Reminiscences of a Soldier

Front matter

REMINISCENCES OF A SOLDIER. VOL. REMINISCENCES 01 A SOLDIER. LY COLONEL W. K. STUART, C.B. LATE 86th KEGIMEKT. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1874. All rights reserved. CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. CHAPTEE T. Murder of Goss— Crab Island— Boat Upset— Commuted Men — Death from Joy — Keturn to Demerara — A Strange Dream — Buck Indians — Lieutenant Gallifur's Taste of " Pepper-Pot" — Apply for Leave— O'Kelly, the Piper, and Ensign Moriarty — Spanish Pirate . . .1

Chapter II

Jersey Forty Tears ago — Marin the Murderer and Miss S . — The "Dream at Sea" — Curious Coincidence — The Fighting Tailor — De Chatillon's Pugilistic Peat — Wellington and Napoleon — Bristol — Servants' Club a la Pickwick — Paddy's Good Hit — Colonel T . — Fermoy Depot — My First and Last Steeple-Chase — Wrestling Match— An Irish Duel . . . .18

Chapter III

Cork — The Royal County Down — Theatricals— Form Rallying Square — A Speech— Mr. Waltze — Deserter and No Deserter — Embark for England — The Manufacturing Districts — Burnley — How to get to Ireland by Land — Sporting Doctor — Mail-Coach and Four — Mock-Trial— Brown the Informer — Turning the Tables — Sham Magistrates . . . . . . .46 VI CONTENTS.

Chapter IV

Mr. Cornwell and his Dice-r-Paying dearly for two Mess Guests — Disgraceful Transaction— Row at Wigan — Rescue by Soldiers — Two Chartists — Sir Charles Napier — Recruiting Service — Denis Neil and Nelly — Captain Barclay of Ury — Sandy McKay — Battledore and Shuttlecock — Jock o' the Bean — Curious Badger-Baiting — Tricks on the Clergy — Scene at my Marriage . . 69

Chapter V

Ordered to India — Annoying Delay — Shameful Conduct of Ship-Agents — Legal Proceedings — My Last Duel — Two Generous Irishmen — Overland Route to India — Alexandria — Interview with Mehemet Ali — Arrival in Bombay — Voyage to Vingorla — A House full of Women — Family Prayers — Billy Barlow — Spoiling the Egyptian — Belgaum— Sport in India — Encounters with Snakes . 96

Chapter VI

Proceed to Kurrachee — The Best Swimmer in the World — Defence against Sharks — Kurrachee — Snakes — Fearful Mortality in the 78th Highlanders — Fort of Hydrabad — Plague of Scorpions — Snake in a Wall — A Durbar — Beloochees and Scindians — Terence Mahoney — Sad Fate of Three Brothers — Theatricals — Execution of Two Sepoys — A Russian Spy — Poona . . .117

Chapter VII

Conduct of the Regiment — Russian Nobleman and Serf — Malta — Lilliputians and Brobdingnagians — Aden — Sir William Coghlan — Captain Thomas — The Sea-Serpent — The Indian Mutiny — Mhow — Rapid Marches — Assault of Fort Chandaree — Single Combat — Explosion of a Mine — Affecting Death of a Grenadier — Jhansi — Horrors of War —Unpleasant Bedfellow — Hunt of a Cobra Capella CONTENTS. VII

Chapter VIII

Fight at the Stables— Sir Hugh Rose— Foolish Act- Slaughter of Prisoners — Gallant Soldiers — A Hard Case — Ruse of Irish Soldiers — A Pupil of Houdin's — Prize- Money — Gallant Officers — Unrecognised Merit — Narrow Escape — Capture of Koonch — Effects of Sun-Stroke — Brigadier Stuart . . . . .169

Chapter IX

Unpleasant Voyage — A Half Caste Gentleman — Cabinet Council — Disarming of the 27th Native Regiment — Record of Portuguese Rule — Old Goa Cathedrals and Monasteries — Execution of a Rebel Sepoy — Unfortunate Occurrence — Destiny ..... 184

Chapter X

Curious Scene at Poona — Jabez Dollar — The Poona Derby — Irish Character — Andrew Murphy — Comical Scene — Fearful Outbreak of Cholera — Great Heat of the Weather — First Appearance of Cholera in the 86th — Thomas Macbride — Fearful Sandstorm — Curious Facts — Clifton — Termination of the Disease — A seemingly Dead Man restored to Life . . . . . .198

Chapter XI

Miscellaneous Anecdotes — Irish Sentries — The Martinet — Anne Brady — A Letter from Purgatory — Galway and Derry— Boyne Water — Irish Servants — Buttered Toast — The Billy Goat — Sir Allan Cameron — An Irish Trait — The Vorkshireman's Fits — Story of a Tooth — Ingenious Defence . . . . .219 CONTENTS. VIII

Chapter XII

Dreams— Marriage of my Betrothed — A Friend's Appointment to a Regiment — The Bracelet — Ensign Bowen — Singular Circumstance — Belief in Dreams — Apparitions —Mrs. Spellacy — Old Mac's Superstition — Sergeant Scanlan — A Warning — Haunted House — Irish Superstition . . . . . .242

Chapter XIII

Condition of Officer and Soldier — Officers' Pay — Position of the Colonel of a Regiment — Regiments from India — Brevet Lieutenant-Colonels — Majors — Captains — Pay of Subalterns — Position of Officers in India — Promotion from the Ranks — Case of a Meritorious Colour- Sergeant — Quarter- Masters — Prize-Money — Increase of Pay — Deterioration of the Army — Management of a Regiment REMINISCENCES OF A SOLDIER.

Chapter I. Mubdeb Of

GOS3 — CBAB ISLAND — BOAT UPSET — COMMUTED MEN — DEATH FBOM JOT — BETURN TO DEMEBABA — A STRANGE DBEAM — BUCK INDIANS — LIEUTENANT GALLIFUB'S TASTE OF "PEPPEB-POT" — APPLY FOB LEAVE — O'EÆLLY, THE PIPEB, AND ENSIGN MOBIABTX — SPANISH PIKATE — JERSEY. ABOUT this time at Berbice a dreadful murder was committed in the barracks by one of our men. I had always con sidered him half a madman, and I do not think that in the present day a man with such antecedents would have been con demned to death, cruel and treacherous as the murder undoubtedly was. The man's name was Gregg, a Northern Irishman. It seems that he and a soldier named Goss had had a theological discussion, VOL. II. b REMINISCENCES OP A SOLDIER. Gregg being a Protestant, and Goss a Roman Catholic. The argument was not carried on with any acrimony on either side, and they both went to bed at the usual hour ; but in the middle of the night Gregg got up, and with his bayonet stabbed Goss four times through the body.

The unfortunate man died next day, and Gregg was given over to the civil power, by which he was tried and condemned to death. There was not a man in the regiment who considered him perfectly sane, and it was proved by the clearest evidence that he had committed acts that no one but a man almost deprived of his senses would have been guilty of. His defence was that Goss had attempted to commit an abominable crime upon him, and that, in self-defence, he had used his bayonet ; but this idea could only have emanated from the self-deludinp; imap-i nation of a lunatic. He persisted in it, how ever, to the last. I went to see him hanged. According to the Dutch law, the unfortunate man was dressed in a garment of all colours of the rainbow, and appeared a perfect resemblance CRAB ISLAND. to the pantaloon of the Christmas panto mimes.

It was a horrid sight. He had nearly a mile to go, but he marched to his death like a soldier, and, when he came under the little scaffold, his step was as firm as if he had been marching past his colonel on parade. The arrangements for the miserable ceremony were very imperfect. He had not the fall of a foot, and his struggles were terrific ; the upheaving of his legs continuing for fully twenty minutes. He was strangled like a dog, and died confidently asserting the truth of what he had urged in his defence. On the opposite coast from Fort Cange, lived a Mr. Van Rossen, a Dutchman, who was very kind to the military. We used often to accept his invitations, and, barring the mosquitoes, spent some pleasant days with his family. Half-way across, was an island called ** Crab Island," close to which, two or three years before, a boat had been upset, and three officers of the 60th drowned.

Report said it had been capsized by a half-witted " military labourer," who was REMINISCENCES OP A SOLDIER. merely a black pioneer, called Sancho, in revenge for some ill-treatment he had re ceived from one of the officers, named Donaghue, I think, or some such name ; however, he was the only one that escaped. Sancho was one of the regular crew of the " Garrison boat," and I have often passed over the same place where the men met their fate. When doing so, Sancho would point with his finger towards the spot, and a look of the most demoniac exultation, that was perfectly horrible, would come upon his face. He died while I was at Berbice. One day while staying at Yan Rossen's the old gentleman came to me in a state of great alarm, and said a drunken soldier from Fort Wellington, the military station, about ten miles off, was playing the very devil in his plantation, thrashing the negroes, and smashing everything he could come across, and asked me to try to pacify him.

I went out, and there was Jeremiah Timmons, with an immense stick, laying about in every direction, perfectly mad from the effects of new rum. I went up to him, and ordered him to give up the stick. At first he seemed COMMUTED MEN. inclined to give me the benefit of it, but recognising me, he threw it down and com menced to cry. I had him put into a hut, where he went to sleep, and next morning I saw him off to Fort Wellington, where he was hanged about a month after. It was the custom in those days to have in regiments what they called " commuted men," and never was anything more cruel and unjust. These men had committed some crime or other while serving in Great Britain, and had been sentenced to the usual punishment of flogging, but with the option of avoiding the sentence of the court-martial, by volunteering into a corps in the West Indies, there to serve for " life."

A regiment called the " York Rangers," was that to which they were originally sent, but when this corps was disbanded they were distributed among those serving in the Colonies, and as each regiment was ordered home, these unfortunate men were trans ferred to others. We received five or six of the men from the 60th, all, with one exception, very well-behaved men. The ex ception was an old man named Ryan, and he REMINISCENCES OE A SOLDIER. certainly was a desperate fellow. He must have been at least sixty years of age, but he was endowed with wonderful strength and agility. There was almost no crime that he had not been guilty of, but, when brought to the halberds, he was the greatest cur I ever saw. Before a lash was inflicted he would howl so that he could have been heard a mile off, and he never received more than twenty-five lashes, as his back, from constant flogging, was in such a state that the medical men would not allow the punish ment to proceed.

One of these " commuted men " was an old guardsman named Alston ; a better behaved man or a finer-looking old soldier one could seldom see. This poor fellow, after the return of the army from France, at the termination of the war, while stationed at Windsor, was found and taken up by a picket above a mile from the Barracks, tried by court-martial, and sentenced to " three hundred lashes." Horrified at the idea of being scourged like a dog for almost nothing, he accepted the alternative and volunteered for service in the West Indies for life, and when LA J0IE FAIT PEUR. I knew him had served there nearly twenty years. About this time, Government becoming conscious of the inhumanity of such a sentence, directed that these poor men should be allowed to return to England with their regiments. Alston came to me in great glee to say that he was going home to see his old mother, who was still alive ; in fact he was almost dancing with happiness.

Poor fellow ! two days after he was dead and buried. The medical men said joy had killed him. Truly, La joie fait peur. Ryan was discharged in the country, and the remainder went home with the corps. I was rather amused one day with the observation of an old slave on the estate of a Mr. Chisholm down the river. It was Sunday, and the clergyman had come over to the plantation to preach to the negroes, as one of them generally did about once a month. Meeting this old slave after the service, Chisholm said, " Well, Donald, how did you like the sermon ?" " Why, Massa," said Donald, " me no undertan dat sermon. Massa Parson he tell, * God say, you forgib your enemies,' ' and, with a grin, " Now, Massa, why no God forgib debil." I was now again ordered to Demerara, where I arrived safely in two days, and was quartered as before in Eve Leary Barracks.

The regiment I had formerly been attached to had gone to Barbadoes, and the 69th had taken their place. There had been one or two duels in the place, but luckily no mischief had been done, Mel , of our own regiment, had fought a noted duellist of another corps, named C , a first rate shot, while Mel had never fired a pistol in his life. Strange to say, C 's pistol missed fire three times, while his opponent's balls went no one knows where. Mel died within the last two years, and C e lies in a Burmah grave. One night, shortly after my arrival, I saw in a dream the celebration of a marriage ceremony. The girl that stood at the altar was the one to whom I had been eno-ao-ed I saw everything as clearly before my vision as STRANGE DREAM. if I had in reality been there ; even the place and persons I could recognise.

She looked at me, and her face had an expression of anguish I have never forgotten. Within ten days I received a letter, informing me that she had been married on that very day. I was almost deranged • I sent in an appli cation for leave of absence, which was refused. I then sent my papers in, with the view of selling out, but this also was refused. The Colonel knew I had taken some insane ideas into my head, and I thanked him afterwards for the determination with which he had thwarted my absurd desire to leave the service. Another court-martial now took place, the person tried being the late Sir Andrew Hal liday, Inspector-General of Hospitals. The charges were frivolous enough, and I think the Scotch Inspector was acquitted. Walking down the streets of Georgetown in the times of which I am speaking, one would see, cocked against a wall, a most curious specimen of the human race, drawing from an instrument like a flute the most doleful sounds, far worse than the howling of a dog.

He was one of a tribe of Indians called " Bucks," averaging not more than five feet in height. Many of them flock into George town at certain seasons, with their wives and children, selling hammocks, bows and arrows, &c. They are a most harmless, innocent race, their sole amusement being the afore said flute; but some of the tribes in the interior have a very different character. There can be no doubt that cannibalism pre vails among them. Previous to my arrival, a Lieutenant Gullifur, belonging to the Royal Navy, had travelled into the interior, and became the guest of an Indian tribe ; and, if there is any truth in the story told by him, this accusation must be considered true. The great relish, in these parts of South America, is a dish they call " pepper-pot." Into a large iron vessel, fish, flesh, fowl, and in fact anything in the food line, are pro miscuously thrown.

The principal ingredient is a poison called " casseripe," which has the effect of preserving food for an indefinite time. There are families in which these pots have not been emptied for months, additional provender being cast into them day by day. CANNIBALISM Pepper-pot is certainly a most excellent dish. Gullifur, returning from hunting one day very hungry, pitched into the eternal " pepper pot" like a wolf; but before he had finished his meal, what was his horror to find in the pot a human hand, which he was about to convey to his mouth ! No doubt he had satisfied his eager appetite before with other parts of the body to which the hand belonged. This discovery, I have no doubt, hastened his departure, for he did not remain much longer with his hospitable entertainers. An Indian tribe not far from George-town, having determined on a " battue," was said to have bagged and eaten six of another tribe.

The authorities took the matter up, and arrested the sporting Indians, who were tried for murder. I went to see the trial. The criminals were a larger species of man kind than the Bucks, and there was nothing ferocious or disgusting in their appearance to indicate the cannibal ; on the other hand, their countenances were rather pleasant looking, but for all this I do believe they masticated some of the contents of their gamebags. The accused were acquitted on their trial, as it was proved that the Government had never taken possession of that part of the Indian land where the murders had been committed ; that, therefore, it was not " British territory ;" and that we had no jurisdiction over these Indians, who returned home in all probability to resume their old practices. I now applied for leave to England, as I had no wish to remain in the country, and obtained a furlough for fifteen months.

Hearing that the " Apollo," Captain Randall, was to sail in a fortnight from Berbice for London, I determined to go by her, as Ran dall was an intimate friend of mine, and a right good fellow. He also was delighted at DO O the prospect of having me for a passenger, and I made preparations to leave Demerara. Just before I left, poor O'Kelly, the piper, drank himself out of the regiment and this world. He had been playing at the mess room until a late hour, Irish jigs in particular, for the young men, and of course had drunk as usual. Next morning he came over to the mess, and met a mad Irish Ensign named ENSIGN MORIARTT. Moriarty, as fond of liquor as himself. ** I'm mighty ill, Mr. Moriarty," said O'Kelly. " Faith, I'll soon cure you," said the other; and together they finished a bottle of brandy, which, alas ! finished Ireland's piper, for he died next morning ; and " Who killed O'Kelly the piper?" was the customary salutation that Moriarty met with in the regiment ever after.

So genuine an Irishman as Moriarty, one so perfectly ignorant of anything appertaining to the world or military life, I never met with. He came of a good Irish family, but had been brought up in the stables among horsebreakers, &c. He was seldom sober, but in other respects was a good-natured, generous, hearty fellow — no man's enemy but his own. Two anecdotes will show what sort of man he was. One day, not long after he had joined from England, he was drunk about twelve o'clock, and Major Barrett, who commanded, sent Fenwick, the adjutant, to place him in arrest. A short time after Barrett sent for me, and I found him in a fit of laughter. *' You can do something," he said, " with that unfortunate fellow, Moriarty. Read this precious epistle I have just received from him, and go back to him with it.

I'll let him off this time, but I can't always do so." The official to his commanding officer was as follows : — ■ " To Major Barrett, Commanding the Royal Down. " Dear Major. " What the Devil's up ? shure I'm in arrest by that blackguard Fenwick. I'm sure you know nothin' about it. All I can say is, if that little black-muzzled scoundrel comes into my room agin, I'll kick him to blazes. " I am, your obedient servant, " H. Moriarty, Ensign." Another time, on parade, he made an awful mull of some manœuvres while en deavouring to command a company, and Barrett called out, " My G— d, Mr. Mo riarty, you are always making some mistake or other." Moriarity suddenly stepped out of the ranks, and in a voice that could be A FOURTH AT WHIST. heard through the whole regiment, said, •' It's not my fault, Major, it's Sergeant Lynch that tould me wrong," and, shaking his fist at Lynch, he continued, " Be Jasus !

I'll put ye in the guard-house, the moment parade is over, for telling me wrong." Barrett dismissed the parade, officers and men being in such fits of laughter that it was useless going on with the drill. One very wet day, Guille and Bristow, who belonged to another regiment, came into my room and said, " Can't you manage a fourth at whist?" There being no one at hand but Moriarty, I went into his room, and said, " Can you play at whist?" " Arrah ! play whist," said he, " I should think I can, the devil a man in Roscommon could touch me at it. Whist, be gor ! I should think I could." Taking him at his word, we went to my room and agreed to play the two strangers. It was my lead, and having a good hand, I led the " King of Trumps." What was my horror when the Roscommon whist cham pion, with a loud hurroo, took it with the ace, and shouting, " Thrump after trick, be Jasus !" led me back the deuce.

I need not say we had no more whist. Moriarty's excuse was, that^he thought whist and loo were the same games. He became so bad at last that he had to be sent home, and eventually he sold out. The last thing I heard of him was that he was a magistrate in some part of Connaught. I now began to long for home and country every day, until my leave arrived, and, after an absence of six years, I em barked for England in March, 1835. In stead of a delicate boy of sixteen, I was now a very powerful young man of twenty-three. The West Indies had certainly been a great friend to me in every way. I had always been healthy and cheerful in them, never sick or melancholy. We had a very bad passage, and the steam from the cargo of sugar, with which we were loaded, was so bad at times as to make the cabin uninhabitable.

Off the Gulf Stream, we received a great fright from a loner low black Spanish schooner, full of men, which amused itself by sailing round us for a whole day, coming sometimes close alongside. EXETER. Finding, however, we were merely a sugar ship, they perhaps thought us not worth plundei-ing, and left us alone. Our captain and mate persisted she was a pirate, and certainly, if she was not, she was mon strously hke one, and inspired us all, for a time, with no little fear. When we reached the English coast, I embarked in a fishing boat off Penzance in Cornwall, landed and proceeded to Exeter, miles out of my way to Jersey as I found out. Lord John Russell had just lost his election, and I went to a Conservative dinner. In the evening, I had a few rounds with a " Radical ostler." The black eyes of a tobacconist's widow kept me in the capital of Devon for a week, when I started for Jersey, and arrived safely in St. Heliers, and found my family all well, with one exception, the little brother, who had died in April, on the night I dreamt of his death on board the ship * Apollo.' vol n. o

Chapter II. Jersey Porty Years Ago

— MABIN THE MUEDEREE AND MISS S . — THE " DREAM AT SEA" — CURIOUS COINCIDENCE — ffHE FIGHT ING TAILOB— DE CHATILLON'S PUGILISTIC FEAT — WELLINGTON AND NAPOLEON — BRISTOL — SERVANTS' CLUB A LA PICKWICK — PADDY'S GOOD HIT — COLONEL T . — FEEMOY DEPOT — MY FIEST AND LAST STEEPLE-CHASE — WRESTLING MATCH — AN IRISH DUEL. JERSEY, nearly forty years ago, was decidedly one of the pleasantest resi dences under the British Crown. The country itself was a perfect garden, and, everything being so much cheaper than in England, numerous families with moderate incomes sought the shores of this beautiful island, in which they were enabled to live so much more comfortably than in their own. During the Summer there was a succession of pic-nics in Jersey, invariably ending in a dance, and nowhere could you PRIVATE THEATRICALS. have found, in those days, an array of more graceful and fascinating girls than Jersey could boast of.

In Winter, the gaiety was almost too much, as I found to my cost, having often been to two, and sometimes three, parties in one night. We also exhibited our dramatic powers upon the boards of the neat httle theatre, and our amateur performances were not to be despised. The actresses were all professionals, and among them was a Miss Fannv Brunton, married to a man named Chase. The marriage was a bad one for her, in no way adding to her happiness. She "was some relation to the late Countess of C n, possessed considerable talent, and was a beautiful actress. A rather curious circumstance occurred to me one night while playing the part of " Lance Lynwood" in the " Dream at Sea." The heroine, Anne Trevanion (Miss Hicks, a rather pretty girl), is supposed to have died and been buried. Lynwood, her lover, flies to the tomb to have one last look on the face he so dearly loved, and finding, to his great joy, that she still breathes, he brings her down to the front of the stage in his arms, when she is restored to conscious ness.

During a dress-rehearsal on the night previous to the real preformance, I had brought my buried love in my arms to the front, but found to my consternation that she had not come to life again ; in fact, she was in a state of catalepsy. After some time, however, she recovered, and I then found that she had often had fits of a similar description, and I was afraid the same thing might happen on the follow ing night. Strange to say the same thing did occur, at the same time, and we had to stop the performance until she re covered. There came to Jersey about that time, a Captain De Chatillon, of the French army, who had been very badly wounded in Alge ria. He was supposed to be a natural son of the great Napoleon, and his resemblance to his reputed father was something wonder ful. He was probably two or three inches taller, but the features were exactly the same.

An immense fellow of the name of Guy, PUGILISM AT ST. HELIERS. a blacksmith, and the bully of Jersey, had insulted me one night, and offered to fight any Englishman that could be brought against him. He was certainly a perfect Hercules in appearance — a mass of bone and muscle, and having been successful in several encounters with English soldiers, he fancied he was not to be beaten. I was determined, however, to pay Mr. Guy off for his conduct to me, and having heard of a pugilist youth in Ryde named Hampden, otherwise called the " fighting tailor," I started for the Isle of Wight, and returned with my man. Although six feet high, he was a child in appearance to Guy, who, at once, agreed to fight him, and managed, by the aid of his Jersey friends, to get up a good sum — fifty pounds. The fight took place in a field near Goree, and the good folks of St. Heliers were dreadfully scandalised by such an affair, which desecrated their beautiful island.

All who took part in it were freely abused, a good share of the blame being laid on my shoulders. On the day of the fight the Frenchman drove down with me, and was delighted with the fistic encounter. The ** fighting tailor" perfectly astonished Master Guy, who was never able to touch him ; and after fighting for nearly an hour, during which he was pommelled to his heart's con tent, he gave in, and was led off with such a figure-head as he might have had if a wag gon load of hay had gone over it. The amount of the battle-money was all given to Hampden, who gave lessons for some time afterwards in St. Heliers. His most enthu siastic patron was De Chatillon, who was never tired of putting on the gloves. A French theatrical company arrived in Jer sey at a time when we were about to have an amateur performance, and the Frenchman was very anxious to conclude it by representing with his countrymen the death of the great Napoleon at St. Helena.

One night at rehearsal he annoyed us a good deal by interfering in the business of the stage, and vociferating, " I will give you a repre sentation of Napoleon at Austerlitz, at Jena, at Marengo, &c. &c." A little angry at the interruption, I incautiously asked, *' Why not at Waterloo ?" Frightfully enraged, he BOXING WITH A FRENCHMAN. rushed up to me and said, " You sail give a me satisfaction, Sare, for this insult." I tried to pacify him in every way, but the Gaul was inexorable, exclaiming, " I must have de satisfaction." At last, getting rather warm, I said, " Well, send your friend, as nothing else will suit you." ** No, Sare," he replied. " By Got, I will box a you — box, Sare ! " Thinking that it would all end in fun, I said, "Oh, very well!" and commenced sparring up to him with my open hands, when I was rather astonished at receiving a round hit on the side of the head, that made me wink and see " spangles," as they say.