 |
 |
Here are the quotations for this week (January 5th to 11th): 1. ... still swearing, he tried to drag the skeleton out of the saddle, but found that it had been wired into the cantle. The sight of the Colonel, with his arms round the skeleton’s pelvis and his knee in the old Drum-Horse’s stomach, was striking; not to say amusing. He worried the thing off in a minute or two, and threw it down on the ground, saying to the Band—‘Here, you curs, that’s what you're afraid of.’ The skeleton did not look pretty in the twilight. The Band-Sergeant seemed to recognise it, for he began to chuckle and choke. ‘Shall I take it away, sir?’ said the Band-Sergeant. ‘Yes,’ said the Colonel, ‘take it to Hell, and ride there yourselves!’ 2. Of a sudden we heard voices behind the tree—the fine full tones of the unembarrassed English, speaking to their equals—that tore through the hedge like sleet through rafters. “That it is not called ‘monkey-puzzler’ for nothing, I willingly concede”—this was a rich and rolling note—“but on the other hand—” “I submit, me lud, that the name implies that it might, could, would, or should be ascended by a monkey, and not that the ascent is a physical impossibility. I believe one of our South American spider monkeys wouldn’t hesitate . . . By Jove, it might be worth trying, if—” 3. Mrs. Bellamy opened the window and spoke. It appears she had only charged for damage to the bicycle, not for the entire machine which Mr. Lingnam was ruthlessly gleaning, spoke by spoke, from the highway and cramming into the slack of the hood. At last he answered, and I have never seen a man foam at the mouth before. ‘If you don’t stop, I shall come into your house—in this car—and drive upstairs and—kill you!’ The sources of last week's extracts (Dec 29th to Jan 4th) are as follows: 1. (...'I don't mind the trouble so much, though that was bad enough; but what I resent is this showing up in print.'...) This is from "Pig" in Plain Tales from the Hills. 2, (...'You hit hard ... His own people think he's mad.' ) This is from "The Village that voted the Earth was Flat" in A Diversity of Creatures. 3. (...'...Look at her from here and tell us how many spots you count now'. 'None ... They're all gone. My God ! Everything's gone !'.) This is from "Beauty Spots" in Limits and Renewals. Good New Year wishes to all John R