Manchurian Books

"We grovel at your feet, High Mightiness!" cried the man who had called
him poltroon.
"I have taken the liberty of ordering a fish and meat supper, with a
double quantity of Rudesheimer wine. Again I offer to fight any man who
resents this encroachment on my part."
"I could spit you with a hand tied behind my back," cried one, "but I am
of a forgiving nature, and will wait instead for the spitted fowl."
"Most of this money," continued Roland quietly, "goes, I suspect, to the
landlord, as a slight recognition of past kindness, but I am promised a
further supply this evening, which will be divided equally among
ourselves. I ask you, therefore, to be sparing of the wine." Here he was
compelled to pause for some moments, and listen to groans, hoots, howls,
and the rapping of empty flagons on the stout table.
The commotion was interrupted by the entrance of the landlord, who
brought with him the promised Rhine wine; for, hearing the noise, he
supposed it represented impatience of the company at the delay, a
mistake which no one thought it worth while to rectify.


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