His amazement carried
him into that terrible region which lies beyond the realms of speech.
He simply stood quite still and gazed at the bow-legged dwarf, which,
in its turn, continued to gaze savagely through the gigantic instrument
into the area. Not for perhaps three or four minutes did the Prophet
realise that this dwarf was merely an ingeniously shortened form of Mr.
Ferdinand, who, with his legs very wide apart, and making two accurate
right angles at their respective knee-joints, his head thrown well
back, and his arms arranged in two perfect capital V's, with the elbows
pointing directly at the walls on either side of him, had been busily
engaged for the last hour and a quarter in trying to focus firstly the
Lord Chancellor's house on the opposite side of the square, and secondly
the pleasant-looking second-cook in it. That his chivalrous efforts had
not yet been crowned with complete success will be understood when we
say that he had seen during his first half-hour of contemplation nothing
at all, during his second half-hour the left-hand top star of the Great
Bear, and finally the fourth spike from the end of the iron railing
which enclosed the square garden, at which he had been gazing closely
for precisely fifteen minutes and a half when the Prophet darted into
the pantry.
Pages:
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175