All the Nines, Ninety-Nine!"
SILENT Hill, Henry Winton's factory garden, was forty-two miles from Chinnar the headquarters of the tea district, torty-two miles by one of Assam's tea-gaiden roads which were no more than tracks cut into the hill-sides it took every bit of four hours to cover. But at that, Silent Hill was not as cut off from the world as some of the other gardens in the tea district, at least half a dozen did pot possess even a motorable road only a narrow, twisting mule-track; and to reach I amlung, one of the more remote gardens, you had to undergo the dizzy adventure of crossing the hundred foot deep Tista gorge by a swaving rope bridge In the mountain areas distances by road were always deceptive, as the crow llew, Silent Hill was barely twenty miles away from Chinnar and on a clear day, from the verandah of Henry's bun- galow, you could see the church spire and the red roofs of some of the Chinnar bungalows Henry left Silent Hill soon after lunch, planning to get into Chinnar hy sundown He drove his Austin ten expertly, accepting the challenge of the road and enjoying the drive, even keeping an eye open for 10adside game. for as always, he had his Holland shot gun beside him in the car He was already caught up in the mood of The days that lay ahead, days of clean, English fun, and the unaccustomed society of women He was gong to the Chinnar Week' of 1938.
At first it was all downhill, all the way to Tinapur which was the railhead of the tea district, then the road forked left and began to climb At Tinapur you stopped for a cup of tea in the refreshment room of the railway station An hour later you were high up in the hills once again, making for the Highlands Club at Chinnar. A quick bath and a change, and you could be having a drink in the Summit bar in front of a roaring fire in the midst of what they re ferred to as a 'gaggle of planters. But, of course, he would have to spend this evening with Sir Jeffrey and Lady Dart. Perhaps they would be having a cocktail party at their bungalow; the burra- sahibs were always giving parties during Chinnar Week.
He got into Tinapur just before four. As he drove into the rail- way station compound, he saw Captain Cockburn's battered old Citroën standing in the porch. Cockburn was the senior manager in the Brindian Tea Company, and he had been in charge of the sane garden, Lamlung, for over ten years-Lamlung, the most dis- tant and most inaccessible of all the gardens in the tea district. They said he had stubbornly resisted all attempts to move him from Lam- lung. They also said that he was the most successful manager in the district, and possibly in the whole of Assam: and it had been rumoured that he was going to be made the Company's Resident Director at Chinnar as soon as Sir Jeffrey Dart's term of office was over. But Henry for one could hardly visualize a man like Cockburn filling Sir Jeffrey's place. Captain Cockburn was one of those who did not conform; he did not have many friends amongst the planters.
In the station restaurant. Cockburn was sitting slumped in a chair, having a bottle of beer all by himself.
'Good evening, sir," said Henry.
Cockburn looked up. screwing his eyes against the hghr. Ah.
Winton. Got bad news for you. Or have you heard already?" "No, I've just got in. Tea, boy! Henry called out to the waiter. Juldi!"
Bloody road's blocked, landslide."
'Christ!"
"They say they'll have it cleared by the ioning, though."
You mean they'll be work. g through the night?"
You bet they will; or they'll have Sudden to reckon with.
'Sudden' was Sir Jeffrey Dart. He was the highest ranking tea man in the district, the biggest of the bu ra sahibs.
'Christ said Henry again.
The waiter brought the tea-tray and placed it on the table. 'Masta like toss or kike?' he inquired.
Henry waved him away impatiently and began to pour out his tea. It was damned annoying having to go all the way back from Tinapur. He wondered if Cockburn was expecting to be asked to spend the night at Silent Hill: he hoped not 1 suppose we'd better he heading back, he said, and then, after a cautions pause, added. Or would you case to come up with me, sir?" You mean go to Silent Hill? Not on your life!' Cockburn said, shaking his head in disapproval. 'Oh, no.""
Henry was relieved and annoyed at the same time. The way the captain had pat it left no doubt in his mind that Cockburn was not at all anxious to spend the night at Silent Hill; Cockburn, grey and wrinkled, seedy and superseded, some said close to being retired and suspected of having gone half native, was turning down an invita- tion to spend the night at his bungalow.
Were you thinking of going back all the way to Lamlung?" asked Henry. Cockburn shook his head agam. "No fear. I propose to spend the night right here."
Here? In Tinapu
'That's right Henderson, the station-mastes has kindly offered to put a bed for me in the waiting toom old friend of mine quite a character, Henderson. In the evening, he's threatened to take me to their institute. There's a tamasha on; a gala something or uther,"
Henry was sturing his tea 'Gala at the institute,' he said, making a tace Oh, lly Gala at the local railway stitute-sounds pretty ghastly. In his mind, the word gala was associated with something cheap and nors something umefined dunken sailors romping with blind-dated guls in water-front joints, "Gala' almost automatn ally fell into place with words like chichi and honky- tonk, the currency of pudgm Fuglsh He wondered what they would think of the idea of having a gala at the Highlands Club. Why don't you stop here for the night? suggested Captain Cockburn.
"Here" Henry sand looking round the room 'Here?
They'll bring up a couple of charpoys for us. Don't tell me you were thinking of diving back all the way to Slent Hill What's your road like now? It was terrible in Wallach's time."
Still pretty bad said Henry. He wondered what Cockburn could have had in common with Wallach, with whom he seemed to have been friendly when Wallich was at Silent Hill, drink, of course, women too, almost certainly, they were also said to be keen naturalists, and passionately fond of, of all things, Urdu poetry.
I certainly don't want to go over that road again if I can help it." Cockburn said. 'Oh, no Jout me in a beer?
No thank you." Boy! Cockburn called. 'Abdul' Beer-sharap lao, please. Thunda"
The thought of the cruel drive back to Silent Hill, to a house where the servants had been given the day off, to a room without a fire, to a meal that would have to come out of tins, made Henry say, 'Sure I wouldn't be. er, in the way?"
What' What do you mean "in the way"? I should damn well think not You in depend on the railway institute to lay on enough fun for both of us, and to spare and Captant Cockburn laughed and gave Henry a meaningful wink The boy brought a bottle of beer and opened it and pointed it into Cockbur.'s glass. Chain took sp and nodde 1 approvingly. Thank you Abdul, babut mcheshim he sud It was almost strane, alter five years in the country, to hear someone saying please and thank you to In han servants, some people sand it only spoilt them. But these wa certainly no need to call a railway restaurant "hoy by his fist name reflected Henry, or to smile at hun They had a wash are bush up, and ordered then fust chota pegs as soon is the sun went down They talked about tea and Gandhi and the Indian Nation longress they talked about the Chinnar Week and the wonderful tunes they had on then last home leave. and about the plans for the next home leave and they talked about women mostly they talked about women. Still got a nice bunch of bulars at Silent Hill Cockburn wanted to know Not a single one, Hev told him flatly. There was a little too much of that during Wallach's time, too mush dink and too many toch women. That's what finished him My word, we had some wonderful parties at Silent Hill in those days,ockburn said recently. Wonderful' Do you mean to say you live without That night teary laughed Absolutely without."
"I'd heard that, sand Cockburn, shaking his head doubtfully. I'd heard that but of course. Well, I shouldn't ler Sudden get to hear that, if I were you He'll think there's something, well, something the matter with you." 'No, there's nothing the matter with me.'
Cockburn smitted. Well, I never,' he said 'Wonder how long you'll last. I've always noticed that none of these virtuous, psalm singing bastards really last. It's just not healthy. I have known...
I do wish you wouldn't refer to me as a psalm-singing bastard. vir. For one thing I don't profess to be one. But I tell you I'd rather be one than have anything to do with a coolie woman. The very thought gives me the creeps.
You don't know what you're missing. Cockburn laughed. 'In bed, you will never get better value than a coolie woman. Phew! absolutely unrestrained... like... well, it's love-making at its most volatile; earthy, if you like. You don't know what you're missing. And some of them are damned fine-looking too, if you don't like them all bone-hipped and angular. Saw a santhal girl the other day who was a real stunner; my God, she was luscious! That's the word. by Jove: absolutely mouth-watering!" and Captain Cock- burn smacked his lips I'll agree that some of them can be damned good-looking, and not so dark either, Henry said, thinking of the girl he had caught stealing his tea leaf. "What did you do?"
Do? What do you think? Sent Munsaram, my head boy, to have her report at the bungalow. They sort of expect it, you know. As far as they're concerned, there's no morality involved; not in that class. The moment you get browned off, you pack them off: give them a little money, fifty chips or so, and everything is tickety- hoo. It's a great life. Who'd want to get married-tied down, when you're all nicely fixed up? Not me, no, sir!" What about the complications?"
'Complications? You mean children? You have such a delight- fully refined way of putting things. Don't be absurd, not these days. surely? And even if you do give them a brat, there's nothing to worry about, really. Couple of hundred chips, and they'll find a proud father. You'd be surprised at the number of bastards floating sound the tea district. They say even Sudden has fathered one or two. He was a hell of a lad, in his time, old Sudden. Until a few years ago, the managers invariably kept a bibi handy whenever he came inspecting-just in case. It's only in the last few years, after he started gunning for bus knighthood, that Sudden became suddenly hoher than thon...
Cockburu must have thought he had said something really funny for he gave a loud guffaw and spluttered and went on chuckling for a few seconds. He wagged his finger at Henry and said, 'Ah, he was a proper hellhound, old Sudden. Don't let him get the impression that you are Christian mission; don't give Sudden a handle. He knows a good planter when he sees one; he knows even better what makes a good planter good."
They had two chota-pegs before dinner, and later, when Hender son, the station-master of Tinapur, came to take them away to the railway institute, they all had more drinks. It was after ten when they drove to the institute.
The railway institute at Tmapur was like any other railway in- stitute in India; almost as though they were all designed and fur nished by the same contractor. There was a large, rectangular building with a large, rectangular central hall as its main feature and several small rooms nestling at either end. On one side there was a narrow strip of garden, filled mainly with croton bushes and potted plants; on the other there were two tennis courts. The main hall had a wooden floor and a raised platform at one end. On week. days, the younger people played badminton in the hall, and the elders played bridge and bezique and rummy at tables placed on the stage. On Saturday nights, the younger people danced and the elders sat on chairs placed along the wall and watched. Once a month, they held galas, which meant that the band played until three in the morning, and for those who did not dance there was house-housie, and a racing game called excalado. Ou gala nights. too. they ran a rum bar in one of the hack rooms, although, since the institute did not possess a bar licence, von were not supposed to talk about it.
Fre, said Mr. Henderson, leading them to a reserved table." "Ere, let's sit'u enjoy ourselves, eh?" and he beckoned to a white-coated waiter and told him to bring three lemonades. 'Make them extra- strong, he said to the waiter, and gave him a conspiratorial wink.
On the stage, a tall young man with a very bony and very pale face topped with a thick mop of lustrous black hair, and with large, raw-looking hands, was calling out the numbers in a housie-housie game. 'All the nines, ninety-nine! Downing street, number ten!"
'That's Eddie Trevor, Henderson remarked with unconcealed pride. Captain of the railway 'ockey team: plays centre-forward.
Such stick work!"
Then Henry remembered. When he was in Bombay, nearly a year earlier, a friend in Burmah-Shell had dragged him to the Aga Khan hockey finals. That was when he had first seen Eddie Trevor, play. ing for the Calcutta team, in the centre forward position. And even Henry, who was not really interested in hockey, could not help being struck by Trevor's speed and dash and his amazing control over the ball Trevor was obviously the star of the side, the one man on whom the team depended, und also the man the crowd expected to provide the thrills And Trevor was playing to the gallery, con- scious of the adulation, pulling off the most audacious passes And when he had shot the only goal of the match, the entire crowd had seu as one man and burst into prolonged cheers, Shabash, Eddie. Well done Iddi And now here was Eddie Trevor two thousand miles away from Bomby attrial anlwy institute, gala till very much the star of the show still pliving to a gallery I thought his fare wis tamil Cockburn and Must have seen his photograph somewhere E always con ing out the papers Wet to Beth with the Olympic team They keep cw me on him the rare You've no de 'ow the gun Belt fell to mestis letters Ah 'ere's our drinks Not poud to drink ere i opares? On gali day you just for these past step yoursell That's out motto
"Very sounil anotto (o dkban Huis luck"
Cckety click wxty sy lucky to some thuteen' Eddie Trevor was calling out i dep singsong vot We often as of files rupees and m CTC Henderson Redh 'Cockburn politely "Av much is that Doctors orders number une! One and seven werd seventeen!
All the threes thuts three He certumly seemed to find no difinity with his th sounds. Henry thought Most sans pronounced it as the gh it were a Kelley's eve numbes on Dmky doo, twenty two Halt halt a woman in green satin dress with sequms called out in Demilo tumph int shriek House House "Take your putes for a rumba, someone was announcing No feeling shy now come on buys and girls, come on guls and boys!" "You wouldn't like to dance?" enquired Henderson.
'I can't dance,' said Cockburn. 'Not the rumba, at any rate."
"Neither can I,' said Henry quickly. He certainly had no wish to become a participant in a railway institute gala; 11 was bad enough to be a spectator, however privileged.
The members of the Tinapur railway institute certainly could dance the rumba, or any other dance you could have named, from the hula-hula to the belly-dance, rollettively, that was the one thing they could do better than almost any other group of men and women anywhere else. They danced with zest, they danced with verve, and abandon, and skill, putting their hearts and souls into it; they twuled and twirled around, sometimes hugging their partners close and sometimes letting them go altogether, laughing and hold- ing their hands high abos then head and flinging their heads back and moving backwards and forwards. They danced with concentra- tion and without talking to their partners, they were not unlike bullfighters and wrestlers going about their business, and yet there was nothing sestramed, nothing inhibited in their movements Their faces shone with sweat, their eyes shone with ecstasy. You could not have seen dancing like that anywhere else in the world except possibly at another railway institute Who's that? okburn leaned forward in his cha 'My word she's terrific "
"Qu" asked Henderson "Were That girl dancing with thinguniabub- the hockey chap the one in the blue dress "Oh, you mean Ruby Mar. la Real peach nu"
I should say so, agreed Cockburn Would you like to meet 'er? I'll go round and bring er over," offered Mr. Henderson. I. Ruby R ob-girl, he shouted gaily across the dance floor, was ing his hand a. her.
Ruby Miranda threw back het head and grinned and waved mechanically at the station-master, then turned and looked again at the two Faghshmen sitting with him, this time with a sudden quickening of interest, and smiled again Her partner, Eddie Trevor, looked at them too, and frowned, and said something that made her laugh, then he gathered her close to him and whirled her away from them, almost lifting her off her feet, somehow injecting into the rumba the mad circlings of a Viennese waltz. By Jove, she's nice to look at, Henry thought, with the sort of lush, overflowing loveliness one sees only in films; bold and flashy and dark, bui nished black hair falling on smooth tan shoulders, a clinging. satiny, ice-blue dress daringly low-cut and showing off a lovely figure, and he was stabbed by a slight, unieasoning pang of jealousy towards het parties.
When the dance was over Henderson excused himselt and went to talk to some friends at the other end of the toom. He came back a few immutes later, holding Ruby Muanda by the elbow. Her face was flushed from exertion and her lips were slightly parted, and ar the moment, Henry could not think of anyone he had ever seen who was more beautiful.
Meet Captam Cockburn, my dear Henderson made the intro ductions. And this is Mr Wilson Winton, Henry corrected.
Sorry. Winton This is Miss Miranda Tler father is the loco shed foiemian 'ere
Ruby sat at the table not saying mush just speaking when she was spoken to sitting up straight and not quite at ease. She refused a drink but when Henry held out his cigarette case, she accepted a cigarette, saying, 1 don't mind if I do, tank you" She had strong. even teeth and a glowing olive skin, impudent eyes and glowsv black hair falling in a soft roll over her shoulders When the next dance was announced Fddie Trevor walked purposefully up to then table said 'Excuse me, very formally, without a smile or a look at any one of them, and took her away to dance Stordmans fetching bit of skar that Captain Cockburn pronounced My God and Hemy as they came out into the cold as some two hom later Why "my God"?" asked Cockburn.
The atmosphere You could have cut it with a knife, the accent. and the chalk powder and the perfume Anglo-India at play... ligh A nice bunch of popsies, though, smashing some of them." I suppose they were, only...
Not quite Highlands Club, what? Not quite pucka-sahib." "Ummm, yes And thank God for that! A single gul like that Ruby Miranda is worth the whole pack of your ice-cold Highlands Club females. cats without claws and all the fun drained out. Give me the railway institute every time, and you can keep the Highlands Club.
How old do you think she would be?' asked Henry.
Who. Ruby Miranda? About twenty-three, I should say. Not much more. They... er, fill out early. My word, she's certainly beautifully proportioned, what?"
Oh, yes, very well proportioned.
And the eves, yes, the eyes of the real Chandni Chowk whare, black and bold. how the Liidu poets would have gone into raptures about them, Ham, or Aleem-din' And that figure too, the figure of the harem favourite; yes, the Urdu poets would have raved. ... gone into 1aptines over details of anatomy, verse after verse of erotica they certainly knew how to do these things, the Urdu poets: you should read them some day. That's the sort of woman who would make the Highlands Club women turn green with envy. What wouldn't some of the planters give to have someone like that, you know, tucked away at the gardens... Who'd want to go running off to Calcutta? That's it, that would seem to Je your answer, why don't von take her on How do you mean, take her an?"
Why, give her a job man. That's the set of woman who will stop you from going crazy in that antiseptic bungalow of yours." It's a tempting thought, su. Henry conceded. Very tempting Later, in the darkness of the adway station wasting toom, lying on the hard wooden bed pro led by Mr. Henderson and staring blankly through the ganze of the mosquito net Henry's thoughts kept going hack to Ruby Miranda, the bold roving eyes of a Chandni Chowk whore and the full-blown contours of a harem favourite not that he. Henry Winton, had ever come across a Chandni Chowk whore. He wouldn't really mind having someone like her at Silent Hill. slippag in and out of his bungalow... Antisepts, Cockbuin had called it.
What sort of pay would she want, do you think " he asked.
"Who?"
"That gul Ruby Miranda.
Oh, I should think around a hundred rupees a month. That's about what her father must be making, as the loco-shed foreman; certainly not much more Why, have you a job you can give her? I've only just thought of it. I want an extra teacher for my school. There are easily a hundred children at Silent Hill of primary school age, and the damned schools inspector has been going at me to take on another teacher. I could offer her a hundred a month. but I shall have to make het the head teacher for that."
That sort of appointment would be perfectly within your powers as manager 'D'you suppose she'll be able to teach"
I'm sure she will but does it matter? From his voice, Hey felt that Cockburn was chuckling to himself "No, I don't suppose it does Only, Sarkar, my present school- master, is bound to resnt having a having a new entrant as headmistress Do viu suppose she'll want to come to Silent Hill as a teacher? Jump at it. Cockburn vad Oh jump at it That's your answer then depending of course on what the Olymper hockey team has to say about it Henry knew that Cocklin was still chuckling.
Chinnar often went to your head
THE next morning, although they had not received any further in- formation as to whether the road-blok had been cleared, they decided to proceed to Chinnai. The drive will clear our heads,' said
Henry. The road will have been cleared all night, Cockburn told him confidently. As it is, he big white god of tea must have had a few things to say to the road chap-you can't have the damned road blocked and holding up traffe during the Chinnar Week. Anyone very special coming up this year?" asked Henry.
No idea The usual lot, I suppose; no one really big. There'll be Merl and Triggs and Snelson
The General
"That's night, General Snelson; and there'll be the usual tea and shipping crowd from Calcutta. That's all I know of. Maybe a couple or two from home. You putting up at the Club?
No. I am staying with Sir Jeffrey 1
Cockburn pursed his lips and gave Henry a long stare. 'You been up to something, or just being singled out?"
Henry Laughed. I really det know. I'd booked myself a bed at the Club, and Mrs. Maitland had given me a nice corner room; then on Thursday I got a chit from Idy Dart asking me to stay with them during the Week. Personally. I'd uch rather be in the Club. on my own: much less suff 'You'd better watch out, Cockburn warned. When a fairly Junior manager like yousell. How much service have you put in, six years? No, nearer tve. I should say, since you haven't gone off on your second home leave yet. Well, as I was saying, when a relatively junior manager gets asked to stay with the Resident Director during the Chinnar Week, dammit, there's something brewing: definitely. Sort of thing that would give me the jumps. Usually, it means they want to keep you, sort of, under observa- tion-that is, if they suspect you have been going a little wild. Like Patterson, remember how he was for ever being asked to stay with the RD just before they terminated his contract? But knowing you.. my God anything less wild would be difficult to magme. wharf I say, they haven't got a hopeful in the house. have they? a niece or something they want to get matted off"
"Not that I know of.
"Perhaps one of the visiting people from home, they may have a filly on their hands Whatever it is I should keep my head. It can be jolly tucky, you know, they go for you with bared teeth"
The thought of a filly from England going for him with bated teeth made Henry laugh I'd be really surprised if they produced something like that in Chinar, of all places, something that was really capable of going to your head," he said. Then he added. 'Somie thing like that Miranda gul Cockburn laughed 'Well if Tinaput can produce someone like Ruby Muanda, there's no reason why Chinns with all its re sources, shouldn't do as well or better. Lord! If they really have someone on the hands might be bloody awkward keeping on the night side of Sudden md his memsahib and at the same ume repelling some desperate maiden they my he trotting out On the other hand, it might be quite exciting
'Not the sort of excitement that a young ind r ambitions planter should get himself mixed up with," said C aptam Cockbur And you can take that as coming from someone who has seen what happens to those who indulge in this kind of sport You keep to the Looe women md you never have any problems on your h mds as Sudden himself would be the first to advise you the since you happen to be a congenital lour snob acque something like what you saw last night, Ruby something or the other fede value for money and no complications safe as houses Have you tun by all means so long as you know it is fun."
As he ate tuned sausage, and fried potatoes in the railway reheshment 100m at Tapi, Henry Winton's thoughts went rac ing back to the previous night and to Ruby Manila He taught himself visualizing the stir amongst the planters' wives if he took someone like her to a Highlands Club dane But, of course, you could not expect to get away with anything like that, not in the Highlands Club, m fact it would be enough to get yourself black- balled u all the clubs in India The protocol was terribly strict on that sort of thing was as much as your job was worth Well, keep your head. Either Sudden is keeping you under ob- servation or Kitty's planning to unload some repulsive maiden on you. It's slaughter either way! Keep your head, and Cockburn's pebble-grey eyes sunrounded by wrinkles were dead serious as he said it (hinnai, six thousand odd feet above sea level, was the headquarters of the tea distuct That's where the Resident Directors of the three big tea companies lived, that's where the administrative offices were, that's when you yourself hoped to get towards the und of your service in India if you weren't too wild when you were young or too subdued when you wie middle aged, and if, of course, you had played the game according to the local rules all the Aay hadn t stepped on too many tor there were a formidable lot of 'ifs in the way of you ending up as a Resident Director. When he came to it hist, Chinna had seemed a little artificial to Hey Winton. like frosting on a cake placed permanently in the shop widow, a little too highly coloured a litle too ornate and eve catching mou aggressively and sell consiously English county than my place in England tell you could think of But gradually he had become used to (hirnas and grown to like it, accepting its salus without question sharing its tabous deeply aware that there ould be no other place in the world like Chinnar, grateful above all for its self conscious primness, its at of undefiled exclusiveness. Owned entuely by the three giant tea companies, Chianar was private as a Maharaja's preserve a vast, rolling playground in the mdst of some of the best hunting country in India Once you were in China, yuu were in a ffeint world, a cleaner and a richer world more raveled aloof sanitary world, a world of more in- tensified values where the black was always charcoal black and the white chalk white and there were very few shades in between, a world of rigid protocol and dressing for dinner and minding your P and Qs, a world also of tea and tennis afternoons and bridge parties with the buna sahibs' mensahibs and sedate, decorous, lunch parties and chamber music and once a-week dances, and pet- fumed, bare-shouldered, avid, aquiescent, middle-ageing women out-numbered three to one by the men and living in a permanent haze of male adoration For a man com.ng to Chinnai from the quantine of a far flung ter-gaden the place was almost guaranteed to go to his head You drove to Chinnar from the railhead at Tinapur on a smooth. company-owned tarmac toad that went snaking impudently through the hills in a series of hanpin bends, so narrow that you could not pass an oncoming car except at certam hxed points. Several times during the year, Chinar was cut off from Tinapur, and therefore from the outside world, by a landslide on a heavy fall of snow or even by the falling of a tree across the road, and once a cow elephant had held up the mail van for a whole day. But the management always saw to it that the road was never blocked for long, and it was almost unthinkable that any nushap to the road would be allowed to hold up traffic during the China Week.
"Sudden will raise Cam it they don't get it cleared overnight," Cockburn had said, and, sure enough, by the time their cars came to the place where there had been a landslide they had already got the road going. It semed that the foreman had had two groups working in alternate shifts all might, and the men were just about to break up looking gumy and pinched with the cold but very cheertul and grinning The pour astards, said Cockhun, and much to Henry's sur prise he called the nien up to him and cong itulated them. Then he rook out his wallet and handed two ten super notes to the foreman. Buy some um with that t lace you tea with. he said to the men. "and mind you don't get drunk and heat up you waves, and they cheered lustily as the tats passed through liens ould not help wishing that he had thought of rewarding the men like that It was a little different from saying please and thank you to them all the time Your service as a tea man began at China, that was where you went on first anal to make som mumber with your Resident Direction and to do the round of calling as prescribed by the calling hist put up on the notice board of the Highlands Club. After that first visit, you went as often as you could make st, normally every week end, and indeed, if you were not seen m Chinnar for more than two consecutive week ends, your RD would be likely to call for an explanation from you, and would make some sort of temark in your confidential book such as that you were inclined to be a little too retiring or that you did not altogether conform.
If Chinnar was in some ways the centre of the North-Western Assam tea-planter's world, the centre of Chinnar itself was the Highlands Club, part hotel, part sports club, a generously, even extravagantly subsidized institution maintained jointly by the three giants of the tea world so that their planters should not be deprived of what were regarded as the normal relaxations of an English way of life. For ten rupees a month, the Highlands Club offered you boating, trout fishing, cricket, golf, tennis, squash, clay pigeon shooting, and, of course, a whole variety of indoor games. You could live in the well appointed Club quarters and eat some of the best food in India and pay no more than five rupees a day, in- clusive of room tent The Club had accommodation for bfteen ouples and twice as many bachelors in its permanent buildings, and whenever there was a rush they used to put up a number of double fly tents on permanently built concrete platforms which had built-in brick fireplaces or their own, and which were just as comfortable as the pucka rooms No one was ever turned away. from the Highlands Club for want of accommodation that is, if you were a planter or an arceptable guest mtroduced by one of the members and of course all white The Highlands Club even had a neat row of brick and mortar dog kennels for the dogs of visiting membus From the Summit bar of the C1tb you could get a breath-taking view of the hills towards In apu, told upon told of dark green forest interspersed inevitably with crosstous patches of tea cult- vation making gulat css cross patterns on the hill sides The Summit bar was the mixed har the other bar was the men's bat where you could not take women 11on the mam dining serandas. you overlooked the artificial lake wheh gave the township its water supply its electiny its boa ag out fishing and even its water- tall Beyond the lake was the golf course, and still farther away. the expanse of man high wild grass dotted with carefully pre- served slumps of tices where the annu. tough shoot took place a day long drive for red angle cuck chukos, hac and three kinds of pheasant As far as Henry Wintert was concerned, the tough shoot was the high point of the Chinar Week 1fe had no illusions about his shooting, but he knew he was getting better and better. There was no reason why within a year or two, he should not make the Brindian shooting team, and then, who knows, with a bit of luck in the draw for the butts It was a giddy thought but, given
the night butts, he might just be able to bring it off A mile or so through the grass, on the downward slope of the hill, was the game cottage, the pride and speciality of Chinnar. Because of the fold in the hill, you could not actually see the game cottage from the Club itself, or even from the golf course, and in deed you had to get really close before you could see it because of the heavy camouflage
The game cottage of the Highlands Club was a sturdy wooden hut built high up in a tree, and it overlooked a patch of furest which had been converted into a combination of water-hole and salt luck The water hole was no more than a bed of ooze about the size of a tennis comt, but it was the only one of its kind within a mile. During the summer months, its wat died up altogether and the surface became hard and brittle, in the dues months, there was no reason for any of the wild animals in the vicinity to visit the par rcular patch of forest overlooked by the game cottage. The diffi culty had been neatly solved to attract game to its cottage, the management of the Club had provided an artificial silt lick How much rock salt how much jaggery, how many pounds of
powdered mohwa flowers and how much common Highlands earth went into the mixture that was assiduously poured over the wates hole every other week, was known only to the officials of the High lands Club They say that Jim Corbett had been called up to give advice, as well as one of the game wardens from Kenya The tact remains that the mustue was highly successful and the salt lick attracted game in quite implausible numbers throughout the year
You could almost bank on scemg a bison or twe and on a good night deer and wild pig and possibly a leopard or an elephant If you gave sufficient notice and were suficiently important in the tea world the Club could even produce a niger and twice once for Lord Haverdll the President of the Bandrinompany and mucc for the Governor of Assam, they had even laid on a demonstration of a tiger making a kill Any member of the Club could hire the game cortage for fiftren ruptes a night and for that price the Club included the use of an electric light fixed high up in the branches of the tree above the Lottage to simul ite an artificial moon. The Club also gave you a packet of sandwiches and a thermos flask of tea or coffee, and you reuld off with a book and a flashlight and spend the night in the cottage and obsse wild life in the hight of the artificial moon, or he in bed listening to the jungle sounds, knowing that there was no other human being within a mile. In no circumstances were you allowed to take a firearm with you; the Club was very strict on that point. Also, for three months in the year March to May, you were not permitted to smoke in the cottage, or indeed, to take up any matches with you. During the hotter months, the tall grass and the jungle surrounding the salt- lick became completely dry, and a carelessly dropped match or 4 cigarette end might well cause a forest hre.
The observation verandah ran all along one side of the cottage. and it had a long, comfortable, cushioned bench running its entire length That was where you sat to watch the game. From the verandah a short passage led to the open window at the back of the cottage where ope and pulley had been installed to bring up light luggage. On one side of the passage was the bedroom contain ing two nanow single beds Itke bunks ma railway sleeper On the other side was the bathroom
Once you were in the contags you were separated from the world as though transported to a different planet The neatest human habitation was Chinat, at least a mile and a halt away as the crow flew, you contact with the earth depended on two frail-looking Laddlers There was nothing but the jungle sound you, dark, and impenetrable Often when you were alone in the game cottage. you felt an overwhelming sense of awe your isolation heightened by the night, knowing that you could not get away, whatever happened, until sunrise the next morning.
