Frank Fairlegh Part 36

"Before we had done breakfast the great man of the neighbourhood, Rajah somebody or other, made his -237--appearance on his elephant, attended by a train of tawnies, who were to undertake the agreeable duty of beating. Not being considered fit to take care of myself--a melancholy fact of which I was only too conscious--it was decreed that Slingsby and I should occupy the same howdah. Accordingly, at the time appointed, we mounted our elephant; and having a formidable array of guns handed up to us, we started.

"As my companion, and, indeed, every one else concerned in the matter, evidently considered it completely as a party of pleasure, and seemed prepared to enjoy themselves to the utmost, I endeavoured to persuade myself that I did so too; and, consoled by the reflection that if the tiger had positively eaten half a bullock yesterday afternoon, it never could be worth his while to scale our elephant, and run the risk of being shot, for the sake of devouring me, I felt rather bold than otherwise. After proceeding for some distance through the jungle, and rousing, as it seemed to me, every beast that had come out of Noah's Ark, except a tiger, our elephant, who had hitherto conducted himself in a very quiet and gentlemanly manner, suddenly raised his trunk and trumpeted several times--a sure sign, as the mahout informed us, that a tiger was somewhere close at hand.

"'Now then, Frampton,' cried my companion, c.o.c.king his double-barrel, 'look out!'

"'For squalls,' returned I, finis.h.i.+ng the sentence for him.--'Pray, is there any particular part they like to be shot in? whereabouts shall I aim?'

"'Wherever you can,' replied Slingsby; 'be ready--there he is, by Jupiter!' and, as he spoke, the long gra.s.s about a hundred yards in front of us was gently agitated, and I caught a glimpse of what appeared a yellow and black streak, moving swiftly away in an opposite direction.

--'Tally ho!' shouted Slingsby, saluting the tiger with both barrels. An angry roar proved that the shots had taken effect, and in another moment a large tiger, las.h.i.+ng his sides with his tail and his eyes glaring with rage, came bounding towards us.

"'Now what's to be done?' exclaimed I--'if you had but left him alone, he was going away as quietly as possible.'

"Slingsby's only reply was a smile, and seizing another gun, he fired again. On receiving this shot the tiger stopped for a moment, and then, with a tremendous bound, sprang towards us, alighting at the foot of a small tree not a yard from the elephant's head.

-238--"'That last shot crippled him,' said my companion, 'or we should have had the pleasure of his nearer acquaintance--now for the _coup de grace_--fire away!' and as he spoke he leaned forward to take a deliberate aim, when suddenly the front of the howdah gave way, and to my horror Slingsby was precipitated over the elephant's head, into, as it seemed to me, the very jaws of the tiger. A fierce growl and a suppressed cry of agony proved that the monster had seized his prey; and I had completely given up my friend for lost, when the elephant, although greatly alarmed, being urged on by the mahout, took a step forward, and, twisting his trunk round the top of the young tree, bent it down across the loins of the tiger, thus forcing the tortured animal to quit his hold, and affording Slingsby an opportunity of crawling beyond the reach of its teeth and claws. Forgetting my own fears in the imminence of my friend's danger, I only waited till I could get a shot at the tiger without running the risk of hurting Slingsby, and then fired both barrels at his head, and was lucky enough to wound it mortally. The other sportsmen coming up at the moment, the brute received its quietus, but poor Slingsby's arm was broken where the tiger had seized it with its teeth, and his shoulders and chest were severely lacerated by its claws, nor did he entirely recover the shock for many months.{1} And this was my first introduction to a royal tiger, sir.

I saw many of 'em afterwards, during the time I spent in India, but I can't say I ever had much liking for their society--umph!"

This anecdote brought others in its train--minutes flew by apace, the wine grew low in the decanters, and it became apparent to me that if I would not lose the whole evening, and go home with my brains muddled beyond all possibility of reading, I must take my departure.

Accordingly, pulling out my watch, I reminded Mr. Frampton of my previous stipulation to be allowed to run away as soon as dinner was concluded, adding that I had already stayed longer than was altogether prudent. The reply to this announcement was, "Umph! sit still, sir, sit still; I'm going to ring for another bottle of port".

1 The main facts of the foregoing anecdote are taken from Capt. Mundy's very interesting _Pen and Pencil Sketches_.

Finding, however, that I was determined, he gave up the point, adding: "Umph! well, if you must go, you must, I suppose--though you might refuse a worse offer;--but, if you really are anxious about your studies and -239--wish to distinguish yourself, I won't be the man to hinder you--it's few enough of 'em are like you here, I expect"; then, _sotto voce_, "wish t'other young monkey might be". "You hinted before dinner at some information I might be able to give you?" said I interrogatively.

"Umph! did I?--aye, so I did--you see, Mr. Lee, there's a young fellow at Trinity, about your age I should fancy, whom I used to know as a boy,--and--he was a very good boy--and--and--his mother's a widow; poor thing--a very nice boy, I may say, he was--and as I feel a sort of interest about him I thought that you might, perhaps, give one an idea of how he's going on--just a notion--you understand--umph!"

"Exactly, sir," returned I, "and what may be the name of your friend?"

"Frank Fairlegh," was the answer.

"You could not have applied to a better person," replied I. "Frank Fairlegh!--why, he was one of my most intimate friends."

"_Was_--umph!"

"Why, yes, it's more was than is, certainly--for since I've been reading hard, it's a positive fact that I've scarcely seen his face."

"That looks as if he wasn't over fond of reading, then, eh?--umph!"

"You may put that interpretation upon it, certainly," replied I, "but mind, I don't say it's the true one. I consider it would not be right in me to tell tales out of school; besides there's nothing to tell--everybody knows Frank Fairlegh's a good fellow--ask Lawless--ask Curtis."

"Umph! Lawless? what? that wild young scamp who goes tearing about the country in a tandem, as if a gig with one horse wasn't dangerous enough, without putting on a second to make the thing positively terrific?

he must be badly off for something to do, if he can find no better amus.e.m.e.nt than trying how nearly he can break a fool's neck, without doing it quite;--umph! Curtis--why, that's the name of the young gentleman--very gentle--who, the landlord tells me, has just been rusticated for insulting Dr. Doublechin, and fastening a muzzle and chain on one of the men they call 'bull-dogs,' saying, forsooth, that it wasn't safe to let such ferocious animals go about loose--nice acquaintance Mr. Frank Fairlegh seems to choose, and you know the quotation, '_Noscitur a sociis_'."

"Oh," replied I, "but he has others; I have seen him in company with Mr.

Wilford."

-240--"Wilford? the noted duellist, that scoundrel who has lately shot the son of Sir John Oaklands, as fine a young man as ever I set eyes upon?--for I have often seen him when I was living at Helmstone; if I thought, sir, that Fairlegh was a friend of that man--I'd--I'd--well, sir," he exclaimed, seeing my eyes fixed upon him with a degree of interest I could not conceal, "it's nothing to you, I suppose, what I may intend to do by Mr. Frank Fairlegh! I may be his grandfather for anything you can tell to the contrary; and I may choose to cut him off with a s.h.i.+lling, I imagine, without its affecting you in any way--umph?"

"Scarcely so, Mr. Frampton," replied I, turning away to hide an irrepressible smile, "if it is in consequence of what I have told you that you are angry with poor Frank."

"Angry, sir, angry"--was the answer--"I'm never angry--there's nothing worth being angry about in this world. Do you take snuff, sir? I've some that came from--Umph! eh!" he continued, fumbling in all his pockets--"hope I haven't lost my box--given me by the Begum of Cuddleakee--splendid woman--only complexion too strong of the tawny--Umph! left it in the other room, I suppose--back in a moment, sir--Umph! umph!" and, suiting the action to the word, he went out, slamming the door behind him.

As the reader may suppose, I was equally surprised and pleased to find that my old friend not only remembered our former intimacy, but felt so warm an interest in my welfare as to have put himself quite in a rage on hearing of my supposed delinquencies. Although it had been the means of eliciting such strong indications of his continued regard for me, I felt half sorry for the deception I had practised upon him--the only thing that could be done now, however, was to make myself known to him without delay, and his absence from the room enabled me to put in practice a plan for doing so which I had had in my mind all along. Accordingly, going up to the chimney-gla.s.s I shook my hair forward, so that it fell in waving curls about my face and forehead--took the stiffener out of my neckcloth and, knotting the latter closely round my throat, turned down my s.h.i.+rt-collar, so as to resemble as nearly as possible the Byron-tie of my boyhood--then unb.u.t.toning and throwing open my coat I resumed my seat, arranging the candles so as to throw the light full upon my face as I did so. I had scarcely completed my arrangements when I heard Mr. Frampton's footstep in -241--the pa.s.sage, and in another moment he entered the room. "All right, Mr. Lee, all right, sir; I found the box in my other coat-pocket; I was afraid the thieves might have forestalled me; but--Umph!--eh!--why?--who?" Catching sight of me as he spoke, he stopped short, and, shading his eyes with his hand, gazed earnestly at me, with a look half-bewildered, half-incredulous. Taking advantage of his silence I inquired in my natural tone and manner whether he had seen Dr. Mildman lately.

"Umph! eh! Dr. Mildman?" was the reply--"why it can't be--and yet it is--the boy Frank Fairlegh himself! Oh! you young villain!" and completely overcome by the sudden and unexpected nature of the surprise he sank back into a chair, looking the picture of astonishment.

Springing to his side, and pressing his hand warmly between my own, I exclaimed, "Forgive me for the trick I have played you, sir. I knew you the moment I heard your voice, when I was helping you up to-night, and, finding you did not recognise me, I could not resist the temptation of preserving my incognito a little longer, and introducing myself as a stranger."

"Oh! you young scapegrace," was the rejoinder, "if ever I forgive you, I'll--umph!--that I will"--then changing his tone to one of much feeling, he continued, "So you hadn't forgotten the old man then, Frank?

good boy, good boy".

I had seated myself on a stool at his feet, and as he spoke he patted my head with his hand, as if I had been a favourite dog.

"And all the things you said against yourself were so many lies, I suppose? Umph! you are no friend to the homicide Wilford?"

"True to the ear, but false to the sense, sir," replied I. "Harry Oaklands is the dearest friend I have on earth; we love each other as brothers--between the man whose hand was so lately raised to shed that brother's blood, and myself, there can be little friends.h.i.+p--if I do not positively hate him, it is only because I would not willingly hate any one. Lawless was an old fellow-pupil of mine, and, though he has many follies about him, is at bottom more kind-hearted and well-disposed than people give him credit for; we still continue friends, therefore, but, our habits and pursuits being essentially different, I see very little of him--with Curtis I never exchanged half a dozen words in my life."

"Umph! I understand, I understand; and how is Harry Oaklands? better again, eh?"

-242--The reply to this query led to my being obliged to give Mr.

Frampton a succinct account of the duel, and it was not till I explained my intention of trying for honours, and made him comprehend the necessity of my being fully prepared for the ensuing examination, that he would hear of my departure; and, when at last he did allow me to go, he insisted on accompanying me to the gate of Trinity, and made me promise to let him see me as often as I was able during his stay in Cambridge, where, he informed me, he proposed remaining till after the degrees wore conferred.

CHAPTER x.x.xI -- HOW I RISE A DEGREE, AND MR. FRAMPTON GETS ELEVATED IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

"This is as strange a thing as e'er I looked on."--_The Tempest_.

"These news, my lords, may cheer our drooping spirits."--_King Henry VI_.

"And liquor, likewise, will I give to thee, And friends.h.i.+p shall combine, and brotherhood."--_King Henry V_.

THE week pa.s.sed away like a dream, and with a beating heart and throbbing pulse I went through the various examinations, and engaged with my compet.i.tors in the struggle for honours. Anxious in the highest degree as to the result of my labours, I scarcely ate, drank, or slept, and, had the necessity for exertion been protracted much longer, my mind could not have borne the continued strain, and I should probably have had a brain fever. It was the eventful Friday morning on which the list was to come out, and in the course of an hour or two my fate would be known. Utterly worn out by a night which anxiety had rendered sleepless, I had hastily swallowed a cup of tea, and, turning away from the untasted eatables, flung myself, wrapped in a dressing-gown, on the sofa. I had not, however, lain there above a quarter of an hour, when a tap was heard at the door, and Mr. Frampton made his appearance, attired as usual in the well-remembered blue coat, with bra.s.s b.u.t.tons, drab shorts, and gaiters, with the broad-brimmed hat, lined with green, fixed st.u.r.dily on his head, as if it was not made to take off at any time.

-243--"Umph! found my way up, you see! Fellow you call the gyp wanted to make me believe you were out--thought I looked too like a governor to be let in, I suppose; but it wouldn't do, sir; old birds are not to be caught with chaff; and he spoke with an air of such intense honesty that I felt sure he was lying, and told him so.--Don't get up, boy, don't get up; you look as jaded as a hunted antelope. Why, you've never touched your breakfast; you'll kill yourself if you go on at this rate."

"It will not last much longer, sir," said I; "in about another hour or so my fate will be known. The list comes out this morning. Some of my friends were to call for me, and we were to make a party to go down to the Senate House together, for there is sure to be a crowd; but I shall let them go without me, for I'm in such a state of nervous anxiety that I feel fit for nothing."

"Umph! I'll go with them, if they've no objection," returned Mr.

Frampton. "If I should happen to get knocked over in the scuffle, I shall want somebody to pick me up again. I shall like to see how near the tail of the list they stick your name, Frank--umph!"

At this moment the door was flung open, and Lawless, Archer, and one or two more men of my acquaintance came tumbling over one another into the room, laughing vociferously at some unknown jest. Owing to the shape of the apartment, the place where Mr. Frampton had seated himself was not easily to be seen as you entered, consequently none of them observed him.

"Fairlegh, old boy!" began Archer--

"Eh! here's such a tremendous go!" broke in Lawless. "Where's the smelling-bottle? Archer swears he has just seen the ghost of Noah's great-grandfather, as he appeared when dressed in his Sunday clothes!"