The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-05-02
HORRIBLE END OF A JOKE.
Teaching an Old Story That Men
VIII Not Learn.
From the San Francisco Argonaut.

! VIII Not Learn.
From the San Francisco Argonaut.
A well-brought-up boy learns at a very
early age that practical jokes are dan
gerous things. Sometimes he learns it at
! his mothers knee. sometimes on his ia
! ther's-face down. Otherwise he receives
! physical demonstration from bigger boy.
From which it would appear that the
| youngsters gazetted to the Irrepressibles
were not well brought up.
The Irrepressibles were unlucky in their
| quarters that year. They were fixed on the
plains at a 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 unfor-
! tunate. 1t all arose out of the Junior Su-
| baltern going out fishing one day, or out
of the fact that he caught nothing. Com
| ing back however, he must needs run
| across a cobra, which, with his usual fool
/ hardness, he duly forked and transferred
| alive and wriggling into his creel Thence,
| on arrival at quarters, 1t was removed to
| a perforated box and tenderly fed.
| Two of the subalterns began to develop
a most astonishing degree of hatred the
/ one for the other At first it was treated
| as a welcome diversion, and for time the
| other youngsters used to take an artistic
| pleasure in tanning the quarrel foremost
! being the Junior Subaltern. At last mat
! tiers came to a head. The two subalterns
had a regular row one night after mess.
| They would have come to blows if it
| hadn't been for the interference of the
older men. 1t would have been better if
they had let the two fight it out then
and there. Probably the difficulty might
! have been settled finally. But 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, naturally enough, the snake
took some part.
The idea was nothing more or less than
to propose to the two men to spend night
| together, and with the cobra, in 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 re-
lease the survivors, if any. OF course,
| there was no thought, even for moment,
| of letting loose the cobra in that way, but,
| as the Junior Subaltern said: 1T won t
do them any harm to think it out, and
perhaps with reflection will come an in
| crease of wisdom
While the two men were still in the heat
of anger the Junior Subaltern propounded
| to them his idea of settling their diff
Guilty by means Of the snake. AS with one
breath, both agreed, and even seemed anx-
ious to have the matter settled. They
must have been very mad.
The affair being thus decided, a disused
room was chosen as the scene of the or
deal and was hastily cleared of what fur
niture was in it. This being done, the two
men, who had not changed color during
| the scene were stationed al opposite cor
ners of the room, propped up in sitting po-
sitions, with a clear space between them
of something like fifteen feet.
Ali preliminaries having been arranged
! how brOunht in fhp fatal bOX and de-
posted it in the center of the room in
such a manner that the lid should open
! Sideways Here again his ingenuity came
into play Ii was obvious that the box
must be opened when all except the princi-
! pals We're outside the door. Luckily, the
box had a sliding lid, and the Junior Su-
| baltern was able 60 arrange it so that,
by attaching a piece of string, any one
standing outside the door would be able to
slide back the lid, and so release the pre-
| sumed occupant of the box.
! During all these arrangements the five
conspirators had felt very serious. They
began to realize that it was rather a grim
joke they were having, and it is probable
that the two men who weren't behind the
scenes, who each doubted whether he
might be alive in the morning, were Tess
nervous But then they were still very
angry, and hadn't had time yet to think
out all the details.
There was a solemn enough leave-taking
on all sides as the five youngsters filed
out of the room in their corners and the
box in the center of the room. For a mo-
! ment or two the five stood in silence out
in the passage, the Junior Subaltern hold
ing the end of the strilg and shaking like
an aspen leaf with suppressed excitement
| Then he gave it "a sharp tug, and they
could hear the box-lid sliding back until
1t dropped to the floor with slight smack
1t was a hushed and rather conscience
] rtr bat "a Ifanarean To he
| rious rooms in quarters and the hours of
| that night hung heavily. IT Is a fact that
the five youngsters did not average an
hour of sleep between them. This was
proved by the alacrity with which they
all turned out at the first break of dawn,
and assembled, shivering and drawn
looking and haggard, ready TO 90 and re-
/ lease their voluntary prisoners.
/ They were, in fact. so disturbed that
they took no notice of the senior captain,
who, for some reason best known to him
self, had turned out. too. and followed
them as they trod softly along to the door
of the disused room. He was still I'M
noticed as they reached it, and there
made a marked halt, and his curiosity to
see their little game prevented him from
announcing himself.
As was the case the night before. the
| Junior Subaltern took the lead. There
| was faint murmur as he turned the key
in the lock and stepped boldly into the
ROOM the rest following i'm a crowd. The
senior captain stood for a moment cut
side, wondering and trying to make out
| what Il all meant. But sudden. stihed
| cry caused him TO step quickly after them.
! He was a man who had been in several
| actions. He had seen men killed under
/ all sorts OF CHASTITY circumstances. lie
| had commanded burial parties sent out
/ after the Afghan women had been at
! their devlish work, and had seen sights
! that, hardened as he was, had made him
/ feeel sick and full OF horror But those
scenes we're in no way comparable with
! what met his eyes as he entered the room
! behind the juniors.
The two men were no longer propped up
| IN the position In which they had been left.
! Their swollen, distorted bodies were hud-
! died on the floor in attitudes that showed
/ the awful manner In which they had met
| their DOOM But the figures, almost gro
! tesque in the contortlous which had at
! tended the last death agony. were as moth
! ing In each case the face was upturned.
| livid. with eyes widely open and a fear and