The Research MagnificentWells, H. G. (Herbert George)
General
The Research Magnificent
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Conduct of life -- Fiction
“When you get to Monastir, young man,” she told him, inaudibly, “you
will go straight to bed and we'll see what has to be done with you.”
“AMMALATO,” said Giorgio confidentially, coming abreast of her.
“MEDICO IN MONASTIR,” said Amanda.
“SI,--MOLTI MEDICI, MONASTIR,” Giorgio agreed.
Then came the inevitable dogs, big white brutes, three in full cry
charging hard at Benham and a younger less enterprising beast running
along the high bank above yapping and making feints to descend.
The goatherd, reclining under the shadow of a rock, awaited Benham's
embarrassment with an indolent malice.
“You UNCIVILIZED Beasts!” cried Benham, and before Amanda could realize
what he was up to, she heard the crack of his revolver and saw a puff
of blue smoke drift away above his right shoulder. The foremost beast
rolled over and the goatherd had sprung to his feet. He shouted with
something between anger and dismay as Benham, regardless of the fact
that the other dogs had turned and were running back, let fly a second
time. Then the goatherd had clutched at the gun that lay on the grass
near at hand, Giorgio was bawling in noisy remonstrance and also getting
ready to shoot, and the horse-owner and his boy were clattering back
to a position of neutrality up the stony road. “BANG!” came a flight
of lead within a yard of Benham, and then the goatherd was in retreat
behind a rock and Giorgio was shouting “AVANTI, AVANTI!” to Amanda.
She grasped his intention and in another moment she had Benham's horse
by the bridle and was leading the retreat. Giorgio followed close,
driving the two baggage mules before him.
“I am tired of dogs,” Benham said. “Tired to death of dogs. All savage
dogs must be shot. All through the world. I am tired--”
Their road carried them down through the rocky pass and then up a long
slope in the open. Far away on the left they saw the goatherd running
and shouting and other armed goatherds appearing among the rocks. Behind
them the horse-owner and his boy came riding headlong across the zone of
danger.
“Dogs must be shot,” said Benham, exalted. “Dogs must be shot.”
“Unless they are GOOD dogs,” said Amanda, keeping beside him with an eye
on his revolver.
“Unless they are good dogs to every one,” said Benham.
They rushed along the road in a turbulent dusty huddle of horses and
mules and riders. The horse-owner, voluble in Albanian, was trying
to get past them. His boy pressed behind him. Giorgio in the rear had
unslung his rifle and got it across the front of his saddle. Far
away they heard the sound of a shot, and a kind of shudder in the air
overhead witnessed to the flight of the bullet. They crested a rise and
suddenly between the tree boughs Monastir was in view, a wide stretch of
white town, with many cypress and plane trees, a winding river with many
wooden bridges, clustering minarets of pink and white, a hilly cemetery,
and scattered patches of soldiers' tents like some queer white crop to
supplement its extensive barracks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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