Brobdingnag

“ When it was in season, many strangers came from the neighbouring town, which was a sea-bathing place, to look at these raspberries, which obtained the name of Brobdingnag raspberries.
'How came you, pray, neighbour Grant, if a man may ask, by these wonderful fine raspberries?' said Mr. Oakly, one evening, to the gardener. 'That's a secret,' replied Grant, with an arch smile.
'Oh, in case it's a secret, I've no more to say; for I never meddle with any man's secrets that he does not choose to trust me with. But I wish, neighbour Grant, you would put down that book. ”

“ When I last saw J—— that evening he was sitting at the turn of the stairs behind an exotic shrubbery, where he had found a vagrant chair that had straggled behind the upper emigration.
The very envelope that contains a formal invitation bears a forbidding look. It is massive and costly to the eye. It is much larger than a letter, unless, perhaps, one carries on a correspondence with a giant from Brobdingnag. You turn it round and round with sad premonition. The very writing is coldly impersonal without the pinch of a more human hand. ”

“ The sentimentalists have condemned the conclusions of this celebrated satire as hateful and blasphemous, and it is not easy to follow their argument. If they pretend that it is the purpose of the famous fourth voyage to preach the superiority of all horses to all men, they have singularly misread the fable. Nor is Swift, when he makes the King of Brobdingnag a scourge, wherewith to beat the politicians and plotters of his own land, passing a universal sentence upon the human race. Gulliver himself is not represented as the only man who has escaped the vices of his country. ”

“ Some of the annotations are ridiculous, or curious, like the equations of Blefuscu with Scotland, of the storm Gulliver passes through before reaching Brobdingnag with "the South-Sea and Mississippi Confusion," and of the giants with inflated South Sea stock (II, 4) . Some remarks, however, appear convincing, such as his belief that "the trifling Transactions of the present English Royal Society" on insects and fossils are "finely rallied" (II, 11-12) . Curll also notes about the third voyage that "besides the political Allegory, Mr. ”

“ The island of Borva lay warm and green and bright under a blue sky; there were no white curls of foam on Loch Roag, but only the long Atlantic swell coming in to fall on the white beach; away over there in the South the fine grays and purples of the giant Suainabhal shone in the sunlight amid the clear air; and the beautiful sea-pyots flew about the rocks, their screaming being the only sound audible in the stillness. The King of Borva was down by the shore, seated on a stool, and engaged in the idyllic operation of painting a boat which had been hauled up on the sand. ”

“ Would it be altogether wise to acquaint her with the real secret of his mission?
"He committed a crime, didn't he, sir?" she exclaimed, laying her hand on Old Broadbrim's arm. "And you have come out to take him away from me. Why, sir, if I chose I could turn you in a moment over to death, and you would never drag him from Round Robin Ranch. You saved his life last night, and he does not dream that you did so in order to bring him some day under the halter. What if he should discover this? Why, as cool as you are and as brave, your life wouldn't be worth the sunbeams on the grass." ”

“ He pointed to his uncle, Hnaf.
Now to remind a man who has left his own country to serve a king of another land that he fights for wages is scant courtesy. Wulf, nudging his companion, rose, a black scowl on his face.
“Come, Wigstan!” he commanded. “We are unwelcome here!”
Hnaf hastened forward to appease them, but they paid no heed to his outstretched hand. The Danes had not applauded Hengist’s outburst, for they sensed its danger, and winced at its bad manners. But as the Jutes edged toward the door there was none but Hnaf to bid them stay. ”

“ Then Morven sighed heavily.
“To me only the word was given. Summon instantly, O councilors of the king! summon the armed men, and all the youth of the tribe, and let them take the sword and the spear, and follow thy servant. For lo! the star hath announced to him that the foe shall fall into our hands as the wild beast of the forests.”
The son of Osslah spoke with the voice of command, and the elders were amazed.
“Why, pause ye?” he cried. “Do the gods of the night lie? On my head rest the peril if I deceive ye.” ”

“ Overhead the heavy clouds were still hurried on by the wind; and in the South the Eastern slopes of the hills and the moors were getting to be of a soft purple; but all along the West, where her home was, lay a great flush of gold, and she knew that Loch Roag was shining there, and the gable of the house at Borvapost getting warm in the beautiful light.
“It is a good afternoon you will be getting to see Borva,” her father said to her; but all the answer she made was to ask her father not to stop at Garra-na-hina, but to drive straight on to Callernish. ”

“ Broffin; but the lands which Mr. MacFarland will be shown will not be the lands which Mr. Galbraith is talking of buying. I want evidence of this—in black and white. Can you telegraph to some one in Duluth?"
Broffin permitted himself a small sigh of relief. He thought he had seen the trap; that she was going to try to get him away from Wahaska.
"I can do better than that," he offered. "I can send a man from St. Paul; a good safe man who will do just what he is told to do—and keep his mouth shut." ”

“ Then she went on: "With Miss Farnham out of it—and I knew [Pg 442] she must be out of it, since Broffin didn't strike—there was still Mr. Galbraith. You didn't know why I was so anxious to have you get acquainted with him, but you know now. And it worked. When Broffin asked him to identify you, he couldn't—or wouldn't. Then came that unlucky drowning accident."
Griswold nodded slowly. "Yes, Mr. Galbraith knows me now."
"He doesn't!" she exulted. "He is a dear old saint, and he will never know you again as the man who held him up. ”

“ Merle was looking Old Broadbrim squarely in the eye and his gaze seemed to transfix him like a lance.
"It's a bargain, eh?" he cried.
"I'll try," said Old Broadbrim.
"That's all I ask. I know if you 'try' we'll get rid of this pest in skirts. Don't mince matters, Riggs. Let her have the full benefit of your grip and that will be sufficient."
Old Broadbrim cast his eyes down the ravine and seemed to measure the distance to the bottom mentally.
"Stareyes is cunning and cool. I have stood before her and seen her orbs flash like twin stars. ”

“ Down the lane between them advanced a dozen men bearing a stout log at a shambling trot.
“Loose!” cried Hnaf. His veteran bowmen at the loopholes flanking the gate drove their shafts at short range into the breasts of those who bore the battering ram. Released by their fall, the log crashed down across their bodies.
At the same moment, as others sprang to pick up the log, Hengist’s archers poured in a volley from the loft-windows. With a cry of consternation—for they had not faced Danes before, and knew not that people’s skill in war—the foremost ranks fell back. ”

“ No one is so mean as the Broby clergyman, no one more divided by malice and uncharitableness from his fellow-men. His rooms are unheated in the winter, he sits on an unpainted wooden seat, he dresses in rags, lives on dry bread, and is furious if a beggar enters his door. He lets the horse starve in the stable and sells the hay, his cows nibble the dry grass at the roadside and the moss on the wall. The bleating of the hungry sheep can be heard far along the highway. The peasants throw him presents of food which their dogs will not eat, of clothes which their poor disdain. ”

“ Burgoyne looks at him in silence, again with a sort of admiration mixed with wrath. How has this commonplace, pink-and-white boy managed to scale such an altitude, while he himself, in all his life, though with a better intelligence, and, as he had thought, with a deeper heart, had but prowled around the foot? Why should he try to drag him down? On the peak of that great Jungfrau of rapture no human foot can long stand.
"As I told you, Mrs. Le Marchant turned me away from their door," pursues Byng. ”

“ Wigstan, with a dexterity that belied his seeming drunkenness, swerved from the blow, snatched a broad knife from under his mail tunic, and plunged the blade deep in his opponent’s throat.
“Treachery!” roared the Danes, all leaping up. “They bear weapons!”
Their eyes aflame with malice, the two Jutes stood by the open door. The Danes were taken by surprize. No guest was supposed to bear arms in the hall of his host; and these two had said they were weaponless. To show their own good faith, the Danes had hung their arms high on pegs along the walls. ”

“ It will be the task of the first detachment to hold the Frisians in play—a perilous duty—while the other overwhelms our foes. But mark ye this: No harm must come to Finn, for he is a man, and has dealt honorably with us. Our quarrel is with the Jutes alone.”
“And on them we will wreak it!” the son of Hunlaf muttered between set teeth.
III
HENGIST’S plans unfolded with utter smoothness; it was plain to all the Danes that the gods fought on their side. Guthlaf and Oslaf, their men’s mail muffled with wadding of woolen strips, landed in hushed silence ”

“ And Brogger went forward like a lamb.
"It's cruel! it's cruel!" said Brogger. But in less than two shakes of a lamb's tail he found himself getting paint out of the bo'-son's locker in company with Corlett and Jack Eales.
"What you've got to do, sonny," said Jack, who had half a mind to be sorry for him, "is to do your duty and do it smart and quick. Just now you're off-colour, so to speak, in spite of that 'ealthy complexion of yours, and you don't feel well. Exercise will do you good. We'll have you on a topsail-yard yet singin' out: '’Aul out to loo'ard' with the best." ”

“ Brougham could tear a passion to tatters with any one, but he ranted. It is true that the post-boys used to drive the chaises of travellers in these regions somewhat out of the direct road, in order to glimpse the residence of Lord Brougham; but those travellers viewed the place, and Brougham himself, with curiosity, just as one might an Icelandic geyser, to which,165 indeed, he is not inaptly to be compared. ”

“ Guthlaf and Oslaf entered, the fiercest of the Danish warriors. Brothers they were, deeply attached to each other; there had been a third brother, Hunlaf; but he had fallen beneath Wigstan’s knife just before the Jutish assault four months before. He had left a grown son, a strong young man and a brave soldier. This son had a name of his own, but none mentioned it. In their hot desire to avenge their brother, Guthlaf and Oslaf kept the flame of their wrath alive by calling the boy only “Son of Hunlaf,” and all the Danes followed their example. ”

“ It would be death."
"I know that, girl, but I am ready to face the worst."
"Then play fair with me. If I avenge myself you need not be troubled with taking a man across the sea. Stand back, sir, and let Stareyes take care of the inmates of Ranch Robin."
Old Broadbrim was not inclined to do this.
The girl should not baffle him nor throw him for a moment off the bush trail.
"I understand. You don't intend to do it!" she cried. "You have made up your mind that I am to be brushed aside, and treated like a viper which one finds in one's path. You intend to dare me to do my worst. Beware, sir!" ”

“ As long as he held the glass to his eyes he could see the man watching the Maybloom, and at last he turned away confident that he had outwitted Merle Macray's spy.
Now the ocean lay before him and in a few days he would be in Sydney, ready for the task before him.
Old Broadbrim found the occupants of the yacht the best of companions, and at times his conscience rebelled against the deception he was playing, but he promised himself that some day he would explain all to Lord Harway and beg his pardon. ”

“ Once more the Danish archers loosed. Two of the log-bearers dropped; but the three shafts which reached Wulf rebounded harmlessly from his mail. He laughed again. Under his ring-armor he wore a breast-piece of plate captured from the River-Franks, proof against arrows.
Now the Danes were shooting no longer in volleys, but each man for himself, as fast as they could notch and pull. Hnaf did not need to direct them, for they were experienced soldiers all, trained to their trade from boyhood. One by one they picked off those who bore the log, only Wulf escaping. ”

“ The first slash of the whip and dig of the spur changed the nature of Dan's emotions most effectually. He roared, he raged, he twisted about like an eel on a spear. Still fiercely and unmercifully the little jockey plied the lash and the goad. Still he shouted, "Hurrah! jump, you devil, jump!"
Now, Dan swore like a rapparee; now, he called upon every saint in the calendar; but there was no cessation to his torture. In the extremity of his fury, he flung the whisky-bottle at the little rider's head; but as it struck his own foot, it only augmented the terrible agony. ”

“ Amongst the latter Brodar, the Viking, made for the great woods, and in so doing passed close to where the tent of the king had been fixed. The attendants left to guard Brian had by this time one by one slipped away to join the fight, and the old man was almost alone, and kneeling, it is said, at the moment on a rug in the front of his tent. The sun was low, but the slanting beams fell upon his bent head and long white beard. One of Brodar's followers perceived him and pointed him out to his leader, saying that it was the king. "King, that is no king, that is a monk, a shaveling!" ”

“ Borglum was a man of great imagination, and he built up a fine character for the men of the hardy North country from which his ancestors had come. In his mind they came from “the North of Denmark, the land bending eastward under the cruel winds from Greenland and Iceland, the rendezvous of Vikings and high-sea rovers. There we have what are called Black Danes.... They{25} are unquestionably an exchange token from Spain, Rome or Greece.... In our own family of blonds there are always some with fine dark eyes and hair to remind us of our ancestral wanderings.” ”