The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-03
A BAD NIGHT.

The subalterns of the Never Say Dies
were as good set of fellows as could
be found in the service and that is say
ing a great deal They know their
drill, as the general comfortingly as
sured them ait each yearly inspection;
they played polo and cricket and
rackets, they mostly held their guns
straight and made as good a show in
g. ballroom as wss necessary.
They were as good a contrast to the
old three-bottle men of the last CEN
fury, who drank and cursed, and whose
only merit was that they fought with a
viii, as could be conceived. But when
there was a big fight forward they
could see it out against the deepest
topers of them all and turned up on
early parade next morning for adju-
tants drill little pale and d little
solemn perhaps, but as steady as if
they had been to bed at 10 o'clock, in
stead of having changed their mess
kit for other uniform and splashed in
cold tub as their only rest.
scarcely every month, but the particu
lar night 1 am writing of was an ex-
ceptional occasion. The cavalry regi-
ment that bore the same official name,
the same crest and motto, and re-
cruited from the same part of the
country as the Never Say Die boys did
was marching down country-for we
are, if you please, in the Punjab-and
had made their Sunday halt "a halt
which may be made on any of the
seven days of the week, and is gener-
ally made where there is some good
shooting to be got-in the station
Say Dies had turned out and pitched
the horse soldiers tents; each COM
pany Ea, prepared a feast for the cor
respo1C-, 3 troop-Uurkey and ham
(the highest idea of luxury that an or
binary Indian cook can rise to) ''beefee
steak" and mutton stew" the ser
geants' mess was full of the spurred
and booted warriors and the officers
had got out their camp beds and wor-
ried the poor Parsee merchant, who
hired out furniture, into state of
despair by demanding almirahs- and
wash hand stands, looking glasses,
easy chairs and tables, for every
bungalow was going to put up one or
aHerns agreed that this was an occa-
sion and that it should be a historic
one.
The only one of the boys who hadn't
entered into the delight of the coming
fun was Lindsay, the last joined. When
he was asked to put up somebody in
his bungalow, a tiny one which he
had to himself, he said that he would
rather not, and when Jackson, the
senior subaltern, asked him with that
dfrectness which finds favor among
why not?" he murmured
something abut a private reason.
"A cantakerous little cub" was what
Jackson said about the boy in telling
the other SubalternS about it.
There were Brady, who, for short,
was known as Pat" and "Cooky''
Cookson, who captained the polo team,
and Belassis, and q. G. B. De Y. Mon
tagu, who was accepted as Alphabet
Monty and Tasker, the adjutant-
and they all said, like one man, that
Lindsay was young cub, a vague
term Of deep reproach.
The boy had kept himself to himself
He was not particularly bright at
he confided in nobody, he did
his work with his company we'll enough
and took his pleasure in long, solitary
walks. He didn't subscribe to the club,
and in general was looked upon as
giving himself airs and being a detri-
ment. So when jackson said that he
was a cub over the matter of his re-
fusal 10 put up at his bungalow a tall,
thin cavalry SUBJ all long sword and
swan-necked spurs the other subalt-
erns cordially agreed.
Wen make it hot for the young
bounder if he don't REFORM suggested
"CoolIy," and the grunt of approval
which followed might have come from
some of Fenimors Cooper'S Indians, so
was it.
The general was dining that night at
mess, as was the padre" as all chap
lains are called, and there was a globe
trotter with a thirst for knowledge
and couple of Bengal lancers and a
gunner. The afternoon had been spent
merrily. There had been a polo match
cavalry against infantry-which the
cavalry had won, but won so narrowly
that the Never Say Dies consoled
themselves by saying: 1T was the
money that did it. If we had the other
fellows ponies it would have been
different" and there had been a great
gathering at the club, roar of talk
ing in the smoking-room and much inn
oIbing of glasses of ginger wine and
brandy, drink that finds great favor
during the cold weather as an appetiz-
ar.
Everybody came to dinner in good
humor. Every Never Say Die had a
cavalryman in charge to look after
through dinner, and during the, few
minutes that the crowded anterooom
waited for the general everybody was
talking.
Dinner began quietly enough. The
Dadre's grace commanded silence and
all the subs were hungry, but the band
and the champagne and the appeased
hunger set the tongues going freely,
and the padre, who had planted him
self down at the subaltern's end, came
n for volume of chaff about a new
pony he had bought, which, he assent
"a, could do pretty nearly everything
n the world. The padre gave back
shaff for chaff, for he was used to
;ubalterns and their ways and liked
he boys.
Lindsay was vice-president and sat
gloomily at the bottom of the table
Pat Brady had asked him if anything
was the matter, and, getting a rather
doubtful no, had muttered something
about a "sulky little devil" The cav
alrymen sitting on either side had
made friendly overtures, but finding
them repealed turned their attention
elsewhere.
The queen" was drunk, and as the
vine went round the noise of the con-
grew. The boys were mostly
alking shooting and polo and pig stick
ng and the merits of different stations
md the difficulty of keeping stud
both for polo and pig sticking ami tell
ng wonderful stories of days after
pigs of "shikark' stories of Cashmere.
When the general and the two Colo