Don't object 'Why call him friend, then?' Power is power, my boy, and still Marks a man,-God's gift magnific, exercised for good or ill. You've your boot now on my hearth-rug, tread what was a tiger's skin: 35 Rarely such a royal monster as I lodged the bullet in! pass; Still for size and beauty, cunning, courage--ah, the brute he was! Why, that Clive, that youth, that greenhorn, that quill-driving clerk, in fine,— He sustained a siege in Arcot- But the world knows! Pass the wine. 40 Where did I break off at? How bring Clive in? Oh, you mentioned' fear'! Just so: and, said I, that minds me of a story you shall hear. We were friends then, Clive and I; so, when the clouds, about the orb Late supreme, encroaching slowly, surely, threatened to absorb Ray by ray its noontide brilliance,-friendship might, with steadier eye 45 Drawing near, bear what had burned else, now no blaze, all majesty. Too much bee's-wing floats my figure? Well, suppose a castle 's new : None presume to climb its ramparts, none find foothold sure for shoe 'Twixt those squares and squares of granite plating the im pervious pile As his scale-mail's warty iron cuirasses a crocodile 50 Reels that castle thunder-smitten, storm-dismantled? without From Scrambling up by crack and crevice, every cockney prates about Towers-the heap he kicks now! turrets-just the measure of his cane! Will that do? Observe, moreover—(same similitude again)— Such a castle seldom tumbles by sheer stress of cannonade: 'Tis when foes are foiled and fighting's finished that vile rains invade, 56 Grass o'ergrows, o'ergrows till night-birds congregating find no holes Fit to build in like the topmost sockets made for banner-poles. So Clive crumbled slow at London, crashed at last. A week before, Dining with him,-after trying churchyard-chat of days of yore, 60 Both of us stopped, tired as tombstones, head-piece, footpiece, where they lean Each to other, drowsed in fog-smoke, o'er a coffined Past between. As I saw his head sink heavy, guessed the soul's extinguish ment By the glazing eyeball, noticed how the furtive fingers went Where a drug-box skulked behind the honest liquor,' One more throw 65 Try for Clive!' thought I: 'Let's venture some good rattling question!' So 'Come, Clive, tell us '—out I blurted—' what to tell in turn, years hence, When my boy-suppose I have one-asks me on what evidence I maintain my friend of Plassy proved a warrior every whit Worth your Alexanders, Cæsars, Marlboroughs, and—what said Pitt? 70 Frederick the Fierce himself! Clive told me once-I want to say Which feat out of all those famous doings bore the bell awayIn his own calm estimation, mark you, not the mob's rough guess Which stood foremost as evincing what Clive called courageousness? Come! what moment of the minute, what speck-centre in the wide Circle of the action saw your mortal fairly deified? 75 (Let alone that filthy sleep-stuff, swallow bold this whole some Port!) If a friend has leave to question,-when were you most brave, in short?' Up he arched his brows o' the instant, formidably Clive again. 'When was I most brave? I'd answer, were the instance half as plain 80 As another instance that's a brain-lodged crystal-curse it! -here Freezing when my memory touches-ugh!—the time I felt almost fear. Ugh! I can not say for certain if I showed fear-anyhow, Fear I felt, and, very likely, shuddered, since I shiver now.' 'Fear,' smiled I. 'Well, that's the rarer: that's a specimen to seek, 85 Ticket up in one's museum, Mind - Freaks, Lord Clive's Fear. Unique P Down his brows dropped. On the table painfully he pored as though Tracing in the stains and streaks there, thoughts encrusted long ago. When he spoke 't was like a lawyer reading word by word some will, 89 Some blind jungle of a statement,-beating on and on until Out there leaps fierce life to fight with. 'This fell in my factor-days. Desk-drudge, slaving at St. David's, one must game, or drink, or craze. I chose gaming; and, because your high-flown gamesters hardly take Umbrage at a factor's elbow if the factor pays his stake,- 96 Yet indulgent, condescending to the modest juvenile Who not merely risked but lost his hard-earned guineas with a smile. Down I sat to cards, one evening, had for my antagonist Somebody whose name's a secret-you'll know why—so, if you list, 100 Call him Cock o' the Walk, my scarlet son of Mars from head to heel! Play commenced; and whether Cocky fancied that a clerk must feel Quite sufficient honour came of bending over one green baize, I the scribe with him the warrior, guessed no penman dared to raise Shadow of objection should the honour stay but playing end More or less abruptly, whether disinclined he grew to spend -- Practice strictly scientific on a booby born to stare 106 At-not ask of-lace-and-ruffles if the hand they hide plays fair, Anyhow, I marked a movement when he bade me Cut!" I rose. "Such the new manœuvre, Captain? I'm a novice: knowl edge grows. What, you force a card, you cheat, sir?" Never did a thunder-clap Cause emotion, startle Thyrsis locked with Chloe in his lap, As my word and gesture (down I flung my cards to join the pack) Fired the man of arms, whose visage simply red before, turned black. When he found his voice, he stammered, "That expression once again !" "Well, you forced a card and cheated!" 115 "Possibly a factor's brain, Busied with his all-important balance of accounts, may deem Weighing words superfluous trouble: cheat to clerkly ears. may seem Just the joke for friends to venture; but we are not friends, you see! When a gentleman is joked with,-if he 's good at repar tee, 120 He rejoins as I do--Sirrah, on your knees, withdraw in full! Beg my pardon, or be sure a kindly bullet through your skull Lets in light and teaches manners to what brain it finds! Choose quick Have your life snuffed out or, kneeling, pray me trim yon candle-wick!" "Well, you cheated!" Then outbroke a howl from all the friends around. To his feet sprang each in fury, fists were clenched and teeth were ground. 126 |