The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1899-06-22
~,
The GORGE OF SHAME :
"a
A Story Of Indian Retaliation. ~
4;

IL
of caution, for the tale is grewsome.
ii is a story from life, Renaissance
OF the early colonial days, and forms
one Of a series of tales illustrating the
march of British power in the East
Indian empire. The Waziris are tribe
inhabitiIig Afghanistan, which was
transferred to the British in 1894.
In their manner of dealing with the
woman question the Waziris are old
fashioned. With them, above all peo-
pies, chastity is the virtue of woman,
courage of the man. There is no place
among them for the wanton or the
coward; and the expression of public
opinion seems to be founded on some
such maxim as THE dead sin no
more"
Ludlow, the doctor, Gordon, my sub
altern, and myself were sitting outside
the little fort smoking after one of the
scrubi,y dinners of the country, and
Eaksiran Khan, who had been invited
to share our cheroots, was smoking
with us. Ludlow had spent a 13-hour
day tramping after elusive Markhor, in
in the course of which he had climbed
TO 1900 feet above the sea level, and,
tough as he was, was very tired. He
showed no wish to tell us of his sport,
which had been confined to tleeting
glimpses of distant Markhor; but,
somewhat YEARLY, he told us that he
had come across the bones of a woman
in The soft sand under the lee of
bowider at the mouth of a very ugly
gorge; bones curiously shattered
skull, arms, legs, ribs, not a bone whole.
And the sepoys who were acting as his
shikarris had spat on the bones and
covered them again, and would tell him
nothing, only that the gorge was called
The Gorge OF Shame
/ looked at the Bakshan Khan. He
blew a slow cloud of smoke from his
mouth and said: years ago" We
pulled ourselves together to listen, for
we always listened to Bakshan Khan,
and he told us the story of Grierson.
Years ago, when the post was first
held 10y the English, there was sahib
in command named Grierson. Perhaps
it was IS, perhaps 20, years ago. What
is time to us who only know day and
night, summer and winter" He was
Il brave man, but reckless. He loved
women too well. He also drank and
smoked very much, but was never
bit weaker for il. In those days the
caravans passing down had to fight for
it all the way along the Waziri border,
and it was out in the broad bed of the
Kuch, where the rivers meet, that they
lay safest under the rifles of the little
post as it then was-only one-third as
big as it is now, and not half as many
men init. Often the party at the post
used TO sally out to fire on raiders, and
more often wounded traders used to
drop in at the post to be healed of gun
shot, sword and spear wounds. The
days were by no means dull. To man
of Gricrson's nature life of hard liv-
ing. fighting, drinking and no woman
to cheer him was but fuel to fire.
Gricrson was not a sentimentalist.
Many men who mean and do no wrong
to women are not sentimentalists, and
they do not usually make the worst
husbands. One day there had been a
dash Gu, u caravan at early dawn and
a pursuit. Grierson had succeeded in
oyertal;ing and shooting Mahsud
Waziri, who bore away girl on his
camel, and she lay fainting from its
fail, for it dropped dead, shot at the
same time as it's master. Grierson went
to her aid and found her beautiful.
He brought her back to the caravan,
made terms and was married to her
by the Mohammedan law, and for the
handsome price of a thousand rupees
in money and kind. 1t was difficult
matter to arrange, but i'll those days,
even more than now, might was right,
and who could say nay to man who
could stay as well as protect? If it had
pleased Grierson to have her abducted
for him the price would have been less;
and. suspicious as all savages are, the
caravan of Zillah Khel Waziris saw that
they stood good chance of greater
security if one of their women was the
wife of enc of their protectors. Be-
sides, the girl was of no consequence.
She was an orphan, and the Malik had
the leGal right to dispose of her. Her
relations were few and poor. Four
guns, 20 rounds of ammunition, gun
and a substantial sum in cash, to say
nothing of the influence and security,
was good price for "tocherless las
sic" SO Grierson got his way and his
wife. Now she was his wife in English
law, though he did not know it; but,
to do him justice. he meant honestly
by her, and treated her kindly and well.
At4ast there came a day when the old
game Of trailing the tail of my coat"
was played by the government of India.
Officially this is known as testing the
temper OF the tribes" and it is done
by sending parties more or less armed
to visit various tribes in friendly
way. The tribes" have the same OBJ
jec;ions to being called upon in a
friendly vay-with gun in your hand
that i9aghshmen have. They also get
alarmed, then they begin to shoot out
OF fyr1k, whereupon they are said to
be ''rnceTtain;" an expedition goes