News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-03-26
SAVED BY A JACKAL.
STORY OF INDIA IN THE TIME
OF THE sEPOY REBELLION.
The Wonderful Rescue of the Onicer,a
ChiId that had been Stolen Away.

A STORY OF INDIA IN THE TIME
OF THE sEPOY REBELLION.
The Wonderful Rescue of the Officers
Child that had been Stolen Away.
''Jackals are at once the bane and the
blessings of India" said a gentleman,
whose face, either through disorgan-
lied liver or from quarter of century
of steady curry eating under an Eastern
sun, or in consequence of both, had &C.
quired rich yellow hue. ''They ban
ish sleep with their nightly bowling and
sometimes they carry off child. but
they are the scavengers of the plains,
which, l think, would hardly be habit
able without them. Let me tell you a
curious story about one Of the brutes
saving child:
81 had better state at once, to check
undue sympathy, that the jackal, when
he rescued Lal Chokrn, acted purely as
an involuntary agent, for he certainly
intended to eat her. The little girls
real name, given to her in England a
year previously, was Mabel Stern. Her
father, Col. Stern, whose regiment was
in India, was on leave of absence in his
native land when little Mabel was born,
and three months later rumors of the
coming mutiny in India began to be
heard. Col. Stern was ordered to rejoin
his command, and with his wife, who
insisted on accompanying him, his in
FAINT daughter and an ayah, or native
nurse, obtained with some difficulty in
London, he turned his face eastward.
Uhno bn ctnsNrNa1 hnro in ToIo1rtfo th a
country was in flame of instruction,
and the colonel learned that his own
regiment, composed of sepoys. recruited
chiefly in the northwest, had been
among the first to turn the arms they
had obtained and the arts they had
learned from their English masters
against their teachers. He was ordered
to do general duty with the forces be-
sieeing Delhi, and, still accompanied by
his wife and child, though the ayah re-
fused to go any further, he went up the
country.
1.-THE last scenes of the mutiny were
being played. Their horrors, and those
that preceded them, are too well known
to need description. Col. Stern and his
little family, with another ayah, were
living in bungalow, or Indian house, a
few miles from Delhi, and keeping a
careful watch at night time, for parties
of disbanded mutineers were still prowl-
ing about, actuated by one prevailing
purpose-to murder white men, women
and children whenever they could do SO
with a fair chance of escaping with
their lives. The colonel was an old In
dian campaigner, and was apprehensive
of an attack. 1t came at last in broad
daylight, and when the master of the
house and his wife were absent in the
city for an hour, and nobody was in the
bungalow except the ayah and the
child. When the colonel and Mrs.
Stern returned Mabel was gone, and the
ayah, who seemed half distracted, told
the story in her native tongue:
"'They came, Mem-Sahib, she said,
excitedly addressing Mrs. Stern, so
quickly that heard no noise until they
were in the room. "Where is the Sahib
Logue ?" said one of them. told them
the Colonel had gone out and would not
be back before night. They wanted to
know where the Mem-Sahib was. l
told them you were with him. "Great
Allah u said the leader, ''nobody left to
kill p Then a dirty little fellow, who
lives by robbery, and mutinied, but
never fought, said:
"' ''There is still the chokrm,"
"Oh, Mem-Sahib | l put my fore
head to the ground to them. l said:
'Kill me, but spare the chokre." At
last they said should not see the baby
die. The leader asked what her name
was and l said. Mabel Stern.
"'"That will not do" said the man.
s'She must not meet Allah with such a
name as that. The country is still red
with blood. Let us call her Lal Chokroe'
(Red Crib. Then they took her away.
"Mrs. Stern shrieked and rushed to-
ward the door, The Colonel stopped
her.
"'What will they do with our baby P
he asked the ayah.
fully.
"'Sahib, she said, I know them well.
The leader will take her home and let
her lie an hour with his own little girl.
[ have seen her-a child year old with
a great scar ON her forehead. This child
will thus get all the good fortune that
Then be will take her to the river and
leave her lying on pillow on the shore
until the tide rises. 1t will be full at 9
o'clock.
"'There may be time yet, said the
colonel, looking at his watch. Mabel,
you must stay here. Ayah, do you know
where the leaders bungalow is?'
"'Yes, Sahib, she said. 4 will show
you. 1t is only half mile away, and,
perhaps, many men will not be there
Take your pistol and come
1.-The Colonel followed her, pistol in
hand. But they had not gone quarter
of a mile before both stopped as they
heard the noise made by some animal
approaching them. Then, under the
bright moonlight, and only few yards
away, a great gaunt jackal passed them,
going at a labored trot, and carrying
something heavy in his mouth. Both
saw plainly what it was-a native child
with great scar on its forehead.
"The colonel raised his pistol, and
was about to fire at the brute, when the
ayah stopped him with hasty grasp on
his arm.
"'Stay, Sahib, she whispered, THAT
is the leaders child. The jackal may
have taken yours first, and then gone
back for the other. Let us follow him.
He is not going fast.
"Acting on her advice, they followed
until they saw the jackal stop and drop
his burden under a tree. The next
moment he fled, snarling like hunted
cur, into the jungle. and the colonel
lifted his daughter, fast asleep and quite
from the side of the Hindoo
baby inst laid down While Mabel had
been transferring her fortunes to the
leaders child, and the family were wait
ing patiently at the rear of the bungalow
for the completion of the operation, the
jackal, coward and sneak thief of the
had carried off the white
baby, and deferred his supper until he
had returned for the black one.
"a year afterward Col. Stern and his
wife stood at the window of their home
in England, smilingly watching two
children on the grass below. One was
Mabel Stern, and the other was dusky
little girl with q scar on her forehead,