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Updated: May 7, 2025
'Hast thou heard anything in England to match my tale? the Chaplain sneered. 'I saw more than I could understand, so I have locked up my stories in my own mouth, the Havildar-Major replied meekly. 'Stories? What stories? I know all the stories about England, said the Chaplain.
These four held land in what was the village's name? oh, Pishapur, near Thori, in the Banalu Tehsil of Patiala State, where men can still recognise right behaviour when they see it. The two younger brothers tilled the land, while Rutton Singh and Attar Singh took service with the Regiment, according to the custom of the family. 'True, true, said the Havildar-Major.
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.
'Would three rupees twelve annas pay for the used cartridges? said the Havildar-Major. 'Attar Singh knew the just price. All Baynes Sahib's gear was in his charge. They expended one tin box of fifty cartouches, lacking two which were returned.
'Ay, my father, said the Havildar-Major, softly and affectionately. He sat himself down with respect, as behoved a mere lad of thirty with a bare half-dozen campaigns to his credit. 'There were four men in this affair also, he began, 'and it was an affair that touched the honour, not of one regiment, nor two, but of all the Army in Hind.
'Then why did the multitude not sit down under the trees? asked the priest. 'Because we were still between houses. The city is many koss wide, the Havildar-Major resumed. 'I submitted myself to that slow-moving river and thus thus a pace at a time I made pilgrimage. There were in my rank a woman, a cripple, and a lascar from the ships.
'Their mother's kin trusted that the young men would thus be forced by weight of trouble, and further trouble and perpetual trouble, to quit their lands in Pishapur village in Banalu Tehsil in Patiala State. If the young men ran away, the land would come whole to their mother's kin. I am not a regimental school-master, but is it understood, child? 'Understood, said the Havildar-Major grimly.
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.
The Havildar-Major took up the tale, saying, 'The eldest knew that also, my father. He laughed, and presently Forsyth Sahib laughed. "It is true," said Forsyth Sahib. "I have no regiment. For twenty years I have been a clerk tied to a thick pen. Therefore I am the more fit to be your orderly and messenger in this business."
'But he the Chaplain pointed a scornful chin at the Havildar-Major 'he has been so long in England that 'Let the lad alone, said his uncle. 'He was but two months there, and he was chosen for good cause. Theoretically, all Sikhs are equal. Practically, there are differences, as none know better than well-born, land-owning folk, or long-descended chaplains from Amritsar.
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