Gaunt

“ You have shown courage of a high order. You made a vow and you have carried it out in the spirit and the letter. Gaunt, you will not weaken, I implore you. Remember the good that you have already done. You are rousing England from its lethargy, and you only have to continue to win the battle. Think of it, Gaunt. You can save the natives from torture and make them free men. Could mortal man have a nobler task? ”

“ I never saw a better, Gaunt."
"I agree with you that I never saw a better: but the young girl we sold to that pale student Levator, how much handsomer to look upon."
"Right, Gaunt, for once. I never beheld anything in the shape of death, so fair. That female, she must have been very beautiful when living."
"I don't think that would follow as a natural consequence. Many homely persons make a handsome corpse." ”

“ The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet: ⁠68
O thou, the earthly author of my blood,
Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate,
Doth with a two-fold vigour lift me up
To reach at victory above my head, ⁠72
Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers,
And with thy blessings steel my lance's point,
That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat,
And furbish new the name of John a Gaunt, ⁠76
Even in the lusty haviour of his son.
Gaunt. God in thy good cause make thee prosperous!
Be swift like lightning in the execution ”

“ Gaunt′ness. [Skeat compares Norw. gand, pointed stick, and Sw. prov. gank, a lean horse.]
Gauntlet, gänt′let, n. the iron glove of armour, formerly thrown down in challenge: a long glove covering the wrist.—p.adj. Gaunt′leted, wearing a gauntlet or gauntlets.—n. Gaunt′let-guard, a guard of a sword or dagger, protecting the hand very thoroughly.—Run the gauntlet (see Gantlet) .—Throw down, Take up, the gauntlet, to give, to accept a challenge. [Fr. gantelet, double dim. of gant, a glove, of Scand. origin; cf. Old Sw. vante, a glove, Ice. vöttr, a glove, Dan. vante.] ”

“ Gaunt that I must see and know what properties were devised in the will aforesaid, by the said Charlton, to Gaunt aforesaid, and how devised and described. Without this, I said, I could not correctly and sufficiently describe the same in the instrument I was now requested to prepare.
"Mr. Gaunt did not directly reply to this objection. But he pondered a little while, and then asked me if it were not possible for him, by means of general terms, to convey to a sole legatee whatever lands, goods, chattels, etc., Mr. Charlton might hereafter prove to have devised to him, the said Griffith Gaunt. ”

“ I had nothing in the world but my sword and my wretched pay as a sub; I was not the Lord of Netherwood, moor and hill, hall and river; but I was Basil Gauntlet, of Minden and Zierenberg—and they, at least, were something to be heir to. ”

“ Griffith Gaunt griped the young doctor's arm, and with an agonized and ugly expression of countenance cried out, "What? your blood! What right have you to lose blood for her?"
"The right of a man who loves his art better than his blood," cried Ashley, with enthusiasm.
Griffith tore off his coat and waistcoat, and bared his arm to the elbow. "Take every drop I have. No man's blood shall enter her veins but mine." And the creature seemed to swell to double his size, as with flushed cheek and sparkling eyes he held out a bare arm corded like a black-smith's, and white as a duchess's. ”

“ Gaunt. "Oh, sir, the sight of you—the thought of what you were to me once—till jealousy blinded you. Lend me your arm, if you are a man; my limbs do fail me."
The shock had been too much; a pallor over-spread her lovely features, her knees knocked together, and she was tottering like some tender tree cut down, when Griffith, who, with all his faults, was a man, put out his strong arm, and she clung to it, quivering all over, and weeping hysterically. ”

“ Had cavalry charged them, inflamed as they were, the men of that mob might have fought back, dragging horse and rider down to be trampled under foot; but here were a mere handful of old men, boldly defying Fate, casting a gauntlet in the very face of Death himself, and moving, ever moving, toward the stand on which the latest impassioned destroyer stood, speechless and awed. ”

“ And outside the house the watchman beat his gong, not to frighten off thieves, as I at first thought, but to keep away the devils who help the “stealer man,” for he cannot alone carry out his nefarious designs, the wonks, the scavenger dogs made the night hideous by their howling, and the soldiers, of whom the town was full, sang their new war-song—wild and barbaric. ”

“ On each side of him stand men, women and children, with axes, sticks, and other offensive weapons, ready to strike him as he runs, in the same manner as is done in the European armies, when soldiers, as it is called run the gauntlet. If he should be so unlucky as to fall in the way, he will probably be immediately despatched by some person, longing to avenge the death of some relation or friend slain in battle ”

“ When he saw the force brought against him he collected his men in a spot most suitable for his mode of warfare, placing them upon ledges of rock that rose almost perpendicularly to a great height surrounding a plain which narrowed into a passage upon which the whole force could bring their arms to bear. ”

“ All round the walls from their embrasures grinned those eighteen guns that defended the castle and terrorised the negroes. And round them is piled up the shot that has never been used and will never be used now. On the west side the coconut palms have grown up, the wind whispers among the fronds that overshadow the guns, whispers that though their day is done the problem that they started still remains, and has only been taken with blood and bitter tears to the other side of the Atlantic. By the sea-shore of this lovely island I hear its echo crying mournfully. ”

“ When a gallant gentleman with tight sleeves which proclaimed him a warrior, and a long beard of bright red thread which made him a very fierce warrior indeed, snapped his fingers and lifted up his legs, lifted them up vehemently, you knew that he was getting over a wall or mounting his horse. ”

“ The hordes which through the ages have swept, conquering, westwards probably never complained, their lives were too strenuous, either they fought and died and were at peace, or they fought and conquered, and small discomforts were swallowed up in the joy of victory. ”

“ And always he kept the soldiers on the move, harrying the Maroons successfully on the whole, but once a sergeant and ten men took a wrong turning, a thing easy enough to do in the mountains, and got into the Maroon defile, and presently the men who were waiting for that sergeant to bring them some more ammunition heard heavy firing, and not one man returned to tell the tale. ”

“ And in four years I have seen Britain grow into a mighty military power. I have seen the men of my own people come crowding across the ocean to help the Motherland; I have seen my sister's young son pleased to be a soldier in that army, just one of the proud and humble crowd that go to uphold Britain's might. And all this has grown since I stood there at the head of the Norwegian fiord with the western sun sparkling on the little wavelets and heard a friendly foreigner talk about the little army that was “negligible.” ”

“ And so bitter were they, not unnaturally, that a captain of Accompong Maroons, who had gone by a secret path to persuade them to surrender, was promptly shot because they feared he knew too much about the approaches to their strongholds.
The great mistake probably lay in bringing in soldiers who could know nothing of the difficulties of the country. There must have been many stalwart young men, in fact we know there were, who were expert hunters and woodsmen and fully competent to deal with such an enemy. ”

“ They live by the sword, as they perish by the sword, and when the tide of lawlessness reaches a certain height, white man and yellow alike suffer, but we take count only of the sufferings of our own people. 271Sitting in the missionary compound up at Jehol in the evening, I thought of these things and looked into the eyes that looked into mine, the kind, brown eyes, and I wondered did she remember, did she think of them, too. ”

“ I was escorted back to our luggage-van and my thoughts led gently from the coffee and eggs I had consumed and the sausages and bread I had stowed away in my basket to the state of the war as it struck the Russian naval mind.
Had I heard about the sea fight in the Mediterranean? Not heard about the little Gloucester attacking the Goeben, the little Gloucester that the big German battleship could have eaten! A dwarf and a giant! Madame! Madame! ”

“ Listen, army of the Vandals. We shall fight to-day, not for victory alone; we are struggling for all we are and have,--the kingdom of Genseric and its renown, the wives and children in yonder tents, who will become slaves if we yield. To-day we must look death and the enemy closely in the eye. The King has commanded that this battle is to be fought by the Vandals with the sword only, not with bow and arrow, not with lance and spear. Look, I cast my own spear from me; you will do the same; with sword in hand, press close to the body of the foe. ”

“ There were women and children crouching in the wet jungle at night, fearing for their lives, and because of those who feared, and those who were dead, the whites gathered themselves together, proclaimed martial law, and took ample—nay, bloody—vengeance. ”

“ And all the evening we discussed the soldiers and the dead man I had seen, and opinions differed as to the portent.
It is true, said one of them who had been in the country many years, and was a missionary pure and simple, with eyes for nothing but the work he had in hand—which is probably the way to work for success—that a dead body, particularly a dead body by the highroad, is often a sign of unrest, but again, quite as often it means no more than a dead body in any other place. ”

“ Such is the scene now, such was the scene more than three hundred years ago, when the maiden Queen sat on the throne of England and Hawkins made his first expedition, such was the scene a hundred years later when Phillips in the Hannibal of 450 tons and 36 guns came on an expedition trading for gold, elephants' teeth, and slaves—more especially for slaves. I thought of those old-world men as we passed along, and the sea kept wiping out all traces of the passing of my hammock bearers. ”

“ But after the sword dance came the arraying of swordsmen, with no blunted weapons, but with sharp spears and swords—a gladiator combat in full earnest. The people, enchanted, applauded with shouts of ecstasy this gratification of their savage tastes. Suddenly, however, there was an interruption. A rude, roughly robed man, bareheaded and barefooted, had sprung into the arena, and, signing back the gladiators, began to call aloud upon the people to cease from the shedding of innocent blood, and not to requite God's mercy in turning away the sword of the enemy by encouraging murder. ”

“ I seem to see them marching, with brave, bright faces and eager feet, to meet the foe. I hear the distant boom of cannon, growing fainter as they press the retreating enemy. And then, alas! many come back to me mutilated, bleeding, dying, yet with ardor unquenched, repressing moans of anguish that they may listen for the shout of victory: wrestling fiercely with the King of Terrors, not that they fear to die, but because his chill grasp palsies the arm that would fain strike another blow for the right. ”

“ Fair lord king, an God help me ’tis no lie; there in the shield standeth fast my pennon, and a great splinter of my lance; by that token, Sire, Bran de Lis doth haunt this country, since his shield be here. Therefore am I vexed and wrathful, and therefore I arose from meat, since I feared to be taken at a loss; in sooth, I somewhat fear him, for so good a knight I never saw! ”

“ Mighty troopers drunk with battle, the bridle in every iron hand.
“Sunburn on their folded faces was fresh as childhood and fierce as death.
Think: the sunburn got in marches against the demon Elizabeth!
“Next my knee, then, rose a hero, rose up a little, not loosening rein;
Gazing steady, softly said he, and sharply said to me, over again:
“‘Is the time come?’ (That’s for vengeance: the clan is hungry and hot to start.)
‘Is the time come, is the time come?’ Thrice the sound of it stabbed my heart. ”

“ In the raging storm of fire and blood, in the fierce torrent of shot and shell, of sword and bayonet, whether on foot or on horse, unflinching courage marked the rebel not less than the loyal soldier. ”

“ Rather the scorned—the rejected—the men hemmed in with the spears;
The men of the tattered battalion which fights till it dies,
Dazed with the dust of the battle, the din and the cries,
The men with the broken heads and the blood running into their eyes. ”

“ Citizens of the highest rank have conspired the fire their native city, they stir up to war the Gauls, bitterest enemies of the Roman people. The leader of the enemy with his army is upon us. Do you even now hesitate and doubtfully ask yourselves what is to be done with foemen taken within your walls? Have compassion upon them, I conjure you (they are but young men, led astray by ambition) , and even let them go, taking their army with them! Of a truth, if they should resort to war, that gentleness and long-suffering of yours would result in suffering. ”

“ Already, on the confines of the enemy's castle, the hero is taken from us.... A woman of terrifying beauty has subjugated him. Filled with love he is in her arms. The sacred lance falls from his hand. A cry of death! I fly toward the king! Klingsor disappears with a sneer. He has stolen the divine lance. Fighting, I protect the king's flight. But a wound burns in his side. It is this selfsame wound that will not heal."
The shield-bearers have come and seated themselves in a listening attitude at the old man's feet. ”