To begin with, I bought him, his vices6 thick as his barsati, for a hundred and seventy[Pg 100] rupees, a five-chambered, muzzle7-loading revolver, and a Cawnpore saddle.
"Of course, for that price," said Staveley, "you can't expect everything. He's not what one would call absolutely sound, y' know, but there's no end of work in him, and if you only give him the butt8 he'll go like a steam-engine."
"Staveley," I answered, "when you admit that he is not perfection I perceive that I am in for a really Good Thing. Don't hurt your conscience, Staveley. Tell me what is his chief vice—weakness, partiality—anything you choose to call it. I shall get to know the minor9 defects in the course of nature; but what is Tiglath's real shouk?"
Staveley reflected a moment. "Well, really, I can't quite say, old man, straight off the reel, y' know. He's a oner to go when his head's turned to home. He's a regular feeder, and vaseline will cure that little eruption"—with its malignant10 barsati—"in no time. Oh, I forgot his shouk: I don't know exactly how to describe it, but he yaws a good deal," said Staveley.
[Pg 101]
"He how muches?" I asked.
"Yaws," said Staveley; "goes a bit wide upon occasions, but a good coachwan will cure that in one drive. My man let him do what he liked. One fifty and a hundred, ten and ten is twenty—one-seventy. Many thanks, indeed. I'll send over his bedding and ropes. He's a powerful upstanding horse, though rather picked up just at present."
Staveley departed, and I was left alone with Tiglath. I called him Tiglath because he resembled a lathy pig. Later on I called him Pileser on account of his shouk; but my coachwan, a strong, masterless man, called him "haramzada chor, shaitan ké bap" and "oont ki beta." He certainly was a powerful horse, being full fifteen-two at the withers11, with the girth of a waler, and at first the docility12 of an Arab. There was something wrong with his feet—permanently—but he was a considerate beast, and never had more than one leg in hospital at a time. The other three were still movable, and Tiglath never grudged13 them in my service. I write this in justice to his mem[Pg 102]ory; the creaking of the wheels of the municipal cart being still in my ears.
For a season—some twelve days—Tiglath was beyond reproach. He had not a cheerful disposition14, nor did his pendulous15 underlip add to his personal beauty; but he made no complaints, and moved swiftly to and from office. The hot weather gave place to the cool breezes of October, and with the turn of the year the slumbering16 devil in the soul of Tiglath spread its wings and crowed aloud. I fed him well, I had aided his barsati, I had lapped his lame17 legs in thanda putties, and adorned18 his sinful body with new harness. He rewarded me upon a day with an exhibition so new and strange that I feared for the moment his reason had been unhinged. Slowly, with a malevolent19 grin, Tiglath, the pampered20, turned at right angles to the carriage—a newly-varnished one—and backed the front wheels up the verandah steps, letting them down with a bump. He then wheeled round and round in the portico21, and all but brought the carriage over. The[Pg 103] show lasted for ten minutes, at the end of which time he trotted22 peacefully away.
I was pained and grieved—nothing more, upon my honour. I forbade the sais to kick Tiglath in the stomach, for I was persuaded that the harness galled23 him, and, in this belief, at the end of the day, undressed him tenderly and fitted sheepskin all over the said harness. Tiglath ate the sheepskin next day, and I did not renew it.
A week later I met the Judge. It was a purely24 accidental interview. I would have avoided it, as the Judge and I did not love each other, but the shafts26 of my carriage were through the circular front of his brougham, and Tiglath was rubbing the boss of his headstall tenderly against the newly-varnished panels of the same. The Judge complained that he might have been impaled27 as he sat. My coachwan declared on oath that the horse deliberately28 ran into the brougham. Tiglath tendered no evidence, and I began to mistrust him.
At the end of a month I perceived that my friends and acquaintances avoided me marked[Pg 104]ly. The appearance of Tiglath at the band-stand was enough to clear a space of ten yards in my immediate29 neighbourhood. I had to shout to my friends from afar, and they shouted back the details of the little bills which I had to pay their coach-builders. Tiglath was suffering from carriagecidal mania30, and the coachwan had asked for leave. "Stay with me, Ibrahim," I said. "Thou seest how the sahib log do now avoid us. Get a new and a stout31 chabuq, and instruct Tiglath in the paths of straight walking."
"He will smash the Heaven-born's carriage. He is an old and stale devil, but in this matter extreme wise," answered Ibrahim. "Kitto sahib's filton hath he smashed, and Burkitt sahib's brougham gharri, and another tum-tum, and Staveley sahib's carriage is still being mended. What profit is this horse? He feigns32 blindness and much fear, and in the guise33 of innocency34 works evil. I will stay, sahib, but the blood of this thy new carriage be upon the brute's head and not upon mine own."
I have no space to describe the war of the[Pg 105] next few weeks. Foiled in his desire to ruin only neighbours' property, Tiglath fell back literally35, upon his own—my carriage. He tried the verandah step trick till he bent36 the springs, and wheeled round till the turning action grew red-hot; he scraped stealthily by walls; he performed between heavy-laden bullock-trains, but his chief delight was a pas de fantasie on a dark night and a high, level road. Yet what he did he did staidly and without heat, as without remorse37. He was vetted38 thrice, and his eyes were pronounced sound. After this information I laid my bones to the battle, and acquired a desperate facility of leaping from the carriage and kicking Tiglath on the stomach as soon as he wheeled around; leaping back at the risk of my life when he set off at full speed. I pressed the lighted end of a cheroot just behind the collar-buckle; I applied39 fusees to those flaccid nostrils40, and I beat him about the head with a stick continually. It was necessary, but it was also demoralising. A year of Tiglath would have converted me into a cold-blooded vivisection[Pg 106]ist, or a native bullock-driver. Each day I took stock of the injuries to my carriage. I had long since given up all hope of keeping it in decent repair; and each day I devised fresh torments41 for Tiglath.
He never meant to injure himself, I am certain, and no one was more astonished than he when he backed on the Balumon road, and dropped the carriage into a nullah on the night of the Jamabundi Moguls' dance. I did not go to the dance. I was bent considerably42, and one side of the coachwan's face was flayed43. When he had pieced the wreck44 together, he only said, "Sahib!" and I said only "Bohat acha." But we each knew what the other meant. Next morn Tiglath was stiff and strained. I gave him time to recover and to enjoy life. When I heard him squealing45 to the grass-cutter's ponies46 I knew that the hour had come. I ordered the carriage, and myself superintended the funeral toilet of Tiglath. His harness brasses47 shone like gold, his coat like a bottle, and he lifted his feet daintily. Had he even then, at the eleventh hour, given prom[Pg 107]ise of amendment48, I should have held my hand. But as I entered the carriage I saw the hunching49 of his quarters that presaged50 trouble. "Go forward, Tiglath, my love, my pride, my delight," I murmured. "For a surety it is a matter of life and death this day." The sais ran to his head with a fragment of chupatti, saved from his all too scanty51 rations52; the man loved him. And Tiglath swung round to the left in the portico; round and round swung he, till the near ear touched the muzzle of the shot-gun that waited its coming. He never flinched53; he pressed his fate. The coachwan threw down the reins54 as, with four ounces of No. 5 shot behind the hollow of the root of the ear, Tiglath fell. In his death he accomplished55 the desire of his life, for he fell upon the shaft25 and broke it into three pieces. I looked on him as he lay, and of a sudden the reason of the horror in his eyes was made clear. Tiglath, the breaker of carriages, the strong, the rebellious56, had passed into the shadowy spirit land, where there was nought57 to destroy and no power to destroy it with. The ghastly fore[Pg 108]-knowledge of the flitting soul was written on the glazing58 eyeball.
I repented59 me, then, that I had slain60 Tiglath, for I had no intention of punishing him in the hereafter.
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1
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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2
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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3
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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4
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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5
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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6
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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7
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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9
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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10
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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11
withers
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| 马肩隆 | |
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12
docility
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| n.容易教，易驾驶，驯服 | |
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13
grudged
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| 怀恨（grudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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14
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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15
pendulous
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| adj.下垂的；摆动的 | |
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16
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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18
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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19
malevolent
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| adj.有恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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20
pampered
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| adj.饮食过量的，饮食奢侈的v.纵容，宠，娇养( pamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
portico
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| n.柱廊，门廊 | |
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22
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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23
galled
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| v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 )；擦伤；烦扰；侮辱 | |
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24
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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26
shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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27
impaled
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| 钉在尖桩上( impale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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29
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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30
mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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32
feigns
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| 假装，伪装( feign的第三人称单数 )； 捏造（借口、理由等） | |
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33
guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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34
innocency
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| 无罪，洁白 | |
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35
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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36
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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37
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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38
vetted
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| v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的过去式和过去分词 )；调查；检查；诊疗 | |
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39
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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40
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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41
torments
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| （肉体或精神上的）折磨，痛苦( torment的名词复数 )； 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
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42
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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43
flayed
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| v.痛打( flay的过去式和过去分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评 | |
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44
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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45
squealing
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
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46
ponies
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| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
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47
brasses
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| n.黄铜( brass的名词复数 )；铜管乐器；钱；黄铜饰品（尤指马挽具上的黄铜圆片） | |
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48
amendment
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| n.改正，修正，改善，修正案 | |
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49
hunching
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| 隆起（hunch的现在分词形式） | |
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50
presaged
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| v.预示，预兆( presage的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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52
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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53
flinched
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| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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55
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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56
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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57
nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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58
glazing
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| n.玻璃装配业；玻璃窗；上釉；上光v.装玻璃( glaze的现在分词 )；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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59
repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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