Burlesques William Makepeace Thackeray

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of powder are?" He did. "You know the use to make of them?" He did. He grasped my
hand. "Goliah," said he, "farewell! I swear that the fort shall be in atoms, as soon as yonder
unbelievers have carried it. Oh, my poor mother!" added the gallant youth, as sighing, yet
fearless, he retired to his post.
I gave one thought to my blessed, my beautiful Belinda, and then, stepping into the front,
took down one of the swivels;—a shower of matchlock balls came whizzing round my
head. I did not heed them.
I took the swivel, and aimed coolly. Loll Mahommed, his palanquin, and his men, were
now not above two hundred yards from the fort. Loll was straight before me, gesticulating
and shouting to his men. I fired—bang! ! !
I aimed so true, that one hundred and seventeen best Spanish olives were lodged in a lump
in the face of the unhappy Loll Mahommed. The wretch, uttering a yell the most hideous
and unearthly I ever heard, fell back dead; the frightened bearers flung down the palanquin
and ran—the whole host ran as one man: their screams might be heard for leagues.
"Tomasha, tomasha," they cried, "it is enchantment!" Away they fled, and the victory a
third time was ours. Soon as the fight was done, I flew back to my Belinda. We had eaten
nothing for twenty-four hours, but I forgot hunger in the thought of once more beholding
HER!
The sweet soul turned towards me with a sickly smile as I entered, and almost fainted in my
arms; but alas! it was not love which caused in her bosom an emotion so strong—it was
hunger! "Oh! my Goliah," whispered she, "for three days I have not tasted food—I could
not eat that horrid elephant yesterday; but now—oh! heaven! . . . ." She could say no more,
but sank almost lifeless on my shoulder. I administered to her a trifling dram of rum, which
revived her for a moment, and then rushed down stairs, determined that if it were a piece of
my own leg, she should still have something to satisfy her hunger. Luckily I remembered
that three or four elephants were still lying in the field, having been killed by us in the first
action, two days before. Necessity, thought I, has no law; my adorable girl must eat
elephant, until she can get something better.
I rushed into the court where the men were, for the most part, assembled. "Men," said I,
"our larder is empty; we must fill it as we did the day before yesterday. Who will follow
Gahagan on a foraging party?" I expected that, as on former occasions, every man would
offer to accompany me.
To my astonishment, not a soul moved—a murmur arose among the troops; and at last one
of the oldest and bravest came forward.