Bound homeward from Singapore, the _Duc d'Orleans_
had put into Bombay for coal, supplies and orders. She left with
orders for Marseilles, and on board her there went this same Sikh
officer, who, it seemed, had missed the transport on which his
regiment had sailed.
He had with him a huge, ill-mannered charger, and one Sikh trooper
by way of servant. The charger tried to eat all that came near him,
including his horse-box, the ship's crew, and enough hay for at least
two ordinary horses. But Ranjoor Singh, who said very little to
anybody about anything, had a certain way with him, and men put up
with the charger's delinquencies for its owner's sake.
When they reached the Red Sea, and the ship rolled less, Ranjoor
Singh and his trooper went to most extraordinary lengths to keep the
charger in condition. They took him out of his box and walked him
around the decks for hours at a time, taking turns at it until
officer, trooper and horse were tired out.
They did the same all down the Mediterranean. And when they landed
at Marseilles the horse was fit, as he proved to his own brute
satisfaction by trying to kick the life out of a gendarme on the quay.
Another letter from somebody very high, in authority to a French
general officer in Marseilles procured the instant supply of a horse
for the Sikh trooper and two passes on a northbound train.
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