HLI Chronicle 1910 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

120 HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE.
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Hunter has passed over the border line"
For from right to left of the Regiment he was
held in loving esteem, and the sad news will
be read with deep heart regrets by all who
knew him; and in union we express heart
sympathy with the members of the family,
and to her who was a true help and a true
wife. May the God of all comfort. sustain,
and uphold.
At 3-25 a.m. on 10th April, 1910, the call
home came to Sergt.-Major John Hunter at
his military home at Inverness.
From the day he was enlisted by Serat.
Donald Smith, 74th Highlanders, until the
end of human life, he was a soldier. To all
men serving he was a true triend; and to
those who had served, and when help was
badly needed, he proved the friend indeed
in their time of trouble. After he had laid
real regimental life to the one side he for years
served in the Volunteer service. And of him
it can be said that he was in close touch with
the service until the very end. One who was
his close and intimate comrade for fully 45
years-and still in close touch with the
soldier-when he met a lad who came from
Inverness and who asked" Do you know Sergt.­
Major Hunter" replied, with face lit up­
" Very well, indeed. He is a true, real man."
l\Iany in Inverness will mourn his loss,
for with all classes he lived on most friendly
terms. The love of his old Regiment, and the
Army in general, was deeply marked in him.
To spend a few days with him was the cream
of a holiday. His memory was most retentive,
and as he would speak of the old days you
seemed to be landed back into the ranks of
the old corps. His minister once said to him­
" John, you should write a book." If he had
taken the hint it would have been a book
worth reading. Suffice to say, he so lived
that not only in his home, but throughout
Inverness, he will be sadly missed, and, among
those, by his old Regimental comrade,
GEORGE P. l\IILLAR,
Late Sergeant, 71st H.L.I.
HOO JOCK SHOT THE JUNGLY SOOR.
YE see, it was this way. Me an' Sandy wis
recruities thegither at the Depot, and we first
met Muckle Jock yon time we wis on the escort
that brocht him up Almada Street, him
lettin' oot a' roads. The l\Iajor said it wall
a most disgraceful case; but we a ' ken the
Major. Jock was aye free wi' his stuff when
he whiles got a bit remittance frae his brither
in Ameriky; so Jock jist paid five shillings
that time, and wisna a hait the worse. What
wi' the money and that, Sandy an' me wis
ge} chief wi' Jock at the Depot, and wis weel
aneuch pleased when we wis a' tbree marked
for India with the First Battalion by the next
draft.
Man! on the ship, the yarns Sandy wud
lay his tongue till, when the ithers wis playin'
" Hoose" an' "Croon an' Anchor" !
It seems Sandy's faitber had been a keeper,
and Sandy wud likely hae been a keeper too,
but for a bit 0' misunderstanding aboot
some phaisants' eggs. Sand) 's faither got
the sack. And aifter Sandy hissel' had been
up afore the sheriff at Lanark for nigbtpoachin',
an' the sheriff had gied him a lick
wi' the rough side 0' his tongue, an' fourteen
days, he jist thocht he wud like to see some
0' they furrin parts, where he could be chasin'
lions an' tigers, an' where folks wudna be
kickin' up sich a wheen shine aboot a raibbit,
or maybe twa; and that's the way Sandy
'listed for a sodger.
Weel, in coorse 0' time the draft landed at
India, and aifter twa days in the train we wis
a' emp'ied oot at (A'm no giein' ony
exact names or places, so ye needna be speerin'.)
-and we three wis posted to " L " or Captain
Z's Company. Next thing wis gettin' oor
new khaki duds; but, dear knows, we didna.
feel so like sodgers aifter the Sairgeant-Major
had been sayin' things at us on the Square for
a week. His lemairks wis whiles gey C001seweel,
not exactly coorse, but vena distinctlike;
and when that wis by, then we bad
manaJuvres. (Eh Ay; I copied it.) Noo,
manO:luvres (for the benefit of ignorant