come down and carry off their rifles, each of which is worth nearly Rs. 500 (£50) in that country. But they moved with great caution, only one man advancing whilst the others covered his advance. My boy, lying flat on the ground, wriggled to one side of the rock, and putting his sight at 500 yards, took careful aim and shot the robber stone - dead, and he fell headlong downwards. The smoke of his rifle gave away my son's position, and immediately a brisk and accurate fusilade hit that spot. But my son was not there, for the moment he had fired he dodged away from that rock, and like a cat worked his way unseen to another rock fully fifty yards away. He now knew whereabouts the enemy were, and watched and waited. After firing several more rounds he saw two men begin to advance, but very cautiously, and giving no chance for a shot. Thus they skirmished steadily on towards the spot where the wounded lad lay, and it was not till they were within 100 yards that my lad got another chance. He then saw a head cautiously raised, and peering intently at the rock whence my son had fired his first shot. In one second my son, who was on the flank, lifted his rifle and shot this second man dead through the head. He then repeated his first manoeuvre and, without showing himself, slipped behind another rock, and waited for a long time. A loose stone came bowling down the hill and passed him, then he heard a scrambling, and peered forth with much caution. A man was running away, zigzagging up the hill. He let him go from reasons of caution, and then, after another long wait, crept along to his companion, whom he found still alive. As all was now quiet, he approached the nearest dead enemy, and took his rifle and ammunition, and then went on and fetched the rifle and ammunition of the other enemy he had killed. Carrying three rifles and three bandoliers, he ran many miles to my house, and thence brought back his uncle and brother to help his comrade home. Now, Sahib," concluded Ali Gul, 'you have heard my story. Is the lad good enough for 'The Guides' or is he not? His fate is in your Honour's hands." grass. Indian cavalry horses short and sharp way. He are fed on fresh - cut grass would tell them it was against gathered in daily for about half his orders that money should the year, whilst hay is stacked be lent to the men, and if at the same time for the re- they did so it was at their own maining period. This grass risk. The Civil Courts were used to be obtained from the open to them. With tradessides of roads, the borders of people it was different. If such fields, railway or canal embank- a one had a claim against one ments, from anywhere and of the men, he had to subeverywhere, the grass-cutters stantiate it; and if after disgoing many miles daily in cussion it was judged correct, search of fresh fields. Whilst the soldier would be ordered cutting the grass, their pack- to pay off the debt in monthly mules or ponies, though knee- instalments. haltered, might well stray off into the villagers' crops: hence these tears. With these villagers the Colonel would take a fatherly air. He would have a little chat and banter with them, and thus get them into a good temper. Then he would point how extraordinarily lucky they were to have so fine a regiment quartered near them, a regiment which bought all their barley and oats and chickens and eggs, and was, in fact, a perfect godsend to them. Moreover, were not many of their sons and brothers soldiers too, who would never harm villagers wilfully? And he would wind up by pointing out that these were no private horses, but the horses of the great King, and that unless they are fed the soldiers could not fight and kill the enemies of the King, so that the villagers might live in peace and safety, and gather in their crops and become rich. With money - lenders the Colonel would have a very In these seemingly roughand-ready ways the affairs of an Indian regiment are managed, and with great success. The prestige of the British officer is so high, and his absolute integrity and honour so well established, that just a sprinkling of them will thus rule and keep in a state of perfect discipline a regiment of a thousand Indians. And these, be it remembered, are not like a thousand Englishmen or Scotsmen, all of one blood; but there may be amongst them half a dozen different tribes and as many castes and religions. And these various sects and classes and tribes are often fiercely antagonistic to each other, and would be at each other's throats in five minutes at the smallest provocation, but for the calm control of their British officers. It is not mere lip-service or oriental flattery, but a deeplyrooted sentiment, which will cause an Indian to murmur ofttimes, "Indeed, these Englishmen are a nation of princes!" a THE SAGA OF A SHIP. BY DAVID HANNAY. 66 WHEN the expansion of Eng- in a storm of battle, fighting land was beginning there was single-handed against numbers. certain "capital ship," a gallant and famous ship. Brave men sailed in her to do notable feats. Mighty achievements came from the leading they gave. She was born in 1595, and she carried the flag, in the first attempt to take hold of a place for Englishmen to keep, not merely to plunder and ransom, in the West Indies. Then she was the "Admiral" of the " General," chosen by "the Governor and Company of the Merchants of London trading into the East Indies," to rule the first of the fleets they sent out "for the honour of their native country, and the advancement of the trade of merchandize." In that age Admiral was mostly the rank of the ship, and General was the designation of the commander-in-chief. They were not rigidly consistent in their practice. Nicholas Downton thought himself entitled to write of the Admiral she " in one clause of his orders for keeping company, and of the Admiral "he," who was his own stout and careful stiff and bombasted self, in the next. Yet the name went, as a rule, to the vessel, and only by exception to the officer. The life of this " tall admiral is truly saga matter, and not the least because her end was When she was launched at Deptford her builder gave her the name The Malice Scourge. It was written with all the large freedom of our ancestors, who had too much wit and wisdom to be enslaved by spelling, "Mallice" or "Malyce," Scourge, Scurge,' "Scourdge," or Scurg "-the "Mallescourge " in one word, or the "Mall " or "Mal Escourge " in two. Pedants have thereby been led astray. Her builder knew why he baptised her as he did. He was the Viking George Clifford, third Earl of Cumberland, a profuse and magnificent gentleman of the great Queen's Court, who wasted his substance in splendid living, and strove to restore his estate by privateering. He was perfectly candid touching his desire to make profit for himself, and nobody need think the worse of him on that account, though Southey did think that a gentleman of the Earl's dignity ought not to have confessed to mercenary aims. The Earl had learnt by costly experience that a strong warship was needed when one had to tackle Portuguese carracks or Spanish galleons. They alone carried the rich cargoes of jewels, plate, and fine spices. He had also found out by a bitter disappointment that to co-operate with the capital ships" of the Queen would be to play the part of jackal to very little or no advantage. The case of the Madre de Dios carrack had left him in no doubt on that point. Her Majesty had a leonine way of laying her white lioness paw on the prize, and of distributing the very least she well could. So that he might be the more independent, and have the better prospect of gain in future, he built the largest ship which any subject had caused to be launched up to that date. We will trouble ourselves but little with the never-to-becompletely solved problem: What was the tonnage of the Malice Scourge? One said she was of 800 tons s; another gave her 900. When the Earl parted with her she was taken at 600. All the authorities who differ cannot be right, and it is altogether believable that no one of them is. We do know that when she passed from the ownership of Cumberland to that of those members of the Company who financed and organised the First Voyage, she carried an armament of 38 guns, and that their total weight was 63 tons. Now this is 5 tons more than the weight of the 38 guns and carronades of the " 18 pdr. 32 gun" frigate Medusa in the early years of the nineteenth century. And she was measured at 920 tons. The Malice Scourge was perhaps of the same size, or even a little larger. the other hand, But then, on But then, on she may have As she was been overgunned. found to be in need of a thorough repair in 1600, though then but five years old, it does look as if she may have been unduly strained. Moreover, her new masters took the two biggest guns of her armament out of her-the two demy cannons, which together weighed 6 tons. Perhaps they considered her as being overweighted. Perhaps they had other reasons; and thirdly and lastly, perhaps such questions as these go into the general heap of the marine stores of history. She was a capital ship," and by the consent of all good judges, a fine one. What is important to us is to know the men she carried and their achievements. The first achievement was the capture of San Juan de Porto Rico in 1598. The expedition is deserving of more memory than careless posterity has bestowed on it. It was the last of the brilliant Elizabethan raids, and carried the germs of other less showy but more lasting work to be done in a very few years. The direction of the intentions is something in human affairs, even when men fail of their aim. Now the intentions of the Earl and his colleagues-for he was not alone in organising the venture went far beyond mere plunder and exacting of ransom. They were not content to disturb the Spanish King's dominions and intercept his treasure in order to cripple him in Europe. Drake and others had been at that work striking local quarters for a permanent squadron. It was a goodish harbour in an island worth tilling, and capable of producing needful supplies. Moreover, it was well placed to serve a force maintained to cut the communication between Spain and her Indies. for years with successes, but without producing much lasting result. Philip's resources were delayed on their way to him, and his subjects suffered. It was easy, and generally safe, to fall on the small Spanish townships of the islands and the main wherein there were but few Europeans thinly spread over huge distances, and scattered in mere handfuls, living far apart from one another. The English injured those on whom they dropped, but in the main King Philip's revenue reached him sooner or later. And that was bound to happen, because the raiders hurried home when they had "made their voyage" by capturing prizes. They usually came back, cruelly diminished in numbers by the country fevers, and more often than not as poor as when they went -or poorer. We remember the successes and forget the failures-the raids which were beaten off, as happened to Sir Anthony Shirley or the others who came back from bootless errand because no prizes were met. Something more than a sweep out and a return was needed to cripple the Spanish King for good. Thinking men in London and in the marauding fleets too had no doubt what that something ought to be. We must take hold of a port in the West Indies and keep hold of it. In 1598 the object was to take possession of San Juan de Porto Rico, make a strength" of it, and a head grocer, Alderman of Farringdon Ward Without, and then of Walbrook. In three years he and the Earl will both be among the Governors of the East India Company. If Cumberland handed over the Malice Scourge, after sharpish bargaining, Banning sold the Susan for the First Voyage. Then they were to succeed. In 1598 they did not-or not in a lasting way. The Spaniards could not prevent them from taking San Juan, but the country fevers drove them out. It was a fine voyage of the orthodox Elizabethan stamp. First, the Earl cruised off Lisbon, and blockaded the outward-bound carracks, which did not dare to stir abroad while he was there. Then he went on to the Canaries, where they-i.e., the Earl in the Malice Scourge and seventeen other vessels, strays and stragglers omitted-had the usual |