FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   66   67   68   69   >>   >|  
lf--the only man in the world, I give you my word; then I got a good hold on the rope, and--kicked the barrel over the edge." "Oh! Colonel Ferrers!" cried the girls. "Ha! ha! ha!" roared the boys in the tree. "Loaded with minerals, you understand! stone, metal, I don't know what. The barrel went down, and I went up." "_Oh!_ Colonel Ferrers!" "Up to the ceiling, I give you my word. High room, too, great warehouse, twenty feet if it was one. There I hung, and there I swung, a spectacle for gods and men." "What _did_ you do?" asked Mrs. Merryweather, as soon as she could control her laughter. "Dear friend, it is most heartless to laugh, but how can we help it? How did you ever get down? did you have to wait till the men came back?" "No, madam. My pride would not allow that. I learned my lesson, or a part of it, while I hung there like Mahomet's coffin; I learned that Gravitation did not trouble itself about superior young men; but I did not learn all that there was to learn; that took the sequel. Well, I hung there, as I say, revolving slowly; centrifugal force, you understand; I was really exemplifying the workings of natural forces; interesting demonstration, if there had been any one there to see. My crumb of comfort was that there was no one. I must get down before those men came back from dinner; that was the one thing necessary in the world at that moment. I measured the space of the trap as I swung; I prided myself on my correct eye; you see I was a most complete ass: I have seen only a few completer. I thought I could jump down astride of the trap, so to speak, and get no harm. I came down the rope, hand over fist, till I got to the end of it; only about six feet between me and safety: then I jumped." "And did you--" "No, my dear madam, I did not. I went down into the cellar, on top of the barrel, and I carry the mark of the edge of that barrel on my shoulders to this day, and shall to my latest day. And the moral of this story," the Colonel concluded, glancing up into the depths of the great hemlock, "the moral, my young friends, is: wait till you know something before you decide that you know everything." When the laughter had subsided, Mr. Merryweather said: "Your story, Colonel, reminds me of a scrape that Roger and I once got into, years ago. No, it wasn't Roger, it was my brother Will. My children all know it, but it may be new to you and our other guests. It happened when we were out
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   66   67   68   69   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

barrel

 

Colonel

 

Merryweather

 

learned

 
laughter
 

Ferrers

 

understand

 

dinner

 

astride

 

safety


completer

 

thought

 

prided

 
correct
 
complete
 
measured
 

moment

 

concluded

 

brother

 

children


scrape

 

happened

 

guests

 
reminds
 

shoulders

 

latest

 
glancing
 
cellar
 

depths

 
hemlock

subsided
 

friends

 
decide
 

jumped

 
spectacle
 

twenty

 

warehouse

 
friend
 

control

 

ceiling


roared

 
kicked
 

Loaded

 

minerals

 
heartless
 

slowly

 

centrifugal

 

revolving

 
sequel
 

exemplifying