Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-06-03

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natives in q
ring around poor wretch of leper.
UGH he's the first I've seen and he
made me feel bad, l can tell you; 1
don't want to see any more. "
''Hah!" broke in Henderson "and
how do you know the man was leper,
if you had never seen one before, eh?"
"Oh, he WAS leper right enough
there was horrible grayish scaley
look upon him, and he was bloated
and his arms were only stumps
and"
That's enough pass" said
Henderson quickly, with shudder.
'Well, this leper seemed to be ask
ing great favor of the other fellows
--lmploring them to do something, you
know--and they didn't want to; and
tAe poor chappie turned from one to
the other and moaned and cried; and
well, upon my word, Henderson, what
with his pitiful appearance, l felt
Welt couldn't see quite straight for
little while. And look here; l
thought lepers weren't allowed to come
near anybody"
Him." Henderson's face assumed a
puzzling expression, -pitying, half
stern, as he rose from the camp chair
in which he was lolling. Placing his
hands ON my shoulders and looking
into my eyes, he went on: $50 you
want to know the meaning of that
word, do you? Let's see; how long
have You been grilling in this DEVIL
kitchen, eh?"
Nearly five weeks replied I, sur
prised at the peculiar hardness of his
voice; for Henderson, I had already
seen for myself, was big brother to all
the children of the cantonment
go; five weeks" His voice as
sumed q satirical tone. Give weeks
and you don't know the language yet /
You're very slow for competition wal
lah, And what did you understand of
the conversation between your leper
ana MS 1r1endS, en-!
"Why," said I, bridling up some
what, 81 learned u good Bit of the Ian
guage before 1 came ont, and l know
as much of it now, I'll guarantee, as
the average man does after he's been
here couple of years :"
Modest, dryly calculated Hender-
son, waiting for an answer to his ques-
ton.
"Oh, understood it all right enough
except that blessed word 'sumajh' 1t
was wrapped up in very fgurative Ian
guage-calling the earth his mother
and the sun his father, and all that sort
of stuff, you know He wanted them
to do 'sumajh' for him but it seemed
as if they were half afraid to do what
ever it means. In the end, though,
they gave way, and the poor chap was
wonderfully pleased, for he held his
wasted arms to the sky and invoked
blessings on them, and then crouched
down and kissed the earth; and finally
burst out into sort of song that didn't
go very far before it faded away into a
dismal croak that was painful to listen
to. couldn't stand it any longer, and
came away,
80; that's all you know about it, is
it? Well, youngster, take my advice
and it's good, too-don't poke your
nose into the natives business Let
them alone as much as you can. Guilt
vate a convenient memory when you're
reading the regulations about them.
Remember, that the men who make
most of those rules don't have to keep
them; and between you and me, their
knowledge of the theory of govern
ment is only excelled by their ignor-
ance of the practice Of it. As for that
word you're so curious about, forget
it, and don't hear it again-under-
stand?"
With that he went out abruptly.
I was greatly perplexed. Half the
night l pondered over Henderson's
strange conduct, and wondered why on
earth he should refuse to tell me the
meaning of simple word / did not
care to ask any one else, for fear of its
getting to Henderson's ears Although
l was on pretty familiar terms with
him, he was my chief, and in addition
: had already become much attached
to him.
The next morning, l tackled him
again. 'Henderson-thatw ord?"
He turned and gazed at me with half
closed eyes and said deliberately and
coldly; THE keenness of your curl
osity would do infinite credit to a
corpora's wife" He cleared his throat
and said testify: "Picnic, picnic
that's what the word means he wanted
them to treat him to picnic in the
jungle; and you say they consented.
And"-he turned on me quite fiercely
shouldn't they? And look
here, my boy, if you say one word
about it to any one else in the canton
ment, I'll make it warm for YOU"
l was hurt and angry and gave Hen
derson a wide berth for the rest of the
day.
In the evening I strolled down the
klstapore road. 1t was against the
regulations, for the jungle ran right
up to the road and at night there was
certain amount of danger to be feared
from the wild beasts that occasionally
explored the road, almost up to the
But in my brief expert
ence l had seen the spirit, if not the
letter of one or two of the regulations,
ignored and / wanted to be alone, to
think out the meaning of Henderson,
strange words and manner.
1t was almost the last of the few
brief moments of twilight, when, being
still some couple of miles from home,
quickened my pace. The night was
falling as only those can understand
who have witnessed nightfall on the
edge of the jungle. No need to tell
them how the darkness drops like a
heavy blanket nor of the startling
Transformation of the tangled under
wood and the gigantic grasses. witch