The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1880-01-21
JUST IN TIME.

Dinner was over ut last, and Mr.
Walter Currie, English commissioner
at the up-country station of Hutta- Bagh,
in Northern India, had gone out upon
the veranda with his wife and his two
guests-thc colonel and major of the
-th light infantry--to enjoy the cool of
the evening.
On three sides the house was sur
rounded by its compound, n large in
closed space, serving the purpose of a
courtyard; but the fourth was only
separated by u small patch of garden
from the public road, along which n
number of native women we're passing
with their little pitchers on their heads.
the conversation W on Il favorite subject
with all Anglo-Indians, viz, the char
acter of the natives, and the best method
of dealing with them.
'There's only one way" said the
colonel, emphatically. Tell 'em what
they're to do, make 'em do it, and thrash
'em well if they don't. That's my way"
"Well, venture to differ from you
there, colonel, said Mr.. CuTie, quietly
1--WE had to do some thrashing once or
twice, own, but most of my native
servants seem to get along very well
without it, and they serve me excel
lently, assure YOU"
II wish you'd been in my place,
then," retored the colonel; you'd
have changed your opinion, war;
rant. Why, the year before last, when
had charge of two battalions of the
rascals down at Sutteepoor, because
there wasn't another queens officer
within reach-%iust like my confounded
luck! There was no getting anything
/ n Ru
sirl | had to be everything at once
my own quartermaster, my ownsergeant-
major, my own caterer and"
And your own trumpeter, Colonel
AnnesleyP" asked Mrs. Currie, with an
arch smile.
The colonel's broad face reddened
ominously. and an explosion seemed
imminent when n sudden clamor OF
angry voices from the road below drew
them all to the front of the veranda.
The cause of the disturbances was
visible at a glance. Two half-drunken
English soldiers, staggering along the
road, had come into violent contact
with a native boy who was running
past; and one of them, enraged at the
collision, had felled the poor lad to the
ground, and was unclasping his own
belt with the evident intention ofHbeat-
ing MIN unmefclIully.
Serve the young whelp right" p"
shouted the co lionel rubbing his hands /;
that's just what they all want"
The other officer, Major Armstrong
popularly called Major Strongarm Va
a huge, brawny, silent man, whose ,te
lay in acting rather than in talking.
During the whole discussion he had
sat like IA great bronze statue, never ut
tering word; but at the sight of this
man ill-using this child, he woke up
rather startlingly.
To leap TO the ground twelve feet be-
low, to dart across the garden, TO vault
over the high stockade beyond. was the
work of moment for the athletic ma
jor; and in another instant he had
raised the fallen boy tenderly from the
ground, while saying to the fOrmost sol
dier, iii the low, compressed tone of a
man who means what he says:
:" Be off with your
And who the deuce are you, shown
yer nose in where you amt wantedp"
roared the infatuated ruflian, to whose
eyes the majors plain evening dress
bore no token of his being an officer;
list you"
The sentence was never finished.
AT the sound of that insolent defiance,
AIlnslIOnS sOIeIy -lIltu pdJdehCe gave
way altogether, and the powerful right
hand which had hewed its way through
a whole squadron of Sikh cavalry, fell
like n edge-hammer upon his oppO-
nents face, dashing him to the ground
as If he had been blown from the mouth
Of gun.
well done, Major Armstrong;
shouted Mr.. Currier iIom above.
You deserve your name, and no mis-
take"
At that formidable name, the soldier
toekto his heels at once; and Armstrong,