Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/207

 THE INVALID S STORY

any consultation, both cigars were quietly dropped from our nerveless fingers at the same moment. Thompson said, with a sigh:

&quot;No, Cap, it don t modify him worth a cent. Fact is, it makes him worse, becuz it appears to stir up his ambition. What do you reckon we better do, now?&quot;

I was not able to suggest anything; indeed, I had to be swallowing and swallowing all the time, and did not like to trust myself to speak. Thompson fell to maundering, in a desultory and low-spirited way, about the miserable experiences of this night; and he got to referring to my poor friend by various titles sometimes military ones, sometimes civil ones; and I noticed that as fast as my poor friend s effectiveness grew, Thompson promoted him ac cordingly gave him a bigger title. Finally he said :

&quot;I ve got an idea. Suppos n we buckle down to it and give the Colonel a bit of a shove toward t other end of the car? about ten foot, say. He wouldn t have so much influence, then, don t you reckon ?&quot;

I said it was a good scheme. So we took in a good fresh breath at the broken pane, calculat ing to hold it till we got through; then we went there and bent over that deadly cheese and took a grip on the box. Thompson nodded &quot;All ready,&quot; and then we threw ourselves forward with all our might; but Thompson slipped, and slumped down with his nose on the cheese, arid his breath got loose. He gagged and gasped, and floundered up and made a break for the door, pawing the air

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