"
A commanding officer is generally aware of the regimental state of
mind a little before the men; and this is why the Colonel said, a
few days later, that some one had been putting the Fear of God into
the Wuddars. As he was the only person officially entitled to do
this, it distressed him to see such unanimous virtue. "It's too
good to last," he said. "I only wish I could find out what the
little chaps mean."
The explanation, as it seemed to him, came at the change of the
moon, when he received orders to hold himself in readiness to
"allay any possible excitement" among the Satpura Bhils, who were,
to put it mildly, uneasy because a paternal Government had sent
up against them a Mahratta State-educated vaccinator, with lancets,
lymph, and an officially registered calf. In the language of
State, they had "manifested a strong objection to all prophylactic
measures," had "forcibly detained the vaccinator," and "were on
the point of neglecting or evading their tribal obligations."
"That means they are in a blue funk - same as they were at
census-time," said the Colonel; "and if we stampede them into
the hills we'll never catch 'em, in the first place, and, in the
second, they'll whoop off plundering till further orders.
Pages:
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169