Lariat

“ Fossil jerked his great blue body fretfully and Hugh, catching sight of a mighty spiral of dust rising on the trail from the White Wolves, spurred the horse toward it. The trail led to the Clifton Pass and on into the wild-horse country. Some one must be bringing down a herd. Hugh had a sudden yearning for the old days when he had ridden range on his summer vacations for Bookie, and he set the big roan to the gallop.
Suddenly it seemed to him, as the indescribable odor of plains smote his face, that nothing, nothing was worth his exile in The Lariat ”

“ Lallie shook her head.
"No, I'm not hunting--yet."
"Not hunting, Miss Clonmell! What on earth is the matter? Have you lost your nerve?"
"No," snapped Lallie, "but I've lost my horse. Dad's in India, as you know; the horses are in Ireland; and I'm staying with friends who don't hunt and won't let me hunt without them."
"Oh, but that's nonsense! Were you going this way--may I walk with you? I've got a little mare here that would carry you perfectly if you would honour me by riding her to-morrow. She has been ridden by a lady, and I believe she has excellent manners and is a good jumper. ”

“ Mr. Lally received information, that the detachment had been paraded, and suspected the service for which it had been intended. Such a proof of the opinion which the English army entertained of their own superiority, convinced him that it would soon be followed by some real blow of equal detriment, if they were not immediately convinced, that his own was capable of more than acting on the defensive. He resolved to attack their camp by surprize on the night of the 4th, and his dispositions were made with much skill and sagacity. ”

“ Lally, putting himself at the head of the European cavalry on the right, set off with them, and taking a large sweep on the plain, came down, intending to fall upon the horse of the English army, which made their third line. The black horse, who were nine-tenths of this body, pretended to wheel, in order to meet the enemy's, but purposely confused themselves so much, that some went off immediately, which gave a pretext to the rest to follow them, and the 80 Europeans were left alone, who faced and drew up properly to receive the charge, relying on better assistance. ”

“ In the afternoon an old soldier, called Layton, who had served during the American war, and got a grant of land about a mile in the rear of our location, came in to trade for a cow. Now, this Layton was a perfect ruffian; a man whom no one liked, and whom all feared. He was a deep drinker, a great swearer, in short, a perfect reprobate; who never cultivated his land, but went jobbing about from farm to farm, trading horses and cattle, and cheating in a pettifogging way. ”

“ When his mother told him what had occurred before Lali entered the breakfast-room, he went directly to what he believed was the cause, and advised tact with conciliation. He also pointed out that Lali was something taller than Marion, and that she might be possessed of that general trait of humanity-vanity. Mrs. Armour had not yet got used to thinking of the girl in another manner than an intrusive being of a lower order, who was there to try their patience, but also to do their bidding. ”

“ Master Lacy was a merchant of Aisi, an owner of vessels. Like most of his fellows, when war came so close home, he was almost obliged to join the king's levy. Had he not done so it would have been recorded against him as a lack of loyalty. His privileges would have been taken from him, possibly the wealth he had accumulated seized, and himself reduced to slavery. Lacy, therefore, put on armour, and accompanied the king to the camp. Thus Felix, after all his aspirations, found himself serving as the knave of a mere citizen. ”

“ Lallie exclaimed indignantly. "If your horse rolls in a ditch it's not fair for any one to say you're thrown; but you, Tony, I suppose, keep count of the times you stick on, not the times you come off."
"Well, you were always in the wars, anyhow, so that perhaps the accidents, being so numerous, impressed me less than they ought to have done. But that was a horrid thing. Still, you know, I think the scar is less noticeable than the bracelet."
"Oh, the bracelet's Dad's affair. He can't bear to see anything ugly ”

“ At last, on the 16th of February, 1759, an English fleet arrived at Madras under Admiral Pocock, and Lally was compelled to raise the siege. Such was the state of party feeling amongst the French in India, that the retreat of Lally from Madras was received at Pondicherry with every demonstration of joy. The career of Lally in India lasted for two years longer, namely from February, 1759, to February, 1761; it is a series of hopeless struggles and wearying misfortunes. In the Dekhan, Salabut Jung had been thrown into the utmost alarm by the departure of Bussy and defeat of Conflans. ”

“ When Layard, before his departure, after [Pg 75] once more wandering with some friends through all the trenches, tunnels and passages of the Nimrud mound, to gaze for the last time on the wonders on which no man had looked before him, found himself once more on the naked platform and ordered the workmen to cover them up again, he was strongly moved by the contrast: "We look around in vain," says he, "for any traces of the wonderful remains we have just seen, and are half inclined to believe that we have dreamed a dream, or have been listen [Pg 76] ing to some tale of Eastern romance. ”

“ It may truly be said that Layard gave the impetus to digging in the East, that all the men working in those parched lands are the disciples of the Englishman who gave up his best years to the science he loved. ”

“ It is true that Lally’s father was a corn-chandler, but he was an honest one, and more than that, he was an intelligent, upright gentlemen. You arch your brows, as if a man could not be a tradesman and a gentleman. ”

“ From the Madras region, too, from India and outrageous Lally, the news are good. Early in Spring last, poor Lally,—a man of endless talent and courage, but of dreadfully emphatic loose tongue, in fact of a blazing ungoverned Irish turn of mind,—had instantly, on sight of some small Succors from Pitt, to raise his siege of Madras, retire to Pondicherry ”

“ His father, Henry P. J. Layard, of the Ceylon Civil Service, was the son of Charles Peter Layard, dean of Bristol, and grandson of Daniel Peter Layard, the physician. Through his mother, a daughter of Nathaniel Austen, banker, of Ramsgate, he inherited Spanish blood. This strain of cosmopolitanism must have been greatly strengthened by the circumstances of his education. Much of his boyhood was spent in Italy, where he received part of his schooling, and acquired a taste for the fine arts and a love of travel; but he was at school also in England, France and Switzerland. ”

“ On the following morning the tents were struck at sunrise, and the chief moved with his followers to new pastures. The crowd of camels, flocks, cattle, laden beasts of burden, horsemen, footmen, women and children darkened the plain for some miles. We passed through the midst of them with the Sheikh, and leaving him to fix the spot for his encampment, we turned from the river and rode inland towards the tents of his rival and cousin, Faras. Saleh, with a few horsemen, accompanied me, one of my special objects being to bring about a reconciliation between the two chiefs. ”

“ The following year saw the final fall of the French power in India. While Clive was securing Bengal, the breaking out of the Seven Years' War had renewed the hostilities in the Carnatic. On this occasion Lally was the champion of the French. But able and vigorous as a soldier, his ill-usage of the natives, his eager temper and satirical tongue, surrounded him with disaffection both among the Indians and his own troops. ”

“ Soft and fine and vivid green it was, of the kind that had been gathered for Larie's nest and had turned yellowish in drying. Under the carpet, in underground lanes as long as a man's long arm, lived Larie's young neighbor-folk—little petrels, sometimes called "Mother Carey's Chickens."
There was even more on the island yet: for high on the rocks stood a lighthouse; and the man who kept the signal lights in order was no other than Larie's policeman himself. A useful life he lived, saving ships of the sea by the power of light, and birds of the sea by the power of law. ”

“ Austen Henry Layard and his early career. Austen Henry Layard is an Englishman, notwithstanding his birth in Paris (5th of March, 1817) , and his descent from one of the many Huguenot families who (in one sense) do honour to France for their sufferings for conscience sake, and who (in many more senses than one) do honour to England by the way in which zealous and persevering exertions in the service of their adopted country have 628enabled them to pluck the flowers of fame, or of distinction, from amidst the sharp thorns of adversity. Austen Layard is the grandson of the honoured Dr. ”

“ The Indian girl shook her head with a pretty vagueness, and vanished with them. General Armour walked up and down the room briskly, then turned on his wife and said: "Wife, it was a brutal thing: Frank doesn't deserve to be—the father of her child."
But Lali had moods—singular moods. She indulged in one three days after the arrival of Marion and Mrs. Townley. She had learned to ride with the side-saddle, and wore her riding-dress admirably. Nowhere did she show to better advantage. She had taken to riding now with General Armour on the country roads. ”

“ Ridley withdrew, and Latimer was then introduced—eighty years old now—dressed in a threadbare gown of Bristol frieze, a handkerchief on his head with a night-cap over it, and over that again another cap, with two broad flaps buttoned under the chin. A leather belt was round his waist, to which a Testament was attached; his spectacles, without a case, hung from his neck. So stood the greatest man perhaps then living in the world, a prisoner on his trial, waiting to be condemned to death by men professing to be the ministers of God. ”

“ Perhaps it was that which drew me to you then—for Lali the Indian girl loved you. Life had been to me pleasant enough—without care, without misery, open, strong and free; our people were not as those others which had learned the white man’s vices. We loved the hunt, the camp-fires, the sacred feasts, the legends of the Mighty Men; and the earth was a good friend, whom we knew as the child knows its mother.”
She paused. Something seemed to arrest her attention. Frank followed her eyes. She was watching Captain Vidall and Marion. ”

“ Layard has the reputation of being rather hot tempered in debate, and at one time he earned the ill-will of the aristocratic [Pg 296] faction in the House by his persevering liberalism, but at present he is popular enough, and no one can look at his bright dark-blue eye and general appearance, without feeling that he is in the presence of a man who possesses a considerate and calmly philosophical spirit, broken at times by a sudden flash of the scholar's enthusiasm. ”

“ If you'll go to Judge Latimer and tell him how you feel—that Burroughs is your brother-in-law—that sort of talk, and that if the case goes against Bob, Latimer'll never get re-elected to the supreme bench—oh, you know what to say. Anyway, if you'll do this you'll be twenty-five thousand dollars better off—that's all; and I tell you, you'll need the money before next winter is over if this drouth continues. Your cattle must be in bad [115] shape now. Just tell Latimer how you feel. ”

“ Anywhere but in England it would be impossible for two solitary men, howsoever much reduced by influenza, to spend five or six days in the same hostel and not exchange a single word. That is one of the charms of England. Had Laider and I been born and bred in any other land than Eng we should have become acquainted before the end of our first evening in the small smoking-room, and have found ourselves irrevocably committed to go on talking to each other throughout the rest of our visit. We might, it is true, have happened to like each other more than any one we had ever met. ”

“ Larry met me at the door with the news that a high-powered Bengal car, with an expert driver, was waiting for me around the corner, and that a comfortable old lounge suit and Larry’s own revolver, freshly oiled and loaded, were waiting for me on my bed. Efficiency was Larry’s middle name. Thank the Lord he could reason as well as play the fool.
I changed in five minutes, arguing with Larry the while. Romance was rampant in Larry, and he could not understand anybody who started out on an adventure without packing a gun. “Come now, sor, do but slip it in yer pocket. ”

“ It was Lallie who spoke. "How dare you speak to her like that? Oh, you----"
Mrs. Atwood covered her face with her hands and fled from the room.
"Listen to me, Lallie! Don't let her come between us."
He spoke in sobbing gasps and caught at one of Lallie's hands. She drew it away.
"She has not come between us," she said scornfully; "it is yourself. You might have told me that it had all been the worst thing possible, and I could have forgiven you. Who am I to judge a man? But not this. You went back on her. You put her to open shame before me. You are a coward, Mr. Ballinger." ”

“ HE GRABBED the slip of paper, went out of the room, down the stairs, jumped into a taxicab, and ten minutes later surprised Laurette with his first words:
“For a bright kid, you’re one fine little sucker.”
Laurette was busy packing her trunk. Her engagement was over. Tomorrow she was leaving Rome. She turned around; looked up. “What’s biting you?” she asked.
“Here!”—he tossed her check on the table—“throwing away money! Handing it over to dirty crooks!”
“The Rajah a crook? Why—you introduced me!”
“Well—perhaps he isn’t exactly a crook.” Canfield blushed. ”