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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 1903)
5 ;. : 1.. LlM--nL-J ..-I - . . . ' LI M . t was a shrewd night, as shrewd as a witch, and. faith, atwecn me spirit 01 Christmas and the sack at the hostelry my hunor was much too racy aAd fit to . gather his Majesty's precious portraits I winked at a cockel of a coach thatjf nf the hirrhwav and blessed the raankinUIWir on the boot , .- j .'."Too rare a night.", thought I, arid;! the nag, fitting my whim, broke into aj htf . Vir nntf trimmer nrrn thefll II v.. tw, , w ...... w Jl ' r - bracken to my Lord Mayors 1 went ; through the wood, circumspectly, and ' chose t'other side of the bafn following . the shadow, where, as I drew near with as much stealth as the mare auoweo, I heard the voice of one of my lord's varlets I slipped to the ground and' . made over like a squirrel ; he 'was a . pink-faced bantim and sniffled and , ' , swore in an anger-hard voice. t Hillo 1 " Scried t most : sharply, v i' Gctd's name, man. Doth wag your feathers and blood seeks Yuletide - M V cheer? My challenge, I : warrant. VYtqok him in much surprise. In, - itwinkling I had the nape of his smock ' strong in my hand and forced him hy," ' s'ays 's I,! pleasantly, my barker on his loin, " I'm a cood- humored bird, I am, and mean you no - hurt : but, prithee, tell me why an . honest yokel doth preach other than a Sabbath sermon on a Christmas eve?'' His jaw was crackling with fright, and I shook him as a hound might, the better to fortify his quaking soul "There's no Christmas coming to my i master, ; asking of your : pardon, sir," whimpered the fellow, rasping his' . 3Stevith an arm, " cess to 'im a flaying for 'im and a galling of 'is wine in 'is stomach with the pleasant Christ mas abreast of us and not a sprig of ' greenery or a scrape of hair or catgut will .we -have at the' grange." 1 chuckled well,' for the old -spavin tickled me and, faith, I fashioned a design that twinned my humor to a nicety. 1 pulled him to his feet, and quoth l! "You're a man of mine own jolly ,- ' kidney, and rot mc, your waistcoat full and more of Christmas roystering if you follow my .bent".- Whereupon I gave him my "scheme, which' took a while in the telling, but in the end he ' wagged, his chin and guffawed And my plan was that he coach his fellows in the hall in thiswise, that they hide the , firearms -and steel, that 1 gain entrance to the grange, that.they try to oust me wit great show, that victory must be mine : no less, in short, than " that I must take possession of the . ; graugc and his loidship for one night ., i 11 li T7 i . m I II. II II....: H I Ml I "v--' ' Pi lit w ": to Harmed na . rr. . .r vi . i-r pact I withdrew a space iniotne rlarVne? and tethered the roan Under the rain shed, and when I had givenV my ambassador good leeway, sallied up the terrace to my lord's entry. My knuckles and the stout oak met ring ingly, and the echo was not dead wher. the trap opened cautiously and I be held what in the gloom I had monstrous ado to decide was a ear trumpet of tit 'S SsrW' . health?" For reply he scurried away J J JrrT "n 3 ile YWf ' were left amused, ourselves famously thrust my toe hard to the jamb and flijngythe door wide . shook my pistol in the trumpet with a hellish clatter, growled an oath at the cully in patens at the door and strode ponderously through my lord's hall and at the stairs straightway The scamp in pa tens, whom a glance sidewise told me was my friend of the stable, darted ahead ("he coached well," thinks I) and left his lanthorn, which served me in good stead. I dashed it with a loud bang on the balustrade. Instantly the , stair was choked with the servants, armed (How I laughed inwardly) with kitchen hardware. We stared hardat each other, winking the while, and our breaths . puffed into the cold air like 6mokc i Blood and .body 'o me,"-cries a - voice from above, and I bowed (very olitely. mind you, : winking atween) to my lord's black clad shins sheening' down the steps "Body and blood 'o me, .he rambled on, manikins, doth stand here gossiping with a scamp of the road and my person and goods in jeopardy ! Am I awake, or is it a fool's holiday ? Gad I a rare devotion," this." and he .cuffed one of the hinds- V over upon me. : Now, 1 was in a great talcing, Jor this was the signal, and not e'en ; time enough to; inquire'; of his - lordship's health. They were all at; . me at once, a clumsy, heavy-paunched -lot - Knocking' the foremost aside I won through the press and bounded , up the stair. My lord essayed clum sily to evade my rush, but I caught, him . by the frock 1 and whirled him down.-, Then r" pulling j myself ..to the r topmost step like a play actor 1 drew my steel and made busy. " our. Lordship, l shouted (he while, "I trust is enjoying tolerable health?" For reply he scurried away to the empty arm rack, while wc who, were left amused ourselves famously by laying on the floor boards most grievously, I with my sword and they with' their scullery gear. We did not , desist when we heard the master re turning. It was well played, they . cannily falling back by degrees, pant ing until each man's lungs seemed a leaky bellows and raising a great moan over imaginary wounds. And my lord . was swearing as soft as a pray er behind he balustrade, . "Gad," says I in high humor, " loth am I to lose such sport, and would tarry for your wind. But, bury me! my stomach heaves for supper. I - opened my pistol on a glass fire shade to sharpen my words. ,i " How "does ' yours, sir?" the while toeing a servant toward the kitchen door. . "I'll have pipe and sack and a fire 1 in the great rooma roaring fire, mind . ye, and La fiddler . and the wenches. Green from the wood, too," I stormed, and the below stairs folk like - sheep watched me dally with the old, boar. . "Lag not, so help me, for I'll flay every man Jack of you that's overslow to join nJk, excepting you, my lord." , ' So sweetly saying I laid hold on bio) once more and bound him to a chair, he not offering resistance, but gazing with eyes that threatened to flee their . sockets and lower lip a-waggle. . -Now the wenches, who had been . told of the jest, joined us, whispering and i giggling. We - stepped with no loss of time over the .great room's threshold,' my lord, borne in his chair, in the van. Him we sent into re tirement suitable for .his years and -sour humor in a - screened' corner.. Faith, my part was easy, now. The Serving folk brisked about with pipes ; and punch, and fell . to as. if to the tmanor born ' - ' - J he most buxom wench was elected to sit on the table with the punch- and we footed it around her merrily, tapping her boots with bur pipe stems So. too,, we sang carols and "The ' Sailor Lass" lull many times. My lord arriving famously in the bass with a medley of oaths, and myself with divers commands for heart ier testimonials of joy. at which they shouted and rubbed their sides and brake their pipes. - v -. ."' : So the night went on and the rim of the woods whitened and Istole out by the rear and mounted thenag and when I was safely away I paused and harked to the shouts from the grange, i was never the one that knew whom the greater laugh was on, the witless servants pr my lord, the mayor. : -