THE RETURN OF SURREY.

Press, Volume XLVII, Issue 7731, 10 December 1890, Page 2

THE RETURN OF SURREY.

By IatTDTARp Kipling. Imray achieved the Impossible. Without warning,-"f or no conceivable in his youth, at the threshold of his career he chose to disappear from the world— which is to say. the little Indian Station where he lived. Upon a day he was alive, well happy, and in great evidence at his Club, among the billiard tables.- Upon a morning, he was not, aod.no manner of search could make sure where he'might be.' He had stepped out of his place; he had not appeared at his office at the proper time, and his dogcart was not upon the public •roads. For. these' reasons, and because he was hampering in a microscopical de-S-ee .the administration of the Indian mpiie, that Empire paused -for one microscopical moment to, make inquiry into the fate; of Imray. "Fonds were dragged, wells were plumbed, telegrams were dispatched down the lines of rail-: /ways ana to the nearest seaport town—twelve hundred miles away; but-Imray* was not at the- end of the drag ropes nor the telegraph Wires. He was gone, and bis place knew him- no more. Than the work of the great Indian Empire swept forward, because it could not be delayed, and Imray from being a man became a mystery—such a thing as men talk over at their cables in the club for a month, and then forget utterly. His guns, horses, and carta were sold to the highest bidder* His superior officer wrote an altogether absurd letter to his mother, saying that: Imray had unaccountably disappeared, and his bungalow stood empty. - . ■ After three'or four months', of the; scorching hob weather had gone by, my friend Strickland, of the Police, saw fit to rent the bungalow-from the native landlord. This was before he was en--gaged to Mi-s Youghal—an affair which as been described in another place—and' while he was pursuing bis investigations., into native life. His own life was sufflj ciently peculiar, and men complained of his manners and customs. There was alt ways food in his house, but- there* "Were no" regular times' for meals: He ate, standing up and walking about, whatever he might i find in the sideboard, and this is. nob good for human beings. -lis -domestic equipment was limited to six rifles, three I shot-guns, five saddles, and a collection of ! stiff-jointed mahseer rods, bigger and stronger than the.largest salmon-rods.' These occupied one half of his bungalow, and the other half was given up to Strick-i land and his dog Tietjens—an enormous Rampur slut who devoured daily the( rations of two men., She spoke to Strickland in a language of her own, 'and whenever walking abroad she saw things calculated uto destroy the; Ssace of Hex ■-- Majesty the Queen-_>px-S3, she returned to her master and laid inf ormatin. Strickland would cake steps at once, > and the end of his labours was trouble and fine and imprisonment for other people. The natives believed that Tietjens was a familiar j spirit, and treated ,h e r- Wi'jh , thei great [ reverence that i*'born of hate and fear. 1 One room in the bungalow was sec apart* for* her special use. She owned a bedstead i abladfet, and a and if anyone cime Into Strickland's room all nheht her cdatom was to kntfck down the i invader, and give tongue till someone I came with a light. Strickland owed bisf life to her, *vhe__e was on the frontier, insearchOf a lbcal murderer, who came, I in the grey dawh to sefcd Strickland much ' further than;; the a'Andaman.-. Islands. Tietjens caught the-manas he was crawlteg into S-Mckland'a tent with a darajer between his teeth, and after his recorA-of inlQUity was established In the eye* of the law he waa hanged. A From that date Tietiensworeacollajrof rough silver, and employed a monogram on her nightblanket; and 'the blanket was of double wovem Kashmir cloth, for she was a delicate dog. '• ,_■«_•;_ ; Under no circumstances wonld she ne separated from Strickland; and .once," when he was ill with fever, made great trouble for the doctors, because she did not know how to help her would not allow another creature to attempt fid, Macarnaght, of the. Indian Medical service, beafe her over her head with a gunbutt before she could understand that she must give room for those who could give quinine. A short time after Strickland had taken Imray**** bungalow, my business too_ mc through that Station, and naturally, the club quarters being full, I quartered my. self upon Strickland. It was a desirable bungalow, eight-roomed and heavily thatched against any chance of-leakage from rain. Under the pitch of. the roof ran a a ceiling-cloth, which looked just as nice as % white-washed ceiling. The landlord had repainted it when Strickland took the bungalow; unless you knew how Indian bungalows were built you would never have suspected that above the cloth lay the dark* three-cornered cavern of the 1 root, where the beams and the underside of the thatch harboured all manner of rats, bats, ants and Other things-!. Tietjens met mc in the verandah with a bay like the-boom of the bells of St. Pauls, putting her paws on my shoulder to show she was glad to free mc. . Strickland had contrived to claw together a sort of meal which he called lunch, and immediately after it was -.dished went, out about his business, I was left alone with Tietjens and try own; affairs. The heat of the summer had broken up and turned to the warm damp of the rains. There was no motion in the heated air, but the rain fell Ilka ramrods- on the earth, and .flung up- a tide mist when *it-splashed back. * The bamboos, and .th© -O-Stard,, apples,! tbe < poinsettias, and the* mango trees In the «_ss*&«tdo3 aftkXL while the warm water ■ ,-f-R •-■*>>£ -'■•*■; if 1 -

lashed through them, and the frogs began to sl_l»mong thajalpe hedges. A little beforTthe lightfi«Ba,:and when the rain waaati'tewottt.iaatin the back verandah and heard the water roar from tne eaves, and scratched myself because {.was covered with the thlngcalled prickly-heat. Tietjens came out with mc and put her head in thy I«P and was very aorrowftil; so I gave * nar biscuits -whan t«a was ready, and I took tea to the back verandah" on account of the little codlneas found there. The rooms of the house nere dark behind mc. , I oould smell Strfiddand'e saddlery and the oft on his guns, and 1 had no desire to sit among these things. My own servant came to mc in the twilight, the nittalin of his clothes clinging tightly to his drenched body, and told mc that a gentleman had called and vrished to see someone. Very much against my wUI, but only because of the darkness of the rooms, I went into tho naked drawingroom, telling my man to bring the lights. -There' might or might not have been * caller waiting—it seemed tome that I saw a figure by one Of the windows—but when the^lig_ts ; came there was nothing save the spikes of the rain without, anf_ the smell of the drinking earth on my nostrils. I explained toxny servant that he was no wiser than he ought to be, and went bank to the verandah to talk to Tietjens. She had gone out into the wet and I could hardly coax her back to mc; even with biscuits with sugar atop. Strickland rode back, dripping wet, just before dinner, .and the first thing he said was: " " Has anyone called F I explained, with apologies, that my -servant had summoned mc Into the draw-iug-room on a false alarm; or that some loafer had tried to called on Strickland, and thinking better of it had fled after Siving his name. Strickland ordered inner, without comment, and since it Was _ real dinner with a white table-cloth attached, we sat down. At nine o'clock Strickland wanted to go to bed, and I was tired too. Tietjens, who had been lying underneath the table, rose up, and swung Into the least exposed verandah as soon as her master moved to his own room, which was next tot-he stately chamber set apart for Tietjens. If a mere .wife had* wished to sleep out of doors in that pelting rain it would not have mattered; but Tietjens was a dog, and therefore the better animal. I looked at Strickland, expecting to see him flay her with a whip. He smiled,queerly as a man would smile after teling some unpleasant domestic tragedy. "She has done this ever since I moved in here," said he. " Let 'her go." The dog was Strickland's dog, so I said nothing, out I felt all that Strickland felt in being thus made light of. Tietjeas encamped outside my bedroom window, and storm after storm came up, thundered on the thatch, and died away. The lightuing spattered the sky as a thrown egg -patters a barn-door, but the light was pale blue, not yellow ; and looking through my split bamboo blinds I could see the great dog standinsr, not sleeping, in the verandah, the hackles alift on her back and her feet anchored as intensely as the. drawn wire rope of-a suspension bridge. In the very short pauses of the thuuder I tried to sleep, but It seemed that some one wanted, mc very urgently. He, whoever he was, was trying to call mc by name, but his voice was no more than a husky whisper. The thunder ceased, and -{etjetlS Went into the garden and howled at tbe low moon. Somebody tried to open ray door, walked about and about through the house aud stood breathing heavily in the verandahs, and just when I was falling asleep I fancied that I heard a wild hammering and clamouring above my head or on the door. I ran into Strickland's room and asked him whether he was ill, and bad been calling for mc. He was lying on his bed half dressed, a pipe in his mouth. "I thought youd come," he said. "Have I been walking round the house recently I" I explained that he had been trampiog in the dining-room and the smoking room and two or three other places; and he laughed and cold mc to go back to bed. I went back to bed and slept till the morning, but through all my mixed dreams I was sure I was doing someone an injustice In not attending to his wants. What those wants were I could not tell, but a fluttering, whispering, • bolt-fumbling, lurking, loitering,., someone was reproaching mc for my slackness, and, half awake, I heard, the howling of Tietjens in the garden and the threshing, of the rain,. ; <- 1 lived in that, house for two days. Strickland went to his office daily, leaving mc alone for eight or ten heurs with Tietjens for my only companion. As long as the full light lasted I was comfortable, and so-' was Tietjens ; bat in-the twilight she and X moved into the back Verandah an d cuddled each other for company. We were alone in the-honsei' but none the leas itwasmueh too fully occupied by a tenant with whom I did not wish to Interfere. I never saw him, but I could see the Curtains between the rooms quivering Where be had just passed through: I could hear the chairs creaking as the bamboos sprung under a weight that had just quitted them: and I could/eel when I went to get a book from; the dlnlng-noom that somebody was waitin the shadows bf the front verandah till I shouldhavegone away. Tietjens made the twilight more interesting by glaring into the darkened rooms with every hair erect, and following the motions of something that I could not see. She never entered the rooms but her eyes moved interestedly: that was quite sufficient. Only when my servant came'to trim the lamps and make all light and habitable she would come in with mc and spend her time -aittlog on her haunches, watching an invisible extra man as be moved about behind my shoulder. Dogs are cheerful companions. : •.■;-.-.■■; : 1 exclaimed to Strickland, gently as might be, that. I would go over to the club and find for myself quarters there. I admired his,ho3pitaiity, was pleased with his gups.aud.rods, but I did not much care for his house aad its atmosphere. He -heard the oub to the end, and then smiled very wearily, but without contempt, for be is a man who understands things, "JStay-pn," he said, "-arid s£e what this thing means. All you have talked about Ivhave known since I took the bungalow. Stay.on and wait.. Tietjens has left mc. ■'_Li» i yoagol_jg-too'i" 3 ■■-._• I had seen him through one little affair, connected with a heathen idol, that had brought mc to the doors of a lunatic asylum, and I had no desire to help him through further experiences. He was a man to Whom unpleasantnesses arrived as do dinners to ordinary people, A - Therefore I explained more clearly than ever that I liked him immensely, and would be happy to see him in the daytime; but that I didn't care to sleep under his root This Was after dinner J-when Tietjens had gone out to lie in the verandah. 'iKl*'PonAmy soul, I don't wonder," aaid Strickland, with his eyes on the ceilingcloth. "Look st that t" ■« The tails of two brown, snakes were -hanging between the cloth and the cornice of the wall. They threw long shadows in the lamplight* ', ■« "■ ■,*•,,*■ i ."If youare afraid'of snakes of ooUrse " said Strickland. I hate and fear snakes, because If yoa look into the eyes of any snake you will see that it knows all and more bf the mystery .of cuan's fall, and that It feels all the contempt that the devil felt when Adam was evicted from Eden. Besides which its bite is generally fatal, and it twists up trouser legs. "You ought to get your thatch overhauled," I said. " Give mc & toahseer-rod, And*we'H poke,'em down." '-'. ■'■* "■■'They'll hide among the roof-beams,'' said Strickland.• " I can't stand snakes overhead. Tm going up into the roof. If I shake 'em down, stand by with a cleaning-rod and break their backs." , I was not anxious to assist Strickland in his work, but I took the cleaning-rod and waited in the dining-room, while •Strickland brought a gardener's ladder from the verandah, and set it against the side of the room. The snake-tails drew themselves .up and disappeared. We could hear the dry rushing scuttle of long bodies running over the baggy- eeiliogcloth. Strickland took a lamp with him, while I tried to make clear to him the danger of hunting roof-snakes between-a ceiling-cloth and a thatch; apart from the deterioration of property caused by ripping out ceiling-cloths. " Nonsense 1" said Strickland. "They're sure to hide near the walls by the cloth. The bricks are too cold for 'em, and the heat of the room is just what-they like." Hejput hia hand to the corner of the stuff and ripped it from the cornice. It gave with a great sound of tearing, aqd Strickland put his head through the opening into the dark of the angle of the roof-beams. I set my teeth and lifted the rod, for I bad not the least knowledge of what might descend. _ . . .' "H'mrsaid Strickland, and.his voice rolled and rumbled in the root ** There's room for another set of rooms np here, and, by Jove, someone is occupying em 1 «' Snakes F I said from below. "No. Ifsabufl-io. .Hand mc up the two first joints Of a mahseer-rod, and Til prod it. It's lying on the main roofI "banded up the rod. .-A' .•■->-•-• ♦'What a nest for owls and serpents! No wonder the snakes live here, said Strickland, cUmbiug further into the roof. I could see his elbdw thraatiiuc with the

rod. "Come out of that, whoever you , are i Heads below there! It's falling."* r ' I saw the ceiling cloth nearly in the : centre of the room bag with a shape that' was pressing it downwards and downWards, towards the lighted lamp on the ! table. I snatched a lamp out of danger, land stood back. Then the cloth ripped out from the walls, tore, split, swayed, and shot down upon the table something that I dared not look at, till Strickland had slid down the ladder and was standing by my side. He did not say much, being a man of few words; but he picked up the loose end of the table-cloth and threw it over the remnants on the table. 44 It strikes mc," said he, putting down the lamp, " our friend Imray has come back. Ohj you would, would you F, ' There was a movement under the cloth, and a little snake wriggled out, to be backbroken by the butt of the mahseerod. I was sufficiently sick to niake no remarks worth recording. " Strickland meditated, and helped himself to drinks. The arrangement under the cloth made no more signs of life. *< Is It Imray f"I said. Strickland turned back the cloth for a moment, and looked. :" It is Imray," he said; " and his throat is cut from ear to ear." Then we spoke, both together and to ourselves: "'That's Why he whispered about the house." T-ietjens, in the garden, began to bay furiously. A little later her great nose heaved open the dining-room door. She snuffed and was still. The tattered ceiling-cloth hung down almost to the level of the table, and there was hardly room to move away from the discovery. Tieiyens came in and sat down; her teeth bared under her Up and her forepaws planted. She looked at Strickland. " It s a had business, old lady," said he. " Men don't climb up into the roofs of their bungalows to die, and they don't fasten up the ceiling-cloth behind 'em. Let's think it out." " Let's think it ont somewhere else," I said. " Excellent idea 1 Turn the lamps out. We'll get into my room." I did not turn the lamps out. I went into Strickland's room first, and allowed him to make the darkness. Then he followed mc, and we. lit tobacco and thought. Strickland thought. I smoked furiously, because I was afraid. '• Imray is barf," said Strickland. " The question it—who killed Imrayf Don't talk, I've a notion of my own. When I took this bungalow I took over most of Imray'B servants. Imray was guileless and inoffensive, wasn't he t" I agreed; though the heap under the cloth nad looked neither one thing nor the other. "If I call in all the servants they will stand fast in a crowd and lie like Aryans. What do you suggest f ** "Call'em in one by one," I said. " They'll run away and give the news to all their fellows," said Strickland. «*- We must segregate 'em. Do you suppose your servant Knows anything about It f" "He may, for aught I know; but I don't think it's likely. He has only been here two or three days," I answered. " What's your notion?" " I can't quite tell. How the dickens did the man get the wrong side of the ceiling cloth?" There was a heavy coughing outside Strickland's bedroom door. This showed that Bahadur Khan, hia body servant, had waked from sleep and wished to put Strickland to bed. "Come in." said Strickland. "It's a very warm night, isn't it f" Bahadur Ehan, a great, green-turbaned, six-foot Mohammedan; said that it was a very warm night; but that there was more rain pending, which, by his Honour's favour, would bring relief to the country. "It will be so, if God pleases," said Strickland, tugging off bis boots. "It is in my mind, Bahadur Ehan, that I have worked thee remorsely for many days — ever since that time when thou first earnest into my service. What time was thatr " Has the Heaven-born forgotten f It was when Imray Sahib went secretly to Europe without warning given; and I— even I —came into tbe honoured service of the protector of the poor." "And Imray Sahib went to Europe ?" "It*is ao said among those who were hlfl *R*BPVftn_>B ** " And thou wilt take service with him when he returns f "Assuredly, Sahib. He was a good master, and cherished his dependents." " That is true. I am very tired, but I So buck-shooting to-morrow. Give mc the ttle sharp rifle that I use for black buck; it is in the case yonder," -. ; The man stooped over the case; banded barrels, stock, and fore-end to Strickland, who fitted all together, yawning dolefully. Then he reached down to the gun-case, took a solid-drawn cartridge, and slipped it into the breech of the .300 express. " And Imray Sahib has gone to Europe secretly 1 That is very strange, Bahadur Khan, is It not?" " What do I know of the ways of the white man, Heaven-born I" "Very little, truly...But thou ahalt know more anon. It has reached mc that Imray Sahib has returned from his so long journeyings, and that even now'he lies in the next room, waiting his servant." "Sahib!" The lamplight slid along the barrels Of the rifle as they levelled themselves at Bahadur Khan's broad breast. "Go and look |" said Strickland. ."Take a lamp. Thy master ls tired, and he waits thee; GoT , The man picked up a lamp, and went into the dining room, Strickland following, and almost pushing him with the muzzle of the rifle, he looked for a moment at the black depths, behind the ceiling cloth; at the writhing snake under foot; aud, last, a grey glaae settling on his face, at the thing under the table-cloth. "Hast then'seen f " said Strickland, after a pause. " I have seen. lam clay In the white njan's hands. What does the Presence dot" , ,„. -.._." «'«Hang shea within the month! What else?" ••■''■ <■"■■- . " For killing him? Nay, Sahib, consider.; Walkihg among us his servants, he cast his eyes upon my child, who was four years old. Him he bewitched, and in ten days he died of the fever. My child 1" "What said Imray Sahib." l . "He said he was a handsome child, and patted him on the head : wherefore my child died. Wherefore I killed Imray l Sahib in the twilight, when he had come j back from office, and was sleeping. Where- j fore I dragged bim him up into the roofbeams, and made all fast behind him. The .Heaven-born knows all things. I am the servant of the Heaven-born. Strickland looked at mc above the rifle, and said, in the vernacular, " Thou art witness to this saying ? He has killed." Bahadur Khan stood ashen gray in the light of the one lamp. The need for justification came upon him very swiftly. " I am trapped," he said," but the offence was that man's. He cast an evil eye upon my child, and I killed and hid bim. Only sneb5 neb as are served by devils," he glared at lietjens, couched stolidly before him, " only such could know what I did.", * s lc was clever, but thon shouldst have lashed him to the beam with a rope. Now, thou thyself wilt hang by a rope. Orderly!" A drowsy policeman answered Strickland's call. He was followed by another, and Tietjens sat wondrous still. Take him to the police-station," said Strickland. There is a case toward." " Do I hang then f " said Bahadur Khan, makjLng no attempt to escape, and keeping his eyes on the ground. "If the sun shines or the water runsyes i" said Strickland. Bahadur Khan stepped back one long pace, quivered, and stood still. The two policemen waited further order*. "Go Pisaid Strickland. .' ' r 'Nay; but I go very swiftly," said 'Bahadur Khan. ,r Lobk 11 am even now a dead man." He lifted his foot, and to the little toe there clung the head of the half-killed > snake, firm fixed in the agony of death. "I come of buid-bolding stock," said . Bahadur Khan, rocking where he stood. "It were a disgrace to mc to go to the public scaffold: therefore I take this way. Be it remembered that the sahib's shirts are correctly enumerated, and that there Is an extra piece of soap in his washbasin. My child was bewitched, and I slew • the wizard. Why should you seek to slay mc with the rope? My honour is saved, and—and—l die," At the end -of aa hour he died, as they die who are bitten by the little brown k&rait, and the policemen bore him and the thing under tbe tablecloth to their appointed places. They were needed to make clear -she dissapearanee of Imray. 1 *** This" said Strickland, very carmly. as he climbed Into bed. "Is. called the nineteenth century. Did you hear what that mansaidt" " I heard." I answered. " Imray made a mistake. " Simply and aolely, through not knowing the nature of the oriental, and the coincidence of a, little seasonal fever. Bahadur Khan had been with him for fon-'lrears.'* "' I shuddered.' My Own servant had been with mc for exactly that length of time.. When I went over to nxv own room I ... jf.Y'Y". Yft • ;-„ ,-;.'*'

■_f2 n4 ■ mr »ia^afeii_f^^^ _gr *— __,'_-•-»«*.-__,,_> »^ l^i_f, a_i'«*«r answer, BaWb k no»nJ* , J_*n those boots." " 7 ' ■ ahl '* ffiSS L I had just settled *« »v • * haustion when T hf Z°Jh* el-*-. „ And so. she ha™ T L* her PW hound was couched sbn_n* 1 bedstead on her Stftgfe-flßrfe the tabKK^^^