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Angela Elphinspoon stood with Perriton Powers among the begonias of the conservatory. The same news which had so agitated Sir John lay heavy on both their hearts. "Will the Wazoo rise?" asked Angela, clasping her hands before her, while her great eyes sought the young man's face and found it. "Oh, Mr. Powers! Tell me, will they rise? It seems too dreadful to contemplate.
It was said that the Shriek-el-Foozlum, the religious head of the tribe, had torn off his suspenders and sent them to Mecca. That same day the Illustrated London News published a drawing "Wazoo Warriors Crossing a River and Shouting, Ho!" and the general consternation reached its height.
His Majesty will see you to-morrow. I am glad that you are safe." "On my way home," said Powers, with quiet modesty, "I was attacked by a lion " "But you beat it off," said the Premier. "Exactly. Good night." It was on the following afternoon that Sir John Elphinspoon presented the Wazoo Annexation Bill to a crowded and breathless House.
The Ohulîs should be properly called the O'Hooleys. The word Wazoo is simply the Urdu for McGinnis. El Boob is the Urdu for the Arabic El Papa, the Pope. It was my knowledge of Urdu, itself an agglutinative language " "Precisely," said the Premier. Then he turned to his Cabinet. "Well, gentlemen, our task is now simplified. If they are Irish, I think we know exactly what to do.
And when at the close of a splendid peroration he turned to pay a graceful compliment to the man who had saved the nation, and thundered forth to the delighted ears of his listeners Arma virumque cano Wazoo qui primus ab oris, and then, with the words "England, England," still on his lips, fell over backwards and was carried out on a stretcher, the House broke into wild and unrestrained applause.
Even the presence of a single Wazoo, or, more accurately, a single Wooz, would help. With each day the news became more ominous. It was reported in the Press that a Wazoo, inflamed apparently with ghee, or perhaps with bhong, had rushed up to the hills and refused to come down.
She sat down and waited among the begonias, her mind still on the Wazoo, her whole intense nature strung to the highest pitch. "Can the modus vivendi hold?" she murmured. In half an hour Powers returned. He was wearing now his hat and light overcoat, and carried on a strap round his neck a tin box with a white painted label, "British Foreign Office. Confidential Despatches.
Do you think the Wazoo will rise?" "It is only too likely," said Powers. They stood looking into one another's eyes, their thoughts all on the Wazoo. Angelina Elphinspoon, as she stood there against the background of the begonias, made a picture that a painter, or even a plumber, would have loved.
I suppose," he continued, turning to Powers, "that they want some kind of Home Rule." "They do," said Powers. "Separating, of course, the Ohulî counties from the Wazoo?" "Yes," said Powers. "Precisely; the thing is simplicity itself. And what contribution will they make to the Imperial Exchequer?" "None." "And will they pay their own expenses?" "They refuse to." "Exactly.
She admitted to herself that she had not the faintest idea. In the days that followed all England was thrilled to its base as the news spread that the Wazoo might rise at any moment. "Will the Wazoos rise?" was the question upon every lip. In London men went to their offices with a sense of gloom. At lunch they could hardly eat. A feeling of impending disaster pervaded all ranks.
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