Trickster

“ Captain Allerson answered, forceful if not grammatical.
The four men gathered around, and in such a way that they were between Henryson and the door, so that he could not possibly make his escape.
"It was this here way," the police force began ponderously, all the time glowering [Pg 67] at the discovered trickster, who refused to meet the gaze of any of the others. "I didn't know how much you suspected concernin' this mean meddler, but I had 'im marked from the very beginning as the original messenger of misery. ”

“ Tricksey charmed me at once, for he was like a ray of sunshine in his dress of gold, but when I looked at Cervera I laughed right out in his face. It was very rude, but I know if any of you had been in my place you would have done the same thing. Of all the ugly specimens of a bird I had ever seen he was the very worst. He was Tricksey’s size, but only had his baby feathers and one tail feather. He was dirt color, had big staring eyes, and such a bill, almost as large as his head, which was perfectly flat. ”

“ The giant led the way to the borders. He could not go so fast but that Buffy and Tricksey managed to keep up with him. When they reached the borders, they thought it would be safer to let the children find their own way home. So they told him to set them down. He obeyed.
"Have you put them all down, Mr. Thunderthump?" asked Tricksey-Wee.
"Yes," said the giant.
"That's a lie!" squeaked a little voice; and out came a head from his waistcoat pocket.
Tricksey-Wee pinched the heart till the giant roared with pain.
"You're not a gentleman. You tell stories," she said. ”

“ Brave old Tricksy took kindly to him, and used to frolic with him in a dignified way, and whether it was that being with the little scamp so much he learned some of his ways or not, I do not know, but certain it is that the funny thing I am going to tell you, actually happened.
There was nothing that the little scamp named "Noble" liked better than to have a race with old Tricksy around the great trees on the lawn. Yes, perhaps there was one thing that he liked almost as well, and that was, to curl himself on a certain cushion that before he came, had been the large dog's special property. ”

“ That certainly would Verus. I have seen an old trial where he sat judge on two of them; one was called Trick-Track, the other Tearshift;197 one was a learned judge of sharpers, the other the quickest of all men at finding out a wench. Trick-Track never spared a pickpocket, but was a companion to cheats: Tearshift would make compliments to wenches of quality, but certainly commit poor ones. If a poor rogue wanted a lodging, Trick-Track sent him to gaol for a thief: if a poor whore went only with one thin petticoat, Tearshift would imprison her for being loose in her dress. ”

“ Tricksy looked gratified.
'He's my dog,' she said. 'He likes you, I think.'
Gerald stroked Laddie's head and his white ruffle, and the dog made a little sound to express gratification.
'Tricksy, keep your dog quiet, he'll frighten away the trout,' sang out Allan warningly; and Tricksy requested Laddie to 'trust.'
The sun shone down upon green grass and brown pools, and drew out the perfume of the flowers and heather. Not far distant was the pleasant noise of the sea, and the calling of the gulls answered the plaintive cry of the plovers which fluttered about the moor and the meadows. ”

“ I regret to say Tricksey has a strong will of his own, and almost as bad a temper as Taffy.
At different times I had three wee baby birds brought in to me, but they all died. Tricksey was very jealous of them, and when he saw me feeding them, he would become very angry, beat his wings against his cage, and beg for me to let him out. One day I put one of the little strangers on the floor and let Tricksey out. He flew at the waif and tore feathers out of the top of his head. I took the poor little frightened thing in my hand. Tricksey flew on my finger and pecked him. ”

“ Then leaving me all alone too.'
'But, Tricksy, where are Harry and Gerald?'
'I don't know, I'm sure. Gone off somewhere by themselves, and I came to meet you with Hamish. I think you might have let me come with you.'
'Don't be a little silly, Tricksy,' said Reggie irritably; 'you are too little to go all that distance.'
'Too little!' cried Tricksy, exasperated; 'I'm not too little to be sent messages for the others, and I'm not too little to dig in the garden and carry stones for the Pirates' Den; I'm only too little when it's a jolly piece of fun that you want to keep to yourselves. ”

“ And that's what you want; that's the way to treat you. I should have known how to deal with you. What could a fool like Mervyn do with a woman like you? You're full of devil.'
Poor Trix, feeling at that moment by no means full of 'devil,' glanced at him with a new terror. She had set herself to endure his taunts, but the flavour that crept into them now was too much. ”

“ Again Ooma uttered that weird cry.
“This is the end,” he said. “You have not beaten me. It is Fate.”
He folded his arms and looked at them. A change came over his face. He was no longer a tiger at bay, but a human being, calm, dignified, almost impressive.
“I arrest you—” began Winter.
“You fool!” laughed the Japanese, with a quiet contempt in his tone; “I shall be dead in twenty minutes. That syringe contained snake poison, the undiluted venom of the karait. Put away your pistols. They are not wanted.”
Quite nonchalantly he leaned back against the bookcase that lined the wall. ”

“ Fricker?' asked Trix, when that gentleman called on her, cool, alert, and apparently in very good spirits.
'It means that fools are making things smooth for wise men, as usual,' he answered, and looked at her with a keen glance.
'If you will only make them plain to one fool!' she suggested with a laugh. ”

“ What do you say, Tricksy?'
'Of course I can walk,' said Tricksy. 'I shan't be a bit tired, Mother.'
Mrs. Stewart looked at her little daughter with a smile.
'I am afraid of your overdoing it, Tricksy; she said. 'You are always trying to do as much as the others, who are so much older than yourself. Well, do as you like; I leave you in Allan's charge, and he will see that you are not made to walk too fast.'
'All right, Mother,' said Reggie ”

“ The Lizard, flat on his stomach, lay with the massive steel box under his chin, patiently turning the needle from figure to figure.
“Wonderful! wonderful!” sneered Tric-Trac. “Continue, my friend, to put out your eyes with your fingers!”
The Lizard continued to turn the needle backward and forward around the face of the dial. Once, when he twirled it impatiently, a tiny chime rang out from within the box, but the steel lid did not open.
“It’s the Angelus,” said Tric-Trac, with a grimace. “Let us pray, my friend, for a cold-chisel—when my friend Buckhurst returns.” ”

“ The poor young gentleman's a prey to unrequited affection. What are you shaking your head so vehemently at?"
"It isn't that," said Trix, looking solemn and mysterious, "it's worse!"
"Worse! Dear me. I didn't think anything could be worse. What is it then?"
"Murder!"
It was Trixy's turn to be sepulchral. Miss Darrell opened her big brown eyes. Miss Stuart's charnel-house tone was really blood curdling.
"My dearest Trix! Murder! Good gracious, you can't mean to say we've been dancing all night with a murderer? Who has he killed?"
"Edith, don't be an idiot! Did I say he killed any one? ”

“ Cut away upstairs, Tricksy, and get your hat; it's time we started if we are to take rests on the way.'
'Don't you think Mother is very quiet?' observed Tricksy, as the three young people, accompanied by Laddie, were crossing the moor. 'I wonder whether she's sorry about something?'
'I did not notice anything,' said Allan.
Tricksy had almost said, 'No, boys never do, but checked herself in time.
The road between Ardnavoir and Corranmore led across the northern part of the island, through fields and moorland. ”

“ Go to the devil with your traps and partridges and fish-hooks—and that fagot-knife in your fist—and if you try to throw it at me you’ll make a sad mistake!”
The Lizard’s half-raised hand dropped as Tric-Trac, with a movement like lightning, turned a revolver full on him, talking all the while in his drawling whine.
“C’est çà! Now you are reasonable. Get out of this forest, my friend—or stay and join us. Eh! That astonishes you? Why? Idiot, we want men like you. We want men who have nothing to lose and—millions to gain! ”

“ If he ranked now rather with Fricker than with Mervyn or Constantine Blair, or the men of that sort who had been his colleagues and his equals, the heaviest of the blame rested on Trix. If the meshes of the Fricker net enveloped him more closely day by day, hers was the fault. Countenanced by an element of truth, carried the whole way by resentment, by jealousy, and by the impulse to acquit himself at another's expense, he would have rejoiced to make Trix his scapegoat and to lay on her the burden of his sins. ”

“ He laughed lightly. "I am becoming addleheaded," he said to himself. "Anyhow, now the job is done I may as well make use of it."
Recoiling the rope-ends, he cast them across to the reef. In such small ways do men throw invisible dice with death. With those two lines he would, within a few fleeting seconds, drag himself back from eternity.
Picking up the axe, he carelessly stepped into the water, not knowing that Iris, having welded the incipient sago into a flat pancake, had strolled to the beach and was watching him. ”

“ When it sounds to the right it is good luck; and also when to the left, if very near an enemy, it rejoices to give them to us as a prey. When it cries, 'Trik, trik,’ it is death to those that advance. ”

“ She now stood before Trixy making foolish faces.
“Ugh!” she exclaimed, brushing her hands to shed the imagined pollution, “now it’s all over. And we’ve lost trace of the Pirate’s Daughter.”
“There’s no telling,” presaged Trixy. “She may remember you in her will.”
“And again she may not. Well, may all our ill health go with it, as dear old Jane would say. Trixy, when do we go out to see our anxious friends?” (This meant the home folks.)
“I dunno. But let’s stick it out for a while and then, when we do take a little trip to Sandford, we won’t feel like a couple of hookey kids. ”

“ I’ve always wanted to ride on a merry-go-round!” cried Trixie.
“Maybe you won’t think it fun after a ride!” said Paul.
“You just watch me and see!” boasted Trixie, smiling.
“I’m going to climb on the animals while we’re waiting for the man to start up the engine,” proposed Billy.
“Me for the lion!” shouted Dudley, as he mounted the king of beasts.
“Paul, let’s ride the white horses side by side and pretend we’re running a race,” suggested Trixie.
“Bet’che a cookie I’ll beat!” laughed Paul.
“You wouldn’t beat me if these were real horses! I can ride anything—even a colt!” teased Trixie. ”

“ The detective at once uttered an exclamation of supreme astonishment.
“The very thing!” he cried. “The same Japanese motto as that on the Ko-Katana!”
Hume now drew near.
“So,” he growled savagely, “the hand that struck down Alan was the same that sought my life an hour ago!”
“And your cousin’s this morning,” said Brett
“The cowardly brute! If he has a grudge against my family, why doesn’t he come out into the open? He need not have feared detection, even a week ago. I could be found easily enough. Why didn’t he meet me face to face? I have never yet run away from trouble or danger.” ”

“ I haven't had much truck with women in my life, and no mothers to speak of, but here's a lady that we've got to keep fooled. Once she stood it; twice she won't. I'm a low-down wolf, and the devil may have sent me on this trail instead of God, but I'll travel it to the end. And now, don't forget that I'm Don Francisco Urique whenever you happen to mention my name."
"I'll expose you to-day, you—you double-dyed traitor," stammered Thacker.
The Kid arose and, without violence, took Thacker by the throat with a hand of steel, and shoved him slowly into a corner. ”

“ And Triffitt chuckled cynically. [Pg 289]
“There you are, Trixie!” he said. “There’s a fellow who’s wanted about as badly as can be, whose picture’s posted up outside every police-station in London, and at every port in England, and he walks about, and stares at people, and passes policemen as unconcernedly as I do. The fact of the case is that if I went to that bobby and pointed Burchill out, and told the bobby who he is, all that bobby would say would be, ‘Who are you a-kiddin’ of?’—or words to that equivalent. ”

“ Thrackles followed him, but no one else moved. In an instant the two were back, striking and kicking savagely, rousing their companions to the danger. We all laid into the canvas like mad, and in no time had snugged down to a staysail and the peak of our mainsail. Thrackles drew his knife and jumped for the cable, while Handy Solomon, his eyes snapping, seized the wheel. ”

“ There has been also a confusion, which has influenced the meaning and form of “trick,” with the Dutch trekken, to pull, draw, cf. the South African Dutch trek, a journey, migration, properly the action of drawing a vehicle or travelling by ox-wagon. “Trick” or “tricking” is thus used, in heraldry, as the technical term for the drawing of a coat of arms in monochrome, giving the tinctures by the conventions of vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines, &c. ”

“ Catherine.
“Help! murder! thieves!” shrieked she. “Save me, Mr. Trippet, save me!” and she placed that gentleman between herself and the Count, and then made for the door of the bedroom, and gained it, and bolted it.
“Out of the way, Trippet,” roared the Count—“out of the way, you drunken beast! I'll murder her, I will—I'll have the devil's life.” And here he gave a swinging cut at Mr. Trippet's sword: it sent the weapon whirling clean out of his hand, and through a window into the street.
“Take my life, then,” said Mr. Trippet: “I'm drunk, but I'm a man, and, damme! will never say die.” ”