The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1894-01-27
Audyard Kipling. in Harper's
Weekly.

Again the salute, and Imam Din de-
parted, with that same set Of the back
which he wore when he had taken the
order from Strickland. I thought that
it would be Well to go, too, but Strick-
land beckoned me from the veranda.
When l came up he was perfectly
white, and rocking to and fro in his
chair, repeated "Good God!' half a doz-
en- times.
DO you know that he was going to
chuck himself down the well-because
/ tapped him just now" he said, help
lessly.
II ought to-" I replied. HE has just
dismissed his nurse-on~ his authority,
l suppose"
He told me just now that he wouldn't
have her for q nurse any more. l nev-
er supposed he meant it for an instant.
I suppose she'll have to 60"
It Is written elsewhere that Strick-
land was feared through the length and
breadth of the Punjab by murderers,
horsethieves, and cattle-lifters.
!, Adam returned, halted outside the We
randa, very white about the lips.
Il have sent away Juma because
she saw that-that which happened.
Until she is gone I do not come in the
house, he said.
But to send away thy foster-moth-
er?' said Strickland with reproach.
II do not send her away. 1t Is thy
blame" and the small finger was point
ed toward Strickland. II will not obey
her. Send her away"
Strickland stepped out and lifted
the child into the veranda.
This folly has lasted long enough
he said. "Come now, and be wise"
Il am little and you are big said
Adam. between set teeth. You can
beat me before this man or cut me to
pieces. But I will not have Juma for
my ayah any more. I will not eat till
she goes. I swear it by-my fathers
head"
Strickland sent him indoors to his
mother and we could hear sounds Of
weeping, and Adams voice saying
nothing more than, Send Juma away
Presently Juma came in n wept too,
and Adam repeated, 1T is no fault OF
thine, but go!'
And at the end OF it was that Juma
went, with all her belongings, and
Adam fought his own way alone into
his little clothes until a new ayah came.
His address Of welcome to her was ra-
Their amazing; in a few words 1t ran:
IF T do wrong send me to my father.
II you strike me I will try to kill you.
I do not wish my ayah to play with
me. Go and eat rice"
From that day Adam. forswore the So
Getty Of ayahs and small native girls ms
much as 4 small boy can, combining
himself to Imam Din and his friends
of the police. The Naik, Juma's hus-
band, had been presuming not a little
on his position. and when Adams favor
was withdrawn from his wife he judg-
ed it best to apply for a transfer to an
other post. There were too many com
panions anxious to report his shOrtcom-
ing to Strickland.
Toward his father Adam kept a
guarded neutrality. There was not a
touch of Sulkiness in it, for the child's
temper was as clear as a bell. But the
difference and the p%olitenesS worried
Strickland
II the other men had loved Adam be-
fore the affair Of the well, they worship
ped him now.
HE knows what honor means" said
Imam Din. HE has justified himself
upon a point thereof. He has carried
an order through his fathers household
as a child of the blood might do.
Therefore, he is not altogether Il child
any longer. Wah! He is Il tigers cub"
The next time that Adam made his lit
tie unofficial inspection of the lines,
Imam Din, and by consequence all the
others, stood upon their feet with their
hands to their sides, instead Of calling
out from where they lay. "Salaam,
Babajee," and other di~srespectful
things.
But Strickland took long counsel with
' his wife. and she with the check-book
and their lean bank account. and they
decided that Adam must go home to his
Aunts. But England is not home to a
child who has been born in India, Inc
1t never becomes homelike unless he
spends all his youth there. The bank
book showed that If they economical
through the summer by going to 4
cheap hill station insead of to Simla,
where Mrs. Strickland's parents lived
and where Strickland might be noticed
by the powers, they could send Adam
home in the next spring. 1t would be
hard pinching, but it could be done. In
India all the money that people In 9th
er lands save against a rainy day runs
off in loss by exchange. which to-day
cuts a mans income down almost ex-
actly to one-half. There is nothing to,
show for money when all Is put by,
and that is what makes married life
there so hard. Strickland used to say
sometimes, that he envied the convicts
in the Jail. They had no position to
keep up, and the ball and the chain that
the worst of them wore was only a
few pounds weight Of iron.
Dalhousie was chosen as being the
cheapest Of the hill stations; Dalhousie
and a little five-roomed cottage full of
mildew, tucked away among the rhodo-
dendrons.
Adam had been to Simla three or
four times, and knew, by NAME, most
of the tonga drivers from Kalka to
Tara Deva, but this new plan disquiet-
ed him. He came to me for infOrma-
ton, his hands deep in his knicker-
booker pockets, walking, step for step,
as his father walked.
There will be none of my bhai-bund
~(brotherhood) up there" he said, dis
c~onsolately, 'and they say that I must
lie still in a doolie for a day and a night
being carried like a sheep. I wish to
takesome Of my mounted men to DIAL
h0usie."
! told him that there was a small boy,
called Victor, at Dalhousie, who had a
calf for a pet. and was allowed to play
with It on the public roads. After
that Adam could not sufficiently hurry
the packing.
First" said he, II shall ask that
man Victor to let me play with the
COWS child. II he Is muggra G~ll-condi-
\ Toned 4 shall tell my policeman to