The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1905-09-12
By C. B. LEWIS
oopwtqht. leOs, bu r. B. Meclurs


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
castles, 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
flag of punishment will be raised on the
staff, and Kim Nassik will be tied to
the post and logged 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 hundred others.
1t is right that Kim Nassik should be
well logged"
When the elephant driver, after sew
eral warnings, had been sentenced to
punishment, he replied to the superin-
tendent:
"Your words are true, sahib, and
would not have you take them back.
l have been lacking in diligence, and
Bundara has agreed with me, but we
have reason. A few Sundays ago he
got loose and ran away to the jungle
We hunted for him for hours. When
we finally came upon him he was talk
ing with wild elephant. He came to
me at my bidding, but that night, when
all the camp was asleep, he whispered
In my ear that we were fretting the
river; that the waters were growing
and complaining; that some evil would
surely fall upon us If we damned
them back. For a million years the
Goomtree has had free flow to the sea-
Could 1t be otherwise than that she
should be angry and that some disas-
ter should befall us?'
"How is it with the trees-with the
grass-with all else that man usesF
asked the official IF the river is a
millial years old men have used her
for million years. Thousands of
boats and RATS have foat0d down her
current and she has not complained
Men must travel, and they must have
bridges on which to cross streams.
We have not damned the current
back. There is plenty of room for it
to flow onward Bundara is a big,
strong beast, but he is lazy. He has
told you this story that he may have
less work to do. You shall have twen-
ty lashes at the post before all men,
and Bundara shall also look on as a
warning to tell no more les"
''As you will, sahib."
At noon the whipping took place, but
the punishment was not severe 1t
was because of the moral effect that
it was inflicted Kim Nassik's ele-
plant was there, and he dropped his
head and tears ran from his eyes. They
said he felt pity for his master and
that his conscience troubled him. To
spare the feelings Of man and beast
the superintendent gave them half a
day off the works-half day In which
to repent and decide to do better in
the future.
At shutdown all labor ceased and It
was reported that Nassik and his beast
had gone to the jungles. That was a
serious offense. The elephant was gov
eminent property and was hired to
the railroad company at so much per
day. Nassik had been his mahout for
ten years, but he was no more He
had incurred a serious penalty by fee
ing, and party was made to bring
him back, but they hunted In vain In
four weeks the incident was almost
forgotten.
In time the great iron beams were
stretched from pier to pier, and cross
beams and Orders were put In place,
and from sunup to shutdown the hot
air quivered under the strokes of the
scores Of hammers. The approaches
were filed in and spans laid to the
piers. and the chief engineer looked
over his work with smile of satisfac-
ton.
''All is going WELL" he said to him
self I'm another sixty days the iron
horse will be snorting across this struc-
ture. The GOomtree Is on the rise, and
food will come, but we need not fear
1t. We cleared its banks Of driftwood
for fifty miles lasc year. Nothing here
can dam its waters back and imperu
the bridge"
An hour after Nassik had been pun
ished he had clasped his arms around
the trunk of his elephant and said:
"Bundara, have been disgraced be-
fore thousand men because you told
me what the wild elephant said. l do
not believe you lied, but let us go to
the jungles and be by ourselves. II the
Goomtree is fretted and harassed, then
she will take revenge We should not
be punished for what the sahibs are
doing"
The pair fed afar. Sometimes they
were alone and sometimes in the COM
pany Of wild elephants. The untamed
beasts had no fear of Nassik. For
weeks they hid In the jungle or roamed
through the. forests.
Light of my SOUL" began Nassik
one day, 1.-The time for the food in the
Goomtree draws near Whisper it to
all your fIiends, that we may seek its
banks and be ready for work Whis-
per 1t to twenty-thirty- fifty. We
cannot have too much help. / will
rest here for three days, and do you
go among your kind and spread the
news"
At the end of the third day Bundara
returned, and with him were seventy
elephants. He had told his story well.
Three days later all were at work on
the banks of the river, fifty miles
above the bridge. The waters were
rising, but Nassik knew to an inch
how high they would come before
standing still for day and then be-
ginning to recede. Under his direc-
tons the elephants began work. Such
trees as they could uproot and such
logs as they could roll, together with
thousands of carloads of smaller stuff,
were deposited just below high water
mark. They piled banks high for FIVE
miles. For half mile back the forest
was stripped Of limbs and vines and