This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909. Excerpt: ... or it might have been a hireling who was charged with the disposal of the body. At any rate, it was an Irishman who said to the Barrack-master Sahib:--"Fwhat about that loafer?" "Well, what"s the matter?" "I"m considtherin whether I"m to smash in his thick head, or to break his long legs. He won"t fit the storecoffin anyways." Here the story ends. It may be an old one; but it struck the Englishman as being rather unsympathetic in its nature; and he has preserved it for this reason. Were the Englishman a mere Secretary of State instead of an enviable and unshackled vagabond, he would remodel that Philanthropic Institution for Teaching Young Subalterns how to Spell--variously called the Intelligence and the Political Department--and giving each omedwar the pair of sack breeches and old hat, above prescribed, would send him out for a twelvemonth on the road. Not that he might learn to swear Australian oaths (which are superior to any ones in the market) or to drink bazaar drinks (which are very bad indeed), but in order that he might gain an insight into the tertiary politics of States--things less imposing than succession-cases and less wearisome than boundary disputes, but--here speaks Ferdinand Count Fathom, in an Intermediate compartment, very drunk and very happy--"Worth knowing a little--Oh no! Not at all." A small volume might be written of the ways and the tales of Indian loafers of the more brilliant order--such Chevaliers of the Order of Industry as would throw their glasses in your face did you call them loafers. They are a genial, blasphemous, blustering crew, and pre-eminent even in a land of liars. XIII. A King"s House and Country. Further Consideration of the Hat-marked Caste. THE hospitality that spreads tables in the wilderness, and shifts t...