It seemed that some one was calling to me in a whisper, "Sáhib! The question elicited exactly the same answer as before—coupled with the information that "this place is like your belaitee Heaven; there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage,". I ran round the base of the crater, blaspheming and praying in turns. What do you do?" For pity's sake tell me all you know about him. Therefore I shot him, but, nevertheless, I was unable to obtain it.". My work necessitated my being in camp for some months between Pakpattan and Mubarakpur—a desolate sandy stretch of country as every one who has had the misfortune to go there may know. One does not protest at the vagaries of a den of wild beasts; and my companions were lower than any beasts. Only I, and I am a Brahmin.". "I believe you robbed him of everything he had. What is your worship going to do?". His voice rose almost to a scream, and he literally danced with excitement before me. Ganga Das explained that horse was better than crow, and "greatest good of greatest number" is political maxim. He, however, devined my unspoken thought almost as soon as it was formed; and, to my intense astonishment, gave vent to a long low chuckle of derision—the laughter, be it understood, of a superior or at least of an equal. I lay down again and prayed that I might die without more ado. I plied him with all sorts of questions about the terrible village, and received extremely unsatisfactory answers. Shortly after this I went to bed. Morrowbie Jukes’s strange ride occurs when he is weakened by a fever. Reprinted in modified form in "The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Stories" plain 2016-06-30T21:42:32-04:00 1885 Short Story Race, Colonialism, Civil Service, Adventure Rudyard Kipling in Quartette (1885) I stooped down hastily to recover it, and as I did so, I was aware that the diabolical Brahmin was aiming a violent blow at the back of my head with the gun-barrels. While we were engaged in this, the exploded shell of an old brown cartridge dropped out of one of the pockets and rolled at my feet. When they were in a bright glow, and the crow was nearly spitted in front thereof, Gunga Dass began without a word of preamble:—, "There are only two kinds of men, Sir. I was feeling sick and faint with horror now. [I had to control myself here with both hands, lest the blind terror should lay hold of me a second time and drive me raving round the crater.] He was in charge of a branch telegraph-office there, and when I had last met him was a jovial, full-stomached, portly Government servant with a marvelous capacity for making bad puns in English—a peculiarity which made me remember him long after I had forgotten his services to me in his official capacity. ​"Read it aloud! My fever had altogether left me, and, with the exception of a slight dizziness in the head, I felt no ill effects from the fall overnight. Sahib! In those days I was Brahmin and proud man. Consequently there must be a gun somewhere. For a further consideration—my boots—he would be willing to allow me to occupy the den next ​to his own, and would supply me with as much dried grass for bedding as he could spare. Won't Your Honour hear me swear that I never touched a thing that belonged to him? The contrast was too absurd! It was the length of his gun-barrels without the stock. "What on earth are you raving about? Straight out; do you follow me? Jukes by accident stumbled upon a village that is well The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes, Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) Muerto o vivo, no hay otro camino. ", "There is no way of getting out? There was a full moon at the time, and, in couse quenco, every dog near my tent was haying it. Sleep was altogether out of question to one in my excited frame of mind. The body was sometimes dragged out of the hole and thrown on to the sand, or allowed to rot where it lay. In a few minutes the pony was ready, and I stood at his head prepared to mount and dash out as soon as the "pi" should again lift up his voice in song. Lee "The Strange Ride Of Morrowbie Jukes" por Rudyard Kipling disponible en Rakuten Kobo. I have never yet breathed a word to a living soul of the awful experiences of my strange midnight ride. The shooting-coat, being intact, must have been drawn over the body after death, which must have been instantaneous. I have tried. The guardian boat drifted down-stream about seven o'clock, and we were utterly alone by the crow clump. Your God be my witness that I do not. "You will not"—he had dropped the Sir completely after his opening sentence,—"make any escape that way; but you can try. I'll see you d—d first. In "The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes," an English colonial engineer working in India accidentally falls down a crater with his pony after chasing dogs while in a feverish state. It will help us both." Dunnoo, with his face ashy grey in the moonlight, implored me not to stay, but get back to my tent at once. I swear that I will return it.". Five of them he throttled at once, reserving two for further operations another day. In a deliberate lazy sort of a way he set himself to torture me mentally, as a school-boy would devote a rapturous half hour to watching the agonies of an impaled beetle, or as a ferret in a blind burrow might glue himself comfortably on to the neck of a rabbit. olive-green shikár suit. So he mounts his horse in order to pursue them. He wrote several supernatural stories such as “The Phantom Rickshaw” (1888), “The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes” (1899), and his most famous horror story, “The Mark of the Beast” (1890). Curiosity, it seemed, overpowered the rest of the flock, and almost before Gunga Dass and I had time to withdraw to the tussock, two more captives were struggling in the up-turned claws of the decoys. "Will you not let me look at it also? "Nearly a year and a half. When I recovered consciousness, the Moon was going down, and I was sensible of intolerable pain in the back of my head. No one had taken the slightest notice of an exhibition which makes me blush hotly even when I think of it. Another way to prevent getting this page in the future is to use Privacy Pass. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. In a moment, and before I could see how it happened, a wild crow, who had grappled with the shrieking and helpless bird, was entangled in the latter's claws, swiftly disengaged by Gunga Dass, and pegged down beside its companion in adversity. My long fast—it was now close upon ten o'clock, and I had tasted nothing since tiffin on the previous day, combined with violent and unnatural agitation, had exhausted me, and I verily believe that, for a few minutes, I acted as one mad. On the third finger of the right hand was a silver ring in the shape of a coiled cobra, much worn and tarnished. Hindus seldom laugh, and his surroundings were not such as to move Gnnga Dass to any undue excess of hilarity. ", At irregular intervals supplies of food, it seems, were dropped down from the land side into the amphitheatre, and the inhabitants fought for them like wild beasts. I found some little difficulty in scrambling out of the burrow. As the night wore on, it seemed that the entire amphitheatre was filled legions of unclean devils that, trooping up from the shoals below, seemed to mock the unfortunates in their lairs. "Good God! The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes | The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. ", "About half an hour after he received his wound. As I did so I thought of my wretched fellow-prisoner's unspeakable misery among ​all these horrors for eighteen months, and the final awful agony of dying like a rat in a hole from the effects of a bullet-wound in the stomach. I had been thorough!y convinced of this some time before. I motioned, staggering to and fro the while, that he should throw it down. Even in these days, when the Ilbert Bill and local self-government have destroyed the greater part of a native's respect for a Sahib, I have been accustomed to a certain amount of civility from my inferiors, and on approaching the crowd naturally expected that there would be some recognition of my presence. On the second finger of the left hand was a ring—a shield-shaped bloodstone set in gold, with a monogram that might have been either "B.K." An hour or so later I was awakened by a piercing scream—the shrill, high-pitched scream of a horse in pain. 3. The almost irresistible impulse to fly at the sand walls until I was wearied had again laid hold of me, and I had to struggle against it with all my might. "What other Feringhi, you swine? The filth and repulsiveness of the assembly were beyond all description, and I shuddered to think what their life in the badger-holes must be. "The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes" Notes on the text These notes, by John McGivering, are partly new, and partly based on the ORG. "That," said he, with another of his wheezy chuckles, "you may see for yourself subsequently. It was a couple of leather punkah-ropes knotted together with a loop at one end. Even now I expect no one will ​believe me, the more so because nothing on earth shall induce me In my frenzy of delight at the possibilities of escape I recollect shaking hands effusively with Gunga Dass, after we had decided that we were to make an attempt that very night. exactly as my bearer used to call me in the mornings. The place was so full of terror for me that I was prepared to undergo any risk in running it. The secret of the poor wretch's death was plain to me in a flash. The sensation of nameless terror and abject fear which I had in vain attempted to strive against overmastered me completely. "That which you have in your hands. Nothing that I could do would induce him to tell me who the mysterious "They" were. He died in the burrow as you will die, and I will die, and all these men and woman and the one child will die.". Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. "Now I will give you something to eat." It must not be supposed that I inventoried all these things on the spot as fully as I have here written them down. Pornic, who was standing a few yards away, was naturally a good deal exhausted, but had not hurt himself in the least. He told me so before I killed him. What does it mean? It was possible, just possible, that I might, in the uncertain moonlight, safely run the gauntlet of the rifle shots. F. M. Buckles, 1899 - 80 pages. My first step from the tufts of dried grass showed me how utterly futile was any hope of escape; for as I put my foot down I felt an indescribable drawing, sucking motion of the quivering, heaving sand below. Gunga Dass! Gunga Dass, however, was of a different opinion. They assembled in little knots, and talked among themselves without even throwing a glance in my direction. 6. They sat together in knots and talked—God only knows what they found to discuss—in low equable tones, curiously in contrast to the strident babble with which natives are accustomed to make night hideous. At each step the shifting sand poured down from above in tons, and rattled on the drip-boards of the holes like small shot. What do you think I have given you money for? I call Vishn to witness," yelled the wretched man, "that I did everything for him. The phrase "thrown on to the sand" caught my attention, and I asked Gunga Dass whether this sort of thing was not likely to breed a pestilence. You are stronger than I am. It is so not your fault, of course, but none the less you are dead and buried. 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