Smyrna times., 1905-09-06
AT High
Water Mark
By C. B. LEWIS
Copyright, 1905, BY r. B. Mcclure


railroad bridge over the Goomtree
river had been finished, and there was
much rejoicing. They had been sunk
in the muddy bed of the stream a dis
tance of sixty feet, and they lowered
almost as high above the surface. 1t
had taken thousands of tons of stone
and thousands Of bags of cement and
hundreds of days work to complete
these piers. They had had the labor
of thousand men and fifty elephants.
When they were finished holiday
was given to all the workmen, and
the chief engineer gazed proudly at
his work and said:
''They are done at last. Floods may
roll down-earthquakes may topple
down forests-come what may, and
my piers will stand here when thou
sand years have passed away"
1T is so, sahib-it Is So" answered
the voice of a thousand natives, and
then they cheered him and his work.
When a thousand native Indian
workmen are employed together on
one job there are three or four castles.
There are masons, carpenters, elephant
drivers, shovelers, boatmen and what
not. There is enmity between the
castes, there is jealousy between the
different trades, there Is chance every
hour in the day for general riot, and
the men must be under a strict dis
cipline. The superintendent word
must be law from which there is no
appeal. A culprit is not told to go
hence, because he has bound himself
and the company has bound itself. He
is punished by fine, Imprisonment or
the LASH Because of this custom this
news ran through camp one morning:
"At the hour Of high noon today the
Gag of punishment will be raised on the
staff, and Kim Nassik will be tied to
the post and fiogged. Three times has
his overseer warned him, and three
times has he muttered and cursed be-
low his breath and failed to amend his
conduct Kim Nassik is lazy, and he
has made Bundara, his elephant, the
same. When both driver and elephant
are lazy, the work flags. One man and
his beast can hinder a hundred others
1t is right that Kim Nassik should be
we'll f1ogged."
When the elephant driver, after sew
eral warnings, had been sentenced tC
punishment, he replied to the superin
tendent:
"Your words are true, sahib, and
would not have you take them back
have been lacking In diligence, and
Bundara has agreed with me, but We
have a, reason. A few Sundays ago ht
got loose and ran away to the jungle
We hunted for him for hours. WheI
we finally came upon him he was talk
ing with a wild elephant. He came t.
me at my bidding, but that night, wheI
all the camp was asleep, he whispered
river; that the waters were growlini
and complaining; that some evil woult
surely fall upon US If we damme'
them back. For a million years tn
Goomtree has had free flow to the sea
Could it be otherwise than that sh
should be angry and that some disa:
ter should befall us?"
'How is 1t with the trees-with tn
grass-with all else that man uses
asked the official. IF the river is
million years old men have used he
for q million years. Thousands {
boats and RATS have foated down be
current and she has not compliance
Men must travel, and they must hav
bridges on which to cross streams
We have not damned the curreI
back There is plenty of room for
to flow onward. Bundara Is a bi
strong beast, but he is lazy. He hs
told you this story that he may hay
less work to do. You shall have tive
ty lashes at the post before all me
and Bundara shall also look on as
warning to tell no more lies"
"As you will, sahib."
At noon the whipping took place, b
the punishment was not severe.
was because of the moral effect tn
1t was inflicted. Kim Nassik's el
phant was there, and he dropped
head and tears ran from his eyes. tn
said he felt pity for his master al
that his conscience troubled him.
spare the feelings of man and bea
the superintendent gave them half
day off the works-half day In viii
to repent and decide to do better
the future.
At sundown all labor ceased, and
was reported that Nassik and his be;
had gone to the jungles. That was
serious offense. The elephant was e
ernment property and was hired
the railroad company at so much !
day. Nassil1 had been his mahout
ten years, but he was no more.
had incurred a serious penalty by fl
ing. and a party was made to bri
him back, but they hunted in vain.
four weeks the incident was aim
forgotten.
In time the great iron beams w
stretched from pier to pier, and crc
beams and girders were put in pla
and from sunup to sundown the
air quivered under the strokes of
scores of hammers. The approac