Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-12-26
JUST In TINE.

Dinner VAS over at last, and Mr.. Wal
ter Cuurie. English Commissioner at the
up-country station, ut Huttee-B agh, in
Northern India, had gone upon the We
randa with his wife and his two guests,
the Colonel and Major of the til light
infantry, % enjoy the cool of the even
ing.
On three sides the house was sur
rounded by its compound, large in
closed space serving the purpose of a
courtyard, but the fourth was only sep
arated by a small patch of garden from
the road, along which a number of native
women were passing with their little
pitchers OF their heads.
The sight of them naturally turned the
conversation upon n favorite subject
with all Anglo-I Indians, VIZ, the char
acter of the natives and the best mode of
dealing with them.
"Theres only one way" said the
Colonel, emphatically. ''Tell 'em what
they are 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. Currie, quietly.
g had TO DO some thrashing once or
twice, { own, but most of my native ser
wants set along very we'll without it.
aad they seem to serve me excellently, I
aSsurey YOU
g l wish You had been in my place,
then, retorted the Colonel "you'd
have changed your opinion, l warrant.
Why, the year before last, when [ had
charge OF two battaliOns of the rascals
down at Suttepoor, because there wasn't
another Queens officer within reach
Just like my confounded luck there
was no getting anything done unless
did 1t myself. By Jove, sir I had to
be everything at once-my own Quarter
master, nay own Sergeant Major, my
own caterer, and"
And your own trumpeter, Col. An
nesley?" asked Mrs. Currie, with an
arch smile
The Coionel's broad face redeemed
ominOusiy, and al explosion seemed
imminent, when 81 sudden clamor of
angry voices from the road below drew
them all 70 the front veranda.
The cause of the disturbance was visi-
bic ats glance Two haif-drtlnken En-
glish soldiers, staggering along the
road, had come into violent contact
with native who was running past
and one of them, enraged at the collis-
ion, had felled the poor lad to the
ground, and was unclasping his own
belt with the evident intention of beat
lag MIN numerically.
Served the young whelps right"
shouted the Colonel, rubbing hishands
g that's just what they all want"
The other officer, Maj. Armstrong
popularity called Maj. Strongarm-wa q
huge, brawny, silent man, whose forte
lay Ia acting rather than talking.
During the whole discussion he had sat
like a great bronze statue, never utter
ing word but, at sight of this man
iil-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 a moment for the athletic Major,
and in another instant he had raised the
boy tenderly from the ground, while say
ing to the foremost soldier, in the low,
compressed tone of a man who means
what he says
''Be off with you"
''And who the deuce are You, shown
yer nose In where you amt wanted p
roared the Infatuated ruffian, to whose
eyes the Majors plain evening dress bore
no token of his being al officer. " Jist
you"
The sentence was never finished.
At the sound of that insolent defiance
Armstrong; sorely-tried patience gave
NOV oil onI ,N1xuo,.fr1 orl,4
hand which had hewed its way through
whole squadron of Shiv cavalry fell
like sledge-hammer upon his oppo-
nent's face, dashing him to the ground
as if he had been blown from the mouth
of gun.
elIdone, Maj. Armstrong, shouted
Mr.. Currie from above. You deserve
your name, and no mistake"
At that formidable name the soldier
took to his heels at once, and Armstrong,
without even looking at his PROSTATE an
tagonist, proceeded to look at the hurts
Of the boy"
The latter was sorely bruised in many
places, and the blood was trickling free
~ over his swarthy face; but the little
hero still did his best to stand erect, and
to keep down every sign of the pain
which he was enduring.
You're brave lad, and you'll make
soldier some day." said the Major to
him in Hindoostanee. "Come with me,
and I'll see that no one molests you
again"
The lad seized the huge brown hand
which had defended him so bravely,
and kissed it with the deepest reverence
and the two walked away together.
Six months have come and gone, and
Mr. Currie's hospitable home presents a
very different spectacle. The pretty
garden is trampled into dust and mire,
and the bodies of men and horses are
lying thick among the fragments of the
half-destroyed stockade.
All the windows of the house are
blocked up, and through the loop-holed
walls peer the muzzles of ready rifles,
showing how steadily the besieged gar
rison stands at bay against the countless
enemies, whose dark, fierce faces and
glittering weapons are visible amid the
half-ruined building and matted thick
cts all around.
The Sepoy mutiny of 1857 is blazing
sky-high over Northern India, and
Col. Annesley is hlockaded in Huttee-