The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1891-01-15
BY WORD OF MOUTH.

BY WURD UF MUUlH.
TThe author of this story Rudyard Kipling, is
young Englshman who has lived most OF his me
In British India His stories of that country
written during personal contact with its people
and the British army, have recently attracted
great deal of attention both In England and
America
This tale may be explained by those
who know how souls are made, and
where the bounds Of the possible are put
down. | have lived long enough in this
country to know that it is best to know
nothing, and can only write the story as
it happened.
Dumoise was our civil surgeon at
Meridlzi, and we called him ''Dormouse,"
because he was round little, sleepy lit
tie man. He was a good doctor, and
never quarreled with any one, not even
with our deputy commissioner, who had
the manners of bargee and the tact of
horse. He married a girl as round
and as sleepy looking as himself, She
was Miss Hillardyce, daughter of
"Squash" Hillardyce of the Berars, who
married his chiefs daughter by mistake.
A honeymoon in India is seldom more
than a week long; but there is nothing
to hinder a couple from extending it
over two or three years. This is de-
lightful country for married folk who
are wrapped up in one another. They
can live absolutely alone and without
interruption, just as the Dormice did.
These two little people retired from the
world after their marriage, and were
very happy. They were forced, of
course, to give occasional dinners, but
they made no friends hereby, and the
Station went its own way and forgot
them, only saying occasionally that Dor
mouse was the best of good fellows,
though dull. A civil surgeon who never
quarrels is rarity, appreciated as such
Few people can afford to play Robin
son Crusoe anywhere-least of all in In
dia, where we are few in the land, and
very much dependent on each others
kind offices. Dumoise was wrong in
shutting himself from the world for a
year, and he discovered his mistake
when an epidemic Of typhoid broke out
in the station in the heart of the cold
weather, and his wife went down. He
was shy little man, and five days were
wasted before he realized that Mrs.
Dumoise was burning with something
worse than simple fever, and three days
more passed before he ventured to call
on Mrs. Shute, the engineers wife, and
timidly speak about his trouble. Nearly
every household in India knows that
doctors are very helpless in typhoid
The battle must be fought out between
death and the nurses, minute by minute
and degree by degree. Mrs. Shute al
most boxed Dumoise's ears for what she
called his criminal delay and went of
at once to look after the poor girl. We
had seven cases of typhoid in the station
that winter, and as the average OF death
is about one in every five cases, we felt
certain that we should have to lose
somebody
But all did their best The women sal
up nursing the women, and the me1
turned to and tended the bachelors who
were down, and we wrestled with thost
typhoid cases for fifty-six days, ant
brought them through the valley of the
shadow in triumph. But, just when We
thought all was over, and were going K
give dance to celebrate the victory
little Mrs Dumoise got relapse an(
died in a week and the station went t
the funeral. Dumoise broke down utterly
at the brink of the grave, and had to b.
taken away.
After the death Dumoise crept into hi
own house and refused to be comforted
He did his duties perfectly, but we al
felt that he should go on leave, and th
| other men of his own service told hin
SO. Dumoise was very thankful for tn
suggestion-he was thankful for any
thing in those days-and went to Chin
on walking tour. Ch1ni is some twent.
marches from Simla, in the heart of tn
hills, and the scenery is good if you ar
in trouble You pass through big, still
deodar forests, and under big, still cliffs
and over big, still grass downs swelling
like a woman's breasts, and the WIN
across the grass and the rain among tn
deodars says, "Hush-hush-hus S
little Dumoise was packed off to Chin
to wear down his grief with full plat
camera and a rife He took also a use
less bearer, because the man had bee
his wife's favorite servant. He was idl
and thief, but Dumoise trusted every
thing to him.
On his way back from Chini, Dumois
turned aside to Bagi, through she Fores
Reserve which is on the spur of Noun
Huttoo. Some men who have travele
more than little say that the marc
from Kotegarh to Bagi is one of the fine:
in creation. 1t runs through dark We
forest, and ends suddenly in bleak, nil
ped hill side and black rocks. Bagi dal
bungalow is open to all winds and Is bl
terly cold Few people go to Bag
Perhaps that was the reason why Dl
noise went there He halted at in Il
evening, and his bearer went down tt
hill side to the village to engage cooi'
for the next days march. The sun ha
set, and the night winds were beglnni1
to Groom among the rocks. Dumol
leaned on the railing of the verand
waiting for his bearer to return. III
man came back almost Immediately a
ter he had disappeared, and at such
rate that Dumoise fancied he must ha'
crossed bear. He was running Us hal
as he could up the face Of the hill.
1.