Page:Captain Craig; a book of poems.djvu/87

Rh But all at once a dreadful hunger seized him, And it was then we killed the crocodile— Killed him and ate him. Washed with eisel down That luckless reptile was, to the last morsel; And there we were with flag-fens all around us,— And there was Hamlet, at his task again, Ridiculous. And while I watched him work, The drollest of all changes came to pass:— The weed had snapped off just above the root, Not warning him, and I was left alone. The bubbles rose, and I laughed heartily To think of him; I laughed when I woke up; And when my soup came in I laughed again; I think I may have laughed a little—no?— Not when you came? . . . Why do you look like that? You don't believe me? Crocodiles—why not? Who knows what he has eaten in his life? Who knows but I have eaten Atropos? . . . 'Briar and oak for a soldier's crown,' you say? Provence? Oh, no. . . Had I been Socrates, Count Pretzel would have been the King of Spain."

Now of all casual things we might have said To make the matter smooth at such a time,