HLI Chronicle 1910 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE. 121
civilians) is like the end 0' the close season
for groose, when a'body flees awa', when the
laMes and corpr'ls cbases the plivates, and
tbe sairgeants chases the corpr'ls, and the
officers, especially the wee yins, chases the
-sairgeants, and tbe cornel sits on his horse
and sweers, an' chases them a'ways at wanst ;
then the gen'ral comes, very polite, and says,
"Very good, Kornel; fine regiment; weel
-set-up men!" Weel, when this wis a' by,
the summer came roond, and then some wis
for the hills, and some w1'sna. We three, of
coorse, bein' young soldiers, an' delikit like­
(" d'ye mind, Jock, in Almada Street ")­
wis among the wis's, and Sandy wis fair wild
wi' the thocht 0' whit he wis gaun tae dae in
the shootin' line.
Jock bocht a gun frae the sairgent 0' number
one section, wi' one 0' the remittances frae
his brother in Ameriky; and Sandy rolled
up wi' a gun tae, but it wis olaimed, so we jist
had the yin gun; and when I wis in at the
R.A.T.A. gettin' a read at the paper I seed
an advertizement about some 0' they patent
bullets for shot-guns; so we b ad some of
them from Calcutta.
Weel, when we had been in the hills for
about a fortllicht we begun tae think aboot a
pass. Captain X, that wis in chairge 0' oor
section, wis for making a deeficulty aboot
lettin' us away thegither, mindin' some sma'
disturbance in the Bazaar that we wis on the
mat for. (No that I'm sayin' ocht against
the Captain. D'ye mind yon time he-but
tbat has naething tae dae wi' this.) Onyways,
we got oor pass for three days.
" Noo," says Jock, " for the commissariat."
Jock wis for the simple life-a bottle 0'
tangle-foot apiece, an' lh,in' on the country.
Butme aa' Sandy wisna for ony debauches; so,
to do the thing in style, we had tinned salmon,
an' oatmeal, an' biscuits, an' jist yin wee
bottle, an' a wee black wean to cook for us,
as we would be too busy-shootin' tigers-for
cookin'. They a' went in a box, an' the wee
cook carried it.
Sandy said he kenned 0' a grand place for
bears, an' the column wis jist movin' off when
anither monkey-faced man comes np. The
wee cook ca'ed him a shikarrry, an' speered
did we want him. I says, "Whit's yer
wages" and he says "Eight annas a day."
Jook, who is aye fond 0' airin' his foreign
languages, up all' tell't him to away and jaw
hisse1' !
Hooiver, the wee cook said a shikarry wis
verra important, so we jist agreed, meanin'
tae pay him hauf. That's the way to tIeat
they blackies when they try to come it on
blokes! That's experience. So we a' set
off, the wee cook an' the wee box in front,
weel watched, and in the evenin' arrived at
001' camp. Next mornin' the monkey-faced
man says" Ootow !" an' it wisna long afore
we wis on the war-path. Sandy said we must
draw for fhst shot. Sandy won. (It wis him
that wis holdin' the straws, tho', min' ye,
A'm no castin' ony aspersions on Sandy.)
I wis second, an' poor Jock wis last, which
didna improve his temper, which wis fille-like,
ower some dispute aboot whisky for breakfast.
Aifter a wee while the monkey shikari
man goes on a wee, for scoutin', and Sandy
led the main body. By an' by he suddenly
clappit doon, and wis angry wi' me an'
Jock for bern' too slow. " See that! " says
he, and fires. We a' rin forrad, but it wis jist
a black stump. That wis the first time Jock
laughed. Sandy wis for haein' his turn
again, but we soon teIled him No! Then the
shikari came back, speerin' what wis up, so
Sandy tell'd him he had wounded a wee bear.
I think Sandy must hae made a mistake
about the place, for we walkit up an' doon
an' never saw a hait a' day. In the evenin',
when we wis aboot done, the shikari says
" Dekko! " and we dekko'd and seen a black
beastie in a bush. So I fired, but there wis
no answer from the butts. "Here," says
Jock, "let me see the gun" ; an' wi' that he
starts crawlin' to the beast on his hauns an'
knees.
A'm no sure aboot what exac'ly happened
next, but there wis a roar-I'm no rightly
sure from Jock or the beast. Onyways,
Jock fired an' tumelled hisser, an' the beast,