Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0144/01444.txt

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$Unique_ID{bob01444}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Prince And The Pauper, The
Chapter XXII}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Twain, Mark}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{king
hugo
upon
now
time
away
woman
first
hugo's
king's}
$Date{1909}
$Log{}
Title:       Prince And The Pauper, The
Author:      Twain, Mark
Date:        1909

Chapter XXII

A Victim Of Treachery

     Once more "King Foo-Foo the First" was roving with the tramps and
outlaws, a butt for their coarse jests and dull-witted railleries, and
sometimes the victim of small spitefulnesses at the hands of Canty and Hugo
when the Ruffler's back was turned.  None but Canty and Hugo really
disliked him.  Some of the others liked him, and all admired his pluck and
spirit.  During two or three days, Hugo, in whose ward and charge the king
was, did what he covertly could to make the boy uncomfortable; and at
night, during the customary orgies, he amused the company by putting small
indignities upon him - always as if by accident.  Twice he stepped upon the
king's toes - accidentally - and the king, as became his royalty, was
contemptuously unconscious of it and indifferent to it; but the third time
Hugo entertained himself in that way, the king felled him to the ground
with a cudgel, to the prodigious delight of the tribe.  Hugo, consumed with
anger and shame, sprang up, seized a cudgel, and came at his small
adversary in a fury.  Instantly a ring was formed around the gladiators,
and the betting and cheering began.  But poor Hugo stood no chance
whatever.  His frantic and lubberly 'prentice-work found but a poor market
for itself when pitted against an arm which had been trained by the first
masters of Europe in single-stick, quarter-staff, and every art and trick
of swordsmanship.  The little king stood, alert but at graceful ease, and
caught and turned aside the thick rain of blows with a facility and
precision which set the motley on-lookers wild with admiration; and every
now and then, when his practiced eye detected an opening, and a lightning-
swift rap upon Hugo's head followed as a result, the storm of cheers and
laughter that swept the place was something wonderful to hear.  At the end
of fifteen minutes, Hugo, all battered, bruised, and the target for a
pitiless bombardment of ridicule, slunk from the field; and the unscathed
hero of the fight was seized and borne aloft upon the shoulders of the
joyous rabble to the place of honor beside the Ruffler, where with vast
ceremony he was crowned King of the Game-Cocks; his meaner title being at
the same time solemnly canceled and annulled, and a decree of banishment
from the gang pronounced against any who should henceforth utter it.

     All attempts to make the king serviceable to the troop had failed.  He
had stubbornly refused to act; moreover, he was always trying to escape.
He had been thrust into an unwatched kitchen, the first day of his return;
he not only came forth empty-handed, but tried to rouse the housemates.  He
was sent out with a tinker to help him at his work; he would not work;
moreover, he threatened the tinker with his own soldering-iron; and finally
both Hugo and the tinker found their hands full with the mere matter of
keeping him from getting away.  He delivered the thunders of his royalty
upon the heads of all who hampered his liberties or tried to force him to
service.  He was sent out, in Hugo's charge, in company with a slatternly
woman and a diseased baby, to beg; but the result was not encouraging - he
declined to plead for the mendicants, or be a party to their cause in any
way.

     Thus several days went by; and the miseries of this tramping life, and
the weariness and sordidness and meanness and vulgarity of it, became
gradually and steadily so intolerable to the captive that he began at last
to feel that his release from the hermit's knife must prove only a
temporary respite from death, at best.

     But at night, in his dreams, these things were forgotten, and he was
on his throne, and master again.  This, of course, intensified the
sufferings of the awakening - so the mortifications of each succeeding
morning of the few that passed between his return to bondage and the combat
with Hugo, grew bitterer and bitterer, and harder and harder to bear.

     The morning after that combat, Hugo got up with a heart filled with
vengeful purposes against the king.  He had two plans in particular.  One
was to inflict upon the lad what would be, to his proud spirit and
"imagined" royalty, a peculiar humiliation; and if he failed to accomplish
this, his other plan was to put a crime of some kind upon the king and then
betray him into the implacable clutches of the law.

     In pursuance of the first plan, he proposed to put a "clime" upon the
king's leg, rightly judging that that would mortify him to the last and
perfect degree; and as soon as the clime should operate, he meant to get
Canty's help, and force the king to expose his leg in the highway and beg
for alms.  "Clime" was the cant term for a sore, artificially created.  To
make a clime, the operator made a paste or poultice of unslaked lime, soap,
and the rust of old iron, and spread it upon a piece of leather, which was
then bound tightly upon the leg.  This would presently fret off the skin,
and make the flesh raw and angry-looking; blood was then rubbed upon the
limb, which, being fully dried, took on a dark and repulsive color.  Then a
bandage of soiled rags was put on in a cleverly careless way which would
allow the hideous ulcer to be seen and move the compassion of the passer-
by. ^*

[Footnote *: From "The English Rogue"; London, 1665.]

     Hugo got the help of the tinker whom the king had cowed with the
soldering-iron; they took the boy out on a tinkering tramp, and as soon as
they were out of sight of the camp they threw him down and the tinker held
him while Hugo bound the poultice tight and fast upon his leg.

     The king raged and stormed, and promised to hang the two the moment
the scepter was in his hand again; but they kept a firm grip upon him and
enjoyed his impotent struggling and jeered at his threats.  This continued
until the poultice began to bite; and in no long time its work would have
been perfected, if there had been no interruption.  But there was; for
about this time the "slave" who had made the speech denouncing England's
laws, appeared on the scene and put an end to the enterprise, and stripped
off the poultice and bandage.

     The king wanted to borrow his deliverer's cudgel and warm the jackets
of the two rascals on the spot; but the man said no, it would bring trouble
- leave the matter till night; the whole tribe being together, then, the
outside world would not venture to interfere or interrupt.  He marched the
party back to camp and reported the affair to the Ruffler, who listened,
pondered, and then decided that the king should not be again detailed to
beg, since it was plain he was worthy of something higher and better -
wherefore, on the spot he promoted him from the mendicant rank and
appointed him to steal!

     Hugo was overjoyed.  He had already tried to make the king steal, and
failed; but there would be no more trouble of that sort now, for, of
course, the king would not dream of defying a distinct command delivered
directly from headquarters.  So he planned a raid for that very afternoon,
purposing to get the king in the law's grip in the course of it; and to do
it, too, with such ingenious strategy, that it should seem to be accidental
and unintentional; for the King of the Game-Cocks was popular now, and the
gang might not deal over-gently with an unpopular member who played so
serious a treachery upon him as the delivering him over to the common
enemy, the law.

     Very well.  All in good time Hugo strolled off to a neighboring
village with his prey; and the two drifted slowly up and down one street
after another, the one watching sharply for a sure chance to achieve his
evil purpose, and the other watching as sharply for a chance to dart away
and get free of his infamous captivity forever.

     Both threw away some tolerably fair-looking opportunities; for both,
in their secret hearts, were resolved to make absolutely sure work this
time, and neither meant to allow his fevered desires to seduce him into any
venture that had much uncertainty about it.

     Hugo's chance came first.  For at last a woman approached who carried
a fat package of some sort in a basket.  Hugo's eyes sparkled with sinful
pleasure as he said to himself, "Breath o' my life, an' I can but put that
upon him, 'tis good-den and God keep thee, King of the Game-Cocks!" He
waited and watched - outwardly patient, but inwardly consuming with
excitement - till the woman had passed by, and the time was ripe; then
said, in a low voice: "Tarry here till I come again," and darted stealthily
after the prey.

     The king's heart was filled with joy - he could make his escape now,
if Hugo's quest only carried him far enough away.

     But he was to have no such luck.  Hugo crept behind the woman,
snatched the package, and came running back, wrapping it in an old piece of
blanket which he carried on his arm.  The hue and cry was raised in a
moment by the woman, who knew her loss by the lightening of her burden,
although she had not seen the pilfering done.  Hugo thrust the bundle into
the king's hands without halting, saying:

     "Now speed ye after me with the rest, and cry 'Stop thief!' but mind
ye lead them astray!"

     'The next moment Hugo turned a corner and darted down a crooked alley,
- and in another moment or two he lounged into view again, looking innocent
and indifferent, and took up a position behind a post to watch results.

     The insulted king threw the bundle on the ground; and the blanket fell
away from it just as the woman arrived, with an augmenting crowd at her
heels; she seized the king's wrist with one hand, snatched up her bundle
with the other, and began to pour out a tirade of abuse upon the boy while
he struggled, without success, to free himself from her grip.

     Hugo had seen enough - his enemy was captured and the law would get
him now - so he slipped away, jubilant and chuckling, and wended campwards,
framing a judicious version of the matter to give to the Ruffler's crew as
he strode along.

     The king continued to struggle in the woman's grasp, and now and then
cried out, in vexation:

     "Unhand me, thou foolish creature; it was not I that bereaved thee of
thy paltry goods."

     The crowd closed around, threatening the king and calling him names; a
brawny blacksmith in leather apron, and sleeves rolled to his elbows, made
a reach for him, saying he would trounce him well, for a lesson; but just
then a long sword flashed in the air and fell with convincing force upon
the man's arm, flat-side down, the fantastic owner of it remarking
pleasantly at the same time:

     "Marry, good souls, let us proceed gently, not with ill blood and
uncharitable words.  This is matter for the law's consideration, not
private and unofficial handling.  Loose thy hold from the boy, goodwife."

     The blacksmith averaged the stalwart soldier with a glance, then went
muttering away, rubbing his arm; the woman released the boy's wrist
reluctantly; the crowd eyed the stranger unlovingly, but prudently closed
their mouths.  The king sprang to his deliverer's side, with flushed cheeks
and sparkling eyes, exclaiming:

     "Thou hast lagged sorely, but thou comest in good season now, Sir
Miles; carve me this rabble to rags!"