United States or British Virgin Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Silla knew him: he was the public-house bear, as he was called; he who turned people out for Mrs. Selvig. He was sitting silent on the bench. There was perfect stillness in the room; she heard only the drip from the tap of the brandy-cask down into the dish beneath, and saw, through the half-open door to the inner room, Mrs. Selvig and her two daughters bustling about on tiptoe.
One advantage had arisen from my breaking into the brandy-cask, which now occurred to me in full force. It had given me a large empty space; and therefore, if I could only get beyond even though there should not be a package containing food still it might be something which I could remove into the inside of the cask, and thus make way for further operations.
There's a barrel of brandy open at the switch." The brandy-cask stood up-ended near the water-butt, and the men dipped out of both with cups. They were working now half naked at the wreck. The sun hung in a cloudless sky, the air was still, and along the right of way huge wrecking fires added to the scorching heat. Ten feet from the water-butt lay a flattened mass of rags.
I first cleared away the loose bundles so as to make a large space in fact, the whole of my original apartment. This I was able to accomplish by means of the empty brandy-cask, which I had now filled with broadcloth. I also stopped up every aperture and crevice as before, leaving only one large one that which I knew the rats were accustomed to use as their principal entrance.
I hesitated in view of all these officers; but my second thought was, no matter whether the President himself were present; and I frankly replied: "I think he is a tyrant brandy-cask. Why do you allow such a man to occupy the responsible position of surgeon in charge of hundreds of the sick and wounded soldiers?" "We tried once to get him out, and failed.
I fixed two portions of a topsail-yard, one over the prow, the other across the stern, in such a manner that they should not be in the way in pushing off our boat from the wreck. I forced the end of each yard into the bunghole of an empty brandy-cask, to keep them steady during our progress. It was now necessary to clear the way for our departure.
It appeared that the brandy-cask was without a regular tap, or stopcock, and that the cook was in the habit of drawing the liquor through the bung-hole, by means of an ordinary dipper.
It was the aperture between the two great barrels the brandy-cask and the water-butt. I fancied he would return the same way, if he came back at all; and it occurred to me that if I were to stop up all the other apertures except that one which I could easily do with pieces of cloth let him come in, and then suddenly cut off his retreat by caulking that one also, I should have him in the trap.
Why am I removing the cloth from the brandy-cask? Why not let it remain there? Why try to go through the cask at all? Certainly there was no reason why I should proceed in that direction.
There were dry barrels of biscuits, and quantities of bacon, hams, with lard, oil, and butter. It was remembered that there was a barrel of pitch, too, close to where the brandy-cask had been kept. All these would catch freely and burn rapidly and readily especially the barrel of pitch, the head of which was open.
Word Of The Day