"The two Thousand."

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13727, 17 October 1908, Page 1 (Supplement)

"The two Thousand."

(By Uojd Osborne in "London.") j Tbe sun, was setting as the great trans- < port passed the Heals, and steamed round ] the forts towarlds the grey, steep city < beyond. On board of her were two ! thousand home from the Philip- s pines and CbiqA, part of tbe host that < had been horned Eastward during the < early lays o£ the war. Two thousand c aoQiers, blackening her decks, crowding i Vr bulwarks, clustering in the lower i rigging,.' looking out of ports, blocking every alley-tray and passage. Men 1 above-, men below, men. everywhere; deck ' *rpar. deck of men, tier upon tier of men, } eta/jding dense and silent as the mount- J iarg city opened oat before them. ' - The war had long been over, and with ' it tbe welcome that had once been so < -warmly given, the returning troops. The ' -day had passed when bands played, and * ~ . mayors- made addresses, ano the men dfs- ' \ embarked amid the cheers of the popn- 1 lace. There were no cheers now, no .bands, bo mayors. The troopship I parted/ the muddy green waters of the bay .'unheralded by the whistle of tngs 1 or the boom of cannon, bearing her two thorosand unnoticed through the summer ' Hrsk. * I Her engines stopped off the ouarantinefetation; there wa» a long wait for the 1 • doctors to come aboard, and another, even longer, for them to go. Then the news 1 lad passed from man to man that they had been given a clean buL But a'ter these good tidings followed bad—'bit it < was now- too late to land them till ib. morning. The two thousand, within sight ' of tbft iighted streets, within s-.cn 1 of < the trams and traffic, and on the very threshold of home, were doomed to be ' pwjfc op for another night, and lie oS ' the water-front till dawn. ' The transport trembled and betran to ' tnove again, slowly circling round the < city' till she brought up at last within a mils of the Gorermnent wharf. Here the anchor was let go with a hoarse rattle < of chain through the hawse-hole; and a stillness, arrange and vaguely disquieting ( after a month at sea, displaced the throb ' of engines and all tbe myriad noises of I •» ■ship under wsvy. The two thousand—still standing, still ' looking, still crowding tbe decks, the bul- * warks, the superstructure, the boats, the ' lower rigging, blackening the ship from ' fftem to stern—the two thousand, compact, ' massed, and tmmoving, bore tbe enforced. ' . <Way with sullen patience, and gazed with sombre longing towards the lights of * Sfome. For it was Home to the two J - thousand, though many had never seen ' the actual place before—Home in the r larger sense, in the father and mother and a sweetheart cease. But Home gave back T -no answering welcome; and the bustling } city, now twinkling from end to end, ' ignored the two thousand on their rusty * steamer, and engrossed herself briskly in J .the business of the evening. "Only a transport," said the people on T the' ferry-boat*.. ' From the obscurity of the wharves a r little boat pot out, rowed by a single t lower, and containing a solitary figure fn t the, stem—a woman. An elderly wo* j man, in "dingy-black, with coarse, un- ' gloved hands,- and straggling grey, hair showing beneath her shabby bonnet. She- ' bad -a parcel beside her, wrapped in newspaper, and her- fingers tightened on it nervously as the transport loomed ahead. " The two thousand looked down at the little boat drawing towards them, and the old ■' woman looked up .at tbe tiers upon ' tie**.of faces. .■ ". a •The boatman rested on his oars. "Ahoy, * %he»P he shouted. "Transport, ahoy 1" £ ! "What dyer want?" responded a Toice « of authority from the height of the iron " jelled the boatman. •',*. . * "Corporal who " retorted the voice ofauthority, the ntterer unseen in tbe black ' impending mass of humanity above. h "Cbipwal James Brown!" «' "What company?" f< *■ Company K. !"*" . a Tbe tw6 ".-ousand—siknt. -unoiH and * intent—stared down unhlinkingly at the |j little boat, while, the old woman, with her hands clasped together, stared upward. E "It's his mother!" roared the boatman, § prompted by his passenger to make a u iresh attempt. "Corporal James Brown's u _ mother! .Corporal James Brown of Com- }' pany STs mother!" " Tbe hoarse shout seemed to fall on * nnresponsrre ears. No one answered; * whole minutes passed. There was not * a sound e*Te the slop of water against a the green, foul copper of tb* tran«port. P "It's no use, ma'am," said the boatman »' bluntly. "*I told you it wasn't no use. * Yon might as well have saved your dot- c lan. and waited till > morning." f But even as. Be epoke there was a stir a aboTe, -some sharp, curt commands, and * the tafl of a rope-ladder slid over tbe bul- t wark. It came down slowly—a clumsy,, t tarry ladder with wooden steps; and the boatman, standing up, with one oar padd- I led to where it toucnea me water, and * held himself at anchor by the bottom « * IU,R : 1 Then, from th* heights above, a thin bhwleg was seen seeking for a foothold, followed by a second thin blue leg feeling for where the first had planted itselfAnd the two thin blue legs were the ad- . vance.guard of a thin blue soldier—such a weak, sick, faltering joldier—whose ( cheap army overcoat fluttered and flapped in the chilly draught. Ho descended with anxious deliberation, making a fresh business of every rung, his pinched yellow ■ faoe intent on nothing but a safe descent. And the mother, with Clod knows what feelings in aer beatt, wailed f«r lit boy in tbe stern of the lutle boatShe clasped aim in h-r arm> and drew him down bw.de h,r~thc idol «t her h«art, her handsome Jim, her datlmg. now shrunken to this «f » ■»«• Che laid her head on hj» shoulder a».d sobbed, the two thou>amt looking deck upon deck of il*m, tnr upon t«r of them, crowding the bulwarks, the the superstructure, the low" figc»«gj.,«ctato« of * *cene that touched the most callous and unthinking. " Hsng it, tliat com. s home to a feJlcr. said the two thousand, with a gulp of the throat. ... i i„ And the pair below-without words to exprewing tbo wellin? tendemes* of their hearts, though articulate enough m the primitive language of Rising eves man - ling cheeks, and tones that broke and trtmbled-tb* pair below bubbled tmiahties, amid a gush of tean- aad the suffocating sense of » hardly controllable "^Oh?"mommer, but I'm glad to see yon Bjain!" "Was vo", niy ditrlms " And how's SJly, mommct !'" "l>ri «'« much chsng-d aWr three J '"Mv but vi.u're awful thin. Jim! At • first i' couldn't bcl*»o it was you at ""••Hut I'm terribly hungry, rivminer That's a g»oJ WRn. » ' i( ' , ' .1 jurt jonp out of mv sh«« t.. sit at tb„M kitchen-Üblo again. • And I'm C«ir>e *<> f'««' ?"» V V '" ,u won't kn«w yourself. Jim." "Sav I've brought you a r»H of pineapple'silk, and a lot of and » Spanwh officer's t» hang m the parlour." . .- "How did y u u nuke out va ths sUip. Jim!"

" Ob, we froze tbe whole war over, an<l would have starved, too, if it hadn't been for Captain Dickson. The boys are powerful fond of Captain Dickson, mommer. He'd, go around every day, and have a scrap with the chief steward. Once he stood- off and was going to bit him—hit Captain Dickson, I mean—because ihero was pickles on the list, and we wasn't getting none; but when, be seen the way the boys looked I guess he didn't dare. There'd have been a dozen on top of him if he had touched the captain! Oh, yes, .terrible cold, mommer; and we had over eighty cases of pneumoniae. "It was awful ead about one boy—a. boy in my own company, too, named Smith. He knew he was dying, but he was stuck on seeing land first; and he just grit his teeth together and held on in spite of the doctors. Said if he could only get one- look at God's own country he wouldn't mind. Well, he couldn't- make it, and pegged oct this afternoon. And do yon know what he said, mommer, a* he asked the orderly to lift up his bead up to the porthole? ' Them's the Farrylione Islands, anyway,' he says. And then he died, quite pleased." "Oh, his poor mother!" said the old woman. "How's Dook?" asked the soldier. "I'd never see a yaller dog out there but I'd think of Dook." " Oh, Dook's fine! I guess you wouldn't know him now, he's grown so big." "Wouldn't it be funny if he didn't know me!" "Here's the bottle of milk for yon, Jim. Yon said in your letter I was to be sure and remember the bottle of milk." "Oh. mommer. think of you rememberine the milk!" exclaimed the soldier eratefully. taking the bottle from her. "I've- been dreaming about milk all the way acro«f! Do '■ you know what they do in China. mommer? They drink hogs* milk, and we used to »ec tivm milting them at Tient-Tsin in the middle of the awful fighting there." "You don't i<ay *o, Jim?" "Some of the boys drank it, but it kind of tnroed my stomach." "There's gallons of milk at home." said the old woman. "I'd never put out the paps but I'd think of you, and what a bar vou was for milk." "Mommer, I'm afraid I ought to go now." said the tidier. "I never even thought that Captain Dirkson would let tne com* d<"«-n at all. Yon don't knowhow; strict they are. mommer. And all the-, hor* w»re snrprised. And he said not more than fire minute*." She put her arms round him again and kismed him. And the soldier, with a. word about her to-morrow after iartdimr. forced the unwieldy bottle of milk into bi» overcoat pocket, and slowly and painfully remounted the ladder. The mother waited till he reached the mil. where a dozen willinc hand.: drew him in: and then the boatman pushed off. and rowed towards the light* of the ci*v Th» two thousand still still looking, still crowd in j» the decks, the bulwark*, the superstructure, the boats, the lower rigginc—the two thousand, compact-, massed, and nnmovinff. follow*! Tit with their i"-e* rntH she m« Wl in the dsrknCT»_(li» darkne*« that hid a mr.ili»r'« tears, and rm«i""1 w : Hi its kindly shadow her sad and tender face.