I was born at No - The MAN & Other Families

46We rented a very nice and much larger house than Garden Lodge. Every Sunday eveningwe took it in turn either to dine with Jo and Cecil or they with us. In our bedroom upstairswas a safe in which we kept money and Bea's jewels. The handle of the safe was looseand was liable to drop off on opening. One Sunday night while at dinner we heardsomething fall on the floor in our bedroom overhead. We thought it might be the cat butsent the butler upstairs to investigate. Presently we heard the cry “choor, choor (thief,thief)".Cecil, Garnet and I jumped up from the table and ran out into the compound from whichthe cry came and with all the servants rushed in pursuit. It was pitch dark and Garnettripped over a clothes-line and fell headlong. The rest of us continued the chase along theroad and I having the longest legs and being a pretty good sprinter, led the way and wasrapidly gaining on the thief when he jumped into a ditch by the side of the road. I jumpedon the top of him and held him till the others came up. We took him back to the houseand phoned the police and presently two stalwart Sikh policemen came and took him incharge. The police knew him as a habitual criminal and showed us the marks on his backof a flogging he had recently received.Another Sunday afternoon after tiffin Bea and I were reclining on long chairs downstairsin the verandah between the dining-room and den. It began to rain after a time so weretired into the den. Presently there was a terrible crash in the verandah where we hadbeen sitting. An enormous water-buffalo with long horns had rushed into the verandah.It up turned the chairs on which we had been sitting and gone right through the house onto the road, where it charged and overturned a buggy in which a couple were driving,fortunately without injury to them. Had this occurred five minutes sooner it wouldpossibly have been the end of us.In the hot season of that year I took Bea up to Meiktela for a change. There was no hillstationin Burma in these days and Meiktela was the nearest approach to a health resort. Itwas in Upper Burma about half way between Rangoon and Mandalay and was a verypretty station situated on a lake where there was generally a cool breeze. TheCantonments were built around the edge of the lake. Our friends the Shams (deputyCommissioner) put us up and other friends, Captain and Mrs. Thompson of theInniskilling Fusileers were stationed there with their regiment. I could only stop a coupleof days there but Bea stayed about two weeks and benefited from the change.Jo and Cecil went for another trip to England shortly after this and there their first baby (aboy) was born, but only lived a month or two. We moved into their house in Halpin Roadand there Graham was born on May 31st (All Saints' Day). Graham was a great joy to usas he grew and began to take notice.