Penguin Island — 39 Bk6 Ch1 - General Greatauk, Duke of Skull
Ζεῦ πάτερ ἀλλὰ σὺ ρῦσαι ὑπ᾽ ἠέρος υἷας Αχαιῶν,
ποίησον δ᾽αἴθρην, δὸς δ᾽ὀφθαλμοῖ σιν ἰδέσθαι·
ἐν δὲ φάιει καὶ ὄλεσσον ἐπεί νύ τοι εὔαδεν οὕτως.[10]
(Iliad, xvii.
645 _et seq_.)
[10] O Father Zeus, only save thou the sons of the Acheans from the darkness, and make clear sky and vouchsafe sight to our eyes, and then, so it be but light, slay us, since such is thy good pleasure.
I. GENERAL GREATAUK, DUKE OF SKULL
A short time after the flight of the Emiral, a middle-class Jew called
Pyrot, desirous of associating with the aristocracy and wishing to
serve his country, entered the Penguin army.
The Minister of War, who
at the time was Greatauk, Duke of Skull, could not endure him.
He
blamed him for his zeal, his hooked nose, his vanity, his fondness for
study, his thick lips, and his exemplary conduct.
Every time the author
of any misdeed was looked for, Greatauk used to say: “It must be Pyrot!”
One morning General Panther, the Chief of the Staff, informed Greatauk
of a serious matter.
Eighty thousand trusses of hay intended for the
cavalry had disappeared and not a trace of them was to be found.
Greatauk exclaimed at once: “It must be Pyrot who has stolen them!”
He remained in thought for some time and said: “The more I think of it
the more I am convinced that Pyrot has stolen those eighty thousand
trusses of hay.
And I know it by this: he stole them in order that he
might sell them to our bitter enemies the Porpoises.
What an infamous
piece of treachery!
“There is no doubt about it,” answered Panther; “it only remains to
prove it.”
The same day, as he passed by a cavalry barracks, Prince des Boscénos
heard the troopers as they were sweeping out the yard, singing: Boscénos est un gros cochon;
On en va faire des andouilles,
Des saucisses et du jambon
Pour le réveillon des pauv’ bougres.
It seemed to him contrary to all discipline that soldiers should sing
this domestic and revolutionary refrain which on days of riot had been
uttered by the lips of jeering workmen.
On this occasion he deplored
the moral degeneration of the army, and thought with a bitter smile
that his old comrade Greatauk, the head of this degenerate army, basely
exposed him to the malice of an unpatriotic government.
And he promised
himself that he would make an improvement before long.
“That scoundrel Greatauk,” said he to himself, “will, not remain long a
Minister.”
Prince des Boscénos was the most irreconcilable of the opponents of
modern democracy, free thought, and the government which the Penguins
had voluntarily given themselves.
He had a vigorous and undisguised
hatred for the Jews, and he worked in public and in private, night and
day, for the restoration of the line of the Draconides.
His ardent
royalism was still further excited by the thought of his private
affairs, which were in a bad way and were hourly growing worse.
He had
no hope of seeing an end to his pecuniary embarrassments until the heir
of Draco the Great entered the city of Alca.
When he returned to his house, the prince took out of his safe a bundle
of old letters consisting of a private correspondence of the most
secret nature, which he had obtained from a treacherous secretary.
They
proved that his old comrade Greatauk, the Duke of Skull, had been
guilty of jobbery regarding the military stores and had received a
present of no great value from a manufacturer called Maloury.
The very
smallness of this present deprived the Minister who had accepted it of
all excuse.
The prince re-read the letters with a bitter satisfaction, put them
carefully back into his safe, and dashed to the Minister of War.
He was
a man of resolute character.
On being told that the Minister could see
no one he knocked down the ushers, swept aside the orderlies, trampled
under foot the civil and military clerks, burst through the doors, and
entered the room of the astonished Greatauk.
“I will not say much,” said he to him, “but I will speak to the point.
You are a confounded cad.
I have asked you to put a flea in the ear of
General Mouchin, the tool of those Republicans, and you would not do
it.
I have asked you to give a command to General des Clapiers, who
works for the Dracophils, and who has obliged me personally, and you
would not do it.
I have asked you to dismiss General Tandem, the
commander of Port Alca, who robbed me of fifty louis at cards, and who
had me handcuffed when I was brought before the High Court as Emiral
Chatillon’s accomplice.
You would not do it.
I asked you for the hay
and bran stores.
You would not give them.
I asked you to send me on a
secret mission to Porpoisia.
You refused.
And not satisfied with these
repeated refusals you have designated me to your Government colleagues
as a dangerous person, who ought to be watched, and it is owing to you
that I have been shadowed by the police.
You old traitor!
I ask nothing
more from you and I have but one word to say to you: Clear out; you
have bothered us too long.
Besides, we will force the vile Republic to
replace you by one of our own party.
You know that I am a man of my
word.
If in twenty-four hours you have not handed in your resignation I
will publish the Maloury _dossier_ in the newspapers.”
But Greatauk calmly and serenely replied: “Be quiet, you fool.
I am just having a Jew transported.
I am handing
over Pyrot to justice as guilty of having stolen eighty thousand
trusses of hay.”
Prince Boscénos, whose anger vanished like a dream, smiled.
“Is that true?”
“You will see.”
“My congratulations, Greatauk.
But as one always needs to take
precautions with you I shall immediately publish the good news.
People
will read this evening about Pyrot’s arrest in every newspaper in Alca
.
And he went away muttering: “That Pyrot!
I suspected he would come to a bad end.”
A moment later General Panther appeared before Greatauk.
“Sir,” said he, “I have just examined the business of the eighty
thousand trusses of hay.
There is no evidence against Pyrot.”
“Let it be found,” answered Greatauk.
“Justice requires it.
Have Pyrot
arrested at once.”
