"
"Oh, the scamp of a Travers!" said Jack, energetically.
"He began to ask himself coolly what a lady, who had made such
extraordinary demands upon him before marriage, might not require him
to do after; and the result of his cogitations is expressed in the
following reply that he sent to the now smiling widow:--
"'Sir Marmaduke Travers is highly flattered by the charming note of
the adorable daughter of Brahma; he shall gladly continue to bask in
the sunshine of her smiles, out his ambition desires and will accept
nothing more.'"
"Flowery and laconic," said Fritz.
"Well," inquired Willis, "was I not right in wishing to have the cage
of Sir Marmaduke here?"
"Yes, but we cannot get it. We have no ingenious trend at Calcutta to
send us such a machine, and furnish it with crimson-cushioned sofas
and pale ale, so we shall have to rest satisfied with our own
ingenuity, tact, and agility."
Fritz and Jack were justified in relying upon their own resources.
They had been often sorely tried, and never had been found wanting in
cases of emergency. Since the arrival of the Wolstons their courage
had become almost temerity; previous to that event, they had been
content to meet danger bravely when it was inevitable, and never went
deliberately in search of it. Now, however, if we apply the glass of
which Sterne speaks to their breasts and spy what is passing therein,
we shall fad that an imperious desire to become heroes had taken
possession of their inward souls--a determination to make themselves
conspicuous at all hazards was burning within them; that, in fact,
they were courting the admiration of the new audience that Providence
had sent to the colony, the praise of which found more favor in their
hearts than the paternal admonitions.
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