The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-02
A JOKES HORRIBLE END
TWO DIED FROM A cOBRA's BITE
AND ANOTHER GOES MAD.
BIood-CurdIing Result of the Foolish
Prank OF "a squad of English
Officers in India.

GUS things. Sometimes he learns II at MS
mothers knee, sometimes on his fathers
face down. Otherwise he receives physical
demonstration from a bigger boy. From
which it would appear that the youngsters
gazetted 10 the Irrepressihles were not well
brought up. The 1rrepressibles were I'M
lucky in their quarters that year. They
were fixed on the plains at a time when
there was nothing to do-no game. no So
ciety, no anything. In a case like that they
were thrown back on themselves. and the
result was unfortunate. II all arose out of
the junior subaitern going out fishing one
day, not out of the fact that he caught
nothing. Coming back. however. he must
needs run across a 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 a perforated box and ten
derby 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 a 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. Prob
ably 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
f0 rr0noGo To tho two UoDr m cpaa1d 81 rfCht
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 re-
lease the survivors,. if any. f course, there
was no thought, even for a moment, of let
thing loose the cobra in that way, but, as
the junior subaltern said: 1T won't do
them any harm to think it out, and per-
haps with reflection will come an increase
of wisdom.
While the two men were still in the heat
of anger. the Junior subaltern p~ropounded
to them his idea of settling their difficulty
by means of the snake. AS with one breath
both agreed, and even seemed anxious TO
have the matter settled. They must nave
been very mad. The affair being thus de-
cided. a disused- 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
llcIn OF SODleLlllS ike IIIeen IeGJ.
All preliminaries having been arranged,
the boy brought in the 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. 1t
was obvious that the box must be opened
when all except the principles were outside
the door. Luckily. the box had q sliding
lid, and the junior subaltern was able to
arrange it so that, by attaching a piece
door would be able to slide back the lid,
and so release the presumed ccupan 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 less nervous.
But then they were still very angry. and
hadn't had time yet to think out all the
There was a solemn enough leave-takirg
on all sides as the five youngsters filed 1T
of the room and locked the door, leaving
the two men in their corners and the box
in the center of the room. For a moment
or two the five stood in silence out in the
passage, the junior subaltern holding the
end of the string and shaking like an aspen
leaf with suppressed excitement. Then he
gave 1T a sharp tug. and they could hear
the box lid sliding back until it dropped to
the floor with a slight smack.
1t was a huShed and rather conscience
stricken band that dispersed to the various
rooms in quarters and the hours of the
night hung heavily. 1t is a fact that the
five youngsters did not average an hour of
olHCp DtLNttil liltlli- Iii was pIOFtl w
the alacrity with which they all turned out
at the first break of dawn, and assembled,
shiverirg and drawn-looking and haggard,
ready to go and release 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 himself, had
turned out, too, and followed them as they
trod softly along to the door of the disused
room. He was still unnoticed as they
reached it, and there made a. marked halt,
and his curiosity to see their little game
npaETnntAH him. FROM III n1n Or hfFoCp1f
AS was the case the night before, the
junior subaltern took the lead. There was
a faint murmur as he turned the key in the
lock and stepped boldly into the room, the
rest following in a cSCwd. The senior cap
tain stood for a moment outside, wonder
ing and trying to, make out what 1t all
meant. But a sudden, Sti1ed 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. He had
commanded burial parties sent out after
the Afghan women had been at their dew
ilish work, and had seen sights that, hard
ened as he was, had made him feel sick
and full of horror. But those scenes were
in no way comparable with what met his
eyes as he entered the room behind his
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 together on the floor in attitudes that
showed the awful manner in Which they
had met their doom. But the figures, al
most grotesque in the cortortions which
had attended the last death agony. livid,
with eyes widely open and a fear and hor-
ror in them past all description.
AS he looked in the captain was glued TO
the ground by the nameless horror Of that
! death stare. A CHASTITY incident aroused
him. The subaltern burst into a laugh.
faint at first, and then swelling into peal
after peal of uproarOus mirth. The others
stood and watched him.
"Ha hal" he shouted, reeling from foot
to foet, and holding his shaking sides.
Look at them! Don't they sham we'll?
Aren't they first-rate actors??'
The senior captain stepped up to him and
laid a hand roughly on his shoulder. Then
the boy turned, and they all could see in
his eyes that he was mad. But the touch
had ouieted him.
They act beautifully, don't they?' he
whispered confidentially to his senior Off
the joker"
What, do you mean?' asked the other.
soothingly.
"Mean?" the maniac replied. sWhy.
don't you see? I had two boxes just alike
and / put the empty box in here. The
snake is still in my own room
1t seemed something like a grim contradict
ton that. almost at the same moment, a
fiat, specialized head reared itself from an
der one of the bodies and two baleful ewes
surveyed the aWestruck group.
Flowers as Timekeepers.