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"Arra, how can I kape her quiet, an she cryin an roarin, dyin an desarted?" "Ask Mrs. Forster to go in and coax her to stop." "Mrs. Forsther's at dhuddher ind o the town. Whisht! There she is, callin me. Youll have to gup to her, maam. Faith I wont go next or near her." "There's no use in my going up, Eliza. What can I do?" Eliza had nothing to suggest.
But they stood it manfully, and at each new accident Gup rose to greater and greater heights of oratory. We were halfway between Ude and Panj-kiang when we saw two automobiles approaching from the south. Their occupants were foreigners we were sure, and as they stopped beside us a tall young man came up to my car. "I am Langdon Warner," he said. We shook hands and looked at each other curiously.
"Well, good-bye all," I said. "I'm sorry, Oppermann, I can't stay for another day for your wedding, but our skipper isn't to be got at anyhow." The trading captain and Harry walked with me part of the way, and then began the usual Fiji GUP. "Just fancy that fat-headed Dutchman going all the way to Samoa and picking on a young girl and sending her to the Sisters to get educated properly!
For three freezing hours Gup and Coltman lay upon their backs under the car, while the rest of us gave what help we could. To add to the difficulties a shower of hail swept down upon us with all the fury of a Mongolian storm. It was three o'clock in the afternoon before we were ready to go on, and our camp that night was only sixty miles from Urga.
I say," continued the Cherub, for Langdon had turned away somewhat impatiently, "what's the good av givin' me that gup; you didn't stand for it yourself not on yer life. Th' old man's pretty slick; buys a bad horse to help a poor mutt, an' enters him in the Brooklyn, eh?" "The Brooklyn!" exclaimed Langdon, thrown off his guard.
When we reached Panj-kiang we felt that our motor troubles were at an end, but ten miles beyond the station my car refused to pull through a sand pit and we found that there was trouble with the differential. It was necessary to dismantle the rear end of the car, and Coltman and Gup were well-nigh discouraged.
Either the spark was off the plug or the plug was off the spark, I forget which. Then Gup said: "Get right up on my back, doctor. I can carry you and Buddy, too. It's no great weight, I assure you. Never mind the automobile. They are always making trouble." So Dr. Possum, with his medicine box, climbed upon Gup's back, behind Buddy, and he helped hold the little guinea pig on during the ride home.
But Gup told him just how to cling tightly to his big neck and how to hold the lantern so the lightning bugs would shine on the path, and then Gup started off. Oh, how fast he went! Right through the woods, he galloped, and he never bumped into a tree or a bush even once.
After the luxury of a bath and shave we proceeded to Peking. Charles and Gup had rather a beastly time getting in. The car could not be repaired sufficiently to carry on under its own power, and, through a misunderstanding, the relief party only went as far as the pass and waited there for their arrival.
When the memory or ingenuity of one failed, his neighbour took up the tale. Then some genius remembered a precious piece of gup, and asked with all solemnity whether it was true that a new Governor-General had been appointed, which led to a canvass of the merits of all possible candidates.
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