Regina Collegiate Institute - Souvenir Yearbook (Regina, Saskatchewan Canada)

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o A MAN OF PARTS It was in-the lounge of the Wanderers' Club. I was sitting in a little alcove sipping an aperitif preparatory to dining, and watching with interest the stream of bronzed, upright, distin- guished looking men, who were passing through the great room- I was new to the club at that time, you see-when a tall, rather stooped man of about fifty came and sat down in the chair next me. He ordered a drink, then, turning half around, gazed apathetically into the fire. After a moment's silence, I ventured some commonplace remark about the line weather we were enjoying at the time. H i s reply aroused my curiosity. Indeed? he said, I really hadn't noticed. Then, seeing the look of surprise on my face, he continued, I-I've never been the same, haven't taken any interest in life, so to speak, since that awful night, when-but I daresay you're not interested, and I am very sorry if -I seemed abrupt in answering you. Scenting a story, I hastened to assure him that, as I had no engagements, I should be delighted to hear his narrative if he would be kind enough to relate it. VVell, he commenced, to begin at the beginning, my name is Winslow, Rupert WVinslow, and at the time of which I am going to speak, I was agent for the East African Development Syndicate, at a little station three days' march from railhead, in the midst of the gloomiest, most desolate tract of jungle in all East Africa. There wasn't another white man in miles, and I got so lonely at times that I'd talk, sometimes for hours on end, to the girl on a calendar I'd tacked to the wall of my bedroom. You can imagine that, under such circumstances as those, any little bit of excitement that came along was hailed as a blessing sent straight from Heaven. Well, to get along with my yarn, one day my 'boy' rushed in, in a state of great excitement, to tell me of a black leopard which had been seen, so the natives said, at a village about seven miles up-country. Gf course, as soon as I got wind of such a rarity as this black leopard, nothing would do but I must try to obtain the skin to send home. Business being slack, I determined to set out next day and, accordingly, we, my gun-bearer, two porters and myself, were on our way early the following morning. We did not arrive at the village till nearly nightfall-travel is slow in the jungle, you know-and so I decided to do nothing until the next day, giving orders, however, for a machan to be constructed in readiness for my stalk the following night. During the night I was awakened by a most infernal din, and on making inquiries in the morning, found that our dusky 35

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practically no experience. In addition to these competitions, a team was entered at the Provincial Rifle Meet, held during July. One member of this team, Cadet Garfield Mclnnis, was also chosen as a member of the Provincial Rifle Team which went to Ottawa, where Cadet Mcinnis was very successful. During the year several gold, silver and bronze pins, issued by the Dominion Cartridge Company for proficiency in shooting, were won by Club members. Strathcona medals were won by Jack Anstis and Luther Fritz and D.R.A. marksmanship medals by J. Anstis, G. Spooner, H. Hettle, G. Wood and F. Arnold. The team for 1923 consists of the following boys: G. Spooner, H. Duckett, T. Helstrom, J. Anstis, J. Kohlruss, S. Brodie, F. Arnold CCaptainD, H. Heggie, H. Hettle, A. Little, G. McIntosh, R. Dupuis and G. Cross QSpareJ. -FLORENT ARNOLD. Back Row-K. lNIclX1illan, J. Peart, R. Gordon, G. Spooner, G. Howe. 3rd Row-J. G. Eadie Clnstructorj, hi. lNIcMullon, J. Cross, G. Erskine, J. Littlehalcs, E. Brotman, W. McE1moyle. 2nd Row-P. Carpenter, F. Greirrley, C. Gorrell, O. Dutton QO.C.D, F. Arnold, J. McCallum, A. Swanston. Front Row-E. Glover, J. Kelly, C. Edwards. 34

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friend had had the audacity to carry off a child from an outlying hut 5 he must have been hard pressed by hunger to have done such a thing, for gentlemen of his ilk usually have a profound respect for man, and all his ways. In fact, I was extremely sceptical as to its having been the same beast at all, but the child's parents were firm in their assertion that they had been awakened by the child's scream, and had opened their eyes just in time to see a monstrous black shape bound across the com- pound and scale the zareba, or thorn fence, the child dangling from its jaws. You can imagine that, determined as I had been before, I was now doubly desirous of killing the beast, and I set out at dusk for my machan, where a kid had been tethered during the day as a lure for the brute, fully determined to have a shot at him if I had to sit up all night. I was accompanied by my gun- bearer and an old native named M'Bonga, who was to guide us to the machan, and then return to the villagef We wound in and out through the maze of undergrowth in perfect silence, broken only by the occasional snap of a twig under my boot, or the drip of moisture from the leaves overhead. Gradually I became immersed in thought, walking along and mechanically brushing aside the Creepers which obstructed 1ny passage. Suddenly I came to the realization that I was alone! In my abstraction I had not kept to the narrow trail my comf' panions were following, but had wandered off down one of the innumerable game-paths which intersected it. In vain I shouted 5 the sound rolled back from the surrounding wall of verdure as from the bottom of a well. I became panic-stricken, as a man will under strange and terrifying conditions, and commenced wildly to force my way through the tangle of jungle growth. But already it was too dark to see the path beneath my feet 5 the thorns cut my body cruelly, the creeping plants tripped my blundering feet. Anything, I thought, was preferable to spending the night alone, in the 'midst of unknown dangers. At last I came upon a little clearing, formed, perhaps, by the fall of some giant of the forest. With a shout of joy I rushed forward, hoping now to get my bearings from the stars. Suddenly the earth melted under me, and I was precipitated into a pit, such as the natives dig to snare large animals. Luckily for me I did not fall squarely upon any of the stakes with which the bottom of the pit was set, but I bear to this day the mark of one jagged sliver of bamboo which slashed my arm from.wrist to elbow. He pulled back his cuff over his forearm, and disclosed a frightful scar, livid and puckered, seared deep into the flesh. For a moment I lay, stunned by the fall. Then, as my mind cleared, I was aware of a pair of eyes, like glowing coals, which 36