PAGE 15
The Man Who Would Be King
by
“I wont make a Nation, says he. Ill make an Empire!These men arent niggers; theyre English!Look at their eyeslook at their mouths. Look at the way they stand up. They sit on chairs in their own houses. Theyre the Lost Tribes, or something like it, and theyve grown to be English. Ill take a census in the spring if the priests dont get frightened. There must be a fair two million of em in these hills. The villages are full o little children. Two million peopletwo hundred and fifty thousand fighting menand all English!They only want the rifles and a little drilling. Two hundred and fifty thousand men, ready to cut in on Russias right flank when she tries for India!Peachey, man, he says, chewing his bard in great hunks, we shall be EmperorsEmperors of the Earth!Rajah Brooke will be a suckling to us. Ill treat with the Viceroy on equal terms. Ill ask him to send me twelve picked Englishto help us govern a bit. Theres Mackray, Sergeant-pensioner at Segowlimanys the good dinner hes given me, and his wife a pair of trousers. Theres Donkin, the Warder of Tounghoo Jail; theres hundreds that I could lay my hands on if I was in India. The Viceroy shall do it for me. Ill send a man through in the spring for those men, and Ill write for a dispensation from the Grand Lodge for what Ive done as Grand-Master. Thatand all the Sniders thatll be thrown out when the native troops in India take up the Martini. Theyll be worn smooth, but theyll do for fighting in these hills. Twelve English, a hundred thousand Sniders run through the Amirs country in dribletsId be content with twenty thousand in one yearand wed be an Empire. When everything was shipshape Id hand over the crownthis crown that Im wearing nowto Queen Victoria on my knees, and shed say: Rise up, Sir Daniel Dravot. Oh, its big!Its big, I tell you!But theres so much to be done in every placeBashkai, Khawak, Shu, and everywhere else.
What is it? I says. There are no more men coming in to be drilled this autumn. Look at those fat, black clouds. Theyre bringing the snow.
It isnt that, says Daniel, putting his hand very hard on my shoulder; and I dont wish to say anything thats against you, for no other living man would have followed me and made me what I am as you have done. Youre a first-class Commander-in-Chief, and the people know you, butits a big country, and somehow you cant help me, Peachey, in the way I want to be helped.
Go to your blasted priests, then! I said, and I was sorry when I made that remark, but it did hurt me sore to find Daniel talking so superior when Id drilled all the men, and done all he told me.
Dont lets quarrel, Peachey, says Daniel without cursing. Youre a King too, and the half of this Kingdom is yours; but cant you see, Peachey, we want cleverer men than us nowthree or four of em, that we can scatter about for our Deputies. Its a hugeous great State, and I cant always tell the right thing to do, and I havent time for all I want to do, and heres the winter coming on and all. He put half his beard into his mouth, all red like the gold of his crown.
Im sorry, Daniel, says I. Ive done all I could. Ive drilled the men and shown the people how to stack their oats better; and Ive brought in those tinware rifles from Ghorbandbut I know what youre driving at. I take it Kings always feel oppressed that way.