Swartboy

“ Swartboy took his elephant's feet from the oven, and cleaned them; and also let down the biltongue and arranged it so as to be better exposed to the sun. Von Bloom himself shot the three remaining horses, having driven them to a good distance from the camp. He did this to put an end to the suffering of the poor brutes,—for it was plain to every one that they could survive but a day or two longer; and to send a bullet through the heart of each was an act of mercy to them. ”

“ So be of good cheer, my children! We shall not want—we shall yet have plenty—we may be rich!”
It was not that any of those young creatures cared much about being rich, but because they saw their father so happy, that they broke out into something more than a murmur of applause. It was, in fact, a cheer, in which both Totty and Swartboy joined. It rang over the little lake, and caused the birds about settling to roost to wonder what was going on. There was no happier group in all Africa than stood at that moment upon the shore of that lonely little vley.
Chapter Twenty. Turned Hunters. ”

“ The small boy glorifies the other in his mind, setting him on a level with Three-Fingered Jack, or Goliath’s conqueror, and the aggressive boy, feeling rather than understanding the other’s reverence, does his best to look as if he deserved it. To see Lil swagger and to hear her bark, and to see the foolish humble Schwartz follow her, admiring her, believing in her, utterly borne away by her insolent pretence that the whole show was got up by her orders—to observe this was to see one half the world in little. ”

“ On other days Lil was as other dogs, except, perhaps, to the love-blinded eyes of Schwartz, but on Sundays, so long as the drills for the procession lasted, the field was all her own. One or two of her companions, carried away by her example, dared to run amongst the horses’ feet and bark. They were promptly kicked into the ring of spectators, and Lil was left alone in her glory. Of course it all went with his own confiding nature, and the state of complete slavery in which he lived, to persuade Schwartz of her greatness. She deserves at least that one truth should be admitted. ”

“ Just as he had cut a large slice out of the mutton, there came a tremendous rap at the door. The old gentleman jumped; Gluck fitted the slice into the mutton again, and ran to open the door.
"What did you keep us waiting in the rain for?" said Schwartz, as he walked in, throwing his umbrella in Gluck's face.
"Aye; what for, indeed, you little vagabond?" said Hans, administering an educational box on the ear, as he followed his brother.
"Bless my soul!" said Schwartz, when he opened the door. ”

“ Dolly was flurried. “I dunno,” she murmured. “You don’t understand things, Minkie. Dad is desperately anxious that we should not offend Mr. Schwartz, who can be either a very good friend or a dangerous enemy. Oh, sis! What a happy world it would be if we had all the money we want!”
“P’raps. Schwartz is rich, and he looked happy last night, didn’t he? Jack’s uncle is [Pg 62] rolling in coin, and to-day he is nursing a foot the size of an elephant’s.” ”

“ This new climax silenced the spectators, as suddenly, as if the wand of an enchanter had turned them into stone; and it was not till after some seconds had elapsed that murmurs of applause rose round the ring, coupled with that popular cry, “Huzza for the black horseman!”
For a moment the captain of cuirassiers seemed awed into silence. Only for a moment, and only by the suddenness of the encounter. Swaggerer as he may have been, Scarthe was no coward; and under the circumstances even a coward must have shown courage. ”

“ You're a pretty leader of a gang of desperate mutineers, aren't you?"
Schwartz stared in amazement, struck dumb by the cool daring of the person who had the courage and effrontery to taunt and insult him.
Michael turned to Brandt, Haff, Delarey, Guantaio, Vogué, and the rest of Schwartz's familiars.
"A remarkable leader," he said. "Here you are, the gang of you, making your wonderful plans, and Lejaune knows every word you say, and precisely what you are going to do—almost as soon as you know it yourselves! ... Join you? No, thanks. ”

“ Perhaps that was what Strefford’s sharply narrowed eyes were seeing now, that same illimitable distance that she had lost forever—perhaps he was saying to himself, as she had said to herself when her lips left Nick’s: “Each time we kiss we shall see it all again....” Whereas all she herself had felt was the gasping recoil from Strefford’s touch, and an intenser vision of the sordid room in which he and she sat, and of their two selves, more distant from each other than if their embrace had been a sudden thrusting apart.... ”

“ The savages had already assembled on the beach to give the enemy a warm welcome, and Stransom sent a black fellow off at once to the king, bidding him be of good cheer, because Fitzroy and Gourmand would be with them round his own kraal without a moment’s delay. ”

“ Johann stamped his foot.
“I know you,” he exclaimed bitterly. “You talk of liberty and brotherhood, and yet you calmly stand by and see the sacrifice of the only king who ever showed himself ready to serve the cause of liberty and brotherhood. What are your real motives? Not love of the principles you proclaim so loudly! Not love of the people! But blind hatred for a name.”
“Stop!” It was Schwartz who raised his voice harshly over the angry murmur arising in the hall. “If you have been blinded and deceived, we have not. ”

“ I see Warlock pricking one ear. He is going to listen too, is he?
Ah! well, my friends, my life has been a very long and a very eventful one, for I have travelled very far and seen much, and you all know I am getting old. Dick is laughing and chuckling to himself. Of course, he thinks that I am centuries old, but that is only because he himself is so young.
Chammy, the chameleon, looks down at Shireen with one of his droll eyes, while he watches a fly on the ceiling with the other. ”

“ Vavasor?"
"Well; if you ask me I should say you had," said George. "I know I paid Mr. Scruby three hundred pounds on your account."
"And I got every shilling of it, Mr. Vavasor. I'm not a going to deny the money, Mr. Vavasor. You'll never find me doing that. I'm as round as your hat, and as square as your elbow,—I am. Mr. Scruby knows me; don't you, Mr. Scruby?"
"Perhaps I know you too well, Grimes."
"No you don't, Mr. Scruby; not a bit too well. Nor I don't know you too well, either. I respect you, Mr. Scruby, because you're a man as understands your business. ”

“ Even the hawk only nipped my tail. You’re not a quarter as fast as a hawk.” It giggled close beside his ear.
“Oh, you are a little beauty!” exclaimed Sambo. “I knew you’d turn up. You promised, didn’t you?”
Nannie and Topsy came into view as he spoke, round the corner of the house.
“Oh, be quick, be quick! Hide, or they’ll see you!”
Snitch giggled, as he gave the boy a tiny nip with his little mouth in the neck, but so gently, it was almost like a kiss.
“I am a beauty,” it squeaked. “I did promise. I have turned up. And I am quick⁠—so quick that you’ll never hit me, and they’ll never see me!” ”

“ Yes, but neighbours, you need not have taken it so to heart. That was a scurvy trick of some of you to hang me in effigy, as they call it."
"It warn't you," cried a voice in the crowd, "it war Nick Stirn."
The Squire recognised the voice of the tinker; but though he now guessed at the ringleader,—on that day of general amnesty, he had the prudence and magnanimity not to say, "Stand forth, Sprott: thou art the man." Yet his gallant English spirit would not suffer him to come off at the expense of his servant. ”

“ You’re true to Topsy, so you’ll be true to me. I’ll take her. We’ll go together, all three!”
At this, Sambo felt so happy that he picked up the lizard in his fingers and gave it a kiss.
“Thank you,” piped Snitch, when he put it down on the bed, “but you needn’t waste time doing that. We’ve a lot to do before we’re ready to start. I’ve got to make you both small first. We must all be the same size or we shan’t be able to get into the same places. Besides, you can’t see in the dark as well as I can, and you’d soon lose me. Have you got my tail?” ”

“ Nothing in her husband’s brief lines had embittered her as much as the allusion to Strefford. It seemed to imply that Nick’s own plans were made, that his own future was secure, and that he could therefore freely and handsomely take thought for hers, and give her a pointer in the right direction. Sudden rage had possessed her at the thought: where she had at first read jealousy she now saw only a cold providence, and in a blur of tears she had scrawled her postscript to Strefford. ”

“ And Sambo felt the same. He saw no reason why he shouldn’t be small like his companions. Everything in the world was either small or big compared with something else. He was big compared to an ant anyhow, occurred to him.
“Oh, I’m all right,” he replied. “Bigger than a beetle anyhow. I feel all darty. I could flash away like lightning⁠—if only I could see.”
“I only hope I shan’t roll,” said Topsy. “I’m awfully round⁠—rather hedge-hoggy⁠—”
A shrill noise stopped her. It was Snitch screaming.
“Hush!” cried the lizard. “You mustn’t use that word. Hedgehogs and snakes eat us⁠—sometimes. ”

“ Snitch said, in a forgiving voice. “Now, we’ll begin with the Night Garden.”
“The Night Garden!” exclaimed Sambo. “Do you mean the Garden at Night?”
“It’s easier to read,” explained the lizard. “There’s more going on. You’re all out of the way, for one thing!”
“Oh!” gasped Sambo, beginning to understand.
“You,” went on the lizard rather contemptuously, “think everything goes to sleep when you do and because you do. You think only owls and bats are awake at night.” She twitched her head and gave a little laugh. “Now, be ready tonight when Topsy’s asleep. I’ll come for you.” ”

“ How Topsy managed it was a mystery, but while Sambo pushed and heaved her from below, the fat little body somehow found a footing on the smooth horn and swarmed slowly up it, and a few minutes later her gurgling laughter was heard high up in the air.
“I’m up!” she cried, waving an arm. “On the very top. Hurry up, Sambo! You give me half a horn’s start, remember, for the race!”
It was now Sambo’s turn. But Snitch did not come down to help him. She stayed by Topsy. “You’ll do it easily,” she piped. “You’re a man.” ”

“ How Sverre the adventurer won the crown is a tale full of adventure and amply worth the telling.
No common man was Sverre and no common woman was his mother Gunhild, a cook in the kitchen of King Sigurd Mouth. Not handsome was she, but quick of wit and bright of brain. If the king had had his way the boy would have had a very short life, for he bade the mother to kill her child as soon as it should be born. ”

“ Believe me, even after I arrived at Liverpool, my adventures would fill a book, but I have said enough to show that I was ready to appreciate a good home when the Guv’nor found me in Leadenhall Market, and took me to Dale End as a present to Minkie. More than that, you never really appreciate a good home until you have had a few bad ones, and it is in the latter that you obtain any genuine schooling in the darker side of human nature.
So it is obvious that I watched Schwartz with my eyes skinned. ”

“ Besides, Lucile was so beautiful; he loved her in his hard way for that alone; and she was such a consort, so tactful, so brilliant, that he admired and valued her from a purely official standpoint. If she ever knew, she would never forgive him. She never should know, but still he hated the idea.
But what other course remained? He thought of the faces of the crowd the day before; of Savrola; of the stories which reached him from the army; of other tales of a darker and more mysterious kind,—tales of strange federations and secret societies, which suggested murder, as well as revolution. ”

“ It amused Strawbridge to see a South American performing such military antics. It was like a child playing soldier. He was moved to mimic the little fellow by grunting back in the same tones, “Hup... Strawbridge... Caracas... Canalejos... sell guns and ammunition...” Then he wrote those answers in the book.
An anxious look flitted across the face of the sentry at this jocularity. His stiff “eyes front” flickered an instant toward the sentry-box. While the negro and the bull-fighter were filling in the register, a peon came riding up on a black horse. ”

“ Henry Holtspur had, by this time, become the bête noire of his existence—against whom his bitterest hostility was henceforth to be directed. He had already taken some steps to inform himself of the position and character of his rival; but in this he had met with only slight success. A mystery surrounded the movements of the black horseman; and all that Scarthe could learn in relation to him was: that he was a gentleman of independent means, who had lately taken up his residence in the neighbourhood—his domicile being an old mansion known by the quaint appellation of “Stone Dean.” ”

“ There’s no sense in being so big. If you were small like me you’d need less food, you could live in smaller houses, use much less stuff to clothe you, and life would be much easier altogether⁠—”
Instead of finishing its remarks, it suddenly shot up the curtain by the window and hung motionless. It was some minutes before even Sambo could pick it out, for the curtain was brown and the lizard’s body did not show against it.
“What’s up?” the boy asked in surprise.
“I am,” replied Snitch. “Just in time too!”
Before Sambo could say anything else, the door opened and his sister, Topsy, came in. ”