The sunny South. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1875-1907, October 19, 1878, Image 1
ME FLOWERS
VOL. IV.
J. H. & W 33. SEALISJp^r K Vo N Ks
ATLANTA, GA., SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1878.
TERMSmS
EK ANNUM
ADVANCE.
.NO, 174
CfliSEO BTIHISEPOH;
-UK,—
CHEEKY PIllEOSOrilY.
Search along the path of life
For the hidden flower or iruit,
Even on the stoniest soil,
A fair blossom may find ro< t,
Jleserts have their fertile spots.
Hope may flower out of tears
And the violet sprint; from dust
That is watered by our tears.
Sunshine cannot always gleam.
Else the stars could not lie seen;
Boses fade that we may prize
The less showy evergreen.
Blossoms that we loved in May
Ere November tire you know.
Light that slept so sweet on flowers
Now gleams fairer .111 tin-snow.
Atlanta. Lskklohn.
TIh* Idols Head.
A Thrillinii Story of the In
(iian Mutiny.
The Mutiny in India ! Ah, that was a time
of horror. 1 was in the thick of it. I, Edward
Harley, Colonel in the l.tth liegiment compos
ed mostly of natives under English olilcers. It
was in 1 s.Vi, we were stationed at Jubbalpore in
the very heart of India. The town has become
of importance since—made so by the Horn bay
railroad; then it was an out-of-the-way station,
but a very pleasant one—splendid boating on
the deep Nerbudda, and magnificent fanning
for big game in the vast outlying forests .;nd
jungles,
My great friend was a man named Simmonds.
He was just of my own standing. Wo had come
out in the same ship, bad marched up the coun
try together, and were almost like brothers. He
was an Etonian, and as fond of the water and of
sport as I was. We had great times togetln r,
i it ; Mot of that I or going to t.U von nr,"
■ j ne p ople m the.n ’hills are e’lllea (jor, s,
they are a true Liil tribe; that is to say abor,.fi
nes, belonging to the negro tyfe. The chiefs
are of mixed blood, but the people are almost
black. They are supposed to be Hindoos in
point of religion, bnt are utterly superstitions
and ignorant. Their priests are a sort of cross
between a Brahmin priest and a negro fetish
man, and used to charm away the tiger from the
villages with incantations. Here, as in other
parts of India, were a few wandering fakirs, who
had an extraordinary reputation for holiness
and wisdom. The people would go to them from
great distances for charms or predictions, and
believed in their power with implicit faith. At
the time when we were at Jubbalpore, there was
one of these fellows, whose reputation complete
ly eclipsed that of all his rivals, aDd nothing
could be done until his opinion had been asked
and his bkssiDg obtained. All sorts o 1 marvel
ous stories were constantly coming to our ears
of the unerring foresight with which he pre
dicted the termination of disease, both in men
and animals, and so generally was he believed
iD, that the colonel ordered that no one con
nected with»the regiment should consult him,
tor these predictions very frequently brought
their own fultiiment; for those who were told thaj
an illness would terminate fatally, lost all hope,
and literally sat down to die. However, many
of the stories that’we had heard could not be
explained upon these groands, and the fellow
and his doings were often talked over at mess;
some of the men scofling at the whole business,
others maintaing that some of these fakirs cer
tainly had the power of predicting events; citing
many well authenticated anecdotes upon the
subject. The older oliicers were the believers,
we young fellows were the scoffers. But for
the well known fact that it is very seldom in
deed that these fakirs will utter any of their
predictions to Europeans, some of us would
have gone to him to test his powers. As it was
noneot us had ever seen him.
He lived in an old ruined temple, in the mid
dle ot a large patch of jungles at the foot of the
hills, some ten or twelve miles away.
I had been at Jubbalpore about a year, when
Iwas woke up one night, at about two o’clock,
by a Dative who came in to say that about eight
o’clock, a tiger had killed a man in his village
and had dragged off the body. Simmonds and
I were constantly out after tigers, and the peo
ple in all the villages within twenty miles, knew
that we were always ready to pay for early in
formation. This tiger had been doing great
daarnge.and had carried off’thirty or forty men,
women, and children. So great was the fear of
him,indeed,that people in the neighbouraoods
he frequented scarcely dared stir out of doors,
except in parties ot five or six. We hat) had
several hunts after him, but like all man-eat rs,
he was obi and awfully crafty, and although we*
had got several snap shots at him,he had always
managed to save his skin.
In a quarter-of-an-hour after the receipt of
the message, Charley Simmonds and I were on
the back ot the elephant, which was our joint
property, our shikaree, a capital fellow, was on
foot beside us, and with the native trotting
along in front as guide, we went off at the best
pace of old Begaum. The village was fifteen
miles away,but we got theresoon after daybreak,
and were received with delight by the popula
tion. In half-an-honr the hunt was organized,
all the male population turned out as beaters
with sticks, guns, tomtoms, and other instru
ments for making a noise. The trail was not
difficult to find. A broad path, with occasional
smears of blood, showed where he had dragged
his victim through the loDg grass to a clump
of trees, a couple of hundred yards from the
village. We scarcely expected to find him
here, but the villagers hung back while we
went forward with cocked riffes. We found,
Thomas Carlisle.
however,nothing bnt a few bones an l a quantity
of blood. The tiger ha 1 mile off at the ap
proach of daylight to the jungle, which was
about two miles off’. We traced him easily
enough, and found that he had entered a large
ravine from which several smaller ones branched
off'.
It was an awkward place, as it was next to
impossible to surround it perfectly with the
number of men at our command. We posted
them at last all along the upper ground, and
told them to make up in noise what they want
ed in number. At last all was ready; we went
back to the month of the ravine and gave the
signal. However, lam not telling you a burn
ing story, and and need therefore only say that
do what we could we could neither disturb nor
find him. In vain we pushed Begaum through
the thickest of the jungle, which clothed the
bottom and sides of the ravine, while the men
shouted, beat their tomtoms, and showered im
precations of all kinds against the tiger himself
and his ancestors to their remotest generation.
The day was tremendously hot, and after three
hours' search, we gave it up for awhile, and
lay down in the shade, while the shikarees made
a long examination of the ground all round the
hill side to be sure that he had not left the ra
vine. They came back with the news that no
traces could be discovered, and that, beyqwl»R
doubt, he was still there. A tiger will crouag^
up in an exceedingly small hole, and will some
times almost allow himself to be trodden on be-
l ire moving. However we determined to have
one more search, and if that should prove un
successful, to send off to Jubbalpore for some
more of the men to come out with elephants,
and to keep him a prisoner until the arrival of
our reinforcements. Our next search was no
more successful than our first had been, and
having, as we imagined, examined every clump
and crevice in which he could have been con
cealed, we had just reached the upper end of
the ravine, when we heard a tremendous roar,
followed by a perfect babel of yells and screams
from the natives. The outburst came from near
the mouth of the valley, and we felt at once that
our prey had escaped, Wo hurried back to
find, as we expected, that the tiger was gone.
He had burst suddenly out from his hiding
place; had seized a beater, torn him terribly
and made across the open plain.
This was terribly provoking, however there
was nothing to do for it but to follow. This
was easy enough, and we traced him to a
detached patch of wood and jungle two miles
distant. This wood was four or live hundred
yards across, and the ixclamations of the peo
ple at once told ns that it was the one in which
stood the ruined temple inhabited by the fakir
of whom I have been telling you. I should tell
yon that as the tiger broke out, our shikaree
who was stationed there had fired at him, and,
he declared, wounded him.
It was already getting late in the afternoon,
and it was hopeless to attempt to beat the jungle
that night, we therefore sent a runner with a
note to the colonel,asking him to send the work
ing elephants and to allow a party of volunteers
to march over at night to help surround the jun
gle when we commenced beating it in the morn
ing. We based our request upon the fact that
the tiger was a notorious man-eater, and had
been doing immense damage,' We then had a
talk with our shikaree, and A xA off to bring pro
visions for the people out with ns, and set them
to entting sticks and grass to make a cordon of
fires.
We both felt considerable uneasiness respect
ing the priest, who might, at an moment, be
siezed by the enraged tiger. The natives would
not allow that there was any cause for fear, as
the tiger would not dare to touch so holy a man.
Our belief in the reverence of the tiger for sanc
tity was bv no means strong, and we determin
ed to go in and warn him of the presence of the
brute in the woods. It was a mission with which
we could not entrust any one,as no native would
have entered into the jangle for untold gold; so
we mounted the Begaum again and moved into
the woods. The path was pretty wide, and as
we went along almost noiselessly, for the Bega
um was too well trained to tread upon fallen
sticks, it was just possible that wo might come
upon the tiger suddenly, so we kept our riffes
in readiness in our hands. Bresoutly we came
in sight of the ruins. No one was at first visible;
bur almost at the moment the fakir stepped out
from the temple. He did not see or hear us, for
we were rather behind him, but at once pro
ceeded in a high voice to break into a sing-song
prayer. lie had not said two words before his
voice was drowned in a terrific roar, and in an
other moment the tiger had sprung upon him;
struck him to the ground; seized him as a cat
would a mouse, and started off with him in a
trot. He evidently had detected our presence
for he came right towards ns. We halted Bega
um, and with our fingers upon the trigger,wait
ed for the favorable moment. He was a hundred
yards from us when he struck down his victim,
he had lessened the distance by some five and
twenty when he saw us. He stopped for an in
stant in surprise, and Charley muttered: 'Both
barrels, Harley,’ then the beast turned to plunge
into the j tingle, but as we got sight of his side
we sent lour heavy bullets crashing into him and
he rolled over lifeless. We went up to the spot,
made the Begaum give him a kick to make sure
he was perfectly dead, and then got off to exam
ine the unfortunate native. The tiger had seiz
ed him by the shoulder, which was terribly
torn, and the arm broken. He was still perfect
ly conscious.
We atouce fired three shots, our usual signal
that the tiger was dead, and in a few minutes
were surrounded by the villagers, who hardly
knew whether to be more delighted at the death
ol their enemy, or grieved over the injury ot the
fakir. We proposed taking the latter to our hos
pital at Jubbalpore; this he altogether refused,
bnt we finally persuaded him to allow his arm
to be set and bis wound dressed in the first place
by our surgeon, after which he could go to one
ot the native villages and be treated in accord
ance with his own notions. A litter was soon
improvised, and away we went to Jubbalpore
which we reached soon after eight o’clock. The
fakir refused to allow himself to be taken into
the hospital, so we brought out a couple of tres-
sels, put the litter upon them, and the surgeon
set his arm and dressed his wound by torch
light, when he was lifted into a dhoolie, and his
bearers again prepared to start ior their village.
Hitherto lie had scarcely spoken a word, but he
now brieffy expressed his deep gratitude to Sim
monds and myself. We told him that we would
come over to sou him shortly, and hoped to find
him gottiug on rapidly. Another minute and
he was gone.
It happened that we had three or four fellows
away on leave or on staff duty, and several oth
er.-, knoekod up with fever just at that time, so
that the duty foil very heavily on the rest of ns,
and it was over a moDth before we had time to
ride over to see him. M e had heard that he
was going on well, but we were surprised to
find, on reaching the village, that ho had ulroa-_
dy returned to his old abode in the jungle. How
eve, we had made up our minds to see him, es
pecially as we agreed that we would endeavor
f
!
to persuade him to do a prediction for us, and
so we turned our horses’ heads towards the jun
gle. We found him sitting on a rock in front of
the temple, just where he had been seized by
the tiger. He rose when we rode up.
‘I knew that yon would come to-day, sahibs,
and was joyful in the thought of seeing those
who have preserved my life.’
We are glad to see you looking pretty strong
again, though your arm is still in a sling,’ I
saia; for Simmonds was not good at Hindostanee.
‘How did yon know that we were coming ?’ I
enquired, when we had tied up our horses.
‘Siva has given to his servant to know many
things,’ he said, quietly.
•Hid you know beforehand that the tiger was
going to seize you?’ I asked.
•I knew that a great daDger threatened; and
that Siva would not let me die until my time
had come.’
•Could yon see into our future ?' I asked.
The fakir hesitated, looked at me for a mo
ment earnestly,to see if I was speaking in mock-
erv, and then said:
•The sahibs do not beiieve in the power of
Siva or of his servants. Tnev call his messen
gers imposters, and scoff at us when we say
what will happen.’
‘No, indeed,’ I said; ‘my friend and I have
heard of so many of your predictions coming
true that we are really anxious that you should
tell us something of the future. If you feel
grateful to us for that tiger business you will do
as we ask you.’
The lakir nodded his head, went into the tem
ple, and returned in a minute of two with two
small pipes, used by the natives for opium
smoking, and a brazier of burning charcoal.
They were already charged. He made signs
to us to sit down, and lay down on the ground
in front of each ot us. Ihen he began singing
in a low voice, waving a stick which he held in
his hand. Gradually his voice rose and his ac
tion became more v^Dlenh As tar as I could
make out, it was an invocation that Siva
would give some glimpse of the future which
would benefit the sahibs who bad saved the lire
ot his servant. Presently he darted forward,
gave us each a pipe, too.-*, two red-hot pieces ol
charcoal in his fingers without seemiDg to know
that theywere hot,put them upon the pipes,and
ere reaay to carry t e -u.uugu, uuu mw
put the i ipo to my lips. j. telt at once teat it
,’as opium, of which I ha-.- once before made an
xperiment, but mixed With some other sub-
tanoe, which was, I imagine, haschish, a pro
bation ol hemp. Three or four pnffs, and I
tit a drowsiness creeping over me. I saw. as
hrough a mist, the fakir swaying himself back
wards and forwards, his arms waving and his
ace distorted as if in a tit. Another minute
nd the pipe slipped from my fingers, and I fell
aack insensible. How long I lay there Ido not
now. I woke with a strange and not nnpieas-
nt sensation, and presently became conscious
uat the lakir was gently pressing, with a sort of
bampooing action, my temples and head.
i'Len he saw that I opened my eyes he left me,
nu performed the same process upon Charley.
a a few minutes he rose from his stooping po-
itio n waved his hand in token of adieu, and
aiked slowly hack into the temple,
\s he disappeared I sat up. Charley did the
‘ e We stared at each other for a minute
About speaking, and then Charley said:
•This is a rum go, and no mistake, old man.
•You’re right. Charley, My opinion is we’ve
ade two fools of ourselves. Let s be off out ot
We staggered to our feet, for we both felt like
unken men, made our way to our horses,
ured a mussuck of water over our heads, took
Irink of brandy from our flasks, and then,
-ling more like ourselves, mounted and rode
t of the jungle.
For some time neither of us spoke, and then
arley said, with a slight laugh:
•Well Harley, it’ the glimpse ot futurity which
,ad is true, all I can say is that it was extreme-
unpleasant.’ ,
‘That was just my case, Charley.
‘My dream, or what ever you uke to call it,
s about a mutiny of the men.
•You don’t say so, Charley?’ I exclaimed; ‘so
,s mine. This is monstrously strange, to say
s least ot it; ‘however,you tell your story hrst,
d then I will tell you mine.’
■It was very short,’ Charley said. ‘Me were
mess—not in our present mess-room Ue iel-
,vs of some other regiment with us. Sudden-
without any waraing, the wul ^ 8 Z® r ® i “E 1 ‘
a crowd of Sepoys, who opened fare right
to us Half the fellows were snot down at
ce the rest of ns made a rush to our swords
st as the niggers came swarming in ax the
ndows. There was a desperate tight tor a rno-
“nt I remember that Subadar 1’iran, the
ladiest fellow in the regiment, by the way.
de a rush at me, and I shot him through the
ad with a revolver; at the same moment a ball
t me and down I went. Just then a Sepoy
I dead right upon me, sheltering me trom
,M The light lasted a minute or two longer.
! ancv a few fellows escaped, for I heard shots
tside and then the place became quiet. In
other moment 1 heard a crackling, and saw
it the devils had set the mess-room on fare,
man who was lying close to me got up and
iwled to the window, but was shot down from
a outside he moment he showed himself. 1
is hesitating whether to do the same or to lie
II and be smothered, when the thought fiash-
across my mini that there was a place under
e mess-room, half cellar, halt ice-house, built
keep wines, soda water and so °n, cooi, and
as to bring them in without taking them
rough the air. The entrance was by some
!ps, through a sort of trap ni tho uinu-room.
ith the greatest difficulty I rolled the dead be-
Se, crawled along into the next loom,
ised the lid of the trap, which was very be >,
d stumbled down the steps the P olosmg
er my head with a bang, lhat is all 1 remem