Classic Poem

"An officer and a gentleman."


His full name was Percival William Williams, but he picked up the
other name in a nursery-book, and that was the end of the christened
titles. His mother's ayah called him Willie-Baba, but as he never paid
the faintest attention to anything that the ayah said, her wisdom did
not help matters.

His father was the Colonel of the 195th, and as soon as Wee Willie
Winkie was old enough to understand what Military Discipline meant,
Colonel Williams put him under it. There was no other way of managing
the child. When he was good for a week, he drew good-conduct pay; and
when he was bad, he was deprived of his good-conduct-stripe. Generally
he was bad, for India offers so many chances to little six-year-olds
of going wrong.

Children resent familiarity from strangers, and Wee Willie Winkie was
a very particular child. Once he accepted an acquaintance, he was
graciously pleased to thaw. He accepted Brandis, a subaltern of the
195th, on sight. Brandis was having tea at the Colonel's, and Wee
Willie Winkie entered, strong in the possession of a good-conduct
badge won for not chasing the hens round the compound. He regarded
Brandis with gravity for at least ten minutes, and then delivered
himself of his opinion.

"I like you," said he slowly, getting off his chair and coming over to
Brandis. "I like you. I shall call you Coppy, because of your hair. Do
you mind being called Coppy? It is because of ve hair, you know."

Here was one of the most embarrassing of Wee Willie Winkie's
peculiarities. He would look at a stranger for some time, and then,
without warning or explanation, would give him a name. And the name
stuck. No regimental penalties could break Wee Willie Winkie of this
habit. He lost his good-conduct badge for christening the
Commissioner's wife "Pobs"; but nothing that the Colonel could do made
the Station forego the nickname, and Mrs. Collen remained Mrs. "Pobs"
till the end of her stay. So Brandis was christened "Coppy," and rose,
therefore, in the estimation of the regiment.

If Wee Willie Winkie took an interest in anyone, the fortunate man was
envied alike by the mess and the rank and file. And in their envy lay
no suspicion of self-interest. "The Colonel's son" was idolized on his
own merits entirely. Yet Wee Willie Winkie was not lovely. His face
was permanently freckled, as his legs were permanently scratched, and
in spite of his mother's almost tearful remonstrances he had insisted
upon having his long yellow locks cut short in the military fashion.
"I want my hair like Sergeant Tummil's," said Wee Willie Winkie, and,
his father abetting, the sacrifice was accomplished.

Three weeks after the bestowal of his youthful affections on
Lieutenant Brandis--henceforward to be called "Coppy" for the sake of
brevity--Wee Willie Winkie was destined to behold strange things and
far beyond his comprehension.

Coppy returned his liking with interest. Coppy had let him wear for
five rapturous minutes his own big sword--just as tall as Wee Willie
Winkie. Coppy had promised him a terrier puppy; and Coppy had
permitted him to witness the miraculous operation of shaving. Nay,
more--Coppy had said that even he, Wee Willie Winkie, would rise in
time to the ownership of a box of shiny knives, a silver soap-box and
a silver-handled "sputter-brush," as Wee Willie Winkie called it.
Decidedly, there was no one, except his father, who could give or take
away good-conduct badges at pleasure, half so wise, strong, and
valiant as Coppy with the Afghan and Egyptian medals on his breast.
Why, then, should Coppy be guilty of the unmanly weakness of
kissing--vehemently kissing--a "big girl," Miss Allardyce to wit? In
the course of a morning ride, Wee Willie Winkie had seen Coppy so
doing, and, like the gentleman he was, had promptly wheeled round and
cantered back to his groom, lest the groom should also see.

Under ordinary circumstances he would have spoken to his father, but
he felt instinctively that this was a matter on which Coppy ought
first to be consulted.

"Coppy," shouted Wee Willie Winkie, reining up outside that
subaltern's bungalow early one morning--"I want to see you, Coppy!"

"Come in, young 'un," returned Coppy, who was at early breakfast in
the midst of his dogs. "What mischief have you been getting into now?"

Wee Willie Winkie had done nothing notoriously bad for three days, and
so stood on a pinnacle of virtue.

"I've been doing nothing bad," said he, curling himself into a long
chair with a studious affectation of the Colonel's langour after a hot
parade. He buried his freckled nose in a tea-cup and, with eyes
staring roundly over the rim, asked: "I say, Coppy, is it pwoper to
kiss big girls?"

"By Jove! You're beginning early. Who do you want to kiss?"

"No one. My muvver's always kissing me if I don't stop her. If it is
n't pwoper, how was you kissing Major Allardyce's big girl last
morning, by ve canal?"

Coppy's brow wrinkled. He and Miss Allardyce had with great craft
managed to keep their engagement secret for a fortnight. There were
urgent and imperative reasons why Major Allardyce should not know how
matters stood for at least another month, and this small marplot had
discovered a great deal too much.

"I saw you," said Wee Willie Winkle calmly. "But ve groom did n't see.
I said, 'Hut jao.'"

"Oh, you had that much sense, you young Rip," groaned poor Coppy, half
amused and half angry. "And how many people may you have told about
it?"

"Only me myself. You did n't tell when I twied to wide ve buffalo ven
my pony was lame; and I fought you would n't like."

"Winkie," said Coppy enthusiastically, shaking the small hand, "you're
the best of good fellows. Look here, you can't understand all these
things. One of these days--hang it, how can I make you see it!--I'm
going to marry Miss Allardyce, and then she'll be Mrs. Coppy, as you
say. If your young mind is so scandalized at the idea of kissing big
girls, go and tell your father."

"What will happen?" said Wee Willie Winkie, who firmly believed that
his father was omnipotent.

"I shall get into trouble," said Coppy, playing his trump card with
an appealing look at the holder of the ace.

"Ven I won't," said Wee Willie Winkie briefly. "But my faver says it's
un-man-ly to be always kissing, and I did n't fink you'd do vat,
Coppy."

"I'm not always kissing, old chap. It's only now and then, and when
you're bigger you'll do it too. Your father meant it's not good for
little boys."

"Ah!" said Wee Willie Winkle, now fully enlightened. "It's like ve
sputter-brush?"

"Exactly," said Coppy gravely.

"But I don't fink I'll ever want to kiss big girls, nor no one, 'cept
my muvver. And I must vat, you know."

There was a long pause, broken by Wee Willie Winkie.

"Are you fond of vis big girl, Coppy?"

"Awfully!" said Coppy.

"Fonder van you are of Bell or ve Butcha--or me?"

"It's in a different way," said Coppy. "You see, one of these days
Miss Allardyce will belong to me, but you'll grow up and command the
Regiment and--all sorts of things. It's quite different, you see."

"Very well," said Wee Willie Winkie, rising. "If you're fond of ve big
girl, I won't tell anyone. I must go now."

Coppy rose and escorted his small guest to the door, adding: "You're
the best of little fellows, Winkie. I tell you what. In thirty days
from now you can tell if you like--tell anyone you like."

Thus the secret of the Brandis-Allardyce engagement was dependent on a
little child's word. Coppy, who knew Wee Willie Winkie's idea of
truth, was at ease, for he felt that he would not break promises. Wee
Willie Winkie betrayed a special and unusual interest in Miss
Allardyce, and, slowly revolving round that embarrassed young lady,
was used to regard her gravely with unwinking eye. He was trying to
discover why Coppy should have kissed her. She was not half so nice as
his own mother. On the other hand she was Coppy's property, and would
in time belong to him. Therefore it behooved him to treat her with as
much respect as Coppy's big sword or shiny pistol.

The idea that he shared a great secret in common with Coppy kept Wee
Willie Winkie unusually virtuous for three weeks. Then the Old Adam
broke out, and he made what he called a "camp-fire" at the bottom of
the garden. How could he have foreseen that the flying sparks would
have lighted the Colonel's little hay-rick and consumed a week's store
for the horses? Sudden and swift was the punishment--deprivation of
the good-conduct badge and, most sorrowful of all, two days'
confinement to barracks--the house and veranda--coupled with the
withdrawal of the light of his father's countenance.

He took the sentence like the man he strove to be, drew himself up
with a quivering under-lip, saluted, and, once clear of the room, ran
to weep bitterly in his nursery--called by him "my quarters." Coppy
came in the afternoon and attempted to console the culprit.

"I'm under awwest," said Wee Willie Winkie mournfully, "and I did n't
ought to speak to you."

Very early the next morning he climbed on to the roof of the
house--that was not forbidden--and beheld Miss Allardyce going for a
ride.

"Where are you going?" cried Wee Willie Winkie.

"Across the river," she answered, and trotted forward.

Now the cantonment in which the 195th lay was bounded on the north by
a river--dry in the winter. From his earliest years, Wee Willie Winkie
had been forbidden to go across the river, and had noted that even
Coppy--the almost almighty Coppy--had never set foot beyond it. Wee
Willie Winkie had once been read to, out of a big blue book, the
history of the Princess and the Goblins--a most wonderful tale of a
land where the Goblins were always warring with the children of men
until they were defeated by one Curdie. Ever since that date it seemed
to him that the bare black and purple hills across the river were
inhabited by Goblins, and, in truth, everyone had said that there
lived the Bad Men. Even in his own house the lower halves of the
windows were covered with green paper on account of the Bad Men who
might, if allowed clear view, fire into peaceful drawing-rooms and
comfortable bedrooms. Certainly, beyond the river, which was the end
of all the Earth, lived the Bad Men. And here was Major Allardyce's
big girl, Coppy's property, preparing to venture into their borders!
What would Coppy say if anything happened to her? If the Goblins ran
off with her as they did with Curdie's Princess? She must at all
hazards be turned back.

The house was still. Wee Willie Winkie reflected for a moment on the
very terrible wrath of his father; and then--broke his arrest! It was
a crime unspeakable. The low sun threw his shadow, very large and very
black, on the trim garden-paths, as he went down to the stables and
ordered his pony. It seemed to him in the hush of the dawn that all
the big world had been bidden to stand still and look at Wee Willie
Winkie guilty of mutiny. The drowsy groom handed him his mount, and
since the one great sin made all others insignificant, Wee Willie
Winkie said that he was going to ride over to Coppy Sahib, and went
out at a foot-pace, stepping on the soft mould of the flower-borders.

The devastating track of the pony's feet was the last misdeed that cut
him off from all sympathy of Humanity. He turned into the road, leaned
forward, and rode as fast as the pony could put foot to the ground in
the direction of the river.

But the liveliest of twelve-two ponies can do little against the long
canter of a Waler. Miss Allardyce was far ahead, had passed through
the crops, beyond the Police-post, when all the guards were asleep,
and her mount was scattering the pebbles of the river bed as Wee
Willie Winkie left the cantonment and British India behind him. Bowed,
forward and still flogging, Wee Willie Winkie shot into Afghan
territory, and could just see Miss Allardyce a black speck, flickering
across the stony plain. The reason of her wandering was simple enough.
Coppy, in a tone of too-hastily-assumed authority, had told her over
night that she must not ride out by the river. And she had gone to
prove her own spirit and teach Coppy a lesson.

Almost at the foot of the inhospitable hills Wee Willie Winkie saw the
Waler blunder and come down heavily. Miss Allardyce struggled clear,
but her ankle had been severely twisted, and she could not stand.
Having thus demonstrated her spirit, she wept copiously, and was
surprised by the apparition of a white, wide-eyed child in khaki, on a
nearly spent pony.

"Are you badly, badly hurted?" shouted Wee Willie Winkie, as soon as
he was within range. "You did n't ought to be here."

"I don't know," said Miss Allardyce ruefully ignoring the reproof.
"Good gracious, child, what are you doing here?"

"You said you was going acwoss ve wiver," panted Wee Willie Winkie,
throwing himself off his pony. "And nobody--not even Coppy--must go
acwoss ve wiver, and I came after you ever so hard, but you would n't
stop, and now you 've hurted yourself, and Coppy will be angry wiv me,
and--I've bwoken my awwest! I've bwoken my awwest!"

The future Colonel of the 195th sat down and sobbed. In spite of the
pain in her ankle the girl was moved.

"Have you ridden all the way from cantonments, little man? What for?"

"You belonged to Coppy. Coppy told me so!" wailed Wee Willie Winkie
disconsolately. "I saw him kissing you, and he said he was fonder of
you van Bell or ve Butcha or me. And so I came. You must get up and
come back. You did n't ought to be here. Vis is a bad place, and I 've
bwoken my awwest."

"I can't move, Winkie," said Miss Allardyce, with a groan. "I've hurt
my foot. What shall I do?"

She showed a readiness to weep afresh which steadied Wee Willie
Winkie, who had been brought up to believe that tears were the depth
of unmanliness. Still, when one is as great a sinner as Wee Willie
Winkie, even a man may be permitted to break down.

"Winkie," said Miss Allardyce, "when you've rested a little, ride back
and tell them to send out something to carry me back in. It hurts
fearfully."

The child sat still for a little time and Miss Allardyce closed her
eyes; the pain was nearly making her faint. She was roused by Wee
Willie Winkie tying up the reins on his pony's neck and setting it
free with a vicious cut of his whip that made it whicker. The little
animal headed toward the cantonments.

"Oh, Winkie! What are you doing?"

"Hush!" said Wee Willie Winkie. "Vere's a man coming--one of ve Bad
Men. I must stay wiv you. My faver says a man must always look after a
girl. Jack will go home, and ven vey 'll come and look for us. Vat 's
why I let him go."

Not one man, but two or three, had appeared from behind the rocks of
the hills, and the heart of Wee Willie Winkie sank within him, for
just in this manner were the Goblins wont to steal out and vex
Curdie's soul. Thus had they played in Curdie's garden, he had seen
the picture, and thus had they frightened the Princess's nurse. He
heard them talking to each other, and recognized with joy the bastard
Pushto that he had picked up from one of his father's grooms lately
dismissed. People who spoke that tongue could not be the Bad Men. They
were only natives, after all.

They came up to the boulders on which Miss Allardyce's horse had
blundered.

Then rose from the rock Wee Willie Winkie, child of the Dominant Race,
aged six and three-quarters, and said briefly and emphatically "Jao!"
The pony had crossed the river-bed.

The men laughed, and laughter from natives was the one thing Wee
Willie Winkie could not tolerate. He asked them what they wanted and
why they did not depart. Other men with most evil faces and
crooked-stocked guns crept out of the shadows of the hills, till,
soon, Wee Willie Winkie was face to face with an audience some twenty
strong. Miss Allardyce screamed.

"Who are you?" said one of the men.

"I am the Colonel Sahib's son, and my order is that you go at once.
You black men are frightening the Miss Sahib. One of you must run into
cantonments and take the news that the Miss Sahi