Leaves from a Field Note-Book

he German-log said to me, 'But we will give you both money and land.' And I said

o spake, and his words were

did they

t touch it.' And they said thrice unto me, 'We will give you money and land.' And I thrice said, 'Nay.' Then said th

, a German sahib called to me in Hindustani, 'Ham dost hein-Hamari pas ao-Ham tum Ko Nah

ing, what think

e a war like this war, since the world began. No,

ay, he had taken the kangha out of his hair and shown me the two little knives, also the hair-ring and the bracelet, and had unwound the spirals of his unshaven

lacks every virtue except courage, and his one regret is that he has missed the family blood-feud. There have been great doings in his family on the frontier in his absence-two abductions and one hom

like you

, a hell of a fine war,

where

nigh unto them. But I,

age?" asks my friend,

ora

here in the T

so,

German sahib-wounded. And I said unto him, 'How is it that you, who are Christians, treat the Tommies so? We' (Major D-- looks at me with the hint of a twinkle in his eye-for has he not told me at mess of that surprising change in the Indian vernacular whereby their speech is no longer of "Goora-log" and "Sahib-log" but of "We," which fraternal pronoun is significant of much)-'we shave you and feed you, we wash you and dress your wounds, even as one

the German offi

divined as much. But the spell of Shiva Lal's eloquence is rudely broken by Major D--, who takes me by the arm to go elsewhere. And the little group squatting on their ha

h feet-they were frostbitten-and will never answer the music of the charge again. But at the sound of his own tongue he raises his body by the pulley hanging at the head of his cot, and gravely salutes the sahib. Like Ruth amid the alien corn, his heart is sad with thoughts of home, and he has been dreaming between these iron walls of the

is th

it is at

ot Turkaran Pat

ams with pleasure

rite to th

ib is ve

thy homecoming. I will tell them that thou hast lost

for if my people hear that they will neith

I will tell them that

ta smiles

at home?" I ask of the others, leav

t such is the will of God. I have been daily to Haji Baba Ziarat' (it is a famous shrine in India), 'and day and night I pray for you, and am very distressed. I am writing to tell you to have no anxiety about us

ave his say. "My brother writes that I am to enlight the names of my ancestors, who were tiger-like warrio

will do t

ce this side again, face as Bahadur.' And he saith, 'Long live King G

Shia Mahomedan whose

rite to them I cannot. Will the honourable s

what shall t

ng, Jarj Panjam. And to my lady mother and my lady the sister of my father, and to my brother, and to my dear ones the greetings of peace a

German-log make signs to us to surrender, but it is not our way and we still advance. And they open fire with a machine-gun-so!" The speaker makes sounds as a man who stutters. "And we are all hit-killed and wounded, and fall like ripe corn to the sickle. And I am wounded in the leg and I fall. And th

s lustrous eyes flash with pleasu

larified butter made of buffalo or cow's milk-"and goor"-unrefined sugar. "And we have spices for our dhal-ginger a

hose eyes never leave his face. "Come on, old man," I say, "it is time to go." Smith