There pranced a portent in the face of the moon-a huge and ragged spirit of the waste, that flapped its wings from afar. It had risen out of the earth; it was coming towards us, and its outline was never twice the same. The toga, table-cloth, or "Mulvaney," said Ortheris sternly, dressing-gown, whatever the creature wore," "taint_no time for laughin'. You've

an' you 'ave
dressed an' most improper in the linin' o'
that bloomin' palanquin. Instid of which
you laugh. An' we thought you was dead
all the time."

come back disgustin❜ly | thrains to Benares, all for to make me over-
stay my leave an' get me into the cells."
The explanation was an eminently ra
tional one. Benares was at least ten hours
by rail from the cantonments, and nothing
in the world could have saved Mulvaney
from arrest as a deserter had he appeared
there in the apparel of his orgies. Dears-
ley had not forgotten to take revenge.
Learoyd, drawing back a little, began to
place soft blows over selected portions of
Mulvaney's body. His thoughts were
away on the embankment, and they medi-
tated evil for Dearsley. Mulvaney con-
tinued,

"Bhoys," said the culprit, still shaking gently, "whin I've done my tale you may cry if you like, an' little Orth'ris here can thrample my inside out. Ha' done an' listen. My performinces have been stupenjus; my luck has been the blessed luck av the British army-an' there's no betther than that. I went out dhrunk an' dhrinkin' in the palanquin, and I have come back a pink god. Did any of you go to Dearsley afther my time was up? He was at the bottom of ut all."

"Ah said so," murmured Learoyd. "To-morrow ah'll smash t' face in upon his heead."

me.

"Ye will not. Dearsley's a jool av a man. Afther Ortheris had put me into the palanquin an' the six bearer-men were gruntin' down the road, I tuk thought to mock Dearsley for that fight. So I tould thim, 'Go to the embankmint,' and there, bein' most amazin' full, I shtuck my head out av the concern an' passed compliments wid Dearsley. I must ha' miscalled him outrageous, for whin I am that way the power av the tongue comes on I can bear remimber tellin' him that his mouth opened endways like the mouth av a skate, which was thrue afther Learoyd had handled ut; an' I clear remimber his takin' no manner nor matter av offence, but givin' me a big dhrink of beer. 'Twas the beer did the thrick, for I crawled back into the palanquin, step. pin' on me right ear wid me left foot, an' thin I slept like the dead. Wanst I halfroused, an' begad the noise in my head was tremenjus-roarin' and rattlin' an' poundin', such as was quite new to me. Mother av Mercy,' thinks I, 'phwat a concertina I will have on my shoulders whin I wake!' An' wid that I curls my silf up to sleep before ut should get hould on me. Bhoys, that noise was not dhrink, 'twas the rattle av a thrain !"

"Whin I was full awake the palanquin was set down in a street. I suspicioned, for I cud hear people passin' and talkin'. But I knew well I was far from home. There is a queer smell upon our cantonments-smell av dried earth and brickkilns wid whiffs av a cavalry stable-litter. This place smelt marigold flowers an' bad water, an' wanst somethin' alive came an' blew heavy with his muzzle at the chink av the shutter. 'It's in a village I am,' thinks I to myself, an' the parochial buffalo is investigatin' the palanquin.' But anyways I had no desire to move. Only lie stal whin you're in foreign parts an' the standin' luck av the British army will carry ye through. That is an epigram. I made ut.

"Thin a lot av whishperin' divils surrounded the palanquin. Take ut up,' says wan man. But who'll pay us?' say another. 'The maharanee's minister, av coorse,' sez the man. 'Oho!' sez I to myself, 'I'm a quane in me own right, wid a minister to pay me expenses. I'll be an emperor if I lie still long enough. But this is no village I've struck.' I lay quiet, but I gummed me right eye to a crack av the shutters, an' I saw that the whole street was crammed wid palanquins an' horses an' a sprinklin' av naked priests, all yellow powder an' tigers' tails. But I may tell you, Orth'ris, an' you, Learoyd, that av all the palanquins ours was the most imperial an' magnificent. Now a There followed an impressive pause. palanquin means a native lady all the "Yes, he had put me on a thrain-put world over except whin a soldier av the me, palanquin an' all, an' six black assas- quane happens to be takin' a ride. 'Wom. sins av his own coolies that was in his en an' priests!' sez I. 'Your father's son nefarious confidence, on the flat av a bal is in the right pew this time, Terence. last-thruck, and we were rowlin' an' bowlin' There will be proceedin's.' Six black along to Benares. Glory be that I did divils in pink muslin tuk up the palanquin, not wake up thin an' introjuce myself to an' oh! but the_rowlin' an' the rockin' the coolies. As I was sayin', I slept for made me sick. Thin we got fair jammed the betther part av a day an' a night. But among the palanquins-not more than remimber you, that that man Dearsley had fifty av them an we grated an' bumped packed me off on wan av his material-like Queenstown potato-smacks in a run

t

66

nin' tide. I cud hear the women gigglin' | back, an' the women bundled out. I saw and squirkin' in their palanquins, but what I'll never see again. 'Twas more mine was the royal equipage. They made glorious than thransformations at a pantoway for ut, an', begad, the pink muslin mime, for they was in pink an' blue, an' men o' mine were howlin', 'Room for the silver an' red an' grass-green, wid di'monds maharanee av Gokral-Seetarun.' Do you an' imralds an' great red rubies all over know aught av the lady, sorr?" thim. But that was the least part av the glory. Oh, bhoys, they were more lovely than the like av any loveliness in hiven; ay, their little bare feet were better than the white hands av a lord's lady, an' their mouths were like puckered roses, an' their eyes were bigger an' dharker than the eyes av any livin' women I've seen. Ye may laugh, but I'm speakin' truth. I never saw the like, an' never I will again."

Yes," said I. "She is a very estimable old queen of the central Indian States, and they say she is fat. How on earth could she go to Benares without all the city knowing her palanquin?"

'Twas the eternal foolishness av the naygur-man. They saw the palanquin lying loneful an' forlornsome, an' the beauty av ut, after Dearsley's men had dhropped ut, and gone away, an' they gave ut the best name that occurred to thim. Quite right too. For aught we know the ould lady was thravellin' incog.-like me. I'm glad to hear she's fat. I was no light weight myself, an' my men were mortial anxious to dhrop me under a great big archway, promiscuously ornamented wid the most improper carvin's an' cuttin's I iver saw. Begad! they made me blush like a― like a maharanee." "The temple of Prithi-Devi," I murmured, remembering the monstrous horrors of that sculptured archway at Benares. Pretty Devilskins, savin' your presence, sorr. There was nothin' pretty about ut, except me! 'Twas all half dhark, an' whin the coolies left they shut a big black gate behind av us, an' half a company av fat yellow priests began pullyhaulin' the palanquins into a dharker place yet a big stone hall full av pillars, an' gods, an' incense, an' all manner av similar thruck. The gate disconcerted me, for I perceived I wud have to go forward to get out, my retreat bein' cut off. By the same token a good priest makes a bad palanquincoolie. Begad! they nearly turned me inside out draggin' the palanquin to the temple. Now the disposishin av the forces inside was this way. The maharanee av Gokral-Seetarun that was me-lay by the favor av Providence on the far left flank behind the dhark av a pillar carved with elephints' heads. The remainder av the palanquins was in a big half circle facing in to the biggest, fattest, an' most amazin' she-god that iver I dreamed av. Her head ran up into the black above us, an' her feet stuck out in the light av a little fire av melted butter that a priest was feedin' out av a butter-dish. Thin a man began to sing an' play on somethin' back in the dhark, an' 'twas a queer song. Ut made my hair lift on the back av my neck. Thin the doors av all the palanquins slid

"Seeing that in all probability you were watching the wives and daughters of most of the kings of India, the chances are that you won't," I said, for it was dawning on me that Mulvaney had stumbled upon a big queens' praying at Benares.

"I niver will," he said mournfully. "That_sight doesn't come twist to any man. It made me ashamed to watch. A fat priest knocked at my door. I didn't think he'd have the insolince to disturb the maharanee av Gokral-Seetarun, so I lay still. The old cow's asleep,' sez he to another. Let her be,' sez that. "Twill be long before she has a calf!' I might ha' known before he spoke that all a woman prays for in Injia — an' for matter o' that in England too - is childher. That made me more sorry I'd come, me bein', as you well know, a childless man.'

He was silent for a moment thinking of his little son, dead many years ago.

"They prayed, an' the butter-fires blazed up, an' the incense turned everything blue, an' between that an' the fires, the women looked as tho' they were all ablaze an' twinklin'. They took hold ay the shegod's knees, they cried out an' they threw themselves about, an' that world-withoutend-amen music was dhrivin' thim mad. Mother av Hiven! how they cried, an' the ould she-god grinnin' above thim all so scornful! The dhrink was dyin' out in me fast, an' I was thinkin' harder than the thoughts wud go through my headthinkin' how to get out an' all manner of nonsense as well. The women were rockin' in rows, their di'mond belts clickin', an' the tears runnin' out betune their hands, an' the lights were goin' lower and dharker. Thin there was a blaze like lightnin' from the roof, an' that showed me the inside av the palanquin, an' at the end where my foot was, stood the livin' spit an' image o' myself worked on the linin'. This man here, it was."

He bunted in the folds of his pink cloak, ran a hand under one, and thrust into the fire-light a foot-long embroidered present. ment of the great god Krishna, playing on a flute. The heavy jowl, the staring eye, and the blue-black moustache of the god made up a far-off resemblance to Mulvaney.

'Out!' sez I. 'Which way, ye fat heathen? Oh!' sez he. 'Man,' sez I. White man, soldier man, common soldier man. Where in the name av confusion is the back door?' The women in the temple were still on their faces an' a young priest was holdin' out his arms above their heads.

66 6

The blaze was gone in a wink, but the This way,' sez my fat friend, duckin' whole schame came to me thin. I believe behind a big bull-god an' divin' into a pasI was mad too. I slid the off-shutter open sage. Thin I remimbered that I must ha' an' rowled out into the dhark behind the made the miraculous reputation av that elephint-head pillar, tucked up my trou- temple for the next fifty years. 'Not so sies to my knees, slipped off my boots an' fast,' I sez, an' I held out both my hands tuk a general hould av all the pink linin' wid a wink. That ould thief smiled like a av the palanquin. Glory be, ut ripped out father. I tuk him by the back av the like a woman's dhriss when you tread on neck in case he should be wishful to put ut at a sergeants' ball, an' a bottle came a knife into me unbeknowst, an' I ran him with ut. I tuk the bottle an' the next up an' down the passage twice to collect minut I was out av the dhark av the pillar, his sensibilities. Be quiet,' sez he, in the pink linin' wrapped round me most English! Now you talk sense,' I scz. graceful, the music thunderin' like kettle-Fwhat'll you give me for the use av that drums, an a could draft blowin' round my most ligant palanquin I have no time to bare legs. By this hand that did ut, I take away?' 'Don't tell,' sez he. 'Is ut was Krishna tootlin' on the flute the like?' sez I. 'But ye might give me my god that the reg'mental chaplain talks railway fare. I'm far from my home an' about. A sweet sight I must ha' looked. I've done you a service.' Bhoys 'tis a I knew my eyes were big, and my face good thing to be a priest. The ould man was wax-white, an' at the worst I must ha' niver throubled himself to dhraw from a looked like a ghost. But they took me bank. As I will prove to you subsequint, for the livin' god. The music stopped, he philandered all round the slack av his and the women were dead dumb an' I clothes an' began dribblin' ten-rupee notes, crooked my legs like a shepherd on a old gold mohurs, and rupees into my hand china basin, an' I did the ghost-waggle till I could hould no more. with my feet as I had done ut at the rig'mental theatre many times, an' I slid acrost the width av that temple in front av the she-god tootlin' on the beer bottle." "Wot did you toot?" demanded Ortheris the practical.

"Me? Oh!" Mulvaney sprang up, suiting the action to the word, and sliding gravely in front of us, a dilapidated but imposing deity in the half light. "I sang:

"You lie!" said Ortheris. "You're mad or sunstrook. A native don't give coin unless you cut it out o' 'im. 'Tain't nature."

"Then my lie an' my sunstroke is concealed under that lump av sod yonder," retorted Mulvaney unruffled, nodding across the scrub. "An' there's a dale more in nature than your squidgy little legs have iver taken you to, Orth'ris, me son. Four hundred an' thirty-four rupees by my reckonin', an' a big fat gold necklace that I took from him as a remimbrancer, was our share in that business." "An' 'e give it you for love?" said Ortheris.

I didn't known me own voice when I sang. An' oh! 'twas pitiful to see the women. "We were alone in that passage. Maybe The darlin's were down on their faces. I was a trifle too pressin', but considher Whin I passed the last wan I cud see her fwhat I had done for the good av the tem poor little fingers workin' one in another ple and the iverlastin' joy av those women. as if she wanted to touch my feet. So I'Twas cheap at the price. I wud ha' taken dhrew the tail av this pink overcoat over her head for the greater honor, an' I slid into the dhark on the other side av the temple, and fetched up in the arms av a big fat priest. All I wanted was to get away clear. So I tuk him by his greasy throat an' shut the speech out av him.

more if I cud ha' found ut. I turned the ould man upside down at the last, but he was milked dhry. Thin he opened a door in another passage an' I found mysilf up to my knees in Benares river-water, an' bad-smellin' ut is. More by token I had come out on the river-line close to the

RUDYARD KIPLING.

burnin' ghat and contagious to a cracklin' | the palanquin had come into his possescorpse. This was in the heart av the sion. But that is another story. night, for I had been four hours in the temple. There was a crowd av boats tied up, so I tuk wan an' wint across the river. Thin, I came home acrost country lyin' up by day."

"How on earth did you manage?" I said.

"How did Sir Frederick Roberts get from Cabul to Candahar? He marched an' he niver tould how near he was to breakin' down. That's why he is fwhat he is. An' now - Mulvaney yawned portentously "now I will go an' give myself up for absince widout leave. It's eight-an'-twenty days an' the rough end of the colonel's tongue in orderly room, any way you look at ut. But 'tis cheap at the price."

"Mulvaney," said I softly. "If there happens to be any sort of excuse that the colonel can in any way accept, I have a notion that you'll get nothing more than the dressing down. The new recruits are in, and

"Not a word more, sorr. Is ut excuses the ould man wants? 'Tis not my way, but he shall have thim. I'll tell him I was engaged in financial operations connected wid a church," and he flapped his way to cantonments and the cells, singing lustily:

"So they sent a corp'ril's file, And they put me in the gyard-room For conduck unbecomin' of a soldier.' And when he was lost in the haze of the moonlight we could hear the refrain:

'Bang upon the big drum, bash upon the cymbals,

From Blackwood's Magazine.
CURRENT INFLUENCES ON FOREIGN
POLITICS,
I.

DIPLOMATISTS, particularly those of the old school, have been too apt to think that political intrigues, official despatches, and parchment treaties control the affairs of nations. When the interests of a people were continually sacrificed to the whims and caprices of their ruler, and when the failure or success of negotia tions for a marriage between members of reigning families were events of the gravest political importance, the intriguing diplomatist played a great part on the world's stage.

But those days are past. In Russia and in Turkey the inconstant humors of semidespotic rulers may still exercise a not unimportant influence over political affairs; but in spite of the efforts of reactionary ministers, the personal power of the Russian autocrat is steadily declining, and all who know Turkey are agreed that her continued existence as a power is dependent on an early and radical change in her system of government. In Germany an impetuous young monarch, inheriting much of the prestige of the but lately deceased founder of German unity, exercises a certain appreciable influence; but the emperor William could never carry out a policy of aggression distasteful to the wishes of his people. With the imperial throne he did not inherit all his grandinfluence, and it may confidently be exfather's or even his father's personal pected that the external policy of Germany Therewith he surrendered himself to will be more and more regulated by the the joyful and almost weeping guard, and same impulses as those which guide the was made much of by his fellows. But conduct of the other States of central and to the colonel he said that he had been western Europe. And these impulses are smitten with sunstroke and had lain insen-produced by the selfish instincts of the sible on a villager's cot for untold hours and between laughter and good-will the affair was smoothed over, so that he could next day teach the new recruits how to "Fear God, Honor the Queen, Shoot Straight and Keep Clean."

As we go marchin' along, boys oh!
For although in this campaign
There's no whiskey nor champagne,
We'll keep our spirits goin' with a song,
boys!"

There is no further space to record the digging up of the spoils, or the triumphal visit of the three to Dearsley, who feared for his life, but was most royally treated instead and under that influence told how

various peoples, each seeking to further what they consider to be their own direct material interests. Statesmanship is taking the place of old-fashioned diplomacy; and the minister who would successfully guide the external policy of his nation, must study, together with the necessities of his own country, the needs and ambitions of foreign nations, rather than the personal characters of their rulers.

The most perfect understanding of the