look after themselves somewhere at the back of beyond. He had done
rough work in Central Asia, and had seen rather more help-yourself
fighting than most men of his years. But he was careful never to
betray his superiority, and more than careful to praise on all
occasions the appearance, drill, uniform, and organisation of Her
Majesty's White Hussars. And indeed they were a regiment to be
admired. When Lady Durgan, widow of the late Sir John Durgan,
arrived in their station, and after a short time had been proposed
to by every single man at mess, she put the public sentiment very
neatly when she explained that they were all so nice that unless
she could marry them all, including the colonel and some majors
already married, she was not going to content herself with one
hussar. Wherefore she wedded a little man in a rifle regiment,
being by nature contradictious; and the White Hussars were going
to wear crape on their arms, but compromised by attending the
wedding in full force, and lining the aisle with unutterable
reproach. She had jilted them all - from Basset-Holmer the senior
captain to little Mildred the junior subaltern, who could have
given her four thousand a year and a title.

The only persons who did not share the general regard for the
White Hussars were a few thousand gentlemen of Jewish extraction
who lived across the border, and answered to the name of Pathan.
They had once met the regiment officially and for something less
than twenty minutes, but the interview, which was complicated with
many casualties, had filled them with prejudice. They even called
the White Hussars children of the devil and sons of persons whom
it would be perfectly impossible to meet in decent society. Yet
they were not above making their aversion fill their money-belts.
The regiment possessed carbines - beautiful Martini-Henry carbines