Mappo

“ So Mappo was taken home to the boy's house. It was quite different from the circus where the merry little monkey had lived so long. There were no sawdust rings, no horses or other animals, and there was no performance in the afternoon, and none in the evening.
But, for all that, Mappo liked it. For one thing he got enough to eat, and the things he liked—cocoanuts and bananas, for the boy read in a book what monkeys liked, and got them for his new pet. The boy made a nice box cage for Mappo to sleep in, and tied him fast with a string around the collar, which Mappo wore. ”

“ The animal tent, in which stood Nero's cage and that of the other jungle folk, was soon filled with boys and girls and their fathers and mothers, all of whom had come to the circus. They moved from cage to cage, stopping to toss popcorn balls to Dido, the dancing bear, and feed peanuts to Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, and to the friends of Mappo and some of the other merry monkeys. ”

“ Day after day went past in the circus, and still Mappo did not come back. Sometimes Tum Tum was lonesome for his little monkey friend, but there was so much to do, that no one in a circus could be lonesome for very long at a time.
Tum Tum was learning some new tricks, and this took up much of his time. Each day he was growing bigger and stronger, for he was not a very old elephant, when he had been caught in the jungle. Now he was very strong, and he could easily have pushed two heavy animal cages at once. He was the strongest elephant in the whole circus. ”

“ There are clowns, and animals to look at. I am one of the animals, but I ran out of my cage when the door flew open."
"Why did you run away?" asked Squinty.
"Oh, I got tired of staying in a cage. And I was afraid the big tiger might bite me. I'll run back again pretty soon, before they miss me. Now you tell me about your balloon ride."
So Squinty told the merry monkey all about running away, and learning tricks, and having a ride in the queer basket.
"I can do tricks, too," said Mappo. "But just now I am hungry. ”

“ Now this is my will, Mopo, my servant: that thou shouldst take with thee a few men only and go gently to this Bulalio, and say to him: ‘A greater Elephant stalks through the land than he who has gone to sleep, and it has come to his ears—that thou, Chief of the People of the Axe, dost pay no tribute, and hast said that, because of the death of a certain Mopo, thou wilt have nothing to do with him whose shadow lies upon the land. ”

“ Pompa jumped up in a hurry and backed toward Kabumpo. “Be careful how you talk to him,” roared the Elegant Elephant, swaying backwards and forward like a big ship. “He’s a Prince—the Prince of Pumperdink!” Kabumpo tossed his trunk threateningly.
“A Prince?” spluttered the King, changing his tone instantly. “Well, that’s different. A Prince can fall in on us any time and welcome but an Ouch! Why bring this great clumsy Ouch along?” He rolled his eyes mournfully at Kabumpo.
“He’s not an Ouch,” explained Pompa, who was gradually recovering from the shock of his fall. ”

“ Would you?”
“Only sensible thing it ever said, probably,” answered the Elegant Elephant, with his mouth full of leaves. “There’s a lot more to be learned by traveling than by studying, my boy. Somersaults for sums—let’s always remember that!”
Pompa did not answer. He slid down Kabumpo’s trunk and began hunting anxiously around for something to eat. Not far away he found a large nut tree and, gathering a handful of nuts, he sat down and began to crack them on a white marble slab near by. Next instant Kabumpo heard a thud and a muffled cry.
The Prince of Pumperdink had vanished, as if by magic. ”

“ With a tremendous yawn he opened the other eye and began to chuckle and shake all over.
“We stole a march on ’em, Pompa. I’d like to see the King’s face when he finds us gone. Old Pumper will be Oyezing all over the palace. He’ll think we’ve disappeared by magic.”
“Well, didn’t we?” asked Pompadore in amazement.
52
“Not unless you call me magic. I carried you off in the night. Did you suppose old Kabumpo was going to stand quietly by while they married you to a faggotty old fairy like Faleero? Not much,” wheezed the Elegant Elephant. “I have other plans for you, little one!” ”

“ So, having been joined by Taylor, the Native Commissioner, we rode off across the veldt towards the Matopos, some six miles distant from the fort. On arriving at Mapisa’s Kraal, a friendly chief, we off–saddled our horses (but never let our guns out of our hands, for even friendlies are not to be too blindly trusted) , and, taking two or three of his scouts with us, we climbed up into some koppies which commanded a view of the enemy’s position, and of the Matopos generally. Awful country, a weird, jumbled mass of grey granite boulders thickly interspersed with bush, and great jagged mountains. ”

“ Interesting as was Miss Mapp’s walk home, and painful as was the light which it had conceivably thrown on the problem that had baffled her for so long, she might have been even more acutely disgusted had she lingered on with the rest of the bridge-party in Mrs. Poppit’s garden, so revolting was the sycophantic loyalty of the newly-decorated Member of the British Empire.... She described minutely her arrival at the Palace, her momentary nervousness as she entered the Throne-room, the instantaneousness with which that all vanished when she came face to face with her Sovereign. ”

“ Catching him by the shoulder, I whispered in his ear: 'If one hair of Beppo's head is hurt, you are a dead man before you can say your prayers. You came after my money. You are a villain, but you shall have it—two gold pieces, ten dollars, at least—if you sell him to me on the spot. Is Beppo mine, on these conditions? If he isn't, I will arouse the crew, and you shall dangle aloft before the next watch is set. Yes or no?'
''You shall have the monkey,' replied the Italian, with another of his infernal smirks. ”

“ There might be some little joke made at her expense on the effect of Grandmamma Mapp’s invention if this lovely Spoonerism was published. But if she who had only just tasted the red-currant fool tripped in her speech, how amply were Major Flint’s good nature and Captain Puffin’s incessant laugh accounted for. She herself felt very good-natured, too. How pleasant it all was!
“Oh, naughty!” she said to the Major. “Pray, hush! you’re disturbing them at their rubber. And here’s the Padre back again!” ”

“ Tell me all the scandal of Tilling, Miss Mapp, while I play​—​all the dreadful histories of that Major and that Captain. Such a grand air has the Captain​—​no, it is the Major, the one who does not limp. Which of all you ladies do they love most? It is Miss Mapp, I believe: that is why she does not answer me. Ah! here is the coffee, and the other king: three lumps of sugar, dear Susan, and then stir it up well, and hold it to my mouth, so that I can drink without interruption. ”

“ Beppo gazed about him in wonder. There were floors of colored marble, and ceilings of blue and gold, and columns of carved marble, and hangings of silk and velvet and silver.
Suddenly the tall man opened a little door that led into a dark passage, and Beppo followed him. They went along the passage, and then the man opened another door.
Then Beppo found himself in a great vaulted room. There at one end of the room were three souls. A man sat on the throne, and he was the king, for he had a crown on his head and a long robe over his shoulders. ”

“ There was quite a group of scarves at the corner, where Miss Mapp’s street debouched into the High Street: Irene was there (for it was probably too cold for Mr. Hopkins that morning) , looking quainter than ever in corduroys and mauve stockings with an immense orange scarf bordered with pink. Diva was there, wound up in so delicious a combination of rose-madder and Cambridge blue, that Miss Mapp, remembering the history of the rose-madder, had to remind herself how many things there were in the world more important than worsted. ”

“ Beppo watched him, all agape, too breathless to chew. Before he could interfere—
"By the Saints, but he's in!" he cried with arms thrown up. "Eh, master, come you back, come you back!"
"What do you want?" a muffled voice came from the chimney. Beppo sawed the air.
"Don't you play the fool up there, my boy, don't you do it! That's as foul as the grave, that chimney is. I'll have ye on my soul as long as I live, and I can ill afford it, for I've a queasy conscience in my black shell." ”

“ I think that thy sorrows are avenged, O King, thy sorrows and mine also.”
“Not so, Mopo,” answered the king, “this is but the beginning; our mourning was merry to-day, it shall be merrier to-morrow.”
“To-morrow, O King, few will be left to mourn; for the land will be swept of men.”
“Why, Mopo, son of Makedama? But a few have perished of all the thousands who are gathered together. Number the people and they will not be missed.”
“But a few have died beneath the assegai and the kerrie, O King. Yet hunger and thirst shall finish the spear’s work. ”

“ No doubt her strange remark about duelling at dinner had been humorous in intention, but many a true word is spoken in jest, and the Contessa​—​perspicacious woman​—​had seen at once that Major Benjy and Captain Puffin were just the sort of men who might get to duelling (or, at any rate, challenging) about a woman. And her asking which of the ladies the men were most in love with, and her saying that she believed it was Miss Mapp! Miss Mapp had turned nearly as red as poor Diva when that came out, so lightly and yet so acutely.... ”

“ Pompa sighed dismally. “No one will want to marry me now. It’s all coming true, Kabumpo, just as Count It Up said. Remember? ‘If a thin Prince sets out on a fat elephant to find a Proper Princess, how many yards of fringe will the elephant lose from his robe and how bald will the Prince be at the end of the journey?’ And we’ve scarcely begun!” ”

“ Matipa is on an island too, with four bomas on it. A river, the Molonga, runs past it, and is a protection. [28]
The men wear a curious head-dress of skin or hair, and large upright ears.
3rd March, 1873.—Matipa paid off the men who brought us here. He says that five Sangos or coils (which brought us here) will do to take us to Kabendé, and I sincerely hope that they will. His canoes are off, bringing the meat of an elephant. There are many dogs in the village, which they use in hunting to bring elephants to bay. I visited Matipa at noon. He is an old man, slow of tongue, and self-possessed ”

“ By the time that I had thus far considered the matter, Mapela had made his choice, and now approached us, accompanied by a fine, stalwart young Mashona warrior of some five or six and twenty years of age, a ringed man, whose smooth, dark skin was already seamed here and there with scars that told of more than one hard-fought fight, and whose lithe and easy movements indicated that he was in the very pink of fighting condition. Halting within a pace or two of where I stood, near the king, Mapela saluted, and said:
“Behold, O Great, Great One, I have chosen a warrior, even as you bade me. ”

“ Opposite the church-and-chimney-artists would sit others, drawing the front door itself (difficult) , and moistening their pencils at their cherry lips, while a little further down the street was another battalion hard at work at the gabled front of the garden-room and its picturesque bow. It was a favourite occupation of Miss Mapp’s, when there was a decent gathering of artists outside, to pull a table right into the window of the garden-room, in full view of them, and, quite unconscious of their presence, to arrange flowers there with a smiling and pensive countenance. ”

“ It is indeed shameful that an old and venerable man of rank should be struck into the dirt, and beaten by a soldier drunk with beer.”
“Shameful, White Man!” gasped Maputa; “your words are true indeed. But wait a while. I, Maputa, will roll that stone over, I will throw that bull upon its back. When next the harvest ripens, this I promise, that neither Nahoon nor Umgona, nor any of his kraal shall be left to gather it.” ”

“ Evie was there in vivid green with a purple border, the Padre had a knitted magenta waistcoat, and Mrs. Poppit that great sable coat which almost prevented movement. They were all talking together in a very animated manner when first Miss Mapp came in sight, and if, on her approach, conversation seemed to wither, they all wore, besides their scarves, very broad, pleasant smiles. Miss Mapp had a smile, too, as good as anybody’s.
“Good morning, all you dear things,” she said. “How lovely you all look​—​just like a bed of delicious flowers! Such nice colours! My poor dahlias are all dead.” ”

“ What further inclined her to clemency, was that this very evening the crimson-lake tea-gown would shed its effulgence over Mrs. Poppit’s bridge-party, and Diva would never want to hear the word “kingfisher” again. That was enough to put anybody in a good temper. So the diplomatist returned to the miscreant with the glad tidings that Miss Mapp would hear his supplication with a favourable ear, and she took up a stately position in the garden-room, which she selected as audience chamber, near the bell so that she could ring for Withers if necessary. ”

“ In an instant Beppo, a skilful workman, made a small hole in the wet plaster, dropped in the pearl, and with a few touches covered over the aperture once more. It was an admirable hiding-place. No one could possibly find it. But Beppo was condemned to a year's imprisonment, and in the meanwhile his six busts were scattered over London. He could not tell which contained his treasure. Only by breaking them could he see. Even shaking would tell him nothing, for as the plaster was wet it was probable that the pearl would adhere to it—as, in fact, it has done. ”