Page:Quartette - Kipling (1885).djvu/116

MOFUSSIL JURISDICTION;
OR
THE OLD SCHOOL AND THE NEW.

Characters.

Dalrymple Bulthrop, Esq., C.S., Commissioner and Superintendent Biaspur Division.

Percy Smallweed, Esq., C.S. Judicial Assistant Commissioner.

An English Loafer, alias Captain Frank Wilmot, R.A.

Khan Bahadur Nubbee Baksh Inspector of Police.

Edith Bulthrop Daughter of the Commissioner.

Khitmutgar, Police Sepoys, Villagers. &c.

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COSTUMES.

Bulthrop.—Knickerbocker suit of puttoo—gold pince-nez.

Smallweed.—Trim dark morning suit—spectacles.

Wilmot.—Red wig and beard, wide-awake hat, much battered, dirty puggree—working man's clothes.

Edith.—Morning dress—very simple and neat.

Nubbee Baksh.—Full dress of a Punjab Inspector of Police.

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SCENE—INTERIOR OF A WELL-APPOINTED,
DOUBLE-POLED TENT.

Breakfast table; Khitmutgar moving with knives and spoons between sideboard and table, preparing to clear away; chicks at back, one rolled up; whips, hog-spears, and guns in corner; black-buck horns at side; folding chairs; camp-couch; card table, right, with woollen table cover hanging to the ground ; durrees on floor, with leopard skins, &c.

Bulthrop and Edith. (He lights his cheroot from a waxmatch held saucily by Edith; "Pioneer" newspaper in left hand.)—Thanks, pet,—so you don't find roughing it in camp so formidable a business, eh?

Edith.—Not a bit. It's the greatest fun I ever had in my life. I'm writing such a letter to Auntie, describing the early morning marches, the strings of camels looping along the road, the chupatees, and all the other servants.

Bulthrop (interrupting).—Chuprassees, you mean.