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But bread is so expensive and unsure of the additives in the store bought bread. I have never commented on a recipe blog, but this one deserves it! Thank you so much for posting this and I look forward to following your posts! Thanks so much for sharing Chantel!!! I love to hear it all!!! I truly love this bread and make it all the time… I have saved my family so much money over the years making it ourselves!! And I think it beats any store bought!!! Hi Sheila… I always make this with my Kitchen Aid Professional mixer… first the whisk till after the 3 cups flour then I move it to my dough hook add the other 3 cups flour… turn it on and let it do its thing!
Is this a sticky dough? I just put the loaves in the oven I hope all is well it was a really recipe. If its sticky for you try adding a lil extra flour while your kneeding?! I just stumbled upon your blog and wished to mention that I have really enjoyed surfing around your weblog posts. After all I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write once more very soon!
I just tried making your bread today. I loveit but it tastes a bit to yeasty. Make sure your letting it foam up in the beginning and try letting it go thru 2 rise times… so punch it down the first time and then let it rise again! I would suggest tossing the water and yeast in first and let it foam up. I made this bread with my bread maker, I should have cut the recipe in half, it was way to much for my bread maker. This bread is very good. I have to have done something wrong. The dough was very thin and sticky.
Also, what kind of flour do you prefer? Bread, self rising, all purpose. I made this last night…. About to attempt your cinnamon rolls. This recipe has been my go-to for bread for years. I have no idea if its really Amish or not but its great bread. Recently I started playing with the formula, subbing white, whole wheat, flour and bread flour for the AP flour and honey for the sugar and butter for the oil, using the same proportions, of course. The bread seems to take a little longer to rise but the flavor and texture is even better than with just AP flour.
Hi Sandy, I made my first batch Tuesday night, kept one and gave one to a co-worker of mine, needless to say that was a mistake. Your bread is wicked awesome!! Wanna get a stock pile, you ever freeze it and have it later? I want try the cinnamon rolls next. Like everyone else here, love the site! I love to hear the feedback!!
Watch out for the cinnamon rolls they are dangerous! I have made many white bread recipes , I must say this is the best recipe I have used so far. All the others were very dense and heavy, this is so light and airy. My husband was very happy when he tried the bread. I think he was afraid he was going to have to chock down another dense heavy slab.
I have made this bread two days in a row and I just found the recipe yesterday!! Thank You so much for sharing this wonderful bread recipe I do not have to look any further this is a keeper!!!! I did mix my dough in the bread machine makes 2lb loafs on the dough cycle, then removed the dough to rise, and bake in the oven, worked out very well.
Once you mix the 3 cups flour you change out the dough hook and add the remaining. I made this bread yesterday…. Thank you for shring the recipe. Hello there, I found your blog via Google whilst looking for a related matter, your site came up, it appears great. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks. Hi there, just changed into aware of your weblog thru Google, and located that it is really informative. I am gonna be careful for brussels.
Many folks will likely be benefited out of your writing. What is the best way to mix this together and make it? I find I need more flour then 6 cups, anyone else having this issue? The dough comes out really sticky with only 6 cups of flour. This was really good! Adsense is actually a really great program for those who maintain blogs, as blogs get updated all the time and the Adsense possibilities are almost limitless.
I will defiantly be trying this especially since we have 6 kids and 3 adults in the house i believe it will be a plus for me thank u. I also had 6 kids so used to make all my own bread, for a variation I used to flatten out a loaf, spread butter on it and sprinkle cinnamon sugar, and raisins, then roll it up and let it rise, and bake as usual.. It was just the name of the recipe.
Yes it can… but you need to cut it in half I believe! Because this recipe makes two loaves! There are some comments in here about people using their bread maker with this recipe! Whole wheat flour has bran in it which acts like a knife cutting the gluten as it forms creating a non rising loaf. She would put in Bran. It looked like tiny rabbit pellets, when she made bread. I have a dtr that has celiac disease. Reblogged this on Angels at Work Resale. There must be something wrong with your quantities. Two cups of water, six cups of flour — I got cake mix and glop everywhere.
Bread dough likes a nice warm environment… Make sure to let your yeast get nice and foamy before you add the flour! I used the large 3 lb bread maker we have in dough mode then pull it out and need it down a bit then into the pans, 1 loaf and a pan of buns! My wife and kids love it!
How do you make it nut be crumbly.. Also have a pan of water in you oven while your baking… that may help too! I had been looking for an alternative to a really good recipe I had been following and stumbled onto your site. Did cut the sugar back to three tablespoons and added in two tablespoons of local honey. For us older folks, I make a multigrain and thought I would experiment. Instead of AP flour, I ground 1 cup of oats in my small food processor. Also, due to the whole wheat flour, a bumped the water to 3 cups.
This came out just as soft as the original, wonderful recipe. Thanks so much for sharing it! Bread flour has more gluten in it compared to AP. I have better rise on my loaves using it vs. I have not on this recipe! We usually go through it pretty quickly! If your looking to freeze… I would suggest freezing the dough after its first rise! Homemade bread freezes beautifully so I make the recipe by 4 times. Always freeze my homemade bread. I decided to try this recipe. I have been baking bread for years.
I double wrap it and freeze it if it sticks around too long. Hi Sandy, thanks for sharing. Have you ever thought of making the Cornell formula? You need to just put it back on the counter and reshape it. I always let my dough rise twice before it goes in the bread pans. Beat all the liquids and a portion of the flour and let it sit until it is bubbly then add the rest of the flour and knead!
It was working until the second rise in the loaf pans. It fell when I took off the siran wrap. What did I do wrong??? Great recipe, many thanks for sharing it. I even read all the comments. I thank you for the large font when I printed the directions very nice. I tried this today and it is not rising…what am I doing wrong…my mom even tried to teach me and nothing.. Rita you may have bad yeast? From what I have read I this article, I am I pressed.
I will surely try the bread out. I love to bakes and even tho I am alone. I will share with my neighbors.
Thanks for all the good tips also. Instead of using a bread pan you can pinch off 3 or 4 balls of dough, dip them in melted butter and place the three or four in a muffin pan, all in the same opening, and let rise then cook and it makes a great tear away muffin. Can I use instant dry yeast vs active yeast? My local sams only had instant dry yeast. Any different directions as in measurement or when to mix it?
I would try it though… You may see you yeast foam up quicker and your rise may be faster? Let me know how it turns out! It will definitely be a staple at my house from now on! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!! This is the best bread I have ever made! This will be our go to recipe from now on. Thank you so much!!! No more store bread here and this is so simple. When it was starting to go a tich stale we used it for French toast and it was amazing.
Thanks for sharing the recipe! Will being dying to make home made like my mom used to. Please let me know… Do you use a machine to make the dough? Is there anything we need to know for those of us who does not have a machine!? Nope no machine… I use my kitchen aid mixer most the time… But I also just use a bowl and a spoon to make it too! Made this today and it was perfect. I used 3 packets of fleishmans packets. By the time I did the actual math that only 2 packets were used for 1.
Nonetheless it all turned out great. The bread had a wonderful vinegars smell after cooking and it is silly delicious. Trying to post link. I stumbled upon it on pinterest and decided it would be a great homeschool activity for my 7 year old daughter. Very simple and great for a first timer. I made your bread today. Very easy to put together. I let is rise in the microwave and went to preheat my new oven. I apparently had a rather nasty gas leak. There was NO way I was throwing away to beautiful loaves of bread. I packed them up in a giant bath towel and ran to a neighbors for baking.
The sad thing is I had to give away a loaf of your fabulous bread. When I cut into it I was over the moon. No more store bought in my house. Jenn thanks for sharing! I love hearing that… But not about the gas! Hope everything is fixed for you! So glad to hear your already hooked to home made bread… So much better than store bought!!! I baked for 30 minutes, let it sit for over an hour, cut into them and they were still doughy.
I then put back in the oven for 20 minutes, took out, let sit, started cutting, still doughy. Now they are back in the oven but the top is starting to burn. My oven is only 1 month old so it should be baking fine I obviously messed up somewhere. I too make this bread twice a week.
I just knead it by hand and it comes out great every time. I loved it because, not only was it so simple to make, but it was very soft and sweet bread as well. I slathered on extra butter, and OH MY, it reminded me of a fresh, hot croissant! Thanks for sharing Jackie! We love this bread too! This recipe is fantastic. The bread came out just like the picture. It was super easy to prepare and my family killed the two loaves within 4 hours lol thank you sooooo much for sharing this bread…. I just made your bread yesterday and it was so good. Thank You Can you freeze the bread after you make it? I have tried so many different bread recipes; we were always happy with the bread when it was fresh from the oven, but by the next day they were always unappetizing.
They were especially terrible for sandwiches. This recipe is fantastic fresh, not fresh, and for sandwiches! Love hearing when people are just as happy with this recipe as we are! It is by far are favorite sandwich bread! Any idea why this might be happening? Am I not pinching it closed enough? More moisture in the air may call for a little extra flour… drier weather you may need to use less! We love it so much… its hard to buy a loaf anymore… So much better homemade! I have made this bread 3 times and it tastes so good!
Make sure they stay in a nice warm environment…. Sometime I like to even warm my pans up just a touch before my dough goes in for second rise. Glad to hear you enjoy it as much as us though! This made two amazing loaves of bread! I have been on the search for the perfect sandwich bread, and this is it! Sandy, thank you for such a wonderful recipe. My daughter loves bread but she is allergic to eggs.
I make this bread twice a week now. Made this today for the first time — delicious! I halved the recipe and made it in my bread maker following the recipe exactly! I have made this bread for the second time today and both times it come out perfect its a moist wonderful bread Thanks. I am a bread making novice to say the least. So good that it is 34 degrees out right now and I have it rising.
Thank you for the easy fool proof recipe that anyone can make. What should the year look like before combining it with the other ingredients. I did everything else exactly the same except I was mixing by hand. Sometimes I mix by hand myself! It could be your yeast! The yeast needs a good environment to work…. It tastes amazing, just crumbles a lot and is difficult for sandwiches. Or should I cut back the time? Yes… bread is temperature sensitive… If you are in a dry climate you may not need as much flour! Bread looks just like your picture and tastes so much better than store bought.
I make this bread almost every week usually I half it and make one loaf. But when I make 2 it is soooo dry and crumbly. I use 2 cups water and 6 cups flour like the recipe says. I use a kitchen aid mixer. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I use to have the same problem in my kitchen aid mixer… Until my hubby bought me the professional kitchen aid… The hook on that one is better.
I try to mix it in while I need but my dough ends up having these hard pieces all through it and it feels very tough. Any idea what is going wrong??? Now you have two versions of my crumbly story! Would this work without using them? Yes… It will just look more like French bread loaf… But will still taste like Amish white. I wonder how do you store it. Do you slice it or keep it as a whole into the freezer? I slice mine as I eat it! I bought bread bags off amazon to store them in…. I just keep ours in the cupboard … I have been know to make extra and freeze a couple loaves as well. I love this bread!
I decided to finally start making my bread homemade about three months ago and I love this recipe. Just made a batch tonight and my house smells so good. I let it rise longer than called for in the recipe and I like how that turns out. I usually do one hour then punch it down and knead it a bit and then let it rise for another hour before I put it in the bread pans to rise for another thirty minutes. They turn out into much fuller loaves. There have been a few times where Ive forgotten about them and they rose way longer than one hour the first time so I always veto the second rising and just skip to the third.
I have also decided that for my bread baking I prefer to the loaves that come out of my silicone loaf pan that I bought on a whim. Just my few thoughts. We love this bread too!!! Made two loaves last night! Glad to hear another bread maker is out there!! This is truly a great bread recipe. I make it weekly. I now make a cinnamon bread out of one of the loaves. This bread makes awesome French toast! I was also wondering, when you sprinkle on the cinnamon, could you spread some honey on as well or would it mess with the baking of the bread. I made a turkey and cheese sandwich today on the Amish though… To die for!!!
Your recipe is easy to follow and has really gave me some confidence in baking. Just read your bakers note as my loaves are rising in the pan.. Kinda sucks, I totally thought that was a lot of sugar. Hopefully they still turn out. I hate when I waste time and ingredients. I have been making this bread for years and have a very yellowed copy of recipe taped inside my cabinet door.
It is so easy to make that I used to make it all the time. Now that there is only me, not so much. I just made this last night. Perfect it even more and give some to friends and neighbors. Thank you so much for posting this! Hi Sandy, This might sound silly but, Im a little confused about the bakers note.
You cut the oil down to 2 tablespoons and substituted the oil for butter. Do I put the 2 tablespoons of oil and butter together to make the original amount of oil. And do I melt the butter or leave it solid before measuring? What do you grease your pans with? I usually grease everything with butter and flour. I cant wait to try it! If I do that I melt it down but make sure its not too hot before adding.
We make this bread weekly! Thank you so much for such a quick reply. Im going to make it the moment after I send this message: Yummy, cant wait to try it! It reminds me of Hawaiian bread with its sweetness and softness. I added another comment below, but I made the dough and did the first rise using a bread machine. Will definitely make this again. A good bread recipe is a treasure! Thanks for the great recipe! For the first time ever in my 34 years, I made my own bread!! They turned out great too! Except I did have to add a bit more liquid because my dough was so dry and crumbly.
I will prob give this batch to someone then try over with half the amount. I gave up on making bread because it just was OK? I stopped baking bread because of all the semi failures but I will never go back to buying store bread again. I cant wait to tell my kids because they like their bread soft like store bought but this is homemade.!!! Im sharing this on my FB and where ever else!
I love hearing it!! And thanks for taking the time to comment. How do I avoid that? Is it a yeast thing? It could be… Try just doing a trifold on it next time! I have always wanted to be able to make homemade bread. Your directions and pictures made me want to try to do it. I did and it was the best bread ever!
Thank you so much!
I have a bread machine but for some reason, the bread did not have the same taste that I was trying to achieve. I have used your recipe a few times and have never been disappointed. Have you ever made this recipe gluten free or know if anyone has had any success with making this recipe gluten free?
I wanted to know have you ever baked anything inside the bread: Cheese, herbs, cinnamon and walnuts? It would seem that you could fill in the dough after the first rise. It was half gone in 24 hours and I only had 2 slices! I think a few tips Sandy gave were very helpful — greasing the bowl before letting the dough rise in it, adding half the flour first, and this time I followed the directions exactly! This is easy and delicious. Going to try spreading raisins and cinnamon then rolling.
The dough is sweet and slightly heavier than what I expected.
Thank you for posting and sharing. Thus sounds very similar to the recipe my Gramma made, but she used a 10 day starter. Is that possible with this recipe? Will it make a difference which one I use? Too much dough for the smaller size pan? I use both now a days! The ribbed smaller pans make great loaves! They are my favorite for sure now! Could I freeze the dough?
I like to have ready made dough as my family goes through a ton of bread. Yes I would freeze once you put in the bread pan. When you pull it out of the freezer make sure it sits to some to room temp and do its rising before baking! Sandy I just made this bread. I have never made bread before. My house smells soooo good.
My one question is can I freeze it? Sandy — I have been using your recipe for the last couple of years with great success! Friends and family beg me to make it. Sometimes I make round loafs in cake pans or dinner rolls in muffin tins. Other times, after rolling it out, I brush it with milk and generorusly sprinkle on cinnamon and brown sugar and a little salt before rolling it back up to make a yummy cinnamon swirl loaf! For sandwich bread, I cut back on the sugar a bit. I use all purpose flour. If your having problems with rising your yeast could be bad… the water you use to foam the yeast needs to be about degrees.
Most likely though the yeast is old. I made your Amish White Bread tonight for supper and it was super easy! I cut thick slices of your bread and made grilled cheese sandwiches to serve with my homemade Chicken Noodle soup. It was yummy and filling. The night before I made your 30 minute Dinner Rolls and they were a big hit with steak — bake potato and salad. My husband of 29 years has always been a big bread eater and now thanks to your simple and delicious recipes I can finally make my own.
I will no longer buy yeast rolls — French bread — biscuits or loaf bread from the grocery store anymore and pay way too much! I am making this right now.. It will be ok… just be gentle moving them! Gently move them into the oven when its time! Good luck… and if it fails… try again! I think you will be fine though! I know that writing content is boring and time consuming. But did you know that there is a tool that allows you to create new posts using existing content from article directories or other websites from your niche?
And it does it very well. The new articles are high quality and pass the copyscape test. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Try out this pretty simple recipe… only 6 basic ingredients! Scratch This With Sandy. Sandy Meyer I'm a Wife and a Mother of four beautiful children. You may also like. I make my Amish White Bread recipe every week… sometimes even twice a week… My family loves that bread Lynn Varney 5 years ago. Sandra 4 years ago. Kaylee Eggleton 3 years ago. Tammy 3 years ago. Joyous 3 years ago. Do you ever use a bread machine for all of this or partial, like just rising?
Sandy Meyer 3 years ago. Dani 3 years ago. Lynnette Chudnofsky Moya 5 years ago. We know he is awake, but we do not know what he desires. Is it a sign for all the Bhils, or one that concerns the Satpura folk alone? Say one little word, Sahib, that I may carry it to the lines, and send on to our villages. Why does Jan Chinn ride out? Who has done wrong? Will our children die? Is it a sword? Remember, Sahib, we are thy people and thy servants, and in this life I bore thee in my arms — not knowing. He dropped into a deep wicker chair, over which was thrown his first tiger-skin, and his weight on the cushion flapped the clawed paws over his shoulders.
He laid hold of them mechanically as he spoke, drawing the painted hide, cloak-fashion, about him. Therefore the sign of the wonder is for the Satpura Bhils only, and does not touch the Bhils who plough in the north and east, the Bhils of the Khandesh, or any others, except the Satpura Bhils, who, as we know, are wild and foolish.
For why should Jan Chinn make evil to those whom he has made men? The nights over yonder are hot; it is ill to lie in one bed over-long without turning, and Jan Chinn would look again upon his people. So he rises, whistles his Clouded Tiger, and goes abroad a little to breathe the cool air. If the Satpura Bhils kept to their villages, and did not wander after dark, they would not see him.
Indeed, Bukta, it is no more than that he would see the light again in his own country. Send this news south, and say that it is my word. Bukta bowed to the floor. I may as well round it off neatly. Perhaps they have plundered; perhaps they mean to disobey the orders of the Government; perhaps there is a dead man in the jungle; and so Jan Chinn has come to see. Am I ever angry with my Bhils?
I say angry words, and threaten many things. I have seen thee smile behind the hand. I know, and thou knowest.
The Bhils are my children. I have said it many times. He would see the land he loved and the people once again. It is a good ghost, Bukta. Go and tell them. He would see his own country again. The sign is not for us; and, indeed, he is a young man. How should he lie idle of nights?
He says his bed is too hot and the air is bad.
He goes to and fro for the love of night-running. He has said it. It is only night-running, as I have said. He rides to see if they obey the Government, as he taught them to do in his first life. None the less it is a good ghost, as he has said. How shall we fear Jan Chinn, who made the Bhil a man? His protection is on us; and ye know Jan Chinn never broke a protection spoken or written on paper. When he is older and has found him a wife he will lie in his bed till morning.
A commanding officer is generally aware of the regimental state of mind a little before the men; and this is why the Colonel said, a few days later, that some one had been putting the Fear of God into the Wuddars. As he was the only person officially entitled to do this, it distressed him to see such unanimous virtue.
I knew trouble was coming. I think that will be the best plan. Chinn and Bukta departed at once. Bukta did not say that, ever since the official vaccinator had been dragged into the hills by indignant Bhils, runner after runner had skulked up to the lines, entreating, with forehead in the dust, that Jan Chinn should come and explain this unknown horror that hung over his people. The portent of the Clouded Tiger was now too clear. Let Jan Chinn comfort his own, for vain was the help of mortal man. Besides, Jan Chinn knew all things, and he rode the Clouded Tiger.
They covered thirty miles a day on foot and pony, raising the blue wall-like line of the Satpuras as swiftly as might be. Bukta was very silent. They began the steep climb a little after noon, but it was near sunset ere they reached the stone platform clinging to the side of a rifted, jungle-covered hill, where Jan Chinn the First was laid, as he had desired, that he might overlook his people.
All India is full of neglected graves that date from the beginning of the eighteenth century — tombs of forgotten colonels of corps long since disbanded; mates of East India men who went on shooting expeditions and never came back; factors, agents, writers, and ensigns of the Honourable the East India Company by hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands. English folk forget quickly, but natives have long memories, and if a man has done good in his life it is remembered after his death.
The weathered marble four-square tomb of Jan Chinn was hung about with wild flowers and nuts, packets of wax and honey, bottles of native spirits, and infamous cigars, with buffalo horns and plumes of dried grass. At one end was a rude clay image of a white man, in the old-fashioned top-hat, riding on a bloated tiger. Bukta salamed reverently as they approached. Chinn bared his head and began to pick out the blurred inscription. So far as he could read it ran thus — word for word, and letter for letter:. Minds The most perma. Governor General and Counc. On the other side of the grave were ancient verses, also very worn.
As much as Chinn could decipher said:. Forsook their Haunts and b. For some little time he leaned on the tomb thinking of this dead man of his own blood, and of the house in Devonshire; then, nodding to the plains: He must have been worth knowing. Bukta, where are my people? But Chinn, remembering the first law of Oriental diplomacy, in an even voice answered: Now bid them wait on me here.
I am not a servant, but the master of Bhils. Night was falling, and at any moment Jan Chinn might whistle up his dreaded steed from the darkening scrub. Now for the first time in a long life Bukta disobeyed a lawful command and deserted his leader; for he did not come back, but pressed to the flat table-top of the hill, and called softly. Men stirred all about him — little trembling men with bows and arrows who had watched the two since noon.
Wait here till the day. But he has said to me many times that the Bhils are his children. By sunlight I believe this, but — by moonlight I am not so sure. What folly have ye Satpura pigs compassed that ye should need him at all? We were greatly afraid, but we did not kill the man. He is here, bound — a black man; and we think he comes from the west. He said it was an order to cut us all with knives — especially the women and the children.
We did not hear that it was an order, so we were afraid, and kept to our hills. Some of our men have taken ponies and bullocks from the plains, and others pots and cloths and ear-rings. But the young men are blown to and fro by many rumours like flames upon a hill. I sent runners asking for Jan Chinn lest worse should come to us. It was this fear that he foretold by the sign of the Clouded Tiger. The rest is between the Government and Jan Chinn.
I myself know something of the ghost-knives and the scratching. It is a charm against the Small-pox. But how it is done I cannot tell. Nor need that concern you. They could hear young Chinn below them shouting for Bukta; but they cowered and sat still, expecting the Clouded Tiger. The tomb had been holy ground for nearly half a century. If Jan Chinn chose to sleep there, who had better right? But they would not come within eyeshot of the place till broad day. At first Chinn was exceedingly angry, till it occurred to him that Bukta most probably had a reason which, indeed, he had , and his own dignity might suffer if he yelled without answer.
He propped himself against the foot of the grave, and, alternately dozing and smoking, came through the warm night proud that he was a lawful, legitimate, fever-proof Chinn. He prepared his plan of action much as his grandfather would have done; and when Bukta appeared in the morning with a most liberal supply of food, said nothing of the overnight desertion. Bukta would have been relieved by an outburst of human anger; but Chinn finished his victual leisurely, and a cheroot, ere he made any sign.
They said they will obey if thou wilt only stand between them and the Government. A few of the elder men stood in an irregular semicircle in an open glade; but the ruck of people — women and children were hidden in the thicket. They had no desire to face the first anger of Jan Chinn the First. Seating himself on a fragment of split rock, he smoked his cheroot to the butt, hearing men breathe hard all about him. Then he cried, so suddenly that they jumped:. A scuffle and a cry were followed by the appearance of a Hindoo vaccinator, quaking with fear, bound hand and foot, as the Bhils of old were accustomed to bind their human sacrifices.
He was pushed cautiously before the presence; but young Chinn did not look at him. Is it a jest to bring me one tied like a buffalo? Since when could the Bhil bind folk at his pleasure? Half a dozen hasty knives cut away the thongs, and the man crawled to Chinn, who pocketed his case of lancets and tubes of lymph. Then, sweeping the semicircle with one comprehensive forefinger, and in the voice of compliment, he said, clearly and distinctly: Ye know the Small-pox who pits and scars your children so that like wasp-combs.
It is an order of the Government that whoso is scratched on the arm with these little knives which I hold up is charmed against her. All Sahibs are thus charmed, and very many Hindoos. This is the mark of the charm. He rolled back his sleeve to the armpit and showed the white scars of the vaccination-mark on his white skin. A few daring spirits came up, and nodded their heads wisely.
There was certainly a mark, and they knew well what other dread marks were hidden by the shirt. Merciful was Jan Chinn, that then and there proclaimed his godhead! It is no gain to me; it is no pleasure to me: And I speak the truth, as did Jan Chinn. The crowd murmured reverently, and men stole out of the thicket by twos and threes to join it.
I myself will stay among you while this man scratches your arms with the knives, after the order of the Government. In three, or it may be five or seven, days, your arms will swell and itch and burn. That is the power of Small-pox fighting in your base blood against the orders of the Government I will therefore stay among you till I see that Small-pox is conquered, and I will not go away till the men and the women and the little children show me upon their arms such marks as I have even now showed you.
I bring with me two very good guns, and a man whose name is known among beasts and men. We will hunt together, I and he and your young men, and the others shall eat and lie still. This is my order. There was a long pause while victory hung in the balance. A white-haired old sinner, standing on one uneasy leg, piped up:. They were not taken in the way of trade. The battle was won, and John Chinn drew a breath of relief. The young Bhils had been raiding, but if taken swiftly all could be put straight. But first we will put the Government mark on such as have not been visited by Small-pox.
The aged diplomat who had demanded protection was the first victim. The women shrieked, and the children ran howling; but Chinn laughed, and waved the pink-tipped lancet. Nay, I cannot mark every one — the Hindoo must also do his work — but I will touch all marks that he makes, so there will be an equal virtue in them. Thus do the Rajputs stick pigs. Ho, brother with one eye! Catch that girl and bring her to me.
She need not run away yet, for she is not married, and I do not seek her in marriage. She will not come? Then she shall be shamed by her little brother, a fat boy, a bold boy. He puts out his arm like a soldier. He does not flinch at the blood.
Some day he shall be in my regiment. And now, mother of many, we will lightly touch thee, for Smallpox has been before us here.
It is a true thing, indeed, that this charm breaks the power of Mata. There will be no more pitted faces among the Satpuras, and so ye can ask many cows for each maid to be wed. But, nature being the same the world over, the unvaccinated grew jealous of their marked comrades, and came near to blows about it.
Then Chinn declared himself a court of justice, no longer a medical board, and made formal inquiry into the late robberies. When we are frightened we always steal. Simply and directly as children, they gave in the tale of the plunder, all but two bullocks and some spirits that had gone amissing these Chinn promised to make good out of his own pocket , and ten ringleaders were despatched to the lowlands with a wonderful document, written on the leaf of a note-book, and addressed to an Assistant District Superintendent of Police. There was warm calamity in that note, as Jan Chinn warned them, but anything was better than loss of liberty.
Armed with this protection, the repentant raiders went down-hill. They had no desire whatever to meet Mr. Dundas Fawne of the Police, aged twenty-two, and of a cheerful countenance, nor did they wish to revisit the scene of their robberies. Steering a middle course, they ran into the camp of the one Government chaplain allowed to the various irregular corps through a district of some fifteen thousand square miles, and stood before him in a cloud of dust.
He was by way of being a priest, they knew, and, what was more to the point, a good sportsman who paid his beaters generously. The chaplain himself addressed them magisterially with a riding-whip. That was painful, but Jan Chinn had prophesied it. They submitted, but would not give up the written protection, fearing the jail. On their way back they met Mr. Fawne, who had heard about the robberies, and was not pleased. One climbed into a tree, and stuck the letter into a cleft forty feet from the ground, where it could do no harm. Next, we meet Fawne Sahib, who frowned, and asked for the plunder.
We spoke the truth, and so he beat us all, one after another, and called us chosen names. The kowl is left in a tree, because its virtue is that so soon as we show it to a Sahib we are beaten. Ye come now to serve as beaters for me. These people are unhappy, and we will go hunting till they are well. Tonight we will make a feast. It is written in the chronicles of the Satpura Bhils, together with many other matters not fit for print, that through five days, after the day that he had put his mark upon them, Jan Chinn the First hunted for his people; and on the five nights of those days the tribe was gloriously and entirely drunk.
Jan Chinn bought country spirits of an awful strength, and slew wild pig and deer beyond counting, so that if any fell sick they might have two good reasons. They carried news that it was good and right to be scratched with ghost-knives; that Jan Chinn was indeed reincarnated as a god of free food and drink, and that of all nations the Satpura Bhils stood first in his favour, if they would only refrain from scratching.
Henceforward that kindly demi-god would be connected in their minds with great gorgings and the vaccine and lancets of a paternal Government. It is hard for children and savages to behave reverently at all times to the idols of their make-belief; and they had frolicked excessively with Jan Chinn. But the reference to his home cast a gloom on the people. That that comes from the place where thou didst once sleep. It is thy horse — as it has been these three generations. Do dreams leave the tracks of broad pugs on earth? Why make two faces before thy people?
Yet his men — they refused absolutely to beat, and would only trail — dripped sweat at every move. It was an insolently open road, a domestic highway, beaten without thought of concealment. We drive them for him at the foot of the hill. It is his custom. If we did not, he might seek us.
The Bhils fell back as Chinn lodged himself behind a rock with his rifle ready. Tigers, he knew, were shy beasts, but one who had been long cattle-fed in this sumptuous style might prove overbold. There was an angry growl from the cave — a direct challenge. The brute knew well enough that there was some connection between brown nude Bhils and his weekly allowance; but the white helmet in the sunlight annoyed him, and he did not approve of the voice that broke his rest. Lazily as a gorged snake, he dragged himself out of the cave, and stood yawning and blinking at the entrance.
The sunlight fell upon his flat right side, and Chinn wondered. Never had he seen a tiger marked after this fashion. That portion of his belly and throat which should have been white was orange, and his tail and paws were black. He looked leisurely for some ten seconds, and then deliberately lowered his head, his chin dropped and drawn in, staring intently at the man. The effect of this was to throw forward the round arch of his skull, with two broad bands across it, while below the bands glared the unwinking eyes; so that, head on, as he stood, he showed something like a diabolically scowling pantomime-mask.
It was a piece of natural mesmerism that he had practised many times on his quarry, and though Chinn was by no means a terrified heifer, he stood for a while, held by the extraordinary oddity of the attack. The head — the body seemed to have been packed away behind it — the ferocious, skull-like head, crept nearer to the switching of an angry tail-tip in the grass. Left and right the Bhils had scattered to let John Chinn subdue his own horse.
A big coughing mass, reeking of carrion, bounded past him up the hill, and he followed discreetly. The tiger made no attempt to turn into the jungle; he was hunting for sight and breath — nose up, mouth open, the tremendous fore-legs scattering the gravel in spurts. Lungs must be full of blood. The brute had jerked himself over a boulder and fallen out of sight the other side. John Chinn looked over with a ready barrel.