CHAPTER XIX

A Subalterns’ Court-Martial—A Terrible Experience—High Mess-bills

Amongst our amusements at Murree were balls, which were given periodically at the Club by the officers of the battalion. Although the majority of the fair guests were married women, there was always a sprinkling of unmarried ones amongst them, most of whom had come out to India in the hope of finding husbands. The band of the regiment furnished the music, and there was always a very good supper, with an abundance of champagne and other wines, so that they were very enjoyable affairs indeed. After one of these balls a most unpleasant incident occurred.

It happened that I had danced with a Miss W——, a very pretty and attractive girl, whom, later in the evening, I saw dancing with a young officer whom I will call Eugene, and who, I noticed, appeared very much _épris_ with the damsel. Next day, to my profound astonishment, I was placed under arrest, and told that I must appear before the Colonel. When I did so, he informed me that Eugene had told him that this Miss W—— had complained to him that I had insulted her. I indignantly protested my innocence, but the Colonel told me that, though he did not doubt my word, I must, nevertheless, write a letter to the young lady, asking her pardon, if I had unintentionally given offence. I wrote the letter and sent it to Miss W——, but received no reply.

At a garden-party given by the battalion a few days later, I saw the lady whom I was supposed to have insulted. I hesitated whether to speak to her or not, but finally decided that it was best to do so and inquire why she had not answered my letter.

“I don’t know why you wrote to me,” said she, “and, to tell you the truth, I don’t in the least understand what you meant in your letter.”

I then explained everything to her, when she exclaimed:—

“I am extremely angry with Eugene. He must have invented what he told your Colonel, and so soon as I go home, I shall write to Colonel Montgomery, and tell him that the whole matter is a mere fabrication of Eugene. I am sorry that you should have suffered through the abominable untruths of a silly boy.”

Miss W—— was as good as her word, and the Colonel read her letter to Eugene and myself, in the presence of all the other officers. He said that Eugene had acted in a most ungentlemanly manner, and deserved to be severely punished for spreading about false reports calculated to injure a brother-officer. He concluded by hinting that the subalterns would best know how to deal with him.

The hint, needless to say, was not lost upon these young gentlemen, and after mess Eugene was informed that he must appear before a court-martial that evening, in the villa where I lived. The president of the court-martial was a sub-lieutenant named Basil Montgomery, who was no relation of the Colonel, but the son of a Scottish baronet. Wilson acted as prosecutor, while Lovett defended the prisoner.

Eugene was brought in between two subalterns, and the charges against him were read to the Court. The principal charge was: “Conduct not befitting an officer and a gentleman, in having accused a brother-officer wrongfully, thus subjecting him to arrest and further possible inconvenience”; but there were several others. The Court found the prisoner “Guilty,” with no extenuating circumstances, and sentenced him to receive ten strokes with a cane on his bare back from each sub-lieutenant, to be sent to Coventry for one month, and not to be allowed to attend any balls or garden-parties during that period. Eugene took his punishment very well. The corporal part of it was probably less hard to endure than the deprivation of all social amusements and the ostracism to which he was subjected. It had, however, a very beneficial effect upon him, and he showed afterwards a very noticeable improvement in every respect. Eugene, I may mention, was a very good horseman, and rode in steeplechases, both in England and in India.

Montgomery, who was the president of the court-martial upon Eugene, had come out to India by the same troopship as myself, but he did not join the battalion until much later, as he was taken ill at Bombay, where he had to remain for some weeks. He suffered a good deal, as I had done, from the change of climate when he first came to Murree. He was a very fine young fellow, about 6 feet 2 inches in height, and a most perfect gentleman, though perhaps he put on a little too much “side” at times. A good many years later, he succeeded to the baronetcy, his brother, who was in the Guards, having met with an accident which proved fatal.

After a ball at the Murree Club one night, just as I was preparing to ride back to my quarters, a tremendous thunderstorm came on. I waited for some little time, but, as there seemed no immediate prospect of the storm abating, I decided to face it, but told my syce, who was waiting for me with my pony, that I would take a short cut home, instead of going by the usual road. The syce walked in front of me, carrying a lantern to light up the way, as it was a very dangerous path, with a most fearsome abyss on one side, and in places so narrow that there was only just room for a pony to walk along it. Suddenly, the lantern which the syce carried went out, and, as neither of us had any matches with which to relight it, we were plunged into total darkness, only relieved from time to time by flashes of lightning. The pony all of a sudden stood stock still and refused to go on, and, on dismounting, I saw through a flash of lightning a tree lying right across the path. I therefore thought it safer to proceed on foot, leading the pony, while my syce went in front; and we continued thus for nearly a mile, not knowing whether the next step would not plunge us into Eternity. But providentially at intervals came flashes of lightning, which made it easier for us to advance. At last we reached the end of the path, and made our way to the villa, drenched to the skin, but heartily thankful to find ourselves in safety. We had, indeed, had a terrible experience, and when I told Lovett that I had come home by the short cut, he would hardly believe it possible, as the night was so dark and the path so narrow.

During the rainy season Murree was anything but a pleasant spot, for it rained without intermission for days and nights together, until the place resembled a wide river. All parades were suspended during the rains, but the officers had to go out to perform their duties and to mess and back; and, though we were protected by india-rubber coats and goloshes, it was very disagreeable. The men’s quarters were, as I have mentioned, situated at the top of a very steep hill, and although, since Colonel H. P. Montgomery had been in command of our battalion, he had a zigzag road constructed, so that the ascent might be made gradually, it was always rather an undertaking for the orderly officer to ascend the hill after mess to turn out the guard, and in wet weather it was simply detestable. The descent, too, was very dangerous, as the road was terribly slippery, and several accidents happened to both men and officers.

The officers’ mess was at the foot of this hill, and on a clear day the view from it was one of the grandest one can possibly imagine, for the air is so rarefied that it enables one to see further than one could otherwise. The towering peaks of the Himalayas, plainly visible, despite the immense distance, the dazzling whiteness of the snow, and the deep blue of the heavens, made a wonderful picture. But grand as the view is, I almost prefer that from the Kurhaus, at Ischl, though it is on a much smaller scale. It is almost like comparing the beauty of an orchid to a rose, which, though less sublime in its appearance, captivates the senses far more. There is something foreign in this Oriental scenery, which appeals less to an Englishman than the exquisite beauty of Switzerland or the Salzkammergut, in Austria.

The General at that time commanding the troops in the Punjab was an extremely popular general and a friend of Royalty, but he had made a _mésalliance_, having married the divorced wife of a doctor. It was for this reason that he had been given a command in India, instead of in England. Lieut.-Colonel Montgomery-Moore, who commanded the 4th Hussars at Rawal Pindi, and who spent the summer months with his wife at Murree, did not call on the General’s wife, nor did most of the officers of that regiment, and, as I had been introduced by my cousin to the Montgomery-Moores, I felt that I could not well visit the General’s wife. Several of the officers of my battalion also did not call, though others were frequent visitors at her house.

When the General inspected us, our Colonel ordered the band to play _Die Wacht am Rhein_, which they played the whole time out of deference to the Colonel, who was a great admirer of all things German. Not that he cared for the air, for as he himself once said, he could only distinguish two tunes. One was “God save the Queen,” and the other was any other air, as he had no ear for music at all.

At this inspection all the officers were called upon singly to show their ability in taking command, some of the entire battalion, others of a company. They nearly all acquitted themselves well, and the General, who was himself an old Rifleman, complimented the Colonel on the efficiency and smartness of his battalion, and praised all the officers, N.C.O.’s and men.

Our Colonel, as I have said, was a most excellent commanding officer. At times he would take command of half of the battalion, while the senior major commanded the other, and imitate the tactics employed in war, in order to teach the officers and men how they should conduct themselves in actual warfare. On several of these occasions, I acted as his A.D.C., and, mounted on my pony, carried his orders to the junior major and captains, which I much enjoyed.

The mess-bills of the officers of the battalion were so high during the year that the War Office complained that they were higher than any cavalry regiment, averaging £20 to £30 a month. The Colonel therefore requested the officers to see that they were reduced in future, as it was not pleasant for him to be accused of encouraging extravagance. The officers afterwards paid for what they required, and asked that no champagne should be put down on their mess-bills. A great deal of champagne was usually drunk at dinner, particularly by the subalterns, and it cost from fifteen shillings to a sovereign a bottle. Spirits were very little drunk, and, taken on the whole, the officers were very temperate, rarely taking more than was good for them. Among the men there was very little drunkenness compared with other regiments, and not a single case of desertion; in fact, there were scarcely any prisoners at all.

Lovett and I, who were both anxious to see something of Kashmir, obtained three days’ leave and set off on horseback. The country through which we rode was very pretty, the fields being beautifully green and besprinkled with scarlet poppies, while the hedges were covered with white roses. We passed the first night at a dâk bungalow, and starting at four o’clock the following morning, in order to avoid the heat of the sun, rode until midday, and then rested at another dâk bungalow until evening. Resuming our journey, we presently entered a lovely valley, with a river flowing through it. This river, the Jhelum, separated British India from Kashmir, and the view from the dâk bungalow at Kohala, on the Indian side, to which we made our way, after refreshing ourselves by a swim in the cool water, was very beautiful. The heat in the bungalow was intense, though they employed _punkahs_ to relieve the discomfort we suffered, and towards midnight a terrific storm burst, the crashes of thunder being the loudest I had ever heard, while the lightning was so vivid that it lit up the whole of the surrounding country.

We spent the next day in bathing and fishing in the river Jhelum, and, after dining at the bungalow at Kohala, walked across the bridge which spanned the river. On the Kashmir side we found two sentries posted, who had been placed there by the Maharajah of Kashmir to prevent anyone unprovided with a pass entering his dominions. These sentries raised all sorts of difficulties to our entering Kashmir, but we crossed over all the same, and took a long walk in the country, which was very hilly and rugged, with very narrow paths. When night came on, we returned to the bungalow, but, having observed that the two sentries had their beds placed on the bridge, we determined to get even with them for the trouble they had given us. Accordingly, we returned to the bridge, carrying two big buckets full of water, and, finding both the sentries wrapped in peaceful slumber, dashed the water over them, and then, having thrown the buckets into the river, ran for our lives. The luckless sentries, startled out of their sleep, snatched up their rifles and pursued us. But they failed to overtake us, and we reached the bungalow in safety. We were somewhat uneasy lest inquiries should be made about us at the bungalow, but nothing happened during the rest of the night, and in the early morning we set off on our journey back to Murree.

On our return to Murree, we decided to say nothing of our escapade in Kashmir, as if the Colonel got to know of it he would have us placed under arrest. Phipps, whom I told about it sometime afterwards, remarked that it might possibly end in officers’ leave to Kashmir being stopped, but, fortunately, as no one knew who had played the trick upon the sentries, his fears were not realized.