-
Articles/Ads
Article THE BRASS THUMB. ← Page 8 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Brass Thumb.
this unhappy old gentleman is no other than Meinheer Von Plots , our burgomaster . No less than our chief magistrate , and I another guilty wretch who has stolen the dreadful member , as it were , from under Justice ' s very eye . If he has an eye left , I am undone ! " Hans , in a dreadful hurry , essayed to open his own
extraordinary cloak , but it was a long time before he could disentangle himself . At last he succeeded , and produced a dark lantern , with which backwards and forwards he daringly questioned the unconscious face of his , in the act , insulted magistrate . Meinheer Von Plots ' s full-moon countenance showed no farther token of enlihtenment than a certain
occag sional winking of the optics , and there was a grunt of inconvenience as Hans ' s inquisitive lantern reiterated its light with a pertinacity more perturbed than usual . Hans ' s examination relieved him . He found the worthy magistrate quite incapable of a perception of his presence , much less of the very deepbutwe fearselfish interest he
, , , evinced in his prostrate condition . After a few unintelligible gutturals ( all the more appropriate since they were given utterance to in a watercourse ) , with all the ambition , though none of the grace , of an operatic prelude , the magistrate burst into a low Dutch song , and waved his hand furiously , and essayed to get up .
" This is bad , " said Hans . " He'll alarm the watch . Fie ! fie !—a magistrate to be found in this condition ! My head ' s in a whirl . I feel as if the brass hand were clutching in my bosom . I must go , —I must fly , —it is expedient that I remain here no longer . Cannot I turn this magistrate ' s mischance to my protection ?"
Hans s thought was quick . A little exertion stripped off the mitre or helmet , whichever it was , on Piebald ' s head , and the cunning Hans placed it adroitly in Von Plots ' s grasp , so as to imply that all the robbery , and all the violence , lay with the drunken burgomaster . But , to complete Hans ' s designs , it was necessary that the magistrate should be aware that
there existed a witness , in Hans ' s own person , who might rise up against him at some future time , and that , to save disgrace , he must be silent as to the despoiling of the statue , or of knowledge of Hans at the spot altogether . Hans shook the magistrate heartily , until the latter gathered some sense , and , when he was assured that Von Plots had picked up enough sense to answer his purpose , he growled in a very terrible voice , —for the magistrate was still in that diffi-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Brass Thumb.
this unhappy old gentleman is no other than Meinheer Von Plots , our burgomaster . No less than our chief magistrate , and I another guilty wretch who has stolen the dreadful member , as it were , from under Justice ' s very eye . If he has an eye left , I am undone ! " Hans , in a dreadful hurry , essayed to open his own
extraordinary cloak , but it was a long time before he could disentangle himself . At last he succeeded , and produced a dark lantern , with which backwards and forwards he daringly questioned the unconscious face of his , in the act , insulted magistrate . Meinheer Von Plots ' s full-moon countenance showed no farther token of enlihtenment than a certain
occag sional winking of the optics , and there was a grunt of inconvenience as Hans ' s inquisitive lantern reiterated its light with a pertinacity more perturbed than usual . Hans ' s examination relieved him . He found the worthy magistrate quite incapable of a perception of his presence , much less of the very deepbutwe fearselfish interest he
, , , evinced in his prostrate condition . After a few unintelligible gutturals ( all the more appropriate since they were given utterance to in a watercourse ) , with all the ambition , though none of the grace , of an operatic prelude , the magistrate burst into a low Dutch song , and waved his hand furiously , and essayed to get up .
" This is bad , " said Hans . " He'll alarm the watch . Fie ! fie !—a magistrate to be found in this condition ! My head ' s in a whirl . I feel as if the brass hand were clutching in my bosom . I must go , —I must fly , —it is expedient that I remain here no longer . Cannot I turn this magistrate ' s mischance to my protection ?"
Hans s thought was quick . A little exertion stripped off the mitre or helmet , whichever it was , on Piebald ' s head , and the cunning Hans placed it adroitly in Von Plots ' s grasp , so as to imply that all the robbery , and all the violence , lay with the drunken burgomaster . But , to complete Hans ' s designs , it was necessary that the magistrate should be aware that
there existed a witness , in Hans ' s own person , who might rise up against him at some future time , and that , to save disgrace , he must be silent as to the despoiling of the statue , or of knowledge of Hans at the spot altogether . Hans shook the magistrate heartily , until the latter gathered some sense , and , when he was assured that Von Plots had picked up enough sense to answer his purpose , he growled in a very terrible voice , —for the magistrate was still in that diffi-