The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1899-09-16

the line shift to and fro, break and re-
form, we would buy back Kashmir
from the drunken imbecile who was
turning it into a hell, and there we
I would plant our much married regi-
ments-the men who had served ten
years of their time--and there they
should breed us white soldiers, and per-
haps a second fighting line Of Eurasians.
At all events Kashmir was the only
place in India that the Englishman
could colonize, and if we had foothold
there we could.
Oh, 1t was beautiful dream! 1 left
that territorial army, swelled to a quar-
/ ter of a million men, far behind and
swepton as far as an independent India,
hiring warships from the mother coun-
try, guarding Alden on the one side and
Singapore on the other, paying interest
on her loans with beautiful regularity,
but borrowing no men from beyond
her own borders-a colonized manu-
featuring India, with permanent SUR
plus and her own flag. / had Just i'm
stalled myself as viceroy, and by virtue
of my Office had shipped four million
sturdy, thrifty natives to the Malayan
archipelago, where labor is always
wanted and the Chinese pour in too
quickly, when / became aware that
things were not going smoothly with
the half company. There was great
deal too much shutting and shifting
and ''as you wereing." The non-com-
missioncd officers were swapping at the
men, and fancied 0uless backed one
of his orders with an oath. He was in
no position to do this, because he was
a junior who had not yet learned to
pitch his word of command in the same
key twice running. Sometimes he
grunted, and clear, full voice with
ring in it has more to do with drill
than people think. He was nervous,
both on parade and in mess, because
he was unproven, and knew it. One
of his majors had said in his hearing:
"Ouless has a skin or two to slough
yet, and he hasn't the sense to be
aware of it." That remark had stayed
in Ouless' mind and caused him to
think about himself in little things,
which is not the best training for a
young man. He tried to be cordial at
mess and became oVereffusive. Then
he tried to stand on his dignity and
appeared sullEy and boorish. He was
only hunting for the just medium and
tho proper note and had found neither
because he had never faced himself in
n big thing With his men he was as
i'll at ease as he was with his mess, and
his voice betrayed him. heard two
orders, and then: Sergeant, what is
that rear-rank man doing, d-n lim?"
That was sufficiently bad. A company
officer ought not to ask sergeants for
information. He commands, and COM
mands are not held by syndicates.
1t was too dusty to see the drill ae-
curately, but l could hear the excited
little voice pitching from octave to
octave and the uneasy ripple of
badgered or bad-tempered files running
down the. ranks. Ouless had come on
parade as sick of his duty as were the
men of theirs The hot sun had told on
cvcrybody's temper, but most of all on
the youngest mans. He had evidently
lost his self-control, and, not possessing
! the nerve or the knowledge to break
! off till he had recovered it again, was
making bad worse by using lillian
guage. That is to say, he was abusing
! his command
The men shifted their ground and
came close under the gun was lying
| on. They were wheeling quarter-right
and they did it very badly, in the nat
ural hope of hearing Ouless swear
again. He could have taught them
nothing new, but they enjoyed the ex-
hibition. Instead of swearing Oulcss
lost his head completely and struck out
nervously at the wheeling flank-man
with little Malacca riding cane that
he held in his hand for a pointer. The
cane was topped with thin silver over
lacquer and the silver had worn through
in one place, leaving ii triangular flap
sticking up. / had just time to see that
Ouless had thrown away his commits
sion by striking soldier when heard
the rip of cloth and piece of gray
shirt showed under the queens shoddy
on the mans shoulder. 1t had been
the merest nervous flick of an exasper-
ated boy-but quite enough to forfeit
his commission, since it had been dealt
in anger to volunteer, and no pressed
man who could not under the rules of
the service reply, The result of il,
thanks to the natural dcpravity of
things, was as though Ouless had cut
the mans coat off his back. Knowing
the new draft by reputation, I was
fairly certain that every one of them
would swear with many oaths that
Ouless had actually thrashed the man.
In that case 0uless would do well to
pack his trunk. His career as a serv-
ant of the queen in any capacity was
ended. The wheel continued and the
men halted and dressed Immediately
opposite my resting place. Ouless' face
was perfectly bloodless. The thanking
mans was q dark red, and could see
his lips moving in wicked words. He
was Ortheris After seven years serv-
ice and three medals, he had been
struck by boy younger than himself
Further, he was my friend and a good |
man, proved man and an Englishman.
The shame of the thing made me. as
hot as it made Ouless cold, and il Or |
theris had slipped in cartridge and
cleared the account at once l should |