St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-26
TESTED THE SOLDIERS NERVE.
An Incident Showing the PeriIs
of Life in the Jungles of In
(lia.


New York Mercury.
The bluff old major from the queens
army had listened attentively to the
campfire tales of his companions He
put a fresh charge of fragrant to-
bacco in the veteran pipe that he had
been smoking and the three occupants
of the compartment lapsed into ex-
pectant silence, waiting to hear from
him.
1.-The bravest man I have ever met
was not on the field of battle" he be-
gan. He was a soldier, but 1 know lit
tie about his military record, and vet
when 1 say he was the bravest man
1 ever knew 1 think know what am
talking about. We were camping in
India and for months the command
had simply been idling time away.
We were all thoroughly tired of a life
of routine military inactivity, and
finally a party of five of US secured a.
two weeks leave of absence, which
we proposed to spend III hunt for big
game. Very elaborate preparations
were made for our expedition. Two
tents and plenty of provisions were
packed, while heavy hunting rifles, am
munition and all the paraphernalia
necessary to take care of big game was
packed with our outfit
"Well, to be brief, we didn't have
much luck. The expedition from a.
hunters point of view was a CON-
plete fizzle. You can imagine we were
all sorely disappointed because we
hadn't met anything worth scaIping on
our trip.
'It was on the last night, I think,
before we broke camp. We were seat
ed in a glum group about our impro-
vised table speculating as to the re-
ception we would receive from our
1 brother officers when we returned
crestfallen and empty-handed to head
, quarters. We expected, of course, to-
be chaffed unmercifully.
Then, naturally enough, the CONVEX
sation turned to adventures. One of
our number was a senior resimental
officer, who had been through ten
/ the guiding spirit of our expedition.
! Seated a few feet away from him and
to his left, was a young junior COM
! pany officer, who had but recently
/ Joined the command. We had been
! eating fruit, which was of a kind that
/ bears a very peculiar scent. 1t is a.
! tradition that this native fruit has a
/ strong attraction for several varieties
] or VenOmouS reptiles peculiar to that
! climate. l, at least, am convinced that
/ there is something more than tradition
| in it
LAS I have said, we were talking of
! adventures when, in a moment OF ST.
| lence, the bluff old regimental officer,
| looking steadily at the young Heuten-
| ant at his side, said:
DO you think you could keep your
| presence of mind under the most try
/ ing circumstances, when your life de-
i ,Ir1I
Dead silence followed the coloners
| question, and the young officer, looking
! quizZically at his interrogation, replied:
| Yes, think 1 could
:" Then the time has come when you
| must be put tc, the test. Move not a
| muscle until I tell you, or you are a
| dead man.
Then the bronzed old warrior slowly
! drew his pistol from his holster, and,
| taking deliberate aim, he fired a shot
at the very feet Of the man to whom
| he had addressed his ominous question.
| For the space of a second we all sat
! like statues, then the colonel, in a tone
| of relief exclaimed:
It's all right now, boys; I've killed
| it
1--WE were all on our feet in an in
slant, eager to know what danger had
threatened our young comrade. At his
! feet lay the coiling, squirming body Of
a huge cobra, the most venomOuS rep
tile that hauntS the jungleS of India
! think the man who calmly faced thac
/ danger was the bravest man I've ever
met" said the major, and no one dis
| sented.