United States or Nepal ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
His wife had "gone back on him," and he was left with two little boys, whom he proposed to bring up as gentlemen "yaas, sir-r, gen'lem'n, yew hear me! ef I is only a shanty-boat feller!" "I thote I'd come to visit uv ye," he had said by way of introduction; "ye're frum a city, ain't yer? Yaas, I jist thote hit. City folks is a more 'com'dat'n' 'n country folks. Why?
"Beg your pardon, sir," cried the sailor: "gen'lem'n in the white schooner?" "The same," said I. My friend saluted, as though we were now for the first time formally introduced. "Of course," I continued, "I am rather taken up with the whole story; and I wish you would tell me what you can of how the men were saved." "It was like this," said he.
I very big gen'lem'n here, sar, an' a sovereign's no use to me. Besides, I partner to ole man Rad, an' he say he want dem rifles you got on your ole tramp." "Does he, indeed? Then you can tell him, Mr. Nigger runaway-drunken-fireman, that I'll see you and him in somewhere a big sight hotter than Arabia before he gets them.
"The ward-room steward told me he was come of the best blood in England," was my friend's reply: "Eton and 'Arrow bred; and might have been a bar'net!" "No, but to look at?" I corrected him. "The same as you or me," was the uncompromising answer: "not much to look at. I didn't know he was a gen'lem'n; but then, I never see him cleaned up." "How was that?" I cried.
"Beg your pardon, sir," cried the sailor: "gen'lem'n in the white schooner?" "The same," said I. My friend saluted, as though we were now, for the first time, formally introduced. "Of course," I continued, "I am rather taken up with the whole story; and I wish you would tell me what you can of how the men were saved." "It was like this," said he.
I was shovin' Eve about the roads in the bath-chair, as you know I've bin doin' ever since I entered your service, w'en a gen'lem'n come up and axed all about us. `Would ye like a sitivation among the North Sea fishermen? says he. `The very ticket, says I. `Come to Lun'on to-night, then, says he. `Unpossible, says I, fit to bu'st wi' disappointment; `'cos I must first shove Miss Eve home, an' git hold of a noo shover to take my place. `All right, says he, laughin'; `come when you can.
She must have seen that I admired her, this little "cracker" queen, in her clean but tattered calico frock; for her mood soon melted, and with much grace she ushered me within the house. Calling Sam, an eight-year-old, to "keep the gen'lem'n comp'ny," she prettily excused herself, and scampered off up the hillside in search of the cows.
"A good name too; only it weren't his. He was a gen'lem'n born, sir, as had gone maskewerading. One of our officers knowed him at 'ome, reckonises him, steps up, 'olds out his 'and right off, and says he, ''Ullo, Norrie, old chappie! he says. The other was coming up, as bold as look at it; didn't seem put out that's where blood tells, sir!
"You're quite sure of the name of the vessel he sailed in?" asked Sam of the waiter who had so cleverly obtained, and so cautiously retained, his information as to the proceedings of Stumps. "Quite sure, sir," replied the waiter. "The ship's name was Fairy Queen, bound for the port of London, and the thief the gen'lem'n, I mean shipped in the name of James Gibson."
"The ward-room steward told me he was come of the best blood in England," was my friend's reply: "Eton and 'Arrow bred; and might have been a bar'net!" "No, but to look at?" I corrected him. "The same as you or me," was the uncompromising answer: "not much to look at. I didn't know he was a gen'lem'n; but then, I never see him cleaned up." "How was that?" I cried.
Word Of The Day