AN ENGLISHMAN BEAT TEN HINDOOS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 30, Issue 9186, 13 October 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

AN ENGLISHMAN BEAT TEN HINDOOS.

Colonel Antberton, of the British Army in India, while at Agra, had occasion to have a large number of packingboxes made. The native carpenters would make them very cheaply, and as i good and serviceable as need be, and to them the job was given. One day the Colonel went to give some directions about the work, and while watching the workmen he was struck with the clumsiness of their tools, and the awkward manner in which they were used. He remarked to the Hinder superintendent that a good English carpenter would do more work in a day than ten of those men. The Hindoo could not believe it. In fact, he knew better. He would like to test it. Colonel Ambertou had made his assertion somewhat recklessly, but he would not recede from it. Returning to camp, he set about investigating ; and attached to one of the batteries of flying artillery he found an Englishman, "who was a carpenter by trade, having served his time to it. and worked for years with the saw and hammer. On the following morning a wager was laid, and the single Englishman went to work against ten natives. The boards were in the rough and had to be cut and split to dimensions, and nailed together. The magnificent Sheffield saws worked like magic, and the artilleryman knew how to use them. The ten natives did their best, working not more for the wager than for their credit,but they were beaten. As the dial pointed to the hour for closing work the Englishman was three boxes ahead.