A Set of Rogues
CHAPTER I. _Of my companions and our adversities, and in particular from our getting into the stocks at Tottenham Cross to our being robbed at Edmonton._ There being no plays to be acted at the "Red Bull," because of the Plague, and the players all cast adrift for want of employment, certain of us, to wit, Jack Dawson and his daughter Moll, Ned Herring, and myself, clubbed our monies together to buy a store of dresses, painted cloths, and the like, with a cart and horse to carry them, and thus provided set forth to travel the country and turn an honest penny, in those parts where the terror of pestilence had not yet turned men's stomachs against the pleasures of life. And here, at our setting out, let me show what kind of company we were. First, then, for our master, Jack Dawson, who on no occasion was to be given a second place; he was a hale, jolly fellow, who would eat a pound of beef for his breakfast (when he could get it), and make nothing of half a gallon of ale therewith,--a very masterful man, but kindly withal, and pleasant to
Some day I shall break that glass, and crawl back behind there with
you.
It is a pity that you are dumb and do not seem to be able to answer
me, for if you could talk to me about the old jungle days I would not
be so homesick. Still, it is some comfort to know that you are not
deaf, and I intend to come in here every morning after the children go
to school; that is, every morning that I find the door open. I've had
a very exciting life in the past, and I think that you'll find my
experiences interesting.
Of course I'll not begin at the beginning, for, being a ring-tail
monkey yourself, you know what life is like in the great tropical
forests. Perhaps it would be better to skip the circus part, too, for
it was a very unhappy time that followed, after I was stolen from home
by some men who came on a big ship, and carried me away to be sold to
a travelling showman.
It makes my back ache to this day to think of the ring-master's whip.
I was as quick to learn as any of the other monkeys who were in
training, but an animal who has done nothing all his life but climb
and play can't learn the ways of a human being all in one week. I was
taught to ride a pony and drive a team of greyhounds, and to sit at a
table and feed myself with a silver folk. One half-hour I was made to
be a gentleman, and wear a dress suit, and tip my hat to the ladies,
and the next I would be expected to do something entirely different;
CHAPTER I. _Of my companions and our adversities, and in particular from our getting into the stocks at Tottenham Cross to our being robbed at Edmonton._ There being no plays to be acted at the "Red Bull," because of the Plague, and the players all cast adrift for want of employment, certain of us, to wit, Jack Dawson and his daughter Moll, Ned Herring, and myself, clubbed our monies together to buy a store of dresses, painted cloths, and the like, with a cart and horse to carry them, and thus provided set forth to travel the country and turn an honest penny, in those parts where the terror of pestilence had not yet turned men's stomachs against the pleasures of life. And here, at our setting out, let me show what kind of company we were. First, then, for our master, Jack Dawson, who on no occasion was to be given a second place; he was a hale, jolly fellow, who would eat a pound of beef for his breakfast (when he could get it), and make nothing of half a gallon of ale therewith,--a very masterful man, but kindly withal, and pleasant to