The morning call., 1893-11-26
IN COUNTERMINE B.
&: ":'There's somethin' moving In counter.

With that sense of military discipline and
enrtnesS which had earned him the stripes
tsat were on his sleeve.
The startling announcement was made
" 70. us IN general and to Crater in partlcu-
lar. 1t was Crater who had excayated
ceuntermine Is and Crater was out OF
that room like a terrier. He was tall
snare youth, with lair that stood up from
from his forehead like a soft and some
what wavy doormat. CRATER had been
thought a great deal of at Wooiwich. He
had IA clever head and the sappers were
proud of him. AS yetit was only matter
of,appearance, for George CRATER had done
nothing remarkable up TO the time when
eur small force was cOrnered. he was the
only engineer among us-just as l was the
only doctor At first they had made us
take care of ourselves-on the principle of
guarding the brain that can think for the
rest.
From this vague allusion to great poem
it must not be concluded that this story is
about Lucknow. No. We were not Luck
now, and 10 one ever wrote a poem about
us. We were merely small detachment
of men. and. alas! women. moving down
from an advanced station on the Indian
g lIOutitl DOiulS NhO lCAl pOloAiiy
raids of few rebel hillmen. A very small
fight is sufficient TO get killed ina very
small body of men may make very large
bid tor Immortality.
:: We were rather pleased with ourselves.
We were distinctly martyrs. An migrate
full country was going about Its duty, was
spending its May week at Cambridge, was
lolling away its afternoons at Hurlingham
and scarcely giving a second thought to the
60 ~ ad boa Haafuo6 n
temporarily withdraw the garrison To
Nauog.
We were, in fact. the garrison Of Naung.
We had successfully marched through 200
miles Of a country physically broken, NOR
ally unstable. We were forty. rank and
Efe, and we had with US old Tangler. the
tea planter, Mrs. Tangler, Edith Tangler
and their European maid. We had two
ladies of our own-the majors wife and
her sister. Miss WOodhorn. We had lost
three men. killed, and two days before we
had buried a telegraph clerk who had sue
cumbed 10 nasty spear-wound in the
groin. The only man among us whom
thoroughly disliked was young Bird of the
guides. ! imagine there was little sympa-
thy. between Bird and Crater. The for
mer was all swagger-the latter all hard
work and cOmmen0able ambition.
We were stuck at Oak bungalow by
the side of the river. The ferry-boat was
on the other side, in possession of the
main body of the rebel hillmeD. This was
,Crafer's ehance-the major resolved to
fQrtifv the place and wait. Crater gurgled
with joy p hind his pipe when the deci-
sion was made known to him. He bad some
-mpst original ideas on fortiicatiOn, which,
after all, was his business, and when a
man has original ideas on his own business
and confines his attention to it he usually
gets on.
: Crafer's Notifications were fearfuly
thing was that ha drew them all out first
IN a pocket-book with a ruler and
a piece of string. He actually made
a plan of that Dal bungalow and
built plan of f0rthcation around ii. all
scaled to feet and inches. Bird laughed
at the whole thing and said that long be-
fore the earthwOrks we're thrown up our
Own inen would be waiting for US acros S
the river ss3gA- Bird was wrong. No one
came tos a ; other side of the river to fetch
= - "a, 81, instead. the niilmen came across
as 80 en.v-boat ana began throwing up
Et.sts, ussks Of their own within range.
'Cfafer gurgleG still. This was getting in
estastina. The eDemv's eartnworks were
Qs-.N scaled down to inches III the note
books Then Bird began to get uncom-
fertabisA He was a very rich young man
Mrs TStAgler knew III, and he bad many
things wfiea he wanted to buy and enjoy
before be died.. He had no confidence in
Crafer's earthwOfks.
In this respect Bird differed from the
rest of US. The major pulled his mustache
and said CRATER was all right. Crater was
" good man. As for myself | said
nothing. 1t was not my business. But
was not in the least uneasy, and attended
tu:that which was my business all the bet
+, ter, because Crater had all the fortlhca-
:: ttons:neatIv worked out in his pocketbOo ok.
: But Edith Tangler had perfect confidence
In Crafer's earthworks, and said SOTO
SHQ sald cn IN and q sR od
me if did not think them wonderful.
said l did. But there were other things
which struck me as still more wonderful.
One of these was the perfect serenity of
: tis gentle-soued girl in the very heart of
d most unmiStakable danger.
=. Danger is very difficult thing to hide.
If ship is going down everybody on
:. board knows ii, however comforting the
authorities may be. There is no doubt
that Edith TaDgler was quite aware of the
fact that any sunset might be our last.
She was not constructed on heroic lines at
all. Sne was rather small and slightly
built. with very fascinating fair hair and
thoughtful blue eyes. From her way Of
- moving il was quite obvious that her line
in life was essentially the pathway of
peace and domestic insigniflcaDce. She
was the sort of girl to be frightened at
those things which our grandmothers
feared. while our sisters and nleces face
them in tailor-made dresses to-day.
Seeing this, II was rather rem markable
that Miss Tingler should smile and look
quite happy while we were surrounded by
savage hillmen, at least 800 miles from aid
OF any sort. ] could only attribute It 10
the fact that the man who had built the
fertifications was her lover.
supposed that in the MIND of Edith
Tanger there was certain number of
Goorkhas to watch over our safety, and let
off rifles when the occasion seemed to de-
inand that effort-there was major, man
whose name is, by the way, to be found In
the history Of India-there were few
European officers-there was my hum ole
selt-but DO one counted for much when
George Crater came to be considered. 1t
was to George CRATER that our successful
retreat might be attributed. George CRATER
had fortified this rotten old Oak bungalow W
and therefore it was impregnable. George
had q head full of science, and furth er
plans scaled down to the inch. and the
soldiers, and doctors, and people bad only
to obey George and it would be all right.
This is what Miss Tangler thought. and
she.vas perhaps quite right. at all events
she was quite right to think i'll am sure
Of that
That Oak bungalow has village round
1t now. and some day it will have railway
EnY IN Ic