Brundage

“ The other men were the ones who mattered. Hence Brundage knew exactly what he was going to do and say.
So, though it was evening, he was taken from the gates to the palace itself by an officer, a strutting, dish-faced little monkey-man, and at the palace was ushered on to the billiard room. The sultan was there, playing billiards with the ponderous Vanderhout, while Hajji Ishak sat in the corner and told the beads of his rosary. As Brundage entered, the sultan put down his cue and advanced with well-assumed cordiality, hand outstretched. Ibrahim liked to play at hail-fellow-well-met. ”

“ Brundage frowned. "I do not understand her," he confessed. "She has been warned, yet she persists."
"She is no child, nor a fool," reflected the old man. "Why attempt to understand, my friend? We are not omniscient. But there is a proverb about stepping on the tail of the tiger; in fact, much of the Shi King is written on this subject. If you go. to the palace as a guest, you should remember it."
"No fear," said Brundage quietly. "By the way, will one of your junks stop at Port Santur inside the next fortnight?" ”

“ Real life is far from having the stuff of books, and hasty conclusions are dangerous. Brundage was past forty, and had every earthly reason not to mix up in this affair. He had sent home his money, and now looked forward to its enjoyment. The calm eyes of Marjorie Hampton wakened no amorous fires in him—his wife and children awaited him in San Francisco, and Brundage was no philanderer. ”

“ Hajji Ishak, however, laughed and came to meet him, hand on sword-hilt. For all his seeming boldness, Brundage was playing no role of folly; true, desperation spurred him, yet he was neglecting no straw at which he might have to snatch. So, when he halted, he had picked the spot carefully.
"By Allah, infidel, we are well met!" said the swaggering Hazrami in Arabic. "Go and get the woman, and come back with us."
"Who am I, to bandy words with such as you?" said Brundage. Hajji Ishak came close, grinned, and tapped him on the arm. ”

“ He was taken back to his first meeting with her in Port Santur—the girl was like a stone wall. "They planned it this way, so the beasts would give out after a few miles. When we don't come back, they'll pursue us. We'll hardly reach that spring, afoot, before they'll be up with us! You can't be in earnest about this."
"But I am," she said. "Quite in earnest."
There was an instant of silence, as her words sank in, and Brundage faced the hard fact of the situation. Then he mastered himself. ”

“ Brundage was not prepared for the table-talk at dinner that night, however. It concerned a Miss Simkins, who had come as a governess the preceding year. Vanderhout and Hoffman reminisced about her most feelingly; she had died, apparently of fever and homesickness. Behind the thin smile of Hoffman and the chuckle of Vanderhout could be read many unclean things, but Brundage gave no sign that he discerned the attack leveled at him. He was not to be flung off balance so easily, nor would he come down to innuendoes; anything said would have to be flat-footed and open. ”

“ He saw that she was gripped by emotion. "I've got what I came here for; Mr. Brundage that is, part of it. And now I must take the action I had contemplated—and it isn't easy. It had always looked so simple! But when one is on the ground and facing realities, things are very different."
Brundage pondered over this solemnly. "Hm! I suppose so," he returned. "By the way, there's just one method open to us of getting out of here. A Chinese junk will call at Port Santur Friday night, taking us on to Malacca, where you'll be safe in British territory. ”

“ They might even have hesitated to take up Clobb's cause had not a fellow made an impulsive slash at Brundage from the side. The cutlas, driven in a sweeping upward blow, took the man's hand half-off at the wrist. A flash of circling steel and a second blow chopped into the head of a Spaniard who, perhaps unconsciously, reached for his own knife.
The fight was on. Men took it up on every side. Brundage had looked for nothing like that, but he more than accepted it. He carried the fight to them with cut and thrust so that men stumbled backward in fright. ”

“ Brundage rapped out an oath. "Like that better?" he said harshly. "Suppose I'm going to sit down and count coat-buttons like they do in Singapore, while you're gone? Not much. Five buttons—that's a Dutchman. Four buttons and the pants a fit—that's a Britisher. Fine game! But I'm not playing it. You—you woman, you!" The word was bitter. "A woman, flitter-headed as a chicken, no more sense than a silly old hen, always jumping the wrong way—damnation! Go on over the hill, then, and take the consequences." ”

“ Brundage smiled. "No brooks. However, there's a spring on the hill road, and we'll get to it in a couple of hours if we push on. With the horses, we'll make Port Santur long before dark, and all's well. They'll not dare touch us there. Too open."
So they rode on through the hot morning, and presently came to the empty hill road that wound, dipping, then left jungle behind and mounted through the upper reaches of the forest. And, as they turned into it, Brundage realized that his horse was limping. ”

“ On the other hand, he knew perfectly well that Brundage was running high risks—less with the sultan than with his white advisers. For one man to enter any game against this pack of wolves was senseless folly ”

“ A quiet little smile, and pretty indeed to see, yet touching her face alone—not her eyes. By contrast, they seemed more deep and baffling than ever, in their perfect poise. Brundage noted that she sat in her chair absolutely without movement, and this backed up the warning of her eyes. No ordinary girl here.
"Don't you know it's a damned trap?" he blurted out, feeling a surge of passionate fury sweep from soul to brain. "That cursed sultan doesn't want any governess. What he wants is a white woman—another. You're not the first. You've got to realize facts, girl." ”

“ When the heart of an impetuous man is hot within him, he has regard for nothing. Brundage had little regard for anything at the best of times, but now he went straight to Hop Soy's hotel and straight up to the one room over the court reserved for the occasional white person who came to Port Santur. He knew his way and paused for none. He rapped sharply at the door, tried it, found it unlocked, and stepped into the room. The girl was there, leaning over a grip she had half unpacked. ”

“ It must have struck her like a blow—less the cruelty than the implication. She had been long enough here to realize what the deliberate ruin of these two expensive beasts meant. Evidently the sultan had given his orders, to be obeyed at any cost.
"They'll last to the spring," said Brundage appraisingly. "Up-hill work, and that means strain on the cuts—what devils! That much of the road is the worst for us, too. After that we can go on afoot, most of it down grade." ”

“ The damsel Africa said: “Dear Brunswik! that is a hard matter; if thou hadst the strength of a thousand men, I would bid thee rather fight with them all at once than with these divers land and sea monsters. And therefore, dear Brunswik! tell me whether the beasts at the first three gates are asleep, that thou hast come hither so easily in spite of them?” Saith Brunswik: “Africa, dear damsel! in truth they do sleep and will sleep.” The damsel saith: “If they are asleep, dear Brunswik! depart from the castle and tell my father, that I am well and that I thank him for caring for me.” ”

“ So delightful did these dreams in short time become to the children, that they longed for nothing so eagerly as to slumber on Brunhilda’s lap, for never did they else enjoy such visions of heavenly forms. Thus were they most anxious for that which was to prove their destruction:—yet do we not all aspire after that which conducts us to the grave—after the enjoyment of life? These innocents stretched out their arms to approaching death, because it assumed the mask of pleasure; for, while they were lapped in these exstatic slumbers, Brunhilda sucked the life-stream from their bosoms. ”

“ Where is Brunette?"
"The queen," said Bonne-Biche, "showed so little grief at your death, my princess, that your father's heart was filled with hatred and suspicion towards her and he sent her back to the king Turbulent, her father, who confined her in a tower, where she soon died of rage and anger. All the world supposed you to be dead. As to your sister Brunette, she became so wicked, so insupportable, that the king hastened to give her in marriage last year to the prince Violent, who charged himself with the duty of reforming the character of the cruel and envious princess Brunette. ”

“ Brunow, and I have only just heard that he was here. Can I have a word with you, sir?” He turned to Brunow as he spoke. “Sorry to trouble you, sir, but you remember what you promised me. I took your word of honor, sir, and I've made myself personally responsible.”
“Damn it all!” cried Brunow, rising, with a whiter face than ever; “do you suppose that a gentleman is to be badgered about a thing of this kind at this hour of the night in another gentleman's rooms? Wait outside. Go down-stairs and wait for me, and I will arrange with you when we go home together.” ”

“ So drawing his sword, he rushed up to the dragon and began to fight with it, defending the lion, for the lion was in great straits. The dragon had nine heads, from each of which fire issued, as from a forge. Again was Brunswik in great danger, for the dragon burned him greatly, and on the other hand he feared the lion also, and thus thought himself in two-fold danger. The lion, seing the great faithfulness of Brunswik, fell on the ground and rested, for the dragon had greatly wounded it; while Brunswik so fought with the dragon, that he had hewn off six of its heads. ”

“ The Stahl brunnen (steel spring) is at the head of the town, at the upper extremity of the right prong. Close to the point of the other prong is the Wein brunnen (wine spring) , and about 600 yards up the same valley is situated the fashionable brunnen of Pauline. Between these three points, brunnens, or wells, the visiters at Langen-Schwalbach, with proper intervals for rest and food, are everlastingly vibrating. Backwards and forwards, “down the middle and up again,” the strangers are seen walking, or rather crawling, with a constancy that is really quite astonishing. ”

“ And when they pecked the hide around him, Brunswik, knowing no other counsel, drew his sword and leapt out and cut off their heads. Here Brunswik played the part of a valiant man, for it was very needful for him so to do. And it is written in other books of these birds, that each of them is so strong, that he can take up a horse on each talon, and so large, that he steps from one mountain to another; and on each foot he has three talons. And there are not many of these birds, for they slay and eat each other. ”

“ This so enraged Fredegonde that she persecuted her stepson until, in despair, he prevailed on a faithful servant to take his life. In the meantime, the Austrasians, who had the custody of Brunehaut's infant son, demanded their queen from Chilperic; she was surrendered to them, and was instated as queen-guardian of her son.
Brunehaut was in every sense a born ruler. A princess by birth, she also possessed a mind that was capable of formulating plans which united her people with herself in the enjoyment of the fruits of success as well as in the labor of accomplishment. ”

“ He was the wood-cutter, whose little boy and girl Rosebud had saved from the boat,—that little boy and girl with whom she ran, hand in hand, along the forest paths, calling as they ran, “Tirra, Tirra, Tirra, Tirra La!” She was kind and good to them always, and he felt grateful, and longed to do her a service. When King Brondé was overpowered in Green Hollow, on the day of the lion hunt, he kept close by his side. It was he, who, with the tip of his sword, thrust the little vial under the plantain-leaf, and afterwards escaped with it. ”

“ He looked at her with the eyes of a stranger, and replied:
"I come to represent Gunther, King of Burgundy. He wishes to sue for your heart and hand. He is my lord; I am his vassal, and have come to do his bidding."
Brunhilda was sorely grieved and perplexed; she could not in the least understand Siegfried's [78] behavior. Surely it was he who had aroused her from her magic sleep, and surely it was he who had placed the beautiful ring upon her hand, vowing that he would return and claim her for his bride. ”

“ Two years and three months after the death of his father, Brunswik called to mind the excellence of his father, and what good he had done and won for the land of Bohemia in his lifetime. Then he said to his wife: “My Neomenia! I give thee to know this, that I intend to ride forth and seek honour for my nation, for it is not seemly for any brave man to die without doing something that shall be memorable after him. My father won an eagle in his lifetime, and, please God, I intend to win a lion. ”

“ And when Brunswik had done this, and the Lord God had aided him to kill them, he marvelled thereat, and began with great fear to traverse those desolate mountains, for there was neither bird nor beast there. And when Brunswik had wandered thence nine days and nine nights and had always come to greater and more desolate mountains, it came to pass that he entered into a deep valley. There he heard a noise and great tumult, and stopped, listening how the tumult continually increased. And approaching nearer he saw a lion and a dragon fighting together. ”