St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-06-12

lugubriOuS enough, the ocean adds its
weight to the depressing influences OF
the place. and rolls its great waves with
such sad and mOnOtOnOuS music on the
shore. that | cannot think of it even
at this distance of time without Il sell
sation of disquietude. The rickety
Venetian blinds of the public bungalow,
which ratified incessantly day and night
with the strong sea-breeze the roar of
the surf in the still hours of the night
the rheumatic bungalow sepoy, who
could never find anything for breakfast
or dinner but fowls and eggs the ghost
ly houses of the Calcutta nabobs, de
serted and in ruins the distant sail
upon the tar hOIizon-an even in ones
lite-the two or three old tattered books
that had been left with the Sepoy by
some sick Salib that had died: all come
freshly to my recollection. as | recall
the few days that spent ut Pooree.
Well, Jack Waldron and got rather
tired. after time, of shooting bears
and pea fowl and before our months
leave of absence from il certain station
had expired, proposed to visit Jugger-
naut. the opportunity being good one.
Besides this, | was feeling rather un-
well, and feared an attack of Jungle
fever. for which the sea air was pre-
Sumcd to he an excellent remedy and
us Poorec is no great distance from
an Anglolndian point of view from
kimidN. we settled to go down there
one night i'll the palanquins we had
brought with It's from the south.
1t was the Indian cold weather ut this
time. and the air WAS sufficiently chilly
to make blanket Agreeable at night 4:
so Jack and looked forward tu IL COM
Portable sleep a> we got int" our re-
>peclive palanquins about eight o'clock
i'll the evening. having prepared our-
selves for good snooze, il must be ac
know lodged. with S,mdry bottles of
pale ale. and IL doch-0n-do,rdh in the
shape of some brandy and sodawatcr
at the hospitahlc mess of the dctach-
mcnt above alluded to. soda water
was II rare article in Kindly. for il had
to hc conveyed Il long distance in bull
| lock carts but the detachment officers
! gave lis of their best in the way of din
ncI and liquor. 50 that we felt in very
! Iund-lumor when the bearers took the
palanQIIin> on their shoulders. and set
of for Puorcc with that long sling trot
peculiar To them. singing as they went
! in no dulrct strains. Naldron'S palan-
puin went first. and mine followed. 1t
waS pitch-dark. but the moon was eX-
pcctcd to rise about midnight. and in
| the mean time we were provided with
! two men carrying torches of burning
rags. on which they threw oil from time
to time. | lay awake for an hour or 81.
smoking Trichinnpuly chclootS. and
Watching the curious and picturesque
efforts of the light thrown 10y the torch
e. on "ur party and on the jungle
>kirting the roadside hut at length
fell asleep, t" dream that was on my
way to England i'll Il steamer, which
was pitching most tremendously. just
ut that moment, in the very centre of
the Bay of Biscay. | WAS awakcd 10y
IL chattcliug among the bearers. and
l""kin@ at my watch. saw that it was
ten minutes past twelve. and that the
moon WAS rising. We had stopped at
| a public bungalow 10y the roadside. and
close Ia Il village. in which there seemed
to he Il great deal of tomfOmjtJ and
of his palanquin. and waS talking t" the
bearers. VIII" were greatly excited.
Just then. he came to me with Il very
| grave ll'f- HIS IL NV Is W dll. he
said there i> cholera very bad in the
village. and nIr bearers are in such IL
precious funk. that am afraid they
will run back Ia kindly. What's 10 he
done -
I'VE must get on at any price" | re-
piled Il, would never do to stop here
ali night. Here Palkec Octaw. .Iuldee
Ja"" Uift the palanquin. and 90 on
qnick). | cried III liindu>tani to the
men. But the bearers would not lift
the palanqEinS from the ground. in spite
of all our threats and cntrcaticS. until.
we consented to give them il present of
one rupee each. and even then. three or
four of them disappeared. and were
seen no more. leaving us short handed
for the next stage of the journey. At
last and with no little difficulty. we rot
under weigh once more. the hearers
grrImbling greatly all the time. and cv-
| id;ntly proceeding very much against
the grain. We still maintained our old
order of march. and whatever my COM
panion's sensations may have been un-
der the circumstances, | know that |.
for my part. was very glad indeed when
we passed the village. and heard the
last of the tom-tOmS and cholera horns.
with which the unfortunate villagers
were striving to drive the demon of
pc>tilcncc out of their borders. am
as little afraid of cholera. | hope. as any
man. In India, one gets so accustomed
to hear of this plague, and even To wit
ness its ravagcs, that the Imagination
becomes dulled to its terrors and. us
in England people live and amuse
themselves without much thought of
diptheria. so in the East a man does
not trouble himself much about cholera
until he has got il. But even the bold
est would hardly, from choice. care to
remain in Il plague-stricken village
without any medicines at hand. and
that, too. in the middle of the night.
and ut IL time when the nerves are per
hapS more unStrung than at any other
period of the twenty hours con-
sequently, was glad. | repeat, to get
away from the place. and lit Il cheroOt.
feeling it impossible to go to sleep di-
rectly after the noise and vexation of
the.disturbance with our bearers.
1t was close upon one o'clock then,
aud the moon shone brightly at times
through the fleecy clouds that were
gliding swiftly across its disk, before
th, force of the north east monsoon
One of our torch bearers had vanished,
and the other had allowed his torch to
go out, from carelessness or fright, but
this did not much signify, as there was
sufficient moonlight for the bearers to
see the road. that is to say if rutty
track through the jungle could with
any sense of propriety be termed road.
1t was beautiful bamboo jungle that we
were travelling through, and tor long
time | gave myself up to watching.