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"The Headman av Lungtungpen, who surrinder'd himself, asked the Interprut'r ''Av the English fight like that wid their clo'es off, what in the wurruld do they do wid their clo'es on? Orth'ris began rowlin' his eyes an' crackin' his fingers an' dancin' a step-dance for to impress the Headman.
Take my word for it, we were a villainous-looking gang when they got through with us. I had not realized before how really altogether bad we were. Then came the line-up, forty or fifty of us, naked as Kipling's heroes who stormed Lungtungpen. To search us was easy. There were only our shoes and ourselves.
Catch thim young, feed thim high, an' by the honor av that great, little man Bobs, behind a good orficer 'tisn't only dacoits they'd smash wid their clo'es off 'tis Con-ti-nental Ar-r-r-mies! They tuk Lungtungpen nakid; an' they'd take St. Pethersburg in their dhrawers! Begad, they would that! "Here's your pipe, sorr.
You've seen me waltzin' through Lungtungpen like a Red Injin widout the warpaint, an' you say I'm too fond av the-ourisin'? 'Sorr, sez I, for I loved the bhoy; 'I wud waltz wid you in that condishin through Hell, an' so wud the rest av the men! Thin I wint downshtrame in the flat an' left him my blessin'. May the Saints carry ut where ut shud go, for he was a fine upstandin' young orficer,
Luckily Sergeant Reeves was on the farther bank, and I having also crossed over, we proceeded to drive every coolie back into the river, until there was not a load left on the opposite bank. Rudyard Kipling, in his story of the taking of the Lungtungpen, tells how, after the scrimmage in the village, "We halted and formed up, and Liftinant Brazenose blushin' pink in the light of the mornin' sun.
"'Now we've done it! sez Lift'nint Brazenose. 'Where the Divil is Lungtungpen? There was about a minute and a half to wait. The bhoys laid a hould av their rifles an' some thried to put their belts on; we was marchin' wid fixed baynits av coorse.
'Twas the sword hangin' on the tentpole changed my will. "Can't I help, Sorr?" sez I; "'tis a strong man's job they've given you, an' you'll be wantin' help by sundown." He was a bhoy wid bowils, that child, an' a rale gintleman. "Sit down," sez he. "Not before my orf'cer," sez I; an' I tould him fwhat my service was. "I've heard av you," sez he. "You tuk the town av Lungtungpen nakid."
"To reshume. Fwhat I've said jist shows the use av three-year-olds. Wud fifty seasoned sodgers have taken Lungtungpen in the dhark that way? No! They'd know the risk av fever and chill. Let alone the shootin'. Two hundher' might have done ut. But the three-year-olds know little an' care less; an' where there's no fear, there's no danger.
We was too close under the wall for thim to hurt us. "Evenshually, the thing, whatever ut was, bruk; an' the six-and-twinty av us tumbled, wan after the other, naked as we was borrun, into the town of Lungtungpen. There was a melly av a sumpshus kind for a whoile; but whether they tuk us, all white an' wet, for a new breed av divil, or a new kind av dacoit, I don't know.
'Twas the sword hangin' on the tent-pole changed my will. "'Can't I help, Sorr? sez I; ''tis a strong man's job they've given you, an' you'll be wantin' help by sundown. He was a bhoy wid bowils, that child, an' a rale gintleman. "'Sit down, sez he. "'Not before my orf'cer, sez I; an' I tould him fwhat my service was. "'I've heard av you, sez he. 'You tuk the town av Lungtungpen nakid.
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