Lankawe Panas Wasarak

Thomas Skinner the son of an artillery officer received a commission in the Ceylon Rifles when he was fourteen and set to work so vigorously at his drill that the strictest of adjutants paid him the compliment of saying "If you were in the ranks I might make a lance - corporal of you" His first exploit was to kill a huge bull elephant with a shot from a regulation musket a piece of extraordinary luck. It will be allowed when the nature of the weapon is considered. He was still considerably under twenty when he was set to superintend the making of a road.