A BRITISH SOLDIER IN INDIA.

Northland Age, Volume 2, Issue 41, 22 May 1906, Page 8

A BRITISH SOLDIER IN INDIA.

Many, years ago, when Corporal Freeman was on duty in India, he met with an amusing adventure with a rifle-thief. He was at the time serving in the Field Artillery at Neemuch, Central India. One night (he writes) I lay tossing about on my pallet of straw, listening to the snoring of my comrades, and unmusical wailing of a pack of jackals just outside. Suddenly, by the dim light of our only lamp, I detected the lithe and sinewy form of a native wriggling noiselessly over the floor of the bungalow in the direction of the arm-rack. Several' of the barrack-room doors were wide open, as the heat was most oppressive.

I allowed the wriggling form to glide past the foot of my own cot, and then, slipping silently out of bed, with a loud shout I sprang upon him. He was perfectly nude ; and his entire body was thickly coated with rancid grease. 1 gripped his wrists firmly, but like eels they slipped through my hands. As he struggled into an upright position I threw my arms around his loins, and shouted for help ; and no sooner did my half-dazed comrades realise the situation than they rushed towards us in a body ; but before they reached us tho agile and greasy wretch again slipped from my grasp, bounded through an open door, and with a loud and derisive laugh vanished into the night. It all happened so quickly that had it not been for the filthy grease with which I was besmeared I could almost have persuaded myself that I had been dreaming, and that the whole affair was the outcome of a distorted imagination. In many parts of India (continues Mr. Freeman) hyaenas are very numerous indeed, and although these animals live principally upon carrion, they in common with that much maligned individual “The Head hen Chinee," are extremely partial to tho hosii of the diog. Many a soldier's canine pet has been carried off by these cunning and e’vil-looking beasts, who will steal into a camp or barracks by night, snatch one or more of the small dogs from their boxes, and escape into tho jungle with their prey.

When, at dead of night, a dog comes rushing into the bungalow, with his bristfles erect and his eyes staring from their sockets, and then —whimpering with foar—takes refuge beneath his master’s bed, the ooldier’s know that it something more formidable than a jackal or a pariah, which has struck terror into the heart of their favourite. It might be a cheetah, or it might be a wolf, but far more likely is it to be a gaunt and massive-jawed hyaena, which is prowling about the vicinity of the dog kennels. To snatch up the first weapon which comes handy, and then rush out into the darkness to protect his pets from molestation, is the work of a moment to “Tommy" ; but at the first signs of his approach the marauder -generally bolts for the jungle—perhaps to slink back again after “Tommy" has returned to his bed.

On one occasion our battery was on the lino of inarch from Deesa to Nusseerabad, when a fox-terrier belonging to a Corporal named Lawris gave birth to a litter of six puppies. Each morning—*while the battery was on the move—the helpless little creatures were carried in a bucket, suspended beneath one of the gun carriages. while their mother trotted along the difflty road, with the remainder of the battery dogs. When the camp, was pitched, “Gyp" and her offspring were provided with ac-

commodation in her master’s tent, and slept, during the night, close by his head. One night tho Corporal was sleeping soundly, when a terrific yell from “Gyp" awoke him with a start ; and, rolling over, he was just in time to see tho massive head of a hyaena being withdrawn from beneath the wall of the tent—only a few inches from his face.

The brute- had snapped up) three of the puppies, and managed to get clear away with them. Their poor little mother was frantic ; and during the remainder of the march nothin/ could induce her to again sleep near the walls of tho tent. She lay, instead, close by her master's feet, and as near to the centre-pole as possiblle. But I remember one instance in which a dog-eating hyena did not fare so well—his penchant for the faithful “bow-wow" luring him to his doom. We were stationed at Nusseerabad at the time, and were startled from our sleep one night by a most unearthly din. The dogs were barking and yelling frantically; and aa we sprang from our beds and rushed out on to the verandah, we saw one of the empty dog-1 Maxes performing a series of wonderful evolutions. First it slid along the ground in one direction, then in another, and then it appeared to raise itself a foot or two from the ground, and the next instant down it came with a crash, while all the time there issued from the interior a deep, but muffled sound—a strange noise, which was half the savage roar of some wild beast and half a human cry.

At length the magic box, after describing a couple of erratic circles, rushed into the circle of light which

shone through one of the open doors and then we discovered the secret of its motive power. A largo and powerful hyaena, in his quest for food, had managed to squeeze his massive head into the box, through what was an unusually small opening, but upon attempting to withdraw it again, he found himself a hopeless prisoner. The capers he was cutting with his novel head-gear so excruciatingly funny that for some time we could do nothing but laugh at the wretched beast, but as soon as our mirthful fit was over, one of our number ran his sword again and again through the struggling animal, and thus put an end to its marauding- propensities for ever.—“ Weekly Telegraph."