Dodder

“ Some climbing plants do throttle or choke the trunks of young trees if they twine round them too closely, but the Dodder has an entirely special and peculiar way of supporting itself to the detriment of others. It has no roots, no leaves, and scarcely any green chlorophyll; the Dodder is just a twining, thread-like, yellowish stem which carries here and there small round clusters of little convolvulus-like flowers. ”

“ Wherever the Dodder thread twines round a hop or other plant, it puts out small suckers which drive their way into the stem of the hop and take from it all the food which the Dodder requires. When well developed it forms dense yellowish tangles of intricately entwined threads, which may cover whole bushes and entirely destroy the supporting plants. The Flax, Clover, and Hop Dodders are perhaps the worst of them all. ”

“ In attempting to trace the origin of any particular habit peculiar to any one species, it is always necessary to examine the near relatives and see in what respects they resemble and in what ones they differ from the plant under consideration. The dodder belongs to the Convolvulaceæ, or the morning-glory family, and one of the most striking features of this family is found in their habits of twining. ”

“ I did so, and found that the old chief and myself were standing on a level platform let into the wall of the cavern. He went into the shadows and returned with a torch, which I lighted from the match, and set in an upright position in a crevice. He then unwound the rope from a rounded knob of rock on the inside of the barrier, and let down a few more yards for Grey to make a kind of swing for Crystal. A rough flax mat protected the rope from the irregularities of the rock, and the barrier itself projected far enough from the wall to enable her to keep clear of it in the ascent. ”

“ He had recognized the giant.
"Up!" he cried to his fellow-devotees. "The evil son has returned. Up, all of you, and defend the temple!"
The others were all thoroughly aroused. They turned their eyes toward the temple and perceived the giant standing at the very door!
They sprang toward him with great fury. They quickly surrounded him. It seemed that he must really perish before their wrath. And then—then what happened?
Everychild could not stand idle and see his friend perish. He bethought him of the sword the Masked Lady had given him. ”

“ They know that Mother Nature detests a straight line, and so they summon all the fairy forces of sun, wind, and frost, to break and bend and twist, while they scuttle and bore and dig, [87] until some fine morning after a siege of many years, you stumble upon their victim. The doge who built it would shake his head in despair, but you forgive the tireless little devils—they have made it so delightfully picturesque. ”

“ A doge, in rich robes of state, with his dogaressa, equally richly attired, were represented pacing forward on a balustraded balcony; he an old man with grey beard, strangely mingled traits in his brown-red face, indicative of strength, weakness, pride, and arrogance, as well as kindliness; she, a young creature, with longing sadness and dreamy desirings in her looks, and in the entire expression of her figure. Behind them, an elderly lady, and a man holding a sunshade. ”

“ A little girl, a wraith of a child, pale with the pallor of a prisoner, hardly more than a toddler, sat on the floor and stared up at the intruder, frozen, silent, immobile with the sudden, paralyzing terror that grasps the frightened child. Pathetically poor little playthings were scattered about her: a doll fashioned from gingham and cotton-waste, makeshift dishes of pasteboard, a doll-carriage made from a broken flower-basket with spools for wheels. ”

“ Doodles dozed away an hour or two of the long forenoon, and was beginning to feel quite rested when a knock announced a caller.
To his cheery “Come in!” the door opened upon a woman,—a stocky, youngish woman, with pale blue eyes, heavy cheeks, and a double chin. ”

“ Oh, if they were coming to the sink, he wished they’d hurry up! How hot it was! The closet suddenly became suffocatingly close. He opened the door wider and drew a long, deep breath. He had half a mind to give it up and go and give Doodles a spin. ”

“ Right in front of the door a great fire of wood faggots was blazing, and before this, to our unutterable horror, there hung a man head downwards, suspended by a rope which was knotted round his ankles, and which, passing over a hook in a beam, had been made fast to a ring in the floor. ”

“ With pity's just, and dauntless, haste, She mounts the ladder rightly plac'd, She rears the guardian fork; Her heart expands, with hope elate, That she shall kindly snatch from fate Each tender little Stork. Dear virtuous damsel, vainly brave, Thou must resign thy hopes to save These innocents from death! The faithless ladder breaks—the maid Escaping by angelic aid, Now scarce retains her breath. Forgetting selfish fear, her eye Is fixt upon the scene on high, With anguish and despair; The dauntless bird, with wond'rous skill, A parent's duty to fulfil, Toils in the troubled air. ”

“ But after long suffering in this hole, where there was nought but misery as to the outward man, being no hole either for air or for smoke, being much benumbed in the naturals, as he was climbing up the ladder with his victuals in one hand, and coming to the top of the ladder, catching at the rope with the other hand, missed the rope, and fell a very great height upon stones, by which fall he was exceedingly wounded in the head and arms, and his body much bruised, and taken up for dead, but did recover again that time. ”

“ From the pocket of the dread visitor the ghastly animal gazed at the ringer, who mechanically jerked the bell-rope, and the poor woman was fast losing her senses, when suddenly the door was burst open, and a couple of villagers, who had been alarmed by the irregular ringing, entered the tower. They at once started back as they saw the strange group—the wanderer with sad, inquiring look, and pallid face, the phantom hare with its firelit eyes, and the old ringer standing as though in a trance. ”

“ The berserker rage eased out of the second mate and he perceived that the house was empty, and the mutiny truly ended. He cast the heavy steel door clanging through the open doorway, out on to the main deck, a dripping testimony of a man's prowess against enormous odds. ”

“ On the other side is the door to the dungeon, dismal enough, but not so dismal as the pit below, with its well in which women could be put to death with decency. On either side of the mouth of the well is a narrow ledge some eighteen inches wide, but not long enough to allow the prisoner to stretch himself at full length. ”

“ And the barn! He had been all wrong about the barn. It was a great little place, comfortable, airy, and cheerful. What could be more invigorating than that smell of hay? Even the rats, he felt, must be pretty decent rats, when you came to know them.
"I'm here!"
Maud advanced quickly. His eyes had grown accustomed to the murk, and he could see her dimly. The smell of her damp raincoat came to him like a breath of ozone. He could even see her eyes shining in the darkness, so close was she to him.
"I hope you've not been waiting long?"
George's heart was thundering against his ribs. ”

“ The boy stopped suddenly, for an old man was in the doorway. He had removed his hat, and stood panting from his climb of the three flights.
“I’m—sorry—to—inter-rupt—your—beau-tiful—”
“Oh, that isn’t any matter!” Doodles broke in. “Come right and sit down! Take the rocking-chair; it’s easiest.”
“Thank you,” bowed the stranger. “I’m not—used—to stairs.”
“These are pretty steep,” attested Doodles. “They make mother dreadfully out of breath; but Blue runs up as fast, and doesn’t mind ’em at all.”
Before the old man could talk comfortably he let go the query that was impatient on his lips. ”

“ In the street below people hurried along, every now and then glancing upward at the threatening sky. Little whiffs of wind whirled the dust in the roadway, and thunder growled in the distance.
“Bet some folks’ll git wet!” prophesied the boy, as he turned back to the room. He was surprised at the dim light. He could scarcely see Doodles, over on the couch. Doodles was timid in a thunder storm, and Blue crossed the floor to his side.
“Prob’ly the heft of it’ll go round, as usual,” he said; “but ’t will be cooler. We shall like that, old feller, shan’t we?” ”

“ I kept in the shadow of the prison wall, but it was as black as the ace of spades, and I could not see my own hand in front of me. Unless I walked into the sentinel I felt that I had nothing to fear from him. When I had come under the wall I threw up my bar, and to my joy it stuck the very first time between the spikes at the top. I climbed up my rope, pulled it after me, and dropped down on the other side. Then I scaled the second wall, and was sitting astride among the spikes upon the top, when I saw something twinkle in the darkness beneath me. ”

“ After wandering about they became frightened and began to ascend the ladder, but an old lady of too ample proportions stuck in the hole, and, during the fighting and scrambling that ensued, the rope broke and many had to remain on earth. ”

“ He gained the side of the giant; and then—what is this? The devotees all turned to cowering wretches! They put forth their elbows to ward off imaginary blows. They slunk back like base cowards.
They had seen the sword in Everychild's hand, and they had recognized it!
Moreover, before the gleam of that sword the temple door swung open.
The giant dashed into the temple to greet his mother. He became for an instant invisible. The devotees were now slinking back to a safe distance. Everychild, without ever lowering his sword, smote them all with his glance of scorn. ”

“ Thus, a day came, when, throwing thoughts and fancies adrift, I procured a rope from the house, and, having made it fast to a stout tree, at the top of the rift, and some little distance back from the Pit edge, let the other end down into the cleft, until it dangled right across the mouth of the dark hole.
Then, cautiously, and with many misgivings as to whether it was not a mad act that I was attempting, I climbed slowly down, using the rope as a support, until I reached the hole. Here, still holding on to the rope, I stood, and peered in. All was perfectly dark, and not a sound came to me. ”

“ A large iron door and an oak door are on the cave. When the giant draws in his breath the doors open, and when he emits his breath the doors shut; and they are shut as fast as though seven small bars, and seven large bars, and seven locks were on them. So fast are they that seven crowbars could not force them open.' I said to the old woman, 'Is there any way of destroying him?' 'I'll tell you,' said she, 'how it can be done. He has a weapon above the door that is called the short spear: and if you succeed in taking off his head with the first blow it will be well ”

“ It was the hook and rope by which Edith, had sought to escape. They found it hanging upon the wall, and every one recognized at a glance the intention of this rope-ladder. But the thing that produced the strongest excitement was something else. They had found it lying among the grass at the foot of the ladder, having evidently been dropped by some fugitive as an impediment, or thrown away as useless. It was a dagger, which, from being so long exposed to the weather, was covered with rust, but was still sharp and deadly. ”

“ Every time you come to see me you must bring a skein of silk with you, and I will make a ladder of them, and when it is finished I will climb down by it, and you will take me away on your horse.’
They arranged that, till the ladder was ready, he was to come to her every evening, because the old woman was with her during the day. ”

“ By my orders the victim is well stretched out on the ladder, as I generally preferred it to the whipping post, and having armed myself with a very light rod made of fine pieces of whalebone, which would sting awfully without doing serious damage, I went up to the ladder for a commencement, but first made them loosen her a bit, and place a thick sofa bolster under her loins, then fasten her tightly again with her bottom well presented, the drawers pinned back on each side, and her chemise rolled up and secured under her arms ”

“ And since then, upon a Bucket’s falling into a Well in another Part of the Town, a Woman perswaded a strong lusty Man to go down a Ladder to fetch it, who, by that Time he had got half way down, fell from the Ladder into the Well ”

“ Next, his dagger in his teeth, he dived for the bracket, caught it with both hands, swung himself off into space, gripped the rope, first with one hand, then with both, went down it, stood on the dead man's shoulders, let himself down the rope till he clasped the corpse, wriggled down it, embracing it close, dislodging the cloak which sailed down the air like some huge bird and settled upon the pavement far out into the court near the sword. ”

“ Within four days Doodles started for the big city of which he had heard so much and which he longed to see. He was surprised and delighted to find that the trip was to be made in a limousine instead of by train, and when the mother saw how all had been arranged for his comfort she let him go without a fear. ”

“ That kennel is the stream of life—and a dirty and a weary one it is, if we may judge by the old gentleman’s looks. All is hurried into that common sewer, the grave! What bubbles float down it! Everything that is fairly in the middle of the stream seems to sail with it, steadily and triumphantly—and many a filthy fragment enters the sewer with a pomp and dignity not unlike the funeral obsequies of a great lord. ”