United States or Israel ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The hot day had ended, and there was a pleasant smell of cooking along the regimental lines, where half-clad men went back and forth with leaf platters and water-goglets. The Subadar-Major, in extreme undress, sat on a chair, as befitted his rank; the Havildar-Major, his nephew, leaning respectfully against the wall.
A splendid warrior; in private life a bit of a Don Juan, perhaps; but his womenfolk bear him no grudge on this score, liking themselves to sail easy through matrimonial seas. When I returned to the depot a month ago there were tales, but, as our old Subadar-Major observed, "War brought little disturbances.
This was the world walking in grief. And now, hear you! It is the King's custom that four swords of Our Armies in Hind should stand always before the Presence in case of need. 'The King's custom, our right, said the Subadar-Major curtly. 'Also our right. These honoured ones are changed after certain months or years, that the honour may be fairly spread.
"Let him who desires the four great gifts apply himself to the words of holy men." That is written. Often they showed me the papers of the false lawsuits brought against them. Often they wept on account of the persecution put upon them by their mother's kin. Men thought it was drugs when their eyes showed red. 'They wept in my presence too, said the Subadar-Major.
'They were strong, hot, valiant men, and the youngest was a lad of forty-five. 'That is better, the Subadar-Major laughed. 'But for all their strength and heat they could not eat strange food from the Sahibs' hands.
Though he was the Subadar-Major's nephew, and though his father held twice as much land as his uncle, he knew his place in the scheme of things. The Subadar-Major shifted one hand with an iron bracelet on the wrist. 'Was there by any chance any woman at the back of it? the Havildar-Major murmured. 'I was not here when the thing happened. 'Yes! Yes! Yes!
They sat upon the bowlders to watch, for their officers were not going to waste their wind in assisting to repulse a Ghazi rush more than half a mile away. Let the white men look to their own front. "Hi! yi!" said the Subadar-Major, who was sweating profusely, "Dam fools yonder, stand close-order! This is no time for close order, it's the time for volleys. Ugh!"
Now it chanced that when the old King the Queen's son completed his days, the four that stood in the Presence were Goorkhas. Neither Sikhs alas, nor Pathans, Rajputs, nor Jats. Goorkhas, my father. 'Idolaters, said the Chaplain. 'But soldiers; for I remember in the Tirah the Havildar-Major began. 'But soldiers, for I remember fifteen campaigns. Go on, said the Subadar-Major.
'And so it was done not in hot blood, not for a little while, nor yet with the smell of slaughter and the noise of shouting to sustain, but in silence, for a very long time, rooted to one place before the Presence among the most terrible feet of the multitude. 'Correct! the Chaplain chuckled. 'But the Goorkhas had the honour, said the Subadar-Major sadly.
The Regiment was at home and at ease in its own quarters in its own district which takes its name from the great Muhammadan saint Mian Mir, revered by Jehangir and beloved by Guru Har Gobind, sixth of the great Sikh Gurus. 'Quite correct, the Regimental Chaplain repeated. The Subadar-Major bowed his grey head. The Havildar-Major coughed respectfully to attract attention and to ask leave to speak.
Word Of The Day