Panther Squadron by Richard Townshend Bickers

Author:Richard Townshend Bickers [Richard Townshend Bickers]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2015-04-20T23:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

Quinton, grudgingly having allowed the adjutant to corner him in his office and trap him into dealing with some unavoidable desk work, heard a jeep approaching and, anything to desist for a moment from the boredom of administration, went to the window of the basha hut.

The jeep carried two passengers and a pile of luggage that looked enough for twice as many. Next to the driver sat a tall, moustached Indian in well starched and pressed khaki drill with the thin black and blue braids of pilot officer rank on the epaulettes. Behind was another Indian, with a luxuriant moustache and forked beard, wearing a white tunic, slacks and turban. Across the front of the latter was a saffron and purple riband bearing some indistinguishable insignia. There was a matching sash across his chest from the right shoulder to left hip. When the jeep stopped and the servant leaped out, Quinton saw that the insignia on his turban was the panther of Putthapur, in gold.

He went back to his desk. When, presently, the adjutant came in and said, “Newly posted officer, sir. P.O. the Maharaj Kumar Pratap Mahindra. Prince Mahindra, I suppose we’ll have to call him.”

“The other ranks will, not the officers.”

“Will you see him, sir?”

“Tell him to report to me in half an hour.”

“Shall I take him to the mess, sir?”

“Send him, like anyone else. He seems to have brought his own bearer.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Can we take an extra bod on the ration strength? I don’t like these unofficial, supernumerary bods.”

A bizarre objection, coming from the C.O., thought the adj. He had never known anyone make so many unofficial arrangements in his whole service.

“We don’t have to, sir. Prince ... er ... P.O. Mahindra says he’ll buy and cook his own rations in the local basti.”

“I don’t like the sound of this at all, Adj. I’ll have to think about it. Mahindra will be entitled to a share in a batman like any other P.O. What more does he want?”

“Well ... it is usual for people in his position to go everywhere with their own personal servants, sir. We’re lucky he’s brought only one.”

The well-known Quinton stare greeted this and the adjutant shuffled his feet.

After a pause: “He’ll have to share a tent like anyone else.”

“Of course, sir.”

“He hasn’t got a private marquee in that mountain of luggage that’s flattening the jeep’s springs, by any chance?”

The adjutant grinned. “I’ll check, sir.”

“I make the jokes in this office. Tell him to come back in thirty minutes. Alone. Or does his bearer have to sweep the ground in front of him?”

Precisely 25 minutes later Quinton was aware of a visitor in his adjutant’s office and punctually at the appointed time the latter appeared with Pratap at his heels. Pratap saluted like a guardsman and stood, rigid and serious, awaiting his commanding officer’s pleasure. It seemed to the adjutant, as he withdrew, that there was more than the usual electricity that Quinton generated in the air that morning.

Quinton came expressionlessly around the desk and offered his hand.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.