Captain Jinks, Hero Ernest Howard Crosby (best management books of all time TXT) š
- Author: Ernest Howard Crosby
Book online Ā«Captain Jinks, Hero Ernest Howard Crosby (best management books of all time TXT) šĀ». Author Ernest Howard Crosby
So saying, the attachƩ gathered up his robes and went below.
āQueer chap,ā said Sam. āHe must be crazy.ā
āWeāve treated them rather badly, though,ā said Cleary. āIām glad Taffy hasnāt had any executions, but our minister and all the rest have been insisting on executions of their big people, and no one talks of executing any of ours, although they have suffered ten times as much as we have.ā
āYou forget how the affair began,ā said Sam. āSuppose the Porsslanese had sent us missionaries to teach us their religion, and these missionaries had gradually got possession of land and also some local power of governing, and then we had ruthlessly murdered some of them and they had seized all our ports for the purpose of benefiting us, do you suppose that we would have risen like those miserable Fencers and massacred anybody? It is inconceivable. They have the strangest aversion to foreigners too.ā
āSome of them havenāt,ā said Cleary. āChung Tu is a friendly old soul, if he is cracked. He says he believes the Powers have been turned loose on his country to punish them for having invented gunpowder. He laughs at Copeās inventions. He says his people set the fashion, and then wisely stopped when they found that such inventions did more harm than good. I think they have a right to complain of us. Why, thereās one of our soldiers in the steerage with seventeen of their pigtails with the scalps still fastened to them as trophies! Old Chung says our ribbons and decorations are the equivalent of the scalps dangling at a savageās belt. I didnāt tell him we had the genuine article. But, come, you had better turn in. Youāll have a hard day tomorrow. Iāve advertised your coming for all I was worth, and if they donāt give you a send-off at St. Kisco, it isnāt my fault. Iām glad youāre well enough to stand it.ā
āIām not as well as I look,ā said Sam. āIāve lost all my nerve. Iām even worrying a little about all my loot in those cases in the hold. It sometimes seems that I oughtnāt to have taken it.ā
āWhat!ā cried Cleary. āWell, you are getting squeamish! After all the fellows youāve killed or had killed, I shouldnāt mind an ornament or two.ā
āKilling is a soldierās main business,ā said Sam. āOh, well, I suppose looting is, too. I wonāt think anything more about it. Good night.ā
While Sam and his friend were conversing on deck, another conversation which was to have a portentous effect upon the formerās destiny was taking place in the upper corridor of the Peckham Young Ladiesā Seminary at St. Kisco.
āHeās perfectly lovely,ā said a young lady, standing barefoot before her door in her nightdress to a group of young ladies similarly attired. āIāve got his photograph. And Iām not just going to stand still and see him pass. Itās all very well to have the school drawn up in line on the wharfā āthatās better than nothingā ābut I want something more, and Iām going to have it.ā
āWhat will you do, Sally?ā they all cried.
āIām going to kiss himā āthere!ā said she.
āOh, Sally!ā
āYes, I will too.ā
āI believe she will if she says so,ā said one of the girls. āShe wonāt stop at anything. Well, Sally Watson, if you kiss him, I will too.ā
āAnd I!ā āAnd I!ā exclaimed the others; but at that moment a step was heard on the stairs, and the Peckham young ladies sought their beds and pretended very hard to be asleep, although their hearts were thumping against their ribs at the mere thought of their daring resolution.
It was at ten oāclock the next morning that the steamer came alongside the wharf. The city was in gala dress and flags waved everywhere. The day was observed almost as a holiday, and many schools permitted their pupils to take part in the procession which awaited the arrival of Captain Jinks, as Sam was now commonly
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