The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1902-02-23

ing wet seasons ana 1cNcTS ana q dozen
other disagreeable things to make life
miserable.
There was an uprising in neighbor-
ing petty State. and a detachment Of the
Forty-fifth was ordered there post haste.
Which does not mean much as to speed
in country. with roads and temrera-
ture such as India has.
We duly arrived. however. ana found
that there was pretty mess of it.
The petty prince of the little province
had been raising and keeping a standing
army. consisting Of thirty or forty lower
caste Hindoos. whom he had armed WI h
as many guns of an ld-fashionsd design,
probably worked off on him by some junk
dealer on the coast.
Whether the Oriental inclination for
despotism had got 10 be a little harder
than usual on the members of the stand
ing army. or whether the army mad found
itself getting more powerful than its SOW
ereien-for some reason it had revolted
and deserted in 4 body, plundered the
royal bungalow and some OF the native
residents OF the station, and was at that
time living a sort of bandit life in the
neighboring jungle. swooping down on the
place whenever provisions ran shcrt, and
taking whatever they wanted. with an
incidental murder here and there.
Major Barker, on learning all the cir
cumstances and the amount of the force
from The few English residents, said:
Well put an end to this at once, sir;
well stamp the rebellion out like that,
sir" and he stamped his foot sharply
on the mating, by sheer good luck catch
ing one of the big reaches of that cline
under his sole. which lent objective force
TO his declaration.
Well. we did stamp them out very
much like that-when we found them.
But the finding of me rebels was the
hardest part of the job. and. in spite OF
the majors contempt for the quality OF
the foe. 1t happened that he was to be
the man who was to come the nearest TO
losing his life in short campaign which
was all but bloodless on our side.
The uudercurrent of rebellion against
our English rule in India is well illus
trated by the conduct of some of the
natives of this station, from whom We
tried TO ma out the HHtIcdIoAtS VI hAS
rebellioul standing army.
Much as they were in fear OF their
ACKNOWLEDGMENT raids and barbarous
atrocities, as between them and US their
aid was given to the rebels.
In few days Major Barker had be-
come furious.
They think they can fool US, do they?
BY CAD. sir, I'll show them, Well hunt
them out, sir, and hunt them down, sir
in short order, too, by Jove!"
So the major divided his detachment
into several small accommodating parties
and sent them out in every direction TO
heat up the Jungle very much as he would
have done on tiger hunt, with sys-
tematic plan of progress and series oil
stated rendezvous
The major. on his part, took two men
with him, and l was one of them.
Our party was smaller than any of the
others. and / think the reason was that
he wanted to express to the men, in a
striking way. his utter contempt for the
nature of the enemy.
The majors zeal and bravery were be-
yond question: these and his hotheaded-
TO him occasionally.
At the time referred to he dragged us
On so eagerly and impatiently into the
forest that on the very first day We com
pleteIy lost ourselves. through not hav-
ing time to take proper precautions TO
mark our path
The fact worried Dick Brace and me
considerably, and We began to discuss the
matter over the fire We built at dark that
night with view to keeping OFF the wild
denizens of this Indian forest
We could not get much satisfaction
from the major.
Lest. sir?" said he Lost Absurd.
These rascalIy Hindoos find their way
back through these forests; how dare you
imply. sir, that our Christian intelligence
is unable to do the same? Don't speak
that way again, sir, or III put you under
arrest for disrespect to your commanding
officer,'
Then the major lay down and went to
sleep, while Dick Rrace and / talked it
over
1t is lust such r1en as the major that
have the luck in this world.
Next morning at dawn we were up and
looking about for something to shoot for
breakfast. 1t was the major who STUN
bled over the bird and shot it and at the
same time he stumbled over trail that
bore with it divers signs which would
seem to indicate its use by the enemy.
There. SIR said the major, when We
were forced to halt for rest after an
hours march, there, sir. you see the
triumph of British instinct, if not intel
ligence, over cody craft. You may call
it luck. sir, stumbling on this trail, but
/, sir. call it superior instinct born of
keener intelligence.
The major had risen, as he delivered
this specimen of his logic and his philos-
ophy, and he had hardly got the words
out of his mouth when there was fash
and a deafening report from some under
growth a few yards away.
The major drew his left arm up as II
in pain and uttered an exclamation. The
next moment he had turned and dashed
right into the midst OF the clump where
the fire came from.
! might as well say at this point that
We all thought Major Barker more or less
OF a born idiot in action. he was SO con-
foundedly foolhardy; but for that very
reason there was not a man in his COM
mand who did not feel himself morally
bound to take care of such an irrespon-
sible person, as he would have of child.
So Dick and l bounded after the major,
inwardly wondering If he was leading us
into the arms of the whole forty.