New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-01-14
MALAY BUSHWHACKING.
THE ENGLISHMAN'S THANKLESS TASK
OF ENFORCING CIVILIZATION WITH
FIRE AND SWORD
Hugh CIifford. in BIaekwood,s Magazine

FIRE AND SWORD
Hugh Clifford, in Blackwood's Magazine
The have formed up in close order and
he guides them to the ford in a compact body.
Then twenty burly Sikhs strip to the buff, and
joining hands. wade into midStream. Some of
them lose their foothold and founder under
water, to be pulled up by their fellows coughing
and splitting; but no one is washed away and
presently a chain of men extends from bank to
bank, forming a breakwater against which the
Spate charges impOtently, roaring and chatting.
Above this barrier body of armed Sikhs cross
to the further side, there to guard the passage
of the column from the possibility of attack.
Arms and ammunition passed across, and
next the frightened Chinese coolies splutterine
protesting. jabDering with their loads on their
heads and their legs SWaying this way and
that with the tug of the current are bundled
across amid the laughter of the SikhS and Ma
lays. Last of all comes the gun, remounted now
upon its carriage. which is dragged through the
river, running along its bed, with wave of
broken water 10 mark it's passage, and dozen
Sunncrs hOundering ahead of it.
"All across before the dawn, and not a load
man lost" says the commander through
teeth which chatter with cold. Il call that a
real good business!"
Yes" says the political officer. And now
well make these beggars sit up"
The coolies and their loads are left with a
small baggage guard in a clump of Jungle The
rest of the force, about eighty strong splits UP
into three parties the centre, with the gun tab
ing up a position about a hundred yards from
the village. the others wheeling off to right and
left to outtlank the enemy and get as far to the
tinge of grayish yellow is visible in the east.
showing amid lowering masses of purple cloud
The dawn is beginning to break. From the
scrub IN which the men are posted in the front
of the attack the village can be seen distinctly
the matched roofs within the stockade running
in long ridges at right angles to the trunks of
the clustering palm trees The cocks are crow
ing loudly; a few sleepy fowls fly down from
their pcrcheS with faint ruStIing of feathers:
dogs whine dismally; the door of a house opens,
and Inquire appears huddled to the chin in a
bedcloth, looking dreamily forth at the coming
day. From a hut near at hand rises the sound
Of MahOmetan prayer chanted by a single
hitched aside, and a woman, bearing a baby on
her. arm and cluster of empty gourds in her
other hand, climbs painfully down the steep
stair ladder. Two or three naked brats follow
her scrambling earthward in grotesque atti-
tudeS.
At the sight the political officer swears aIoud
The place is crammed with women and chill
dren, he says to the commander of the force.
WIN the beggars give in if we call upon them
to surrender" asks the latter.
mot they. They'll bolt like rabbits if thew
ma they're In too tight a place, and with all
inns tnlck jungle so close we shan't really knock
them II they don't stand up TO us"
The commander swears in his turn "Then
what shall l do?" ne asks.
The political officer knitS his forehead into
anxious Fuckers. Theoretically he holds Tho
opinion that it is a mistake to introduce civil
lied practices. which the enemy can neither be
expected to understand nor appreciate into
warfare waged with a semi-barbarous people:
but theory and the real thing are ever far apart
One OF the little naked creatures winners
plaintively it runs behind it's mother and its
cry is borne to the agent on the still air of the
morning. The word lies with him. The suc-
cess of the little expedition may depend mon
the attack being a complete surprise; but he
knows that besides the women and children
there are many in the rebel village who have
10 quarrel with the Government who are
merely following their chiefs from sheer force
OF habit and who. even if they run away from
the white men at first, will readily come I'm II
once the chiefs are put to flight. For the sake
Of these innocent men and women is II NOT
worth sacrificing a mOmentary success: win NOT
the more merciful course. even though il mean
a dow To personal ambition. prove in the end
the better for the State he serves? Again ~
Whlmper of the child comes to him MINGLED
with the soft tones of thee mothers voice Ne
turns to the commander with something Ike
a 6roan. 1t may be all wrong" ne saws .hnt
l must give them chance of coming In -
The nOseess scout Jelayang is AT his sida
ana he bids him go to the village He taors =
lear from his pocketboOk and scribbIes a -.
to left il"ll right
Give this to the chief" he saws "a,a
Yen, zen him from me that he is in the
mellow Of our hands. That he ia s' ne
rounded on all sides by the Governments