[Original Lieut. Gulliver Jones by Edwin L. Arnold]@TWC D-Link book
Original Lieut. Gulliver Jones

CHAPTER XVIII
9/15

The twin black apes were still drinking, but the panther across the puddle had had enough; I saw him lift his grateful head up to the flare; saw the limp red tongue licking the black nose, the green eyes shining like opals, the water dripping in threads of diamonds from the hairy tag under his chin and every tuft upon his chest--then darkness again.
To and fro the green blaze rocked between the thunder crashes.

It struck a house a hundred yards away, stripping every shingle from the roof better than a master builder could in a week.

It fell a minute after on a tall tree by the courtyard gate, and as the trunk burst into white splinters I saw every leaf upon the feathery top turn light side up against the violet reflection in the sky beyond, and then the whole mass came down to earth with a thud that crushed the courtyard palings into nothing for twenty yards and shook me even across the square.
Another time I might have stopped to marvel or to watch, as I have often watched with sympathetic pleasure, the gods thus at play; but tonight there were other things on hand.

When I had drunk, I picked up an earthen crock, filled it, and went to Heru.

It was a rough drinking-vessel for those dainty lips, and an indifferent draught, being as much mud as aught else, but its effect was wonderful.


<<Back  Index  Next>>

D-Link book Top

TWC mobile books