FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40  
41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   >>   >|  
the Father of Believers presented the boat to Rafael Mendoza. It was Rafael Mendoza that saved the Turkish monarchy after the battle of Nezeeb. By sending three millions of piastres to the Seraskier; by bribing Colonel de St. Cornichon, the French envoy in the camp of the victorious Ibrahim, the march of the Egyptian army was stopped--the menaced empire of the Ottomans was saved from ruin; the Marchioness of Stokepogis, our ambassador's lady, appeared in a suite of diamonds which outblazed even the Romanoff jewels, and Rafael Mendoza obtained the little caique. He never travelled without it. It was scarcely heavier than an arm-chair. Baroni, the courier, had carried it down to the Cam that morning, and Rafael had seen the singular sport which we have mentioned. The dinner over, the young men rushed from their colleges, flushed, full-fed, and eager for battle. If the Gown was angry, the Town, too, was on the alert. From Iffly and Barnwell, from factory and mill, from wharf and warehouse, the Town poured out to meet the enemy, and their battle was soon general. From the Addenbrook's hospital to the Blenheim turnpike, all Cambridge was in an uproar--the college gates closed--the shops barricaded--the shop-boys away in support of their brother townsmen--the battle raged, and the Gown had the worst of the fight. A luncheon of many courses had been provided for Rafael Mendoza at his inn; but he smiled at the clumsy efforts of the university cooks to entertain him, and a couple of dates and a glass of water formed his meal. In vain the discomfited landlord pressed him to partake of the slighted banquet. "A breakfast! psha!" said he. "My good man, I have nineteen cooks, at salaries rising from four hundred a year. I can have a dinner at any hour; but a Town and Gown row" (a brickbat here flying through the window crashed the caraffe of water in Mendoza's hand)--"a Town and Gown row is a novelty to me. The Town has the best of it, clearly, though: the men outnumber the lads. Ha, a good blow! How that tall townsman went down before yonder slim young fellow in the scarlet trencher cap." "That is the Lord Codlingsby," the landlord said. "A light weight, but a pretty fighter," Mendoza remarked. "Well hit with your left, Lord Codlingsby; well parried, Lord Codlingsby; claret drawn, by Jupiter!" "Ours is werry fine," the landlord said. "Will your Highness have Chateau Margaux or Lafitte?" "He never can be going to match
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40  
41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Mendoza

 

Rafael

 
battle
 

landlord

 

Codlingsby

 
dinner
 

nineteen

 

salaries

 

courses

 

luncheon


hundred
 

rising

 
discomfited
 

formed

 

university

 

entertain

 

couple

 
efforts
 

breakfast

 

provided


banquet

 
slighted
 

clumsy

 

pressed

 

smiled

 
partake
 

claret

 
parried
 
remarked
 

weight


pretty
 

fighter

 

Jupiter

 

Lafitte

 

Margaux

 

Chateau

 
Highness
 

trencher

 

novelty

 

caraffe


crashed

 

brickbat

 

flying

 
window
 
outnumber
 

yonder

 

fellow

 

scarlet

 

townsman

 

turnpike