Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1899-06-03
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There is, las the eonjurers rsa y, me rde4i
/ ception about this tale. qt;Ialies by-aeciH
DEM stumbled upon aovillageR that i'll
well known TO exist, though. he is the
only EngHshman who has been, there
A somewhatssimilar institution1used To
flourish on the .ou tslsirts of Calcuttas Il.
and5thefesis a story that If you go into
the heart of Bikanir, which is in the
heart of the great Indian desert, you
ghaII#come across not avillage.. but al
town. where the dead; who did not die
but mayanot live have established theira
headquarters, And since j. is perfectly5
true$that ia the, same desert is won
derful city where am the G5Fieh money.
| lenders retrea t after they5have made
their1fortunes fortunes soyast that the
owners cannot trust even the; strong
hand off, the @goyernlhent .tto protect
them but take refuge inathe WA terless
sands and dgive Gus e spring
baronches andAbuy feantiifhlRR girls and
decorate their palaces with gold and
ivory and MintQn lies and mother of
pearl, | do NOT seq, why =Jrkesa &5tafe
should not be true#fHaa. is afSciVilg en5
ginaer, with a head for nlans and t1is H.
tances and things Of that Rnd, and he
certainly would not take the trouble To
invent imaginary traps. He could earnH
more by doing fis4eg5fmate7w lHe8
never varies. the tale in the telling and
grows Very hot and, indignant when Id
thinks Of the disrespectful Treatment h@
received, =. He wrote this quite fstraight-5
forWardly4 at first. but he has since
touched it up in Ilaeessand introduced
moral reflections, thus: 80, II
III the beginning II a an arose from all
slight attack Of fever a. Ny work neoes7
stated my being in l. camp for some
months between Pakpattan and Muba- H
rakpur4ssal desolate, sandy stretch of
countfg, seEeFE ene has had thess
misfortune to go there may know: My
coolies We're neither more nor less ex-
asperating than other gangs, and my
work demanded sufficient attention7to
keep me from moping had4l been in I
eined to SO humanity a weakness t1qq !
aOp the 23d, December, 1884, | felt a
little feverish There was a full moon at
the time: andain consequence every dog
near my tent was baying it. The brutes
assembled in twos and threes and drove
me frantic A few days previouslyL1
had shot one loud mouthed singer andI
suspended his carcass in terrorem about
50-yards from my tent door. But his
friends fell upon, fought for and ulti7c
mately devoured the body and, as it
seemed to me, sang their hymns of
thanksgiving afterward with renewed
energy. '1tA &@7" 9t-- ~ I'LL ..-I5 . .@I
The light medicines which accom- :
panies fever acts differently on different
men. My irritation gave way after a.
short time to fixed determination to
slaughter one huge black and white
beast who had been foremost in song
and first in flight throughout the even
ing. Thanks to a shaking hand and a
giddy head, r 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 a hog spear. 4
This, of course, was. merely the semi 4
! remember that it struck me at the
time as being eminently practical and
feasible. '-'--~ -1~-s's @--. ,-@@ g. 80 4
I therefore ordered my groom to sad i
die Pornic and bring him round quietly
to the rear of my tent. When the pony
was ready, I 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 a couple of days. The |
night air was crisp and chilly, and ri
was armed with a specially long and
sharp pairof -persuaders with which l.
had been rousing sluggish cob that !
You will easily believe 4
then, that when he was let go he went |
quickly In one moment, for the brute |
bolfed az straight as d die, the tent was
left far behind and we We're flying over
the smooth, sandy soil at racing speed. 4
In another we had passed the wretched
dog. and had almost forgotten why 1t
was that / had taken horse and hog
b The delirium Of fever and the excite,
ment of rapid motion through the air
must have taken away the remnant Of
my senses have faint recollection
of standinglupright 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,
as they whizzed past. Once or twice,
| believes, swayed forward on Pornic,s
neck and literally hung on by my spurs
4assthg marks next morning showed.
The wretched beast went q forward
like thing possessed 8Soy erIwha t se sh1ed
to@be la limitlesa expanseaof fr1oonlit |
sand Next, I remember, the groand
rose suddenly in front of~-us, and as we
toppsd the ascent l saw the5waters of
the Sntfej- shining like a~-silyer2bar be-
low Then Pornic blundered heavily on
his nose, and we rolled together down
some unseen slope. @srz7t - . 9@19l1GI
I must have lost consciousness, for !!
when I recovered was lying on my
in a heap of soft white sand
a1d the dawn was beginning to break
diy,,lv- oy,o1, tho adoa IF fha alora down