"Are you going to carry us away?" said Wee Willie Winkie, very blanched and uncomfortable.

"Yes, my little Sahib Bahadur," said the tallest of the "and eat you afterwards."

men,

"That is child's talk," said Wee Willie Winkie. "Men do not eat men."

A yell of laughter interrupted him, but he went on firmly, "And if you do carry us away, I tell you that all my regiment will come up in a day and kill you all without leaving one. Who will take my message to the Colonel Sahib?"

Speech in any vernacular and Wee Willie Winkie had a colloquial acquaintance with three was easy to the boy who could not yet manage his "r's" and "th's" aright.

Another man joined the conference, crying: "O foolish men! What this babe says is true. He is the heart's heart of those white troops. For the sake of peace let them go both, for if he be taken, the regiment will break loose and gut the valley. Our villages are in the valley, and we shall not escape. That regiment are devils. They broke Khoda Yar's breastbone with kicks when he tried to take the rifles; and if we touch this child they will fire and plunder for a month, till nothing remains. Better to send a man back to take the message and get a reward. I say that this child is their God, and that they will spare none of us, nor our women, if we harm him.”

It was Din Mahommed, the dismissed groom of the colonel, who made the diversion, and an angry and heated discussion followed. Wee Willie Winkie, standing over Miss Allardyce, waited the upshot. Surely his "wegiment," his own “wegiment," would not desert him if they knew of his extremity.

1 A very formal term of respect, as Your Excellency. The man is of course making sport of the child.

The riderless pony brought the news to the 195th, though there had been consternation in the colonel's household for an hour before. The little beast came in through the parade ground in front of the main barracks, where the men were settling down to play spoil-five till the afternoon. Devlin, the color-sergeant of E Company, glanced at the empty saddle and tumbled through the barrack rooms, kicking up each room corporal as he passed. "Up, ye beggars! There's something happened to the colonel's son," he shouted.

"He couldn't fall off! S'elp me, 'e couldn't fall off," blubbered a drummer boy. "Go an' hunt acrost the river. He's over there if he's anywhere, an' maybe those Pathans have got 'im. For the love o' Gawd don't look for 'm in the nullahs! Let's go over the river."

"There's sense in Mott yet," said Devlin. double out to the river sharp!"

"E Company,

So E Company, in its shirt sleeves mainly, doubled for the dear life, and in the rear toiled the perspiring sergeant, adjuring it to double yet faster. The cantonment was alive with the men of the 195th hunting for Wee Willie Winkie, and the colonel finally overtook E Company, far too exhausted to swear, struggling in the pebbles of the river bed.

Up the hill under which Wee Willie Winkie's Bad Men were discussing the wisdom of carrying off the child and the girl, a lookout fired two shots.

"What have I said?" shouted Din Mahommed.

"There

is the warning! The pulton 2 are out already and are coming across the plain! Get away! Let us not be seen with the boy!"

The men waited for an instant, and then, as another shot was fired, withdrew into the hills, silently as they had appeared.

1I.e. ravines or gorges.

2 I.c. regiment.

"The wegiment is coming," said Wee Willie Winkie confidently to Miss Allardyce, "and it's all wight. Don't cwy!"

He needed the advice himself, for ten minutes later, when his father came up, he was weeping bitterly with his head in Miss Allardyce's lap.

And the men of the 195th carried him home with shouts and rejoicings; and Coppy, who had ridden a horse into a lather, met him, and, to his intense disgust, kissed him openly in the presence of the men.

But there was balm for his dignity. His father assured him that not only would the breaking of arrest be condoned, but that the good-conduct badge would be restored as soon as his mother could sew it on his blouse sleeve. Miss Allardyce had told the colonel a story that made him proud of his

son.

"She belonged to you, Coppy," said Wee Willie Winkie, indicating Miss Allardyce with a grimy forefinger. "I knew she didn't ought to go acwoss ve wiver, and I knew ve wegiment would come to me if I sent Jack home."

"You're a hero, Winkie," said Coppy - "a pukka1 hero!"

"I don't know what vat means," said Wee Willie Winkie, "but you mustn't call me Winkie any no more. I'm Percival Will'am Will'ams."

And in this manner did Wee Willie Winkie enter into his manhood.

How has respect for army discipline been trained in Wee Willie Winkie? What makes him promise Coppy that he will keep his secret? Can you explain why he feels so deeply breaking his arrest? What other circumstances made it hard for him to go to Miss Allardyce's aid? What fine quality for friendship does he show when he goes? The English race had for many generations treated the natives of India as their inferiors, which partly explains Wee Willie Winkie's commanding ways with them. What other explanation can you suggest? After reading the story, can you understand why he was idolized by the regiment? When do you think he "entered into manhood," when he assumed his full name or before?

SUGGESTIONS FOR ORAL AND WRITTEN ENGLISH
THEME SUBJECTS

There are two ways of showing the characters of people in stories. In one the writer tells what traits they have; in the other he makes them act so that we discover their traits from their actions. The last way is called the "dramatic method." Does the plot of Wee Willie Winkie interest you? Does the boy himself interest you? Look around you and see if you can find an incident that illustrates unselfishness. Make a study of some small boy for a day, without his knowledge, and write what you have observed. The next day make a note of a particular trait that you have seen, and find other illustrations of it through his actions. After carefully selecting the climax, tell a story in which a friend of yours is the central figure. Have the action in the story reveal his strongest trait. Do not state what it is, but allow the class to guess it.

A friend of yours has been accused of cheating on an examination. Defend his honor by the dramatic method.

A friend has been said to be selfish in her home. You know it is not true. Defend her reputation.

A Young Girl on the Train.

A Good Loser.

A Good Winner.

Learning to Ride.

How my Dog Knows I Love Him.
How We Knew His Team Won.
How I Know my Dog Loves Me.
What is Loyalty?

SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL READINGS

Jungle Books I and II. Rudyard Kipling.

Just So Stories. Rudyard Kipling.

On Greenhow Hill (in Life's Handicap). Rudyard Kipling.
The Day's Work. Rudyard Kipling.

William the Conqueror. Rudyard Kipling.

.007. Rudyard Kipling.

The Ship that Found Herself. Rudyard Kipling.

The Brushwood Boy. Rudyard Kipling.

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep (in Under the Deodars).. Rudyard Kipling.

Captains Courageous. Rudyard Kipling.

Puck of Pook's Hill. Rudyard Kipling.

Kim. Rudyard Kipling.

Story of Sonny Sahib. Sarah J. Duncan.