The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-05-26

Alive or dead-there is no other wayne.
tive Proverb.
There is, as the conjurers say, no de-
ception about this tale Jukes by acct
dent stumbled upon village that is
we'll known to exist though he is the
only Englishman who has been there.
A somewhat similar institution used to
flourish on the outskirts of Calcutta,
and there is story that if you go into
Che heart of Bikanir, which is in the
heart Of the great Indian desert, you
shall come across not village, but
town, where the dead who did not die
but may not live have established their
headquarters. And since it is perfectly
true that in the same desert is won
derful city where all the rlcn money
lenders retreat after they have made
their fortunes fortunes SO vast that the
owners cannot trust even the strong
hand Of the government to protect
them, but take refuge in the waterless
sands) and drive sumptuous G spring
barouches and buy beautiful girls and
decorate their palaces with gold and
ivory and Minton tiles and mother Of
pearl, do not see why Jukes' tale
should not be true. He is civil en-
gineer, with a head for plans and dis
tances and things of that kind, and he
certainly would not take the trouble to
invent imaginary traps. He could earn
more by doing his legitimate work. He
never varies the tale in the telling and
grows very hot and indignant when he
thinks Of the disrespectful treatment he
received. He wrote this quite straight
forwardly at first, but he has since
touched it up in places and introduced
moral reflections, thus:
In the beginning it all arose from
slight attack Of fever. My work neces-
STATED my being in camp for some
months between Pakpattan and Muba-
rakpur, desolate, sandy stretch Of
country. as every one who has had the
misfortune to go there may know. Ny
coolies were neither more nor less ex-
asperating than other gangs. and my
work demanded sufficient attention to
keep me from moping had I been in
clined to SO unmanly weakness.
On the 23d December, 1884, felt a
little feverish. There was full moon at
the time. and in consequence every dog
near my tent was baying it. The brutes
assembled in twos and threes and drove
me frantic. A few days previously l
had shot one loud mouthed singer and
suspended his carcass in terrorem about
so yards from my tent door. But his
friends fell upon, fought for and ulti-
mately devoured the body and. as it
seemed to me. sang their hymns Of
thanksgiving afterward with renewed
energy.
The light headedness which accom-
panies fever acts differently on different
men. My irritation gave way after q
short time to fixed determination to
slaughter one huge black and white
beast who had been foremost in song
and first in fight throughout the even
ing. Thanks to shaking hand and a
giddy head, I had already missed him
twice with both barrels Of my shotgun.
when it struck me that my best plan
would be to ride him down in the open
and finish him off with hog spear.
This. OF course. was merely the semi
delirious notion Of fever patient, but
1 remember that it struck me at the
time as being eminently practical and
feasible.
I therefore ordered my groom to sad
die Pornic and bring him round quietly
to the rear Of my tent. When the pony
was ready. stood at his head prepared
to mount and dash out as soon as the
dog should again lift up his voice
Pornic. by the way. had not been out
of his pickets for couple Of days The
night air was crisp and chilly, and !
was armed with specially long and
sharp pair Of persuaders with which !
had been rousing sluggish cob that
afternoon. You will easily believe,
then. that when he was let go he went
quickly. In one moment. for the brute
bolted as straight as die, the tent was
left far behind, and we were flying over
the smooth, candy soil at racing speed
In another we had passed the wretched
dog, and / had almost forgotten why it
was that l had taken horse and hog
spear.
The delirium of fever and the excite
AuCuI VI AdP1u uOllOu through Lu0 dlT
must have taken away the remnant Of
my senses. have faint recollection
of standing upright in my stirrups and
OF brandishing my hog spear at the
great white moon that looked down SO
calmly on my mad gallop and of shout
ing challenges to the camel thorn bushes
az they whizzed past Once or twice,
l believe, l swayed forward on Pornic's
neck and literally hung on by my spurs
AS the marks next morning showed.
The wretched beast went forward
like thing possessed over what seemed
to be lmitless expanse of noonlit
sand. Next, remember. the ground
rose suddenly in front of as. and as we
topped the ascent saw the waters Of
the Sutlej shining like silver bar be-
low. Then Pornic blundered heavily on
his nose. and we rolled together down
some unseen slope.
| must have lost consciousness, for
when recovered was lying on my
uf< nj, - - -