Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1896-09-05

hhR hoot VI yOu huOW
10y our extreme out
VI" posts are Michni
E|.a a.. Abazai and Shub
IA %NM kudr. three q
lhII@zAsa' dreary spots as 1
man could ever hope to see. The,
have not, as I dare say you know, .
single redeeming feature, being soil
tary mud buildings which hold the
police and native troops who are sup
posed to overawe the tribesmen, and
which, except the commandant and
the doctor, don't offer many attrac'
tions in the way of society. You
know what frontier service in the old
days was like. Forays by the trades.
men, and punitive expeditions by the
Sirksr, carried to such an extent that
we almost realized the idea OF
"Branksome Tower" in the clay OF
the Last MINSTREL" and "drank the
red wine through the helmet barred"
You know the sort of life-rows
with the trihesmen eternally spring
ing up and dying down again in indi-
vidual localities, while as matter OF
fact there was always trouble at one or
more places along the frontier.
At the time am speaking OF, the
post OF commandant of the frontier
forts was not in much quest. don't
know that the authorities at Simla
were much troubled by eager appli-
cants in fact think the general at
Peshawur usually detailed some I'M
lucky major from the Staff Corps and
sent him nolens volens to hold the
fort as long as he could with decency
be made to stay. There was trouble
brewing that April, and in Peshawur
we all knew it. How it come about
we none of us cared much, but the
man before the then incumbent had
gone home sick, and the commandment
pro tenn. was reported to be in daily
fear OF his life.
Well, unpleasant as it was, it was
scarcely surprise, when, one morn.
ing the assistant adjutant general
rode up to my bungalow in great ex :
citement, and told me I was to out at
once and assume command OF the
forts.
you're to lose no time," be said.
''Poor So.and.so" mentioning the
late commandant) "was shot last
night by some scoundrel, and the
general wants you to try and find out
who did it. The police are making
inquiries, but you know what that
means. By the way. he wants to see
you before you CO."
A soldier never has much time to
make his arrangements, and that very
evening I rode out to the forts, having
received a long lecture from the gen.
eral on that COMPOUNDED word "tact"
which, as we find in the service, is
always on everybody's lips, and not
understood by one man in hundred
who uses it.
Well, I must get on with my story,
or we shall he in the Thames before I
come to the point of it. ! never
thought much about tact, but al
ways believed that a well-born native
is as much a gentleman as an English
duke. and will behave to you just as
you treat him. I soon discovered my
unfortunate predecessor had tried to
ride rough.shod over the tribesmen,
and had made his hand felt in every
corner of his command. A Pathan is
as vengeful as Corsican OF good fam
lily, and will carry his feuds as far as
self.respeoting American desperate.
There are always ready with knife or
rife to exact vengeance from any
enemy, and near Peshswur will often
murder the wrong man, If they can't
find the right. An Englishman who is
accustomed to living in law.abiding
country is no match for them, and so
my predecessor found to his cost.
They shot him as he was smoking his
pipe after dinner one night, on his
own veranda in view OF the guard. OF
course I never found his murderer
Inever expected I should-but I did
find that my own system of treatment
paid better than his, and before very
long had, as tho politicians would
have expressed it, ''established excel
lent relations with the surrounding
tribesmen."
There was a very simple way of
testing this. A few hundred yards
from the gate OF the fort former
commandant had made for himself
garden, sunk a we'll, and planted trees.
Here most Of the vegetables used by
the garrison were grown. The Path.
ans broke down. the walls, cut the
water courses and stole the vegetables.
But started q different system; I
was civil to tho neighboring Kahns
and sent them baskets of vegetables,
and before very long found my pro-
duce grew In plenty, and more, on
the fine summer evenings, after the
heat Of the day, when went across to
the garden and sat under the trees and
smoked my pipe, one or other of
the Khans would drop in for chat,
and in . short time I reckoned many
friends among the supposed irreclaim-
able blackguards who owned the from
tie, villages.
Among them all there was none
with whom I got on better than a
grand old fellow named Mahomed
Aslim Khan, chief of . village near
the fort. He was thorough gentle.
man, had served in his younger days
under the Sikh generals, and was as
proud of his homo and his scars as
any honorable man need be. Many
were the pleasant evenings We spent
together, for. rs I have said, European
society WAS limited, and fine old fel.
low like that q perfect godsecd to
lonely man.
wsl1 g.. A.: IL 1900