| caption: |
Chapter three. Second Attack |
| caption: |
Chinaorang of Nungbi taken on as servant |
| text: |
At Nungbi we had collected another new follower. He was a tall Tangkhul called Chinaorang, and he was without exception the best porter I have ever known. As the now- clean Luikai had been polished by a brief training and was acting as house-servant, Chinaorang took over the medicine-jappa; and, once past the last village and given his head, he (28) would steam away over steep and level under a sixty-pound load, leave me panting behind him, and reach the camp three-quarters of an hour in front of everybody. His lean, angular body gave him an Ancient Egyptian look; he had the broad shoulders and slim hips of a tomb-painting; and he was the shining light of the spear-throwing contests we held on slack days in camp. He had, too, an unexpectedly romantic history. A poor villager, he had fallen in love with the daughter of a rich family. But they disapproved, and married her off at once to a well-to-do youth in another village. The match was not a success. The lady sent over for help to Chinaorang, who did not fail her, and the resulting charge of wife-stealing cost him, when it came to court, a fine of Rs 100/-, which he was doing his utmost not to pay. But the wronged husband had been rather outspoken lately, and talked of complaining to the S.D.O., so Chinaorang, too, had joined us to make money. Whether the husband would ever see it was another story. |
