“He! he! he--e!” he laughed, and “Ha! ha! haa--a!” and “Ho! ho! hoo--o!” and then “He! he! hee--e!” again; and then “Oh dear!” he cried “I shall split;” and the tears ran out of his needle points and down over his nose and nippers.
To say that Blinks was angry, would but poorly describe the torrent of wrath that raged within his youthful breast. After carefully gathering himself up again, he confronted the wee brown gent, and----
“Sir,” cried Blinks, “imp or devil, tell me who you are and where you dwell; and should it even be in yonder evil-place, beneath yon horrid cauldron, a friend of mine shall wait upon you in the morning.”
“I,” said the mahogany one, drawing himself up to his full height, which was not much after all--“I, sir--I am, sir, the cricket of the hearth, sir! the cricket--of--the--hearth, sir; and I have a good mind to pull your nose, sir;” here he shook one pair of his immense nippers; “and the nose, sir--” here he shook his other pair of nippers--“of the ignorant old lady, your mother, who allows her fluffy fools of children, to trespass upon, and insult grown gentlemen on their own policies.” The little gent would have added much more; but just then he was interrupted by a loud voice, apparently in the air, making the remark--
“Bravo! br-r-ravo! bravo!” And looking up, Blinks espied a very large bird perched on a high wooden erection; the cricket of the hearth was observed to turn very pale at the same time. I say, he turned pale; and he also turned tail, and muttering, “Fire and fury!” made off as fast as six legs could carry him.
“I’ll fluff you,” cried Blinks; and was about to give chase, when the bird alighted on the ground in front of him, and almost at the same time the cricket disappeared, as suddenly as if he had vanished from the face of the earth; and indeed that is precisely what he had done.
“Why,” said Blinks, “what has become of our little mahogany friend?”
This question he put to the bird, who was now standing in a very ludicrous attitude, with his head and neck all awry, and a big swelling or lump in his throat, as if he had been improperly hanged.
“Did you hear me?” said Blinks, as the bird made no immediate answer and appeared slightly convulsed.