Latimer slipped out of bed in search of a weapon of
dissuasion. There was sufficient light in the room to enable the pig to
detect this manoeuvre, and the vile temper, inherited from the drowned
mother, found full play. Latimer bounded back into bed, and his
conqueror, after a few threatening snorts and champings of its jaws,
resumed its massage operations with renewed zeal. During the long
wakeful hours which ensued Latimer tried to distract his mind from his
own immediate troubles by dwelling with decent sympathy on the second
housemaid's bereavement, but he found himself more often wondering how
many Boy Scouts were sharing his Melton overcoat. The role of Saint
Martin malgre lui was not one which appealed to him.
Towards dawn the pigling fell into a happy slumber, and Latimer might
have followed its example, but at about the same time Stupor Hartlepooli
gave a rousing crow, clattered down to the floor and forthwith commenced
a spirited combat with his reflection in the wardrobe mirror. Remembering
that the bird was more or less under his care Latimer performed Hague
Tribunal offices by draping a bath-towel over the provocative mirror, but
the ensuing peace was local and short-lived. The deflected energies of
the gamecock found new outlet in a sudden and sustained attack on the
sleeping and temporarily inoffensive pigling, and the duel which followed
was desperate and embittered beyond any possibility of effective
intervention. The feathered combatant had the advantage of being able,
when hard pressed, to take refuge on the bed, and freely availed himself
of this circumstance; the pigling never quite succeeded in hurling
himself on to the same eminence, but it was not from want of trying.
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