"The Three Musketeers" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling which introduces three fictional British soldiers serving in India in the later nineteenth century: the privates Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris. These characters appear in many early Kipling stories. "The Three Musketeers" was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on 11 March 1887. It appeared in book form in Plain Tales from the Hills (1888).
This is the first appearance of Kipling's 'Soldiers Three', Terence Mulvaney the Irishman (pronounced Mulvanny), John Learoyd from Yorkshire, and the London cockney, Stanley Ortheris. They are experienced old soldiers, crafty, tough, and humorous. Here a visiting Lord has asked for the regiment to be turned out for an extra parade, which is deeply unwelcome to all. The Three stage a mock abduction, in which his carriage is run away with, amid much noise and many murderous shouts. They then come to the rescue, finding him terrified by 'the bandits' and too shaken to attend the parade which is cancelled. He rewards them handsomely.
