Under the Deodars

h! a soldier'

t! for it makes y

Ramrod

tears mix with the laughter. If the mistress be wise she will rap out something severe at this point and check matters. If she be tender-hearted, and send for a drink of water, the chances are largely in favor of another girl laughing at the afflicted one and herself collapsing. Thus the trouble spreads, and may end in half of what answers

rges. But it is a fact that, under certain circumstances, Thomas in bulk can be worked up into ditthering, rippling hysteria. He does not weep, but he shows his troub

to help him to express his opinions; but, for all that, he is a great man. If you call him "the heroic defender of the national honor" one day, and "a brutal and licentious soldiery" the next, you naturally bewilder him, and

rologue. This

rtheris called "eeklar." It fell in the heart of the hot weather, and, after the wedding, Slane was going up to the Hills with the Bride. None the less, Slane's grievance was that the affair would be only a hired-carriage wedding, and he felt that the "eek

ear at the punkah-coolies. They enjoyed a fine, full flesh meal in the middle of the day, and then threw themselves down on their cots and sweated and slept till it was cool enough t

to 103 degrees at midnight. Very few men, even though they get a pannikin of flat, stale, muddy beer and hide it under their cots, can continue drinking for six hours a day. One man tried, but he died, and nearly the whole regiment went to his

stoked the less exercise they took and more explosive they grew. Then tempers began to wear away, and men fell a-brooding over insults real or imaginary, for they had nothing else to think of. The tone of the repartees changed, and instead

im occupation. The two had their cots side by side, and would sometimes spend a long afternoon swearing at each other; but Simmons was afraid of Losson and dared

a big gross man, and he shook like a jelly when the parrot had the sentence correctly. Simmons, however, shook with rage, for all the room were laughing at him - the parrot was such a disreputable puff of green feathers and it looked so human when it chattered. Losson used to sit, swinging his fat legs, on the sid

uld slay Losson. Sometimes he would picture himself trampling the life out of the man, with heavy ammunition-boots, and at others smashing in his face with the butt, and at others jump

all the head in a flash. Losson had no right to be sleek and contented and well-to-do, when he, Simmons, was the butt of the room, Some day, perhaps, he would show those who laughed at the "Simmons, ye so-oor" joke, that he was as good as the rest, and held a man's life in the crook of his forefinger. When Losson snored, Simmons hated him more bitterly than ever. Why should Losson be able to sl

ed of heat - apoplexy in the night, and the rumor ran abroad that it was cholera. Men rejoi

t his pipe, and slammed the lid down with a bang that echoed through the deserted barrack like the crack of a rifle. Ordinarily speaking, the men would have taken no

ey said and laughed fooli

ident had so shaken his fellows

ink?" he said, lashing himself into madness as he we

in the veranda, sleepily, recognizing a we

"Don't go playing the goat, Sim!" said Losson. "Put it down," but there was a quaver in his voice. Another man stooped, slipped his boot and hurled it at Simmo

I tell you you're drivin' me to it! Get up, Losson, an' don't li

still clamoring on the veranda. Simmons appropriated two more packets of ammunition and ran into the moonli

w high, and landed in the brickwork with a vicious phant that made some of the younger ones t

ubled out intent on the capture of Simmons, the wild beast, who was heading for the Cavalry parad

rifle -"you think yourself the devil of a man - but I tell 'jou that if you Put your ugly old carcass outside O' that door, I'll make you the poorest-lookin' man in the army. Come out, Colonel John A

thirty rounds," said a Sergeant breathlessly to the Colonel. "Shoot

., sallied out, only to be salut

"I don't want my step in that way, Co

ly, "if he won't take his chance. My regiment, too!

regiment to come on. The regiment was not anxious to comply, for there is small honor in being shot by a fellow-p

round him; "like as not you'll hit

plain. Major Oldyne Commanding the Horse Battery, was coming back from a dinner in the Civ

," shrieked Simmons; "I'll make a scare

he Major of Gunners. "You

got no quarrel with you, Jerry Bl

g Battery swore long and fervently, without knowledge of fear, and they were surely the best judges, f

ith the intention of rushin

ain't got nothing agin you. Ah! you would?"-

t smash in the white face? He stopped to consider, and a cry went up from the far side of the parade-ground: "He's killed Jerry Blazes!" But in the shelter of the well-pillars Simmons was safe except when he stepped out to fire. "I'll blow yer 'andsome 'ead off, Jer

ns. "Come a bit furder

fly; "you've done a bad day's work, Si

cartridge home with his thumb. "Not bef

arade-ground, a rifle under him. Some of the less-cautious

d Simmons, "an' I'll kick Jerry Bla

it a man on 'is legs. Let go O' Jerry Blazes an' come out O' that wit

dar

er, you lie. See there!" Slane kicked the rifle away,

could resist, for the Corporal in his

edy Corporal knew something of Simmons's weakness, and knew, too, the deadly guard for that kick. Bowing forward and drawing up his right leg till the heel of the right foot was set some three inches above the inside of the left knee-cap, he met the blow st

e an' take him orf. I've bruk 'is leg." This was not strictly true, for the Private had accomplished his own downf

ay. "'Ope you ain't 'urt badly, Sir," said Slane. The Major had fainted, and there was an ugly, ragged hole through the to

and petted into convalescence, while the Battery discussed the wisdom of capturing Simmons, and blowing him from a gun. Th

ed him a hero. These things did not puff him up. When the Major offered him money and thanks, the virtuous Corporal took the one and put aside the other. But he had a request to make and prefaced it with many a "Beg y'pardon, Si

*

look at, but I wasn't goin' to 'ave a hired turn-out. Jerry Blazes? If I 'adn't 'a' wanted somet

Chaplain was sure it was the Devil; and Simmons fancied it was both, but he didn't know, and only hoped his fate would be a warning to

minded Simmons" to the squawking, gaping schoolg