs here or there are two voices at twilight in the standing crops wise are ye but ye live far off forgetting whence ye came so do i not forget and the fire carriage your ye say and the fire carriages bring a thousand where but ten came in the old years true that is true to day but to morrow they are dead brother said said the bull as leaned forward again and to morrow what of to morrow this only a new word creeping from mouth to mouth among the common a word that neither man nor god can lay hold of an a little lazy word among the common folk saying and none know who set that word that they weary of ye heavenly ones the laughed together softly and then beloved they said and to cover that weariness they my people will bring to thee and to thee at first greater and a louder noise of worship but the word has gone abroad and after they will pay fewer to your fat next they will forget your but so slowly that no man can say how his f b an the bridge i i knew i i spoke this also but they would not hear said the we should have we should have slain i it is too late now ye should have slain at the beginning when the men from across the water had taught our folk nothing now my people see their work and go away thinking they do not think of the heavenly ones altogether they think of the fire carriage and the other things that the bridge have done and when your priests thrust forward hands asking they give a little unwillingly that is the beginning among one or two or five or for i moving among my people know what is in their hearts and the end of the gods what shall the end be said the end shall be as it was in the beginning o son of i the flame shall die upon the and the prayer upon the tongue till ye become little gods of the names that the hunters of rats and of dogs whisper in the thicket and among the rag gk ds pot of the tree and the mark as ye were at the beginning that is the end for thee and for of the common people it is very far away also it is a lie many women have kissed they told him this to cheer their own hearts when the grey hairs came and he has told us the tale said the bull below his breath their gk ds came and we changed them i took the the bridge woman and made her twelve armed so shall we twist all their said their this is no question of their gk one or man or woman the matter is with the people they move and not the gods of the said so be it i have made a man worship the fire carriage as it stood still breathing smoke and he knew not that he worshipped me said the they will only change a little the names of their i shall lead the of the bridges as of old shall be worshipped in the schools by such as doubt and despise their fellows shall have his and the donkey drivers the and the of toys beloved they will do no more than change the names and that we have seen a thousand times surely they will do no more than change the names echoed but there was an uneasy movement among the they will change more than the names me alone they cannot kill so long as a maiden and a man meet together or the spring follows the winter rains heavenly ones not for nothing have i walked upon the earth my people know not now what they know but i who live with them i read their hearts great kings the beginning of the end is bom already the fire carriages shout the names of new that are not the old under new names drink now and	39
eat greatly i your faces in the smoke of the before they grow cold i take and listen to the and the drums heavenly ones while yet there are and songs the bridge as men count time the end is far off but as we who know reckon it is to day i have spoken the young god ceased and his brethren looked at each other long in silence this i have not heard before whispered in his companion s ear and yet sometimes when i the in the engine room of the i have wondered if our priests were so so wise the day is coming they will be gone by the morning a yellow light in the sky and the tone of the river changed as the darkness withdrew suddenly the elephant aloud as though man had him let judge father of all speak thou i what of the things we have heard has lied indeed or ye know said the buck rising to his feet ye know the riddle of the gods when ceases to dream the heavens and the and earth disappear be content dreams still the dreams come and go and the nature of the dreams changes but still dreams has walked too long upon earth and yet i love him the more for the tale he has told the gods all save one ay all save one that makes love in the hearts of men said his it is but a little time to wait and ye shall know if i lie truly it is but a little time as thou and we shall know t thee to thy huts again beloved and make sport for the young things for still dreams the bridge oo my children i and till he wakes the gk ds die not whither went they said the awe struck shivering a little with the cold god knows i said the river and the island lay in full daylight now and there was never mark of or on the wet earth under the only a screamed in the branches bringing down showers of water drops as he fluttered his wings up i we are cramped with cold i has the died out thou move staggered to his feet and shook himself his head swam and ached but the work of the was over and as he his forehead in a pool the chief engineer of the bridge was wondering how he had managed to fall upon the island what chances the day offered of return and above all how his work stood i have forgotten much i was under the guard tower watching the river and then did the flood sweep us away no the boats broke loose and if the had forgotten about the decidedly would not remind him in striving to them so it seemed to but it was a rope caught the and threw him upon a boat considering that we two with built as it were that bridge i came also upon the boat which came riding on horseback it were on the nose of this island and so cast us i made a great cry when the boat r i the bridge left the wharf and without doubt will come for us as for the bridge so many have died in the building that it cannot fall a fierce sun that drew out all the smell of the land had followed the storm and in that clear light there was no room for a man to think of the dreams of the dark stared up stream across the blaze of moving water till his eyes ached there was no sign of any bank to the much less of a we came down far he said it was wonderful that we were not drowned a times that was the least of the wonder for no man dies before his time i have seen i have seen london and twenty great ports but looked at the damp shrine under the never man has seen that we saw here what has the forgotten or do we black men only see the gods there was a fever upon me was still looking across the water it seemed that the island was full of beasts and men talking but i do not remember a boat could live in this water now i think then it is true when ceases to dream the gods die now i know indeed what he meant once too the said as much to me but then i did not now i am wise what said over his shoulder went on as if he were talking to himself six ten since i was watch on the fo c the bridge of the the s big and there was a big green and black water beating and i held fast to the life lines choking under the waters then i thought of the of those whom we saw to night he stared curiously at s back but the white man was looking across the flood yes i say of those whom we saw this night past and i called upon them to protect me and while i prayed still keeping my a big wave came and threw me forward upon the ring of the great black bow anchor and the rose high and high leaning towards the left hand side and the water drew away from beneath her nose and i lay upon my belly holding the ring and looking down into those great then i thought even in the face of death if i lose hold i die and for me neither the nor my place by the where the rice is cooked nor nor nor even london will be any more for me how shall i be sure i said that the gods to whom i pray will abide at all this i thought and the dropped her nose as a hammer	39
falls and all the sea came in and slid me backwards along the fo c and over the break of the fo c and i very badly bruised my against the donkey engine but i did not die and i have seen the gk ds they are good for live men but for the dead they have spoken themselves therefore when i come to the village i will beat the for talking which are no when ceases to dream the gods go look up stream the light blinds is there smoke yonder the bridge shaded his eyes with his hands he is a wise man and quick would not trust a he has borrowed the s and comes to look for us i have always said that there should have been a steam on the bridge works for us the territory of the of b u lay within ten miles of the bridge and and had spent a fair portion of their scanty leisure in playing and shooting black buck with the young man he had been bear led by an english of tastes for some five or six years and was now wasting the accumulated during his by the indian gk his steam with its rails striped silk and mahogany decks was a new toy which had foimd horribly in the way when the came to look at the bridge works it s great luck but he was none the less afraid wondering what news might be of the bridge the gaudy blue and white came down stream swiftly they could see in the bows with a pair of opera glasses and his face was unusually white then hailed and the made for the tail of the island the in shooting suit and a seven waved his royal hand and shouted but he need have asked no questions for s first demand was for his bridge all serene i never expected to see you again the bridge you re seven down stream yes there s not a stone shifted anywhere but how are you i borrowed the s and he was good enough to come along jump in ah you are very well eh that was most calamity last night eh my royal palace too it like the devil and the crops will also be short all about my country now you shall back her out i i do not understand you are wet you are cold i have some things to eat here and you will take a good drink i m immensely grateful i believe you ve saved my life how did his hair was upon end he rode to me in the middle of the night and woke me up in the arms of i was most truly concerned so i came too my head priest he is very angry just now we will go quick i am due to attend at twelve forty five in the state temple where we some new idol if not so i would have asked you to spend the day with me they are dam bore these religious ceremonies eh well known to the crew had possessed himself of the wheel and was taking the up stream but while he he was in his mind handling two feet of partially wire rope and the back upon which he beat was the back of his a walking a walking to the custom of after noon is time on the farm and unless something very important happens we attend to the ourselves and the red oxen are treated first they stay in the home meadow ready for work on monday then come the cows with pan the calf who should have been turned into long ago but survived on account of his manners and lastly the horses scattered through the seventy acres of the back pasture you must go down by the brook that the water ram up through the sugar bush where the young round you like a shallow sea next follow the faint line of an old road running past two green hollows fringed with wild rose that mark the of two ruined houses then by lost orchard where nobody ever comes except in time then across another brook and so into the back pasture half of it is pine and and with and little and the other half is grey rock and and moss with green streaks of and swamp but the a walking horses like it well our own and the others that are turned down there to feed at fifty cents a week most people walk to the back pasture and find it very rough work hut one can get there in a if the horse knows what is expected of him the safest conveyance is our this life as a and we it for five dollars from a sorrowful man who had no other sort of possessions and the seat came off one night when we were turning a comer in a hurry after that alteration it made a ul if you held tight because there was nothing to catch your feet when you fell out and the rattled tunes one afternoon we went out with the salt as usual it was a hot day and we could not find the horses anywhere till we let the mare who throws up the dirt with her big exactly as a throws hay have her head clever as she is she tipped the over in a hidden brook before she came out on a ledge of rock where all the horses had gathered and were flies the was the first to call to her he is a very dark iron grey four year old son of he has been handled since he was two was driven in a light cart before he was three and now ranks as an absolutely steady lady s proof against steam and street salt said the joyfully you re late any place to	39
the panted it ble this weather i d a a walking come sooner but they did n t know what they wanted ner fell out twice both of em i don t understand foolishness you look considerable up guess you d better her imder them pines an cool off a piece scrambled on the ledge and cramped the in the shade of a tiny little wood of pines while my companion and i lay down among the brown needles and gasped all the home horses were gathered round us enjoying their sunday leisure there were and the on the farm they were the regular road pair bay with black points full brothers aged sons of a and a dam there were and seal rising six brother and sister black by birth perfectly matched just finishing their education and as handsome a pair as man could wish to find in a forty mile drive there was our ex car horse bought at a venture and any colour you choose that is not white and who comes from with an affliction of his left hip which makes him a little how his hind legs are moving he and had been gravel all the week for our new road the you know already last of all and eating something was our faithful the black horse who had seen us through every state of weather and road the horse who was always standing in harness before some door or a philosopher with the appetite of a and the manners of an was a new trade with a reputation for vice which a walking was really the result of bad driving she had one working gait which she could hold till further notice a roman nose a large prominent eye a of a tail and an irritable temper she took her salt through her bridle but the others trotted up and for theirs till we emptied it on the clean rocks they were all standing at ease on three legs for the most part the ordinary gossip of the back e about the of water and in the fence and how the early tasted that when little blew the last few of his allowance into a and said hurry boys might ha that livery would be around we heard a clatter of hoofs and there climbed up from the below a fifty a wall eyed yellow frame house of a horse sent up to board from a livery stable in town where they called him tlie lamb and never let him out except at night and to strangers my companion who knew and had broken most of the horses looked at the ragged hammer head as it rose and said quietly ni ice beast man if he gets the see his eye see his western horse the animal up ing and his feet showed that he had not worked for weeks and weeks and our creatures drew together significantly as usual he said with an bo win your heads before the that comes to spend his e over you mine s done said the he licked up the a walking of his salt dropped his nose in his master s hand and sang a little grace all to himself the has the most manners of any one i know an on them for what is your right it s said the yellow horse to see if he could find a few spare go hill then the replied guess you find to eat still if yer t it all you ve more n any three of us an day fore an the last two you ve been here i am not myself to the yoimg an i am to those whose opinion an experience commands respect i saw rod raise his head as though he were about to make a remark then he dropped it again and stood three like a plough horse rod can cover his mile in a shade under three minutes on an ordinary road to an ordinary he is powerful behind but like most he grows a trifle sullen as he gets older no one can love rod very much but no one can help respecting him i wish to wake f the yellow horse went on to an sense o their wrongs an their injuries an their s that said he thought was talking of some kind of feed an when i say and injuries waved his tail i mean em too great that s just what i do mean plain an straight a walking the gentleman talks quite earnest said the mare to her brother there s no doubt the o the mind his language is quite lofty answered he t the circle he s in pasture they feed words fer where he comes from it s elegant though returned with an toss of her pretty lean little head the yellow horse heard her and struck an attitude which he meant to be extremely impressive it made him look as though he had been badly stuffed now i ask i ask you without prejudice an without favour what has man the ever done for you are you not entitled to the free air o heaven this ye ever here said the merrily while the others it s kinder cool not yet said i come from the o where the noblest of our kind have their place among the on the threshold o the sun in his glory an they sent you ahead as a said with an amused quiver of his long beautifully tail as thick and as fine and as as a s back hair sir needs no advertisement her native sons rely on themselves an their native yes sir then lifted up his wise and polite old head his affliction makes him as a rule but he is ever the most courteous of horses a walking excuse me he said slowly but unless	39
ignorance said the yellow horse with an ugly look in his blue eye ly yes or some folks u d ha been kicked the pasture bout a minute they came board er no board a walking but what you do not understand if you will excuse me madam is that the whole principle o which keep an feed starts from a false basis an i am proud to say that me an the majority o the horses o think the entire concern be to the of exploded i say we re too for that i say we re too enlightened for that t was good enough s long s we did n t think but but a new has arisen on the horizon you said the the horses o are behind me with their an we say simply but that we take our stand with all four feet on the rights of the horse pure and simple the high toned child o nature fed by the same grass cooled by the same brook yes an warmed by the same gen sun as falls on the outside an the inside of the machine o the track or the horses o these eastern cities are we not the same flesh and blood not by a an a half said the imder his breath never was in my i ain t that elegant though the grass an the whispered in s ear the gentleman s real think i say we are the same flesh an blood are we to be separated horse from horse by the artificial of a record or are we to look down upon each other on the strength o the gifts o an a walking inch below the knee or slightly more powerful quarters what s the use o them advantages to you man the comes along an sees you re likely an an to the face o the earth what for for his own pleasure for his own convenience young an old black an bay white an grey there s no distinctions made between us we re ground up together under the teeth o the engines of oppression guess his must ha broke goin said the slippery road maybe an the come outer him an he did n t know to hold back that don t feel like teeth though maybe he a shaft an it pricked him an i come to you from the tail o friendship to all an an in the name of the millions o pure minded high toned horses now towards the light o freedom i say to you rub noses with us in our sacred an holy cause the power is without you i say man the cannot move himself from place to place without you he cannot reap he cannot sow he cannot plough mighty odd place t said ly they reap in the spring an plough in the fall guess it s right fer them but t would make me kinder giddy the s of your industry would rot on the ground if you did not weakly consent to help him let em rot i say let him call you to the stables in vain an let him shake his under your nose in vain let the a walking in the an the rats run riot round the let him walk on his two hind feet till they blame well drop off win no more soul races for his pleasure i then an not till then will man the know where he s at quit working fellow an slaves i bear lie down on the shafts an an destroy the conflict will be but short an the victory is certain after that we can press our rights to eight o a day two good blankets an a fly net an the best o the yellow horse shut his yellow teeth with a triumphant snap and said with a sigh seems s if ought to be done don t seem right somehow us an all to my way o said in a far away and sleepy voice who in s goin to haul de weigh like sam hill an sixty at allowance ain t goin to last free weeks here an s de winter hay for five s we can settle those minor details when the great cause is won said the yellow horse let us return simply but to our the right o freedom on these hills an no distinctions o track an what in stables call an distinction said the stiffly fer one thing bein a jest because you happen to be raised that way an could n t no more help than do ye know about said the a walking i ve seen em trot that was enough for me don t want to know any more s i tell you this much they don t an they don t much i don t hold out to be no myself though i am free to say i had hopes that but i do say fer i ve seen em trained that a don t trot with his feet he with his head an he does more ef you know what that in a week than you er your ever done in all your lives he s at it a is an when he is n t he s you seen em trot much you you was to a rail back o the stand in a with a soap box nailed on the an a lo while man rum fer to little boys as thought they was manly till you was both run off the track and you sway backed you don t get up said quietly now would you consider a fox trot an an rack an pace an distinctions not worth i you gentlemen there was a time i was afflicted in my hip if you pardon me miss when i was	39
quite celebrated in for all those an in my opinion the s co when he says that a ho se of any position in society gets his by his an not by his ah limbs miss i reckon i m very little good now but i m the things i used to do i took to tin real estate with the help and assistance of this gentleman here he looked at a walking hind said the ex car horse with a of contempt on de belt line we don t reckon no horse his keep less he kin de car off de track run her round on de an her in ag in ahead o de what him is a way o swinging yer quarters when de driver says her out boys i takes a year to learn yer it kin a cable car outer a i don t myself for no but i knew trick better than most an was good to me in de stables fer i saved time on de an time s what in n york but the simple child o the yellow horse began oh go an your i you re through yer said with a ain t no loose box for de simple child o nature on de belt line de parts in an de goin out an de an de s things an de heavy freight down fer de boston boat bout free o clock of an august afternoon in de middle of a hot wave when de fat an western horses drops dead on de block de simple child o nature had better chase himself inter de water every man at de end of his lines is mad or loaded or silly an de s an an than de rest all take it outer de horses s no ner grass on de belt line rim her out on de de sparks an stop when de you on de bone o yer nose s n york see a walking i was always told society in york was refined an high toned said we re to go there one o these days an me oh you won t see no belt business where you go miss de man wants you want you bad an he summer you on long island er at a silver harness an an english coachman you make a star you an yer brother miss but i guess you won t have no nice smooth bar bit em an tails an bits em de city folk an says it s english ye know and t cut a horse loose ca se o de n york s no place less he s on de belt an can go round de boys i was in de fire department i but did you never stop to consider the of it all said the yellow horse you don t stop on the belt you re stopped an we was all in de business man an horse an sold de papers guess de passengers were n t out to grass neither by de way acted i done my turn an i m none o s crowd but any horse s worked on de belt four years don t train no simple child o not by de whole o n york but can it be possible that with your experience and at your time of life you do not believe that all horses are free and equal said the yellow horse not till they re dead answered quietly an den it depends on de gross total o buttons an outer at barren island a walking they tell me you re a prominent philosopher the yellow horse turned to can you deny a and statement such as this i don t deny any thin said cautiously but ef you me i should say t more different sorts o of a lie than any thin i ve had my teeth into i are you a horse said the yellow horse them that knows me best low i am ain t j a horse one kind of then ain t you an me equal how fer kin you go in a day to a loaded five hundred pounds asked carelessly that has nothing to do with the case the yellow horse answered excitedly there s nothing i know more to do with the case replied kin ye a full car outer de tracks ten times in de said kin ye go to forty two mile in an afternoon with a mate said an turn out bright an early next was there any time in your i am not to the present but our mutual glorious when you could carry a pretty girl to market an let her knit all the way on account o the o the motion said kin you keep your feet through the west river bridge with the in on one side an the the other an the old bridge t j a walking between said the kin you put your nose down on the cow of a when you re at the an let em play shall not ring to night with the big brass bell kin you hold back when the breaks kin you stop fer orders when your nigh hind leg s over your trace an ye feel good of a frosty said who had only learned that trick last winter and thought it was the crown of knowledge what s the use o said scornfully what kin ye do i rely on my simple the rights o my an i am proud to say i have never since my first shoes lowered myself to the will o man must ha had a heap o broke over yer back said ye foimd it paid any has been my portion since the day i was blows an boots an an injury outrage an oppression i would not the o that connect	39
us with the an the farm wagon it s difficult to draw a traces er collar er breast er said a power machine for wood is most the only thing there s no to i ve helped saw s much as three cord in an afternoon in a power machine too most o the time i did but t ain t half as goin in the don t you goin to sleep any said a walking my throat lash i d you remember when you lay down in the last week at the i that did n t hurt the they good an wide an i lay down the folks up nigh an hour fore they started an why they all but lay down themselves with say if you ve got to be to anything that goes on wheels you ve got to be with an a said an walk on your hind legs all de horses knows too much to work he pronounced it new york fashion i am not again work said the yellow horse work is the finest thing in the world seems too fine fer some of us i only ask that each horse should work for himself an enjoy the profit of his labours let him work an not as a machine there ain t no horse that works like a machine began there s no way o that does n t mean goin to pole or they never put me in the power er imder saddle said oh we re same we said an in circles rod we t heard from you yet an you ve more know how than any span here rod the off horse of the pair had been standing with one hip lifted like a tired cow and you could only tell by the quick flutter of the across his eye from a walking time to time that he was paying any attention to the argument he thrust his jaw out as his habit is when he and changed his leg his voice was hard and heavy and his ears were close to his big plain head how old are you he said to the yellow horse nigh thirteen i guess mean age ugly age i m that way myself how long ye been this fire stable if you mean my principles i ve held em i was three mean age ugly age teeth give heaps o trouble then set a to crazy fer a while you ve it up ly d ye talk much to your neighbors fer a steady thing i the principles o the cause wherever i am done a heap o good i guess i am proud to say i have taught a few of my companions the principles o freedom an liberty they ran away er kicked when they got the i was in the an not in the my s educated them what a horse specially a young horse hears in the he s liable to do in the you handled late i four five that s where the trouble began by a woman eh a walking not fer long said the yellow horse with a snap of his teeth i she never drove again any full of em men too i have shed ble men in my time any way that come along back over the dash is as handy aa most they must be ble afraid o you they ve sent me here to get rid o me i guess they spend their time over my know yes sir now all you gentlemen have asked me what i can do i just show you see them two down by the one of em owns me t other broke me said rod get em out here in the open an i u show you something hide back o you so s they won t see what i m at ter kill em rod there was a shudder of horror through the others but the yellow horse never noticed i catch em by the back o the neck an em a piece they can suit about when i m through with em should n t wonder ef they did said rod the yellow horse had hidden himself very cleverly a walking behind the others as they stood in a group and was swaying his head close to the ground with a curious like motion looking out of his wicked eyes you can never mistake a man getting ready to knock a man down we had had one to pasture the year before see that said my companion turning over on the pine needles nice for a woman walking cross lots would n t it be bring em said the yellow horse his sharp back there s no chance among them tall trees bring out oh i it was a right and left kick from i had no idea that the old car horse could lift so quickly both blows caught the yellow horse full and fair in the ribs and knocked the breath out of him what s that for he said angrily when he recovered himself but i noticed he did not draw any nearer to than was necessary never answered but to in the that he uses when he is going down hill in front of a heavy load we call it singing but i think it s something much worse really the yellow horse and a little and at last said that if it was a horse that had stung he accept an apology you get it said in de sweet by all de apology you ve any use for excuse me you mr rod but i m like i ve a southern in me hind legs i want you all here to take notice and you u a walking something went on this backed comes to our not paid his board put in not earned his board an	39
talks smooth to us an grass an his pure which don t him women an an over the dash men you heard his talk an you thought it mighty fine some o you looked guilty here but she did not say anything bit by bit he goes on you have heard i was in the said the yellow horse in an altered voice be i i ve said it s this yer blamed business that makes the young ms cut up in the an or no he on an on till he come to plain an straight them as never done him no harm jest se they owned horses an how to manage em said that makes it worse he did n t kill em anyway said he d ha been half killed ef he had tried no differ answered he meant to an ef he had n t s pose we want the back pasture turned into a ground on our only day er rest s pose toe want our men with bits er lead pipe an a an their hands full o stones to throw at us same s if we er more n that out an i guess it s a walking more her than her manners stands in her light there ain t a horse on this farm that ain t a woman s horse an proud of it an this yer goes up an the length o the off and on as he s shed an i don t say as a woman in a ain t a fool i don t say as she ain t the est kind er fool ner i don t say a child ain t the lines an up an but i do say t ain t none of business to shed em the road we don t said the the baby tried to some o my tail for a last ml when i was up to the an i did n t kick s talk t goin to hurt us any we ain t s what you think you into a tight comer day er valley fair like s not when you re all an an with flies an thirsty an sick o bein worked in an then whispers inside o your up all that talk an an like an jest then a gun goes off er wheels hit an you re only another horse can t be trusted i ve been there time an again fer i ve seen you all bought er on my solemn fer a three minute i ain t you no o my own i m you my experiences an i ve had heavy a load an high a check s any horse here i bom with a on my near fore big s a an the three temper that up an you older i ve a walking my even little he don t know what it s cost me to keep my end up sometimes an i ve fit my temper in stall an harness up an at pasture till the sweat off my an they thought i off condition an me when my affliction came said gently i was very near to my manners allow me to extend to you my sympathy said nothing but he looked at rod curiously is a tempered child who never bears malice and i don t think he quite understood he gets his temper from his mother as a horse should i ve been there too rod said open confession s good for the an all knows i ve had my but if you will excuse me that looked unspeakable things at the yellow that who has insulted our comes from an what a ho se of his position an at that says cannot by any stretch of the concern gentlemen of our position there s no shadow of equal ty not even for one kick he s beneath our contempt let him talk said it s always tin to know what another horse thinks it don t us an he talks so too said i ve never heard so smart for a long time again rod stuck out his jaws and went on slowly as though he were on a plain bit at the end of a thirty mile drive a walking i want all you here ter understand ther t no ner no ner yet no in our business there s jest two kind o horse in the united them can an will do their work after bein properly broke an handled an them as won t i m sick an tired o this tail an one state er another a horse kin be proud o his state an lies it in stall or when he s to a block ef he to put in that way but he t no right to let that pride o interfere with his work ner to make it an excuse fer he s different that s talk an don t you it an you remember that bein a philosopher an anxious to save trouble fer you don t excuse you from with all your feet on a slack crazy clay bank like here it s em alone that gives em their chance to ruin an kill folks an you re a mare but when a horse comes along an covers up au his talk o with an grass an eight of a day free after his man don t you be run away with by his you re too yoimg an too nervous i i have nervous sure ef there s a fight here said who saw what was in s eye i m i m that sympathetic i d run away clear to next i know that kind o sympathy jest lasts long enough to start a fuss an then lights to make new trouble i t been	39
ten years in harness fer we re goin to keep school with fer a spell a walking say look a here you ain t goin to hurt me are you remember i belong to a man in town cried the yellow horse kept behind him so that he could not run away i know it there must be some pore fool in this state a right to the loose end o your i m blame sorry fer him but he shall his rights when we re through with you said rod if it s all the same gentlemen i d change pasture guess i do it now can t always have your guess you won t said rod but look a here all of you ain t so blame to a stranger s pose we count noses what in fer said rod putting up his eyebrows the idea of settling a question by counting noses is the very last thing that ever enters the head of a well broken horse to see how many s on my side here s miss anyway an colonel yonder s an judge an i guess the reverend the yellow horse meant the n might see that i had my rights he s the i ve ever set eyes on you ain t goin to me be you why we ve gone in pasture all together this month o sundays t we as friendly as could be there ain t a horse i don t care who he has a higher opinion o you mr rod than i have let s do it fair an true an above the let s count noses same s they do in here he dropped his voice a little and turned to say judge there s some green food i know back o the brook no one a walking t touched yet after this little is fixed up you an me u make up a party an tend to it did not answer for a long time then he said there s a up to the bout eight weeks old he till he a an when he sees it he lies on his back an but he don t go through no nose first i ve seen a light spoke you u better stand up to what s served i m goin to all over your m goin to do yer up in brown paper said i can fit you on apologies hold on ef we all you now these same men you ve been so dead anxious to kill u d call us off guess we wait till they go back to the an you have time to think cool an quiet said rod have you no whatever fer the dignity o our common the yellow horse the horse kin do something america s paved with the kind er horse you plain dog ter be whipped inter shape we call em an when they re yoimg when they re aged we pound in this horse is what you start from we know all about horse here an he ain t any high toned pure child o nature horse plain horse same you is full o tricks an an an s an monkey shines which he s took over from his an his dam an up with his own special fancy in the way o goin crooked s an s about his dignity an a walking the size of his soul fore he s been broke an a piece now we ain t goin to give that t done a of he pet names that would be good enough fer or or who don t you try to back off them rocks wait where you are i ef i let my temper the better o me i d you out finer than inside o three minutes you woman kid kill in dash saw backed mouthed thrown in in trade son of a an a machine i think we d better get home i said to my companion when had finished and we climbed into the as we over the well i m sorry i can t stay fer the but i hope an trust my friends u take a ticket fer me bet your said cheerfully and the horses scattered before us trotting into the next morning we sent back to the livery stable what was left of the yellow horse it seemed tired but anxious to go the ship that found herself the ship that found herself it wai her first voyage and though she was but a cargo steamer of twenty five hundred tons she was the very best of her kind the of forty of experiments and improvements in and machinery and her and owner thought as much of her as though she had been the any one can make a floating hotel that will pay expenses if he puts enough money into the saloon and charges for private of rooms and such like but in these days of competition and low every square inch of a cargo boat must be built for great and a certain steady speed this boat was perhaps two hundred and forty feet long and feet wide with arrangements that enabled her to carry cattle on her main and sheep on her upper deck if she wanted to but her great glory was the amount of cargo that she could store away in her holds her they were a very well known scotch round with her from the north where she had been and and fitted to liverpool where she was to take cargo for new york and the owner s daughter miss went to and fro on the ship that pound herself the dean decks admiring the new paint and the brass work and the patent and particularly the strong straight bow over which she had cracked a bottle of champagne when she named the steamer the it was a	39
beautiful september afternoon and the boat in all her she was painted lead colour with a red looked very fine indeed her was flying and her whistle from time to time acknowledged the of friendly boats who saw that she was new to the high and narrow seas and wished to make her welcome and now s miss to the captain she s a real ship is n t she it seems only the other day father gave the order for her and and is n t she a beauty i the girl was proud of the firm and talked as though she were the partner oh she s no so bad the replied cautiously but i m that it takes more than to a ship in the nature o things miss if ye follow me she s just irons and and plates put into the form of a ship she has to find herself yet i thought father said she was well found so she is said the with a laugh but it s this way wi ships miss she s all here but the of her have not learned to work together yet they ve had no chance the engines are working beautifully i can hear them the ship that pound herself yes indeed but there s more than engines to a ship every inch of her ye understand has to be up and made to work wi its her we call it and how will you do it the girl asked we can no more than drive and steer her and so forth but if we have rough weather this it s she learn the rest by heart for a ship ye miss is in no sense a body closed at both ends she s a highly complex structure o various an strains wi that must give an to her personal of mr the chief engineer was coming towards them i m to miss here that our little has to be yet and but a gale will do it how s all wi your engines buck well true by an rule o course but there s no yet he turned to the girl take my word miss and maybe ye comprehend later even after a pretty girl s a ship it does not follow that there s such a thing as a ship under the men that work her i was the very same mr the interrupted that s more than i can follow said miss laughing why so ye re good scotch an i knew your mother s father he was ye ve a right in miss just as ye have in the the engineer said the ship that pound herself eh well we must go down to the deep an earn miss her will you not come to my cabin for tea said the we be in dock the night and when you re goin back to ye can think of us her down an her all for your sake in the next few days they some four thousand tons dead weight into the and took her out from liverpool as soon as she met the lift of the open water she naturally began to talk if you lay your ear to the side of the cabin the next time you are in a steamer you will hear hundreds of little voices in every direction thrilling and and whispering and and and sobbing and exactly like a in a thunder storm wooden ships shriek and growl and but iron vessels throb and quiver through all their hundreds of ribs and thousands of the was very strongly built and every piece of her had a letter or a number or both to describe it and every piece had been or or rolled or by man and had lived in the roar and rattle of the for months therefore every piece had its own separate voice in exact proportion to the amount of trouble spent upon it cast iron as a rule says very little but mild steel plates and wrought iron and ribs and beams that have been much bent and and talk their conversation of course is not half as wise as our talk because they are all though they do not know it bound down one to the other in a black darkness where they cannot the ship that pound herself tell what is happening near them nor what will overtake them next as soon as she had cleared the irish coast a sullen grey headed old wave of the atlantic climbed leisure over her straight bows and sat down on the used for up the anchor now the and the engine that drove it had been red and green besides which nobody likes being don t you do that again the through the teeth of his hi i where s the fellow gone the wave had with a and a chuckle but plenty more where he came from said a brother wave and went through and over the who was bolted firmly to an iron plate on the iron below can t you keep still up there said the deck beams what s the matter with you one minute you weigh twice as much as you ought to and the next you don t it is n t my fault said the there s a green brute outside that comes and me on the head tell that to the you ve been in position for months and you ve never like this before if you are n t careful you strain talking of strain said a low unpleasant voice are any of you you deck beams we aware that those exceedingly ugly knees of yours happen to be into our f the ship that pound herself who might you be the deck beams inquired oh nobody in particular we re only the port and upper deck and if you persist in	39
said a huge web frame by the main cargo he was deeper and thicker than all the others and curved half way across the ship in the shape of half an arch to support the deck where would have been in the way of cargo coming up and down i work entirely and i observe that i am the sole strength of this vessel so far as my vision extends the responsibility i assure you is the ship that pound herself enormous i believe the money value of the cargo is over one hundred and fifty thousand think of and every pound of it is dependent on my personal exertions here a sea that communicated directly with the water outside and was seated not very far from the i rejoice to think that i am a prince with best rubber five cover i mention this without five separate and several each one finer than the other at present i am fast should i open you immediately be this is patent things always use the longest words they can it is a trick that they pick up from their that s news said a big pump i had an idea that you were employed to clean decks and things with at least i ve used you for that more than once i forget the precise in thousands of which i am to throw per hour but i assure you my complaining friends that there is not the least danger i alone am capable of clearing any water that may find its way here by my biggest we pitched then the sea was getting up in style it was a dead gale blown from under a ragged opening of green sky on all sides by fat grey clouds and the wind bit like as it fretted the spray into on the of the waves i tell you what it is the down its wire stays i m up here and i can take a dis the ship that pound herself passionate view of things there s an organized conspiracy against ns i m sure of it because every single one of these waves is heading directly for our bows the whole sea is concerned in it and so s the wind it s awful i what s awful said a wave drowning the for the time this organized conspiracy on your part the taking his cue from the mast organized and i there has been a depression in the gulf of excuse me i he leaped but his friends took up the tale one after another which has that wave green water over the as far as cape he the bridge and is now going out to to to seal the third went out in three making a sweep of a boat which bottom up and sank in the darkening alongside while the broken falls whipped the that s all there is to it the white water roaring through the there s no in our proceedings we re only is it going to get any worse said the bow anchor chained down to the deck where he could only breathe once in five minutes not knowing can t say wind may blow a bit by midnight thanks awfully gk od bye the wave that spoke so politely had travelled some the ship that pound herself distance aft and found itself all mixed up on the deck which was a well deck sunk between high one of the plates which was hung on hinges to open outward had swung out and passed the bulk of the water back to the sea again with a clean evidently that s what i m made for said the plate closing again with a of pride oh no you don t my friend the top of a wave was trying to get in from the outside but as the plate did not open in that direction the defeated water back not bad for five of an inch said the plate my work i see is laid down for the night and it began opening and shutting as it was designed to do with the motion of the ship we are not what you might call idle groaned all the frames together as the climbed a big wave lay on her side at the top and shot into the next hollow twisting in the descent a huge swell pushed up exactly under her middle and her bow and stem free with nothing to support them then one joking wave caught her up at the bow and another at the stem while the rest of the water away from under her just to see how she like it so she was held up at her two ends only and the weight of the cargo and the machinery fell on the groaning iron and ease off i ease off roared the i want one eighth of an inch fair play d you hear me you i the ship that pound ease off ease off cried the don t hold ns so tight to the frames ease off i the deck beams as the rolled fearfully you ve cramped our knees into the and we can t move ease off you flat headed little then two seas hit the bows one on each side and fell away in torrents of streaming thunder ease off shouted the forward collision i want to up but i m in every direction ease off you dirty little let me breathe i all the hundreds of plates that are to the frames and make the outside skin of every steamer echoed the call for each plate wanted to shift and creep a little and each plate according to its position complained against the we can t help it i we can t help it they murmured in reply we re put here to hold you and we re going to do it you never pull us	39
in the middle of it the house that covered the steam gear was split as with there was a bill for small in the engine room almost as long as the screw shaft the forward cargo fell into bucket when they raised the iron cross bars and the steam had been badly on its bed altogether as the said it was a pretty general average but she s he said to mr for all her dead weight she rode like a ye mind that last blow off the banks i am proud of her buck it s good said the chief engineer looking along the decks now a man would say we were a wreck but we know by experience naturally everything in the fairly with pride and the and the forward who are pushing creatures begged the steam to warn the port of new york of their arrival tell those big boats all about us they said they seem to take us quite as a matter of course it was a glorious clear dead calm morning and in single file with less than half a mile between each their bands playing and their shouting and waving handkerchiefs were the majestic the paris the the the and the all going out to sea as the the ship that pound herself shifted her to give the great boats way the steam who knows far too much to mind making an exhibition of himself now and then shouted i i princes and of the high seas i ye by these presents we are the fifteen days nine hours from liverpool having crossed the atlantic with four thousand ton of cargo for the first time in our career i we have not f we are here we are not but we have had a time wholly in the annals of ship building i our decks were swept i we pitched we rolled i we thought we were going to die i hi hi but we did n t we wish to give notice that we have come to new york all the way across the atlantic through the worst weather in the world and we are the we ha r r the beautiful line of boats swept by as steadily as the procession of the seasons the heard the majestic ea and the paris how i and the said with a little of steam and the said i and the and the said dutch and that was absolutely all i did my best said the steam gravely but i don t think they were much impressed with us somehow do you it s simply disgusting said the bow plates they might have seen what we ve been through there is n t a ship on the sea that has suffered as we is there now well i would n t go so far as that said the steam because i ve worked on some of those boats and sent the ship that pound herself them through weather quite as bad as the fortnight that we ve had in six days and some of them are a little over ten thousand tons i believe now i we seen the majestic for instance from her bows to her and i ve helped the i think she was to back off an she met with one dark night and i had to run out of the parts a engine room one day because there was thirty foot of water in it of course i don t the steam shut off suddenly as a loaded with a political club and a brass band that had been to see a new york off to pe crossed their bows going to there was a long silence that reached without a break from the cut water to the blades of the then a new big voice said slowly and thickly as though the owner had just up it s my conviction that i have made a fool of myself the steam knew what had happened at once for when a ship finds herself all the talking of the separate pieces ceases and into one voice which is the soul of the ship who are you he said with a laugh i am the of course i ve never been anything else except and a fool i the which was doing its very best to be run down got away just in time its band playing and a popular but air in the days of old are you on in the days of old are you on in the days of old that story had are you are yon are you on f the ship that pound herself well i m glad you ve foimd yourself said the steam to tell the truth i was a little tired of talking to all those and here s after that we u go to our wharf and clean up a little next month we do it all over again the tomb of his ancestors the tomb of his ancestors some people will tell you that if there were but a single loaf of bread in all india it would be divided equally between the the the and the that is only one way of saying that certain families serve india generation after generation as follow in line across the open sea let us take a small and obscure case there has been at least one representative of the in or near central india since the days of lieutenant of the european regiment who assisted at the capture of in alfred s younger brother commanded a regiment of from to when he saw some mixed fighting and in john of the same family we will call him john the came to light as a level headed in time of trouble at a place called he died young but left his mark on the new country and the honourable the board of of	39
they contented themselves with settling the tiger young john was at the of the lonely mess house from the back seat of a two wheeled cart his gun cases c u all round him the slender little boy looked forlorn as a strayed goat when he the white dust the tomb of his ancestors off his knees and the cart down the glaring road but in his heart he was contented after all this was the place where he had heen bom and things were not much changed since he had been sent to england a child fifteen years ago there were a few new buildings but the air and the smell and the were the same and the little green men who crossed the parade ground looked very familiar three weeks ago john would have said he did not remember a word of the tongue but at the mess door he found his lips moving in sentences that he did not bits of old nursery and tail ends of such orders as his father used to give the men the colonel watched him come up the steps and laughed he said to the major no need to ask the yoimg un s breed he s a might be his father in the over again hope he shoot as straight said the major he s brought enough with him would n t be a if he did n t watch him his nose regular his handkerchief like his father it s the second line for line fairy tale by jove i said the major peering through the of the if he s the lawful heir he now old could no more pass that without with it than his son i said the colonel jumping up well i be i said the major the boy s eye the tomb of his ancestors had been caught by a split reed screen that hung on a between the pillars and mechanically he had the edge to set it level old had sworn three times a day at that screen for many years he could never get it to his satisfaction his son entered the in the middle of a silence they made him welcome for his father s sake and as they took stock of him for his own he was like the portrait of the colonel on the wall and when he had washed a little of the dust from his throat he went to his quarters with the old man s short noiseless step so much for said the major that comes of four generations among the and the men know it said a wing officer they ve been waiting for this youth with their tongues hanging out i am persuaded that unless he absolutely beats em over the head they lie down by companies and worship him like a father before you said the major i ma with my i ve only been twenty years in the regiment and my parent he was a simple squire there s no getting at the bottom of a s mind now why is the superior bearer that yoimg brought with him across with his bundle he stepped into the and shouted after the a typical s servant who english and in proportion what is it he called plenty bad man here i going was the the tomb of his ancestors reply have taken s keys and say will shoot how those thieves can leg it i he has been badly frightened by some one the major strolled to his quarters to dress for mess young walking like a man in a dream had fetched a compass round the entire before going to his own tiny cottage the captain s quarters in which he had been bom delayed him for a little then he looked at the well on the parade where he had sat of evenings with his nurse and at the ten church where the officers went to service if a of any official creed happened to come along it seemed very small as compared with the gigantic buildings he used to stare up at but it was the same place from time to time he passed a knot of silent soldiers who saluted they might have been the very men who had carried him on their backs when he was in his first a faint light burned in his room and as he entered hands clasped his feet and a voice murmured from the floor who is it said young not knowing he spoke in the tongue i bore you in my arms when i was a strong man and you were a small crying crying crying i i am your servant as i was your father s before you we are all your servants young could not trust himself to reply and the voice went on the tomb op his ancestors i have taken your keys from that fat foreigner and sent him away and the are in the shirt for mess who should know if i do not know and so the baby has become a man and forgets his nurse but my nephew shall make a good servant or i will beat him twice a day then there rose up with a rattle as straight as a arrow a little white haired of a man with and orders on his and trembling behind him a yoimg and in uniform was taking the trees out of s mess boots s eyes were full of tears the old man held out his keys foreigners are bad people he will never come back again we are all servants of your father s son has the forgotten who took him to see the tiger in the village across the river when his mother was so frightened and he was so brave the scene came back to in great magic lantern flashes he cried and all in a breath you promised nothing should	39
hurt me is it the man was at his feet a second time he has not forgotten he remembers his own people as his father remembered now can i die but first i will live and show the how to kill that that yonder is my nephew if he is not a good servant beat him and send him to me and i will surely kill him for now the is with his own people ai my i will stay here and see that this does his work well take off his boots fool sit down upon the bed and let me look it is the tomb op his ancestors he pushed forward the of his sword as a sign of service which is an honour paid only to or to little children whom one loves dearly touched the mechanically with three fingers muttering he knew not what it happened to be the old answer of his childhood when in jest called him the little general the major s quarters were opposite s and when he heard his servant gasp with surprise he looked across the room then the major sat on the bed and whistled for the spectacle of the senior native officer of the regiment an a companion of the order of british india with years service in the army and a rank among his own people superior to that of many the last joined was a little too much for his nerves the blew the mess call that has a long legend behind it first a few piercing notes like the shrieks of in a far away cover and next large full and smooth the refrain of the wild song and oh and oh the green pulse of all little children were in bed when the heard that call last said passing a clean the call brought back memories of his cot under the his mother s kiss and the sound of footsteps growing fainter as he dropped asleep among his men so he the dark collar of his new mess jacket and went to dinner like a prince who has newly inherited his father s crown old forth curling his whiskers he the tomb op his ancestors knew his own value and no money and no rank within the gift of the would have induced him to put in young officers shirts or to hand them clean ties yet when he took off his uniform that night and among his fellows for a quiet smoke he told them what he had done and they said that he was entirely right a theory which to a white mind would have seemed insanity but the whispering level headed little men of war considered it from every point of view and thought that there might be a great deal in it at mess under the oil lamps the talk turned as usual to the subject of game shooting of every kind and under all sorts of conditions yoimg opened his eyes when he that each one of his companions had shot several in the on foot that making no more of the business than if the brute had been a dog in nine cases out of ten said the major a tiger is almost as dangerous as a but the tenth time you come home feet first that set all talking and long before midnight s brain was in a whirl with stories of man and cattle each pursuing his own business as as clerks in an office new that had lately come into such and such a district and old friendly beasts of great cunning known by in the such as who was lazy with huge and mrs who turned up when you never expected her and made female noises then they spoke of a wide and picturesque the tomb op his ancestors field till young hinted that they must be pulling his leg deed we are n t said a man on his left we know all about you you re a and all that and you ve a sort of right here but if you don t believe what re telling you what will you do when old begins his stories he knows about and that go to a hell of their own and that walk on their hind feet and your s riding tiger as well odd he has n t spoken of that yet you know you ve an buried down way don t you said the major as smiled of course i do said who had the chronicle of the book of by heart it lies in a worn old on the chinese table behind the piano in the home and the children are allowed to look at it on well i was n t sure your my boy according to the has a tiger of his a that he rides the country whenever he feels inclined i don t call it decent in an ex s ghost but that is what the southern believe even our men who might be called cool don t care to beat that if they hear that is running about on his tiger it is supposed to be a clouded not but like a shell tom cat no end of a brute it is and a sure sign of war or or something there s a nice family legend for you the tomb of his ancestors what s the origin of it d you suppose said ask the old was a mighty hunter before the lord perhaps it was the tiger s revenge or perhaps he s em still you must go to his tomb one of these days and inquire will probably attend to that he was asking me before you came whether by any ill luck you had already your tiger if not he is going to enter you under his own wing of course for you of all men it s imperative you	39
have a first class time with the major was not wrong kept an anxious eye on young at and it was noticeable that the first time the new officer lifted up his voice in an order the whole line quivered even the colonel was taken for it might have been returned from with a new lease of life had continued to develop his peculiar theory among his and it was accepted as a matter of faith in the lines since every word and gesture on young s part so confirmed it the old man arranged early that his darling should wipe out the reproach of not having shot a tiger but he was not content to take the first or any beast that happened to arrive in his own villages he the high low and middle justice and when his and came to him with word of a beast marked down he bade them send to the and the watering places that he might be sure the was such an one as suited the dignity of such a man the tomb op his ancestors three or four times the reckless most saying that the beast was a worn with nursing or a old and would yoimg s impatience at last a noble animal was marked a ten foot cattle with a huge roll of loose skin along the belly glossy full about the neck and young he had slain a man in pure sport they said let him be fed and the villagers drove out a cow to amuse him that he might lie up near by princes and have taken ship to india and spent great for the mere glimpse of beasts as fine as this of s it is not good said he to the colonel when he asked for shooting leave that my colonel s son who may that my colonel s son should lose his on any small beast that may come after i have waited long for this which is a tiger he has come in from the country in seven days we will return with the skin the mess their teeth had he chosen might have invited them all but he went out alone with two days in a shooting cart and a day on foot till they came to a rocky valley with a pool of good water in it it was a day and the boy very naturally stripped and went in for a leaving by the clothes a white skin shows far against brown and what beheld on the tomb op his ancestors s back and right shoulder dragged him forward by step with staring i d forgotten it is n t decent to strip before a man of his position said in the water how the little devil i what is it the mark i was the whispered answer it is nothing you know how it is with my people was annoyed the dull red on his shoulder something like a cloud had slipped his memory or he would not have bathed it occurred so they said at home in alternate generations appearing curiously enough eight or nine years after birth and save that it was part of the inheritance would not be considered pretty he hurried ashore dressed again and went on till they met two or three who promptly fell on their i my people not to notice them and so your people when i was a young man we were fewer but not so weak now we are many but poor stock as may be remembered how will you shoot him from a tree from a shelter which my people shall build by day or by night on foot and in the said young that was your custom as i have heard said to himself i will get news of him then you and i will go to him i will carry one gun you have yours there is no need of more what tiger shall stand against thee f he was marked down by a little water hole at the head of a full and half asleep in the the tomb op his ancestors may sunlight he was walked up like a and he turned to do for his life made no motion to raise his rifle but kept his eyes on who met the roar of the charge with a single it seemed to him hours as he which tore through the throat the below the neck and between the shoulders the brute choked and fell and before knew well what had happened bade him stay still while he paced the distance between his feet and the ringing jaws fifteen said short paces no need for a second shot he where he lies and we need not spoil the skin i said there would be no need of these but they in case suddenly the sides of the were crowned with the heads of s a force that could have blown the ribs out of the beast had s shot failed but their guns were hidden and they appeared as interested some five or six waiting the word to skin watched the life fade from the wild eyes lifted one hand and turned on his heel no need to show that we care said he now after this we can kill what we choose put out hand obeyed it was entirely steady and nodded that also was your custom my men skin quickly they will carry the skin to will the come to my poor village for the night and perhaps forget that i am his officer but those the they have worked hard and the tomb of his ancestors oh if they skin we will skin them they are my people in the lines i am one thing here i am another this was very true when and to the dress of his own people he left his of in the next world	39
that night after a little talk with his subjects he devoted to an and a is a thing not to be safely written about flushed with triumph was in the thick of it but the meaning of the mysteries was hidden wild folk came and pressed about his knees with he gave his to the elders of the village they grew eloquent and him about with flowers gifts and not all were thrust upon him and infernal music rolled and red fires while singers sang songs of the ancient times and danced peculiar dances the are very potent and was compelled to taste them often but unless the stuff had been how came he to fall asleep suddenly and to late the next half a march from the village the was very tired a little before dawn he went to sleep explained my people carried him here and now it is time we should go back to the voice smooth and the step steady and silent made it hard to believe that only a few hours before was yelling and with naked fellow devils of the my i were very pleased to see the they will never forget when next the goes out re the tomb of his ancestors he will go to my people and they will give him as many men as we need kept his own except as to the shooting of the tiger and embroidered that tale with a tongue the skin was certainly one of the finest ever up in the mess and the first of many when could not accompany his boy on he took care to put him in good hands and learned more of the mind and desire of the wild in his and by talks at twilight or at pools than an man could have come at in a lifetime presently his men in the regiment grew bold to speak of their mostly in and to lay cases of custom before him they would say in his at twilight after the easy confidential style of the that such and such a bachelor had run away with such and such a wife at a far off village now how many cows would consider a just fine or again if written order came from the government that a was to repair to a walled city of the plains to give evidence in a would it be wise to disregard that order on the other hand if it were obeyed would the rash return alive but what have i to do with these things demanded of impatiently i am a soldier i do not know the law law is for fools and white men give them a large and loud order and they will abide by it art their law the tomb of his ancestors but wherefore every trace of expression left s countenance the idea might have smitten him for the first time how can i say he replied perhaps it is on account of the name a does not love strange things give them orders two three four words at a time such as they can carry away in their heads that is enough gave orders then not that a word spoken in haste before mess became the dread law of villages beyond the smoky in truth no less than the law of the first who so the whispered legend ran had come back to earth to the third generation in the body and bones of his there could be no sort of doubt in this matter all the knew that had ed s village with his presence after his first in this tiger that he had eaten and drunk with the people as he was used must have s liquor very upon his back and right shoulder all men had seen the same angry red flying cloud that the high had set on the flesh of the first when first he came to the as concerned the foolish white world which has no eyes he was a slim and yoimg officer in the but his own people knew he was who had made the a man and believing they hastened to carry his words careful never to alter them on the way because the savage and the child who plays lonely games have one horror of being laughed at or the tomb op his ancestors the little folk kept their convictions to themselves and the colonel who thought he knew his regiment never guessed that each one of the six hundred quick footed eyed rank and file to attention beside their believed serenely and that the on the left flank of the line was a god twice deity of their land and people the earth gods themselves had stamped the and who would dare to doubt the of the earth gods being practical above all things saw that his family name served him well in the lines and in camp his men gave no one does not commit r mental with a god in the chair of and he was sure of the best in the district when he needed them they believed that the protection of the first them and were bold in that belief beyond the utmost daring of excited his quarters began to look like an amateur in spite of heads and horns and that he sent home to the people very learned the weak side of their god it is true he was but bird skins and above all news of big game pleased him in other respects too he lived up to the tradition he was fever proof a night s sitting out over a goat in a damp valley that would have filled the major with a month s had no effect on him he was as they said before he was bom now in the autumn of his second year s service an uneasy rumour crept out of the earth and ran about	39
the tomb of his ancestors the heard nothing of it till a brother officer said across the mess table your s on the in the you d better look him up i don t want to be but i a little sick of my talks of nothing else what s the old boy supposed to be doing now riding cross country by moonlight on his tiger that s the story he s been seen by about two thousand along the tops of the and people to death they believe it devoutly and all the are away at his tomb i like good you really ought to go down there must be a queer thing to see your grandfather treated as a god what makes you think there s any truth in the tale said because all our men deny it they say they ve never heard of s tiger now that s a manifest lie because every there s only one thing you ve overlooked said the colonel thoughtfully when a local god on earth it s always an excuse for trouble of some kind and those are about as wild as your left them young un it means something they may go on the war path said t as yet should n t be surprised a little bit i have n t been told a syllable proves it all the more they are keeping something back the tomb of his ancestors tells me everything too as a rule l ow why did n t he teu me that put the question directly to the old man that night and the answer surprised him why should i tell what is well known yes the clouded tiger is out in the country what do the wild think that it means they do not know they wait what is coming say only one little word and we will be content we what have tales from the south where the to do with men when wakes is no time for any to be quiet but he has not the old man s eyes were full of tender if he does not wish to be seen why does he go abroad in the moonlight we know ho is awake but we do not know what he desires is it a sign for all the or one that concerns the folk alone say one little word that i may carry it to the lines and send on to our villages why does ride out who has done wrong is it is it will our children die is it a sword remember we are thy people and thy servants and in this life i bore thee in my not knowing has evidently looked on the cup this evening thought but if i can do anything to soothe the old chap i must it s like the on a small scale he dropped into a deep chair over which was the tomb of his ancestors thrown his first tiger skin and his weight on the cushion the over his shoulders he laid hold of them mechanically as he spoke drawing the painted hide cloak fashion about him now will i tell the truth he said leaning forward the dried on his shoulder to invent a lie i see that it is the truth was the answer in a shaking voice goes abroad among the riding on the clouded tiger ye say be it so therefore the sign of the wonder is for the only and does not touch the who plough in the north and east the of the or any others except the who as we know are wild and foolish it is then a sign for them good or bad beyond doubt good for why should make evil to those whom he has made men the nights over yonder are hot it is ill to lie in one bed over long without turning and would look again upon his people so he rises his clouded tiger and goes abroad a little to breathe the cool air if the kept to their villages and did not wander after dark they would not see him indeed it is no more them that he would see the light again in his own country send this news south and say that it is my word bowed to the floor gk od heavens i thought and this pagan is a first class officer and as straight as a i may as well round it off neatly he went on the tomb of his ancestors if the ask the meaning of the sign tell them that would see how they kept their old promises of good living perhaps they have perhaps they mean to the orders of the government perhaps there is a dead man in the and so has come to see is he then angry i am ever angry with my i say angry words and threaten many things thou i have seen thee smile behind the hand i know and thou the are my children i have said it many times ay we be thy children said and no otherwise is it with my father s father he would see the land he loved and the people once again it is a good ghost i say it oo and tell them and i do hope devoutly he added that it will calm em down flinging back the tiger skin he rose with a long that showed his well kept teeth fled to be received in the lines by a knot of panting it is true said he wrapped himself in the skin and spoke from it he would see his own country again the sign is not for us and indeed he is a young man how should he lie idle of nights he says his bed is too hot and the air is bad he goes to and fro for the love of	39
of and accomplished the tire a lawless and them to by a conquest over minds the tomb of his ancestors the most aud rational mode of governor general and have ordered thi erected this life ag on the other side of the grave were ancient verses also very worn as much as could said the savage band their haunts and b is command mended check a st for spoil and s ing prove his toil survey restore a nation subdued without a sword for some little time he leaned on the tomb thinking of this dead man of his own blood and of the house in then nodding to the plains tes it s a big all of it even my little share he must have been worth knowing where are my people not here no man comes here except in full sun they wait above let see but remembering the first law of oriental in an even voice answered i have come this far only because the folk are foolish and dared not visit our lines now bid them wait on me here i am not a servant but the master of i i go the old man night was falling and at any moment might whistle up his dreaded from the darkening now for the first time in a long life a lawful command and deserted his for he did the tomb of his ancestors hot come back but pressed to the flat table top of the hill and called softly men stirred all about little trembling men with bows and arrows who had watched the two since noon where is he whispered one at his own place he bids you come said now now rather let him loose the clouded tiger upon us we do not go nor i though i bore him in my arms when he was a in this his life wait here till the day but surely he will be angry he will be very angry for he has nothing to eat but he has said to me many times that the are his children by sunlight i believe this by moonlight i am not so sure what folly have ye pigs that ye should need him at all one came to us in the name of the government with little ghost knives and a magic calf meaning to turn us into cattle by the cutting off of our arms we were greatly afraid but we did not kill the man he is here a black man and we think he comes from the west he said it was an order to cut us all with knives especially the women and the children we did not hear that it was an order so we were afraid and kept to our hills some of our men have taken and from the plains and others pots and and ear rings are any slain by our men not yet but the young men are the tomb op his ancestors blown to and fro by many like flames upon a hill i sent asking for lest worse should come to us it was this fear that he foretold by the sign of the clouded tiger he says it is otherwise said and he repeated with all that young had told him at the conference of the chair think you said the at last that the government will lay hands on us not i rejoined will give an order and ye will obey the rest is between the and i myself know something of the ghost knives and the scratching it is a charm against the but how it is done i cannot tell nor need that concern you if he stands by us and before the anger of the government we will most strictly obey except we do not go down to that place to night they could hear young below them shouting for but they and sat still expecting the clouded tiger the tomb had been holy for nearly half a century if chose to sleep there who had better right but they would not come within of the place till broad day at first was exceedingly angry till it occurred to him that most probably had a reason which indeed he had and his own dignity might suffer if he without answer he propped himself against the foot of the grave and alternately and smoking came through the warm night proud that he was a lawful legitimate fever proof the tomb of his ancestors he prepared his plan of action much as his grandfather would have done and when appeared in the morning with a most supply of food said nothing of the desertion would have heen relieved hy an of human anger hut finished his leisurely and a ere he made any sign they are very much afraid said who was not too hold himself it remains only to give orders they said they will if thou wilt only stand them and the government that i know said strolling slowly to the land a few of the elder men stood in an irregular in an open hut the of people women and were hidden in the thicket they had no desire to face the first anger of the first himself on a fragment of split rock he smoked his to the hearing men hard all him then he cried so suddenly that they bring the man that was hound i a and a cry were followed hy the appearance of a with fear hound hand and foot as the of old were accustomed to hind their human sacrifices he was pushed cautiously the presence but young did not look at him i the man that bound is it a jest to bring me one tied like a since when could the bind	39
folk at his pleasure cut i half a dozen hasty knives cut away the and the tomb op his ancestors the man crawled to who his case of and of then sweeping the with one comprehensive forefinger and in the voice of compliment he said clearly and distinctly air whispered now he speaks woe to foolish people i i have come on foot from my house the assembly shuddered to make clear a matter which any other than a would have seen with both eyes from a distance ye know the who and children so that they look like it is an order of the that is scratched on the arm with these little knives which i hold up is charmed against her all are thus charmed and very many this is the mark of the charm look he rolled back his sleeve to the and showed the white of the mark on the white skin come all and look a few daring spirits came up and nodded their wisely there was certainly a mark and they knew well what other dread marks were hidden by the shirt merciful was that he had not then and there proclaimed his now these things the man whom ye bound told you i a hundred times but they answered with blows groaned the his wrists and ankles but being pigs ye did not believe and so came i the tomb op his ancestors here to save you first from next from a great folly of fear and lastly it may be from the rope and the jail it is no gain to me it is no pleasure to me but for the sake of that one who is yonder who made the a man he pointed down the i who am of his blood the son of his son come to turn your people and i speak the truth as did the crowd murmured reverently and men stole out of the thicket by and to join it there was no anger in their gk d s face these are my orders heaven send they take em but i seem to have impressed em so far i myself will stay among you while this man arms with the knives after the order of the government in three or it may be five or seven days your arms will swell and and burn that is the power of fig in your base blood against the orders of the government i will therefore stay among you till i see that is conquered and i will not go away till the men and the women and the little children show me upon their arms such marks as i have even now showed you i bring with me two very good guns and a man whose name is known among beasts and men we will together i and he and your yoimg men and the others shall eat and lie still this is my order there was a long pause while victory hung in the balance a white haired old sinner standing on one uneasy leg up there are and some few and other things for which we need a protection they were not taken in the way of trade the tomb of his ancestors the battle was won and john drew a breath of relief the young had been but if taken swiftly all could be put straight i will write a so soon as the the and the other things are counted before me and sent back whence they came but first we will put the government mark on such as have not been visited by in an to the if you show you are afraid you never see again my friend there is not sufficient ample supply of for all this population said the man they have destroyed the calf they won t know the difference scrape em all round and give me a couple of i attend to the elders the aged who had demanded protection was the first victim he fell to s hand and dared not cry out as soon as he was freed he dragged up a companion and held him fast and the crisis became as it were a child s sport for the chased the to treatment that all the tribe must suffer equally the women shrieked and the children ran howling but laughed and waved the it is an honour he cried tell them how great an honour it is that i myself should mark them nay i cannot mark every the must also do his but i will touch all marks that he makes so there will be an equal virtue in them thus do the stick pigs ho brother with one eye i catch the tomb of his ancestors that girl and bring her to me she need not run away yet for she is not married and i do not seek her in marriage she will not come then she shall be by her little brother a fat boy a bold boy he puts out his arm like a soldier look t he does not at the blood some day he shall be in my regiment and now mother of many we will lightly touch thee for has been before us here it is a true thing indeed that this charm breaks the power of there will be no more faces among the and so ye can ask many cows for each maid to be wed and so on and so quick poured s in the hunting and tales of their own brand of coarse till the were and both worn out but nature being the same the world over the grew jealous of their marked comrades and came near to blows about it then declared himself a court of justice no longer a medical board and made formal inquiry into the late we are the thieves of said the simply it is our	39
and we will see to it that does not ride any more the shouted the last words again and again from s ix int of view the stalk was nothing more than an ordinary down hill through split and rocks perhaps if a man did not keep his wits by him but no worse than twenty others he had undertaken yet his they refused absolutely to beat and would only sweat at every move they showed the marks of enormous that ran always down hill to a few hundred feet the tomb op his ancestors below s tomb and disappeared in a cave it was an open road a domestic highway beaten without thought of concealment the beggar might be paying rent and taxes muttered ere he asked whether his friend s taste ran to cattle or man cattle was the answer two a week we drive them for him at the foot of the hill it is his custom if we did not he might seek us and said i can t say i fancy going into the cave after him what s to be done the fell back as lodged himself behind a rock with his rifle ready he knew were shy beasts but one who had been long cattle fed in this style might prove he speaks some one whispered from the rear he knows too well of all the infernal cheek i said there w u an angry growl from the a direct challenge come out then shouted come out of that let s have a look at you the brute knew well enough that there was some connection between brown and his weekly allowance but the white in the annoyed him and he did not approve of the voice that broke his rest as a snake he dragged himself out of the cave and stood yawning and at the entrance the fell upon his flat right side and wondered never had he seen a tiger marked the tomb op his ancestors after this fashion except for his head which was barred he not striped but like a child s rocking horse in rich shades of smoky black on red gold that portion of his belly and throat which have been white was orange and his tail and were black he looked leisurely for some ten seconds and then deliberately lowered his head his chin dropped and drawn in staring intently at the man the effect of this was to throw forward the round arch of his skull with two broad bands across it while below the bands glared the eyes so that head on as he stood he showed something like a mask it was a piece of natural that he had practised many times on his and though was by no means a terrified he stood for a while held by the extraordinary of the attack the the body seemed to have been packed away behind it the ferocious skull like head crept nearer to the of an angry tail tip in the grass left and right the had scattered to let john subdue his own horse my word i he thought he s trying to frighten me i and fired between the like eyes leaping aside upon the shot a big mass of bounded past him up the hill and he followed the tiger made no attempt to turn into the he was hunting for sight and nose up mouth open the tremendous fore legs scattering the gravel in said john watching the flight tiie we k public library r foundations the tomb op his ancestors now if he was a he d tower lungs must be fuu of blood the brute had jerked himself over a and fallen out of sight the side john looked over with a ready ba l but the red trail led straight as an arrow even his grandfather s tomb and there among the smashed spirit bottles and the fragments of the mud image the life left with a and a if my worthy could see that said john he d have been proud of me eyes lower jaw and lungs a very nice shot he whistled for as he drew the over the bulk by jove i it s nearly it eleven fore arm twenty seven and a half a short too three feet one but what a skin oh i i the men with the knives swiftly is he beyond question dead said an awe stricken voice behind a rock that was not the way i killed my first tiger said i did not think that would run i had no second gun it it is the clouded tiger said the he is dead whether all the and of the had lain by to see the kill could not say but the whole hill s with little men shouting singing and stamping and yet till he had made the first cut in the splendid skin not a man would take a knife and when the shadows fell they ran from the red stained tomb and no persuasion would the tomb op his ancestors bring them back till dawn so spent a second night in the open guarding the from and thinking about his he returned to the to the chant of an army three hundred strong the close at his elbow and the rudely dried skin a before him when that army suddenly and noiselessly disappeared as in high com he argued he was near and a turn in the road brought him upon the c of a wing of his own corps he left the skin on a cart tail for the world to see and sought the ck they re perfectly right he explained earnestly there is n t an of vice in em they were only frightened i ve the whole boiling and they like it awfully what what are we doing here sir that s what i	39
m trying to find out said the ck i don t know yet whether we re a piece of a or a police force however i think we call ourselves a police force how did you manage to get a well sir said i ve been thinking it over and as far as i can make out i ve got a sort of hereditary influence over em so i know or i would n t have sent you but it s rather it seems from what i can make out that i m my own grandfather and i ve been disturbing the peace of the country by riding a tiger of nights if i had n t done that i the tomb op his ancestors don t think they d have objected to the but the two together were more than they could stand and so sir i ve em and shot my as a sort o proof of good faith tou never saw such a skin in your life the colonel his moustache thoughtfully now how the deuce said he am i to include that in my report indeed the official version of the anti said nothing about lieutenant john his but knew and the corps knew and every in the hills knew and now is zealous that john shall swiftly be wedded and impart his powers to a son for if the succession fails and the little are left to their own there will be fresh trouble in the the devil and the deep sea the devil and the deep sea all supplies very bad and dear and there are no for even the smallest sailing directions her was british but you will not find her house flag in the list of our marine she was a nine hundred ton iron screw cargo boat in no way from any other tramp of the sea but it is with as it is with men there are those who will for a consideration sail extremely close to the wind and in the present state of a fallen world such people and such have their use from the hour that the first entered the new shiny and innocent with a of cheap champagne down her fate and her owner who was also her captain that she should deal with embarrassed crowned heads of ability women to whom change of air was imperative and the lesser law breaking powers her career led her sometimes into the where the sworn statements of her filled his brethren with envy the cannot tell or act a the devil and the deep sea lie in the face of the sea or a tempest but as lawyers have discovered he makes up for chances withheld when he returns to shore an in either hand the figured with distinction in the great case it was her first slip from virtue and she learned how to change her name but not her heart and to run across the sea as the light she was very badly wanted in a south american port for the little matter of entering harbour at full speed with a coal and the state s only man of war just as that man of war was going to coal she put to sea without explanations though three fired at her for half an hour as the she had been concerned in picking up from a tain gentlemen who should have stayed in but who preferred making themselves vastly to authority in quite another quarter of the world and as the in she had been overtaken on the high seas full of of war by the of an agitated power at issue with its neighbour that time she was very nearly and her gave eminent lawyers of two countries great profit after a season she reappeared as the martin painted a dull slate colour with pure and boats of robin s egg blue engaging in the trade till she was invited and the invitation could not well be disregarded to keep away from black sea ports altogether she had ridden through many waves of depression might drop out of sight s the devil and the deep sea throw and nuts at masters or combine till cargo perished on the but the boat of many names came and went busy alert and always her made no complaint of hard times and port officers observed that her crew signed and signed again with the regularity of atlantic her name she changed as occasion called her well paid crew never and a large of the profits of her voyages was spent with an open hand on her engine room she never troubled the and very seldom stopped to talk with a signal station for her business was urgent and private but an end came to her and she perished in this manner deep peace over europe asia africa america and the ers dealt together more or less honestly banks i aid their to the hour diamonds of price came safely to the hands of their owners rested content with their found no one whose presence in the least them lived openly with their wedded wives it was as though the whole earth had put on its best sunday and and business was very bad for the martin hunt the great virtuous calm her slate sides yellow and all but cast up in another the steam black and rusty with a coloured a litter of dingy white boats and an enormous stove or furnace for boiling on her forward there could be no doubt that her trip was sue the devil and the deep sea for she lay at several ports not too well known and the smoke of her trying out insulted the anon she departed at the speed of the average london four and entered a semi inland sea warm still and blue which is perhaps the most strictly preserved water in the world there she stayed	39
for a certain time and the great stars of those mild skies beheld her playing in the comer among islands where are never found all that while she smelt and the smell though was not one evening calamity descended upon her from the island of and she fled while her crew at a fat black and brown puffing far behind they knew to the last revolution the capacity of every boat on those seas that they were anxious to avoid a british ship with a good conscience does not a a rule flee from the man of war of a foreign power and it is also considered a breach of etiquette to stop and search british ships at sea these things the of the did not pause to prove but held on at an eleven knots an hour till nightfall one thing only he overlooked the power that kept an expensive steam moving up and down those waters they had the two regular ships of the station with an ease that bred contempt had newly brought up a third and a f boat with a clean bottom to help the work and that was why the driving hard from the east to the west found herself at daylight in such a position that she could not help seeing an arrangement of four the devil and the deep sea flags a and a half behind which read heave to or take the consequences she had her choice and she took it the end came when on her lighter draught she tried to draw away northward over a friendly the shell that arrived by way of the chief engineer s cabin was some five inches in with a practice not a bursting charge it had been intended to cross her bows and that was why it knocked the framed portrait of the chief engineer s and she was a very pretty on to the floor his wash hand stand crossed the into the engine room and striking on a grating dropped directly in front of the forward engine where it burst neatly both the that held the connecting rod to the forward what follows is worth consideration the forward engine had no more work to do its released rod therefore drove up fiercely with nothing to check it and started most of the nuts of the cover it came down again the full weight of the steam behind it and the foot of the connecting rod useless as the leg of a man with a ankle flung out to the right and struck the or right hand cast iron supporting of the forward engine it clean through about six inches above the base and the upper portion three inches towards the ship s side there the connecting rod meantime the after engine being as yet went on with its work and in so doing brought at its next revolution the devil and the deep sea the of the forward engine which smote the already connecting rod bending it and the rod cross the big cross piece thai up and down so smoothly the cross head sideways in the guides and in addition to putting further pressure on the already broken supporting cracked the port or left hand supporting in two or three places there being nothing more that could be made to move the engines brought up all with a that seemed to lift the a foot out of the water and the engine room staff opening every steam outlet that they could find in the confusion arrived on deck somewhat but calm there was a below of things a rushing rattling noise that did not last for more than a minute it was the machinery itself on the spur of the moment to a hundred altered conditions mr one foot on the upper grating inclined his ear sideways and groaned you cannot stop engines working at twelve knots an hour in three seconds without them the slid forward in a cloud of steam shrieking like a horse there was nothing more to do the five inch shell with a reduced charge had settled the situation and when you are full all three holds of strictly preserved pearls when you have cleaned out the bank the sea horse bank and four other banks from one end to the other of the when you have out the very heart of a rich government so that five years will not repair your wrong you the devil and the deep sea must smile and take what is in store but the reflected as a put out from the man of war that he had been on the high seas with the british several of disposed above him and tried to comfort from the thought where said the stolid naval lieutenant himself aboard where are those dam pearls they were there beyond no could do away with the fearful smell of decayed the dresses and the shell they were there to the value of seventy thousand more or less and every the man of war was annoyed for she had used up many tons of coal she had strained her and worse than all her officers and crew had been hurried every one on the was arrested and several times as each officer came aboard then they were told by what they esteemed to be the equivalent of a that they were to consider themselves prisoners and finally were put imder arrest it s not the least good said the you d much better send us a be you are arrest was the reply where the devil do you expect we are going to et cape to we re helpless you ve got to tow us into somewhere and explain why you fired on us mr we re helpless are n t we ruined from end to end said the man of machinery if she rolls the forward will come down and go through her bottom	39
governor sent inland swiftly for his prisoners who were also soldiers and never was a regiment more anxious to reduce its strength no power short of death could make these mad men wear the uniform of their service they would not fight except with their fellows and it was for that reason the regiment had not gone to war but stayed in a reasoning with the new troops the autumn campaign had been a but here were the englishmen all the regiment marched back to guard them and the hairy enemy armed with blow pipes rejoiced in the forest five of the crew had died but there lined up on the gk s two and twenty men marked about the legs with the of a few of the devil and the deep sea them wore that had once been trousers the others used of gay patterns and they existed beautifully but simply in the s and when he came out they sang at him when you have lost seventy thousand pounds worth of pearls your pay your ship and all your clothes and have lived in bondage for five months beyond the faintest of you know what true independence means for you become the happiest of created natural man the governor told the crew that they were evil and they asked for food when he saw how they ate and when he remembered that none of the pearl were expected for two months he sighed but the crew of the lay down in the and said that they were of the governor s a grey bearded man fat and headed his one garment a green and yellow cloth saw the in the harbour and for joy the men crowded to the rail kicking aside the long cane chairs they pointed and argued freely without shame the regiment sat down in the governor s garden the governor retired to his it was as easy to be killed lying as and his women from the rooms she sold said the grey man pointing to the he was mr no good said the governor shaking his head no one come buy he s taken my lamps though said the he wore one leg of a pair of trousers and his eye wan the devil and the deep sea along the the there were camp and the s writing table in plain sight they ve cleaned her out o course said mr they would we u go aboard and take an he waved his hands over the harbour now sorry the governor smiled a smile of relief he s glad of that said one of the crew i should n t wonder they down to the harbour front the regiment behind and embarked themselves in what they it happened to be the governor s boat then they disappeared over the of the and the gk prayed that they might find occupation inside mr s first took him to the and when the others were patting the decks they heard him giving thanks that things were as he had left them the wrecked engines stood over his head no hand had with his shores the steel of the store room were home and best of all the hundred and sixty tons of good coal in the had not diminished i don t understand it mr any knows the use o copper they ought to have cut away the pipes and with chinese coming here too it s a special o providence you think so said the from above the devil and the deep sea there s only been one thief here and he s cleaned her out of all my things anyhow here the spoke less than the truth for under the of his cabin only to be reached by a lay a little money which never drew any his sheet anchor to it was all in dean sovereigns that pass current the world over and might have to more a he s left me alone let s repeated mr he s taken everything else look i the except as to her engine room had been and from one end to the other and there was strong evidence that an guard had in the s cabin to that she lacked glass plate carpets and chairs all boats and her copper these things had been removed with her sails and as much of the wire as would not the safety of the he must have sold those said the the other things are in his house i suppose every fitting that be or out was gone port and lights sliding of the deck house the captain s chest of drawers with and table photographs and looking glasses cabin doors rubber irons half the stays cork carpenter s and tool chest all cabin and lamps en flags and flag the devil and the deep sea the forward compass and the ship s bell and were among the missing there were great marks on the deck over which the cargo had been hauled one must have fallen by the way for the rails were smashed and bent and the side plates bruised it s the governor said the he s been selling her on the plan let s go up with and and kill em all shouted the crew let s drown him and keep the woman then we u be shot by that black and tan regiment our regiment what s the trouble ashore they ve our regiment on the beach we re cut off that s all go and see what they want s mr you ve the trousers in his simple way the governor was a he did not desire that the crew of the should come ashore again either singly or in and he proposed to turn their steamer into a they would he explained this from the to the in the and they continue to wait till the man of war	39
came along exactly where they were if one of them set foot ashore the entire regiment would open fire and he would not scruple to use the two of the town meantime food would be sent daily in a boat imder an armed escort the bare to the waist and could only grind his teeth and the governor improved the occasion and himself for the bitter words in the by saying what he thought of the morals the devil and the deep sea and of the crew the returned to the in silence and the climbed aboard white on the cheek bones and blue about the nostrils i knew it said mr and they won t give us good food either we shall have morning noon and night an a man can t work on fruit we know that then the cursed mr for frivolous side issues into the conversation and the crew cursed one another and the the voyage and all that they knew or could bring to mind they sat down in silence on the empty decks and their eyes burned in their heads the green harbour water chuckled at them they looked at the hills inland at the white houses above the harbour road at the single tier of native craft by the at the stolid sitting round the two cannon and last of all at the blue bar of the horizon mr was buried in thought and scratched imaginary lines with his finger nails on the i make no promise he said at last for i can t say what may or may not have happened to them but here s the ship and here s us there was a little scornful laughter at this and mr his brows he recalled that in the days when he wore trousers he had been chief engineer of the noble hay o here sir the instinct of obedience to answer the roll call of the engine room the devil and the deep sea below i they rose and went captain i trouble you for the rest of the men as i want them we u get my stores out and clear away the shores we don t need and then we u patch her up my men will remember that they re in the he went into the engine room and the others stared they were used to the accidents of the sea but this was beyond their experience none who had seen the engine room believed that anything short of new engines from end to end could stir the from her the engine room stores were and mr s face red with the of the and the exertion of travelling on his stomach lit with joy the spare gear of the had been unusually complete and two and twenty men armed with blocks tackle vices and a or so can look between the eyes without the crew were ordered to replace the and shaft bearing and return the of the thrust block when they had finished mr delivered a lecture on engines without the aid of the shops and the men sat about on the cold machinery the cross head in the guides at them but offered no help they ran their fingers hopelessly into the cracks of the supporting column and picked at the ends of the ropes the shores while mr s voice rose and fell echoing till the quick night closed down over the engine room the devil and the deep sea next morning the work of began it has been explained that the foot of the was forced against the foot of the supporting which it had cracked through and driven outward towards the ship s skin to all appearance the job was more than hopeless for rod and column seemed to have been into one but providence smiled on them for one moment to them through the weary weeks ahead the second more reckless than at random with a cold into the cast iron of the and a greasy grey ke of m ti flew from under the imprisoned foot of the connecting rod while the rod itself fell away slowly and brought up with a somewhere in the dark of the the guides plates above were still fast in the guides but the first blow had been struck they spent the rest of the day the donkey engine which stood immediately forward of the engine room its of course had been stolen and eight warm months had not improved the working p further the last dying of the or it might have been the from the boat to have lifted the thing bodily on its and set it down as regarded its steam connections if we only had one single cargo i mr sighed we can take the cover off by hand if we sweat but to get the rod out o the s not possible unless we use steam well there u be steam the mom if there s nothing else she u the devil and the deep sea next men from the shore saw the through a for it was as though the deck smoked her crew were chasing steam through the shaken and pipes to its work in the forward donkey engine and where failed to a crack they stripped off their for and swore half boiled and mother naked the donkey engine at a the price of constant attention and furious worked long enough to allow a wire rope it was made up of a and a stay to be led into the engine room and made fast on the cover of the forward engine that rose easily enough and was hauled through the and on to the deck many hands assisting the doubtful steam then came the of war for it was necessary to get to the and the rod they removed two of the ring in two strong iron by way of handles doubled	39
the wire rope and set half a dozen men to with an ram at the end of the rod where it peered through the while the donkey engine hauled upwards on the itself after four hours of this furious work the rod suddenly slipped and the rose with a jerk knocking one or two men over into the engine room but when mr declared that the had not split they cheered and thought nothing of their and the donkey engine was hastily stopped its was no thing to with and day by day their supplies reached them by boat the himself once more before the gk and as a concession had leave to get drink the devil and the deep sea ing water from the boat on the it was not good drinking water but the was anxious to supply anything in his power if he were paid for it now when the jaws of the forward engine stood as it were stripped and empty they began to up the shores of the itself that work alone filled the better part of three warm and days when the hands slipped and sweat ran into the eyes when the last was home there was no longer an of weight on the supporting and mr the ship for three quarters of an inch thick where he could find it there was not much available but what there was was more beaten gold to him in one desperate the entire crew naked and lean back more or less into place the which as you remember was cracked clean through mr foimd them asleep where they had finished the work and gave them a day s rest smiling upon them as a father while he drew about the cracks they woke to new and more trying labour for over each one of those cracks a plate of three quarter inch iron was to be worked hot the holes being by all that time they were fed on fruits chiefly with some those were the days when men over the r and the hand and where they fell they had leave to lie unless their bodies were in the way of their fellows feet and so patch upon patch and a the devil and the deep sea patch over all the supporting column was but when they thought all was secure mr that the noble would never support working engines at the best it could only hold the guide bars true the dead weight of the must be borne by and therefore a gang would repair to the bows and take out with the big bow anchor each of which was some three inches in they threw hot coals at and threatened to kill him those who did not weep they were ready to weep on the least provocation but he hit them with iron bars heated at the end and they f and the came with them when they returned they slept sixteen hours on the strength of it and in three days two were in place bolted from the foot of the supporting column to the under side of the there remained now the port or which though not so badly cracked as its fellow had also been strengthened in four places with plate patches but needed they took away the main of the bridge for that work and crazy with toil did not see till all was in place that the rounded bars of iron must be from top to bottom to allow the air pump to clear them it was s and he wept bitterly before the men as he gave the order to the and them with hammer and the flame now the broken engine was firmly and they took away the wooden shores from under the and gave them to the robbed bridge thanking for even the devil and the deep sea half a day s work on gentle kindly wood instead of the iron that had entered into their souls eight months in the back country among the at a temperature of moist is very bad for the nerves they had kept the hardest work to the last as boys save latin prose and worn though they were mr did not dare to give them rest the and connecting rod were to be straightened and this was a job for a regular with every they fell to it cheered by a little chalk showing of work done and time consumed which mr wrote up on the engine room fifteen days had fifteen days of killing and there was hope before them it is curious that no man knows how the rods were straightened the crew of the remember that week very dimly as a fever patient remembers the delirium of a long night there were fires everywhere they say the whole ship was one furnace and the were never still now there could not have been more than one fire at the most for mr distinctly that no was done except under his own eye they remember too that for many years voices gave orders which they obeyed with their bodies but their minds were abroad on all the seas it seems to them that they stood through days and nights slowly sliding a bar backwards and forwards through a white glow that was part of the ship they remember an intolerable noise in their burning heads from the walls of the hole and they remember being savagely beaten by men whose eyes the devil and the deep sea seemed asleep when their shift was over they would draw straight lines in the air anxiously and repeatedly and would question one another in their sleep crying is she straight at they do not remember whether this was by day or by mr began to dance and wept the while and they too danced and wept and went to sleep all over and when they woke men said	39
sooner we re at the better she s mad and we re waking the town is she at all near safe what do care how safe she is i she s mad hear that now i to be sure nothing s anything and the bearings are fairly cool can ye not hear if she goes said the i don t care a curse and she s my boat too she went trailing a of weed behind her from a slow two knots an hour she crawled up to a triumphant four anything beyond that made the quiver and filled the engine room with steam morning showed her out of sight of land and there was a visible ripple under her bows but she complained bitterly in her and as though the noise had called it there shot along across the purple sea a swift dark hawk like and curious which presently ranged alongside and wished to know if the were helpless ships even the of the white men had been known to break down in those waters and the honest and would sometimes aid them in their own peculiar way but this ship was not full of lady passengers and well dressed officers men white naked and savage down her some with red hot iron bars and others with large threw themselves upon those innocent inquiring strangers and before any man could say what had happened were in full possession of the while the lawful owners in the water half an hour later the devil and the deep sea the s cargo of and as well as a doubtful minded compass was in the the two huge mat sails with their seventy foot yards and had followed the cargo and were being fitted to the stripped of the steamer they rose they swelled they filled and the empty steamer visibly laid over as the wind took them they gave her nearly three knots an hour and what better could men ask but if she had been forlorn before this new purchase made her horrible to see imagine a respectable in the of a rolling drunk along the streets and you will come to some faint notion of the appearance of that nine hundred ton well once cargo boat as she staggered under her new help shouting and across the deep with steam and sail that marvellous voyage continued and the bright eyed crew looked over the rail desolate beyond the at the end of the third week she sighted the island of whose harbour is the turning point of a sea here the stay for a week ere they their line there is no village at only a stream of water some palms and a harbour safe to rest in till the first violence of the has blown itself out they opened up the low coral beach with its mound of coal ready for supply the deserted huts for the sailors and the next day there was no a little rocking in the warm rain at the mouth of the harbour the devil and the deep sea whose crew watched with hungry eyes the smoke of a on the horizon months afterwards there were a few lines in an newspaper to the effect that some of some foreign power had broken her back at the mouth of some far away harbour by running at full speed into a sunken wreck tl william the conqueror william the conqueror part i i have done one thing than all the did and yet a thence doth spring which is to keep that hid the ts it declared yet x they ve gone as far as to admit extreme local and they ve started relief works in one or two districts the paper says that means it will be declared as soon as they can make sure of the men and the rolling stock should n t wonder if it were as bad as the famine can t be said scott turning a little in the long cane chair we ve had fifteen crops in the north and and report more than they know what to do with they be able to check it before it gets out of hand it will only be local picked the from the table read through the once more and put up his feet on the chair rests it was a hot dark breathless even william the conqueror ing heavy with the smell of the newly watered the flowers in the gardens were dead and black on their the little pond was a circle of mud and the trees were white with the dust of weeks most of the men were at the band stand in the public from the you could hear the native police band stale or on the ground or in the high walled court than a dutch oven half a dozen at the heads of their waited their masters return from time to time a man would ride at a foot pace into the and loaf over to the beside the main building these were supposed to be chambers men lived in them meeting the same white faces night after night at dinner and drawing out their office work till the latest possible hour that they might escape that company what are you going to do said with a let s have a swim before dinner water s hot i was at the bath to day play you game o fifty up it s a hundred and five in the hall now sit still and don t be so energetic a swung up to the porch his and rider a leather ki the man handing down the newspaper extra a slip printed on one side only and damp from the press it was pinned up on the green board between notices of for sale and fox missing william the conqueror rose lazily read it and whistled it s declared he cried	39
one two eight districts go under the operations of the famine code they ve put in charge d business i said scott with the first sign of interest he had shown when in doubt hire a i worked under when i first came out and he belonged to the he has more than most men s a knight now said he s a good chap even though he is a thrice born and went to the what names these districts rejoice all or or or i a dog cart drove up in the dusk and a man entered his head he was editor of the one daily paper at the capital of a province of twenty five million natives and a few hundred white men as his staff was limited to himself and one assistant his ran from ten to twenty a day hi you re supposed to know everything said stopping him how s this going to turn out no one knows as yet there s a message as long as your arm coming in on the i ve left my to fill it out has owned she can t manage it alone and seems to have a free hand in getting all the men he needs s warned to hold himself in readiness the chap yes and the pi wires that william the conqueror and clay have been moved from the already and they ve taken half a dozen men too it s famine by the looks of it they re nearer the scene of action than we are but if it comes to on the this early there s more in this than meets the eye said here to day and gone to morrow did n t come to stay for ever said scott dropping one of s novels and rising to his feet your sister s waiting for you a rough grey horse was and shifting at the edge of the where the light of a fell on a brown habit and a white face under a grey felt hat right said i m ready better come and dine with us if you ve nothing to do scott william is there any dinner in the house i go home and see was the rider s answer you can drive him at eight remember scott moved leisurely to his room and changed into the evening dress of the season and the country white linen from head to foot with a broad silk dinner at the was a decided improvement on the goat mutton tough fowl and s of the club but it was a great pity that could not afford to send his sister to the hills for the hot weather as an acting district of police drew the magnificent pay of six hundred silver a month and his little four said just as much there were the usual blue and white striped jail made william the conqueror on the floor the usual glass studded draped on nails driven into the of the walls the usual half dozen chairs that did not match picked up at of dead men s effects and the usual streaks of black where the leather ran through the it was as though everything had been the night before to be next morning not a door in the house was true on its hinges the little windows fifteen feet up were darkened with nests and hunted flies between the beams of the roof but all this was part of scott s life thus did people live who had such an income and in a land where each man s pay age and position are printed in a book that all may read it is hardly worth while to play at pretence in word or deed scott counted eight years service in the department and drew eight hundred a month on the understanding that if he served the state faithfully for another years he could retire on a of some four hundred a month his working life which had been spent chiefly under canvas or in temporary where a man could sleep eat and write letters was bound up with the opening and guarding of the handling of two or three thousand workmen of all and and the payment of vast sums of silver he had finished that spring not without credit the last section of the great canal much against his will for he hated had been sent in to serve during the hot weather on the accounts and supply side of the department with william the conqueror sole charge of the sub office at the capital of the province knew this william his sister knew it and everybody knew it scott knew too as well as the rest of the world that miss had come out to india four years ago to keep house for her brother who as every one knew had borrowed the money to pay for her passage and that she ought as all the world said to have married at once instead of this she had refused some half a dozen a twenty years her senior one major and a man in the indian medical department this too was common property she had stayed down three hot as the saying is because her brother was in debt and could not afford the expense of her keep at even a cheap hill station therefore her face was white as bone and in the centre of her forehead was a big silvery about the size of a the mark of a sore which is the same as a date this comes from drinking bad water and slowly eats into the flesh till it is ripe enough to be burned out none the less william had enjoyed herself in her four years twice she had been nearly drowned while a river once she had been run away with on a had witnessed a midnight attack of thieves on her brother s	39
camp had seen justice administered with long sticks in the open under trees could speak and even rough with a that was envied by her had entirely fallen out of the habit of writing to her in england or cutting the pages of the english magazines had been through a very bad year seeing ri william the conqueror sights unfit to be told and had wound up her experiences by six weeks of fever during which her head had been and hoped to keep her birthday that september it is conceivable that the would not have approved of a girl who never set foot on the ground if a horse were within hail who rode to dances with a shawl thrown over her skirt who wore her hair and curling all over her head who answered indifferently to the name of william or bill whose speech was heavy with the flowers of the who could act in amateur play on the rule eight servants and two horses their accounts and their diseases and look men slowly and deliberately between the even after they had proposed to her and been rejected i like men who do things she had confided to a man in the department who was teaching the sons of cloth merchants and the beauty of s excursion in books and when he grew poetical william explained that she did n t understand poetry very much it made her head ache and another broken heart took refuge at the club but it was all william s fault she delighted in hearing men talk of their own work and that is the most fatal way of bringing a man to your feet scott had known her for some three years meeting her as a rule under canvas when his camp and her brother s joined for a day on the edge of the indian desert he had danced with her several times at the big christmas when as many as five hundred white people c in to the station and had william the conqueror always a great respect for her housekeeping dinners she looked more like a than ever when the meal ended she sat rolling her low forehead beneath the dark curls as she the papers and stuck out her rounded chin when the tobacco stayed in place or with a gesture as true as a school boy s throwing a stone tossed the finished article across the room to who caught it with one hand and continued his talk with scott it was all shop and the of the sins of villagers who stole more water than they had paid for and the sin of native who at the of the bodily of villages to newly ground and of the coming fight with the desert in the south when the provincial funds should warrant the opening of the long surveyed canal system and scott spoke openly of his great desire to be put on one particular section of the work where he knew the land and the people and sighed for a in the foot hills and said his mind of his and william rolled and said nothing but smiled gravely on her brother because he was happy at ten scott s horse came to the door and the evening was ended the lights of the two low in which the daily paper was printed showed bright across the road it was too early to try to find sleep and scott drifted over to the editor stripped to the waist like a sailor at a gun lay half asleep in a long chair waiting the new public library r den william the conqueror for night he had a theory that if a man did not stay by his work all day and most of the night he laid himself open to fever so he ate and slept among his can you do it he said i did n t mean to bring you over about what i ve been dining at the the famine of course s warned too they re taking men where they can find em i sent a note to you at the club just now asking if you could do us a letter once a week from the two and three columns say nothing of course but just plain facts about who is doing what and so forth our regular ten a column sorry but it s out of my line scott answered staring at the map of india on the wall it s rough on very wonder what he do with his sister wonder what the deuce they do with me i ve no famine experience this is the first i ve heard of it am i ordered oh yes here s the wire they put you on to relief works said with a of dying like flies one native and half a pint of mixture among the ten thousand of you it comes of your being idle for the moment every man who is n t doing two men s work seems to have been called upon evidently believes in it s going to be quite as bad as anything they have had in the last ten years it s all in the day s work worse luck i suppose william the conqueror i shall get my orders some time to morrow i m awfully glad i happened to drop in better go and pack my now who me do you know turned over a of said he from scott chuckled he thought he was going to be cool all summer he be very sick about this well no good talking night two hours later scott with a clear conscience laid himself down to rest on a string cot in a bare room two worn trunks a leather water bottle a tin ice box and his pet saddle up in were piled at the door and the club secretary s receipt	39
for last month s bill was under his pillow his orders came next morning and with them an from sir james who was not in the habit of forgetting good men when he had once met them bidding him report himself with all speed at some place fifteen hundred miles to the south for the famine was sore in the land and white men were needed a pink and youth arrived in the red hot a little at fate and which never allowed any one three months peace he was scott s another in the machinery moved forward behind his fellow whose services as the official announcement ran were placed at the disposal of the government for famine duty until further orders scott handed over the funds in his charge showed him the comer in the office warned him william the conqueror against excess of zeal and as twilight fell departed from the club in a hired with his faithful body servant and a mound of disordered baggage to catch the southern mail at the and railway station the heat from the thick brick walls struck him across the face as if it had been a hot and he reflected that there were at least five nights and four days of this travel before him used to the chances of service plunged into the crowd on the stone platform while scott a black between his teeth waited till his should be set away a dozen native with their and bundles shouldered into the press of farmers and greasy locked with all pomp s uniform case water bottles ice box and roll they saw s lifted hand and for it my and your said to s man will travel together thou and i o brother will thus secure the servants places close by and because of our masters authority none will dare to disturb us when reported all things ready scott settled down at full length and on the broad leather covered the heat under the iron arched roof of the station might have been anything over a hundred degrees at the last moment entered dripping don t swear said scott lazily it s too late to change your carriage and we divide the ice william the conqueror what are you doing here said the i m lent to the government same as you by jove it s a of a night are you taking any of your men down a dozen i suppose i shall have to relief did n t know you were under orders too i did n t till after i left you last night had the news first my orders came this morning relieved me at four and i got off at once should n t wonder if it would n t be a good this if we come through it alive ought to put you and me to work together said and then after a pause my sister s here good business said scott heartily going to get off at i suppose and go up to who she stay with there no o that s just the trouble of it she s going down with me scott sat bolt upright under the oil lamps as the train past what i you don t mean you could n t tain t that i d have scraped up the money somehow you might have come to me to begin with said scott stiffly we are n t altogether strangers well you need n t be about it i might but you don t know my sister i ve been explaining and and all the rest of it all lost my temper since seven this morning and have n t got it back william the conqueror but she would n t hear of any compromise a woman s entitled to travel with her husband if she wants to william says she s on the same footing tou see we ve been together all our lives more or less since my people died it is n t as if she were an ordinary sister all the sisters i ve ever heard of would have stayed where they were well off she s as clever as a man confound her went on she broke up the over my head while i was talking at her settled the whole thing in three servants horses and all i did n t get my orders till nine won t be pleased said scott a famine s no place for a woman mrs i mean lady jim s in camp with him at any rate she says she will look after my sister william down to her on her own responsibility asking if she could come and knocked the ground from under me by showing me her answer scott laughed aloud if she can do that she can take care of herself and mrs jim won t let her run into any mischief there are n t many women sisters or wives who would walk into a famine with their eyes ox en it is n t as if she did n t know what these things mean she was through the last year the train stopped at and scott went back to the ladies immediately behind their carriage william with a cloth riding cap on her curls nodded william the conqueror come in and have some tea she said best thing in the world for heat do i look as if i were going to have heat never can tell said william wisely it s always best to be ready she had arranged her with the knowledge of an old a felt covered water bottle hung in the draught of one of the windows a tea set of russian china packed in a basket stood on the seat and a travelling spirit lamp was against the above it william served them generously in large cups hot tea which the veins of the	39
neck from swelling on a hot night it was characteristic of the girl that her plan of action once settled she asked for no comments on it life among men who had a great deal of work to do and very little time to do it in had taught her the wisdom of as well as of for herself she did not by word or deed suggest that she would be useful comforting or beautiful in their travels but continued about her business serenely put the cups back without clatter when tea was ended and made for her guests this time last night said scott we did n t expect or this kind of thing did we i ve learned to expect anything said william you know in our service we live at the end of the telegraph but of course this ought to be a good thing for us all if we live it us out of the running in our own william the conqueror scott replied with equal gravity i hoped to be put on the works this cold weather but there s no saying how long the famine may keep us hardly beyond october i should think said it will be ended one way or the other then and we ve nearly a week of this said william sha n t we be dusty when it s over for a night and a day they knew their surroundings and for a night and a day the edge of the great indian desert on a narrow railway they remembered how in the days of their they had come by that road from then the languages in which the names of the stations were written changed and they launched south into a foreign land where the very smells were new many long and heavily laden grain trains were in front of them and they could feel the hand of from far off they waited in while of empty returned to the north and were coupled on to slow crawling trains and dropped at midnight heaven knew where but it was furiously hot and they walked to and fro among and dogs howled then they came to an india more strange to them than to the the flat red india of palm tree palm and the india of the picture books of harry and his bearer all dead and dry in the heat they had left the incessant passenger traffic of the north and west far and far behind them here the people crawled william the conqueror to the side of the train holding their little ones in their arms and a loaded would he left the men and women round it like by honey once in the twilight they saw on a dusty plain a regiment of little men each bearing a body over his shoulder and when the train stopped to leave yet another they perceived that the burdens were not but only folk picked up beside dead oxen by a corps of irregular troops now they met more white men here one and there two whose tents stood close to the line and who came armed with written authorities and angry words to cut off a they were too busy to do more than nod at scott and and stare curiously at william who could do nothing except make tea and watch how her men off the rush of wailing walking putting them down three at a time in heaps with their own hands the marked or taking from the hollow eyed weary white men who spoke another than theirs they ran out of ice out of water and out of tea for they were six days and seven nights on the road and it seemed to them like seven times seven years at last in a dry hot dawn in a land of death lit by long red fires of railway where they were burning the dead they came to their destination and were met by jim the head of the famine but cheery and entirely in command of affairs he then and there was to live on trains till further orders was to go back with empty william the conqueror filling them with starving people as he found them and dropping them at a famine camp on the edge of the eight districts he would pick up supplies and return and his would guard the also picking up people and would drop them at a camp a hundred miles south scott was very glad to see scott would that same hour take charge of a of carts and would go south feeding as he went to yet another famine camp where he would leave his there would be no lack of starving on the and wait for orders by telegraph generally scott was in all small things to act as he thought best william bit her under lip there was no one in the wide world like her one brother but s orders gave him no discretion she came out on the platform with dust from head to foot a horse shoe on her forehead put here by much thinking during the past week but as self possessed as ever mrs who should have been lady jim but that no one remembered the took possession of her with a little gasp oh i m so glad you re here she almost sobbed you ought n t to of course but there is n t another woman in the place and we must help each other you know and we ve all the wretched people and the little babies they are selling i ve seen some said william is n t it ghastly i ve bought twenty they re in our camp but won t you have something to eat first wo ve more than ten people can do here and i ve william the conqueror got a horse for you oh i	39
m so glad you ve come dear you re a too you know steady said over his shoulder we look after you miss i can t ask you to breakfast you u have to eat as you go leave two of your men to help scott these m poor devils can t stand up to load carts this to the engine driver who was half asleep in the cab back down and get those away you ve line clear to they give you orders north of that scott load up your carts from that b p p and be off as soon as you can the in the pink shirt is your and guide you find an of sorts tied to the yoke of the second wagon he s been trying to bolt you u have to look after him drive miss to camp and tell them to send the red horse down here for me scott with and two was already busied with the carts them up to the and the quietly while the others pitched in the bags of and wheat watched him for as long as it took to fill one cart that s a good man he said if all goes well i shall work him hard this was jim s notion of the highest compliment one human being could pay another an hour later scott was under way the threatening him with the of the law for that he a member of the subordinate medical department had been and bound against his will and all william the conqueror laws governing the liberty of the subject the begging leave to see his mother who happened to be dying some three miles away only short leave of absence and will presently return the two armed with bringing up the rear and a s contempt for all and foreigners in every line of his face explaining to the drivers that though scott was a man to be feared on all he was authority itself the procession past s three stained tents under a of dead trees behind them the famine shed where a crowd of hopeless ones tossed their arms the cooking wish to heaven william had kept out of it said scott to himself after a glance we have sure as a gun when the rains break but william seemed to have taken kindly to the operations of the famine ck de which when famine is declared the workings of the ordinary law scott saw her the centre of a mob of weeping women in a riding habit and a blue grey felt hat with a gold i want fifty please i forgot to ask jack before he went away can you lend it me it s for milk for the babies said she scott took the money from his belt and handed it over without a word for goodness sake take care of yourself he said oh i shall be all right we ought to get the milk in two days by the way the orders are i was to tell you william the conqueror that you re to take one of sir jim s horses there s a grey here that i thought would be just your style i ve said you d take him was that that s awfully good of you we can t either d us talk much about style i am afraid scott was in a weather stained shooting very white at the and a little at the wrists william regarded him thoughtfully from his to his boots you look very nice i think are you sure you ve everything you need and so on think so said scott patting three or four of his shooting pockets as he mounted and rode alongside his gk od bye he cried good bye and good luck said william i m awfully obliged for the money she turned on a heel and disappeared into the tent while the carts pushed on past the famine sheds past the roaring lines of the thick fat fires down to the baked of the south part n so let ns melt and make no noise no tear floods nor sigh move t were of our joys to tell the our love a it was work even though he travelled by night and by day but within the limits of his vision there was no man whom scott could call master he was as free as in fact for the government held the head of the famine tied neatly to a telegraph wire and if had ever regarded seriously the death rate of that famine would have been much higher than it was at the end of a few days crawling scott learned something of the size of the india which he served and it astonished him his carts as you know were loaded with wheat and good food only a little grinding but the people to whom he brought the life giving were rice they could rice in their but they knew nothing of the heavy stone of the north and less of the material that the white man so laboriously they for william the conqueror such as they were accustomed to and when they found that there was none broke away weeping from the sides of the cart what was the use of these hard that choked their throats they would die and then and there very many of them kept their word others took their allowance and enough to feed a man through a week for a few of rotten rice saved by some less unfortunate a few put their shares into the rice it and made a with foul water but they were very few scott understood dimly that many people in the india of the south ate rice as a rule but he had spent his service in a grain province had seldom seen rice in the blade or ear and least	39
a at which scott looked for he had a beard that he did not love and when they sat down to dinner in the tent he told his tale in few words as it might have been an official report mrs jim from time to time and jim bowed his head but william s grey eyes were on the clean shaven face and it was to her that scott seemed to appeal good for the province said william her chin on her hand as she leaned forward among the her cheeks had fallen in and the on her forehead was more prominent than ever but the neck rose as a from the of the which was the accepted evening dress in camp it was awfully absurd at times said scott you see i did n t know much about or babies they my head off if the tale goes up north let em said william we ve all done work since we came i know jack has this was to s address and the big man smiled your brother s a highly efficient officer william the york public library foundations william the conqueror said he and i ve done him the honour of treating him as he deserves i write the confidential reports then you must say that william s worth her weight in gold said mrs jim i don t know what we should have done without her she has been everything to us she dropped her hand upon william s which was rough with much handling of reins and william patted it softly jim beamed on the company things were going well with his world three of his more men had died and their places had been filled by their every day brought the rains nearer they had put out the famine in five of the eight districts and after all the death rate had not been too things considered he looked scott over carefully as an looks over a man and rejoiced in his and iron hard condition he s just the bit in the world tucked up said jim to himself but he can do two men s work yet then he was aware that mrs jim was to him and according to the domestic code the message ran a clear case look at them i he looked and listened all that william was saying was what can you expect of a country where they call a a water a and all that scott answered was i shall be glad to get back to the club save me a dance at the christmas ball won t you it s a far cry from here to the hall said jim better turn in early scott it s to morrow you begin at five william the conqueror are n t you going to give mr scott a day s rest wish i could but i m afraid i can t as long as he can stand up we must use him well i ve had one europe evening at least by jove i d nearly forgotten what do i do about those babies of mine leave them here said we are in charge of and as many as you can spare i must learn how to milk now if you care to get up early enough to morrow i show you i have to milk you see half of em have beads and things round their necks you must be careful not to take em off in case the mothers turn up you forget i ve had some experience here i hope to goodness you won t scott s voice was i take care of her said mrs jim hundred word messages as she carried william off while jim gave scott his orders for the coming c it was very nearly nine o clock jim you re a brute said his wife that night and the head of the famine chuckled not a bit of it dear i remember doing the first settlement for the sake of a girl in a and she was slender i ve never done as good a piece of work since he work like a demon but you might have given him one day and let things come to a head now no dear it s their happiest time i don t believe either of the know what s william the conqueror the matter with them is n t it beautiful is n t it lovely up at three to learn to milk bless her heart oh ye gods why must we grow old and fat she s a darling she has done more work under under you the day after she came she was in charge and you were her subordinate you ve stayed there ever since she you almost as well as you manage me she does n t and that s why i love her she s as direct as a as her brother her brother s weaker than she is he s always coming to me for orders but he s honest and a for work i confess i m rather fond of william and if i had a the talk ended far away in the was a child s grave more than twenty years old and neither jim nor his wife spoke of it any more all the same you re responsible jim added after a moment s silence bless em i said mrs jim before the stars scott who slept in an empty cart and went about his work in silence it seemed at that hour to rouse and the his head being close to the he did not hear william till she stood over him in the dingy old riding habit her eyes still heavy with sleep a cup of tea and a piece of toast in her hands there was a baby on the ground on a piece of blanket and a six year old	39
child peered over scott s shoulder william the conqueror hai you little said scott how the deuce do you expect to get your if you are n t quiet a cool white hand the who forthwith choked as the milk into his mouth said the you ve no notion how these little fellows can h yes i have she whispered because the world was asleep only i feed them with a si or a rag yours are than mine and you ve been doing this day after day the voice was almost lost yes it was absurd now you try he said giving place to the girl look out i a goat s not a cow the goat protested against the and there was a in which scott snatched up the baby then it was all to do over again and william laughed softly and merrily she managed however to feed two babies and a third don t the little beggars take it well said scott i trained em they were very busy and interested when it was broad daylight and before they knew the camp was awake and they among the surprised by the day both flushed to the temples yet all the round world rolling up out of the darkness might have heard and seen all that had passed between them oh said william up the tea and toast i had this made for you it s stone cold now i thought you might n t have anything ready so early not drink it it s it s stone cold william the conqueror that s awfully kind of you it s just right it a awfully good of you really i leave my and with you and mrs jim and of course any one in camp can show you about the of course said william and she grew and and and more stately as she strode back to her tent herself with the there were shrill through the camp when the elder children saw their nurse move off without them so far as to jest with the and scott turned with shame because already in the saddle roared a child escaped from the care of mrs jim and like a rabbit clung to scott s boot william with long easy strides i will not i will not go shrieked the child his feet round scott s ankle they will kill me here i do not know these people i say said scott in broken i say she will do you no harm oo with her and be well fed said william panting with a glance at scott who stood helpless and as it were go back said scott quickly to william i send the little chap over in a minute the tone of authority had its effect but in a way scott did not exactly intend the boy loosened his grasp and said with gravity i did not know the woman was thine i will go then he cried to his companions a mob of three four and five year waiting on the success of his venture ere they william the conqueror go back and eat it is our man s she will obey his orders jim where he sat and the two grinned and scott s orders to the flew like hail that is the custom of the when truth is told in their presence said the time comes that i must seek new service young wives especially such as speak our language and have knowledge of the ways of the police make great trouble for honest in the matter of weekly what william thought of it all she did not say but when her brother ten days later came to camp for orders and heard of scott s performances he said laughing well that settles it he be scott to the end of his days in the northern means a goat what a lark i d have given a month s pay to have seen him nursing famine babies i fed some with rice water but that was all right it s perfectly disgusting said his sister with blazing eyes a man does something like that and all you other men think of is to give him an absurd and then you laugh and think it s funny ah said mrs jim well you can t talk william you little miss the button last cold weather you know you did india s the land of that s different william replied she was only a girl and she had n t done anything except walk like william the conqueror a and she does but it is n t fair to make fun of a man scott won t care said you t get a rise out of old i ve been trying for eight years and you ve only known him for three how does he look he looks very well said william and went away with a flushed cheek scott indeed i then she laughed to herself for she knew her country but it will be all the same and she repeated it under her breath several times slowly whispering it into favour when he returned to his duties on the railway spread the name far and wide among his associates so that scott met it as he led his carts to war the natives believed it to be some english title of honour and the cart drivers used it in all simplicity till who did not approve of foreign broke their heads there was very little time for now except at the big where jim had extended scott s idea and was feeding large flocks on the useless northern sufficient had come now into the eight districts to hold the people safe if it were only distributed quickly and for that purpose no one was better than the big canal who never lost his temper never gave an order and never questioned an order	39
in the district away to the except the regular report to the rude roads had disappeared his drivers were half one of s had died of and scott was taking thirty of a day to fight the fever that comes with the rain but those were things scott did not consider necessary to report he was as usual working from a base of supplies on a railway line to cover a circle of fifteen miles and since full loads were impossible he took quarter loads and toiled four times as hard by consequence for he did not william the conqueror to risk an which might have grown by villagers in thousands at the it was cheaper to take work them to death and leave them to the in the that was the time when eight years of clean living and hard condition told though a man s head were ringing like a bell from the and the earth swayed under his feet when he stood and under his bed when he slept if had seen fit to make him a driver that he thought was entirely s own affair there were men in the north who would know what he had done men of thirty years service in his own department who would say that it was not half bad and above above all men of all there was william in the thick of the fight who would approve because she he had so trained his mind that it would hold fast to the mechanical routine of the day though his own voice sounded strange in liis own ears and his hands when he wrote grew large as pillows or small as peas at the end of his wrists that bore his body to the telegraph office at the railway station and dictated a to saying that the district was in his judgment now safe and he waited further orders the telegraph clerk did not approve of a large gaunt man falling over him in a dead faint not so much because of the weight as because of the names and blows that dealt him when he found the body rolled under a bench then took william the conqueror blankets and where he found them and lay down under them at his master s side and bound his arms with a tent rope and filled him with a horrible of and set the policeman to fight him when he wished to escape from the intolerable heat of his and shut the door of the telegraph office to keep out the curious for two nights and one day and when a light engine came down the line and kicked in the door scott hailed him weakly but in a natural voice and stood back and took all the credit for two nights heaven bom he was said look at my nose and consider the eye of the policeman he beat us with his bound hands but we sat upon him heaven bom and though his words were we him heaven bom never has been such a sweat he is weaker now than a child but the fever has gone out of him by the grace of god there remains only my nose and the eye of the shall i ask for my dismissal because my has and laid his long thin hand carefully on scott s chest to be sure that the fever was all gone ere he went out to open and such as laughed at his swelled nose the district s all right scott whispered it does n t make any difference you got my wire i shall be fit in a week can t understand how it happened i shall be fit in a few days you re coming into camp with us said but look here but it s all over except the shouting we sha n t need william the conqueror you more on my honour we ha n t goes back in a few weeks s returned already and clay are putting the last touches to a new line the government s built as relief work he was a man you would n t know him ton my word you and miss seem to have come through it as well as anybody oh how is she by the way the voice went up and down as he spoke gk ing strong y hen i left her the roman catholic are the babies to turn them into little priests the mission is taking some and the mothers are taking the rest tou should hear the little beggars howl when they re sent away from william she s pulled down a bit but so are we all now when do you suppose you be able to move i can t come into camp in this state i won t he replied well you are rather a sight but from what i gathered there it seemed to me they d be glad to see you under any conditions i look over your work here if you like for a couple of days and you can pull yourself together while you up scott could walk by the time s inspection was ended and he flushed all over when jim said of his work that it was not half bad and volunteered further that he had considered scott his right hand man through the famine and would feel it his duty to say as much so they came back by rail to the old camp but there william the conqueror were no crowds near it the long fires in the were dead and black and the famine sheds were almost empty you said jim there is n t much more to do better ride up and see the wife they ve pitched a tent for you dinner s at seven i ve some work here riding at a foot pace by his scott came to william in the brown riding	39
habit sitting at the dining tent door her hands in her lap white as ashes thin and worn with no lustre in her hair there did not seem to be any mrs jim on the horizon and all that william could say was my word how pulled down you look i i ve had a touch of fever you don t look very well yourself oh i m fit enough we ve stamped it out i suppose you know scott nodded we shall all be returned in a few weeks told me before christmas mrs jim says sha n t you be glad to go back i can smell the wood smoke already william we shall be in time for all the christmas doings i don t suppose even the government would be base enough to transfer jack till the new year it seems hundreds of years the and all does n t it are you glad you came now it s all over yes it has been ghastly here though you know we had to sit still and do nothing and sir jim was away so much william the conqueror do nothing how did you get on with the i managed it after jou taught me then the talk stopped with an audible jar still jim hat reminds me i owe you fifty for the milk i thought perhaps you d be coming here when you were transferred to the district and i could pay you then but you did n t i passed within five miles of the camp but it was in the middle of a march you see and the carts were breaking down every few minutes and i could n t get em over the ground till ten o clock that night i wanted to come awfully you knew i did did n t you i i did said william facing him with level eyes she was no longer white did you understand why you did n t ride in of course i did why because you could n t of course i knew that did you care if you had come but i knew you would n t but if you should have cared a great deal you know i should thank god i did n t oh but i wanted to i could n t trust myself to ride in front of the carts because i kept em over here don t you know i knew you would n t said william here s your fifty scott bent forward and kissed the hand that held the william the conqueror greasy notes its fellow patted him awkwardly but very tenderly on the head and you knew too did n t you said william in a new voice no on my honour i did n t i had n t the cheek to expect anything of the kind except i say were you out riding anywhere the day i passed by to william nodded and smiled after the manner of an an l surprised in a good deed then it was just a speck i saw of your habit in the palm grove on the southern cart road i saw your when you came up from the by the just enough to be s ire that you were all right d you care this time scott did not kiss her hand for they were in the dusk of the dining tent and because william s knees were trembling under her she had to sit down in the nearest chair where she wept long and happily her head on her arms and when scott imagined that it would be well to comfort her she nothing of the kind she ran to her own tent and scott went out into the world and smiled upon it largely and but when brought him a drink he found it necessary to support one hand with the other or the good and would have been abroad there are and but it was much the strained talk at dinner till the servants had withdrawn and worst of all when mrs jim who had been on the william the conqueror edge of weeping from the soup down kissed and william and they drank one whole bottle of champagne hot because there was no ice and scott and william sat outside the tent in the till mrs jim drove them in for fear of more fever of these things and some others william said being engaged is abominable because jou see one has no official position we must be thankful we ve lots of things to do things to do i said jim when that was reported to him they re neither of them any good any more i can t get five hours work a day out of scott he s in the clouds half the time oh but they re so beautiful to watch it will break my heart when they go can t you do anything for him i ve given the government the at least i hope i that he personally conducted the entire famine but all he wants is to get on to the canal works and william s just as bad have you ever heard em talking of and and it s their style of i suppose mrs jim smiled tenderly ah that s in the bless em and so love ran about the camp in broad daylight while men picked up the pieces and put them neatly away of the famine in the eight districts morning brought the penetrating chill of the northern december the of wood smoke the dusty of the the of ruined and william the conqueror all the smell of the white northern as the ran on to the mile long bridge william wrapped in a sl silk embroidered jacket trimmed with rough looked out with moist eyes and nostrils that dilated the south of and palm	39
trees the south was done with here was the land she knew and loved and before her lay the good life she understood among folk of her own caste and mind they were picking them up at almost every station men and women coming in for the christmas week with with bundles of sticks with dear and bruised with fox and the greater part of them wore like william s for the northern cold is as little to be with as the northern heat and william was among them and of them her hands deep in her pockets her collar turned up over her ears stamping her feet on the as she walked up and down to get warm visiting from carriage to carriage and everywhere being congratulated scott was with the at the far end of the train where they him about feeding babies and but from time to time he would stroll up to william s window and murmur enough is n t it and william would answer with sighs of pure delight good enough indeed the large open names of the home towns were good to listen to they rang like the coming marriage bells in her ears and william felt deeply and truly sorry for all william the conqueror strangers and visitors and those fresh caught for the service of the country it was a glorious return and when the gave the christmas ball william was you might say the chief and honoured guest among the who could make things very pleasant for their friends she and scott danced nearly all the dances together and sat out the rest in the big dark gallery overlooking the superb floor where the and the spurs and the new and four hundred dancers went round and till the draped flags on the pillars and to the whirl of it about midnight half a dozen men who did not care for dancing came over from the club to play waits that was a surprise the had before any one knew what had happened the hand stopped and hidden voices broke into gk od king and william in the gallery and beat time with her foot mark my footsteps well my tread thou in them boldly thou shalt feel the winter s rage thy blood less coldly oh i hope they are going to give us another is n t it pretty coming out of the dark in that way down there s mrs wiping her eyes it s like home rather said scott i remember listen dear and it began again when watched their flocks by a h said william drawing to william the conqueror all seated on the ground the angel of the lord came down and glory shone around fear not said he for mighty dread had seized their troubled mind glad tidings of great joy i bring to you and all mankind this time it was william that her eyes j i i i t i a is next to a marine engine the most sensitive thing man ever made and no besides being sensitive was new the red paint was hardly dry on his bar his shone like a s and his cab might have been a hard wood finish parlour they had run him into the round ho after his he had said good bye to his best friend in the shops the overhead travelling the big world was just outside and the other were taking stock of him he looked at the of bold heard the low and of the steam mounting in the scornful of contempt as a slack lifted a and would have given a month s oil for leave to crawl through his own driving wheels into the brick ash pit beneath him was an eight wheeled american slightly different from others of his type and as he stood he was worth ten thousand dollars on the company s books but if you had bought him at his own after half an hour s waiting in the echoing round house you would have saved exactly nine thousand nine hundred and nine and ninety eight cents a heavy freight with a short cow and a fire box that came down within three inches of the rail began the game speaking to a ck who was visiting where did this thing blow in he asked with a dreamy puff of light steam it s can do to keep track of our makes was the answer without after your back numbers guess it s something peter per left over when he died quivered his steam was getting up but he held his tongue even a hand car knows what sort of it was that peter upon in the far away it carried its coal and water in two apple barrels and was not much bigger than a then up and spoke a small with a little step in front of his timber and his wheels so close together that he looked like a getting ready to buck something s wrong with the road when a gravel tells us anything about our stock think that kid s all right designed him and designed me ain t that good could have carried the round the yard in his tender but he felt grateful for even this little word of consolation we don t use hand cars on the the stand s old enough and ugly enough to speak for himself he has n t bin spoken to yet he s bin spoke at t ye any manners on the said the you ought to be in the yard said the severely we re all long here that s what you think the little fellow replied you know more fore the night s out i ve bin down to track and the freight oh christmas i i ve trouble enough in my own division said a lean light with very shiny shoes	39
my would n t rest till they got a they ve it back of all and it worse n a snow plough i snap her off some day sure and then they u blame every one except their they be me to haul a next i they made you in new did n t they said thought so and ain t any sweet but i tell you they re a heap better n out cars or oil why i ve you said the contemptuously it s all you can do to a cold car up the yard now i he paused a little to let the words sink in i handle the flying e cars worth just anything you please to mention on the stroke of eleven i pull out and i m timed for an hour immediate that s me i traffic s only but one degree better than express freight s what pays well i ain t given to blowing as a rule the no tou was sent in here because you on the grade interrupted where i you d lie down but as i was saying i don t blow much if you want to see freight that is freight moved lively you should see me through the with thirty seven ore cars behind me and my so s they can t attend to my i have to do all the back then and though i say it i ve never had a load get away from me yet ab sir s one thing but judgment and discretion s another you want judgment in my business ah but are you not by a sense of your overwhelming said a curious voice from a comer who s that whispered to the n g she s bin in the b a yards for six months when she was n t in the shops she s economical call it mean in her coal but she takes it out in i i presume you found boston somewhat isolated madam after your new york season i am never so well occupied as when i am alone the compound seemed to be talking from half way up her smoke sure said the under his breath they don t after her any in the yard but with my constitution and my work lies in i find your outer which said the freight simple are good enough for me perhaps i should have said the ck i don t hold with any make of m h wheel the insisted the compound sighed and said no more em all shapes in this world don t ye said that s mass all over they half start an then they stick on a dead centre an blame it all on other folk s ways o them o boston ck told me last night he had a hot box just beyond the friday that was why he says the accommodation was held up made out no end of a tale did if i d heard that in the shops with my out for i d know t was one o s lies the new snapped hot box i him i what happened was they d put an extra car on and he just lay down on the grade and they had to send to help him through made it out a did he time before that he said he was looked me square in the and told me that as cool as a water in a cold wave hot box you ask about s hot box why he was side and he was just about as mad as they make em on account o being called out at ten o clock at night took hold and snapped her boston in seventeen minutes hot box i hot fraud i that s what is then put both drivers and his pilot into it as the saying is for he asked what sort of thing a hot might be paint my bell sky blue i said the make me a surface railroad with a hard wood board round my wheels break me up and cast me into five cent mechanical here s an eight wheel coupled american don t know what a hot box is i never heard of an emergency stop either did ye don t know what ye jack for you re too innocent to be left alone with your own tender oh you flat there was a roar of escaping steam before any one could answer and nearly his paint off with pure mortification a hot box began the compound picking and choosing her words as though they were coal a is the penalty from by haste hot box i said the it s the price you pay for going on the tear it s years since i ve had one it s a disease that don t attack as a rule we never have hot boxes on the said the they get em in new as nervous ah go home on a boat said the you think because you use worse than our road u d allow you re a kind of angel now i u tell you what you here s my folk well i can t stop see you later perhaps he rolled forward to the turn table and swung like a man of war in a till he picked up his track but as for you you green coffee pot this to you go out and learn something before you associate with those who ve made more in a week than you u roll up in a year that s me i s long split my if that s polite to a new member o the brotherhood said there was n t any call to on ye like that but manners was left out when was made keep up your fire kid an bum your own smoke guess we u all be	39
wanted in a minute men were talking rather excitedly in the one man in a dingy said that he had n t any to waste on the yard another man with a piece of paper in his hand said that the yard master said that he was to say that if the other man said anything he the other man was to shut his head then the other man waved his arms and wanted to know if he was expected to keep in his hip pocket then a man in a black prince without a collar came up dripping for it was a hot august night and said that what lie said went and between the three of them the began to go first the compound then the ck then now deep down in his fire box had cherished a hope that as soon as his trial was done he be led forth with songs and and attached to a under charge of a bold and noble engineer who would pat him on his back and weep over him and call him his the boys in the shops where he was built used to read wonderful stories of railroad life and expected things to happen as he had heard but there did not seem to be many in the roaring electric lighted yards and his engineer only said now what sort of a fool sort of an has loaded on to this this time and he put the over with an angry snap crying am i supposed to with this thing hey the man his head and replied that in the present state of the yard and freight and a few other things the engineer would and keep on till the cows came home pushed out his heart in his so nervous that the of his own bell almost made him jump the track waved or danced up and down before and behind him and on every side six tracks deep sliding backward and forward with of and of hand were more cars than had dreamed of there were oil cars and hay cars and stock cars full of beasts and ore cars and cars with ends sticking out in the middle cold and cars dripping on the tracks fruit and milk cars with full of market stuff flat cars loaded with and all red and green and gilt under the electric lights flat cars piled high with strong scented hides plank or bundles of flat cars creaking to the weight of thirty ton angle irons and boxes for some new bridge and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of box cars loaded locked and and crawled among and between and imder the thousand wheels men took flying through his cab when he halted for a moment men sat on his pilot as he went forward and on his tender as he returned and of men ran along the tops of the box cars beside him down waving their arms and crying curious things he was pushed forward a foot at a time whirled backward his rear drivers and a quarter of a mile jerked into a yard are very and into a bed d or merchant s transport car and with no hint or knowledge of the weight behind him started up anew when his load was fairly on the move three or four cars would be cut off and would bound forward only to be held on the then he would wait a few minutes watching the whirled with the of the bells giddy with the vision of the sliding cars his panting forty to the minute his front lying sideways on his cow like a tired dog s tongue in his mouth and the whole of him covered with half burnt coal dust t is n t so easy with a straight backed tender said his little friend of the round house bustling by at a trot but you re on pretty fair ever seen a no then watch me was in charge of a dozen heavy flat cars suddenly he shot away from them with a sharp a opened in the shadows ahead he turned up it like a rabbit as it snapped behind him and the long line of twelve foot high lumber on into the arms of a full sized road who acknowledged receipt with a dry howl my s reckoned the in the yard at that trick ho said returning gives me cold when another fool tries it though that s where my short wheel base comes in like as not you d have your tender scraped off if you tried it had no that way and said so no of se this ain t your regular business but say don t you think it s have you seen the yard master well he s the greatest man on earth an don t you forget it when are we through why kid it s always like this day an sundays an week days see that thirty car freight in four no five tracks off she s all mixed freight sent here to be out into straight trains that s why we re out the s one by one he gave a vigorous push to a west bound car as he spoke and started back with a little of surprise for the car was an old an m t k box car jack my drivers but it s i why ain t there no you back to your friends there s forty out for you from your road if there s one who s you now wish i knew i belong in but i ve bin to i ve bin to i ve bin to news i ve bin all dow n the old and west point an i ve bin to maybe i fetch up at i ve only bin out ten months but i m i m just try said the and the	39
a raging of bells in the tower nor the man as he leaned out and called to engineer any steam to run her a hundred mile out o this if i could said the engineer who belonged to the open road and hated then get the flying freight s forty mile out with fifty rod o track up no no one s hurt but both tracks are blocked lucky the car an are this end of the yard crew be along in a minute hurry i you ve the track well i could jest kick my little off self said as was backed with a bang on to a grim and car like a but full of a and a behind it some folks are one thing and some are another but you re in luck kid they push a car now don t get rattled your wheel base will keep you on the track and there ain t any curves worth oh say told me there s one section o saw edged track that s liable to ye a little fifteen an a half out after the grade at s you know it by a an a an five in the s west o the an there an ei iron bridge in the middle o that section with do guard rails see you later luck before he knew well what had was flying up the track into the dumb dark world then f ears of the night beset him he remembered all he had ever heard of rain piled blown trees and strayed cattle all that the boston had ever said of responsibility and a great deal more that came out of his own head with a very voice he whistled for his first grade crossing an event in the life of a and his nerves were in no way restored by the sight of a frantic horse and a white faced man in a less than a yard from his right shoulder then he was sure he would jump the track felt his mounting the rail at every curve knew that his grade would make him lie down even as had done at the he whirled down the grade to s crossing saw the west of the felt the badly laid rails spring him and big drops all over his at each he believed an had smashed and he took the eighty foot bridge without the guard rail like a hunted cat on the top of a fence then a wet leaf stuck against the glass of his and threw a flying shadow on the track so that he thought it was some little dancing animal that would feel soft if he ran over it and anything soft a as it does an elephant but the men behind seemed quite calm the crew were climbing carelessly from the to the even with the engineer for he heard a of feet among the coal and the snatch of a song something like this the empire state must learn to wait and the cannon ball go hang when the west bound s and the tool car s and it s way for the gang ra i way for the gang i knew what he was when he designed this she s a new too she is new that ain t paint that s a burning pain shot through s right rear driver a pain this said as he flew is a hot box now i know what it means i shall go to pieces i guess my first road run too a bit ain t she the ventured to suggest to the engineer she hold for all we want of her we re most there guess you back had better climb into your car said the engineer his hand on the i ve seen men snapped but the crew fled back with laughter they had no wish to be jerked on to the track the engineer half turned his wrist and found his drivers pinned now it s come said as he aloud and slid like a for the moment he fancied that he would jerk bodily from off his that must be the emergency stop that me about he gasped as soon as he could think hot box emergency stop they both hurt but now i can talk back in the round house he was halted all hissing hot a few feet in the rear of what doctors would a compound car his engineer was kneeling down among his drivers but he did not call his nor cry over him as the did in the ers he just and pulled yards of cotton waste from about the and hoped he might some day catch the idiot who had packed it nobody else attended to him for the s engineer a little cut about the head but very angry was exhibiting by the corpse of a slim blue pig t were n t even a decent sized he said t beasts they are said one of the crew get under the pilot an sort o ye off the track don t they don t they roared who was a red headed you talk as if i was by a every fool day o the week i ain t friends with all the half fed in the state o new york no indeed yes this is an look what he s done it was not a bad night s work for one stray the flying freight seemed to have flown in every direction for the had the rails and run a few hundred feet from right to left taking with him such cars as cared to follow some did not they broke their and lay down while rear cars over them in that game they had up and removed and twisted a good deal of the left hand track the himself had into a corn field and there	39
he fantastic wreaths of green twisted round his pins his pilot covered with solid of field on which com nodded his fire put out with dirt had done that as soon as he recovered his senses and his broken half full of half burnt his tender had thrown coal all over him and he looked like a who had tried to in a general store for there lay scattered over the landscape from the burst cars type writers sewing machines in a of silver imported harness french dresses and gloves a dozen finely hard wood a fifteen foot with a solid brass around her bows a case of and two a case of very best some gilt edged produce butter and eggs in an a broken box of expensive toys and a few hundred other luxuries a camp of hurried up from nowhere and generously volunteered to help the crew so the armed with pins walked up and down on one side and the freight conductor and the the other with their hands in their hip pockets a long bearded man came out of a house beyond the corn field and told that if the accident had happened a little later in the year all his com would have been burned and accused of carelessness then he ran away for was at his heels shrieking t was his done it his done it i let me kill him let me kill him then the crew laughed and the farmer put his head out of a window and said that was no gentleman but was very sober he had never seen a wreck before and it frightened him the crew still laughed but they worked at the same time and forgot horror in amazement at the way they handled the freight they dug round him with they put ties in front of his wheels and jack under him they embraced him with the chain and him with while was on to wrecked cars and backed away till the knot broke or the can rolled clear of the track by dawn thirty or forty men were at work and down the ties the rails and them by daylight all cars who could move had gone on in charge of the track was freed for traffic and had hauled the old over a small pavement of ties inch by inch till his bit the rail once more and he settled down with a but his spirit was broken and his nerve was gone t were n t even a he repeated t were a and you of all of em had to help me on but how in the whole long road did it asked with curiosity happen i it did n t happen i it just come i i sailed right on top of him around that last thought he was a yes he was all as little as that he had n t more n once fore i felt my lift he d rolled right under the pilot and i could n t catch the track again to save me clean off i was then i felt him himself along all greasy under my left driver and oh i that mounted the rail i heard my along the ties an the next i knew i was sally sally waters in the com my tender coal through my an old man still an in front o me shook there ain t a stay or a bolt or a in me that ain t to glory somewhere said what d you reckon you weigh without these o dirt i m all of a hundred thousand pound eighty call him a hundred at the outside he s worth about four n a half dollars ain t it awful ain t it enough to give you nervous ain t it why i come just around that and the told the tale again for he was very badly shaken well it s all in the day s run i guess said soothingly an an a com field s pretty soft if it had bin a sixty foot bridge an i could ha slid off into deep water an blown up an killed both men same as others have done i would n t ha cared but to be by a an you to help me a corn an an old in his me like as if i was a sick horse i oh it s awful i don t me i i m a machine they u my sand box off in the yard and his hot box cooled and his experience vastly enlarged hauled the freight slowly to the old bin out all night t ye said the irrepressible who had just come os duty well i must say you look it that s you i go to the shops take them vine leaves out o your hair an em to play the on you leave him alone said severely as he was swung on the turn table or i did know the old was any special friend o yours kid he was n t over civil to you last time i saw him i know it but i ve seen a wreck since then and it has about scared the paint off me i m not going to any one as long as i not when they re new to the business an anxious to learn and i m not goin to the old either though i did find him around with ears t was a little bit of a not a just a no bigger n a lump of i saw it that made all the mess anybody can be i guess found that out already have you well that sa good it was the purple emperor with his high tight plate glass cab and green velvet cushion waiting to be cleaned for his next day s fly let me make you	39
two gen acquainted said this is our purple emperor kid whom you were and i may say last night this is a new brother sir with most of his ahead of him but so far as a serving brother can i answer for him happy to meet you said the purple emperor with a glance round the crowded round house i guess there are enough of us here to form a full i by virtue of the authority in me as head of the i declare and pronounce no a full and accepted brother of the brotherhood of and as such entitled to all shop track and house privileges throughout my in the degree of superior it bein well known and reported to me that our brother has covered forty one miles in minutes and a half on an errand of mercy to the afflicted at a convenient time i myself will to you the song and signal of this degree whereby you may be recognised in the darkest night take your stall newly entered brother among now in the darkest night even as the purple emperor said if you will stand on the bridge across the looking down upon the four track way at a m neither before nor after when the white that takes the from the purple tears south with her seven cream white cars you will hear as the yard clock makes the half hour a far away sound like the bass of a and then a hundred feet to each word with a i t t i i i i she climb upon der und she frighten all der people t t that is covering his one hundred and fifty six miles in two hundred and twenty one minutes the cat i the cat they had good reason to be proud and better reason to be afraid all twelve of them for though they had fought their way game by game up the entered for the they were meeting the that afternoon in the final match and the men were playing with half a dozen apiece as the game was divided into six quarters of eight minutes each that meant a fresh pony after every halt the team even supposing there were no accidents could only supply one pony for every other change and two to one is heavy odds again as the grey pointed out they were meeting the pink and pick of the of upper india that had cost from a thousand each while they themselves were a cheap lot gathered often from country carts by their masters who belonged to a poor but honest native regiment money means pace and weight said rubbing his black silk nose along his neat fitting boot and by the of the game as i know it ah but we are n t playing the said the cat we re playing the game and we ve the great advantage of knowing the game just think a the cat stride we ve pulled up from bottom to second place in two weeks against all those fellows on the ground here that s because we play with our heads as well as our feet it makes me feel and unhappy all the same said a mouse coloured mare with a red brow band and the pair of legs that ever an aged pony owned they ve twice our style these others looked at the gathering and sighed the hard dusty was lined with thousands of soldiers black and white not hundreds and hundreds of carriages and and dog carts and ladies with brilliant coloured and officers in uniform and out of it and crowds of natives behind them and on who had halted to watch the game instead of carrying letters up and down the station and native horse running about on looking for a chance to sell a few first class then there were the of thirty that had entered for the upper india free for all nearly every pony of worth and dignity from to to prize and of every colour and shape and temper that you could imagine some of them were in mat stables close to the ground but most were under saddle while their masters who had been defeated in the earlier games trotted in and out and told the world exactly how the game should be played the cat it was a glorious sight and the come and go of the little quick and the incessant of that had met ore on other or were enough to drive a four footed thing wild but the team were careful not to know their neighbours though half the on the ground were anxious to scrape acquaintance with the little fellows that had come from the north and so far had swept the board let s see said a soft gold coloured who had been playing very badly the day before to the cat did n t we meet in s stable in four seasons ago i won the cup next season you may remember not me said the cat politely i was at then pulling a vegetable cart i don t race i play the game said the his tail and off keep yourselves to yourselves said the cat to his companions we don t want to rub noses with all those goose half of upper india when we ve won this cup they give their shoes to know we sha n t win the cup said how do you feel stale as last night s feed when a has run over it said a rather heavy shouldered grey and the rest of the team agreed with him the sooner you forget that the better said the cat cheerfully they ve finished in the cat the big tent we shall be wanted now if your are not kick if your bits are n t easy	39
rear and let the know whether your boots are tight each pony had his his groom who lived and ate and slept with the animal and had a good deal more than he could afford on the result of the game there was no chance of anything going wrong but to make sure each was the l s of his pony to the last minute behind the sat as many of the regiment as had leave to d the about half the native officers and a hundred or two dark black bearded men with the nervously the big the were what they call a regiment and the made the national music of half men the native officers held bundles of long cane handled and as the grand stand filled after lunch they arranged themselves by ones and at different points round the ground so that if a stick were broken the player would not have far to ride for a new one an impatient british cavalry band struck up if you want to know the time ask a p and the two in light dust coats danced out on two little excited the four players of the team followed and the sight of their beautiful made groan again wait till we know said the cat two of em are playing in and that means they can t see to get out of the way of their own side or they may shy at the they ve all got white that are sure to stretch or slip i the cat and said dancing to take the out of her they carry their in their hands instead of on their wrists i true enough no man can manage his stick and his reins and his whip that way said the cat i ve fallen over every square yard of the ground and i ought to know he quivered his little just to show n i how satisfied he felt hut his heart was not so light ever since he had drifted into india on a troop ship taken with an old rifle as part payment for a racing debt the cat had played and preached to the team on the stony now a pony is like a poet if he is born with a love for the game he can be made the cat knew that grew solely in order that might be turned from their roots that grain was given to to keep them in hard condition and that were shod to prevent them on a turn but besides all these things he knew every trick and device of the finest game in the world and for two seasons had been teaching the others all he knew or guessed remember he said for the time as the came up you must play together and you play with your heads whatever happens follow the ball who goes out first and a short high little bay fellow with tremendous and no worth speaking of he was called were being up and the soldiers in the background stared with all their eyes the cat i want you men to keep quiet said tin captain of the team and especially not to blow your pipes not if we win captain asked the if we win you can do what you please said with a smile as he slipped the of his stick over his wrist and wheeled to to his place the were a little bit above themselves on account of the many coloured crowd so to the ground their were excellent players but they were a team of crack players instead of a crack team and that made all the difference in the world they honestly meant to play together but it is very hard for four men each the best of the team he is picked from to remember that in no brilliancy in or riding makes up for playing alone their captain shouted his orders to them by name and it is a curious thing that if you call his name aloud in public after an englishman you make him hot and said nothing to his men because it had all been said before he pulled up for he was playing back to guard the goal on was half back and and on and w e forwards the tough ball was set in the middle of the ground one hundred and fifty yards from the ends and crossed sticks heads up with the captain of the who saw fit to play forward that is a place from which you cannot easily control your team the little click as the shafts met wai heard all over the ground and then made some sort of quick wrist stroke that just the ball a the cat few yards knew that stroke of old and followed as a cat follows a mouse while the captain of the was his pony round struck with all his strength and next instant e was away following close behind her their little feet like on glass pull out to the left said between her teeth it s coming your way the back and half back of the were tearing down on her just as she was within reach of the ball leaned forward with a loose rein and cut it away to the left almost under s foot and it and off to who saw that if he was not quick it would run beyond the boundaries that long drive gave the time to wheel and send three men across the ground to head off stayed where she was for she knew the game was on the ball half a of a second before the others came up and with a stroke sent it back across the ground to who saw the way clear to the goal and the ball in before any one quite knew what had happened that s luck said as they changed ends a goal	39
and s eye glittered as he the question was which pony should make way for the other for each rider was perfectly the cat willing to risk a fall in a good cause the black who had been driven nearly crazy by his trusted to his weight and his temper but knew how to apply his weight and how to keep his temper they met and there was a cloud of dust the black was lying on his side all the breath knocked out of his body the was a hundred yards up the ground with the ball and was sitting down he had slid nearly ten yards on his tail but he had had his revenge and sat his nostrils till the black pony rose that s what you get for interfering do you want any more said and he plunged into the game nothing was done that quarter because would not gallop though beat him whenever he could spare a second the fall of the black pony had impressed his companions and so the could not profit by s bad behaviour but as the cat said when time was called and the four came back blowing and dripping ought to have been kicked all round if he did not behave better next time the cat promised to pull out his tail by the roots eat it there was no time to talk for the third four were ordered out the third quarter of a game is generally the for each side thinks that the others must be and most of the winning play in a game is made about that time took over the cat with a pat and a for valued him more than anything the cat in the world had a little grey rat with no and no manners outside mounted the largest of the team and who s who the animal he was supposed to have blood in his veins but he looked like a clothes horse and you could his legs with an iron crow bar without him they went out to meet the very flower of the team and when who s who saw their legs and their beautiful satin skins he grinned a grin through his light well worn bridle my word i said who s who we must give em a little these gentlemen need a rubbing down no biting said the cat for once or twice in his career who s who had been known to forget himself in that way who said anything about biting i m not playing i m playing the game the came down like a wolf on the fold for they were tired of and they wanted they got it more and more just after the game began hit a ball that was coming towards him rapidly and it rolled in the air as a ball sometimes will with the whirl of a frightened heard but could not see it for though he looked everywhere and up into the air as the cat had taught him when he saw it ahead and overhead he went forward with as fast as he could put foot to ground it was then that a quiet and level headed man as a rule became inspired and played the cat a stroke that sometimes comes off after long practice he took his stick in both hands and standing up in his at the ball in the air fashion there was one second of astonishment and then all four sides of the ground went up in a yell of applause and delight as the ball flew true you could see the amazed in their to the line of flight and looking at it with open mouths and the pipes of the from the as long as the had breath heard the stroke but he heard the head of the stick fly off at the same time nine hundred and ninety nine out of a thousand would hare gone tearing on after the ball with a useless pulling at their heads but knew him and he knew and the instant he felt s right leg shift a trifle on the saddle he headed to the boundary where a native was waving a new stick before the shouts had ended was armed again once before in his life the cat had heard that very same stroke played off his own back and had by the confusion it wrought this time he acted on experience and leaving to guard the goal in case of accidents came through the others like a flash head and tail standing up to ease swept on and on before the other side knew what was the matter and nearly pitched on his head between the goal poet as kicked the ball in after a straight of a hundred the cat and fifty yards if there was one thing more than another upon which the cat himself it was on this quick kind of run half across the he did not in taking balls round the field unless you were clearly after this they gave the five and an expensive fast pony hates because it his temper who s who showed himself even better than in this game he did not permit any away but bored joyfully into the as if he h his nose in a feed box and was looking for something little jumped on the ball the minute it got clear and every time an pony followed it he found standing over it asking what was the matter if we can live through this quarter said the cat i sha n t care don t take it out of yourselves let them do the so the as their explained afterwards shut up the kept them tied fast in front of their goal but it cost the all that was left of their and began to kick and men began to repeat compliments and they at the legs	39
of who s who and he set his teeth and stayed where he was and the dust stood up like a tree over the that hot quarter ended they found the very excited and confident when they went to their and the cat had to warn them that the worst of the game was coming the cat now we are all going in for the second said he and they are trotting out fresh you think you can gallop but you find you can t and then you be sorry but two to nothing is a long lead said how long does it take to get a goal the cat answered for pity s sake don t run away with a notion that the game is half won just because we happen to be in luck now they ride you into the grand stand if they can you must not give em a chance follow the ball as usual said my s half as big as a nose bag don t let them have a look at the ball if you can help it now leave me alone i must get all the rest i can before the last quarter he hung down his head and let all his muscles go slack and who s who his example better not watch the game he said we are n t playing and we shall only take it out of ourselves if we grow anxious look at the ground and pretend it s fly time they did their best but it was hard advice to follow the were and the sticks were rattling all up and down the ground and of applause from the english troops told that the were pressing the hard the native soldiers behind the groaned and and said things in under the cat tones and presently they heard a long drawn shout and a clatter of one to the said without raising his head time s nearly up oh my and said the cat if you don t play to the last nail in your shoes this time i kick you on the ground before all the other i do my best when my time comes said the little the looked at each other gravely as they rubbed their legs this was the time when long began to tell and everybody knew it and the others came back the sweat dripping over their and their tails telling sad stories they re better than we are said i knew how it would be shut your big head said the cat we ve one goal to the good yet yes but it s two and two country to play now said remember he spoke in a biting voice as mounted grey dawn he looked at his men and they did not look pretty they were covered with dust and sweat in streaks their yellow boots were almost black their wrists were red and and their eyes seemed two inches deep in their heads but the expression in the eyes was satisfactory did you take anything at said and the team shook their heads they were too dry to talk the cat all right the did they are worse than we are they ve got the better said i sha n t be sorry when this business is over that fifth quarter was a one in every way played like a little red demon and the seemed to be everywhere at once and rode straight at anything and everything that came in his way while the on their wheeled like outside the shifting game but the had the better they had kept their till late in the game and never allowed the to play tliey hit the ball up and down the width of the ground and the rest were then they went forward and time and again and grey dawn were just and only just able to send the ball away with a long grey dawn forgot that he was an and turned from grey to blue as he galloped indeed he forgot too well for he did not keep his eyes on the ground as an should but stuck out his nose and for the dear honour of the game they had watered the ground once or twice between the quarters and a careless had emptied the last of his all in one place near the goal it was close to the end of the play and for the tenth tune grey dawn was after the ball when his near hind foot slipped on the greasy mud and he rolled over and over just clear of the goal post and the triumphant made their goal then time was two all but had the cat to be helped up and grey dawn rose with his near hind leg strained somewhere what s the damage said his arm around collar bone of course said between his teeth it was the third time he had broken it in two years and it hurt him and the others whistled game s up said hold on we ve five good minutes yet and it is n t my right hand we stick it out i say said the captain of the trotting up are you hurt we wait if you care to put in a substitute i i the fact is you fellows deserve this game if any team does wish we could give you a man or some of our or something you re awfully good but we u play it to a finish i think the captain of the stared for a little that s not half bad he said and went back to his own side while borrowed a from one of his native officers and made a of it then an galloped up with a big bath and advised to put it under his to ease his shoulder and between them they tied up his left arm and	39
one of the native officers leaped forward with four long glasses that and the team looked at and he nodded it was the last quarter and nothing would matter after that they drank out the dark golden drink and the cat wiped their and things looked more hopeful the cat had put his nose into the front of shirt and was trying to say how sorry he was he knows said proudly the beggar knows i ve played him without a bridle before now for fun it s no fun now said but we have n t a decent substitute no said it s the last quarter and we ve got to make our goal and win i trust the cat if you fall this time you a little said i trust the cat said you hear that said the oat proudly to the others it s worth w playing for ten years to have that said of you now then my sons come along we kick up a little bit just to show the this team have n t suffered and sure enough as they went on to the ground the cat after satisfying himself that was home in the saddle kicked out three or four times and laughed the reins were caught up anyhow in the tips of his left hand and he never pretended to rely on them he knew the cat would answer to the least pressure of the leg and by way of showing off for his shoulder hurt him very he bent the little fellow in a close figure of eight in and out between the goal posts was a roar from the native officers and men who dearly loved a piece of the cat horse trick work as they called it and the pipes very quietly and scornfully out the first bars of a common tune called fresh and newly new just as a warning to the other that the were fit all the natives laughed and now said the cat as they took their place remember that this is the last quarter and follow the ball don t need to be told said who s who let me go on all those people on all four sides will begin to crowd just as they did at you hear people calling out and moving forward and being pushed ba ck and that is going to make the very unhappy but if a ball is struck to the boundary you go after it and let the people get out of your way i went over the pole of a four in hand once and picked a game out of the dust by it back me up when i run and follow the ball there was a sort of an all round sound of and wonder as the last quarter opened and then there began exactly what the cat had foreseen people crowded in close to the boundaries and the kept looking sideways at the space if you know how a man feels to be cramped at not because he wants to run out of the court but because he likes to know that he can at a you will guess how must feel when they are playing in a box of human beings i bend some of those men if i can get away said who s who as he behind the ball and nodded without speaking they were playing the last the cat in them and the cat had the goal to join them gave him every order that he could to bring him back but this was the first time in his career that the little wise grey had ever played on his own responsibility and he was going to make the most of it what are you doing here said as the cat crossed in front of him and rode off an the cat s in mind the goal i shouted and bowing forward hit the ball full and followed on forcing the towards their own goal no said the cat keep the ball by the boundaries and em play open order and drive em to the boundaries across and across the ground in big flew the ball and whenever it came to a flying rush and a stroke close to the boundaries the moved they did not care to go headlong at a of men and carriages though if the ground had been open they could have turned on a sixpence her up the sides said the cat keep her close to the crowd they hate the keep her up this side and lay left and right behind the uneasy of an open and every time the ball was hit away galloped on it at such an angle that was forced to hit it towards the boundary and when the crowd had been driven away from that side would send the ball over to the other and would slide desperately after it till his friends came down to help it was and no the cat this in a comer pocket and the were not well if they get us out in the middle of the they walk away from us her along the sides cried the cat so they all along the boundary where a pony could not come on their right hand side and the were furious the had to neglect the game to shout at the people to get back and several mounted tried to restore order all close to the and the nerves of the stretched and broke like five or six times an hit the ball up into the middle of the ground and each time the watchful gave his chance to send it back and after each return when the dust had settled men could see that the had gained a few yards every now and again there were shouts of off side from the spectators but the were too busy to	39
care and the had all they could do to keep their clear of the at last missed a short easy stroke and the had to fly back to protect their own goal leading stopped the ball with a when it was not fifty yards from the and spun round with a that nearly hoisted out of his saddle now s our last chance said the cat like a on a pin we ve got to ride it out come along felt the little chap take a deep breath and as the cat it were under his rider the ball was hop towards the right hand boundary an riding for it with both spurs and a whip but neither spur nor whip would make his pony stretch as he the crowd the cat glided under his very nose picking up his hind legs sharp for there was not a foot to spare between his quarters and the other pony s bit it was as neat an exhibition as fancy hit with all the strength he bad left but the stick slipped a little in his hand and the flew off to the left instead of keeping dose to the boundary who s who was far across the ground hard as he galloped he repeated stride for stride the cat s with another pony the away from under his bridle and clearing bis opponent by half a of an inch for who who was clumsy behind then he drove away towards the ri t as the cat up from the left and held a middle course exactly between them the three were making a sort of broad arrow shaped attack and there was only the back to guard the goal but immediately behind them were three racing all they knew and mixed up with them was sending along on what he felt was their last hope it takes a very good man to stand up to the rush of seven crazy in the last quarters of a cup game when men are riding with their necks for sale and the are the back missed his stroke and pulled just in time to let the rush go by and who s who stride to give the cat room and the cat got the goal with a clean smooth stroke that was heard all over the field but there was no stopping the they poured through the in one mixed and together for the pace had been terrific the cat knew by experience what would happen and to save turned to the right with one last effort that strained a back beyond hope of repair as he did so he heard the right hand goal post crack as a pony into it crack and fall like a mast it had been three parts through in case of accidents but it upset the pony nevertheless and he into another who into the left hand post and then there was confusion and dust and wood was lying on the ground seeing stars an pony rolled beside him breathless and angry had sat down dog fashion to avoid falling over the others and was sliding along on his little in a cloud of dust and was sitting on the ground with his stick and trying to cheer all the others were shouting at the top of what was left of their voices and the men who had been were shouting too as soon as the people saw no one was hurt ten thousand native and english shouted and clapped and and before any one could stop them the of the broke on to the ground with all the native officers and men behind them and marched up and down playing a wild northern tune called bag n and through the insolent of the pipes and the high pitched native you could hear the band for they are all jolly good fellows and then the cat reproachfully to the losing team besides all these things and many more there was a commander in chief and an general of cavalry and the principal officer of all india standing on the top of a coach yelling like school boys and and and and hundreds of pretty ladies joined the chorus but the cat stood with his head down wondering how many legs were left to him and watched the men and pick themselves out of the wreck of the two goal posts and he patted the cat very tenderly i say said the captain of the a out of his mouth will you take three thousand for that pony as he stands no thank you i ve an idea he s saved my life said getting off and lying down at full length both were on the ground too waving their boots in the air and and drawing deep as the ai e ran up to take away the and an water sprinkled the players with dirty water till they sat up my aunt i said rubbing his back and looking at the of the goal posts that was a they played it over again every stroke of it that night at the big dinner when the free f or all cup was filled and passed down the table and emptied and filled again and everybody made most eloquent speeches about two in the morning when there might have been the cat some singing a wise little plain little grey little head looked in through the open door bring him in said the and his who was very happy indeed patted the cat on the flank and he in to the blaze of light and the glittering looking for he was used to and men s and places where are not usually encouraged and in his youth had jumped on and off a mess table for a bet so he behaved himself very politely and ate bread dipped in salt and was all round the table moving and they	39
drank his health because he had done more to win the cup than any man or horse on the ground that was glory and honour enough for the rest of his days and the cat did not complain much when the surgeon said that he would be no good for ik lo any more when married his wife did not allow him to play so he was forced to be an and his pony on these occasions was a bitten grey with a neat tail lame all round but desperately quick on his feet and as everybody knew past player of the game i bread upon the waters bread upon the waters if you remember my improper friend you will also bear in mind his friend chief engineer of the whose tried to steal his apologies for the performances of may one day be told in their proper place the t de before us concerns he was never a racing engineer and took special pride in saying as much before the liverpool men but he had a thirty two years machinery and the of ships one side of his face had been wrecked through the bursting of a pressure in the days when men knew less than they do now and his nose rose out of the wreck like a club in a public riot there were cuts and on his head and he would guide your forefinger through his short iron grey hair and tell you how he had come by his trade marks he owned all sorts of of extra and at the bottom of his cabin chest of drawers where he kept the photograph of his wife were two or three humane o for saving lives at sea it was different when crazy passengers jumped bread upon the waters does not approve of saving life at sea and he has often told me that a new hell and who sign for a strong man s pay and fall sick the second day out he believes in throwing boots at fourth and fifth when they wake him up at night with word that a bearing is all because a lamp s glare is reflected red from the metal he believes that there are only two poets in the world one being robert of course and the other when he has time for reads and charles chiefly the and knows whole pages of very hard cash by heart in the saloon his table is next to the captain s and he drinks only water while his engines work he was good to me when we first met because i did not ask questions and believed in charles as a most neglected author later he approved of my writings to the extent of one of twenty four pages that i wrote for chase owners of the line when they bought some patent and fitted it to the of the and the of the recommended me to s secretary for the job and who is a invited me to his house and gave me dinner with the when the others had finished and placed the plans and in my hand and i wrote the that same afternoon it was called comfort in the cabin and brought me seven ten cash an important sum of money in those days and the who bread upon the waters was teaching master john his scales told me that mrs had told her to keep an eye on me in case i went away with coats from the hat rack liked that for it was composed in the style with and and afterwards he introduced me to mrs who succeeded in my heart for was half a world away and it is wholesome and to love such a woman as they lived in a little twelve pound house close to the shipping when was away mrs read the column in the papers and called on the wives of senior of equal social standing once or twice too mrs visited mrs in a with and i have reason to believe that after she had played owner s wife long enough they talked scandal the lived in an old fashioned house with a big brick garden not a mile from the for they stayed by their money as their money stayed by them and in summer you met their solemnly by or but i was mrs s friend for she allowed me to her westward sometimes to theatres where she sobbed or laughed or shivered with a simple heart and she introduced me to a new world of doctors wives captains wives and wives whose whole talk and thought in and about ships and lines of ships you have never heard of there were sailing ships with and mahogany and trading to taking c of and hopeless for whom a sea bread upon the waters age was recommended there were little african boats full of rats and where mm died anywhere but in their there were boats whose could be hired for thai went out nearly there were and and wonderful boats that plied to the other side of these were loved and known for they earned our bread and a little butter and we despised the big atlantic boats and made fun of the p o and and swore by our respective or as the case might be i had only just come back to england when mrs invited me to dinner at three o clock in the afternoon and the was almost in its scented when i reached the house i saw that there were new curtains in the window that must have cost forty five shillings a pair and as mrs drew me into the little marble hall she looked at me keenly and cried have ye not heard what d ye think o the now that hat rack was thirty shillings at least came down stairs with a sober he steps as lightly	39
as a cat for all his weight when he is at and shook hands in a new and awful a of old s style when he says good bye to his i perceived at once that a had come to him but i held my peace though mrs begged me every thirty seconds to eat a great deal and say nothing it was rather a mad sort of meal because bread upon the waters and his wife took hold of hands like little children they always do after voyages and nodded and winked and choked and and hardly ate a a female servant came in and waited though mrs had told me time and again that she would thank no one to do her while she had her health but this was a servant with a cap and i saw mrs swell and swell imder her coloured gown there is no small free board to nor is any subdued tint and with all this pride and glory in the air i felt like watching without knowing the festival when the maid had removed the cloth she brought a that would have cost half a guinea at that season only has his own way of getting such things and a china bowl of dried and a glass plate of preserved and a small jar of sacred and imperial that the room gets it from a in and i think he doctors it with but the crown of the feast was some of the kind you can only come by if you know the wine and the man a little wrapped fig of cigars went with the wine and the rest was a pale blue smoky silence in her splendour smiling on us two and patting s hand we drink said slowly rubbing his chin to the eternal o chase of course i answered amen though i had made seven ten shillings out of the firm s enemies were mine and i was drinking his bread upon the waters te ve heard nothing said not a word not a whisper not a word nor a whisper on my word i have not tell him said she and that is another proof of s goodness and love a smaller woman would have first but is five feet nine i i her stockings we re rich said i shook hands all round we re damned rich he added i shook hands au round a second time i go to sea no there s no a private wi a small an handy it s not enough for said we re fair well to do but no more a new gown for church and one for the theatre we have it made west how much is it i asked twenty five thousand pounds i drew a long breath an i ve been e twenty five an twenty a month the last words came away with a roar as though the wide world was to beat him down all this time i m waiting i said i know nothing since last september was it left you they laughed aloud together it was left said choking ou ay it was left that s good of course it was left d ye note that it was left now if you d put that in your it would have been it was left he his and roared till the wine quivered in the bread upon the waters the scotch are a great people but they are apt to hang over a joke too long particularly when no one can see the point but themselves when i my i u put it in only i must know something more first thought for the length of half a cigar while caught my eye and led it the room to one new thing after the new vine pattern carpet the new rustic clock between the models of the boats the new with a purple cut glass flower stand the of gilt and brass and last the new black and gold piano in october o last year the board me began in october o last year the came in for winter she d been eight months two an forty an i was three days up my when she went to dry dock all told mark you it was this side o three to be two an eighty six pound four shillings there s not another man could ha nursed the for eight months to that tune never never again i they may send their boats to the bottom for aught i care there s no need said softly we re done wi chase it s it s just i ha been justified from first to last as the world knows but but i em ay wisdom is justified o her children an any other man than me ha made the eight hay was our ye have met him they shifted him to the an bade i bread upon the waters me wait for the under young te n there d been a new election on the board i heard the shares were hither an yon an the major part of the board was new to me the old board would ne er ha done it they trusted me but the new board were all for young s the jew was at the bottom of it an they did not think it worth their while to send me word the first an i was chief was the notice of the line s winter s and the timed for sixteen days between port an port sixteen days man she s a good boat but eighteen is her summer time mark you sixteen was sheer nonsense an so i told young we ve got to make it he said ye should not ha sent in a three pound do they look for their boats to be run on air i said the board s	39
e en tell em so he says i m a married man an my fourth s on the ways now she says a wi red hair put in her own hair is the splendid red gold that goes with a complexion my word i was an angry man that day i was fond o the old i looked for a little consideration from the board after twenty years service there was board on wednesday an i slept in the engine room figures to support my case well i put it fair and square before them all gentlemen i said i ve run the eight seasons an i believe there s no fault to find wi my bread upon the waters but if ye to this i the advertisement at this that i ve never heard of it till i read it at breakfast i do assure you on my professional reputation she can never do it that is to say she can for a while but at a risk no man would run what the d ye suppose we pass for says old man we re money like i leave it in the board s hands i said if two an eighty seven is anything beyond right and reason for eight months i might ha saved my breath for the board was new since the last election an there they sat the damned deaf as the o scripture we must keep faith wi the public said young keep faith wi the then i said she s served you well an your father before you she need her bottom an new bed plates an out the forward an re all three an all guides to begin with it s a three months job because one employ is afraid says young maybe a piano in the chief engineer s cabin would be more to the point i crushed my cap in my hands an thanked gk d we d no an a bit put by understand gentlemen i said if the is made a sixteen day boat ye u find another engineer makes no objection said i m for myself i said has bread upon the waters an then i lost my temper te can nm her into hell an out again if ye pay i said ye nm without me that s insolence said young at your pleasure i said to go ye can consider yourself dismissed we must preserve discipline among employ said old an he looked round to see that the board was with him they knew god an they nodded me out o the line after twenty twenty years i went out an sat down by the hall porter to get my wits again i m i swore at the board then o came o his office that s on the same floor an looked at me up one wi his forefinger ye know they call him the blind he but blind an no in his s wi o the black bird line what s here said he i was past for by then a chief engineer after twenty years service because he u not risk the on the new an be damned to ye i said the man sucked in his lips an whistled ah said he the new i he into the board room i d just left an the dog that is just his blind man s leader stayed wi me that was in a minute he was back again ye ve cast your bread on the an be to you he says s my dog my word is he on your knee there s more bread upon the waters in a dog than a jew what ye curse your board it s expensive they pay more for the i said off my knee ye beast bearings hot eh said it s thirty year since a man curse me to my face time was i d ha cast ye the for that s i said he was to eighty as i knew i was wrong but when a man s shown the door for his plain duty he s not always so i hear says ha ye objection to a tramp it s only fifteen a month but they say the blind a man better than others she s my come ben ye can thank here i m no used to thanks an says he what possessed ye to throw up berth the new said i the will not stand it said he te might ha crammed her a enough to show ye were an brought her in day behind what s easier than to say ye for s eh all my men do it i believe m says i what s her to a he his dry face an twisted in his chair the an a says he my god the an a i but what ha you or me to do wi this late along this i said there s just one thing that each bread upon the waters one of lis in his trade or profession will not do for consideration whatever if i run to time i run to time always the risks o the high seas less than that under gk d i have not done more than that by god i will not do there s no trick o the trade i m not wi so i ve heard says dry as a but yon matter o fair s just my ye understand i wi that nursing weak engines is fair but what the board ask is wi the risk o ye note i know my business there was some more talk an next week i went aboard the twenty five ton simple compound a black bird tramp the deeper she rode the better she d steam i ve snapped as as eleven out of her but eight point three was her fair normal good	39
me the bill says he i m long past champagne but tell me how it tastes the mom bell and i bid yoimg and to dinner at s they have no an there but we took a private like owners grinned all over and lay back to think and then said i we were no drunk in sense o the word but s showed me the dead men there were six o dry champagne an maybe a bottle o do you mean to tell me that you four got away bread upon the waters with a and a half a piece besides i demanded looked down upon me from between his shoulders with man we were not down to drink he said they no more than made us to be sure yoimg laid his head on the table an greeted like a an was all for on at two in the mom an painting him green but they d been the afternoon lord how they cursed the board an the an the tail shaft an the engines an a i they talk o that night i mind young an hands on a bond to be on the board at reasonable cost this side o losing their now mark ye how false economy ruins business the board fed them like swine i have good reason to know it an i ve wi my ain people that if ye touch his stomach ye the in a men will a across the atlantic if they re well fed an fetch her somewhere on the o the but bad food s bad service the over the bill went to an he said no more to me till the week end when i was at him for more paint for we d heard the was liverpool side bide ye re put said the blind man do ye wash in champagne the s no here till i the order an how am i to waste paint on her wi the for who knows how long an a she was our big was engineer bread upon the waters an i knew she d come from not three months that mom i met s head ye not know fair his nails off wi mortification the man s gone says he he s withdrawn the maybe he has reasons says i reasons he he no be till he begins to paint i said that s just what he s and south american higher than we live to see them again he laid her up to paint to paint to paint says the little clerk like a hen on a hot plate five thousand ton o freight in man an he the paint out in quarter for it cuts him to the heart mad though he is an the the of all conceivable up every that should be ours at liverpool i was staggered wi this the dinner at s in connection wi the same ye may well stare says the head clerk there s engines an stock an iron d ye know what are an an an fancy cargo o every species into the o the firm and the s bein painted i thought he d drop dead wi the fits i could say no more than obey orders if ye break owners but on the we believed was mad an of the was for bread upon the waters him up by some patent legal process he d in a book o law an a that week south american rose an rose it was i bell got orders to the round to liverpool in water and came to bid s good bye an o er the acres o paint he d on the i look to you to it says he i look to you to me i fore god why are ye not cast off are ye in dock for a purpose what odds says bell we be a day behind the fair at liverpool the s got all the freight that might ha been ours an the laughed an the o ye ken his eyebrows up an down like a s ye re imder sealed orders said he tee an himself yon s they to be opened says bell the when the man had gone ashore we re to creep round a the south coast in for this weather too there s no question o his now well we the bad weather we in all alongside for orders which are the curse o we made over to an bell opened the last envelope for the last instructions i was wi him in the an he threw it over to me did ye ever know the like i no say what had written but he bread upon the waters was far from mad there was a sou when we made the mouth o the a bitter cold mom wi a grey green sea and a grey green liverpool weather as they say an there we lay an the crew swore te keep secrets aboard ship they thought was mad too we saw the on the top o flood deep an double deep wi her new painted an her new painted boats an a she looked her name an moreover she like it me at s what his engines but my own ear would ha told me mile by the beat o them bound we came an in her wake an the wind cut wi good promise o more to come by six it blew hard but clear an before the middle watch it was a sou in she edge into ireland this gait says bell i was with him on the bridge the a light ye see green so far as red or we d ha kept to we d no passengers to consider an all eyes being on the we fair walked into a home to liverpool or to be bell	39
no more than twisted the from under her bows and there was a little the bridges a passenger regarded me ha told the papers that as soon as he got to the customs we stuck to the tail that night an the next she down to five knot by my and we along the weary way to the but you don t go by the to get to any south american port do you i said bread upon the waters we do not we prefer to go as direct as may be but we were the an she d no walk into that gale for consideration what i did to her i blame young it was up to a north atlantic winter gale snow an an a wind eh it was like the abroad o the surface o the deep off the top o the waves before he made up his mind they d bore up against it so far but the minute she was clear o the she fair tucked up her skirts an ran for it by head she rolled i she be says bell she d ha tried for by if she meant that i said they u roll the o her this gait says bell why keep her head to sea it s the tail shaft s better than wi cracks in the tail shaft knows that much i said it s ill this weather said bell his beard and whiskers were frozen to his an the spray was white on the weather side of him north atlantic winter weather one by one the sea away our three boats an the were like ram s horns ton s bad said bell at the last te pass a wi a boat bell was a for an i m not one that himself for outside the engine room so i e en slipped down waves to see how the man she s the best boat of her class that ever left i kin bread upon the waters my second knew her as well as i did i found him his on the main steam an his whiskers wi the comb me last year for the an a as though we were in port i tried the feed into the hole all on the thrust for luck em my an took s before i went up to the bridge again then bell handed me the wheel an went below to warm himself when he came up my gloves were frozen to the an the ice over my eyelids north atlantic winter weather as i was say in the gale blew out by night but we lay in cross seas that made the chatter from stem to stem i to thirty four i mind no thirty seven there was a long swell the mom an the was into it west she win to yet tail shaft or no tail shaft says bell last night shook her i said she jar it off yet mark my word we were then maybe a and fifty mile west o head by dead next day we made a an ye note we were not an the day a an sixty one an that made us we say eighteen an a west an maybe fifty one an a north all the north atlantic lanes on the long always in sight o the up by night and by day after the gale it was cold weather wi dark nights i was in the engine room on friday night just be bread upon the waters fore the middle watch when bell down the she s done it an up i came the was just a fair distance south an one by one she ran up the three red lights in a line the sign of a steamer not under control yon s a tow for us said bell his she be worth more than the we go down to her i bide a while i said the seas fair throng wi ships here reason why said bell it s a what d ye think man her till daylight she knows we re here if needs help he loose a told ye s need we u ha some rag an bone tramp her up under nose said he an he put the wheel over we were goin slow like better to go home on a an eat in the saloon mind ye what they said o s food that night at s keep her keep her a tow s a tow but a s big e eh i said bell yon s an o yours i love ye like a brother we bide we are till daylight an he kept her up went a forward an on the bridge an a blue light aft a tar barrel forward again she s said bell it s all an i get no more than a pair o night glasses for up young the bread upon the waters fair an soft again i said she s to the south of us knows as well as i that one would bring the he no be for hear her ca i the an for five minutes an then there were more a regular that s no for men in the regular trade says bell ye re right that s for a full o i he through the night glasses when it lay a bit thick to southward what df ye make of it i said he says yon s her ou ay they ve the gold an they ve the passengers they re on the cabin by cabin yon s they re up to help the in deep me the glass i said but bell danced on the bridge clean i said he under contract wi the government for the due conveyance o the an as such ye u note she may rescue life at sea but	39
him upon the of it hand over a welcome when i d the salt of him for by the way he could na swim they bent a inch rope to the life line an a to that an i led the rope o er the drum of a hand forward an we the an made it fast to the a bell brought the so close i feared she d roll in an do the s plates a mischief he life line to me an went an we had all the weary work to do again wi a second for all that bell was right we d a long tow before us an though providence had helped us that far there was no sense in too much to its when the second was fast i was wet wi sweat an i cried bell to up his slack an go home the other man was by way o the work wi for drinks but i e en told him he must hand an steer begin bread upon the waters with for i was goin to turn in he oh ay he in a manner o at the least he the an em an looked wise but i doubt if the ever felt it i turned in there an then to young s an slept past expression i wi hunger a fair o sea the four knots an hour an the her nose imder an an over at discretion she was a most u tow but the shameful thing of all was the food i me a meal shelves an an an holes that i would not ha to the mate of a an ye ken we say a mate will eat to save waste i m it was simply vile i the crew had written what thought of it on the new paint o the fo c but i had not a decent soul wi me to complain on there was for me to do save watch the an the s tail down in white when she lifted to a sea so i got steam on the after donkey an the engine room there s no sense in loose in a ship when she was dry i went the shaft an foimd she was a little through the box but to make the had e en off as i knew it must an had been for it to go wi his hand on the gear he told me as much when i met him ashore there was started or strained it had just slipped to the bed o the atlantic as easy as a man wi due a most business for all concerned i took stock o the bread upon the waters s upper works her boats had been smashed od the an here an there was the rail missing an a or two had fetched an the bridge were bent by the seas but her were tight and she d taken no sort of harm i came to hate her like a human bein for i was eight weary days aboard ay within a cable s length o plenty all day i laid in the reading the woman the book ever wrote an a here an there it was weary weary work eight days man i was aboard the an not one full meal did i make blame her crew would not stay by her the other man oh i him wi a vengeance to keep him warm it came on to blow when we fetched s an that kept me by the lashed to the green seas i near died o an hunger for the like a an bell her along through or over it was thick up channel too we were in to make some sort o light an we near walked over three boats an they cried us we were to then we were near cut down by a drunken foreign that was between us an the shore and it got thicker an thicker that n an i could feel by the tow bell did not know he was we knew in the mom for the wind blew the fog like a candle an the sun came clear and as surely as me my the shadow o the stone lay across our tow rope we were that near ay we were that near bell fetched the round bread upon the waters with the jerk that came close to the out o the an i mind i thanked my maker in young s cabin when we were inside the first to come aboard was wi did i tell you our orders were to take anything we found into the had just come down two an two together from what had told him when the landed the a men he had hit time i d hailed bell for something to eat an he sent it o er in the same boat wi when the man came to me he grinned an his legs and worked his eyebrows the while i ate how do chase feed their men said he te can see i said the top off another beer bottle i did not sign to be starved nor to either said he for bell had him how i carried the line aboard well i m you be no what freight could we ha put into the would equal on four thousand an cargo eh this cuts the liver out o chase company limited eh an i m from now eh an i m not am i till i begin to paint the eh ye may lift your leg i i ha the laugh o them all ye found in the engine room to speak wi prejudice i said there was some bread upon the waters they thought she was after the went she filled wi extraordinary said it grieved him an to abandon	39
her i thought o the dinner at s an what like o food i d eaten for eight days it would grieve them sore i said but the crew would not hear o and her back imder canvas they re up an down they d ha starved first they d ha starved if they d stayed said i i it s there was a a most ye know more than i i said wi prejudice for we re all in the same boat opened the cock oh that s it is it said the man an i could see he was surprised a cock ye say i believe it was a cock they were all shut when i came aboard but some one had the engine room eight feet over all and shut it off with the worm an wheel gear from the second afterwards said the o man s beyond belief but it s u to chase if that came in it s just my own curiosity i said s afflicted wi the same disease strive against curiosity for it brings a little dog into traps an was the when yon painted took off the s people bread upon the waters just there or i said an which o you thought to cover your lights said he i said to the dog we must both strive against curiosity it s an business what s our chance o he laughed till he choked what i you an be content he said lord how a man time when he gets old aboard the mon as soon as ye can i ve clean forgot there s a for you at london that u be your last voyage i m by way o pleasure s men were aboard to take charge an tow her an i passed young in a boat as i went to the he looked down his nose but pipes up here s the man ye owe the to at a price at a price i let me introduce mr to you maybe ye ve met before but ye ve little luck in your ashore or afloat i looked angry enough to eat him as he chuckled an in his dry old throat ye ve not got your yet says na na says the man in a ye could hear to the but i ve million an no ye if ye mean to fight an i u match ye p und for p und till the last p und s ye ken me i i m o bread upon the waters he said his teeth back in the boat i te waited fourteen year to break that an gk d be i u do it now the was in the while the man was his but i know the valued the all told at over three and sixty her manifest was a treat o an got a third for an abandoned ship ye see there s vast between a ship wi men on her an up a a vast in pounds moreover three o the s crew were to testify about food an there was a note o to the board in regard to the tail shaft that would ha been if it had come into court they knew better than to fight the came back an paid off me an bell an the rest of the crew ro i believe it s ca ed my share i should say was just twenty five thousand pound at this point jumped up and kissed him five and twenty thousand pound i m the north and i m not the like to money but i d six months one an twenty to know the engine room of the i m fairly well wi s and he d no hand in it it was not for i ve asked him an he wanted to fight me it would be in the highest degree o not but but for a while i thought it was him ay i judged it might be under temptation bread upon the waters what s your i demanded i m inclined to think it was one o those singular that remind us we re in the hands o higher powers it could n t open and shut itself i did not mean that but some half or maybe must ha opened it awhile to sure o the it s a thing to see an engine room flood up after any accident to the and both the man got what he wanted for they went aboard the that the was but it s to think o the consequences in a probability he s bein damned in heaps at the present moment aboard another tramp an here am i wi five an twenty thousand pound invested resolute to go to sea no more s the except as a passenger ye kept his word he and went for a voyage as passengers in the first class saloon they paid seventy for their and f a very sick woman in the second class saloon so that for sixteen days she lived below and with the at the foot of the second saloon stairs while her patient slept was a passenger for exactly twenty four hours then the where the tables are joyfully took him to its bosom and for the rest of the voyage that company was richer by the services of a highly engineer an error in the fourth an error in the fourth before he was thirty he discovered that there was no one to play with him though the wealth of three generations stood to his though his tastes in the matter of books swords pictures plate horses and were educated and catholic the public opinion of his country wanted to know why he did not go to office daily as his father had before him so he fled and they howled behind him that he was	39
an bom to fruits one totally lacking in public spirit he wore an he had built a wall round his country house with a high gate that shut instead of inviting america to sit on his flower beds he ordered his clothes from england and the press of his abiding city cursed him from his eye glass to his trousers for two days when he rose to light again it was where nothing less than the tents of an army in would make any difference to anybody if he had money and an error in leisure england stood ready to give him all that money and leisure could that price paid she would ask no questions he took his book and accumulated at first for he remembered that in america things own the man to his delight he discovered that in england he could put his under his feet for classes ranks and of people rose as it were from the earth and silently and took charge of his possessions they had been and bred for that sole servants of the book when that was at an end they would depart as mysteriously as they had come the of this regulated life irritated him and he strove to learn something of the human side of these people he retired baffled to be trained by his in america the native the english servant in england the servant the master strove to learn all they taught as as his father had to wreck before capture the of his native land and it must have been some touch of the old railway blood that bade him buy for a song whose forty acre lawn as every one knows sweeps down in velvet to the tracks of the great railway their trains flew by almost with a bee like in the day and a flutter of strong wings at night the son of had good right to be interested in them he owned interests in several thousand miles of track not permanent way built on altogether different plans where whistled for grade and the fourth parlor cars of expense and design round curves that the great would have condemned as in a construction line from the edge of his lawn he could trace the falling away rigid as a into the valley of the studded with the long perspective of the block with stone and carried high above all possible risk on a forty foot left to himself he would have a private car and kept it at the nearest railway station ave miles away but those into whose hands he had committed himself for his english training had little knowledge of and less of private cars the one they knew was something that existed in the scheme of things for their convenience the other they held to be distinctly american and with the of his race had set out to be just a little more english than the english he succeeded to admiration he learned not to though he warmed it to leave his guests alone to refrain from superfluous to abandon manners of which he had great store and to hold fast by manner which can after labour be acquired he learned to let other people hired for the purpose attend to the duties for which they were paid he this he got from a on the that every man with whom he came in contact had his position in the fabric of the realm which position he would do well to consult last mystery of all he learned to well and when an american knows the meaning of don t press slow back and an error in keep your eye on the ball he is for practical his other education proceeded on the lines was he interested in any conceivable thing in heaven above or the earth beneath or the waters under the earth forthwith appeared at his table guided by those safe hands into which he had fallen the very men who had best said done written built launched created or studied that one of books and prints in the british museum in and egyptian and from the heart of lands on flint implements carpets man or early music they came and they played with him they asked no questions they cared not so much as a pin who or what he was they demanded only that he should be able to talk and listen their work was done elsewhere and out of his sight there were also women never said to himself american seen england as i m seeing it and he thought blushing beneath the of the and days when he would steam to office down the in his twelve hundred ton ocean going steam and arrive by at street hanging on to a leather between an irish and a german if of his guests had seen him then they would have said how distinctly american did not care for that tone he had himself to an english walk the fourth and so long as he did not raise it an english voice he did not with his hands he sat down on most of his but he could not rid himself of the he would ask for the even his butler could not break him of this it was that he should complete his education in a wild and wonderful manner and further that i should be in at that death had more than once asked me to for the purpose of showing how well the new life fitted him and each time i had declared it his third invitation was more than the others and he hinted of some matter in which he was anxious for my sympathy or counsel or both there is room for an of mistakes when a man begins to take liberties with his and i went down expecting things a seven foot dog cart and a groom	39
in the black livery met me at royal at i was received by a person of elegance and true reserve and to my luxurious chamber there were no other guests in the house and this set me thinking came into my room about half an hour before dinner and though his face was with a of highly embroidered indifference i could see that he was not at ease in time for he was then as difficult to move as one of my own countrymen i extracted the simple in its extravagance extravagant in its simplicity it seemed that of the museum had been staying with him about ten an error in days before of has a way of carrying really on his tie ring and in his pockets apparently he had something on its way to the museum which he said was a genuine amen a queen s of the fourth now had bought from whose reputation is not above suspicion a of much the same and had left it in his london chambers at a venture but knowing pronounced it an there was long one saying but i know it cannot be and the other but i can and will prove it found it necessary for his satisfaction to go up to town then and there a forty mile run and bring back the before dinner it was at this point that he began to cut comers with disastrous results royal station being five miles away and putting in of horses a matter of time had told the butler to signal the next train to stop and who was more of a man of resource than his master gave him credit for had with the red flag of the ninth hole of the links which crossed the bottom of the lawn vehemently to the first down train and it had stopped here s account became confused he attempted it seems to get into that highly indignant express but a guard restrained him with more or less hauled him in fact backwards from the window of a locked carriage must have struck the some vehemence for the consequences he admitted were a free fight on the line in which he lost the fourth his hat and was at last dragged into the guard s van and set down breathless he had pressed money upon the man and very foolishly had explained everything but his name this he clung to for he had a vision of tall head lines in the new york papers and well knew no son of could expect mercy that side the water the guard to s amazement refused the money on the grounds that this was a matter for the company to attend to insisted on his and therefore found two waiting for him at st when he expressed a wish to buy a new hat and telegraph to his friends both with one voice warned him that whatever he said would be used as evidence against him and this had impressed they were so polite he said if they had me i would n t have cared but it was step this way sir and up those stairs please sir till they me like a common and i had to stay in a filthy little hole of a cell all night that comes of not giving your name and not your lawyer i replied what did you get forty shillings or a month said promptly next morning bright and early they were working us off three a minute a girl in a pink she was brought in at three in the got ten days i suppose i was lucky i must have knocked his senses out of the guard he told the old duck on bench that i had told him i was a in the army and an error in that i was gathering on the track comes of trying to explain to an englishman and you oh i said nothing i wanted to get out i paid my fine and bought a new hat and came up here before noon next morning there were a lot of people in the house and i told em i d been detained and then they began to recollect engagements elsewhere must have seen the fight on the track and made a story of it i suppose they thought it was distinctly confound em i it s the only time in my life that i ve ever a train and i would n t have done it but for that t would n t hurt their old trains to be held up once in a while well it s all over now i said choking a little and your name didn t get into the papers it w rather when you come to think of it over i savagely it s only just begun that trouble with the guard was just common ordinary merely a little criminal business the of the train is civil civil and means something quite different they re after me for that now who the great there was a man in watching the case on behalf of the company i gave him my name in a quiet comer before i bought my hat come to dinner now i u show you the results afterwards the telling of his wrongs had worked into a very fine temper and i do not think that my the fourth conversation soothed him in the course of the dinner prompted by a devil of pure mischief i dwelt with loving on certain smells and sounds of new york which go straight to the heart of the native in foreign p u s and began to ask many questions about his associates men of the new york t king or the owners of rivers and shipping in their lords of wheat and cattle in their offices when the green came i gave him a	39
peculiarly and cigar of the brand they sell in the electric lighted with expensive pictures of the bar of the and the end for several minutes ere he lit it the butler left us alone and the chimney of the oak began to smoke that s another i said he the fire savagely and i knew what he meant one cannot put in houses where queen elizabeth slept the steady beat of a night mail whirling down the valley recalled me to business what about the great i said come into my study that s as yet it was a pile of coloured correspondence perhaps nine inches high and it looked very you can go through it said now i could take a chair and a red flag and go into park and say the most things about your queen and preach and all that y know till i was hoarse and no one would take any notice the an error in damn em i would protect me if i got into trouble but for a little thing like a dirty little train running through my own grounds too i get the whole british constitution down on me as if i sold i don t understand it no more does the great apparently i was turning over the letters here s the traffic writing that it s utterly incomprehensible that any man should gk od heavens you done iti i as i read on what s now said my host it seems that you or for you stopped the three forty northern down i ought to know that i they all had their knife into me from the engine driver up but it s the three forty the surely you ve heard of the great s i how the deuce am i to know one train from another they come along about every two minutes quite so but this happens to be the one train of the whole line she timed for seven miles an hour she was put on early in the and she has never been i know since william the conqueror came over or king charles hid in her smoke you re as bad as the rest of these if she s been run all that while it s time she was once or twice the american was beginning to out all over and his small hands were moving suppose you the empire state or the western the fourth suppose i did i know or used to i d send him a wire and he d understand it was a ground case with me that s exactly what i told this british company here have you been answering their letters without legal advice then of course i have oh my country i go ahead i wrote em that i d be very happy to see their president and explain to him in three words all about it but that would n t do seems their president must be a god he was too busy well you can read for yourself they wanted explanations the station master at and he before me as a wanted an explanation and quick too the head at st s wanted three or four and the lord high that the wanted one every fine day i told i ve told about fifty i stopped their holy and sacred train because i wanted to board her did they think i wanted to feel her pulse you did n t say that feel her pulse of course not no board her what else could i say my dear what is the use of mrs and the and all that lot working over you for four years to make an englishman out of you if the very first time you re rattled you go back to the i m through with mrs and the rest of an error in the crowd america s good enough for me what ought i to have said please or thanks ly or how there was no chance now of the man s speech gesture and step so carefully into him had gone away with the mask of indifference it was a lawful son of the youngest people whose were the bed indian his voice had risen to the high crow of his when they labour under excitement his close set eyes showed by turns unnecessary fear beyond reason rapid and flights of thought the child s lust for immediate revenge and the child s pathetic bewilderment who his head against the bad wicked table and on the other side i knew stood the company as unable as to and i could buy their old road three times over he muttered playing with a paper knife and moving to and fro you did n t tell em that i hope i there was no answer but as i went through the letters i felt that must have told them many surprising things the great had first asked for an explanation of the of their and had found a certain levity in the explanation it then advised mr w to refer his to their or whatever the legal phrase is and you did n t i said looking up no they were treating me exactly as if i had been a kid playing on the cable tracks there was not the fourth the least necessity for any five minutes quiet talk would have settled everything i returned to the correspondence the great regretted that owing to pressure of business none of their could accept mr w s invitation to run down and discuss the difficulty the great was careful to point out that no their action nor was money their object their duty was to protect the interests of their line and these interests could not be protected if a precedent were established whereby any of the queen s subjects could stop a train in mid career	39
american that still it the but i can quite understand that the customs of our cousins across the water differ in these particulars from ours and do you stop trains in this way in the states mr i should if occasion ever arose but i ve never had to yet are you going to make an of the business you need give yourself no further concern whatever in the matter we see that there is no of this action of yours establishing a precedent which was the only thing we were afraid of now that you that we cannot reconcile our system to any sudden we feel quite sure i sha n t be staying long enough to flag another train said tou are returning then to our fellow across big pond you call it no sir the the north atlantic ocean it s three thousand miles broad and three miles deep in places i wish it were ten thousand i am not so fond of sea travel myself but i think it is every englishman s duty once in his life to study the great branch of our saxon race across the ocean said the lawyer if ever you come over and care to flag any train an error in on my system i i see you through said thank ah thank you you re very kind i m sure i should enjoy myself immensely we have overlooked the fact the doctor whispered to me that your friend proposed to the great he is worth anything from twenty to thirty four to five million i answered knowing that it would be hopeless to explain really i that is enormous wealth but the great is not in the market perhaps he does not want to buy it now it would be impossible under any circumstances said the doctor how characteristic murmured the lawyer matters in his mind i always understood from books that your were in a hurry and so you would have gone forty miles to town and before to get a how intensely american but you talk exactly like an englishman mr that is a fault that can be there s only one question i d like to ask you tou said it was inconceivable that any man should stop a train on your road and so it absolutely inconceivable any sane man that is that is what i meant of course i mean with thank you the fourth the two men departed checked himself as he was about to a pipe took one of my cigars instead and was silent for fifteen minutes then said he have you got a list of the on you far away from the wings the dark the gravel drives and the of runs a river called the whose banks are covered with the palaces of those wealthy beyond the dreams of here where the of the brick answers the howl of the on either shore you shall find with a complete of electric light and a attachment to her steam whistle the twelve hundred ton ocean going steam lying at her private pier to take to his at an average speed of seventeen knots an hour and the can look out for themselves american s my sunday at home my sunday at home if the bed think he or if the think he is they know not well the subtle ways i keep and pass and turn again it was the slid r as he said this was his ist visit to england that told me he was a new from new york and when in the course of our long lazy journey westward from he enlarged upon the beauties of his city i ignorance said no word he had amazed and delighted at the man s civility given the london porter a shilling for carrying his bag nearly fifty yards he had thoroughly the first class which the london and sometimes supply without extra charge and now half awed but wholly interested he looked out upon the ordered english landscape wrapped in its sunday peace while i watched the wonder grow upon his face why were the cars so short and why had every other freight car a drawn over it what wages would an engineer get now where was the my sunday at home population of england he had read so much about what was the rank of all those men on along the roads when were we due at i told him all i knew and very much that i did not he was going to to assist in a consultation upon a fellow who had retired to a place called the was that up town or down town to recover from nervous tes he himself was a doctor by profession and how any one in england could retain any nervous disorder passed his comprehension never had he dreamed of an atmosphere so soothing even the deep of london traffic was by comparison with some cities he could name and the country why it was paradise a continuance of it he confessed would drive him mad but for a few months it was the most rest cure in his knowledge i come over every year after this he said in a burst of delight as we ran between two ten foot hedges of pink and white may it s seeing all the things i we ever read about of it does n t strike you that way i presume you belong here what a finished land it is i it s arrived must have been bom this way now where i used to what s up the train stopped in a blaze of at admiral which is made up entirely of the two and an overhead bridge without even the usual i had never known the of stop here before but on all things are possible to the london and one could	39
the i through the silk faced front on the left hand side of the coat till the two cuts joined cautiously as the box of his native heath the doctor drew away sideways and to the right with the my sunday at home air of a coming out from under and stood up free one black shoulder projecting through the grey of his ruined overcoat i returned the to the bag snapped the catch and held all out to as the wheels of the fly rang hollow under the railway arch it came at a past the gate of the station and the doctor stopped it with a whisper it was going some five miles across to bring home from church some one i could not catch the name because his own carriage horses were lame its destination happened to be the one place in all the world that the doctor was most anxious to visit and he promised the driver gold to drive to some ancient flame of she was called are n t you coming too he said his overcoat into his bag now the fly had been so obviously sent to the doctor and to no one else that i had no concern with it our roads i saw divided and there was further a need upon me to laugh i shall stay here i said it a very pretty my gk he murmured as softly as he shut the door and i felt that it was a prayer then he went out of my life and i shaped my course for the railway bridge it was necessary to pass by the bench once more but the was between us the of the fly had the he crawled on to the seat and with malignant eyes watched the driver down the road my sunday at home the man inside o that he called as poisoned me a body e back again when i m cold ere s my evidence i he waved his share of the overcoat and i went my way because i was admiral village is a good two miles from the station and i the holy calm of the evening every step of that way with shouts and casting myself down in the flank of the good green hedge when i was too weak to stand there was an inn a blessed inn with a roof and in the garden and i ordered myself an upper chamber in which the held their courts for the laughter was not all out of me a bewildered woman brought me ham and eggs and i leaned out of the window and laughed between i sat long above the beer and the perfect smoke that followed till the lights changed in the quiet street and i began to think of the seven forty five down and all that world of the nights i had quitted descending i passed a giant in who filled the low tap room many empty plates stood before him and beyond them a fringe of to whom he was a wondrous tale of of body of and the valley of the shadow from the which he was but newly risen and as he talked he ate and as he ate he drank for there was much room in him and anon he paid speaking of justice and the law before whom all englishmen are equal and all foreigners and and on my way to the station he passed me with great my sunday at home strides his head high among the low flying his feet firm on the packed road metal his fists and his breath coming sharply there was a beautiful smell in the the smell of white dust bruised and smoke that brings tears to the throat of a man who sees his country but a smell like the echoes of the lost talk of lovers the infinitely suggestive of an it was a perfect walk and lingering on every step i came to the station just as the one porter lighted the last of a load of lamps and set them back in the lamp room while he dealt tickets to four or five of the population who not contented with their own peace thought fit to travel it was no ticket that the seemed to need he was sitting on a bench grinding a into fragments with his heel i abode in obscurity at the end of the platform interested as ever thank heaven in my surroundings there was a jar of wheels on the road the rose as they approached strode through the and laid a hand upon a horse s bridle that brought the beast up on his hind legs it was the fly coming b u k and for a moment i wondered whether the doctor had been mad enough to his practice away you re drunk said the driver i m not said the i ve been ere hours and s come out you beggar inside go on driver said a voice i did not a crisp clear english voice all right said the you would n t ear me when i was polite now will you my sunday at home there was a chasm in the side of the fly for he had the door off its hinges and was feeling within a well leg rewarded him and there came out not with delight on one foot a and grey haired englishman from whose dropped hymn books but from his mouth an altogether different service of song come on you body i you thought i was dead did you roared the and the respectable gentleman came accordingly inarticulate with rage ere s a man the squire the driver shouted and fell from his box upon the s neck to do them justice the people of admiral so many as were on the platform rallied to the call in the best	39
spirit of it was the one porter who beat the on the nose with a ticket punch but it was the three third class tickets who attached themselves to his legs and freed the captive send for a lock him up said that man his collar and they cast him into the lamp room and turned the key while the driver mourned over the wrecked fly till then the whose only desire was justice had kept his temper nobly then he went before our amazed eyes the door of the lamp room was generously constructed and would not give an inch but the window he tore from its and hurled the one porter counted the damage in a loud voice and the others themselves with agricultural implements from the station garden kept up a my sunday at home ceaseless before the window themselves backed close to the wall and bade the prisoner think of the he answered little to the point so far as they could understand but seeing that his exit was he took a lamp and hurled it through the wrecked it fell on the and went out with inconceivable the others fifteen in all followed looking like in the gloom and with the last he could have had no plan the rage left him as the doctor s deadly up imder the of violent exercise and a very full meal to one last exhibition we heard the whistle of the seven down they were all interested in as much of the wreck as they could see for the station smelt to heaven of oil and the engine over broken glass like a in a frame the guard had to hear of it and the squire had his version of the brutal assault and heads were out all along the carriages as i found me a seat what is the row said a young man as i entered man drunk well the symptoms so far as my observation has gone more resemble those of than anything else i answered slowly and that every word might carry weight in the appointed scheme of things up till then you will observe i had taken no part in that war he was an englishman but he collected his as swiftly as had the american ages before and leaped upon the platform crying can i be of any service i ma doctor my sunday at home from the lamp room i heard a wearied voice wailing another doctor i and the seven forty five carried me on a step nearer to eternity by the road that is worn and and with the passions and weaknesses and interests of man who is immortal and master of his fate v the boy the boy girls and boys out to play the moon is shining as bright as day i leave your supper and leave your sleep and come with your out in the street up the ladder and down the wall a child of three sat up in his and screamed at the top of his voice his fists and his eyes full of terror at first no one heard for his nursery was in the west wing and the nurse was talking to a gardener among the then the housekeeper passed that way and hurried to soothe him he was her special pet and she of the nurse what was it then what was it then there s nothing to frighten him dear it it was a x he was on the down i saw him i he came in jane he would don t come into houses turn over and take my hand i saw on the down he came here where is your hand the housekeeper waited till the sobs changed to the regular breathing of sleep before she stole out jane what nonsense have you been telling master about the boy i have n t told him anything you have he s been dreaming about them we met on when we were in the donkey cart this morning p r that s what put it into his head now you are n t going to frighten the child into fits with your silly tales and the master know nothing about it if ever i catch you again etc a child of six was telling himself stories as he lay in bed it was a new power and he kept it a secret a month before it had occurred to him to carry on a nursery tale left by his mother and he was delighted to find the tale as it came out of his own head just as surprising as though he were listening to it all new from the beginning there was a prince in that tale and he killed but only for one night ever afterwards himself prince giant and all the rest you see he could not tell any one for fear of being laughed at and his tales faded gradually into where adventures were so many that he could not the half of them they all began in the same way or as explained to the shadows of the night light there was the same starting off place a pile of somewhere near a beach and round this g found himself running races with little boys and girls these ended ships ran high up the dry land and opened into boxes or gilt and green iron that surrounded beautiful gardens turned au soft and could be walked through and so the boy long u he remembered it was only a dream he could never hold that knowledge more than a few seconds ere things became real and instead of pushing down houses full of grown up x a just revenge he sat miserably upon gigantic door steps trying to sing the table up to four times six the princess of his tales was a person of wonderful beauty	39
she came from the old illustrated edition of now out of print and as she always applauded s among the and he gave her the two finest names he had ever heard in his and pronounced when the dreams the stories she would change into one of the little girls round the pile still keeping her title and crown she saw drown once in a dream sea by the beach it was the day after he had been taken to in a real sea by his nurse and he said u he sank poor she be sorry for me now i but walking slowly on the beach called said the duck laughing which to a waking mind might not seem to bear on the situation it consoled g at once and must have been some kind of spell for it raised the bottom of the deep and he out with a twelve inch flower pot on each foot as he was strictly forbidden to with flower pots in real life he felt wicked the movements of the grown whom g but did not pretend to understand removed world when he was seven years old to a place the boy called oxford on a visit here were huge by vast with streets of infinite length and above all something called the which was dying to see because he knew it must be greasy and therefore delightful he perceived how correct were his judgments when his nurse led him through a stone arch into the presence of an fat man who asked him if he would like some bread and cheese g was used to eat all the clock so he took what gave him and would have taken some brown liquid called but that his nurse led him away to an afternoon performance of a thing called s ghost this was intensely thrilling people s heads came off and flew all over the stage and danced bone by bone while mr himself beyond question a man of the worst waved his arms and a long gown and in a deep bass voice had never heard a man sing before told of his sorrows some grown up or other tried to explain that the illusion was made with and that there was no need to be frightened did not know what illusions were but he did know that a mirror was the looking glass with the ivory handle on his mother s dressing table therefore the grown up was just saying things after the distressing custom of grown and cast about for amusement between scenes next to him sat a little girl dressed all in black her hair off her forehead exactly like the girl in the book called in which had been given him on his last birthday the little girl looked at and looked at the boy her there seemed to be no need of any further introduction i ve got a cut on my said he it was the first work of his first real knife a savage hack and he esteemed it a most valuable possession i m tho she let me there s a di plaster on but it s all raw imder g answered it hurt her grey eyes were full of pity and interest ly perhaps it will give me it very horrid i m tho she put a forefinger to his hand and held her head for a better view here the nurse turned and shook him severely you must n t talk to strange little girls master she is n t strange she s very nice i like her an i ve showed her my new cut the ideal you change places with me she moved him over and shut out the little girl from his view while the grown up behind renewed the futile explanations i am not afraid truly said the t in despair but why don t you go to sleep in the same as of had been introduced to a grown up of that name who slept in his presence without apology g that he was the most important grown up in oxford hence he strove to his rebuke the boy with this grown up did not seem to like it but he and lay back in his seat silent and mr was singing again and the deep ringing voice the red fire and the misty waving gown all seemed to be mixed up with the little girl who had been so kind about his cut when the performance was ended she nodded to g and nodded in return he spoke no more than was necessary till but meditated on new colors and sounds and lights and music and things as far as he understood them the deep mouthed agony of mr mingling with the little girl s that night he made a new tale from which he removed the let down your gold crown edition and all and put a new in her place so it was perfectly right and natural that when he came to the pile he should find her waiting for him her hair off her forehead more like in than ever and the races and adventures began ten years at an english public school do not encourage dreaming won his growth and chest and a few other things which did not appear in the bills under a system of foot and paper from four to five days a week which provided for three lawful cuts of a ground ash if any boy himself from these he became a dusty of the lower third and a light half back at little side foot ball was pushed and through the slack back waters of the boy the lower fourth where the of a school generally won his second fifteen cap at foot ball enjoyed the dignity of a study with two companions in it and began to look forward to office as a sub	39
at last he into full glory as head of the school ex captain of the games head of his house where he and his preserved discipline and decency among seventy boys from twelve to seventeen general in the quarrels that spring up among the and intimate friend and ally of the head himself when he stepped forth in the black white and black stockings of the first fifteen the new match ball imder his arm and his old and cap at the back of his head the small of the lower forms stood apart and worshipped and the new caps of the team talked to him that the world might see and so in summer when he came back to the after a slow but eminently safe game it mattered not whether he had made nothing or as once happened a hundred and three the school shouted just the same and women folk who had come to look at the match looked at major that s above all he was responsible for that thing called the tone of the school and few with what passionate devotion a certain type of boy throws himself into this work home was a far away full of and fishing and shooting and men visitors who interfered with one s plans but school was the real world where things of vital importance happened and arose that must be dealt with promptly and quietly not for nothing was it written let the look to the boy it that the republic takes no harm and g was glad to be back in authority when the holidays ended behind him but not too near was the wise and temperate head now suggesting the wisdom of the serpent now the of the dove leading him on to see more by half hints than by any direct word how boys and men are all of a piece and how he who can handle the one will assuredly in time control the other for the rest the school was not encouraged to dwell on its emotions but rather to keep in hard condition to avoid false quantities and to enter the army direct without the help of the expensive london imder whose roof young blood too much major went the way of hundreds before him the head gave him six months final polish taught him what kind of answers best please a certain kind of and handed him over to the properly constituted authorities who passed him into here he had sense enough to see that he was in the lower third once more and behaved with respect toward his they in turn respected him and he was promoted to the rank of and sat in authority over mixed with all the vices of men and boys combined his reward was another string of cups a good conduct sword and at last her majesty s commission as a in a first class line regiment he did not know that he bore with him from school and a character th much fine gold but was pleased to find his mess so kindly he had plenty of money of his own his training had set the public school mask upon the boy his face and had taught him how many were the things no fellow can do by virtue of the same training he kept his open and his mouth shut the regular working of the empire shifted his world to india where he tasted utter loneliness in s quarters one room and one trunk and with his mess learned the new life from the but there were horses in the at reasonable price there was for such as could afford it there were the of a pack of hounds and worried his way along without too much despair it dawned on him that a regiment in india was nearer the chance of active service than he had conceived and that a man might as well study his profession a major of the new school backed this idea with enthusiasm and he and a library of military works and read and argued and disputed far into the nights but the said the old thing get to know your men yoimg im and they follow you anywhere that s all you know your men thought he knew them fairly well at and the sports but he never the true of them till he was sent off with a of twenty to sit down in a mud fort near a rushing river which was by a bridge of boats when the floods came they went forth and strayed along the banks otherwise there was nothing to do and the men got drunk quarrelled they were a sickly crew for a junior is by custom with the worst men endured their as long as he could the boy and then sent down country for a dozen pairs of i would n t blame you for said he if you only knew how to use your hands but you don t take these things and i show you the men appreciated his efforts now instead of and swearing at a comrade and threatening to shoot him they could take him apart and soothe themselves to exhaustion as one explained whom found with a shut eye and a diamond shaped mouth blood through an we tried it with the gloves sir for twenty minutes and that done us no good sir then we took off the gloves and tried it that way for another twenty minutes same as you showed us sir an that done us a world o good t was n t sir there was a bet on dared not laugh but he invited his men to other sports such as racing across country in shirt and trousers after a trail of torn paper and to single stick in the evenings till the native population who had a lust for sport in every	39
form wished to know whether the white men understood they sent in an who took the soldiers by the neck and threw them about the dust and the entire command were all for this new game they spent money on learning new falls and holds which was better than buying other doubtful and the grinned five deep round the that who had gone up in carts to at an average rate of thirty miles a day fair heel and toe no sick no prisoners the boy and no court they scattered themselves among their friends singing the praises of their lieutenant and looking for causes of how did you do it young im the asked oh i the beef off em and then i some muscle on to em it was rather a lark if that s your way of at it we can give you all the you want young is n t quite fit and he s next for duty care to go for him sure he would n t mind i don t want to myself forward you know you need n t bother on s account we give you the s of the corps and you can see what you can make of em all right said it s better fun than about thing said the after had returned to his wilderness with twenty other devils worse than the first if only knew it half the women in the station would give their em i to have the yoimg un in tow that accounts for mrs i was my nice new boy too hard said a wing commander oh yes and why does n t he come to the in the evenings and can t i get him to make up a four at with the girls the look at young an ass of himself over mutton dressed as lamb old enough to be his no one can accuse yoimg of after the boy women white or black the major replied thoughtfully but then that s the kind that generally goes the worst in the end not i ve only run across one of his muster a fellow called in south africa he was just the same hard trained sports build of animal always kept himself in the pink of condition did n t do him much good though shot at the week before wonder how the young un will his into shape turned up six weeks later on foot with his pupils he never told his experiences but the men spoke and fragments of it back to the colonel through b and the like there was great jealousy between the first and second but the men united in and their way of showing it was by him all the trouble that men know how to make for an officer he sought popularity as little as he had sought it at school and therefore it came to him he favoured no not even when the company pulled the company match out of the fire with an unexpected forty three at the last moment there was very little getting round him for he seemed to know by instinct exactly when and where to head off a but he did not forget that the difference between a dazed and sulky junior of the upper school and a bewildered lump of a private fresh from the was very small indeed the seeing these things told him secrets generally hid from young officers his words were quoted as authority the boy on in and at tea and the of the corps bursting with charges against other women who had used the cooking out of turn to speak when as the ordained asked of a morning if there were any complaints i m full o complaints said mrs an i d kill o s fat sow of a wife but ye know how it is e puts is head just inside the door an looks down is blessed nose so an e whispers any complaints ye can t complain after that i want to kiss him some day i think i will ho i she be a lucky woman that gets young innocence see im now girls do ye blame me was across to and he looked a very satisfactory figure of a man as he gave easily to the first excited of his pony and slipped over a low mud wall to the practice ground there were more than mrs who felt as she did but was busy for eleven hours of the day he did not care to have his spoiled by in the court and after one long afternoon at a he explained to his major that this sort of thing was futile and the major laughed theirs was not a married mess except for the colonel s wife and stood in awe of the good lady she said my regiment and the world knows what that none the less when they wanted her to give away the after a shooting match and she refused because one of the prize was married to a girl who had made a jest of her behind her broad back the mess the boy ordered to tackle her in his best calling this he did simply and laboriously and she gave way altogether she only wanted to know the facts of the case he explained i just told her and she saw at once ye es said the i expect that s what she did to the dance to night no thanks i ve got a fight on with the major the virtuous sat up till midnight in the major s quarters with a stop watch and a of shifting httle painted lead blocks about a map then he turned in and slept the sleep of innocence which is full of healthy dreams one peculiarity of his dreams he noticed at the beginning of his second hot weather two or three times	39
a month they or ran in series he would find himself sliding into by the same a road that ran along a beach near a pile of to the right lay the sea sometimes at full tide sometimes withdrawn to the very horizon but he knew it for the same sea by that road he would travel over a swell of rising covered with short withered grass into valleys of wonder and beyond the ridge which was crowned with some sort of street lamp anything was possible but up to the lamp it seemed to him that he knew the road as well as he knew the parade ground he learned to look forward to the place for once there he was sure of a good night s rest and indian hot weather can be rather trying first shadowy under the boy eyelids would come the outline of the pile next the white sand of the beach road almost overhanging the black sea then the turn inland and to the single light when he was ul for any reason he would tell himself how he was sure to get sure to get if he shut his eyes and surrendered to the drift of things but one night after a foolishly hard hour s the was in his quarters at ten o clock sleep stood away from him altogether though he did his best to find the road the point where true sleep began at last ho saw the pile and hurried along to the ridge for behind him he felt was the wide awake world he reached the lamp in safety with when a a common country sprang up before him and touched him on the shoulder ere he could into the dim valley below he was filled with terror the hopeless terror of dreams for the policeman said in the awful distinct voice of dream people i am policeman day coming back from the city of sleep you come with me knew it was true that just beyond him in the valley lay the lights of the city of sleep where he would have been sheltered and that this policeman thing had full power and authority to head him back to miserable he found himself looking at the moonlight on the wall dripping with fright and he never overcame that horror though he met the policeman several times that hot weather and his coming was the of a bad night but other perfectly absurd filled him the boy with an delight all those that he remembered began by the pile for instance he found a small steamer he had noticed it many nights before lying by the sea road and stepped into it whereupon it moved with surpassing swiftness over an absolutely level sea this was glorious for he felt he was exploring great matters and it stopped by a lily carved in stone which most naturally floated on the water seeing the lily was said of course this is precisely what i expected would be like how magnificent i thousands of miles farther on it halted at yet another stone lily and this again delighted him because he knew that now he was at the world s end but the little boat ran on and on till it lay in a deep fresh water lock the sides of which were marble green with moss lily lay on the water and arched above some one moved among the some one whom knew he had travelled to this world s end to reach therefore everything was entirely well with him he was happy and over the ship s side to find this person when his feet touched that still water it with the rustle of maps to nothing less than a sixth quarter of the globe beyond the most remote imagining of a place where islands were coloured yellow and blue their strung across their faces they gave on unknown seas and s urgent desire was to return swiftly across this floating to known bearings he told himself repeatedly that it was no good to hurry but still he hurried des the boy and the islands slipped and slid under his feet the straits yawned and till he found himself utterly lost in the world s fourth with no hope of return yet only a little distance away he could see the old world with the rivers marked according to the rules of map making then that person for whom he had come to the lily lock that was its name ran up across and showed him a way they fled hand in hand till they reached a road that and ran along the edge of and was through mountains this goes to our wood pile said his companion and all his trouble was at an end he took a pony because he understood that this was the thirty mile ride and he must ride swiftly and through the and round the curves always till he heard the sea to his left and saw it raging under a full moon against sandy cliffs it was heavy going but he the nature of the country the dark purple downs inland and the that whistled in the wind the road was eaten away in places and the sea lashed at black tongues of smooth and glossy but he was sure that there was less danger from the sea than from them whoever they were inland to his right he knew too that he would be safe if he could reach the down with the lamp on it this came as he expected he saw the one light a mile ahead along the beach dismounted turned to the right walked quietly over to the pile found the little steamer had returned to the beach whence he had the boy it must have fallen asleep for he could remember no more i m the hang of the geography of that	39
place he said to himself as he shaved next morning i must have made some sort of circle let s see the thirty mile ride now how the deuce did i know it was called the thirty mile ride the sea road beyond the first down where the lamp is and that country lies at the back of the thirty mile ride somewhere out to the right beyond the hills and things dreams wonder what makes mine fit into each other so he continued on his solid way through the duties of the seasons the regiment was shifted to another station and he enjoyed road marching for two months with a good deal of mixed shooting thrown in and when they reached their new he became a member of the local tent club and chased the mighty on horseback with a short there he met the of the beside whom the is as a and he who lands him can say that he is a this was as new and as fascinating as the big game shooting that fell to his portion when he had himself for the mother s benefit sitting on the flank of his first tiger then the was promoted and rejoiced with him for he admired the greatly and who might be big enough to fill his place so that he nearly when the mantle fell on his own shoulders and the colonel said a few sweet things that made him blush an s position does not differ materially from that of head of the school and the boy ck stood in the same relation to the colonel as he had to his old head in england only wear out in hot weather and things were said and done that tried him sorely and he made glorious from which the major pulled with a loyal soul and a shut mouth and raged against him the minded strove to him from the ways of justice the small yea men whom believed would never do things no fellow can do motives mean and to actions that he had not spent a thought upon and he tasted injustice and it made him very sick but his consolation came on parade when he looked down the full companies and reflected how few were in hospital or and wondered when the time would come to try the machine of his love and labour but they needed and expected the whole of a man s working day and maybe three or four hours of the night curiously enough he never dreamed about the regiment as he was supposed to the mind set free from the day s doings generally ceased working altogether or if it moved at all carried him along the old beach road to the downs the lamp post and once in a while to terrible policeman day the second time that he returned to the world s lost continent this was a dream that repeated itself again and again with variations on the same ground he knew that if he only sat still the person from the lily lock would help him and he was not disappointed sometimes he was in mines of vast depth out of the heart of the world where men in torment echoing the boy songs and he heard this person coming along throng the galleries and everything was made safe and delightful they met again in low indian railway carriages that halted in a garden by where a mob of stony white people all sat at breakfast tables covered with roses and separated from his companion while voices sang deep songs g was filled with enormous despair till they two met again they in the middle of an endless hot night and crept into a huge house that stood he knew somewhere north of the railway station where the people ate among the roses it was surrounded with gardens all moist and dripping and in one room reached through of passages a sick thing lay in bed now the least noise knew would some waiting horror and his companion knew it too but when their eyes met the bed was disgusted to see that she was a child a little girl in shoes with her black hair back from her forehead what disgraceful folly i he thought now she could do nothing whatever if its head came off then the thing and the ceiling shattered down in plaster on the and they rushed in from all quarters he dragged the child through the stifling garden voices behind them and they rode the thirty mile ride under whip and spur along the sandy beach by the sea till they came to th downs the lamp post and the pile which was safety very often dreams would the boy break up about them in this fashion and they would be separated to endure awful adventures alone but the most amusing times were when he and she had a clear that it was all make believe and walked through mile wide roaring rivers without even taking off their shoes or set light to cities to see how they would bum and were rude as any children to the vague shadows met in their later in the night they were sure to suffer for this either at the hands of the people eating among the roses or in the at the far end of the thirty mile ride together this did no much them but often would hear her shrill cry of boy boy half a world away and hurry to her rescue before they her he and she the dark purple downs as far inland from the pile as they dared but that was always a dangerous matter the interior was filled with them and they went about singing in the hollows and and she felt safer on or near the so thoroughly had he come to know the place of his dreams that even	39
got ready for master i should say there might be the father chuckled they re reminding me in a ways that i must take the second place now bi the boy the does n t mean it dear but every one has been trying to make your home coming a success and you do like it don t you perfect i perfect there s no place like england when you ve done your work that s the proper way to look at it my son and so up down the walk till their shadows grew long in the moonlight and the mother went indoors and played such songs as a small boy once for and the silver were brought in and climbed to the two rooms in the west wing that had been his nursery and his in the beginning then who should come to him up for the night but the mother and she sat down on the bed and they talked for a long hour as mother and son should if there is to be any future for the empire with a simple woman s deep she asked questions and suggested answers that should have some sign in the face on the pillow and there was neither quiver of nor of breath neither nor delay in reply so she blessed him kissed him on the mouth which is not always a mother s property and said something to her husband later at which he laughed profane and incredulous laughs all the establishment waited on next morning from the six year old with a mouth like a kid glove master to the under keeper strolling carelessly along the horizon s pet rod in his hand and there s a four below the you don t ave em in major the boy g it was all beautiful beyond telling even though the mother insisted on taking him out in the the leather had the hot sunday smell of his youth and showing him off to her friends at all the houses for six miles round and the bore him up to town and a at the club where he introduced him quite carelessly to not less than thirty ancient warriors whose sons were not the youngest in the army and had not the d s o after that it was s turn and remembering his friends he filled up the house with that kind of officer who live in cheap lodgings at or square good men all but not well off the mother perceived that they needed girls to play with and as there was no of girls the house like a in spring they tore up the place for amateur they disappeared in the gardens when they ought to have been they swept off every available horse and vehicle especially the and the fat pony they fell into the they and they and they sat on gates in the twilight two by two and found that he was not in the least necessary to their entertainment my word i said he when he saw the last of their dear backs they told me they ve enjoyed but they have n t done half the things they said they would i know they ve enjoyed immensely said the mother you re a public benefactor dear now we can be quiet again c ui t we the boy oh quite i ve a very dear friend of mine that i want you to know she could n t come with the house so full she s an invalid and she was away when you first came she s a mrs i don t remember the name about here no they came after you went to from oxford her husband died there and she lost some money i believe they bought the on the she s a very sweet woman and we re very fond of them both she s a widow did n t you say she has a daughter surely i said so dear does she fall into and gas and and oh major and all that sort of thing no indeed she s a very quiet girl and very musical she always came over here with her you know and she works all day so you won t talking about said the coming up the mother edged toward him within elbow reach there was no about s father oh s a dear girl plays beautifully rides beautifully too she s a regular pet of the household used to call the elbow went home and ignorant but obedient always the shut off what used she to call you sir all sorts of pet names i m very fond of sounds jew i you be calling yourself a jew next she s one of the s when her aunt again the elbow r the boy oh you won t see anything of her g she s busy with her music or her mother all day besides you re going up to town to morrow are n t you i thought you said something about an meeting the mother spoke go up to town now what nonsense once more the was shut off i had some idea of it but i m not quite sure said the son of the house why did the mother try to get him away because a musical girl and her invalid parent were expected he did not approve of females calling his father pet names he would observe these pushing persons who had been only seven years in the county all of which the delighted mother read in his countenance herself keeping an air of sweet they be here this evening for dinner i m sending the carriage over for them and they won t stay more than a week perhaps i shall go up to town i don t quite know yet moved away	39
there was a lecture at the united services on the supply of in the field and the one man whose theories most irritated major would deliver it a heated discussion was sure to follow and perhaps he might find himself moved to k he took his rod that afternoon and went down to it out among the gk od si said the mother from the terrace the boy it won t be all those men from town and the girls particularly have put every off his feed for weeks there is n t one of em that cares for really fancy and on the bank and every fish for half a mile exactly what you re goin to do and then a brute of a fly at by jove it would scare me if i was a i but things were not as bad as he had expected the black was on the water and the water was strictly preserved a three quarter at the second cast set him for the campaign and he worked down stream crouching behind the reed and meadow sweet creeping between a hedge and a foot wide strip oi bank where he could see the but where they could not distinguish him from the background lying almost on his stomach to the blue upright through the shadows of a ripple under trees but he had known every inch of the water since he was four feet high the aged and between sunk roots with the large and fat that lay in the below some strong rush of water as lazily as came to trouble in their turn at the hand that so delicately the and of an egg dropping fly consequently found himself five miles from home when he ought to have been dressing for dinner the housekeeper had taken good care that her boy should not go empty and before he changed to the white he sat down to excellent with of egg and things that women make and the boy men never notice then back to surprise the for fresh water the on the edge of the in the and the policeman like white owl stooping to the little till the moon was strong and he took his rod and went home through well remembered in the hedges he fetched a compass round the house for though he might have broken every law of the establishment every hour the law of his boyhood was after fishing you went in by the south garden back door cleaned up in the outer and did not present yourself to your elders and your till you had washed and changed half past ten by jove i well we u make the sport an excuse they would n t want to see me the first evening at any rate to bed probably he skirted by the open french windows of the drawing room no they have n t they look very in there he could see his father in his own particular chair the mother in hers and the back of a girl at the piano by the big jar the gardens looked half divine in the moonlight and he turned down through the roses to finish his pipe a ended and there out a voice of the kind that in his childhood he used to call a full true and this is the song that he heard every syllable of it over the edge of the purple down the single ye the road to the town that is hard by the sea of dreams the boy where the poor may lay their wrongs away and the may forget to bnt pity us oh pity we ah pity ns we must go back with policeman back from the city of sleep weary they torn from the and and prayer and they that go np to the merciful town for her gates are closing now it is their right in the of night body and to steep but pity us ah pity us we oh pity us we must go back with policeman day back from the city of sleep oyer the edge of the purple down ere the tender dreams begin we may at the merciful town but we may not enter in all from her guarded wall back to our watch we creep pity us ah pity us i we oh pity us i we that go back with policeman back from the city of sleep at the last echo he was aware that his mouth was dry and unknown were beating in the roof of it the housekeeper who would have it that he must have fallen in and caught a chill was waiting to catch him the boy on the stairs and since he neither saw nor answered her carried a wild tale abroad that brought his mother knocking at the door anything happened dear said she thought you were n t no it s nothing i m all right don t bother he did not recognise his own voice but that was a small matter beside what he was considering most obviously the whole coincidence was crazy he proved it to the satisfaction of major george who was going up to town to morrow to hear a lecture on the supply of in the field and having so proved it the soul and brain and heart and body of cried that s the lily lock the lost continent the thirty mile ride the girl i know he stiff and cramped in his chair to the situation by when it did not appear normal but a man must eat and he went to breakfast his heart between his teeth holding himself severely in hand late as usual said the mother my boy miss a tall girl in black raised her eyes to his and g s life training deserted just as soon as he that she did not know he	39
stared coolly and there was the black hair growing in a widow s peak turned back from the forehead with that ripple over the right there were the grey eyes set a little close together the short upper lip the boy chin and the known of the head there also the small well cut mouth that had kissed him dear said the mother for was flushing under the stare i i your pardon he i don t know whether the mother has told you but i m rather an idiot at times specially before i ve had my breakfast it s it s a family failing he turned to explore among the hot water dishes on the rejoicing that she did not she did not know his conversation for the rest of the meal was mildly insane though the mother thought she had never seen her boy look half so handsome how could any girl least of all one of s forbear to fall down and worship but deeply was displeased she had never been stared at in that fashion before and promptly retired into her shell when announced that he had changed his mind about going to town and would stay to play with miss if she had nothing better to do oh but don t let me throw you out i m at work i ve things to do all the morning what possessed to behave so oddly the mother sighed to herself s a bundle of like her mother you don t you must be a fine thing to be able to do that oh pig thought i think i heard you when i came in last night after all about a sea of dreams was n t it shuddered to the core of the soul that afflicted the boy her awfully pretty song how d you think of such things you only composed the music dear did n t you the words too i m sure of it said with a sparkling eye no she did not know i wrote the words too spoke slowly for she knew she when she was nervous now how could you tell said the mother as delighted as though the youngest major in the army were ten years old showing off before company i was sure of it somehow oh there are heaps of things about me that you don t understand looks as if it were goin to be a hot for england would you care for a ride this afternoon miss we can start out after tea if you d like it could not in decency refuse but any woman might see she was not filled with delight that will be very nice if you take the it will save me sending martin down to the village said the mother filling in like all good the mother had her one a for little that should horses and her men folk complained that she turned them into common and there was a legend in the family that she had once said to the on the morning of a meet if you should kill near dear and if it is n t too late would just over and me this i knew that was coming you d never miss a chance mother if it s a fish or a trunk i won t g laughed the boy it s only a duck they can do it up very neatly at s said the mother simply you won t mind will you we have a scratch dinner at nine because it s so hot the long day dragged itself out for centuries but at last there was tea on the lawn and appeared she was in the saddle before he could offer to help with the clean spring of the child who mounted the pony for the thirty mile ride the day held though got down thrice to look for imaginary stones in s foot one cannot say even simple things in broad light and this that meditated was not simple so he spoke seldom and was divided between relief and scorn it annoyed her that the great thing should know she had written the words of the song for though a maiden may sing her most secret fancies aloud she does not care to have them trampled over by the male they rode into the little red brick street of and made fuss over the disposition of that duck it must go in just such a and be fastened to the saddle in just such a manner though eight o clock had struck and they were miles from dinner we must be quick i said bored and angry there s no great hurry but we can cut over down and let em out on the grass that will save us half an hour the horses on the short sweet smelling turf and the shadows gathered in the valley as the boy they over the great down that and the western road the pace quickened without thought of hills gentleman that he was waiting on s till they should have cleared the rise then down the two mile slope they together the wind whistling in their ears to the steady throb of eight hoofs and the light click click of the shifting bits oh that was glorious cried in and i are old friends but i don t think we ve ever gone better together no but you ve gone quicker once or twice when his lips don t you remember the thirty mile with when they were after on the beach road with the sea to the going toward the lamp post on the downs the girl gasped what do you mean she said the thirty mile ride and all the rest of it you i didn t sing anything about the thirty mile ride i know i did n t i have never told a living soul you	39
back to where the donkey engines the bags the and scraped the boom and and the first lieutenant carved in pure jet said precisely what occurred to him before the cast off a full blooded sent over a boat to take some of her the boat was in charge of a aged perhaps seventeen though he looked younger he came dripping into the ward room with livid lips for he had been from the full of fever and what are you in said our captain who chanced to pass by the victorious sir and a smart ship he drank his little glass of his boat cloak about him and went out serenely to take his boat home through the dark and the dismal now the victorious she is some fourteen thousand nine hundred tons and he who gave her her t a fleet ik being n was maybe ten stone two with a touch of fever on him the ward room itself we cleaned up at last the first lieutenant s face relaxed a little and some one called for the instruments of music out came two a and and the ward room itself among tunes of three nations till war should be declared in the middle of a scientific experiment as to how the ship s might be affected by that hour struck and even more swiftly than fled under the sofa the trim mess melted away the ceased the shivered to the power of the steam the of the water on our sides grew and we glided through the fleet to the mouth of our orders were to follow and support another who had been already despatched towards bay to observe the enemy or rather that who was bearing news of the outbreak of war to the enemy s fleet it was then midnight of the th of july by the rules of the game the main body could not move till noon of the th and the north atlantic cold and was waiting for us as soon as we had put out our lights then i began to understand why a certain type of is a coffee we had the length of a but by no means her dead weight so where the red would have driven heavily through the seas the white danced and the twin gave us more kick than was a fleet in being chap pleasant at half past five of a peculiarly cheerless dawn we picked up the big who had seen nothing stayed in her company till nearly seven and ran back to the fleet whom we met coming out of about i p m of thursday the th and the weather was vile once again we headed w n w in company at an average speed of between thirteen and fourteen knots on a run of three hundred and fifty miles towards the bank and the lonely rock that rises out of the sea there the idea was that our enemy might have made this his in which case we had hope of catching him en through that day the little was lively but all we took aboard was spray whereas the low bowed their bluff noses into the and rose dripping like rocks the might have like half a dozen but i lay immediately above the twin and thought of the on the bridge who was not allowed o lie down through the cabin door i could see the decks dim with spray hear the calling to quarters and catch glimpses of the life of the ship a shining face under a sou a pair of sea legs in oil skins a hurrying with a rolling and an anxious eye a warrant officer concerned for the proper of his quick as they disappeared in of foam or a lieutenant serenely men and things present or correct behind all as the flung herself carelessly abroad great grey and of tormented sea about midnight i a fleet in being the same we had left that morning on the look out for the or the rejoined the fleet but the fleet might have gone down as one so far as one unhappy traveller was concerned by noon of july we had covered miles in twenty four hours with never a sight of the enemy to cheer us and had reached the limit of our ground here we turned and on a front of twenty four miles from wing swept down miles south eastward to the of bay missed the weather began to improve and we had the sea more or less behind us it was when we entered on this second about three minutes after the fleet swung round that as though all men had thought it together a word went round our missed after dinner as they were smoking above the spit the doctrine was with suitable language by the and it was explained to me with a great certainty how the other side had out us by means of the in the rules in other words he had been overtook by is precisely as the wiser heads had and even at that early stage of the game we had been sold there was no way of finding out anything for sure a big slipped off again a little before dawn of the th and six or seven hours later was reported to be in sight with news of the enemy at this point there came as we learned a fleet in being chap later what you might call a some unhappy they assert a flag of a signal whereby it was caused to be believed that a had sighted the enemy where there was no enemy in that direction then the fleet gave chase and though the thing was the run was a beautiful example of what the new navy can do at a pinch we discovered our mistake then	39
i suppose we discovered our mistake about the enemy and hurried all together for bay in the hope of cutting him off arrived at the scattered islands near the mouth a was sent inside to see if any one was at home while the bade the rest of us walk her while she considered on it the weather was now glorious a blazing sun and a light swell to which the rolled lazily as hounds roll on the grass at a check there was a good deal of thunder in the air everybody knew something had gone wrong and when the announced that she was not at all pleased with the throughout the fleet it was no more than every one expected now the had some fifty or sixty and a bridge as broad as a and as clear as a ball room our bridge was perhaps four feet broad the roar of a hold fan placed apparently for that purpose carefully sucked up two thirds of every shouted order and between the bridge and the the for i a fleet in being want of an overhead passage had to run an obstacle race along the crowded decks we owned six after watching them for a week i was prepared to swear that each had six arms and eight proof eyes but the thought otherwise i heard what the thought later on but that was by no means for publication high speed back came the with news that bay was empty meantime three other boats had been sent off to the racing whose constant business it was to keep touch with the enemy that monster did most of our high speed and several times at least saw something of the other side we were not so lucky with three second class friends we were ordered to at twelve knots an hour on a six mile beat thirteen miles to the north east of eagle island to fire a if we saw anything of the enemy that night and to stay out till we were recalled when we reached our ground the sea was all empty save for one speck on the horizon that marked the next also a desolate and a naked shore broken into barren islands turned in the sunset and two lone took up their duty we up and down through that marvellous transparent dusk with more than the regularity of the police there was no lawful night but a wine coloured twilight cut in half by the moon track on the still water unless the enemy in under the shadow of the a fleet in being chap i shore and the faint mist that lay along it he could not hope to creep round from the north unobserved the blessed their gods marine ones that they away from the the and my friend the marine assured the that they would be hanged at the yard arm when we reached port and we all talked things over forward as the steady tramp continued i told you so e s found an in the rules an slipped through it was the burden of our song we must have burned more coal than would ever be expedient in war and we saw imaginary with great zeal till the glorious sunrise cut off from the battle peering over the wet with dew and just as ignorant of events around us as we shall be when the real thing begins chapter ii entered suddenly about noon on sunday after the fashion of one of our side flying the general recall and telling us to go down to the flag but we reached that place we found neither flag nor battle ships but the powerful and the terrible who took us under their wing all six of us second and third class till that point we had been ships but those two huge things us to mean little one never gets used to the bulk and height of these then we all began talking who knew anything about anything and who had dragged who round the walls of what our next gave us one of information which was rather that a at that morning had reported to the battle fleet who had spent the night outside bay enemy to the westward that the fleet had given chase that the had fired one gun when she came within three miles of the said enemy fifteen miles west of bay that the enemy had gone in to bay and he believed our own had gone south to i have already explained rudely what the enemy had done a fleet in being chap that was all we could then arrive at the fleet will learn no more when the real thing arrives i went forward to hear the text commented on sea lawyers said the voice of experience we ve been ad don t tell me we t we ve the beggar a young sea lawyer began e was back to what were the rules any ow a voice cut in we wasn t rules we was a man i tell you we ve been ad didn t i say so when we come round on that long from way e s got round us some ow i but look ere the make it out we ve won won t make it out we ve won though both sides u claim it that s what they always do when i was in and one went on to tell of other in which he had apparently taken a leading part while we southward behind the powerful as far as the eastern entrance to but there were no in bay they had gone on to practice and presently we dispersed among the for the same business with orders to a few miles south of the that well worn mile post of the ii a fleet in being almost infernal no description	39
will make you the almost infernal of a fleet at sea i had seen ours called to all appearance out of the deep split in twain at a word and at a word sent beyond the horizon strung out as string out patiently in the hot sky above a dying beast flung like a gathered anew as a is at the saddle bow dealt out card fashion over fifty miles of green table picked up and as the game changed i had seen flown like ridden like horses at a close finish and like but the wonder of their appearance and disappearance never failed the powerful spoke and in ten minutes the had vanished each ship taking her own matches and to make a hell of her own and what that hell might be if worked at full power i could presently guess as we swung round a and the began at this point the became a person of importance in the navy each hour of the day has its king and the captains of the guns separated themselves a little from the common herd remember we were merely a third class capable perhaps of in a heavy sea but meant for the most part to and observe our consisted of eight four inch quick fire wire guns the type two on the four in the waist and two on the with as many three quick three adorned the low their water were filled up from an innocent tin pot before the game began it looked like the thirst of devils c a fleet in being chap man we found an eligible rock the tip of a peopled by a few the along its base and a portion of this we made our that we might see the effect of the shots and practise the men at firing on a water line up came the beautiful solid brass and the four inch shells that weigh twenty five pounds apiece the little as you know have their shell and charge together like small arm the filled of the were adjusted and all these man to life and peered over the side at the it was i still throughout the ship still as it will be when the real thing arrives from the upper bridge i could hear above the beat of the engines the click of the why should men who need every freedom in action be by an utterly useless sword the faint of a four inch swung open the of the little s falling block and an impatient sewing machine noise from a making sure of its lock action on his platform over my head the officer was giving the to the rock two thousand seven hundred yards sir i two thousand seven hundred yards the order passed from gun to gun ten knots right battery the gun captains the rubber faced shoulder pieces and the long lean behind the shifted try a shot with that three the of is and catches one more about the heart than the slower burning black ii a fleet in being powder there was a gasping wail exactly like the preliminary of an hysterical woman as the little shell hurried to the and a puff of dirty smoke on the rock face sent the flying so far as i could observe there was not even a haze round the lips of the gun till i saw the spent case jerked out i did not know which of the clean precise and devilish four had spoken when the real thing comes two thousand four hundred the voice overhead and the bow four inch quick opened the ball again no smoke again the song of the shell not a shriek this time but a most utterly mournful wail again the few seconds suspense what will they be when the real thing comes and a white star on the the a little as though some one had pinched her before the next gun had fired the empty of the first was extracted and by some of hand i could not see the had closed behind a full charge a could hardly have been more swiftly two thousand three hundred cried the reader of that day s lessons and we fell seriously to work high shriek and low wail following in an infernal through which with no regard for decency the and the rock was and and in every direction and great pieces of it bounded into the sea two thousand one hundred good shot oh good shot that was a water a fleet in being chap that was the three good ah bad damn bad short miles short who fired that shot a shell had burst short of the mark and the captain of that gun was asked politely if he supposed government supplied him with three pound shell for the purpose of shooting and so we went on till the big guns had fired their and the ran out in one last and practice for the month was over the rock that had been grey was white and a few shining cases lay beside each gun death through a then the horror of the thing began to into me what i had seen was a slow out of allowance for the month and it seemed to me more like death through a than any ordinary gun practice what will it be when all the are working when the water jacket off in steam when the three charges come up a dozen at a time to be spent twenty to the minute when the sole limit of four inch fire is the speed with which the shells and cases can be handled what will it be when the real thing is upon us and the smiling careless faces answered with one merry accord hell every kind of hell but things will happen in ancient days	39
there was an etiquette in sea battles no line of ship fired at a unless the latter deliberately annoyed her then she ii a fleet in being blew the out of the water what will be the etiquette next time suppose a met a with one set of engines crawling along at eight knots would she the lame thing and tempt her into wasting it is a game to play with sides no thicker than an average tea tray but under circumstances it might be would she and a fast can do this try to rush her by night fashion at the beginning of the war she might do all sorts of things at the end of it she would take exactly that kind of liberty which experience of the other side s had shown to be safe there is no saying what she could or could not do in heavy weather and that do not like heavy weather is tumble home boats unused to working in a sea a and a navy with big tops that roll and strain might suffer therefore we must pray for foul weather and steep gale that cold that and small fine rain that blinds and our men know them men who take their chances under these conditions the possibilities of a good sea boat are almost given always the men who know how to handle her the men who will take their chances and as in the army so in the navy runs the law you must not the property of the committed to your charge or you will be publicly broke but if you do not take every risk you can and more also you is a fleet in being chap will be broke in the estimation of your fellows your men will not love you and you will never get on to do him justice the junior officer a very fair line between the two thanks to our which give him an independent command early in his career he studies a little ingenuity and they are young on the the chattering black decks are no place for the middle aged they have learned how to handle ft of shod death that cover a mile in two minutes turn in their own length and leap to racing speed almost before a man knows he has the engine room in these craft they risk the extreme perils of the sea and make experiments of a kind that would not read well in print it would take much to astonish them when at the completion of their command they are shifted say to a racing they have been within distance of collision and distance of the bottom they have tested their craft in long drawn channel not or of necessity because they could not find harbour but because they wanted to know don t you know and in that have been very literally thrown together with their men enough to sober this makes for coolness of head and above all resource you it when you hear the dear boys talk among themselves the naval man s experience begins early and by the time he has reached his majority a sub lieutenant should have seen enough to sober but he utterly ii a fleet in being refuses to be there is no case on record of a depressed sub it takes three of him to keep one in order but the combined strength of the assistant engineer the doctor and the will not subdue one sub lieutenant he goes his joyous way and his elders and his and irrepressible but when he stands on the bridge at midnight and essays to keep the proper distance in front of the next steel ram muttering through the water ten knots an hour two hundred yards behind him why then the sub big drops till he gets used to it let us suppose he is third in a line of four that the hour is near midnight and he has been on watch since eight so far we have kept our distance beautifully we have even sneered at the next line a mile away to the right where they have once or twice been all over the shop in twenty minutes there will come relief a bowl of hot three at a pipe and blessed bed the sub watches the speed lights of the next ahead for as those change so must he his pace but the next ahead is using up all the coal she can find and the wind blows not less than two million of it into his straining eyes he has he had the distance absolutely correct he would swear to it the by the tiny wheel half up one big shoulder till that moment he has given no sign of life the sub s heel impatiently on the his mouth over the engine room voice his lips open to speak to the in case in case it should be necessary to sheer a fleet in being chap out of line for something has gone wrong with the next ahead she has badly her station and to the left of our leading ship the sub the out of his left eye and says something now begins the fun now begins the fun the leading ship has a certain number of say from ten knots to nine and a half but she has not changed her speed lights in time we slide out to the right of our next ahead swiftly and quietly and now we must all mark time as it were till our leader herself that which was a line has suddenly become a town on the waters representing roughly three quarters of a million sterling in value ten thousand tons weight and eight hundred lives our next ahead lies on our port bow and oh horror our next is alongside	39
of us heaven send that the captain may not choose this hour to wake the sub has her down to eighty five but engines are only engines after all and they cannot obey on the instant meantime we can see into the room of her that should have lain behind us a lieutenant half over the table cap over forehead to keep out the glare of the lamp is on a we can hear the officer of the watch on her bridge speaking to his and there comes over to us a of navy tobacco she is she has with a vengeance and when ships slow too much they lose way and what is far worse they wake the captain this ii a fleet in being strikes the sub with lurid clearness but the of the recent ten knots is on us all and we are all going much faster than we think again his foot the deck are they never going to slow are they never going to slow in the engine room the on the dial before the moves through some minute arc and our head falls off to the left it is excessively lonely on this high and lofty bridge and the shaped beneath looks very our next ahead draws away slowly from our port bow and we continue at a safe distance to of her the line is less of a lump and more of a than it was our next is sliding back to where she belongs now two at a time the sub lets us out till he sees our sister ahead return to her place and joyfully in behind her the sub his heated brow thanking heaven that the captain didn t wake up and that the was straightened before the end of the watch but speed lights unless properly handled as ours are handled are he doubts not an invention of the devil so also is the fleet s q are all and the sea and everything connected now comes the judgment our leader of course cannot signal back down her line but the signal must be repeated from the leading ship of the line to thus you see we read it a dull glow breaks out at the mast head of that of and a it a fleet in being chap is for somebody a in drunken long and short ones irresistibly comic if you don t happen to be in the service once again we are saved the electric out the name of our next ahead a second class and then why you keep station let us thank god for second class and all other lightning the middle watch comes up the sub demands of the stars and the deep profound about him who wouldn t sell a farm and go to sea the bridge in one light hearted streak and three minutes later is beautifully asleep the ship s under his left ear but the captain was awake all the time the change of speed roused him and he lay watching the tell tale compass overhead his mouth at the bridge voice one eye cocked through the open port and one leg over the edge of the in case the sub must learn his business by himself must find confidence in precisely as the captain did a quarter of a century ago it is not good for him to know that he is being watched next morning the captain makes a casual allusion to in line of and it was our next ahead sir says the sub yes it was the next ahead when i was a sub is the reply i know that next ahead then the to whom the sub has been confiding the success of his ask him whether he got to of the owner much ii a fleet in being how the sub gets learning and that is one of the ways in which youth gets learning on a big they tell me the sub is little better than the he he lives in the gun room he goes to school he is sent on errands and if he is good he is allowed to preserve discipline while a of the decks are being washed but on a third class he is a an ornament of the ward room pitched into responsibility and he himself as i have tried to show chapter iii of to go on where i left off we were to have more than enough of them after practice we finished first of all the and went on to our off the but if we had listened to the passenger he wanted to lower a boat and investigate the shattered rock we should have been spared many sorrows but we were zealous mr simple and we went to the and it was and through the haze we heard a horrible moaning that should have warned us the which we had not found at were scattered about those waters at their practice then i remembered that a twelve inch gun a weighing some and about ten miles and we went to the encircled by these deep of invisible monsters and behold we came slap on the who was running any other of the big ones would not have mattered but our luck sent us to the flag here was a feeling of calamity in the thick air and i know one man who was not in the least relieved when she c where are you bound we replied we were waiting as ch in a fleet in being ordered on that spot for the rest of the and remained in a attitude while the maintained her horrible composure our fatal mistake thinking no harm we drifted some two miles to which was our fatal mistake though we kept a eye on her presently we saw a signal	39
but end on as flags are apt to be when the is dead up wind and the down we hung our answering at the dip to show that we saw but could not understand and up to the as fast as might be the first part of the signal was an order to close and the second expressed a desire to speak to us by our s faces were studies in gloom about this crisis and the sad moaning of the guns went on afar we learned that the flag had been trying to attract our attention for some time and did not appreciate our or words to that effect there is no excuse in the navy and we took what was served out to us by the in silence standing at attention to tell the truth we had been rather pleased with our practice and this sudden dash of cold water chilled us but there is a reason for all things now we must signal the name of the officer of the watch frantic of heart among the officers and the the had got beyond even despair on duty on friday morning last what the nature of their crime was we knew not and it was not ours to ask but later we heard it had something to do with a fleet in being chap somebody else s error we gave that information the flag could have learned much more if she had asked for it and i myself with a great forward where the wits of the were telling the of friday morning what sorts of death and awaited him we ve lost the game we ve lost the game said one man first come first served that shows it and with this dark saying i was forced to be content then the flag removed herself her sixty her four deep strings of and her grim truly was it written every day brings a ship every ship brings a word well for him who has no fear looking well assured that the word the vessel brings is the word that he would hear anon the over the horizon led by the powerful all save one and the powerful wished to know where that one had gone now the given us by the powerful could have been read in two ways we all knew how the mistake had arisen and with one exception had all repaired to the place which our leader had in her massive mind but there was no ship of course that could stand up to and gently rebuke the powerful save her sister ship the terrible who politely i suppose the is waiting at by you to this the powerful in a fleet in being stiffly with many flags when ships have any doubt about signal officers should reply not understood the terrible more politely than ever your signal perfectly understood meaning thereby my friend you made a mistake and you jolly well know it we small craft stood back and while this flew between the two the thing must have weighed on the powerful s mind for late that evening as we were going home she woke up and began talking about it in flashes from the mast head to the effect that when were obviously wrong ships should do something or other laid down in the astonishing the crowded channel traffic but really it made no difference the missing cast up presently with one and a aft which gave her a false air of being hurried and hot and home we all went to past the wolf and the edges of the astonishing the crowded channel traffic sometimes a full of curiosity or a full of the deep sea bound for one or other of the a german or frenchman and now and again a white sided brass for a few minutes every was in line then one saw the powerful pulling out for a sailing ship and half the horizon with her then a second class would from the line to all with her mast head her speed and sailing lights as the pale glimmer of a a fleet in being chap fishing s lantern crawled out of her and now it was our turn to give way that was a royal progress no blind man s off the or dreary game of hunt the needles such as the play but through the heavenly clear night the leisurely rolling slow march of the of all the seas ours by right of birth and the whole thing was my very own that is to say yours mine to me by right of birth mine were the speed and power of the not here only but the world over the hearts and brains and lives of the trained men such strength and such power as we and the world dare hardly guess at and holding this power in the hollow of my hand able at the word to the earth to my own advantage to gather me treasure and honour as men reckon honour i and a few million friends of mine because we were white men any other breed with this engine at their disposal would have used it savagely long ago in our hands it lay as harmless as the rods of the thus i stood astounded at my own moderation and counted up my possessions with most sinful pride the wind and the smell of it off the was mine and it was telling me things it would never dream of confiding to a foreigner the short hollow channel sea was mine bought for me drop by drop every salt drop of it in the last eight hundred years as short a time as it takes to make a perfect lawn in a cathedral close the speech on the deck below was mine for the men were free white men same as m a fleet in	39
being me only considerably better their notions of things were my notions of things and the bulk of those notions we could convey one to the other without opening our heads things one takes for granted we had a common tradition one thousand years old of the things one takes for granted a warrant officer said something and the groups melted quietly about some job or other that same caste of man that same type of voice was speaking in the in in in under double in the gulf on the rock at wherever else you please and the same instant obedience i knew would follow on that voice and a foreigner would never have understood will never understand but i understood as you would have understood had you been there i went round to make sure of my rights as a under d saw my men in my sleeping without their eyes four inches from the white glare of my electric heard my each other at my ash shoot and fetched up by a petty officer who was murmuring fragments of the riot act into my subordinate s attentive ear when he had entirely finished the task in hand he was at liberty to attend to me hope you ve enjoyed your trip sir you see i knew what was coming we haven t quite shaken down yet in another three months we shall be something like no ship is ever at her best till you leave her then you hold her up as a shining example to your present craft for that is england d a fleet in being chap my marine the in south american stood under the shadow of the looking like a stuffed man with an arm for purposes but i knew him on the human side goin off to morrow ain t you sir well there are only twenty of us ere but if you ever want to see the a lot of em it might perhaps be worth your while to and he gave me the address of a place where i would find plenty of he spoke as though his nineteen friends were no class animals and a foreigner would have taken him at his word a coffee the entire ward room explained carefully that their coffee must not be taken as a of the navy at its best wasn t she a good sea boat oh yes remarkably so couldn t she go on occasion oh yes she could go but after all she wasn t a patch on certain other craft being only a third class practically an enlarged a tin pot of the i now in my last ship the captain began that was an unlucky remark for i remembered that last ship and a certain first night aboard her in the long swell of s bay when the captain took heaven and earth and the to witness that of all up boxes of machinery and bags of tricks his new command was the worst to hear him now she must have been a trifle larger than the majestic with twice the power speed we are a people come and sec us next year when we ve in a fleet in being shaken down a bit said the ward room and you ll like it better that last was impossible but i accepted the offer our was about to at some or other in a few days and i gathered that it would be no fault of the captain the ward room or the warrant officers if she did not arrive with a list of alterations and improvements as long as her so it is with every new ship the dear boys take her out to see what she can do and in that process discover what she cannot do if by any arrangement or of stay steam pipe bridge boat or she can in their judgment be improved rest assured that the will know it by letter and voice she never gets more than half what she wants and so is careful to apply for thrice her needs discontented and thieves to her just and picturesque demands the yard the suspicion of centuries saying you are all a set of discontented and thieves go away the ship considering her own comfort and well being for the rest of the commission replies also ah you re thinking of the so and so she was a nest of if you like but we re good we re the most upright ship you ever clapped eyes on and you re the finest yard in the kingdom you re up to all the ropes there s no getting round you and you ll pass our we won t give you any trouble just a few minor and our own a fleet in being chap people will carry them out don t disturb yourself in the least send the stuff alongside and we ll attend to it and when the stuff comes alongside in charge of a slow minded they do attend to it they talk the man blind and dumb sack his and turn him adrift to study at his leisure then the first lieutenant like a cat the carpenter so called because he very rarely with wood the and the first class sweat with joy and the and hum but the gets particular beans because a great part of his stuff was meant for another ship and she is very angry about it stolen paint late in the afternoon the vessel sends over a boat to the early bird and wants to know if she has seen or heard anything of some oak a new grating some brass work and a few drums of white paint why was that yours says the first lieutenant we thought it was ours well it isn t it s ours where is it i m	39
awfully sorrow i say won t you come and have a drink they come just in time to see the brass rods in position the oak converted into some sort of boat furniture the platform receives their weary feet and a fine of paint from a flat forward tells them all they will ever know of the missing drums ni a fleet in being then they call the first lieutenant a and he poor lamb says that he was by the chuckle headed who brought the stuff alongside words cannot express the first lieutenant s it is too bad too bad but i you know what these can be with soft words and occasional gin and he the visitors into their boat again for he has studied under west african kings they return to their own place being young and and their reception is not cordial their captain says openly that he has not one adequate thief in the ship and that they had better go into the church they should have captured the early in the day he will speak to the other captain and he does like a brother next time he meets him passing going to call on the admiral you infernal old what have you done with my paint cries the robbed one me not me my brother that paint done gone finish this from the other the duck their heads to hide a grin and that is one of the ways they have in the navy see note i the early bird with a reputation that would sink a slave to try the same trick on or yard o a fleet in being chap a fortnight this and oh much more did my friends fore and aft convey to me in that fortnight when i was privileged to watch their labours i heard what a boy thinks of punishment and the man who reported him for it how a carpenter regards a what are the sentiments of a towards an admiral and of a towards the authorities who have designed his washing accommodation i overheard in the darkness of beautiful nights fragments of greek drama from the forward which it is my life s regret that i cannot make public lectures on all manner of curious things delivered by the ship s and totally reports of conversations with by a marine fire and collision general quarters and the like take on new meaning when they are translated for you once by the head who orders them and again by the tail who carry them out when you have been shown lovingly over a by an skilled in the working of its have a meaning and a reality for you to the end of your days men live there next time you see the blue ashore you do not stare you have watched him on his native heath you know what he eats and what he says and where he sleeps and how he is no m a fleet in being longer a but altogether such an one as yourself only as i have said better the naval officer chance met rather meek and self in at a party is a priest of the mysteries you have seen him by his with the lieutenant on the an lofty bridge his you have studied stars mast head angles range and such all the first lieutenant has enlightened you on his duties as an upper see note la and the have guided you through the giddy whirl of small arm getting up an anchor and taking out of a cable so it comes that next time you see even far off one of her majesty s all your heart goes out to her men live there chapter iv it was the captain s see note ii precise and adequate as ever who met the returning guest at a year later september this time my was not with the fleet but on urgent private affairs a had seen fit to sit on her ram for a minute or so in haven a few days before and had twisted it thirteen inches to the was as soon as possible and the admiral he said to us this i got from the as we drove to north corner by night through blue can you go round to with your nose in that state lord love you yes said we or words to that effect very good said the admiral then you go this we did at an average speed of sixteen knots through a head sea with a collision mat over our nose same mat we used when we tied up the sir and we ran her up to eighteen point two for a few hours to see how the would stand it the carpenter and the carpenter s mate yes they re the same as last year sir sat up to watch but nothing happened an now we re under orders to go back and join chap iv a fleet in being the fleet at we ve been all round england since august the record of a year once aboard the the past twelve months rolled up like a that one needs no longer the coffee welcomed me as a brother for by good luck no one had been changed the same faces greeted me in the little ward room and we fell to chattering like children had i seen the new fore and aft bridge that we had managed to screw out of the a great a superior we had worked in a little extra deck under the so that now the had a place to stand in which i would remember was not the case last year had i heard of our new record nearly fifty tons per hour which for a third class represented four times that amount for a had i heard of the that blew at	39
a and came on the fleet there were eight alike as peas to the and four big they were not or just then but their various arts and the fell in on the and with and all proper we paid our w ments as we ran past the of the waiting the admiral s word to he s given us a of our own under his wing too an officer shot down on to the while the of whose nose is that of a hawk kept an eye on the flag isn t there a four foot patch somewhere about here said a calm and disinterested voice the having brought her in did not need to a fleet in being chap with and our with their low cramped are no treat we told em about our in the said the bridge we told em so distinctly and they said we re very much obliged to you for the information and we ll make the changes you recommend in the next boat of your class that s what i call generosity does that ship always behave like that i asked from all three of a high the smoke of a london factory insulted the clean air oh no she s only burning like the rest of us she s our ship she s a new type she and the furious fleet they call em rather like aren t they the two had an air of backed ferocity strangely out of keeping with the normal reserve of a man of war the long and low looked meek and polite beside them but i was assured that she could blow them out of the water their own captains of course thought otherwise ashore in ireland all ireland was new to me and i went ashore to investigate s street of white houses to smell smoke and find dan owner of a car and ancient friend of the ward room in this quest me and the not less than half the male population of cork county the remainder being o s but we found dan at last iv a fleet in being ld with an eye and beautifully will i meet ye to morrow at mill at i will here s my hand an word on it will i ye to for the fishing i will there s my hand an word on it do i mean it don t i know the whole fleet man an boy for years he appeared at the appointed hour with a raw horse and wonderful of taken by the other gentlemen in the of our desire fourteen miles across the hills it was a day with a high wind bad for but good for the mere joy of life and the united ages of my companions reached forty five we were quite respectable till we cleared and such liberty men as might have been by our example then we sang and hung on to the car at impossible angles and swore eternal fidelity to the bare footed on the road they being no wise backward to return our vows and behaved ourselves much as all junior officers do when they escape on holiday it was a land of blue and grey mountains of raw green fields with black lines of and studded with of and and the pools of water great island dotted ran very far inland and bounding all to westward hung the line of atlantic such a country it was as without much imagination one could perceive its children in exile would for a land of small and pleasant green ways where nobody did more work than was urgent so a fleet in being chap iv roaring day of sun and wind at last we came on an black shut in by mountains locked and lonely and lashed into angry waves by a downward blast there was no special point in the fishing not even when the sub lieutenant tried to drown himself but the animal delight of that roaring day of sun and wind will live long in one memory we had it all to ourselves the purple flank of the long vista of the darkening as the shadows fell the smell of a new country and the tearing wind that brought down mysterious voices of men from somewhere high above us none but the irish can properly explain away failure we left with our dozen under the impression gave it that we had caught ten chapter v so home blown through and through with fresh air sore with hanging on to the car and laughing at nothing to dine with two captains aboard one of the big fleet my hosts had been friends since their days it is this of early training that gives to the navy its enduring and one leading to another i listened enchanted to weird in which chinese west coast chiefs counts dignity balls and all the queer people of the earth were mingled but it s a lonely life a lonely life said one i ve commanded a ship since eighty something and you see how could one help seeing between the and the rest of the world with very few exceptions lies the deep broad gulf that is only by and entering with reports a light tap a light foot a cap and rounds all correct sir then the silence and the loneliness settle down again e a fleet in being chap beyond the hanging red curtain in the white steel has it all in white jacket but it is to see with bodily eyes sometimes the talk gets serious and the faces discuss how they would i work her in a row each his opinion with side at his neighbour less heavily or more lightly but the general conclusion which i shall not give is nearly always the same it is a terrible power that they	39
these captains for saving the admiral there is no one that can dictate to them in the exercise of their business they make their ships as they make or the of their men yet mark how providence an check it is in the navy that you hear the wildest and of any service the most of the most comic of deeds that elsewhere might be judged heroic a service of things are all too deadly serious and important for any one to insult by taking seriously every branch of the service is forced to be a in spite of itself and by the time men reach the rank of captain the least have some saving sense of fun into them a captain remembers fairly well what song the were used to sing about the lieutenant what views he held in his own of his commander and what as a commander he thought of his captain if he forgets these matters as in heat on lonely v a fleet in being stations or broken with fever some men do then god help his ship when she comes home with a crop of court and all hands half crazy but to go back to methods of attack you can hear interesting talk among the when you sit on a man s of an afternoon surrounded by the home photographs with the tin bath and the walking sticks up overhead they are very directly concerned in war for they have charge of the guns and they at large and carelessly we i speak for our are not to swear in the words of the lieutenant because we do not carry those but we do all devoutly believe that it is the business of a to shoot much and often see note iii what follows is of course nonsense the merest idle of equals over but rightly read it has its significance the first thing to do says authority aged twenty one is to be knocked silly by in the tower then you revive when all the other are dead and win a victory off your own bat a la illustrated papers wake up in a month later with your girl your forehead and telling you you ve wiped out the whole fleet catch me in the tower not much says twenty three those bow guns of yours will stop every shot that it an the upper bridge will come down on you in three minutes don t see that you re any better off in the waist you d get the and and all the upper on top of you anyhow is the retort we re a lot too full of wood even with our boats out of the way a fleet in being chap the s good enough for me says twenty four that is his station fine light airy place and we can get our than you can forward what s the use of that says he in charge of the bow guns you ve got those deck just under you fancy a smitten on the nose by one little shell you d go up so d you she d blow the middle out of herself if they took those away we could have a couple more four there there d be heaps of room for their in the magazine guns and we are blessed with a pair of deck which weigh about ten tons and are the of our lives our class is a compromise and the have generously put in a little bit of everything but public opinion except the is unanimous in those dangerous and are all rot on this class unless they re two more four ud be a lot better they re as handy as duck guns i say did you see that last of mine burst over the i laid it myself twenty three looks round for applause but the other guns that s all luck says twenty one mine burst just beyond it would have been dead right for an end on shot it would have her v a fleet in being just on the engine room sound place that it up the engines says somewhere that fighting is going to pay with our low because most shots go wrong in elevation of course on a shell that you you clean it don t go along your upper works as it would if you were end on oh i meant my shot for an end on shot of course says twenty one and some one promptly sits on him bearing in a gale n says twenty four what we really want if we ever go into a row is weather lots of it good old regular then we could run in and em while it s thick i believe in that belief by the way is curiously general in the navy d you mean to say you d ram with a tea tray like ours i m glad you aren t the i interrupt oh he d like a shot if he saw his chance of course he wouldn t anything our size it ud be cheaper to hammer her but take the he named a ship that does not fly our flag if you got in on her almost anywhere she d turn and she cost about a million and a quarter it s just a question of l s d and what ud we do afterwards please ah that s our strong point what happened when that drifted down on us at a fleet in being chap it only improved our steaming power didn t it we re a regular of forward i believe you could off twenty foot of her forward and she d get home somehow says an expert bit says twenty one that ship you talked of is awfully up but all her are pretty weak if you could in a	39
may move him to chat with you and if your best have not his best at his best eye and the admiral be forced to repeat his remarks you will hear about it at closer range the of an admiral the loneliness of a captain is society beside the of an admiral he goes up on the and moves some worth of iron and steel at his pleasure no man can stop him few ch vi a fleet in being dare even suggest then comes the sea as it did round the and a little roaring marked with a few hair lines on the a tide racing between his stately and drives them lightly out of all formation one never a clergyman with st paul but one cannot look at an admiral without on our succession of the sea with these powers were clothed and the rest all and this particular piece of flesh and blood is of the same order and rank and breed and the admiral in command of the channel fleet and now it is peace yes i have enjoyed my visit very much thank you sir but if war came to morrow what would he do how would he think what does he think about now he would go up on the bridge with the flag lieutenant and the ships would be cleared for action no i ve never seen a at work and then and then it was a strange dinner for one guest at least with its flowers and crystal and quiet conversation the band playing on deck and the lights of the fleet twinkling all down the bay there was a prince in it who was also a flag captain and he set one thinking and there were and in it and it was all very pretty and gracious but between me and the rose a vision of last year s play war a battle ship cleared for action naked and grim like a man swimming with a knife between his teeth a wet and streaming thundering through heavy rain seas a fleet in being chap dinner in a gun room well now you ve done that said twenty one suppose you come and dine in a gun room we have none on the being all ward room with a cabin apiece i ll you to the best gun room in the fleet we ll show you so we went twenty one and me to another huge precisely like the admiral s but this time captains and were invisible or showed only as superior far along the decks we dealt with nothing above the rank of sub lieutenant and the greetings of that grade are cordial and warm down below it was twice the size of our ward room we found their gun room which in and from everything conceived but i think the old spirit of the twenty odd inhabitants a dozen at least were and therefore as twenty one explained didn t count they talked among themselves in subdued eager whispers dropping in to the meal as they came off duty the senior sub lieutenant quite nineteen years old was responsible for the justly discipline and it is no small thing to reduce to silence boys of sixteen to eighteen all full of natural and acquired but it was done according to the custom of the navy and the etiquette of the gun room whose laws change not vi a fleet in being here the young to obey in silence and at a run he has been broken in on the but the gun room gives him enduring polish the admiral knows a rather as the almighty knows a the captain knows him as the head of might know a babe in a the first lieutenant knows him as the head of the games knows a in the lower third but the senior sub lieutenant of the gun room knows him as a brand to be snatched from the burning and works over him accordingly in return the the admiral at a safe distance is superior to his captain also at a safe distance sings time honoured about the first lieutenant at a very safe distance but most strictly the senior sub lieutenant for seven years counting his time in the he dresses at a chest and sleeps in a getting to know himself and his associates with that deadly intimacy that only in the navy there are no excuses in his service he must not answer back and he must do what he is told not immediately but sooner much sooner these are the years that weed out those that have mistaken their calling the go home and curse the navy the virtuous stay on and learn to steal brass for their boats learn to y smoke secretly in the fighting tops they are forbidden tobacco till eighteen fall into and out of all manner of tight places that require dexterity and a cheek of cold drawn brass pick up f a fleet in being chap more than they learn under the from the talk of the warrant officers and men and the carefully watched mistakes of their elders and when they reach rank impart their lore to their with a a republic and a if white jacket had not served before the mast what a picture he might have given us of the it is at once a republic and a the extreme left and the centre of old tradition it is always in hot water it can and does with point and freedom anything and everything on its horizon from fleet to the fit of an s collar merciless is the but it preserves discipline the senior sub lieutenant one could not help thinking of o when he cured peter of the sea sickness stuck a fork into the equivalent for a beam overhead	39
ere it ceased the had gone flitting like had flung themselves backwards from their seats and were through the door that s when we think the conversation might hurt their little morals said my host but they can move much quicker than that make em do it again said twenty one a three years ago you re getting awfully slack think what do you do when he presented a oh then we the sub lieutenant described the course of action with minute adding wouldn t you like to see it done vi a fleet in being set it to my account that i saved somebody s darling from being to make a gun room holiday but the have an asylum of their own in the school room where i was assured they were worked within an inch of their lives the remnant seemed unusually healthy for when we went out to visit a big smoking concert on the i caught glimpses of youths in dumb show round their not being privileged to have speech with them i asked twenty one what the of might be he gave me to understand that stirring a nest with the bare toe was tame and pale beside too thoroughly the junior members of the gun room had himself been concerned in such we got licked of course he concluded cheerfully but the let us alone after that wasn t it a beautifully mess though i wish you could see em at sea in weather there s a he used the other term told off to every to open it between waves if he lets in any water of course he catches it i had about five years of that sort of thing well now we ll go over to the concert uncle henry s smoking concert said a shrill voice casually are you goin to our uncle henry s show to night think i ought to i don t want him to think i m cutting him besides he d like to meet one zealous an efficient officer it ud cheer him up a fleet in being chap i whipped round to see two small boys of blank countenances studying the deck beams it was conceivable that uncle henry might be the admiral s but could two i fled lest the ship should blow up under me and left those zealous and efficient ones to their dignity imagine a quarter deck seventy five feet wide and a hundred and twenty long over with flags and a triple row of white and purple the bands of the fleet at the far end and all the rest from the stern to the snowy a whirl of of all ranks captains with and without officers of in their blue faced mess with the globe on the clerks and the others a shifting carpet of blue and gold and red and black the of the forty six ton guns up above us and high over all on the top of the which was disguised with flags and carpets sat the admiral it was an amazing spectacle the fleet at play and for some reason it made me choke one recovered here men last met at the other end of the word at or and in her majesty s men of war then we danced for this also is the custom of the navy that when a man has been working like several all day he should on chance given dance and that is why the naval man dances so well he begins as i have seen on the whose decks are fairly open then he dances on such occasions as these in and out among all the of a s deck vi a fleet in being makes us awfully handy with our feet said twenty one himself in the pauses of a won t you take a turn no end good exercise no i m afraid of the ladies i replied they are rather solid said twenty one as a post captain reversed on to his toes my partner doesn t protect me as a gentleman should he threw me at a just now how in the course of their work they had saved up enough energy for this diversion was beyond me they danced fair heel and toe a couple of hours for the sheer downright exercise of it and they were by no means all youths in the game either we dropped panting into the boats and saw behind us the whole gay show fade and twinkle out the had returned to her ordinary business to morrow she would take us back to on our speed trials no coal isn t it scandalous isn t it perfectly said an officer after we had got under way pointing to the foul greasy columns of smoke that poured from every her majesty s channel if you please under steam burning horse it was a sickening sight we could have been seen thirty miles off a curtain of cloud and with bits of burning rubbish and of the first lieutenant looked at the beach of up on his and blessed the of wales the j a fleet in being chap chief engineer merely said you never know your luck in the navy put on his most ancient and was no more seen in the likeness of a christian man fate had hit him hard for just as his fires were at their pink of perfection a chose to get up her anchor by hand us an hour and the well cherished no this must have been an jest needs a lot of chimney sweeps on the high seas but we were not quite such an exhibition as the she showed like works in full blast as we swept out of and headed south for the then up came the see note vi a beautiful boat giving easily to the swell that was	39
if he fails in all the ship dies a prisoner to the set of the sea a gift to the nearest enemy and as i have seen him he is infinitely patient and however it might have been in the old days when men clung to sticks and strings and the generation bred to pole know that he is the king pin of their system our assistant engineer had been with the engines from the beginning and one night he told me their story utterly unconscious that there was anything out of the way in the noble little tale no end good men it was his business so to arrange that no single demand from the bridge should go for more than five seconds to that ideal he toiled with his chief a black demon in his vi a fleet in being working hours and a quiet student of professional papers in his scanty leisure an they come into the ward room says twenty one and you know they ve been having a young hell of a time down below but they never growl at us or get or anything no end good men i swear they are thank you twenty one i said i ll let that stand for the whole navy if you don t mind notes note i paint and a ship who attempted to dress on her service allowance of paint would in three months be as as a battery or regiment which kept its mess or band on the strict army footing therefore over and above anything that they may secure by and foresight the officers must dip into their own pockets to supply the many trifles none of them cheap which make for the of a ship this was forcibly brought home to me when i admired a shield and work at p the bows of a large yes said a friend it takes about fifty books of gold leaf to that decently no seventy said another how d you know well somebody s got to it and the yard don t give you seventy books for nothing was the significant reply if there were any means of reckoning the tax would be somewhat astonished at the sums spent by navy and army for the privilege of serving the queen both services have curious and tale bearing on this head note ia as the comfort and of the ship not to mention the captain s peace of mind depend on the first lieutenant the captain as a rule takes good care to pick his own man here notes are a few of the first lieutenant s duties he must act as a between the captain and the ship holding back the passing on the vital that is to say he must be a subtle and editor he must make all his arrangements for the ordering and disposition of every soul aboard through the next day week or month with the cheerful that the bulk of them will be knocked into a naval cocked hat by the of the service he must then retire into himself with a pack of printed cards one for each man and work out the whole puzzle afresh at the same time he must not allow his own irritation to affect his dealings with the whose official head he is and whose members are a his and b gentlemen of leisure assembled of an evening for a quiet rubber he must get the utmost out of them not by the menace of his authority because that means a up sooner or later but because of their genuine liking for him as an individual the is young very male and unable to avoid meeting itself every day and all day long you will that a certain amount of tact may be necessary in handling it he must further see with those eyes which he is to wear at the back of his head that no warrant or petty officer no ship s or master at arms is authority to spite some man or boy he must still further see that no official yielding to a natural desire for popularity is quietly letting down the discipline of the lower deck he must know the captain s mind seventeen and two thirds seconds before the captain opens his mouth because he will need that time to think out arrangements to meet the order he must be the soul of and honour but he must grasp the and the of every trick and trap sprung on him twenty times a day in the captain s absence he is the visitors host and and as visitors in harbour may range from to his manners must be in the sense of the word finally at all where the blue goes there must he lead leaping the larger abyss standing nearer to the danger walking the more slippery enduring longer the exposure and through it all he must keep the cool eye and balanced head of authority and the public is surprised when a naval officer proves that he is a notes note ii and the captain s is always an important person as a rule the captain has known him for a long time often for ten or fifteen years and the man follows his superior s fortunes with loyalty till he blossoms into the dignity of of the admiral s beside whom are not even three a penny he is by virtue of his office the man in the ship and by training becomes a clean shaved miracle of tact and discretion each boat s crew have a life of their own a little world into which they enter picking up where they left off so soon as or leaves the ship s side but i fancy the de corps is most strongly developed in the captain s on one occasion we had been out all day fishing and the wind forced	39
us to row the long seven miles back to the fleet against the tide round rocky points fringed with conflicting currents it was a and sea leaden grey in the twilight except where the cast up and of half white a three hours journey by the incessant dry roar and rattle of the surf around and the answering growl of the waves on the i watched the machine digging out over the steep pitched cross waters eight pair of shoulders rising and falling against the first stars and the smoke of spray about the bows till every muscle in me ached out of sympathy thrice they were invited to rest themselves for they had been ten hours at work and there was six hundred pounds dead weight of fish in the boat and thrice they replied oh we can on like this sir so they with never a quiver or a through all the tumble and when we reached still water under the lee of the ships they up the avenue as though returning from a call on the half a mile away i demanded of the how this thing was done oh you get used to it said he besides that wasn t anything particular sometimes you have the boat half full of water jumping out and coming down like a hammer that s the time you learn to row notes i see why didn t some of you miss your stroke in that tumble coming round the point when we took the water over the bows well still the same smile if you did that why you wouldn t be in the there s all the other boats to practise that in you ve never seen her properly under sail have you for sheer luxury of motion commend me to a which has just taken on a brother captain s craft for a small walk down the bay the is simplicity itself there is a man to every rope that with anything and the most highly trained shifting in the world spread low between the the wave of the hand note iii the art of many men will tell you that our ships are under so they are on paper but on paper a gun merely represents a sticking out of the side one does not see the little group of from three to nine men who work it in action the that it or the pile of live shell and that would lie beside it these things take up space and the more space you supply the less will the gun be disconcerted by its own or a neighbour s disaster our people do not like to work in crowds they prefer as we do ashore to manage their own little shows alone the effect of wounded men kicking and in a crowded secondary battery is bad for cool besides which and servants might be the workers in their efforts to get the wounded below on an open deck with fair intervals between the guns the wounded can be moved out of the way at once and if the gun itself by any chance be dismounted there is a margin of safety for its and room for a working party to take charge of it i am speaking now of light behind the knowledge that one lucky shot might wreck two or three guns together does not make for happiness this is why our guns are comparatively notes few in number but exceedingly handy to work a ship knows of course exactly where the crowd would of necessity be gathered in any craft opposed to her two or three shots in a nest of crowded guns open and piles of ready will do more moral and intellectual damage than the of one or two guns in a line strung from bow to stern note iv you must understand here that the was not only our central authority but s agency as well and that between orders for were little pieces of news from the world ashore one peaceful morning the of came to the captain s cabin at the pace but with heightened colour and an eye something brighter than usual signal from the sir said he reading off the slate fallen killed so many and wounded so many thank you said the captain tell the men on this i went forward to see how the news would be received we were busy painting some deck houses and the work continued to an accompaniment of subdued voices the hushed tones of men under the eye of authority word was passed to the lower deck and the and the hum of talk rose perhaps half a note i halted by the painters said one dipping deep in the white lead urn ah this ought to make the french almost ear em can t you said another reaching out for the and brush i say lend us that brush o yours after a long pause stepping back to catch the effect of a peculiarly stroke head a little aside and one eye shut well we ve waited about long enough t we s mate with a fine mixture of official severity and human what are you for over there carry on quiet can t you and that was how we took the news of the little called notes note v boat racing our would go out between lights under pretence of but really for the purpose of insulting other whom she had beaten in inter ship boat racing is to the what horse racing is to the the way of it is simple when your racing crew is in proper condition you row under the bows of the ship you wish to challenge and throw up an oar if you are very confident or have a long string of to your credit you borrow a cock from the hen and make him	39
him across his own dinner table he feared the bridge and all who spoke in its name then there was the c that came in the night to the village by the bridge works and after the the small the fever they had always with them had been appointed a magistrate of the third class with powers for the better government of the and watched him his powers learning what to overlook and what to look after it was a long long reverie and it covered storm sudden death in every manner and shape violent and awful rage against red half a mind that knows it should be busy on other things birth wedding burial and not in the village of twenty argument persuasion and the blank despair that a man goes to bed upon thankful that his rifle is all in pieces in the gun case behind everything rose the black frame of the plate by plate by span by and each pier of it recalled the bridge the all round man who had stood hy his chief without failing from the very first to this last so the was two men s unless one counted certainly himself he was a a from familiar with every port between and london who had risen to the rank of on the british india boats but of routine and clean clothes had thrown up the service and gone inland where men of his were sure of employment for his knowledge of tackle and the handling of heavy was worth almost any price he might have chosen to put upon his services but custom the of the and was not within many silver pieces of his proper value neither running water nor extreme heights made him afraid and as an ex he knew how to hold authority no piece of iron was so big or so badly placed that could not devise a tackle to lift it a loose ended arrangement with a scandalous amount of talking but perfectly equal to the work in hand it was who had saved the of number seven pier from destruction when the new wire rope in the eye of the and the huge plate in its threatening to slide out sideways then the native workmen lost their heads with great and s right arm was broken by a falling t plate and he it up in his coat and and came to and directed for four hours till from the top of the reported all s well and the plate home there was no one like to lash and and hold to the bridge control the donkey to a fallen out of the borrow pit into which it had tumbled to strip and if need be to see how the blocks round the stood the of mother or to adventure up stream on a night and report on the state of the he would interrupt the field of and without fear till his wonderful english or his still more wonderful half and half ran out and he was forced to take string and show the knots that he recommend he controlled his own gang of mysterious relatives from gathered month by month and tried to the no consideration of or kin allowed to keep weak hands or a giddy head on the pay roll my honour is the honour of this bridge he would say to the about to be dismissed what do i care for your honour and w on a steamer that is all you are fit for the little cluster of huts where he and his gang lived round the tattered dwelling of a sea one who had never set foot on black water but had been chosen as ghostly by two generations of all unaffected by port or those which are thrust upon sailors by along thames bank the priest of the had nothing to do with their caste or indeed with anything at all he ate the of his church and slept and smoked and slept again for said who had him a thousand miles inland he is a very holy man he never c what you eat so long as you do not eat beef and that is the bridge good because on land we worship we but at sea on the s boats we attend strictly to the orders of the the first mate and on this bridge we observe what says had that day given orders to clear the from the guard tower on the right bank and with his mates was casting loose and lowering down the poles and as swiftly as ever they had whipped the cargo out of a from his he could hear the whistle of the s silver pipe and the and clatter of the was standing on the of the tower clad in the blue of his abandoned service and as to him to be careful for his was no life to throw away he the last pole and his eyes ship fashion answered with the long drawn wail of the fo c ham hai am looking out laughed and then sighed it was years since he had seen a steamer and he was sick for home as his passed under the tower descended by a rope fashion and cried it looks well now our bridge is all but done what think you mother will say when the rail runs over she has said little so far it was never mother that delayed us there is always time for her and none the less there has been delay has the forgotten last autumn s flood when the stone boats were sunk without or only a half day s warning tes but nothing save a big flood could hurt us now the spurs are holding well on the west bank the bridge mother eats great there is always room for more stone on the i tell this to the	39
he meant and he laughs no matter another year thou wilt be able to build a bridge in thine own fashion the grinned then it will not be in this with sunk under water as the was sunk i like pen bridges that fly from bank to bank with one big step like a gang plank then no water can hurt when does the lord come to open the li three months when the weather is cooler he is like the he sleeps below while the work is being done then he comes upon the quarter deck and touches with his finger and says this is not clean i dam t but the lord does not call me a dam no but he does not come on deck till the work is all finished even the of the said once at i am busy i also i said with an countenance may i take the light now and row along the spurs to hold them with thy hands they are i think sufficiently heavy nay it is thus at sea on the black water we have room to be blown up and down without care here we have no room at all look you we have put the river into a dock and run her between stone the bridge smiled at the we we have and her she is not like the sea that can beat against a soft beach she is mother in irons his voice fell a little thou hast been up and down the world more even than i speak true talk now how much dost thou in thy heart believe of mother all that our priest says london is london is and port is port also mother is mother and when i come back to her banks i know this and worship in london i did to the big temple by the river for the sake of the god within yes i will not take the cushions in the mounted his horse and trotted to the shed of a that he shared with his assistant the place had become home to him in the last three years he had in the heat in the rains and shivered with fever imder the rude roof the lime wash beside the door was covered with rough drawings and and the path trodden in the of the showed where he had walked alone there is no eight hour limit to an engineer s work and the evening meal with was eaten and over their cigars they listened to the hum of the village as the came up from the river bed and the lights began to twinkle has gone up the spurs in your he s taken a couple of with him and he s in the stem like a said that s all right he s got something on his mind the bridge you d think that ten years in the british india boats would have knocked most of his religion out of him so it has said i overheard him the other day in the middle of a most talk with that fat old of theirs denied the of prayer and wanted the to go to sea and watch a gale out with him and see if he could stop a all the same if you off his he d leave us like a shot he was away to me about praying to the dome of st paul s when he was in london he told me that the first time he went into the engine room of a steamer when he was a boy he prayed to the low pressure not half a bad thing to pray to either he s his own now and he wants to know what mother will think of a bridge being run across her who s there a shadow darkened the doorway and a ram was put into s hand she ought to be pretty well used to it by this time only a tar it ought to be s answer about the new great heavens i to his feet what is it said the senior and took the form that what mother thinks is it he said reading keep cool young un we ve got all our work cut out for us let s see half an hour ago floods on the well that gives one nine and a half for the flood to reach and seven s sixteen and a half to say fifteen hours before it comes down to us the bridge curse that hill fed of a this is two months before anything could have been expected and the left bank is up with stuff still two full months before the time i that s why it comes i ve only known indian rivers for five and twenty years and i don t pretend to understand here comes another far opened the this time from the canal heavy rains here bad he might have saved the last word well we don t want to know any more we ve got to work the all night and dean up the river bed tou take the east bank and work out to meet me in the middle get every thing that below the bridge we shall have quite enough coming down adrift anyhow without letting the stone boats ram the what have you got on the east that needs looking after one big with the overhead on it t other overhead on the mended with the cart road from twenty to twenty three construction lines and a turning spur the must take its chance said all right roll up everything you can lay hands on we give the gang fifteen minutes more to eat their close to the stood a big night never used except for flood or fire in the village had called for a fresh horse and was off to his side of the	39
bridge when took the cloth bound stick and smote with the rubbing stroke that brings out the full thunder of the metal the bridge long before the last ceased every night in the had taken up the warning to these were added the hoarse screaming of in the little temples the throbbing of drums and tom and from the european quarters where the lived s a weapon of offence on and desperately calling to stables engine after engine toiling home along the spurs at the end of her day s work whistled in answer till the were answered from the far bank then the big thundered thrice for a sign that it was flood and not fire drum and whistle echoed the call and the village quivered to the sound of bare feet running upon soft earth the order in all cases was to stand by the day s work and wait instructions the poured by in the dusk men stopping to knot a cloth or fasten a gang shouting to their as they ran or paused by the tool issue sheds for bars and creeping down their tracks wheel deep in the crowd till the brown torrent disappeared into the dusk of the river bed over the along the clustered by the and stood each man in his place then the troubled beating of the carried the order to take up everything and bear it beyond mark and the lamps broke out by the hundred between the of dull iron as the began a night s work racing against the flood that was to come the of the three centre those that stood on the were all but in position they needed just as many as could be driven into them the bridge for the flood would assuredly wash out their and the would settle down on the caps of stone if they were not blocked at the ends a hundred strained at the of the temporary line that fed the unfinished it was heaved up in loaded into and backed up the bank beyond flood level by the the tool sheds on the sands melted away before the attack of shouting armies and with them went the ranks of stores iron boxes of parts of the machines spare and chains the big would be the last to be shifted for she was all the heavy stuff up to the main structure of the bridge the blocks on the fleet of stone boats were dropped where there was any depth of water to guard the and the empty boats themselves were imder the bridge down stream it was here that s pipe for the first stroke of the big had brought the back at racing speed and and his people were stripped to the waist working for the honour and credit which axe better than life i knew she would speak he cried i knew but the telegraph gives us good warning o sons of children of unspeakable we here for the look of the thing it was two feet of wire rope at the ends and it did wonders as leaped from to shouting the language of the sea was more troubled for the stone boats a i i la w i the bridge than anything else with his was up the ends of the three doubtful but boats adrift if the flood chanced to be a high one might the and there was a very fleet in the channel get them behind the swell of the guard tower he shouted down to it will be dead water there get them below the bridge very good i know we are them with wire rope was the answer i listen to the he is working hard from across the river came an almost continuous whistling of backed by the of stone at the last minute was spending a few hundred more of stone in his spurs and the bridge mother said with a laugh but when she talks i know whose voice will be the for hours the naked men worked screaming and shouting imder the lights it was a hot night the end of it was darkened by clouds and a sudden that made very grave she said just before the dawn mother is he dipped his hand over the side of a boat and the current on it a little wave hit the side of a pier with a crisp slap six time said his forehead savagely now we can t depend on anything we d better clear all hands out of the river bed the bridge again the big beat and a second time there was the rushing of naked feet on earth and ringing iron the clatter of tools ceased in the silence men heard the dry of water crawling over thirsty sand after shouted to who had posted himself by the guard tower that his section of the river bed had been cleaned out and when the last voice dropped hurried over the bridge till the iron of the permanent way gave place to the temporary plank walk over the three centre and there he met a clear your side said the whisper rang in the box of tes and the east channel s filling now we re utterly out of our reckoning when is this thing down there s no saying she s filling as fast as she can pointed to the below his feet where the sand burned and by months of work was beginning to whisper and what orders said call the count sit on your and pray for the bridge that s all i can think of d night don t risk your life trying to fish out anything that may go down stream oh i be as prudent as you night heavens how she s filling i here s the rain in earnest picked his way back to his bank sweeping the last of s before him the	39
had spread themselves along the regardless of the cold rain of the dawn and there they waited the bridge for the flood only kept his men together behind the swell of the guard tower where the stone boats lay tied fore and aft with wire rope and chains a shrill wail ran along the line growing to a yell half fear and half wonder the face of the river from bank to bank between the stone and the spurs went out in of foam mother had come bank high in haste and a wall of water was her messenger there was a shriek above the roar of the water the complaint of the coming down on their blocks as the were whirled out from under their the stone boats groaned and each other in the that the and their clumsy rose higher and higher against the dim sky line before she was shut between these walls we knew what she would do now she is thus cramped god only knows what she will do said watching the furious turmoil the guard tower oh l fight then i fight hard for it is thus that a woman wears herself out but mother would not fight as desired after the first down stream plunge there came no more walls of water but the river lifted herself bodily as a snake when she drinks in and along the and up behind the till even began to the strength of his work when day came the village ed only last night men said turning to each other it was as a town in the river bed look now i the bridge and they looked and wondered at the deep water the racing water that licked the throat of the the farther bank was veiled by rain into which the bridge ran out and vanished the spurs up stream were marked by no more than and and down un the pent river once freed of her guide lines had spread like a sea to the horizon then hurried by rolling in the water dead men and oxen together with here and there a patch of roof that melted when it touched a pier big flood said and nodded it was as big a flood as he had any wish to watch his bridge would stand what was upon her now but not very much more and if by any of a thousand chances there happened to be a weakness in the mother would carry his honour to the sea with the other worst of all there was nothing to do except to sit still and sat still imder his till his became on his head and his boots were over ankle in mire he took no count of time for the river was marking the hours inch by inch and foot by foot along the and he listened and hungry to the straining of the stone boats the hollow thunder under the and the hundred noises that make the full note of a flood once a dripping servant brought him food but he could not eat and once he thought that he heard a faint from a ck the river and then he smiled the bridge s failure would hurt his assistant not a little but was a yoimg man with his big work yet to do for himself the crash meant everything that made a the bridge hard worth the they would bay the men of his own profession he remembered the things that he had said when i b new burst and broke down in and and s spirit broke in him and he died he remembered what he himself had said when the bridge went out in the big by the and most he remembered poor b face three weeks later when the shame had marked it his bridge was twice the size of b and it carried the as well as the new pier the bolted shoe there were no excuses in his service government might listen perhaps but his own kind would judge him by his bridge as that stood or fell he went over it in his head plate by plate span by span brick by brick pier by pier remembering comparing and lest there should be any mistake and through the long hours and through the flights of that danced and wheeled before him a cold fear would come to pinch his heart his side of the waa beyond question but what man knew mother s even as he was making all sure by the table the river might be a pot hole to the very bottom of any one of those eighty foot that carried his reputation again a servant came to him with food but his mouth was dry and he could only drink and return to the in his brain and the river was still rising in a mat shelter coat crouched at his feet watching now his face and now the face of the river but saying nothing jn the bridge at last the rose and through the mud towards the village but he was careful to leave an ally to watch the boats presently he returned most driving before him the priest of his a fat old man with a grey beard that whipped the wind with the wet cloth that blew over his shoulder never was seen so lamentable a what good are and little lamps and dry grain shouted if in the mud is all that thou do thou hast dealt long with the when they were contented and well wishing now they are angry speak to them what is a man against the wrath of gk ds the priest as the wind took him let me go to the temple and i will pray there son of a pig pray here is there no return for salt fish and powder and dried call i tell mother we have had enough	39
bid her be still for the night i cannot pray but i have been serving in the s boats and when men did not obey my orders i a flourish of the wire rope the sentence and the priest breaking free from his fled to the village fat pig said after all that we have done for him when the flood is down i will see to it that we get a new it for night now and since yesterday nothing has been eaten be wise no man can endure watching and great thinking on an empty belly lie down the river will do what the river will do the bridge the bridge is mine i cannot leave it thou hold it up with thy hands then said laughing i was troubled for my boats and the flood came now we are in the hands r of the the will not eat and lie down take these then they are meat and good together and they kill all weariness besides the fever that follows the rain i have eaten nothing else to day at all he took a small tin tobacco box from his and thrust it into s hand saying do not be afraid it is no more than i shook two or three of the dark brown into his hand and hardly knowing what he did swallowed them the stuff was at least a good guard against the fever that was creeping upon him out of the wet and he had seen what could do in the mists of autumn on the strength of a dose from the tin box nodded with bright eyes in a in a little the will find that he thinks well again i too he into his treasure box the rain coat over his head and down to watch the boats it was too dark now to see beyond the first pier and the night seemed to have given the river new strength stood with his chin on his chest thinking there was one point about one of the the that he had not fully settled in his mind the figures would not shape themselves to the eye except one by one and at enormous intervals of time the bridge there was a sound rich and mellow in his ears like the deepest note of a double an sound upon which he pondered for several hours as it seemed then was at his elbow shouting that a wire had snapped and the stone boats were loose saw the fleet open and swing out to a long drawn shriek of wire straining across a tree hit them they will all go cried the main has parted what does the do an immensely complex plan had suddenly flashed into s mind he saw the ropes running from boat to boat in straight lines and each rope a line of white but there was one rope which was the master rope he could see that rope if he could pull it once it was absolutely and certain that the disordered fleet would itself in the behind the guard tower but why he wondered was clinging so desperately to his waist as he hastened down the bank it was necessary to put the aside gently and slowly because it was necessary to save the boats and further to the extreme ease of the problem that looked so difficult and but it was of no conceivable a through his hand burning it the high bank disappeared and with it all the slowly of the problem he was sitting in the rainy sitting in a boat that spun like a top and was standing over him i had forgotten said the slowly that to those and unused the is worse than any wine those who die in go to the gods still i the bridge have no desire to present myself before such great ones can the swim what need fly as swiftly as the wind was the thick answer he is mad muttered imder his breath and he threw me aside like a bundle of cakes well he will not know his death the boat cannot live an hour here even if she strike nothing it is not good to look at death with a clear eye he refreshed himself again from the tin box down in the bows of the and craft staring through the mist at the nothing that was there a warm crept over the chief whose duty was with his bridge the heavy struck him with a thousand little and the weight of all time since time was made hung heavy on his eyelids he thought and perceived that he was perfectly secure for the water was so solid that a man could surely step out upon it and standing still with his legs apart to keep his this was the most important would be borne with great and easy speed to the shore but yet a better plan came to him it needed only an exertion of will for the soul to the body ashore as wind drives paper to it fashion to the thereafter the boat suppose the high wind got under the freed body would it tower up like a and pitch headlong on the far away sands or would it duck about beyond control through all eternity the to anchor himself for it seemed that he was on the edge of taking the flight be the bridge fore he had settled all his plans has more effect on the white man than the black was only comfortably indifferent to accidents she cannot live he her open already if she were even a with u s we could have ridden it out but a box with holes is no good she fills i am going away come thou also in his mind had already escaped from the boat and was high in air to find a rest for	39
the sole of his foot his he was really sorry for its gross lay in the stem the water rushing about its knees how very ridiculous he said to himself from his is chief of the bridge the poor beast is going to be drowned too drowned when it close to shore i m i m on shore already why does n t it come along to his intense disgust he found his soul back in his body again and that body and choking in deep water the pain of the was but it was necessary also to fight for the body he was conscious of grasping wildly at wet sand and as one strides in a dream to keep in the water till at last he hauled himself dear of the hold of the river and dropped panting on wet earth not this night said in his ear the gods have protected us the moved his feet cautiously and they among dried this is some island of last year s crop he went on we shall find no men here but have great care the bridge all the of a hundred miles have been out here comes the lightning on the heels of the wind now we shall be able to look but walk carefully was far and far beyond any fear of or indeed any merely emotion he saw after he had rubbed the water from his eyes with an immense clearness and trod so it seemed to himself with strides somewhere in the night of time he had built a a bridge that of shining seas but the had swept it away leaving this one island imder heaven for and his sole of the breed of man an incessant lightning and blue showed all that there was to be seen on the little patch in the flood a of thorn a of swaying creaking and a grey a shrine from whose dome floated a tattered red flag the holy man whose summer resting place it was had long since abandoned it and the weather had broken the image of his god the two men stumbled and heavy eyed over the ashes of a brick set cooking place and dropped down under the shelter of the branches while the rain and river roared together the of the and there was a smell of cattle as a huge and dripping bull shouldered his way under the tree the flashes revealed the mark of on his flank the insolence of head and the luminous like eyes the brow crowned with a wreath of and the that almost swept the there the bridge was a noise behind him of other beasts coming up from the flood line through the thicket a sound of heavy feet and deep breathing here be more beside ourselves said his head the tree pole looking through half shut eyes wholly at ease truly said thickly and no small ones what are they then i do not see clearly the gods who else look ah true i the gods surely the gods smiled as his head fell forward on his chest was eminently right after the flood who should be alive in the land except the gods that made it the to whom his village prayed the gods who were in all men s mouths and about all men s ways he could not raise his head or stir a finger for the trance that held him and was smiling at the lightning the bull paused by the shrine his head lowered to the damp earth a green in the branches his wet wings and screamed against the thunder as the circle under the tree filled with the shifting shadows of beasts there was a black buck at the bull s such a buck as in his far away life upon earth might have seen in a buck with a royal head back silver belly and gleaming straight horns beside him her head bowed to the ground the green eyes burning under the heavy brows with restless tail the dead grass paced a full and deep the bull crouched beside the shrine and there leaped from the darkness a monstrous grey who seated himself man wise in the place of the fallen image and the bridge the rain like jewels from the hair of his neck and shoulders other shadows came and went behind the circle among them a drunken man flourishing staff and then a hoarse broke out from near the ground the flood even now it cried hour by hour the water falls and their bridge still stands my bridge said to himself that must be very old work now what have the to do with my bridge his eyes rolled in the darkness following the roar a the blunt ford of the herself before the beasts furiously to right and left with her tail they have made it too strong for me in all this night i have only torn away a handful of the walls stand the towers stand they have chained my flood and the river is not free any more heavenly ones take this yoke away i give me clear water between bank and bank it is i mother that speak the justice of the gods i deal me the justice of the gods what said i whispered this is in truth a of the gods now we know that all the world is de ui save you and i the screamed and fluttered again and the her ears flat to her head somewhere in the shadow a great trunk and gleaming swayed to and fro and a low broke the silence that followed on the the bridge we be here said a deep voice the g ones one only and very many my father is here with has spoken also is without her to night shouted the man with the drinking flinging his staff to the ground while	39
the island rang to the of give her the justice of the gods ye were still when they my waters the great te made no sign when my river was between the walls i had no help save my own strength and that the strength of mother before their guard towers what could i do i have done everything finish now heavenly ones i brought the death i rode the spotted sickness from hut to hut of their workmen and yet they would not cease a nose hide worn ass lame legged and forward i cast the death at them out of my nostrils but they would not cease would have moved but the lay heavy upon him i he said here is herself the small has the a handkerchief to put over his face little help i they fed me the for a month and i them out on my sand bars but their work went forward they are and sons of i and ye left mother alone for their carriage to make a mock of the justice of the gods on the bridge the bridge the bull turned the in his mouth and answered if the justice of the gods caught all who made a mock of holy things there would be many dark in the land mother but this goes beyond a mock said the darting forward a thou and ye too heavenly ones ye know that they have surely they must come to the let judge the buck made no movement as he answered how long has this evil been three years as men count years said the dose pressed to the earth does mother die then in a year that she is so anxious to see vengeance now the deep sea was where she runs but yesterday and to morrow the sea shall cover her again as the gk ds count that which men call time can any say that this their bridge till to morrow said the buck there was a long hush and in the clearing of the storm the full moon stood up above the dripping trees judge ye then said the river sullenly i have spoken my shame the flood falls still i can do no more for my own part it was the voice of the great seated within the it pleases me well to watch these men remembering that i also no small bridge in the world s youth they say too the tiger that these men came of the wreck of thy armies and therefore thou hast the bridge they toil as my armies toiled in and they believe that their toil is too high but thou how the land is with their yea i know said the bull their gods instructed them in the matter a laugh ran the circle their gods i what should their gods know they were bom yesterday and those that made them are c yet cold said the to morrow their gods will die ho i said mother talks good talk i told that to the who preached on the and he asked the to put me in irons for a great surely they make these things to please their gods said the bull again not altogether the elephant rolled forth it is for the profit of my my fat money that worship me at each new year when they draw my image at the head of the books i looking over their shoulders by see that the names in the books are those of men in far for all the towns are drawn together by the fire carriage and the money comes and goes swiftly and the account books grow as fat myself and i who am g of luck i bless my they have changed the face of the which is my land they have killed and made new towns on my banks said the it is but the shifting of a little dirt let the dirt the bridge dig in the dirt if it pleases the dirt answered the elephant said the tiger afterwards they will see that mother can no insult and they fall away from her first and later from us all one by one in the end we are left with naked the drunken man staggered to his feet and vehemently lies my sister lies also this my stick is the of and he keeps of my when the time comes to worship and it is always the fire move one by one and each bears a thousand they do not come any more but rolling upon wheels and my honour is increased i have seen thy bed at black with the said the leaning forward and but for the fire carriage they would have come slowly and in fewer numbers remember they come to me always went on thickly by day and night they pray to me all the common people in the fields and the roads who is like to day what talk is this of changing is my staff of for nothing he keeps the and he says that never were so many as to day and the fire carriage serves them well am i of the people and the of the heavenly ones to day also my staff peace thou the bull the worship of the schools is mine and they talk very wisely asking the bridge whether i be one or many as is the delight of my people and ye know what i am my wife also yea i know said the with lowered head greater am i than also for ye know who moved the minds of men that they should holy among the rivers who die in that ye know how men come to us without punishment and knows that the fire carriage has borne to her scores upon scores of such ones and knows that she has held her among the that are fed by	39
the fire carriage who smote at under the image there her thousands in a day and a night and the sickness to the wheels of the fire carriages so that it ran from one end of the land to the other who but before the fire carriage came it was a heavy toil the fire carriages have served thee well mother of death but i speak for mine own who am not of the folk but men go to and fro making words and telling talk of strange and i listen faith follows faith among my people in the schools and i have no anger for when all words are said and the new talk is ended to men return at the last true it is true murmured to and to the others mother they return i creep from temple to temple in the north where they worship one god and his prophet and presently my image is alone within their small thanks said the buck turning his head slowly i am that one and his prophet also the bridge father said and to the south i go who am the oldest of the gk ds as men know the and presently i touch the of the new faith and the woman whom we know is and still they her mary small thanks said the i am that woman so sister and i go west among the fire carriages and stand before the bridge in many shapes and because of me they change their and are very wise hot i am the of bridges bridges between this and that and each bridge leads surely to us in the end be content neither these men nor those that follow them mock thee at au am i alone then heavenly ones shall i smooth out my flood lest unhappily i bear away their walls will dry my springs in the hills and make me crawl humbly between their shall i bury me in the sand ere i offend and all for the sake of a little iron bar with the truly mother is always young said the elephant a child had not spoken more foolishly let the dirt dig in the dirt ere it return to the dirt i know only that my people grow rich and praise me has said that the men of the schools do not forget is content for his crowd of the common people and laughs surely i laugh said the my are few beside those of or but the fire carriages bring me new from beyond the black water the bridge the men who believe that their god is toil i run before them and they follow give them the toil that they desire then said the river make a bar across my flood and throw the water back upon the bridge once thou strong in stoop and lift my bed who gives life can take life the scratched in the mud with a long forefinger and yet who would profit by the killing very many would die there came up from the water a snatch of a love song such as the boys sing when they watch their cattle in the noon of late spring the screamed along his branch with lowered head as the song grew louder and in a patch of clear moonlight stood revealed the yoimg herd the darling of the the idol of dreaming maids and of mothers ere their children are the well beloved he stooped to knot up his long wet hair and the fluttered to his shoulder meeting and singing and singing and fleeting those make thee late for the council brother and then said with a laugh throwing back his head ye can do little without me or here he the s and laughed again what is this sitting and talking together i heard mother roaring in the dark and so came quickly from a hut where i lay warm and what have ye done to that he is so wet and silent and what does mother here are the heavens full that ye must come in the mud beast what do they do the bridge has prayed for a vengeance on the and is with her now she bids the bridge that her honour may be made great cried the i waited here knowing that thou come o my and the heavenly ones said nothing did and the mother of sorrows out talk them did none speak for my people nay said moving uneasily from foot to foot i said it was but dirt at play and why should we stamp it flat i was content to let them well content said what had i to do with s anger said the bull i of the folk and this my staff is of all i spoke for the people thou the young s eyes sparkled am i not the first of the in their mouths today returned for the sake of the people i very many wise things which i have now forgotten but this my turned impatiently saw the at his feet and kneeling slipped an arm round the cold neck mother he said gently get thee to thy flood again the matter is not for thee what harm shall thy honour take of this live dirt thou hast given them their fields new year after year and by thy flood they are made strong they come all to thee at the last what need to them now have pity mother for a little and it is only for a little if it be only for a the slow beast began the bridge are they then returned with a laugh his eyes looking into the dull eyes of the river be certain that it is only for a little the heavenly ones have heard thee and presently justice will be done gk now mother to the flood again men and cattle are thick	39
who know reckon it is to day i have spoken the young gk d ceased and his brethren looked at each other long in silence this i have not heard before whispered in his companion s ear and yet sometimes when i the in the engine room of the i have wondered if our priests were so so wise the day is coming they will be gone by the morning a yellow light in the sky and the tone of the river changed as the darkness withdrew suddenly the elephant aloud as though man had him let judge father of all speak thou i what of the things we have heard has lied indeed ye know said the buck rising to his feet ye know the of the gk ds when ceases to dream the heavens and the and earth disappear be content dreams still the dreams come and go and the nature of the dreams changes but still dreams has walked too long upon earth and yet i love him the more for the tale he has told the gods change all save one i ay all save one that makes love in the hearts of men said his it is but a little time to wait and ye shall know if i lie truly it is but a little time as thou say est and we shall know thee to thy huts again beloved and make sport for the young things for still dreams the bridge my children i and till he wakes the die not whither went they said the awe struck shivering a little with the cold god said the river and the island lay in full daylight now and there was never mark of or on the wet earth under the only a screamed in the branches bringing down showers of water drops as he fluttered his wings we are cramped with cold has the died out thou move staggered to his feet and shook himself his head swam and ached but the work of the was over and as he his forehead in a pool the chief engineer of the bridge was wondering how he had managed to fall upon the island what chances the day offered of return and above all how his work stood i have forgotten much i was under the guard tower watching the river and then did the flood sweep us away no the boats broke loose and if the had forgotten about the decidedly would not remind him in striving to them so it seemed to but it was a rope caught the and threw him upon a boat considering that we two with built as it were that bridge i came also upon the boat which came riding on horseback as it were on the nose of this island and so cast us ashore i made a great cry when the boat the bridge left the wharf and without doubt will come for us as for the bridge so many have died in the building that it cannot fall a fierce sun that drew out all the smell of the land had followed the storm and in that dear light there was no room for a man to think of the dreams of the dark stared up stream across the blaze of moving water till his eyes ached there was no sign of any bank to the much less of a we came down far he said it was wonderful that we were not drowned a hundred times that was the least of the wonder for no man dies before his time i have seen i have seen london and twenty great ports but looked at the damp shrine under the never man has seen that we saw here what has the forgotten or do we black men only gods there was a fever upon me was still looking uneasily across the water it seemed that the island was full of beasts and men talking but i do not remember a boat could live in this water now i think then it t true when ceases to dream the gods die now i know indeed what he meant once too the said as much to me but then i did not understand now i am wise what said over his shoulder went on as if he were talking to himself six ten since i was watch on the f o c ale the bridge of the the s big and there was a big green and black water beating and i held a t to the life lines choking under the waters then i thought of the of those whom we saw to night he stared curiously at s back but the white man was looking across the flood yes i say of those whom we saw this night past and i called upon them to protect me and while i prayed still keeping my a big wave came and threw me forward upon the ring of the great black bow anchor and the rose high and high leaning towards the left hand side and the water drew away from beneath her nose and i lay upon my belly holding the ring and looking down into those great then i thought even in the face of death if i lose hold i die and for me neither the nor my place by the where the rice is cooked nor nor nor even london will be any more for me how shall i be i said that the gk ds to whom i pray will abide at all this i thought and the dropped her nose as a hammer falls and all the sea came in and slid me backwards along the fo c and over the break of the fo c and i very badly bruised my against the donkey engine but i did not die and i have seen the gods they	39
are good for live men but for the dead they have spoken themselves therefore when i come to the village i will beat the for which are no when ceases to dream the go look up stream the light blinds is there smoke yonder the bridge shaded his eyes with his hands he is a man and quick would not trust a he has borrowed the s and comes to look for us i have always said that there should have been a steam on the bridge works for us the territory of the of lay within ten miles of the bridge and and had a fair portion of their scanty leisure in playing and shooting with the young man he had been bear led by e f of sporting tastes for some five or six years and was now wasting the during his by the indian government his steam with its rails striped silk and mahogany decks was a new toy which had found horribly in the way when the came to look at the bridge works it s great luck murmured but he was none the less afraid wondering what news might be of the bridge the gaudy blue and white came down stream swiftly they could see in the bows with a pair of opera glasses his face was unusually white then hailed and the made for the tail of the the in shooting suit and a seven waved his royal hand and shouted but he need have asked no questions for s first demand was for his bridge all serene i i never expected to see you again the bridge you re seven stream yes there s not a stone shifted anywhere but how are you i borrowed the s and he was good enough to come along jump in ah you are very well eh that was most calamity last night eh my royal palace too it like the devil and the crops will also be short all about my country now you shall back her out i i do not you are wet you r i have some things to eat here i will take a good i m immensely grateful i believe you ve saved my life how did his hair was upon end he rode to me in the middle of the night and woke me up in the arms of i was most truly concerned so i came too my head priest he is very angry just now we will go quick i am due to attend at twelve forty five in the state temple where we some new idol if not so i would have asked you to spend the day with me they are dam bore these religious ceremonies eh well known to the crew had possessed himself of the wheel and was taking the up stream but while he he was in his mind ki two feet of partially wire rope and the back upon which he beat was the back of his a walking a walking to the custom of sunday afternoon is time on the farm and unless some very important happens we attend to the lives and the red oxen are treated they stay in the home meadow ready for work on lay then come the cows with pan the calf who d have heen turned into long ago hut survived of his manners and lastly the horses the seventy acres of the back pasture u must go down hy the that the water ram up through the sugar bush e the yoimg round you i shallow sea next follow the faint line of an old by road running past two green hollows fringed wild rose that mark the of two ruined then by lost orchard where nobody ever s except in time then across another brook io into the back pasture half of it is pine and and with and little s and the other half is grey rock and and with green streaks of and swamp but the a walking horses like it well our own and the others that are turned down there to feed at fifty cents a week most people walk to the back pasture and find it very rough work hut one can get there in a if the horse knows what is expected of him the safest conveyance is our this began life as a and we bought it for five dollars from a sorrowful man who had no other sort of possessions and the seat came off one night when we were turning a comer in a hurry after that alteration it made a beautiful if you held tight because there was nothing to catch your feet when you fell out and the rattled tunes one sunday afternoon we went out with the salt as usual it was a hot day and we could not find the horses anywhere till we let the mare who throws up the dirt with her big exactly as a throws hay have her head clever as she is she tipped the over in a hidden brook before she came out on a ledge of rock where all the horses had gathered and were the was the first to call to her he is a very dark iron grey four year old son of he has been handled since he was two was driven in a light cart before he was three and now ranks as an absolutely steady lady s proof against steam and street salt said the joyfully you re late any place to the panted it ble this weather i d v a walking sooner but they did n t know what they wanted ner fell out twice both of em i don t understand foolishness you look considerable up guess you d better her under them pines an cool off a piece scrambled on the ledge and cramped the in the shade of	39
a tiny little wood of pines while my and i lay down among the brown needles and gasped all the home horses were gathered round us enjoying their sunday leisure there were rod and the on the farm they were the regular road pair bay with black points full brothers aged sons of a and a dam there were and seal rising six brother and sister black by birth perfectly matched just finishing their education and as handsome a pair as man could wish to find in a forty mile drive there was our ex car horse bought at a venture and any colour you choose that is not white and who comes from with an of his left hip which makes him a little uncertain how his hind legs are moving he and had been gravel all the week for our new road the you know already last of an and eating something was our faithful the black horse who had seen us through every state of weather and road the horse who was always standing in harness before some door or a philosopher with the appetite of a and the manners of an was a new trade with a reputation for vice which a walking was really the result of bad driving she had one working gait which she could hold till further notice a roman nose a large prominent eye a of a tail and an irritable temper she took her salt through her bridle but the others trotted up and for theirs till we emptied it on the dean rocks they were all standing at ease on three legs for the most part talking the ordinary gossip of the back about the of water and in the fence and how the early tasted that when little blew the last few of his allowance into a and said hurry boys might ha that livery would be around we heard a clatter of hoofs and there climbed up from the below a fifty a wall eyed yellow frame house of a horse sent up to board from a livery stable in town where they called the lamb and never let him out except at night and to strangers my companion who knew and had broken most of the horses looked at the ragged head as it rose and said quietly ni ice beast man if he gets the see his eye see his western horse the animal up and his feet showed that he had not worked for weeks and weeks and our creatures drew together significantly as usual he said with an sneer your heads before the that comes to spend his leisure over you mine s done said the he licked up the a walking remnant of his salt dropped his nose in his master s hand and sang a little grace all to himself the has the most manners of any one i know an on them for what is your right it s said the yellow horse to see if he could find a few spare gk hill then the replied guess you find to eat still if yer t it all you ve more n any three of us an day fore an the last two you ve been here i am not myself to the young an i am to those whose opinion an experience respect i saw raise his head as though he were about to make a remark then he dropped it again and stood three like a plough horse rod can cover his mile in a shade under three minutes on an ordinary road to an ordinary he is powerful behind but like most he grows a trifle sullen as he gets older no one can love very much but no one can help respecting him i wish to wake those the yellow horse went on to an sense o their wrongs an their injuries an their s that said he thought was talking of some kind of feed an when i say and injuries waved his tail i mean em too great i that s just what i do mean plain an straight a walking the gentleman talks quite earnest said the mare to her brother there s no doubt the mind his language is quite lofty answered he t the circle he s in pasture they feed words fer where he comes from it s elegant though returned with an toss of her pretty lean little head the yellow horse heard her and struck an attitude which he meant to be extremely impressive it made him look as though he had been badly now i ask i ask you without prejudice an without favour what has man the ever done for you are you not entitled to the free air o heaven this boundless ye ever here said the merrily while the others it s kinder cool not yet said i come from the o where the noblest of our kind have their place among the on the threshold o the sun in his glory an they sent you ahead as a said with an amused quiver of his long beautifully tail as thick and as fine and as as a s back hair sir needs no advertisement her native sons rely on themselves an their native yes sir then lifted up his wise and polite old head his affliction makes him as a rule but he is ever the most courteous of horses a walking excuse me he said slowly but unless i have been most of your prominent are imported from an i m from there was the least little touch of pride in the last words any horse knows beans said suddenly he had been standing with his hairy chin on s broad quarters outer fore his shoes i blew in from in de days o me youth an innocence an i grateful when me fer n york you can	39
t tell me anything about i don t de belt line stables ain t no house but re s o what the horses o think to day the horses of america will think to morrow an i tell you that when the horses of america rise in their might the day o the is ended there was a pause till said with a little ef you put it that way every one of us has in his might j ever rise in yer might said thoughtfully over a of grass i seen a heap o fools try though you admit that you said the horse excitedly then why in did you ever go under again horse can t walk on his hind legs all the said the a walking not when he jerked over on his back fore be knows what fetched him we ve all done it said an they tried it spite o what the told em an the he tried it spite o what me an rod told him an me an rod tried it spite o what told us an i guess he tried it spite o what his dam told him it s the same old from generation to generation can t see why he s called on to back same old on end straight up same old that you ve em this time same old little at yer mouth when you re up good an tall same old t where you light same old when you hit the dirt with your head where your tail should be and your in shook up like a same old voice in your ear ye little fool an what did you reckon to make by that we re through with in our might on this farm we go to pole er single we re an man the sets an over you same as he s now t that been your experience madam this last remark was addressed to and any one could see with half an eye that poor old anxious stamping at the flies must have left a wild and youth behind her on the man she answered shifting from one foot to the other and addressing herself to the home horses they abused me when i was young i guess i was an nervous some but they did n t allow for that t was in york a walking an then till i come here i ve run away with more men than u d a boarding house why the man that sold me here he says to the s he mind now i ve warned you t won t be none of my fault if she sheds you the road don t you drive her in a top ner s he ner this bit ef you look to come home behind her n the thing the did was to the top can t say as i like top said they don t balance good suit me to a ha ar said top means the baby s in behind an i kin stop while she the pretty yes an pick a too the women folk all say i to be humoured an i don t things to the point course i ve no prejudice against a top s long s i can see it went on quickly it s ha f the thing an behind the on my nerves then the looked at the bit they d sold with me an s he this u d make a clothes horse n end i then he gave me a plain bar bit an fitted it s if there was some to my t ye got any miss said who has a mouth like velvet and knows it might a had miss but i ve forgot then he give me an open bridle my style s an open bridle an i as i ought to tell this by a kiss my i said i can t tell fer the shoes o me what makes some men so fresh a walking said what s the sense in so you a kiss regular s up time well you need n t tell said with a and a kick i d heard o kisses o course went on but they had n t come my way specially i don t mind i was that took at that man s s he might ha lit fire on my saddle then we went out jest s if a kiss was an i was n t three strides into my gait fore i felt the his business an was me so i studied to please him an he never took the whip from the a whip drives me an the was that i ve come up the back pasture to day an the s tipped clear over twice an i ve waited tiu t fixed each time you kin judge for yourselves i don t set up to be no better than my neighbors specially with my tail off the way t is but i want you all to know s quit in harness or out of it when there s a bom fool in the his with board that ain t rightly cause he t earned it me madam said the yellow horse ef the shoe fits it said i named no names though to be sure some folks are mean enough an greedy enough to do em there s a deal to be forgiven to ignorance said the yellow horse with an ugly look in his blue eye ly yes or some folks u d ha been kicked the pasture bout a minute they came board er no board a walking but what you do not understand if you will excuse me madam is that the whole principle o which keep an feed starts from a false an i am proud to say that	39
me an the majority o the horses o think the entire concern should he to the of exploded i say we re too for that i say we re too enlightened for that t was good enough s long s we did n t think hut but a new has arisen on the you said the the horses o are behind me with their an we say simply but that we take our stand with all four feet on the rights of the horse pure and simple the high toned child o nature fed by the same grass cooled by the same brook yes an warmed by the same gen sun as falls on the outside an the inside of the machine o the track or the horses o these eastern cities are we not the same flesh and not by a an a half said the under his breath never was in my i ain t that elegant though the an the whispered in s ear the gentleman s real i think i say we are the same flesh an blood are we to l e separated horse from horse by the artificial of a record or are we to look down upon each other on the strength o the gifts o an a walking inch below the knee or more powerful what the use o them advantages to man the comes along an sees you re likely an an you to the face o the earth what for for his own pleasure for his own convenience an old black an bay white an grey there no distinctions made between us we re up together under the teeth o the engines of oppression guess his must ha broke goin said the slippery road maybe an the come enter him an he did n t know to hold back that don t feel like teeth though maybe he a shaft an it pricked him an i come to you from the tail o friendship to au an sundry an in the name of the millions o pure minded high toned horses now towards the light o freedom i say to you noses with us in our sacred an holy cause the power is without you i say man the cannot move himself from place to place without you he cannot reap he cannot sow he cannot plough mighty odd place i said ly they reap in the spring an plough in the fall guess it s right fer them but t would make me kinder giddy the s of your industry would rot on the ground if you did not weakly consent to help him let em rot i say i let him call you to the stables in vain an i let him shake his under your nose in vain i let the a walking in the an the rats run riot round the let him walk on his two hind feet till they blame well drop off i win no more soul races for his pleasure then an not till then will man the know where he s at quit fellow an slaves i kick bear plunge down on the shafts an an destroy the conflict will be but short an the victory is certain after that we can press our rights to eight o a day two good blankets an a fly net an the best o the yellow horse shut his yellow teeth with a triumphant snap and said with a sigh seems s if ought to be done don t seem right somehow us an au to my way o said in a far away and sleepy voice who in s goin to haul de weigh like sam hill an sixty at allowance ain t goin to last free weeks here an s de winter hay for s we can settle those minor details when the great cause is won said the yellow horse let us return simply but to our the right o freedom on these hills an no distinctions o track an what in stables call an distinction said the stiffly fer one thing bein a jest because you en to be raised that way an could n t no more help than do ye know said the a walking i ve seen em trot that was enough for me i don t want to know any more s i tell you this much they don t an they don t much i don t hold out to be no myself though i am free to say i had hopes that but i do say fer i ve seen em trained that a don t trot with his feet he with his head an he does more ef you know what that in a week than you er your ever done in all your lives he s at it a is an when he is n t he s you seen em much you you was to a rail back o the stand in a with a soap box nailed on the an a lo while your man rum fer to little boys as thought they was manly till you was both run off the track and you sway backed you i don t get bet up said quietly now sub would you consider a fox trot an an rack an pace an not worth i you gentlemen there was a time i was afflicted in my hip if you pardon me miss when i was quite celebrated in for all those an in my opinion the s co when he says that a bo se of any position in society gets his by his an not by his ah limbs miss i reckon i m very little good now but i m the things i used to do i took to tin real estate with the help and assistance of this gentleman here he looked at a	39
walking hind legs i said the ex car horse with a of contempt on de belt line we don t reckon no horse his keep less he kin de car off de track run her round on de an her in ag in ahead o de what s him is a way o swinging yer quarters when de driver says her out boys i takes a year to learn yer outer it kin a cable car outer a i don t myself for no but i knew trick better than most an was good to me in de stables fer i saved time on de an time s what hunt in n york but the simple child o the yellow horse l oh go an your i you re through yer said with a ain t no loose box for de simple child o on de belt line de paris in an de goin out an de an de things an de heavy freight down fer de boston at bout free o clock of an august afternoon in de of a hot wave when de fat an western drops dead on de block de simple child o nature had better chase himself inter de water every man at de end of his lines is mad or loaded or silly an de s an an than de rest all take it outer de horses s no ner grass on de belt line run her out on de de sparks an stop when de you on de bone o yer nose s n york see a walking i was always told s in york was refined an high toned said we re to go there one o these days an me oh you won t see no belt business where you u go miss de man wants you want you bad an he summer you on long island er at a silver harness an an english coachman you make a star you an yer brother miss but i guess you won t have no nice smooth bar bit em an tails an bits em de city folk an says it s english ye know and t cut a horse loose ca se o de n york s no place fer less he s on de belt an can go round de boys i was in de fire department but did you never stop to consider the of it au said the yellow horse you don t stop on the belt you re stopped an we was all in de business man an horse an sold de papers de passengers were n t out to grass neither by de way acted i done my turn an i m none o s crowd but any horse s worked on de belt four don t train no simple child o not by de whole length o n york but can it be possible that with your experience and at your time of life you do not believe that all horses are free and equal said the yellow horse not till they re dead answered quietly an den it depends on de gross total o buttons an outer at barren island a walking they tell me you re a prominent philosopher the yellow horse turned to can you deny a and statement such as this i don t deny anything said cautiously but ef you me i should say t more different sorts o of a lie than i ve had my teeth into i are you a horse said the yellow horse them that knows me best low i am ain t j a horse one kind of then ain t you an me equal how fer kin you go in a day to a loaded five hundred pounds asked carelessly that has nothing to do with the case the yellow horse answered excitedly there s nothing i know more to do with the case replied kin ye a full car outer de tracks ten times in de said ye go to forty two mile in an afternoon with a mate said an turn out bright an early next was there any time in your i am not to the present circumstances but our mutual glorious when you could carry a pretty girl to market an let her knit au the way on account o the o the motion said kin you keep your feet through the west river bridge with the in on one side an the the other an the old bridge a walking between said the kin you put your nose down on the cow of a when you re at the an let em play shall not ring to night with the big brass bell you hold back when the breaks you stop fer orders when your nigh hind leg s over your trace an ye feel good of a frosty said who had only learned that trick last winter and thought it was the crown of knowledge what s the use o said scornfully what kin ye do i rely on my simple the rights o my an i am proud to say i have never since my first shoes lowered myself to the will o man must ha had a heap o broke over yer back said ye found it paid any has been my portion since the day i was blows an boots an an injury outrage an oppression i would not the o that connect us with the an the farm wagon it s difficult to draw a traces er collar er breast er said a power machine for wood is most the only thing there s no to i ve helped saw s much as three cord in an afternoon in a power machine too most o the time i did but t ain t half as in goin in the don t you goin to sleep any a walking	39
it s this yer blamed business that makes the yoimg cut up in the an or no he on cm on till he come to plain an straight them as never done him no harm jest se they owned horses an how to manage em said that makes it worse he did n t kill em anyway said he d ha been half killed ef he had tried makes no differ rod answered he meant to an ef he had n t s pose we want the back pasture turned into a ground on our only day er rest s pose toe want our men with bits er lead pipe an a an their bands full o stones to throw at us same s if we er more n that out an i guess it s a walking more her than her manners stands in her light there ain t a horse on this farm that ain t a woman s horse an proud of it an this yer goes up an the length o the country off and on as he s shed an i don t say as a woman in a t a fool i don t say as she ain t the est kind er fool ner i don t say a child ain t the lines an up an hut i do say t ain t none of our to shed em the road we don t said the the tried to some o my tail for a last fall when i was up to the an i did n t kick s talk ain t goin to hurt us any we ain t s what you think you into a tight comer day er valley fair like s not when you re all an an with flies an thirsty an sick o worked in an then whispers inside o your up all that talk an an like an jest then a gun goes off er your wheels hit an you re only another horse can t be trusted i ve been there time an again fer i ve seen you all er on my solemn fer a three minute i ain t you no o my own i m you my experiences an i ve had heavy a load an high a check s any horse here i bom with a on my near fore big s a an the three temper that up an you older i ve a walking favoured my even little he don t know what it s cost me to keep my end up sometimes an i ve fit my temper in stall an harness up an at pasture till the sweat off my an they thou t i off condition an me when my affliction came s gently i was very near to my manners allow me to extend to you my sympathy said nothing hut he looked at rod curiously is a tempered child who never hears malice and i don t think he quite he gets his er from his mother as a horse should i ve been there too rod said open confession s good for the soul an all knows i ve had my but if you will excuse me that looked things at the yellow that who ha insulted our comes from an what a ho se of his position an at that says cannot by any stretch of the concern gentlemen of our position there s no shadow of equality not even for one kick he s beneath our contempt let him talk said it s always to know what another horse thinks it don t us an he talks so too said i ve never heard any thin so smart for a long time again rod stuck out his jaws and went on slowly as though he were on a plain bit at the end of a thirty mile drive a walking i want all you here ter understand ther ain t no ner no ner yet no in our business there s jest two kind o horse in the united them can an will do their work after bein properly broke an handled an them as won t i m sick an tired o this tail an one state er another a horse kin be proud o his state an lies it in stall or when he s to a block ef he to put in that way but he t no right to let tiiat pride o interfere with his work ner to make it an excuse fer he s different that s talk an don t you it an you remember that bein a philosopher an anxious to save trouble fer you don t excuse you from with all your feet on a slack crazy clay bank like here it s em alone that gives em their chance to ruin an kill folks an you re a mare but when a horse comes along an covers up all his talk o with an grass an eight of a day free after his man don t you be run away with by his you re too young an too nervous i i have nervous ef there s a fight here said who saw what was in s eye i m i m that sympathetic i d run away dear to next i know that kind o sympathy jest lasts long enough to start a fuss an then lights to make new trouble i t been ten years in harness fer we re goin to keep school with fer a spell a walking say look a here you ain t goin to hurt me are you remember i belong to a man in town cried the yellow horse kept behind him so that he could not run away i know it there must be some pore fool in this state a right to	39
the loose end o i m blame sorry fer him but he shall his rights when we re through with you said rod if it s all the same gentlemen i d change pasture guess i do it now can t always have your guess you won t said rod but look a here all of you ain t so blame to a stranger s pose we noses what in fer said rod putting up his eyebrows the idea of settling a question by noses is the very last thing that ever enters the head of a well broken horse to see how many s on my side here s miss tack an colonel yonder s an judge an i guess the reverend the yellow horse meant the might see that i had my rights he s the i ve ever set eyes on you ain t goin to me be you why we ve gone round in pasture all together month o t we as friendly as could be there ain t a horse i don t care who he has a higher opinion o you mr rod than i have let s do it fair an true an above the let s count noses same s they do in here he dropped his voice a little and turned to say judge there s some green food i know back o the brook no one a walking t touched yet after this little is fixed up you an me make up a party an tend to it did not answer for a long time then he said there s a up to the bout eight weeks old he till he a an when he sees it he lies on his back an but he don t go through no i ous nose first i ve seen a light spoke you better stand up to what s served i m goin to all over your m goin to do yer up in brown paper said i can fit you on apologies hold on ef all you now these same men you ve been so dead anxious to kill u d call us oft guess we wait till they go back to the an you have time to think cool an quiet said rod have you no whatever fer the dignity o our common the yellow horse the horse kin do something america s paved with the kind er horse you plain dog ter be whipped inter shape we call em an when they re yoimg when they re aged we pound in this horse is what you start from we know all about horse here an he ain t any high toned pure child o nature horse plain horse same you is full o tricks an an an s an monkey shines which he s took over from his an his dam an up with his own special fancy in the way o goin crooked s an s about his dignity an a walking the size of his soul fore he s been broke an a piece now we ain t goin to give horse that t done a of he pet names that would be good enough f er or or who don t you try to back off them rocks wait where you are i ef i let my temper the better o me i d you out finer than inside o three minutes you woman kid dash saw backed mouthed thrown in in trade son of a an a i think we d better get home i said to my companion when had finished and we climbed into the as we over the well i m sorry i can t stay fer the but i hope an trust my friends take a ticket fer me bet your s cheerfully and the horses scattered before us trotting into the next morning we sent back to the livery stable what was left of the yellow horse it seemed tired but anxious to go ship that found herself the ship that found herself it was her first voyage and though she was but a cargo steamer of twenty five hundred tons she was tlie very best of her kind the of forty years of experiments and improvements in and and her and owner thought as much of her as though she had been the any one make a floating hotel that will pay expenses if he puts enough money into the saloon and charges for of rooms and such like but in these of competition and low every square inch of a cargo boat must be built for great and a certain steady speed this boat was s two and forty feet long and wo feet wide with arrangements that enabled her to cattle on her main and sheep on her upper deck if she wanted to but her great glory was the amount of c that she could store away in her holds her they were a very well known scotch round with her from the north where she had l een launched and and fitted to liverpool where she was to take cargo for new york and the owner s daughter miss went to and fro on the ship that found herself the dean decks admiring the new paint and the brass work and the patent and the strong straight bow over which she had cracked a bottle of champagne when she named the steamer the it was a beautiful september afternoon and the boat in her she was painted lead colour with a red looked very fine indeed her was flying and her whistle from time to time acknowledged the of friendly boats who saw that she was new to the high and narrow seas and wished to make her welcome and now s miss to the captain she s a real ship is n t she it seems only the other day father gave the order	39
for her and and is n t she a beauty the girl was proud of the and talked as though she were the partner h she s no so bad the replied cautiously but i m that it takes more than to a ship in the nature o things miss if ye follow me she s just irons and plates put into the form of a ship she has to find herself yet i thought father said she was well found so she is said the with a laugh but it s this way wi ships miss she s all here but the of her have not learned to work together yet they ve had no chance the engines are working beautifully i can hear them the ship that found herself yes indeed but there s more than engines to a ship every inch of her ye understand has to be up and made to work wi its her we call it and how will you do it the girl asked we can no more than drive and steer her and so forth but if we have rough weather this it s she learn the rest by heart i for a ship ye u is in no sense a body closed at both ends she s a highly complex structure o various an strains wi that must give an to her personal of mr the chief engineer was coming towards them i m to miss here that our little has to be yet and but a gale will do it how s ail your engines buck well true by an rule o but there s no yet he turned to the girl take my word miss and maybe ye u comprehend later even after a pretty girl s a ship it does not follow that there s such a thing as a under the men that work her i was the very same mr the interrupted that s more than i can follow said is laughing why so ye re good scotch an i knew your s father he was ye ve a right in miss just as ye have in the the engineer said the ship that pound herself eh well we must go down to the deep an earn miss her will you not come to my for tea said the we u be in dock the night and when you re goin back to ye can think of us her down an her all for your sake in the next few days they some four thousand tons dead weight into the and took her out from liverpool as soon as she met the lift of the open water she naturally began to talk if you lay your ear to the side of the cabin the next time you are in a steamer you will hear of little voices in every direction thrilling and and whispering and and and sobbing and exactly like a in a storm wooden ships shriek and growl and but iron vessels throb and quiver through all their of ribs and thousands of the was very strongly built and every piece of her had a letter or a number or both to describe it and every piece had been or or rolled or by man and had lived in the roar and rattle of the for months therefore every piece had its own separate voice in exact proportion to the of trouble spent upon it cast iron as a rule says very little but mild steel plates and wrought iron and ribs and beams that have been much bent and and talk their conversation of course is not half as wise as our talk because they are all though they do not know it bound down one to the other in a black darkness where they cannot the ship that pound herself tell what is happening near them nor what will overtake them next as soon as she had cleared the irish coast a sullen grey headed old wave of the atlantic climbed leisurely over her straight bows and sat down on the used for up the anchor now the and the engine that drove it had been newly painted red and green besides which nobody likes being don t you do that again the through the teeth of his where s the fellow gone the wave had with a and a chuckle but plenty more where he came from said a brother wave and went through and over the who was bolted firmly to an iron plate on the iron below can t you keep still up there said the deck beams what s the matter with you one minute you weigh twice as much as you ought to and the next you don t it is n t my fault s the there s a green brute outside that comes and me on the head tell that to the you ve been in position for months and you ve never like this before if you are n t careful you strain talking of strain said a low voice are any of you you deck beams we aware that those exceedingly ugly knees of yours happen to be into our the ship that pound herself who might you be the deck beams inquired oh nobody in particular was the answer we le only the port and upper deck and if you persist in heaving and like this mi be reluctantly compelled to steps now the of the ship are long iron so to speak that run from stem to bow hi keep the iron frames what are called ribs in a wooden ship in place and also help to hold the ends of the which go from side to side of the ship always most important because they are so long you will take will you this was a long echoing it came from the scores and scores	39
of them each one about eighteen inches distant from the next and each to the in four places we think you will have a certain amount of trouble in that and thousands and thousands of the little that held everything together whispered you will you will stop quivering and be quiet hold on brethren hold on hot what s that have no teeth so they cannot chatter with fright but they did their best as a fluttering jar swept along the ship from stern to bow and she shook like a rat in a s mouth an unusually severe pitch for the sea was rising had lifted the big throbbing screw nearly to the surface and it was spinning round in a kind of sea and half going much faster than was proper because there was no deep water for it to work the ship that found herself in as it sank again the and they were triple three in a through all their three was that a joke you fellow outside it s an uncommonly poor one how are we to do our work if you fly off the handle that way i did n t fly off the handle said the screw at the end of the screw shaft if i had you d have been scrap iron by this time the sea dropped away from imder me and i had nothing to catch on to that sail that s all d you call it said the thrust block business it is to take the push of the screw for if a screw had nothing to hold it back it would crawl right into the engine room it is the holding back of the action that gives the drive to a ship i know i do my work deep down and out of sight but i you i expect justice all i ask for is bare justice why can t you push steadily and instead of like a and making me hot imder all my the thrust block had six each faced with brass and he did not wish to get them heated all the bearings that supported the fifty feet of as it ran to the stem whispered give us justice i can only give you what i can get the screw answered it s coming again i he rose with a roar as the plunged and went the engines furiously for they had httle to check them i m the noblest of human mr says so the high pressure the ship that pound herself der this is simply ridiculous the went up savagely and choked for half the steam behind it was mixed with dirty water help i m choking it gasped never in the history of invention has such a calamity overtaken one so yoimg and strong and if i go who s to drive the ship hush oh hush whispered the steam who of course had been to sea many times before he used to spend his leisure ashore in a cloud or a or a flower pot or a storm or anywhere else where water was needed that s only a little a little carrying over as they call it it happen all night on and off i don t say it s nice but it s the best we can do imder the what difference can circumstances make i m here to do my on clean dry steam blow circumstances the roared the circumstances will attend to the blowing i ve worked on the north atlantic run a good many times it s going to be rough before morning it is n t calm now said the they were called web in the engine room there s an upward thrust that we don t and there s a twist that is very bad for and diamond plates and there s a sort of west pull that follows the twist which seriously us we mention this because we happened to cost a good deal of money and we feel sure that the owner would not approve of our being treated in this frivolous way the ship that pound herself i m afraid the matter is out of owner s hands for the present said the steam slipping into the you re left to own devices till the weather i would n t mind the weather said a flat bass voice below it s this cargo that s breaking my heart i m the and i m twice as thick as most of the others and i ought to know something the is the lowest plate in the bottom of a ship and the a was nearly three quarters of an inch mild steel the sea me up in a way i should never have expected the and the cargo me down and between the two i don t know what i m supposed to do when in doubt hold on the steam making head in the yes but there s only dark and cold and hurry down here and how do i know whether the other plates are doing their duty those plates up above i ve heard ain t more than five of an inch scandalous i call it i agree with you said a huge web frame by the main cargo he was deeper and thicker than all the others and curved half way across the ship in the e of half an arch to support the deck where would have been in the way of cargo coming up and down i work entirely and i observe that i am the sole strength of this vessel so far as my vision extends the responsibility assure you is the ship that pound herself enormous i believe the money value of the cargo is over one hundred and fifty thousand pounds think of that and every of it is dependent on my personal exertions here spoke a sea that communicated directly with	39

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