Rung Ho! by Talbot Mundy
page 102 of 344 (29%)
page 102 of 344 (29%)
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That was a tall order, and in spite of all of youth's enthusiasm was enough to make any young fellow nervous. But Mahommed Gunga met him in the street, saluted him with almost sacrilegious ceremony, and drew him to one side. "Have courage, now, bahadur! I ride away to visit my estates (he spoke of them always in the plural, as though he owned a county or two). You have under you the best eyes and the keenest blades along the border for I attended to it! Be ruthless! Use them, work them--sweat them to death! Keep away from messes and parades; seek no praise, for you will get none in any case! Work! Work for what is coming!" "You speak as though the fate of a continent were hanging in the balance," laughed Cunningham, shaking hands with him. "I speak truth!" said Mahommed Gunga, riding off and leaving the youngster wondering. Now, there was nothing much the matter with the men on either side, taken in the main, who hated one another on that far-pushed frontier. Even the insufferable incompetents who held the rotting reins of control were such because circumstance had blinded them. There was not a man among the highly placed ones even who would have deliberately placed his own importance or his own opinion in the scale against India's welfare. There was not a border thief but was ready to respect what he could recognize as strong-armed justice. The root of the trouble lay in centralization of authority, and rigid adherence to the rule of seniority. Combined, these two processes had |
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