THE MAJOR'S DUEL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7293, 4 January 1902, Page 2

THE MAJOR'S DUEL.

(By NORMAN ERASER.) We— the officers cf her Majesty's 140 th Regiment of Foot (Stick-at-Nothing Boys^ —were at dinner, or, to be strictly accurate, had arrived at the dessert and cigarette stage of that meal. ■the Queen's health had been duly proposed and drunk, and every glass stem ' snapped, according to the ancient arrdi courtly custom of the 140 th, •which forbade that a glass once raised to the Queen, should ever be used again. The bandmaster bad been introduced, and partaken of his glass of "sherry^ wine, if you please, sir!" and was on. the point of declining (according to etiquette) the second glass proffered (also according to etiquette) by the Mess President, when suddenly a commotion arose at the lower end 1 of the long, trophy-laden table, where most of the youngsters had congreg l ated. Chambers, a tall, fair-haired youth, had sprung to his feet, arid was glaring across the table, passionate anger clearly marked in every line of his pale, clear-cut features and sensitive, quivering mouth. Before anyone could interfere be had seized a fresh glass of wine and flung it full io the face of Hodgson, another subaltern', who was sitting almost opposite to him. " Take that, you cad!" he cried, almost screamed, "if you are not an utter coward you will give me the satisfaction I demand!" With that he stalked haughtily, not to say stagily, out of tlie room. We looked at one another aghast. Such am occurrence had never taken place before, at least, not within our memories, and there were guests present, which made it infinitely worse. Hodgson wiped the trickling wine from Iris, face and shirtfront, and tried to look unconcerned. The Colonel bit his lip and frowned, and apparently was about to speak, when the band most opportunely struck up the "Can-can Polka," everyone plunged into desultory and noisy conversation, and for the moment the incident wag disregarded. Although Chambers and hia troubles do not further concern the reader a brief explanation is necessary to account for this unparalleled scene in our mess. Chambers was a New Zealander, and had joined us only a few weeks previously as a colonial cadet. He was a clever, highspirited, romantic lad, with all the makings I of a fine- soldjer about him, but he had 1 never been through the public school and; Sandhurst mill, and was possessed of high- v • flown, not to say absurd, notions as >to hds personal honour and dignity. , Added Ito this he suffered from that half-sulky, half-j&alous spirit which so often animates i colonials towards Englishmen, especially when the colonial is out of his own country, and he was morbidly sensitive to any chaff about his native land. I His brother subalterns were not long in finding out these little idiosyncrasies, and,, after the manner of subalterns, they set to work with a will to eradicate them. Needless to say, Chambers did mot take the " drawing " and chaff in good part, and a silly and rather coarse allusion on Hodgson s part to convigts and black women had caused the fiery colonial's pent-up wrath to 'burst forth, as has already been described. In justice to Chambers I must say that Hodgson was a peculiarly aggravating tormentor. He was a dull, boorish, slowwitted chap, but with a positive genius for finding out one's raw places and scarifying them unmercifully. We saw no more of Chambers that evening, and at last all the guests had departed, except Hammersley, a Major in the gunners, and a constant and welcome visitor to our mess. Someone referred to the scene at dinner? and instantly a dozen voices were raised : — " Silly young ass !" " Dashed colonial cub !" " Kancy his wanting to light a duel !" " Why, it's fifty years since it went out !" " And at home, too, must be crackedJ"' were amongst the exclamations. Presently there was a lull, and Hammersley said quietly— " Well, of course, the youngster's doings are no concern of mine, though I'm more than a little sorry for him, but, so far as duelling, being a thing absolutely of the past goes, I happen to know of a duel which took place between two British officers not much more than ten years ago — in fact, I was in it myself!" "You, Major?'' we cried incredulously, " by, Jove, you must tell us about it —^did you wing him — what was it over?" "One at a time, please," said the Major, laughing, " however, if you really want the yarn you can have it, though," he added, glancing at the clock, "its high time we were aU in bed." "Not a bit, Major," we protested, "the night's young yet — have a drink and a cigar?" "Thanks, I will," he replied, settling himself comfortably in his chair, " but don't blame me if you're sleepy in the morning." "Go on, forge ahead, we haven't much beauty to lose," we retorted. " Some ten years ago," began the Major,

"I was stationed with my battery at Port Antonio, in Portuga, West Indies. Port Antonio, as I daresay some of you know, is situated at the end of the long natural breakwater, which encircles the harbour. It is a baking, Yellow-Jack ridden spot, and what use we were supposed to be there the War Office only knows, as a two penny-ha'-penny gunboat could have blown us into smithereens in five minutes. However, there we were, and as my Major was nearly always on leave I was generally in command. Under me I had a subaltern, who was universally known as the Don, and who was about five or six years my Junior. He was half » Spaniard by birth, and was jusb such a fiery, tempestuous devil as our young friend Chambers, and inordinately proud. Still, despite occasional explosions on his part, we got on very well together, till fate in the shape of the War Office sent us out a Sapper Colonel accompanied by a, young .and lovely daughter!" " Oh, Major," sighed Carstairs, the cynical, "I knew it was coming!" "Ob, shut up, and don't interrupt," said someone, and \ the Major resumed. "The Sapper Colonel had come out to superintend the construction of new; barracks at the Port, and, as it was the cool season, he and his daughter took tip their quarters there. Now lam not going to dilate on the charms of the lady for the : secret amusement, of you irreverent young- . sters, and my superior friend Carstairs in, particular, so I/merely say that the Don and I fell deeplf in love with her. On the whole I seemed* o be the favoured one, bub even the divine Dora — which, by the way, was her name— was not above a- little coquetry." "Hone of 'em' are!" came from the unregenerate cynic, but his gibe passed unheeded — " and one day I returned from a garden party in a raging temper, having been unmercifully snubbed by the lady, and having seen the Don mating very strong running indeed. He came in to dinner in the highest spirits, and with more than a suspicion of open triumph in his manner, a circumstance which did not improve my temper. We got along all right till the coffee was on the table, when a sneering reference of his to the garden party roused my blood. I retorted sharply, he came back at me, and in another instant"- we were facing each other across the 'table/ and I had called him 'a blanked, garlic. eating nigger!' — he was rather dark— and in icturn had received the contents of his glass in my face! The approach of a servant* re-called us to our senses, and. we left the, room by different doors. was pacing tip and down by the water's side, furious with, the Don arid myself, when he approached. "He was very pale, and his dark eyes shone with a. sombre fire, but he was composed r enough, and he- said quietly, though incisively :— ' You have grossly insulted, me, Captain Hammersley'— l bad just got my. step then— 'are. you prepared to give me satisfaction.?' 'I'm prepared to give you a jolly good hiding, if that's what you; mean!' I retorted, completely losing m? temper. 'Ab,' ho said, growing, if possible, a shadetpaler, 'that would ?be a very * brave act considering that physically , l am ncv matdh for you— bah, you Englishmen have no sense of honour, and you, in particular, are a coward!' I didn't hit him, I couldn't very well after \m reminder of. the physical difference between us. ' Yop. young fool,' i said wrath&iHy, 'you don't imagine" I'm going to fight a duel with you,:* with the certainty of losing my commission, \ and the possibility of being tried for murder; into the bargain— do you?' . " ' You are singularly confident as to the issue,' he said sardonically, * but I certainly do propose tihat we should fight a duel--one in which there will be no risk of detection* and of which the issue will be decided by the good God!' he concluded, raising his; delicate, well-shaped hand to the starry sky. 'What the deuce are you driving at?' I said, irritably: r Look there,' hereplied, pointing across the calm, moonhtr waters of the Idrbour. It was full moon, and as light as day. As I lodked. I distinctly saw a small, "black, triangular object moving swiftly through the silvered water— the dorsal fin of a, shark, one of the 'many which infested the harbour. 'Well?' r. queried, mystified, and not knowing in the,, least what he was driving at. 'I propose, ■he replied, coming a step nearer, and speaking with deadly earnestness, 'that, we, should swim across the harbour, and let Heaven, decide between us!' ' "It was a mad, horrible, wicked proposal, but we, too, were mad that evening,: and— incredible as it may sound to you—; horror of the idea, I consented!" "O, after the first momentary recoil .at the.^ woman, .woman V r began the scoffer on the', sofa, but a well-directed cushion, silenced bam, and the Major continued: "Once ; agreed; we discussed the details of the duelwith a' calmness amounting to cold-blooded-ness, though we were both hot enough. We decided to take an oblique 'course from/ an aim, which jutted out from the inner bend of the harbour. By taking this course, which meant a swim of about two and a half miles, there was less chance of ; being detected by passing boats, though I remembered with a shudder that that particular bend was reputed \to swarm with. tie dreaded enemy. There was an eke-, trie launch at the .Port, which we were in the habit of using when we wanted to cross. the water, but we settled to take a small row-boat, and leave iKhidden amongst the mangrove shrubs which fringed the arm,. whence, if either of us survived, it couM be fetched on the morrow. We went to our quarters, donned onr bathing suits,; which we covered with light cloaks, ana pushed off unobserved from the port. Hav-^ ing reached 1 our starting point, we concealed the boat, and without further ado plunged into the cool, almost tepid- water. I had. rot gone fifty yards before the wicked, folly and criminality of our project burst upcu me, and I would have given much to turn back. But I suppose that in. its way. my pride was as haughty as the Don's, and I swam steadily on, with, I am not ashamed to admit, my 'heart in my mouth. Being a very strong swimmer . I out-dis-tanced the Don almost from the' start, and I may #ay that I swam my very hardest. You. may be sure that I kept my eyes open for the expected foe, though % seeing him would not have done much! good, but none came my way, though once a submerged jelly-fish brushed against my legs, anid I gave vent to a. loud, involuntary yell. At last, thankful and repentant, I stepped ashore determined to make it up with the Don, I ran up to the deserted verandah, a-ndf dripping -as I was, stoodwatching him. He was a slom swimmer, * and was quite a quarter of a mile from ' Shore when my heart stood strll, and my brain reeled! Merciful Powers! Not three hundred yards behind him .scudded the evil, piratical flag of a shark. a gave a terrifio yell, and then . without further thought tore up to my room, seized a Malay knife I had picked up in Singapore, 1 dashed back, and plunged into the sea." " Good old Major," said someone, softly. "Not at all— pure foolishness," retorted the Major, "if I had stopped to think for a moment I'd 'have known that the only chance was to take a boat, but I didn't, and I believe 1 went in -with some wild . notion of saving the Don, or providing a second supper for Master Shark in the attempt. I was not a hundred yards from shore, when I realized that I would be too late. The Don was about a hundred and fifty yards from me. He had heard my warning cry and perceived his danger; Wibh a splendid courage he was swimming:, in spurts, stopping now and again to splashand shout. These tactics annoyed the. brute, and he would stop and sheer off. a 1 bit, but only to come on again, ajad.it was evident that a few seconds would bring, the. inevitable, ghastly end. I clove the, water with the energy of despair when, suddenly— Heaven, be praised — there was a ' flash and a rattle, and the electric launch, shot past me like- a torpedo destroyer. I caught a glimpse of a- white-robed figure ha, the stern, and a girlish voice shouted to" me. "Go back; at once— it's all right!'! As I, had noticed one or two other ominous fins, in tihe distance I did' not stand upon the order of my going, but made tthe best of my way to the shore, amd by the time I had reached it, the launch, with the Don safe and sound on board, bad almost caught me up. "Miss Dora ihad seen us start on our mad escapade, and 1 , though, completely my** tified as to our 'intentions, ihad followed our

■movements. When the hour of need came gh» rose to the occasion! with that promptitude aaid decision, which, so often, distiingudshes wo 01611 " n questions of real peril. She got a tremendous ovation from the crowd, which my shouts kid attracted, and the Don amd I got— myself , in particular, as the senior — a memorable dressing down •from the General, though the real truth of j tihe matter was never suspected, and it was put down to a foolish bet. Good Lord!" eonoluded the Major, finishing his drink, "it's past two o'clock — nice hours for me to keep, I'm sure!" "And the lady, Major," said Oarsfcaira, lazily, "of course married the Don?" " Wrong for once, my blase friend," replied the Major, drily, "as a matter of fact she's either asleep or wondering what on, eartihi I mean by stopping out till this time of night— you'll know ell about it," he added, as a parting shot, "when that rich widow catches you— -night, 'Slight !" ' •■ ' - ._