The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-12-08

mand that effort, there was a mRjor-a
man whose name is, by the way, to be
found in the history of India-there were
few European officers, there was my
humble self, but no one counted for much
when George Crater came to be consid.
cred 1t was to George Crater that our
successful retreat might be attributed.
George Crater had fortified this rotten old
Oak bungalow, and therefore it was i'm
pregnable. George had head full of sci.
ence and further plans scaled down to the
inch, and the soldiers and doctor and peo-
pie had only to obey George, and it would
be all right This is what Miss Tangler
thought, and she was perhaps quite right,
At all events, she was quite right to think
i'll am sure of that,
That Oak bungalow has village round
it now, and some day it will have rail
way station. 1t is called Crafer's Fort tc
this day, and there are some men who
maintain that in its way it is wonder.
There is one man-namely, the present
writer-who knows that that fort was
planned and built for the protection OF
one insignificant, small, blue eyed girl
who moved in and out of those casemated
rooms with a gentle tread as if she ought
always to have walked on thick carpets
amid the peace of domestic security.
When the enemy came across the riv
and threw up earthworks, George Crt.feI =
practiced mind fixed it's talons on the pcs,
sible meaning of this maneuver. The
possible meaning was mine. Bird laugh
ed when he heard this He told one or
two men that Crater seemed to think that
he was defending beleaguered city
against a European foe. But the major
merely observed that Crater was all right.
To meet the danger of Il mine George
Crater proceeded with a rule and pencil
to draw plans of Il countermine. These
tunnels were to he eXcavated at such an
angle that any mine cut from the enemy's
earthworks to our line of defense must
necessarily come near enough to a sentinel
stationed in our tunnel for him to hear the
miners working
Bird of the guides, be it noted, was in
the way of becoming distinguished man.
He had been splendidly educated. He was
rich and ambitious. Above all for Indian
frontier work-he was plucky almost to
recklessness In his inmost heart he prob
ably knew that Crater was quite right to
treat this, his first practical fertilization,
as serious matter, but he was jealous of
the chance afforded by fortune to George
Crater. Moreover, he was jealous of the
interest displayed in the youthful engineer
and all his works by Edith Taugler The
truth was that Bird had fallen in love
with Edith Tangler He was not attached
to us. He had been travelling on his own
account in the north and had fingered on
at Nauog on account of Miss Tangler.
OF course, we had known for months
that that vague possibility called a "some
thing" had existed between George Crater
and Edith Tangler, but Mrs. Tangler had
been strong in opposition, and Mrs Tangler
was a person of whom all wise men are to
this day afraid. Mrs. Tangler is woman
who will make a mark of some sort, even
in heaven. When this lady perceived
Birds penchant, she got morally behind
Bird and pushed, and things began to look
rather black for Crater. Then came the
trouble, and we had to evacuate.
When Bates announced that there was
something moving in Countermine B, we
smiled rather incredulously. Countermine
was not completed. 1t only ran dis
tance of 20 yards from our outer wall, and
think most of us looked upon it as Il fad
of Crater. The other mine-A, in fact
was in the same condition, and only one
man worked at each during the day. But
Crater took the thing quite seriously
Before Bates had time to right about face
Crater had slipped past him. We were
left smoking. Bird, by the way, was not
in the room. 1t was nearly midnight, and
we imagined that he had gone to bed
"a mongoose or mole, suggested one
man sleepily.
Nothing else, +" replied another, "would
be likely u go into Countermine b. |
looked in today It's about the size of a
big rain pipe"
After that we sat smoking in silence,
waiting for Crater to come back. sup
pose we slept in our chairs.
When Crater left us, it appears that he
went straight to the mouth of Counter
mine B. One or two men were assembled
there, whispering among themselves
| When Crater came they stood aside, watch
ing his face, with their beady, doglike
eyes. At first he listened. A man, by the
way, who works underground gets won
derfully keen in his hearing. George era
fer loosened his revolver and crept on hands
and knees into the darkness of the tunnel
/ tell the tale as he told it to me, and
George Crater was not exactly verbose
man. He merely detailed the facts, with
out pausing to comment on his own feel
ings, as some men would have loved to do
He went along notwithstanding the
distance as he penetrated into the dark
ness by the number of steps he took. The
tunnel was about four feet high, and era
fer was little over six feet, so he must
have been rather cramped. Long before
he reached the end he heard the sound of
somebody working, not in Countermine
B, but in another tunnel close at hand-a
tunnel that would meet Countermine B
at an obtuse angle.
Crater struck light and went quickly
back to the mouth of the countermine,
where he gave some instructions to Bates
| and borrowed that e;il looking arm, a
kookery, from one of the Goorkhas. With
the knife in his hand he went back into
the mine, alone. There was, he explain
ed to the eager and bloodthirsty Bates.
only room for two to fight in that mine.
/ often wish that Crater had been more
expansive man. 1t would be interesting
to know something of the thoughts of that
man sitting there alone in Countermine
in the dark, hopping his face flor the
atmosphere was stihing), waiting while
his enemy picked his way through the
soft, powdery earth. Whether, for instance,
he was surprised at this sign of an unex-
| pected science in the savage warfare waged
against us, or whether it was no more
than he had anticipated. He certainly
was strangely persistent about those two
cOunterminas-noyv that | think of IT,