"the-daughter-of-the-regiment" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kipling Rudyard)

'"McKenna, me man!" she sez, wid a voice on her like grand-roun's
challenge, "tell the bhoys to be quiet. Ould Pummeloe's comin' to look
afther thim- wid free dhrinks."
'Thin we cheered, an' the cheerin' in the lines was louder than
the noise av the poor divils wid the sickness on thim. But not much.
'You see, we was a new an' raw rigimint in those days, an' we cud
make neither head nor tail av the sickness; an' so we was useless. The
men was goin' roun' an' about like dumb sheep, waitin' for the nex'
man to fall over, an' sayin' undher their spache, "Fwhat is ut? In the
name av God, ®fwhatЇ is ut?" 'Twas horrible. But through ut all, up
an' down, an' down an' up, wint Ould Pummeloe an' little Jhansi- all
we cud see av the baby, undher a dead man's helmut wid the
chin-strap swingin' about her little stummick- up an' down wid the
wather an' fwhat brandy there was.
'Now an' thin Ould Pummeloe, the tears runnin' down her fat, red
face, sez, "Me bhoys, me poor, dead, darlin' bhoys!" But, for the
most, she was thryin' to put heart into the men an' kape thim
stiddy; and little Jhansi was tellin' thim all they wud be "betther in
the mornin'." 'Twas a thrick she'd picked up from hearin' Ould
Pummeloe whin Muttra was burnin' out wid fever. In the mornin'!
'Twas the iverlastin' mornin' at St. Pether's Gate was the mornin' for
siven-an'-twenty good men; and twenty more was sick to the death in
that bitter, burnin' sun. But the women worked like angils as I've
said, an'the men like divils, till two doctors come down from above,
and we was rescued.
{DAUGHTER_OF_THE_REGIMENT ^paragraph 30}
'But, just before that, Ould Pummeloe, on her knees over a bhoy in
my squad- right-cot man to me he was in the barrick- tellin' him the
worrud av the Church that niver failed a man yet, sez, "Hould me up,
bhoys! I'm feelin' bloody sick!" 'Twas the sun, not the cholera, did
ut. She misremembered she was only wearin' her ould black bonnet,
an' she died wid "McKenna, me man," houldin' her up, an' the bhoys
howled whin they buried her.
'That night, a big wind blew, an' blew, an' blew, an' blew the tents
flat. But it blew the cholera away an' niver another case there was
all the while we was waitin'- ten days in quarantin'. Av you will
belave me, the thrack av the sickness in the camp was for all the
wurruld the thrack av a man walkin' four times in a figur-av-eight
through the tents. They say 'tis the Wandherin' Jew takes the
cholera wid him. I believe ut.
'An' ®thatЇ,' said Mulvaney, illogically, 'is the cause why little
Jhansi McKenna is fwhat she is. She was brought up by the
Quartermaster Sergeant's wife whin McKenna died, but she b'longs to
B Comp'ny; and this tale I'm tellin' you- ®widЇ a proper
appreciashin av Jhansi McKenna- I've belted into ivry recruity av
the Comp'ny as he was drafted. 'Faith, 'twas me belted Corp'ril
Slane into askin' the girl!'
'Not really?'
'Man, I did! She's no beauty to look at, but she's Ould Pummeloe's
daughter, an' 'tis my juty to provide for her. Just before Slane got