His full name was Percival William Williams, but he picked up the
other name in a nursery-book, and that was the end of the christened
titles. His mother's _ayah_ called him Willie-_Baba_, but as he never
paid the faintest attention to anything that the _ayah_ said, her
wisdom did not help matters.
His father was the Colonel of the 195th, and as soon as Wee Willie
Winkie was old enough to understand what Military Discipline meant,
Colonel Williams put him under it. There was no other way of managing
the child. When he was good for a week, he drew good-conduct pay; and
when he was bad, he was deprived of his good-conduct stripe.
Generally he was bad, for India offers many chances of going wrong to
little six-year-olds.
Children resent familiarity from strangers, and Wee Willie Winkie was
a very particular child. Once he accepted an acquaintance, he was
graciously pleased to thaw. He accepted Brandis, a subaltern of the
195th, on sight. Brandis was having tea at the Colonel's, and Wee
Willie Winkie entered strong in the possession of a good-conduct
badge won for not chasing the hens round the compound. He regarded
Brandis with gravity for at least ten minutes, and then delivered
himself of his opinion.
'I like you,' said he slowly, getting off his chair and coming over
to Brandis. 'I like you. I shall call you Coppy, because of your
hair. Do you _mind_ being called Coppy? It is because of ve hair, you
know.'
Here was one of the most embarrassing of Wee Willie Winkie's
peculiarities. He would look at a stranger for some time, and then,
without warning or explanation, would give him a name. And the name
stuck. No regimental penalties could break Wee Willie Winkie of this
habit. He lost his good-conduct badge for christening the
Commissioner's wife 'Pobs'; but nothing that the Colonel could do
made the Station forego the nickname, and Mrs. Collen remained 'Pobs'
till the end of her stay. So Brandis was christened 'Coppy,' and
rose, therefore, in the estimation of the regiment.
If Wee Willie Winkie took an interest in any one, the fortunate man
was envied alike by the mess and the rank and file. And in their envy
lay no suspicion of self-interest. 'The Colonel's son' was idolised
on his own merits entirely. Yet Wee Willie Winkie was not lovely. His
face was permanently freckled, as his legs were permanently
scratched, and in spite of his mother's almost tearful remonstrances
he had insisted upon having his long yellow locks cut short in the
military fashion. 'I want my hair like Sergeant Tummil's,' said Wee
Willie Winkie, and, his father abetting, the sacrifice was
accomplished.
Three weeks after the bestowal of his youthful affections on
Lieutenant Brandis--henceforward to be called 'Coppy' for the sake of
brevity--Wee Willie Winkie was destined to behold strange things and
far beyond his comprehension.
Coppy returned his liking with interest. Coppy had let him wear for
five rapturous minutes his own big sword--just as tall as Wee Willie
Winkie. Coppy had promised him a terrier puppy; and Coppy had
permitted him to witness the miraculous operation of shaving. Nay,
more--Coppy had said that even he, Wee Willie Winkie, would rise in
time to the ownership of a box of shiny knives, a silver soap-box,
and a silver-handled 'sputter-brush,' as Wee Willie Winkie called it.
Decidedly, there was no one except his father, who could give or take
away good-conduct badges at pleasure, half so wise, strong, and
valiant as Coppy with the Afghan and Egyptian medals on his breast.
Why, then, should Coppy be guilty of the unmanly weakness of
kissing--vehemently kissing--a 'big girl,' Miss Allardyce to wit? In
the course of a morning ride, Wee Willie Winkie had seen Coppy so
doing, and, like the gentleman he was, had promptly wheeled round and
cantered back to his groom, lest the groom should also see.
Under ordinary circumstances he would have spoken to his father, but
he felt instinctively that this was a matter on which Coppy ought
first to be consulted.
'Coppy,' shouted Wee Willie Winkie, reining up outside that
subaltern's bungalow early one morning--'I want to see you, Coppy!'
'Come in, young 'un,' returned Coppy, who was at early breakfast in
the midst of his dogs. 'What mischief have you been getting into
now?'
Wee Willie Winkie had done nothing notoriously bad for three days,
and so stood on a pinnacle of virtue.
'_I've_ been doing nothing bad,' said he, curling himself into a
long chair with a studious affectation of the Colonel's languor after
a hot parade. He buried his freckled nose in a tea-cup and, with eyes
staring roundly over the rim, asked: 'I say, Coppy, is it pwoper to
kiss big girls?'
'By Jove! You're beginning early. Who do you want to kiss?'
'No one. My muvver's always kissing me if I don't stop her. If it
isn't pwoper, how was you kissing Major Allardyce's big girl last
morning, by ve canal?'
Coppy's brow wrinkled. He and Miss Allardyce had with great craft
managed to keep their engagement secret for a fortnight. There were
urgent and imperative reasons why Major Allardyce should not know
how matters stood for at least another month, and this small marplot
had discovered a great deal too much.
'I saw you,' said Wee Willie Winkie calmly. 'But ve _sais_ didn't
see. I said, "_Hut jao_!"'
'Oh, you had that much sense, you young Rip,' groaned poor Coppy,
half amused and half angry. 'And how many people may you have told
about it?'
'Only me myself. You didn't tell when I twied to wide ve buffalo ven
my pony was lame; and I fought you wouldn't like.'
'Winkie,' said Coppy enthusiastically, shaking the small hand,
'you're the best of good fellows. Look here, you can't understand all
these things. One of these days--hang it, how can I make you see
it!--I'm going to marry Miss Allardyce, and then she'll be Mrs.
Coppy, as you say. If your young mind is so scandalised at the idea
of kissing big girls, go and tell your father.'
'What will happen?' said Wee Willie Winkie, who firmly believed that
his father was omnipotent.
'I shall get into trouble,' said Coppy, playing his trump card with
an appealing look at the holder of the ace.
'Ven I won't,' said Wee Willie Winkie briefly. 'But my faver says
it's un-man-ly to be always kissing, and I didn't fink _you'd_ do
vat, Coppy.'
'I'm not always kissing, old chap. It's only now and then, and when
you're bigger you'll do it too. Your father meant it's not good for
little boys.'
'Ah!' said Wee Willie Winkie, now fully enlightened. 'It's like ve
sputter-brush?'
'Exactly,' said Coppy gravely.
'But I don't fink I'll ever want to kiss big girls, nor no one, 'cept
my muvver. And I _must_ vat, you know.'
There was a long pause, broken by Wee Willie Winkie.
'Are you fond of vis big girl, Coppy?'
'Awfully!' said Coppy.
'Fonder van you are of Bell or ve Butcha--or me?'
'It's in a different way,' said Coppy. 'You see, one of these days
Miss Allardyce will belong to me, but you'll grow up and command the
Regiment and--all sorts of things. It's quite different, you see.'
'Very well,' said Wee Willie Winkie, rising. 'If you're fond of ve
big girl, I won't tell any one. I must go now.'
Coppy rose and escorted his small guest to the door, adding--'You're
the best of little fellows, Winkie. I tell you what. In thirty days
from now you can tell if you like--tell any one you like.'
Thus the secret of the Brandis-Allardyce engagement was dependent on
a little child's word. Coppy, who knew Wee Willie Winkie's idea of
truth, was at ease, for he felt that he would not break promises. Wee
Willie Winkie betrayed a special and unusual interest in Miss
Allardyce, and, slowly revolving round that embarrassed young lady,
was used to regard her gravely with unwinking eye. He was trying to
discover why Coppy should have kissed her. She was not half so nice
as his own mother. On the other hand, she was Coppy's property, and
would in time belong to him. Therefore it behoved him to treat her
with as much respect as Coppy's big sword or shiny pistol.
The idea that he shared a great secret in common with Coppy kept Wee
Willie Winkie unusually virtuous for three weeks. Then the Old Adam
broke out, and he made what he called a 'camp-fire' at the bottom of
the garden. How could he have foreseen that the flying sparks would
have lighted the Colonel's little hay-rick and consumed a week's
store for the horses? Sudden and swift was the
punishment--deprivation of the good-conduct badge and, most sorrowful
of all, two days' confinement to barracks--the house and
veranda--coupled with the withdrawal of the light of his father's
countenance.
He took the sentence like the man he strove to be, drew himself up
with a quivering under-lip, saluted, and, once clear of the room ran,
to weep bitterly in his nursery--called by him 'my quarters.' Coppy
came in the afternoon and attempted to console the culprit.
'I'm under awwest,' said Wee Willie Winkie mournfully, 'and I didn't
ought to speak to you.'
Very early the next morning he climbed on to the roof of the
house--that was not forbidden--and beheld Miss Allardyce going for a
ride.
'Where are you going?' cried Wee Willie Winkie.
'Across the river,' she answered, and trotted forward.
Now the cantonment in which the 195th lay was bounded on the north by
a river--dry in the winter. From his earliest years, Wee Willie
Winkie had been forbidden to go across the river, and had noted that
even Coppy--the almost almighty Coppy--had never set foot beyond it.
Wee Willie Winkie had once been read to, out of a big blue book, the
history of the Princess and the Goblins--a most wonderful tale of a
land where the Goblins were always warring with the children of men
until they were defeated by one Curdie. Ever since that date it
seemed to him that the bare black and purple hills across the river
were inhabited by Goblins, and, in truth, every one had said that
there lived the Bad Men. Even in his own house the lower halves of
the windows were covered with green paper on account of the Bad Men
who might, if allowed clear view, fire into peaceful drawing-rooms
and comfortable bedrooms. Certainly, beyond the river, which was the
end of all the Earth, lived the Bad Men. And here was Major
Allardyce's big girl, Coppy's property, preparing to venture into
their borders! What would Coppy say if anything happened to her? If
the Goblins ran off with her as they did with Curdie's Princess? She
must at all hazards be turned back.
The house was still. Wee Willie Winkie reflected for a moment on the
very terrible wrath of his father; and then--broke his arrest! It was
a crime unspeakable. The low sun threw his shadow, very large and
very black, on the trim garden-paths, as he went down to the stables
and ordered his pony. It seemed to him in the hush of the dawn that
all the big world had been bidden to stand still and look at Wee
Willie Winkie guilty of mutiny. The drowsy _sais_ gave him his mount,
and, since the one great sin made all others insignificant, Wee
Willie Winkie said that he was going to ride over to Coppy Sahib, and
went out at a foot-pace, stepping on the soft mould of the
flower-borders.
The devastating track of the pony's feet was the last misdeed that
cut him off from all sympathy of Humanity. He turned into the road,
leaned forward, and rode as fast as the pony could put foot to the
ground in the direction of the river.
But the liveliest of twelve-two ponies can do little against the
long canter of a Waler. Miss Allardyce was far ahead, had passed
through the crops, beyond the Police-posts, when all the guards were
asleep, and her mount was scattering the pebbles of the river-bed as
Wee Willie Winkie left the cantonment and British India behind him.
Bowed forward and still flogging, Wee Willie Winkie shot into Afghan
territory, and could just see Miss Allardyce a black speck,
flickering across the stony plain. The reason of her wandering was
simple enough. Coppy, in a tone of too-hastily-assumed authority, had
told her overnight that she must not ride out by the river. And she
had gone to prove her own spirit and teach Coppy a lesson.
Almost at the foot of the inhospitable hills, Wee Willie Winkie saw
the Waler blunder and come down heavily. Miss Allardyce struggled
clear, but her ankle had been severely twisted, and she could not
stand. Having fully shown her spirit, she wept, and was surprised by
the apparition of a white, wide-eyed child in khaki, on a nearly
spent pony.
'Are you badly, badly hurted?' shouted Wee Willie Winkie, as soon as
he was within range. 'You didn't ought to be here.'
'I don't know,' said Miss Allardyce ruefully, ignoring the reproof.
'Good gracious, child, what are _you_ doing here?'
'You said you was going acwoss ve wiver,' panted Wee Willie Winkie,
throwing himself off his pony. 'And nobody--not even Coppy--must go
acwoss ve wiver, and I came after you ever so hard, but you wouldn't
stop, and now you've hurted yourself, and Coppy will be angwy wiv me,
and--I've bwoken my awwest! I've bwoken my awwest!'
The future Colonel of the 195th sat down and sobbed. In spite of the
pain in her ankle the girl was moved.
'Have you ridden all the way from cantonments, little man? What for?'
'You belonged to Coppy. Coppy told me so!' wailed Wee Willie Winkie
disconsolately. 'I saw him kissing you, and he said he was fonder of
you van Bell or ve Butcha or me. And so I came. You must get up and
come back. You didn't ought to be here. Vis is a bad place, and I've
bwoken my awwest.'
'I can't move, Winkie,' said Miss Allardyce, with a groan. 'I've hurt
my foot. What shall I do?'
She showed a readiness to weep anew, which steadied Wee Willie
Winkie, who had been brought up to believe that tears were the depth
of unmanliness. Still, when one is as great a sinner as Wee Willie
Winkie, even a man may be permitted to break down.
'Winkie,' said Miss Allardyce, 'when you've rested a little, ride
back and tell them to send out something to carry me back in. It
hurts fearfully.'
The child sat still for a little time and Miss Allardyce closed her
eyes; the pain was nearly making her faint. She was roused by Wee
Willie Winkie tying up the reins on his pony's neck and setting it
free with a vicious cut of his whip that made it whicker. The little
animal headed towards the cantonments.
'Oh, Winkie, what are you doing?'
'Hush!' said Wee Willie Winkie. 'Vere's a man coming--one of've Bad
Men. I must stay wiv you. My faver says a man must _always_ look
after a girl. Jack will go home, and ven vey'll come and look for us.
Vat's why I let him go.'
Not one man but two or three had appeared from behind the rocks of
the hills, and the heart of Wee Willie Winkie sank within him, for
just in this manner were the Goblins wont to steal out and vex
Curdie's soul. Thus had they played in Curdie's garden--he had seen
the picture--and thus had they frightened the Princess's nurse. He
heard them talking to each other, and recognised with joy the bastard
Pushto that he had picked up from one of his father's grooms lately
dismissed. People who spoke that tongue could not be the Bad Men.
They were only natives after all.
They came up to the boulders on which Miss Allardyce's horse had
blundered.
Then rose from the rock Wee Willie Winkie, child of the Dominant
Race, aged six and three-quarters, and said briefly and emphatically
'_Jao_!' The pony had crossed the river-bed.
The men laughed, and laughter from natives was the one thing Wee
Willie Winkie could not tolerate. He asked them what they wanted and
why they did not depart. Other men with most evil faces and
crooked-stocked guns crept out of the shadows of the hills, till,
soon, Wee Willie Winkie was face to face with an audience some twenty
strong. Miss Allardyce screamed.
'Who are you?' said one of the men.
'I am the Colonel Sahib's son, and my order is that you go at once.
You black men are frightening the Miss Sahib.
One of you must run into cantonments and take the news that the Miss
Sahib has hurt herself, and that the Colonel's son is here with her.'
'Put our feet into the trap?' was the laughing reply.
'Hear this boy's speech!'
'Say that I sent you--I, the Colonel's son. They will give you
money.'
'What is the use of this talk? Take up the child and the girl, and we
can at least ask for the ransom. Ours are the villages on the
heights,' said a voice in the background.
These _were_ the Bad Men--worse than Goblins--and it needed all Wee
Willie Winkie's training to prevent him from bursting into tears. But
he felt that to cry before a native, excepting only his mother's
_ayah_, would be an infamy greater than any mutiny. Moreover, he, as
future Colonel of the 195th, had that grim regiment at his back.
'Are you going to carry us away?' said Wee Willie Winkie, very
blanched and uncomfortable.
'Yes, my little _Sahib Bahadur_,' said the tallest of the men, 'and
eat you afterwards.'
'That is child's talk,' said Wee Willie Winkie. 'Men do not eat men.'
A yell of laughter interrupted him, but he went on firmly--'And if
you do carry us away, I tell you that all my regiment will come up in
a day and kill you all without leaving one. Who will take my message
to the Colonel Sahib?'
Speech in any vernacular--and Wee Willie Winkie had a colloquial
acquaintance with three--was easy to the boy who could not yet manage
his 'r's' and 'th's' aright.
Another man joined the conference, crying: 'O foolish men! What this
babe says is true. He is the heart's heart of those white troops. For
the sake of peace let them go both, for if he be taken, the regiment
will break loose and gut the valley. _Our_ villages are in the
valley, and we shall not escape. That regiment are devils. They broke
Khoda Yar's breastbone with kicks when he tried to take the rifles;
and if we touch this child they will fire and rape and plunder for a
month, till nothing remains. Better to send a man back to take the
message and get a reward. I say that this child is their God, and
that they will spare none of us, nor our women, if we harm him.'
It was Din Mahommed, the dismissed groom of the Colonel, who made the
diversion, and an angry and heated discussion followed. Wee Willie
Winkie, standing over Miss Allardyce, waited the upshot. Surely his
'wegiment,' his own 'wegiment,' would not desert him if they knew of
his extremity.
* * * * *
The riderless pony brought the news to the 195th, though there had
been consternation in the Colonel's household for an hour before. The
little beast came in through the parade-ground in front of the main
barracks, where the men were settling down to play Spoil-five till
the afternoon. Devlin, the Colour-Sergeant of E Company, glanced at
the empty saddle and tumbled through the barrack-rooms, kicking; up
each Room Corporal as he passed. 'Up, ye beggars! There's something
happened to the Colonel's son,' he shouted.
'He couldn't fall off! S'elp me, 'e _couldn't_ fall off,' blubbered
a drummer-boy. 'Go an' hunt acrost the river. He's over there if he's
anywhere, an' maybe those Pathans have got 'im. For the love o' Gawd
don't look for 'im in the nullahs! Let's go over the river.'
'There's sense in Mott yet,' said Devlin. 'E Company, double out to
the river--sharp!'
So E Company, in its shirt-sleeves mainly, doubled for the dear life,
and in the rear toiled the perspiring Sergeant, adjuring it to double
yet faster. The cantonment was alive with the men of the 195th
hunting for Wee Willie Winkie, and the Colonel finally overtook E
Company, far too exhausted to swear, struggling in the pebbles of the
river-bed.
Up the hill under which Wee Willie Winkie's Bad Men were discussing
the wisdom of carrying off the child and the girl, a look-out fired
two shots.
'What have I said?' shouted Din Mahommed. 'There is the warning! The
_pulton_ are out already and are coming across the plain! Get away!
Let us not be seen with the boy!'
The men waited for an instant, and then, as another shot was fired,
withdrew into the hills, silently as they had appeared.
'The wegiment is coming,' said Wee Willie Winkie confidently to Miss
Allardyce, 'and it's all wight. Don't cwy!'
He needed the advice himself, for ten minutes later, when his father
came up, he was weeping bitterly with his head in Miss Allardyce's
lap.
And the men of the 195th carried him home with shouts and rejoicings;
and Coppy, who had ridden a horse into a lather, met him, and, to his
intense disgust, kissed him openly in the presence of the men.
But there was balm for his dignity. His father assured him that not
only would the breaking of arrest be condoned, but that the
good-conduct badge would be restored as soon as his mother could sew
it on his blouse-sleeve. Miss Allardyce had told the Colonel a story
that made him proud of his son.
'She belonged to you, Coppy,' said Wee Willie Winkie, indicating Miss
Allardyce with a grimy forefinger. 'I _knew_ she didn't ought to go
acwoss ve wiver, and I knew ve wegiment would come to me if I sent
Jack home.'
'You're a hero, Winkie,' said Coppy--'a _pukka_ hero!'
'I don't know what vat means,' said Wee Willie Winkie, 'but you
mustn't call me Winkie any no more. I'm 'Percival Will'am Will'ams.'
And in this manner did Wee Willie Winkie enter into his manhood.