Evening star., 1903-09-22
drowned. AS we drifted pastta row of
empty houses, deep In water. two beautiful


howled pitifully. We were at once interest
ed and were soon surrounded by impromptu
RATS, from which the boatmen yelled at
US to the effect that those two dogs, hu-
Zoors. in which your highness take SO great
an interest have not eaten of food, not for
the sum of five days" We divided the
statement by five, but even then 1t was
melancholy, and we turned our bows To-
ward small meat shop on All Mahom-
med's Island, between the river and the
new lake. and bought meat to the extent of
two plce u cent?, which We took to the
dogs, who received it suspiciously, but ate
it. We tried to induce them to come Into
our boat, but without success. so l dareSay
we shall be compelled by soft hearts to
hire shikaras daily in order to feed those
mournful doggies until the river chooses
to ''go down.
A Lively Night.
Our second night in camp was one OF
sleeplessness. for every native for miles
around shrieked at every other native. and
It was pandemonium itself. AS Capt. Cha
tar Singh came the next morning to in
au!re after our welfare. we complained to
him of the noise and he thereupon gave
commands that in the camps next the MEN,
sshibs silence should reign. However,
commands with the kashmiri mean nothing
and threats mean little, so the screaming
and yelling continued until at 3 of the night
We had the head man of the camp sum-
mOEed. You speak English?" We asked.
Yes, huzoor," he answered Very well
now, listen carefully" and spoke very
slowly. IF we are awakened once during
the night or early morning will take our
pistol and fire IN the direction of the noise,
and we are the best of shots and always
hit our mark. You are to tell this at each
tent and impress 1t upon the natives that
we Will fire the moment we are walked. y
The consequence was that had a de-
lightfully quiet night. and 1t has been quite
a different camp ever since. The kashm'ri
is dreadful coward and is not revengeful
on the second day of the flood few houses
fell and the water went down one foot.
We took walk through the tiny bazaar
under the hill on which stands Do Neves
native hospital and found 1t full to the
brfm with chattering dirty, half-naked
kashmiris, the mud inches deep, and a
number of the houses down or on the eve
OF falling. At a very crowded street cor
ner tall and tragic-looking native came
up to us, and, touching his forehead said:
Huzoor, your highness' ayah, where is
she?" We had sent the ayah home for her
khana Good) just before hearing that we
were to leave the house. and had let her
have our only umbrella, as 1t was pouring
rain but We had told her on no account to
be away later than 1:3O. as we wanted to
use 1t, and that is the last we have seen
or heard of her. We answered the tragic
eyed man that we knew not and took 1t
that she was at home. but he said: 81 hu-
Zoor, am her husband, and at home she is
not; for that reason 1 seek her, and If she
is not with the highnesses she is indeed
drowned AS the ayah three or four days
before had complained that her husband
had beaten her and would not give her
food. we decided that she had made use Of
the flood to escape his clutches and leave
MN for good and all. Her bedding we have
with us, and If she does return we shall
feel tempted to aid her In making her
escape.
A White CITY.
1t was all a strange scene The hilltops
around the city were white with tents and
the hillsldes covered with cows sheep
goats and horses, so that the lowing. moo
ing and whinnying was and Is continuous
On top of one low hill we saw a group
of yellow-robed priests; on another a large
party of English people with tepees and
field glasses. On coming up to our tents
We were surprised to find the khitmatgar
of the three officers who had been I'D the
river at the time Of the flood and had made
all haste back to our rescue, but had been
unable to find US
We asked If they had been worried, and
he said, Yes. huzoor, they greatly have
eaten grief" Now We felt indeed that our
woes were over, and Joyfully invited them
all to dine with us that evening At II, 1t
being cloudy. we decided to look I'D a shi-
kara and go off on another tour Of inspec-
ton. We found a more than ordinarily
clean-looking boatman in an extraorfinari-
ly dirty boat, who said that for a rupee an
hour C33 centS) he would take US out We
complained that the boat was too dirty and
he answered at once that he had another
so he sped off and fetched clean boat. but
1t was half full Of water! We exclaimed,
I'VE cannot go in that boat it leaksv" and
he answered cheerfully, "Yes. huzoors IT
indeed leaks, but 1t is this way-that the
boat has cracks and holes In 1t. and when
on the water then the water must of neces-
sity come In. but when on land then IT ia
perfectly good" We waited while he
patched 1t up a bit and then tried il on the
water. as we had tents for the land. and
by ballng 1t out now and again found that
it answered.
We went down to the post office, which
we found in large houseboat alongside the
old site of 1t. and heard that the malls
would not get through, although one was
now on Its way down from Baramoula by
dunga- Three days in place Of the usual
1our hours that no stamps were to be had
and that the wires were all down so no
telegramS could be sent or received.
Plenty Driftwood.
We picked UP more driftwood as we were
padded along and got enough to last for
several days, as the newly formed lake was
full Of fence rails, doors and the woodwork
of fallen balconies.
At one place We came upon a wrecked
houseboat, which had been dashed against
the sunken bund and all but capslzed. Two
rows OF nearly naked coolies were trying to
dislodge 1t with tho usual cries Of Allah
Illahi' and so on.
We asked our cheerful boatman what
had been the cause Of the wreck and he
shrugged his shoulders and answered: "Tts
kismet, huzoor 1 who have of my own
three large boats, have none Of them lost
and this man who has but this one boat Of
his. does lose 1t. 1t IS fatel' On the way
home We floated over the top Of an apple
and pear orchard and by dipping our hands
deep into the water succeeded In picking
enough Of the fruit for several meals. AS
we were passing the house of the state sur
geon we heard piteous cries from pair Of
little kittens on the roof Of one Of the go
downs and. sending our boatman to their
rescue, he caught them after being we'll
scratched several times and we put them
into the box Of the seat and later set them
free on the main land. where they could al
ways get enough to eat, poor mites. The
water was full Of tiny frogs, some floating
on bits Of straw or paper, and the bundles
of straw floating by US were covered with
small birds getting meal on their way
home
That evening we were told that there was
no clean water to be had, the river being
mixed with the good water supply from the