Page:Wren--The young stagers.djvu/22

4 bare shoulder. "You've only got to strode, like me, till we get to Koil-and-Poggle Ford, and thou must keep thee with thy sword—until I let you do me in."

Fitz-James ceased to play an imaginary bugle and to beat a figmentary drum. He sighed at his unworthiness.

Having circumambulated the bath-room and parts adjacent, the Chief halted, well within the radius of the splashes from the torrent, shook his sword menacingly, raised his shield, scowled horribly, and suddenly thrusting his ferocious face into that of the fascinated Fitz-James, cried,

"And, Stranger, I am Brodrick Two!"

Fitz-James over-acted, being but young. He rendered "surprise and slight consternation," by collapsing upon the ground, fetching a deep groan, and murmuring "Help!"

The President remembered that the years of the Vice were not six, and was lenient.

"Pull yourself together, Fizz-James, and play the man this day," continued Roderic Dhu. "Get out of the wet, and buck up, for I have sworn this braid to stain in the best blug that