The St. Johns herald., 1897-06-19
well-brought-up boy learns at g


 down. Otherwise he receives physical demonstration from, a bigger boy. From which it would appear that the youngsters gazetted to the 1rrepressi- bles were not well brought up. At all events, they had the reputation or be" ing the most rowdy crew in the army list Now, in India, a reputation Is only gained by being deserved. And IL was in a hill-station that the subalterns or the Irrepressibles reached the lOftiest pinnacle of their folly. The affair was huShed up afterward, for the honor or the regiment, as such things should be.
 The Irrepressibles were unlucky in their quarters that year. They were fixed on the plains at time when there was nothing to do, no game, no society, no anything. In a case like that they were thrown back on themselves, and the result was unfortunate. Mems tenn pers began to give way under the strain, and, from the commanding officer down to the smallest boy capable of beating a drum, there was not one who
  least seven times a day.
 The trouble came. It all arose out of the Junior Subaltern going out fishing one day, or out of the fact that he caught nothing. Coming back, how ever, he must needs run across cobra, which, with his usual foolhardiness, he duly forked and transferred alive and wriggling into his creel. Thence, on arrival at quarters, it was removed to perforated box and tenderly fed.
 Two of the subalterns began to de- velop a most astonishing degree of ha- tired the one for the other. They were two men sufficiently alike in character and capabilities to be either the firmest of friends or the bitterest of enemies. AS q matter of choice they were the latter. Jealousy was at the bottom of the trouble, no doubt. In the natural order of things, this little feeling didn't make life any the pleasanter for the rest. At first 1t was treated as a well come diversion, and for time the oth- CT youngsters used to take an artistic pleasure in flaming the quarrel, fore most being the Junior Subaltern.
 What was originally a variation of the monotOny of life, however, soon came to be a nuisance, and the 1rrepres- sibles began to feel very sick. Then they got to wishing that one or both of the men would die. This is not a nice sentiment to entertain toward any man, especially if he is a brother-of- ficer. But, most of all, each of the men wished that the other would go out, and this was even worse.
 At last matters came to head. The two subalterns had regular row one night after mess. They would have come to blows If 1t hadn't been for the interference of the older men. There were six men present, all subalterns except one, and 1t would have been bet ter if they had let the two fight 1t out then and there. Probably the difficulty might have been settled finally. But peace was patched up for about three days, and then they broke out worse than ever, and said things that half q century ago would have led to pistols next morning In the meantime, the Junior Subaltern and four other imps of mischief had matured a plan by which they hoped to fix up the matter once for all. And in this plan, natural ly enough, the snake took some part. It was grim enough practical joke at the best, and they ought to have pos sessed more sense between the five of them than to think of such a thing.
 The idea was nothing more or less than to propose to the two men to spend a night together, and with the cobra, in a disused room in quarters. They were to be locked in and left to settle the matter among themselves during the night, and in the morning the rest of the party would release the no thought, even for moment, of let ting loose the corba In that way, but, as the Junior Subaltern said: Ut won't do them any harm to think it out, and perhaps with reflection will come an increase of wisdom"
 W lHS lNO LISu were SIlll III tue heat of anger, the Junior Subaltern pro- pounded to them his idea of settling their difficulty by means of the snake. He and his cOnfederates looked mar rOwly at the men, and fancied they blanched slightly at the prospect. This must have been imagination, however, for, as with one breath, they both agreed, and even seemed anxious to have the matter settled. They must have been very mad.
 The affair being thus decided, a dis used room was chosen as the scene of the ordeal, and was hastily cleared of what furniture was in it. This being done, the two men, who had not changed color during the scene, were stationed at opposite corners of the room, propped up in sitting positions, with a clear space between them of something like fifteen feet.
 All preliminaries having been ar ranged, the boy brought in the fatal box and deposited 1t in the center of the room, in such a manner that the lid should open sideways. Here again his ingenuity came into play. It was ob- viOus that the box must be opened when all except the principals were outside the door. Luckily, the box had Ii6 T1niop