Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-05-05
CHAPTER I.
East Is East.

which is the end, where all things are
is the beginning, and New YORK.
east of the one and west Of the other.
To be precise, a forlorn landing on
the west bank of the muddy turpu-
lent Irrawaddy, remembered by man
only. so often as it was necessary 1or
the flotilla boat to call for paddy,
visiting commissioner anxious 10 get
away, or a family homeward-bound.
Somewhere in the northeast was Man
dalay, but lately known in romance
verse and song; somewhere In the
southeast lay Prone. known only In
euide-books and timetables; ana
farther south, Rangoon, sister to Sing
apore, the halfway house Of the dere-
licts of the world. On the east side
of the river over there, was SEM
blance of civilization. That is to say,
men wore white linen, avoided muir
der, and frequently paid their gamp-
ling debts But on this west size
stood wilderness, not the kind one
reads about as being eventually con-
uuered by white men; no, the real
grim, desolation, where the AK cuts
but leaves no blaze, where the pioneer
disappears and few or none follow.
The pioneer has always been a sue
cessful pugilist, but in this part OF
Burma fate, out of pure admiration
for the pygmy's gameness, decided 10
call the battle a draw. 1t was not
the wilderness of the desert, OF the
Jungle; rather the tragic. hopeless
state Of a settlement that neither
progressed, retarded, nor stood still.
Between the landing and the set
tlement itself, there stretched a
winding road, arid and treeless, per-
haps two miles in length. 1t an
nounced definitely that its end was
futility. All this day long, heavy
bullock-carts had rumbled over It,
rumbled toward the landing and
ratified emptily back to the settle
ment The dust hung like fog
above the road, not only for this day,
but for all days between big rains.
Each night, however, the cold heavy
dews drew it down, cooling but never
congealing it. From under the hrst
football the next day it rose again.
When the gods, or the elements, or
Providence, arranged the world as a
fit habitation for man, India and
Burma were made the dust-bins. Ana
as water finds it's levels, so Will dust,
earthly and human, the quick and the
dead.
1t was after five in the afternoon
The sun was sinking. haZily put
swiftly; ribbons of scarlet, ribbons
of rose. ribbons of violet, lay one up
on the other. The sun possessed no
definite circle: a great binding radi-
ance like metal pouring from the
mouth of a blast-furnace. Along the
road walked two men, phantom-llKe.
One saw their heads dimly and still
more dimly their bodies to the knees;
of legs, there was nothing visible.
Occasionally they stepped aside to
permit some bullock-cart to pass. One
of them swore, not with any evidence
of temper. not viciously, but in kind
of mechanical protest. which, from
long usage, had become a habit. He
directed these epithets never at ami
mate things, never at anything he
could by mental or physical contest
overcome. He swore at the dust, at
the heat, at the wind, at the sun.
The other wayfarer, with the in
herent patience Of his blood, said
nothing and waited. setting down the
heavy kit-bag and the canvas valise
(his OWN. When the way was free
again he would sling the kit-bag and
the yalise over his shoulder and step
back into the road. His turban, once
white, was brown with dust and
sweat. His khaki uniform was rent
under the arm-pits, several buttons
were gone: his stockings were rusty
black, mottled with patches of brown
skin; and the ragged canvas shoes
spurted little spirals of dust as he
walked. The British-Indian govern
ment had indulgently permitted him
to proceed about his duties as guide
James Hooghly, in honor of father
whose surname need not be written
here, and in further honor of the
river upon which, quite inconvenient-
ly one early morning, he had been
born. For he was EuraSian; half
European, half Indian, having his
place twixt heaven and hell, which is
to say, nowhere. His father had died
of complication of bhang-drinking
and opium eating; and as a cOnse-
uuence, James was full of humOrless
imagination, spells of moodiness and
outbursts of hilarious politics Every
native who acquires a faculty in Eng
hsh Immediately set out to rescue
India from the clutches of the British
raj. occasionally advancing so far as
to send a bullet into some harmless
individual in the civil service.
James was faithful, willing and
strong: and as a carrier of burdens,
took unmurmuringly his place beside
the tireless bullock and the elephant.
He was a Methodist: why, no one
could find lucid answer since he ate
no beef. drank from no common cup,
smoked through his fist when he en-
joyed pipe, and never assisted War
rington Sahib in his deadly pursuit
of flies and mosquitoes. He was
Hindu in all his acts save in his man.
ner of entering temples; in this, the
European blood kept his knees un-
bended. BY dnt of inquiry his master
had learned that James looked upon
his baptism and conversion in Meth
odism as a corporal would have look
ed upon the acquisition Of V. c.
Twice. during fever and plague, he
had saved his masters life. With the
guilelessness of the Oriental he con-
sidered himself responsible for his
master in all future times. Instead of
paying off a debt he had acquired
one. Treated as he was. kindly but
always firmly, he would have sur