A Drink for Life or Death.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 441, 29 January 1890, Page 6

A Drink for Life or Death.

I came to India in 185— as a private in the —th Regiment; and my company formed part of the garrison at Arcot. Life in barracks in India is very dull; and I have often wondered that British soldiers out here are, on the whole, such a steady, wellbehaved lot of lads. Compare a -oldiers, life in a small Indian station with being quartered even at Malta or Gibraltar, and either of these places will seem like Paradise; though ihe “Rock” is by no means popular, and is always called a prison by the troops for the time being in garrison there.

Well, we found A'cot horribly dull, and it was with great satisfaction that we heard an order had been given for our company to march to Vedoreto sirengthen the garrison there, which bad been very much reduced by cholera. It was about ihe middle of March, and consequently later than is usual for moving troops, as the days begin to get very hot on the plains in the Carnatic about that time of the year. But ours was special duty ; and as we should only march in the early morning, we did not fear the inconvenience of the mid-day heat, we looked upon the whole thing as rather a lark, and a welcome change from the monotony of garrison duty. As to Che cholera, not one of us gave it a thought. Not likely it would touch one of us !

It was on the second day after leaving Arcot that Private Thomas Atkins, who was my right file, suddenly had to fall out. 1 expected him to rejoin the ranks before long, but did not trouble myself about his absence. It was not until we reached camp and had finished breanfastthat I heard anything more about him. I then learnt that he was buried. I knew cholera was awfully sudden in its attacks and effects, but I had not imagined t e possibility of its carrying off a healthy man quite so rapidly. Of course, immediate interment must take place in case of death on the line of march. I had liked Atkins much, 1 fancy his death and burial were so sudden that the rest of us failed to realise the truth of what had happened to our comrade, and half expected to see him turn up again. Anyhow, we soon forgot the incident.

Late in the afternoon I was listening to a description of Vedore by one of our fellows who had been there, ana speculating on the chance of seeing the crocodiles which Tippoo Sultan had placed in the moat round the fort, as the best possible sentinels to prevent prisoners from escaping or any of his troops from attempting to desert, when suddenly I felt spasms and sickness “Holloa ! old fellow, how blue you look ! ’ remarked a companion sitting next to me, and as he spoke my comrades shrank terrorstricken from me. 1 needed no doctor to tell me what was the matter. The cholera had seized me !

1 was hastily conveyed to the temporary hospital, where our assistant surgeon already had several cases of the disease under treatment, and I was laid on a charpoy. I rapidly passed from the first to the second stage of that malady, and by nine o’clock at night the incessant vomiting and purging had reduced me to a condition of weakness approaching insensibility. I was consumed by a burning raging thirst, but the dresser disregarded all my entreaties for a drink of water. The system of treatment for cholera in those days allowed the patient nothing more than just to have the lips moistened occasionally with weak brandy and water ; and this supply aggravated the torture of thirst. Nowadays champagne is given, and the sufferer is allowed to drink pretty freely. The hospital was, of course, only a pandal, hastily constructed with palmyra leaves, with a large cuscus mat at the entrances at each end. Two large chatties of water were placed just outsideeach entrance from which a coolie from time to time threw a pannikinful on the cuscus tathis, so that the wind, blowing through the wet mats, might cool the temperature inside the pandal. This result was certainly attained, but at the cost of intensifying the pangs of the patients, whose thirst was tantalised by hearing the splashing of the water.

1 had begged, sworn, and menaced at intervals, but no one paid the slightest heed to me; and 1 was sinking into that condition of torpor which is the immediate precursor of the third and fatal stage of cholera, when I heard voices in the pandal. l’he assistant surgeon was making his last round for the night, accompanied by the hospital dresser. With a violent effort I roused myself, and eagerly listened for their approach” I wanted to hear my fate pronounced. They stopped at length where I lay and the doctor examined my body. * “Mottled,” I heard him r< mark to the dresser. I was nearly deafened by the singing or rather drumming in my ears, so I lay perfectly moli jnless, so as not to let a single word of what they might say escape me, if possible. “ He is insensible already,” the doctor continued “and will not last long. So Wetherall will make six !”

“Make six?’' I said to myself; “make six what?” “Six corpses, of course, for burial at daylight to-morrow morning,” a voice seemed to laugh our, with fiendish exultation. The dresser said something which I could not distinctly hear, but the answer enlightened me as to the subject they were discussing. “ Oh, yes, there will be room enough, in fact, for two more, if necessary.” They had gone, and the place was in darkness save foi the glimmer of a cocoanut-oil lamp. I heard the scratching of mumooties just outside the pandal. It was the noise made by the camp fol lowers who were digging a common grave for six of us, leaving room for two more, if necessary. I felt utterly stunned, and quite indifferent as to my fate, which of course I considered settled, after what the assistant surgeon had said. My tongue was like a piece of dry leather in my mouth, which had long since ceased to yield any saliva to relieve the agonising burning of my throat and palate. I could nob have made any sound had I attempted to do so; bub I did nob try, for the attendants were all stretched on the ground fast asleep. I felt I was deserted —left to die. I was beginning to wander, I think, and was back again in the bright green English meadows, picking daisies with my little sister, and so I should have passed away. But just at that moment, the coolies who had finished digging the grave—my gravepassed the entrance to the pandal; and one of them, with more consideration than his class usually show, threw a pannikinful of water on the cuscus tathi. It was like a galvanic shock to me. I resolved to have a drink at any risk. I had to die, so what mattered if I hastened my death an hour or two by drinking cold water ! At least I should be relieved from the torture of thirst, and die happy. I tried to get up, but I was too weak to stand, aud I fell down at once . Then.l reflected, that I was more likely to be seen if I walked, and if detected in my ai tempt I should be brought back, and perhaps be strapped down to die. So I tried to crawl. I was about ten minutes dragging myself the 40ft. from my cob to the entrance, and I wriggled under the cuscus tathi like a! snake. There were the chatties before me

The fast I seized was empty, and the disappointment nearly made me swoon ; but the second was brimful. I threw my arms around it, and dragged myself to it. I plunged my head into the delicious, limpid water, and devoured, rather than drank, huge mouthfuls of the cool and heavenly fluid. I felt my stomach swelling with the enormous draughts I swallowed; bub laughed and drank again and again. I reckoned naught for life or death then. At length I could drink no more, and then discipline asserted itself. I knew I had no right to be out there, and I thought if I were missed from my cot I should be re-, ported. So I crept back the way I had come, and shortly after fell into a profound sleep. It was broad daylight when I awoke and saw the assistant surgeon and dresser standing by me. “ How is this?” asked the doctor. “ Wetherall ought to have been dead !” “ Please, sir,” said I, “I am feeling much better, and have no wish to make the sixth this morning.” He knew I had overheard his iemark on the preceding night; he smiled sadly and said, “I am sorry to say there were six without you. But I cannot understand how it is you are alive. Mo-1 extraordinary !” I rapidly recovered ; and as I never indulged in the pernicious country arrack -old to soldiers out here, I was soon quite strong again. I was made sergeant very soon, and I remained upwards of twenty years serving with different regiments cut here ; bub it was some time before I told anyone how I had recovered from my attack of cholera. However, I told the doctor one day all about it; and though he said the coid water ought to have killed me, I observed that all the poor fellows in the hospital with cholera were supplied with an extra allowance of water.

All my people were dead or scattered, and I had no wish to return to England, so I took my pension : and the bounties I had obtained, added to my savings, enabled me to buy this bit of land. lam doing well, and have all a man can wish for to make him happy.— Blackwood’s Magazine.