, 1897-04-17
THE OTHER BOX.
A Tale of a Practical Joke in Which q
Cobra Figured.

very early age lAat PRACTICAL jokes are
dangerous things. Sometimes he learns
it at his mothers knee, sometimes on his
father'stface down. From which it
would apear that the youngsters ga,
zetted to the irrepressible were not well
brought up. At all events. they had the
reputation of being the most rowdy
crowd in the army list. Now, in In
dia, a reputation is only gained by be-
ing deserved. And it was in a hill
station that the subalterns OF the ir-
repressibles reached the lostiest pinnacle
Of their folly. The affair was hushed up
afterwards, for the honor of the regi-
ment, as such things should be.
The irrepressibles were unlucky in
their quarters that year. They were
fixed on the plains at the time when
there was nothing to do, no game, no
society, no anything. In a case like
that they were thrown back on them
selves, and the result was unfortunate.
Mems tempers began to give way under
the strain. and from the commanding Of
ficer down to the smallest boy capable
OF beating a drum, there was not one
who did not curse the hour he was born
at least seven times a day.
The trouble came. 1t all arose out of
the junior subaltern going out fishing
nothing. Coming back, however, he
must needs run across a cobra. which,
with his usual foolhardiness, he duly
forked and transferred alive and wrig-
Cling into his creel. Thence, on arrival
at quarters, it was removed to a perfor-
ated box and tenderly fed.
Two OF the subalterns began to de-
velop a most astonishing degree OF hat
red to one Of 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
a matter of choice they were the latter.
Jealousy was at the bottom Of the trou-
BILE, no doubt. In the natural order OF
things, this little feeling didn't make
life any the p%leasanter for the rest. At
first it was treated as a welcome diver
sion, and for a time the other young
sters used to take an artistic pleasure in
tanning the quarrel, foremost being the
junior subaltern.
What was originally a variation on
the monotony Of life, however, soon
came to be a nuisance, and the irrepress-
ibles began to feel very sick. Then they
began to wish that one or both Of the
men would die. This is not a nice sem
timent to entertain toward any man, es-
pecially il he is n brother officer. 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 a head. The
two subalterns had a regular row one
night after mess. They would have
come to blows II it hadn't been for the
interference OF the older men,. There
were six men present, all subalterns
except one, and It would have been bet
ter If they had. left the two fight it 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 a
century ago would have led to pistols
e. 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. naturally enough.
the snake took some part. 1t was a grim
enough practical Joke at the best, and
they ought to have possessed more sense
between the five of them than to think
of such a thing.
The idea a 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
we're 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 survivors,
If any. OF course there was no thought,
even for a moment. of letting loose the
cobra in that way, but, as the junior
subaltern said: ct won't do them any
harm tt think 1t out, and perhaps with
reflection will come an increase OF wis
DOM"
While the two men were still In the
heat Of anger, the Junior subaltern pro-
pounded to them his idea Of settling
their difficulty by means of the snake.
He and his c~onfederates looked narrow
ly at the men, and fancied they blanch-
ed 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 1t. This being
done, the two men, who had not chang
ed color during the scene. were station
ed at opposite corners Of the room
propped up in sitting positions, with 8
clear space between them Of something
like Is feet.
All preliminaries having been arrang.
ed, the boy brought in the fatal box ant
deposited 1t in the center Of the room
In such a manner that the lid should
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