Christianity, Conversion to -- Fiction; India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947 -- Fiction
As she talked she led the way to her little sitting-room. The door was
open. At the further end was a camp cot and on it lay huddled the
unhappy hero of the canteen row. He still wore his scarlet uniform to
Eola's relief. She was dreading lest she should find him tucked up
like a baby in bed. The poor fellow had undoubtedly suffered from his
indiscretion. His head was tied up with raw beef and poultices, and
the fever produced a shivering that necessitated the shawl muffled
round his shoulders.
"A miserable-looking creature for a mother to call son! isn't he, miss?
As William, his father, used to say: 'Quarrels are like fire, more
easily started than stopped; and those who get into them usually come
out burnt.'"
"Poor fellow, I hope he isn't much hurt," murmured Eola, quite
forgetting her instructions. She stood about three feet away from the
bed with as much ease as if she had been inspecting a sleeping cobra.
"Miss Wenaston says she is sorry to see you like this, William," said
Mrs. Hulver promptly, and in disapproval of Eola's weakness. "She says
let it be a lesson to you to keep out of the way of them that want to
hurt you. As your father used to say: 'Don't go into action if you can
help it; but if you have to fight, take the measure of your enemy's
strength.'"
"You mustn't worry the poor fellow, Mrs. Hulver. Get him well first
before you scold him," said Eola, turning away with more haste than she
had come.
"That's all very well, miss; but as William--that was my third--used to
say: 'What's the good of trying to beat the dog after you've let him
loose?' Young William over there," she turned and looked towards the
prostrate figure, raising her voice so that nothing should be lost to
the sick man, "has got to learn his lesson; who it is that he can
fight, and who he had best leave alone. As William--that was my
second--used to say: 'Men are like dogs; and until they have taken the
measure of their own strength against the strength of others there can
be no peace for anybody.' It was good of the sergeant to send him off
at once to me. If the commanding officer had seen him in that
condition there would have been trouble. William told me last time he
was here that the colonel was very stiff with all offenders, especially
in the matter of drink. Likely as not he has never been drunk himself
and he doesn't know how easily a man may be overtook when once he gets
among others in the canteen. Commanding officers, like artillery
drivers, differ; one is easy with his team; another will take up every
fault; but as William--that was my third--used to say: 'A regiment is
like a team; it doesn't have the choosing of its own C.O. any more than
a bullock chooses its driver or its road.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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