ARMS AND THE MAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 89

ARMS AND THE MAN.

By Frank Hudson.

Dick Dunstan's was a new type, and ' when he smoked cigarettes or shammed , drunk on Saturday nights people lamented in letters in the newspapers, which, when. Dicky read them, thrilled him with a ■ delightful consciousness of depravity. That he was good at heart may be- inferred fsam the gracious patronage he accorded his parents, for he was at pains . to explain to them the intricacies of football, a game he did not play. Standing at a George street corner, Dicky would watch his world go by. His penetration became needle-like, his satire dangerous. The Volunteer recruit with . uniform as yet misfitting disliked the corner where Dicky stood. So did the v clerk who was dressed regardless of expense in vieAv of an appointment. When the untoward happened at surprise mobilisations it was Dicky's ironical cheer that made the transport officer flush. His Majesty's ship Bandolier had tied up at Port and landed her liberty men. The bluejackets came sailing down the perspective under a- generous spread of trouser legs, manoeuvring as though dependent on tuddiers and the prevailing breeze. Dicky for once forbore to make remarks. The sight made him feel patriotic. Besides, there is something suggestive of smash in the fist of a sailor. A " Jolly " does not always so carry conviction, and when Martin, private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, came along in immaculate scarlet with his clockwork step Dicky was roused. This sea-soldier was too " swagger," too shiny to be endured. He must be taken down a peg, and Dicky, by virtue of his corner, felt himself the one to do it. He had heard of " red , herring" as being the correctthing to say under the circumstances. It seemed appropriate, and he said it. The marine halted as if he had been shot at, " but, facing the lad, his fist relaxed and wrath gave place to incredulity. As for Dicky, he saw sft lOin of concentrated discipline and drill. The red coat had neither crease nor blemish. The garments fitted so perfectly that the marine might have been poured into them in a molten state and allowed to cool, a vertebrate huge-chested creature, narrow at the loins and straight-legged.. And everything was polished. Du&y began to feel uncomfortable. A des*re to kick the marine's shins rose and evaporated. For the first time he felt painfully conscious of being thin-armed, roundi shouldered, and rather knock-kneed, and of possessing a rucked-up waistcoat and a questionable collar. The conviction that this stranger despised him amazingly made his flesh crawl. The "Jolly" had evidently never seen anything quite like Dicky before. He gasped his astonishment, and then as if quite dumbfounded said, " Well, you are a packet," and marched on. So the " Jolly's " lasting impression of Dunedin was the slouching pale-faced little figure jibing at tliie corner. With characteristic fatlieadedness he forgot all I about the athletee, the girls, and the i scenery Only the vision of Dicky rej mained as a sort of monumental mon ttrosity, and whenever Ne.v Zealand wa» mentioned the rrarine bethought him of, and only of, Dicky. He preached the gospel of colonial decadence to his messmates, silencing their incredulity with: " Didn't I set him with these "ere very optics? Didn't the pore little beggar call me ' red 'erring'? Ain't seem' believin' ?" r He portrayed Dicky — wonderfully exaggerated by this time — to the relief crew* at Colombo, who H'jok the impression (with ' embellishments) on to the China station. [ Arrived at Chatham, the Jolly told the ! story to Corporal Weeper, of the Line, in a public-hoii'^e. The corporal was a pessimist. He regarded war a& " a 'orrid mes& " which it I was the function of the British army to [ clean up. He had helped clean up several [ times, and disliked the process intensely. Al\ravs on the look-out- for international ' squalls, the mildest scare in the papers s was sufficient to convince him that * another " 'orrid mess " was impending " 'Hah," he said dismally when the Jolly 5 had finished.. " I remember that 'orrid mesfi in South Africa, and the Noo Zea1 landers was different to this 'ere. Worth ' their five bob a day, they nas. 'Ow they J niust 'aye gene off. Look' ere, Martin. J you mark my >vords, this'll mean another 'orrid m-ess." And the <?brporal hid his i l-icrimo.«e visage in a pewter pot. By their ivew alliance Germany and - Austria had bisected Europe, isolating - France. Antwerp had become a Herman port, and the Austro-Germanic " improved 1 Neptun^es " assumed a ponderous air of > proprietorship in the North Sea. and the Adriatic. There was also an understands ing with a risiug Eastern Power. Corporal Weeper knew this, a*d also that b th-ere had been in consequence a reorganisation of the whole of Britain's fighting ' power. Had he not prohpesied, after the manner of Jeremiah, concerning it? - Malta., now the sea-fed strategic heart of t the Empire, was all barracks. "Gib." was impervious to all save the day of judg- , ment, and the Suez Canal had been blockt housed its entire length on either hand, f Kitchener had done his best, but, still, d ! tome of the lines of communication wtre

impossibly long. Corporal Weeper nad * 1 etudied them. Did not tie fabric stand" ] between the flesh-pots of barrack life and 1 the aggravated discomforts of active ; service? '* " Supposin'," said the Corporal putting - down Iris pewter and addressing the bar j rooia at large, " sirpposin' the outposteases ] is attacked, wfeat does the maio. body do?" ' " Noth'n," scornfully replied a Fuaileer, ' " it's the duty of the outposfea to fall ] back." ' "Supposin' they cant/ urged the Cor- , poral ; " supposm' these 'ere outpostesses , : was land ; suppoßin.' they was this 'ere \ degenerate Noo Zealand, or Ceylon, or __; 'ong Kong even?" . '• Dhen the main body 'd have to move ; : out to their lebef," said th« busby, "if it didn't want *em scirppered," r "If it didn't wtutf 'em seßpperedl" ' snarled the Corporal with crushing irony; " and what -would the enemy. — the other one I mean — da when the main body moved out?" " Step into it's bloomin* shoes, I suppose," said the Fusilier. "Mine's English ale; these 'ere tactics makes m» parooed."New Zealand bad a&ked if Britain, wanted men. in addition to those battalions already sent to Malta. The cable service broke down, and with its- restoration the report of wax was contradicted. Britishtroops were coming in exchange for New Zealand and Australian contingents that Valetta had swallowed without winking. Then they came; the 2nd Leicester^ from Singapore, the Sherwood Foresters from Nowsiiera, and the DuThams with. " New Zealand " on their colours, and a bitter tradition anent Gate Pah in their hearts. SimultantouElyV the green blanks behind Dunedin. whitened into tente. Compatnies of Army Service Corps arrived with, wonderful waggona which, could be taken to pieces and put together again in a twinkling, and long strings of squealing, kicking moles. Two regiments, red and beefy,- had come from England, and, shepherding his section, marched Corporal Weeper. This doleful warrior, having failed to discover any signs of colonial degeneracy, had two grievances instead of one. The first .was against the Jolly, who, he said, had been " seem.' things," and the other against the country for having lured him oat uader false pretences. And the transports waited, just as they did at Wellington, Auckland, Sydney, East London, Vancouver, and a score of other places round 1 the world. The Empire's outposts were- likely to be attacked. But where? And so the transports waited, and the masthead ears of the cruisers listiened into the air Arrivals from Home said that the army of the Empire was engaged in a game of general post, and that Malta, like a great heart, was receiving and pumping troops along the, new military arteries of the world. A disturbed ants' nest was not to be compared to it for activity. All the same it. was annoying when one morning there were no telegrams, and when by 11.50 only local trains had a-r-rived at Dunedin. At noon a receiver at the telegraph office clicked out " Railway cut north, of Pa — ," and then checked. Later news that three trains, and the railway south of Milton were in the hands of foreign troops was hailed with consternation. " How could an enemy have landed?" the people were asking. " What had become of the Pegasus and the Valorous?" What, indeed? As for the Pegasus, you could have driven <i dray through her plates as she lay in 10 fathoms off Coal Creek, and the Valor«u» was piled beached and gutted south of the Nugget Hgh.t- What did the people know of those innocent-looking tramp steamers that had come slinking south, one by one ? or of the surprise tornedo attack by night on the two second class cruisers responsible for the coast? Thoee swart battalions had disembarked the same night, and silently moved in to , Stirling as confidently as though they , had lived in the district all their lives. > It wae said that their manner of picqtretting the left bank of the Chitha, thus doubling their brief line of communication with the sea, was a sight worth ; seeing. Thus waa the Queen City of the south placed under martial law, and did not ; find it nice. The red-tabbed staff officers, t who had hitherto had no ideas heyond , equipment, Became more reserved than . ever, and were positively rude to a deou1 tation waiting on them with some resolution or other relative to the necessity for steps being taken to save the country. -, It really seemed as though the staff cared ► 'ittle whether the country was saved c r [ not. Making no fus?. neither showing the leaet sign of hurry, they behaved [ generally as if a hostile invasion was an j every-day occurrence. Helios and lamps j blinked and winked from Flagstaff and Look-out. Point in the mrvt uninformativa r manner possible, and refugees from the t country came in hourly with dreadful stories of the invasion. Then one morn1 ing it wftfi noticed that tho tents had r vanished from the slopes. So had the t»x>ons. So had a number of citizens. r Brothers, fathers, sons had eone — all » warned, equipped, drafted and marched off within three hours of darkness, withi out farewells. 3j These staff officers, it appeared. ha<l 1 made lists of the residents* lists of the 1 ae;es, lists of thp men. }\<ie of the horses, f lists of everything. They had battalions 3 on paper with numbers for men. These numbers corresponded to other numbers on their lists. Every man's place was t apportioned, and when the time came every man was invited to step therein g in the name of the King. So, in this c name and that of their country. 5000 ? horse and foot, with the rep^ilar brigades f and Volunteers, marched over the ranges s to Wineatui in the hush of ni<;ht. ;- The enemy paused npither to argue nor shoot. With his left flank (protected by I. a cavalry screen) resting on the railway, 1, and his extreme ri^ht crowning the sea c washed hills, he came on, taking his base

with, him.- To seaward steamed his transports (the guileless-looking tiamp&l, escorted by a. wicked bevy of ertrisexs, and by sea and land the advance w.is In almost one and the same straight line. At every likely bay or estuary In came the surf lighters and launches, and behind the column- blundered an everincreasing herd of stock. High over the advanced guard, trailing her telephone wire, went the " baby *' dirigible, stumpy and drab, now and again shooting ahead or to flank for some birdseye scouting. There was much independent and futile shooting till all North Otago troops were marched to Naseby, vis Kyeburn, and all capable of fight in the Brace, Tuapeka r and Taieri military districts were ordered to eonceatrate at Wingattri, known afterwards as the Great Trap. Meanwhile, British transports were onthe way bringing troops, and more troops, and mow to follow, and the enemy gassing over Miltoa pressed doggedly on towards the Taieri Plain. Dunedin wondered which would reach her first. After all it was not so flattering to know that New Zealand battalions were at that moment helping to garrison- Aberdeen-, Hull, and Lowestoft. Picky, older now, again steps into the narrative. He could not ride, .so they attached .him to. the- ■ Durhams— -which regiment daily marched him off his feet, and made him look with, a .newborn, envy upon bis countrymen, those lanky, capable, bearded colonials, xiding away isto the open, needing neither food nor sleep. The orders were to .delay the enemy and to fall back, but it was surmised that at Wingatui something would happen. The first check was the passage of the TaierL Dicky had only a hazy notion, of what side of the river ha was on. The bullets kicked up a deal of dusts, and it amused him to hear them go "clunk" intoy a. damp place. He saw the British infantry grovelling for cover, and rather despised them for it. He was not afraid, even if that marine had called him a " packet." He would show them ; and with that he stood up and loosed off his rifle in a direction he believed to be the enemy's. " Ping-ping-ping-plonk-ping." The air simply sang Some one jumped up. spun like a gyroscope, and dropped limp"! Two or three groaned; another gurgled horribly. "Lie down, damyer," yelled his right hand man, "or I'll brain yer ; dtawin' the fire : why you've killed four men " ; and. Dick's legs were knocked from under him. Later on, he did better at Henley Bridge. The guncotton was in position. The Drmedin Engineers had seen to that, and three of them had volunteered to cross the 100 yards of open to light the fuse. The enemy dropped the first man in Uie act of lighting the match, and" winged the second before he had gone 10 p'aees. The third started with the enterprising Dicky (who had lost the Durhame). in his wake. About half way' Dicky saw the dnst fly from the khaki facket, amf the man sat down ! " Only a flesh wound, mate," he said, as Dicky, with a wiholesome respect for bnllete by this tinje, wriggled up. Then the whites of his eyes turned yellow and his knees went up to his chin. There was Dicky, the bridge, and the fate of- a brigade. Over him poised the baby diri£rrbl>e, and across the river were men running widely extended order for the bank. Dicky ro c e and ran, ckicking as bullets- made music in his ears. Soon he had to run bent nearly double ; bis brain- reeled ; someone ran a red hot needie into bi» leg, and he swore. Now he had the fuse end, and fumbled for matches, while something bit him savagely is the arm. Then the bridge upended after a white smoke puff, and canted sideways into the river. The terrific explosion which followed seemed somehow to be detached, and to have nothing to do with the incident. Saddle Hill and the Green Island ridges were strongly held, and the enemy, foiled in an attempt to reach Burnside for the purpose o! linking up with his fleet, now off Brighton, pressed desperately on to the Valley head. There he found his eyes and ears, in the shape of the dirigible, impaled on the gum trees by the Wingatui racecourse. Lacking this means of communication with his ships, from which he was separated by hills held By the British, arid fronted and flanked by heights, it was obvious that he must either reach Dunedin or retreat. The artillery on Saddle Hill was dumb. Mounted Rifles bidden in the gorges and the infantry among the foothill* made no sign ; the smoke of the first six troop trains, from RanfuTly could be seen in the direction of • Hindon; night fell, and the enemy stealthily moved out to strike at the Kaikorai Valley and Burnside by way of the ■n ater races. ! Such was the position when Dickey came out of the Field Hospital, where he 1 bp.d made the acquaintance of forceps. | The D'urhams, they told him, held the 1 timber by the tunnel. In the- dark, and ; not knowing the country, he soon lost ! his way. Outpost sentries challenged in ! v. hispevs, and always sent him back, and . -ever to the right among low tussocky ranges, dismally inhospitable. One hill se-emed the counterpart of another, and' when firing broke oat furiously below he ha 4 lost all sense of direction. Suddenly, [ "Halt, who goes there!" growled a ! voice at his feet, and Dickey looked down his nose at a bayonet held under his chin 5 by a crouching infantryman. Dickey ex- ] plained hurriedly. " Friend, sir," re- [ ported the soldier, rising, " Says he's a [ Dun«din man." " What tuck," said a. ' voiing English subaltern appearing from. ! the shadows, " I've a company here, and i we've to move to Duke's paddock* where- ' ever that is, and hold it ; but we've been . lost hopde?siy these two hours. Of course you know every inch of the , country. You- New Zealaindfers always 1 do ; so step out." In vain Dickey protested ; the officer would take no denial. [ Though only eight miles from hia home, > the poor lad kaew no more about the lie

f of the land than had it been Labrador, ' Had it only been George street now. The j office^ waxed impatient, and a sergeant. ! grabbed him by the- collar and urged him 1 on. A cup-like gorge opened up to th« j left, and m despair Dickey entered it 1 with his following. After all it must lead [ somewhere. It did. No sooner had the last file entered it than- there was a shrill whistle-, - and the surroonding rims reddened kSo riSe fire. Men fell in twos, m threes, ia huddled heaps. The snbaltera crying "Scuppered, by —^-5" had madly emptied his- Tevelveat at the pitiless, flashes. In five Ktinutes caste silence-. Kickiag himself clear- oi the dead lieu-, tenant, Dickey stood. "What had ha done? Had tfcw go* thraagfe? be won* • dered. ' Horrified, he -pictured the descent of the vktoriove enemy on the Kaikoswi., on to DanediH. TJnen afoee before him? thfr wxaitk of a tjdl maxiwi, which looked at Mm seamfnlly, and aaid, " Well, you are- a packets." Tearing open his tunio and ehirt he faced the slope. "Fire, you devils, fire !" be shouted. Theft qjiexmloasry, " O^, why dealt tbeyv ru»2'3 But only * straying t>reeae rattled in the flax, and onf wouadted. kießed? and mattered some thing about Stnrtha. ' - : Then for to the south, like- sparks, appea'ped the signal lamps of a host,, .and the- wind bore to "him the thunder .ol great guas sf sea. «