In such a scene, and amidst such associations, does the English
subaltern wear out the weary hours of the interminable Indian day:
smoking; dozing; playing with his terrier; longing for the evening,
or for a call from a brother-officer, with whom he may discuss the
Army List, and partake of the ever-recurring refreshment of brandy
and soda-water; lazily endeavouring to get some little insight into
the languages of the hateful East by the help of a fat, fawning
native tutor, and a stupid and indecent Oordoo work on mythology;
pondering sadly on home landscapes and home recollections, as he gazes
across the sharply-defined line of shadow thrown by the roof of the
verandah into the outdoor heat and glare; with no pleasanter object
of contemplation than the Patna sheep belonging to the Station Mutton
Club, and his own modest stud, consisting of a raw-boned Australian
horse and an old Cabul pony picketed under a group of mango-trees near
the gate of the compound.
The centre apartment is flanked on either side by a smaller chamber;
both of which are employed as bedrooms, if, for the sake of company
or economy, our young friend is keeping house with some Addiscombe
chum. Otherwise, the least desirable is set apart as a lumber-room;
though, to judge from the condition of the articles in use, it is
hard to imagine what degree of shabbiness would qualify furniture to
become lumber in Bengal. The door into the Sahib's bedroom stands open,
like every other door in British India; the multitude of servants,
and the necessity for coolness, forbidding the very idea of privacy.
There stands a bedstead of wood, worm-eaten, unplaned, unpolished;
inclosed on all sides with musquito-curtains of white gauze, the edges
carefully tucked in beneath the mattress, through which is dimly
seen the recumbent form of the Sahib, clad in a silk shirt and linen
drawers, the universal nightdress of the East. The poor boy is doing
his best to recover, during the cooler morning hours, the arrears
of the sleepless night, which he has passed in a state of feverish
irritation--panting, perspiring, tossing from side to side in desire
of a momentary relief from the tortures of Prickly Heat, the curse of
young blood; anon, sallying into the verandah to rouse the nodding
punkah-puller, more happy than his wakeful master. Little of ornament
or convenience is to be seen around, save a capacious brass basin on
an iron stand, and half a dozen trunks, of shape adapted to be slung
in pairs on the hump of a bullock. An inner door affords a view into
a bath-room, paved with rough bricks; the bath consisting of a space
surrounded by a parapet some six inches high, in which the bather
stands while his servant sluices him with cold water from a succession
of jars. It may be that on a shelf at the bed's head are treasured some
objects, trifling indeed in value, but made very dear by association;
a few school prizes and leaving-books; a few sheets of flimsy pink
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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