<SPAN name="VI" id="VI"></SPAN><h2>VI</h2>
<h2>MR. TOAD</h2></div>
<p><!-- Page 140 --><span class="pagenum">
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<SPAN name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</SPAN></span>
<br/></p>
<p class="cap">IT was a bright morning in the early part of
summer; the river had resumed its wonted
banks and its accustomed pace, and a hot sun
seemed to be pulling everything green and
bushy and spiky up out of the earth towards
him, as if by strings. The Mole and the Water
Rat had been up since dawn, very busy on
matters connected with boats and the opening
of the boating season; painting and varnishing,
mending paddles, repairing cushions, hunting
for missing boat-hooks, and so on; and were
finishing breakfast in their little parlour and
eagerly discussing their plans for the day, when
a heavy knock sounded at the door.</p>
<p>"Bother!" said the Rat, all over egg. "See
who it is, Mole, like a good chap, since you've
finished."
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<SPAN name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>The Mole went to attend the summons, and
the Rat heard him utter a cry of surprise.
Then he flung the parlour door open, and announced
with much importance, "Mr. Badger!"</p>
<p>This was a wonderful thing, indeed, that the
Badger should pay a formal call on them, or
indeed on anybody. He generally had to be
caught, if you wanted him badly, as he slipped
quietly along a hedgerow of an early morning
or a late evening, or else hunted up in his own
house in the middle of the Wood, which was a
serious undertaking.</p>
<p>The Badger strode heavily into the room,
and stood looking at the two animals with an
expression full of seriousness. The Rat let his
egg-spoon fall on the table-cloth, and sat open-mouthed.</p>
<p>"The hour has come!" said the Badger at
last with great solemnity.</p>
<p>"What hour?" asked the Rat uneasily, glancing
at the clock on the mantelpiece.</p>
<p>"<i>Whose</i> hour, you should rather say," replied
the Badger. "Why, Toad's hour! The hour
of Toad! I said I would take him in hand as
<!-- Page 143 --><span class="pagenum">
<SPAN name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</SPAN></span>
soon as the winter was well over, and I'm going
to take him in hand to-day!"</p>
<p>"Toad's hour, of course!" cried the Mole delightedly.
"Hooray! I remember now! <i>We'll</i>
teach him to be a sensible Toad!"</p>
<p>"This very morning," continued the Badger,
taking an arm-chair, "as I learnt last night
from a trustworthy source, another new and
exceptionally powerful motor-car will arrive at
Toad Hall on approval or return. At this very
moment, perhaps, Toad is busy arraying himself
in those singularly hideous habiliments so
dear to him, which transform him from a (comparatively)
good-looking Toad into an Object
which throws any decent-minded animal that
comes across it into a violent fit. We must be
up and doing, ere it is too late. You two animals
will accompany me instantly to Toad Hall,
and the work of rescue shall be accomplished."</p>
<p>"Right you are!" cried the Rat, starting up.
"We'll rescue the poor unhappy animal! We'll
convert him! He'll be the most converted
Toad that ever was before we've done with
him!"
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<SPAN name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>They set off up the road on their mission of
mercy, Badger leading the way. Animals when
in company walk in a proper and sensible
manner, in single file, instead of sprawling all
across the road and being of no use or support
to each other in case of sudden trouble or
danger.</p>
<p>They reached the carriage-drive of Toad Hall
to find, as Badger had anticipated, a shiny new
motor-car, of great size, painted a bright red
(Toad's favourite colour), standing in front of
the house. As they neared the door it was
flung open, and Mr. Toad, arrayed in goggles,
cap, gaiters, and enormous overcoat, came swaggering
down the steps, drawing on his gauntleted
gloves.</p>
<p>"Hullo! come on, you fellows!" he cried
cheerfully on catching sight of them. "You're
just in time to come with me for a jolly—to
come for a jolly—for a—er—jolly—"</p>
<p>His hearty accents faltered and fell away as
he noticed the stern unbending look on the
countenances of his silent friends, and his invitation
remained unfinished.
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<SPAN name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>The Badger strode up the steps. "Take him
inside," he said sternly to his companions.
Then, as Toad was hustled through the door,
struggling and protesting, he turned to the
<i>chauffeur</i> in charge of the new motor-car.</p>
<p>"I'm afraid you won't be wanted to-day," he
said. "Mr. Toad has changed his mind. He
will not require the car. Please understand
that this is final. You needn't wait." Then he
followed the others inside and shut the door.</p>
<p>"Now then!" he said to the Toad, when the
four of them stood together in the Hall, "first
of all, take those ridiculous things off!"</p>
<p>"Shan't!" replied Toad, with great spirit.
"What is the meaning of this gross outrage?
I demand an instant explanation."</p>
<p>"Take them off him, then, you two," ordered
the Badger briefly.</p>
<p>They had to lay Toad out on the floor, kicking
and calling all sorts of names, before they
could get to work properly. Then the Rat sat
on him, and the Mole got his motor-clothes off
him bit by bit, and they stood him up on his
legs again. A good deal of his blustering spirit
<!-- Page 146 --><span class="pagenum">
<SPAN name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</SPAN></span>
seemed to have evaporated with the removal of
his fine panoply. Now that he was merely
Toad, and no longer the Terror of the Highway,
he giggled feebly and looked from one to the
other appealingly, seeming quite to understand
the situation.</p>
<p>"You knew it must come to this, sooner or
later, Toad," the Badger explained severely.
"You've disregarded all the warnings we've
given you, you've gone on squandering the
money your father left you, and you're getting
us animals a bad name in the district by your
furious driving and your smashes and your rows
with the police. Independence is all very well,
but we animals never allow our friends to make
fools of themselves beyond a certain limit; and
that limit you've reached. Now, you're a good
fellow in many respects, and I don't want to be
too hard on you. I'll make one more effort to
bring you to reason. You will come with me
into the smoking-room, and there you will hear
some facts about yourself; and we'll see whether
you come out of that room the same Toad that
you went in."
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<SPAN name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>He took Toad firmly by the arm, led him
into the smoking-room, and closed the door behind
them.</p>
<p>"<i>That's</i> no good!" said the Rat contemptuously.
"<i>Talking</i> to Toad'll never cure him.
He'll <i>say</i> anything."</p>
<p>They made themselves comfortable in arm-chairs
and waited patiently. Through the closed
door they could just hear the long continuous
drone of the Badger's voice, rising and falling
in waves of oratory; and presently they noticed
that the sermon began to be punctuated at
intervals by long-drawn sobs, evidently proceeding
from the bosom of Toad, who was a
soft-hearted and affectionate fellow, very easily
converted—for the time being—to any point
of view.</p>
<p>After some three-quarters of an hour the
door opened, and the Badger reappeared, solemnly
leading by the paw a very limp and dejected
Toad. His skin hung baggily about him,
his legs wobbled, and his cheeks were furrowed
by the tears so plentifully called forth by the
Badger's moving discourse.
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<SPAN name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"Sit down there, Toad," said the Badger
kindly, pointing to a chair. "My friends," he
went on, "I am pleased to inform you that
Toad has at last seen the error of his ways. He
is truly sorry for his misguided conduct in the
past, and he has undertaken to give up motor-cars
entirely and for ever. I have his solemn
promise to that effect."</p>
<p>"That is very good news," said the Mole
gravely.</p>
<p>"Very good news indeed," observed the Rat
dubiously, "if only—<i>if</i> only—"</p>
<p>He was looking very hard at Toad as he said
this, and could not help thinking he perceived
something vaguely resembling a twinkle in that
animal's still sorrowful eye.</p>
<p>"There's only one thing more to be done,"
continued the gratified Badger. "Toad, I want
you solemnly to repeat, before your friends here,
what you fully admitted to me in the smoking-room
just now. First, you are sorry for what
you've done, and you see the folly of it all?"</p>
<p>There was a long, long pause. Toad looked
desperately this way and that, while the other
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<SPAN name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</SPAN></span>
animals waited in grave silence. At last he
spoke.</p>
<p>"No!" he said, a little sullenly, but stoutly;
"I'm <i>not</i> sorry. And it wasn't folly at all! It
was simply glorious!"</p>
<p>"What?" cried the Badger, greatly scandalised.
"You backsliding animal, didn't you tell
me just now, in there—"</p>
<p>"Oh, yes, yes, in <i>there</i>," said Toad impatiently.
"I'd have said anything in <i>there</i>.
You're so eloquent, dear Badger, and so moving,
and so convincing, and put all your points
so frightfully well—you can do what you like
with me in <i>there</i>, and you know it. But I've
been searching my mind since, and going over
things in it, and I find that I'm not a bit sorry
or repentant really, so it's no earthly good
saying I am; now, is it?"</p>
<p>"Then you don't promise," said the Badger,
"never to touch a motor-car again?"</p>
<p>"Certainly not!" replied Toad emphatically.
"On the contrary, I faithfully promise that the
very first motor-car I see, poop-poop! off I go
in it!"
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<SPAN name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"Told you so, didn't I?" observed the Rat to
the Mole.</p>
<p>"Very well, then," said the Badger firmly,
rising to his feet. "Since you won't yield to
persuasion, we'll try what force can do. I
feared it would come to this all along. You've
often asked us three to come and stay with you,
Toad, in this handsome house of yours; well,
now we're going to. When we've converted
you to a proper point of view we may quit, but
not before. Take him upstairs, you two, and
lock him up in his bedroom, while we arrange
matters between ourselves."</p>
<p>"It's for your own good, Toady, you know,"
said the Rat kindly, as Toad, kicking and
struggling, was hauled up the stairs by his two
faithful friends. "Think what fun we shall all
have together, just as we used to, when you've
quite got over this—this painful attack of
yours!"</p>
<p>"We'll take great care of everything for you
till you're well, Toad," said the Mole; "and
we'll see your money isn't wasted, as it has
been."
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<SPAN name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"No more of those regrettable incidents with
the police, Toad," said the Rat, as they thrust
him into his bedroom.</p>
<p>"And no more weeks in hospital, being ordered
about by female nurses, Toad," added the
Mole, turning the key on him.</p>
<p>They descended the stair, Toad shouting
abuse at them through the keyhole; and the
three friends then met in conference on the
situation.</p>
<p>"It's going to be a tedious business," said the
Badger, sighing. "I've never seen Toad so
determined. However, we will see it out. He
must never be left an instant unguarded. We
shall have to take it in turns to be with him,
till the poison has worked itself out of his
system."</p>
<p>They arranged watches accordingly. Each
animal took it in turns to sleep in Toad's room
at night, and they divided the day up between
them. At first Toad was undoubtedly very
trying to his careful guardians. When his violent
paroxysms possessed him he would arrange
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<SPAN name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</SPAN></span>
bedroom chairs in rude resemblance of a motor-car
and would crouch on the foremost of them,
bent forward and staring fixedly ahead, making
uncouth and ghastly noises, till the climax was
reached, when, turning a complete somersault,
he would lie prostrate amidst the ruins of the
chairs, apparently completely satisfied for the
moment. As time passed, however, these painful
seizures grew gradually less frequent, and
his friends strove to divert his mind into fresh
channels. But his interest in other matters did
not seem to revive, and he grew apparently
languid and depressed.</p>
<p>One fine morning the Rat, whose turn it was
to go on duty, went upstairs to relieve Badger,
whom he found fidgeting to be off and stretch
his legs in a long ramble round his wood and
down his earths and burrows. "Toad's still in
bed," he told the Rat, outside the door. "Can't
get much out of him, except, 'O leave him
alone, he wants nothing, perhaps he'll be better
presently, it may pass off in time, don't be
unduly anxious,' and so on. Now, you look
out, Rat! When Toad's quiet and submissive,
<!-- Page 153 --><span class="pagenum">
<SPAN name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</SPAN></span>
and playing at being the hero of a Sunday-school
prize, then he's at his artfullest. There's
sure to be something up. I know him. Well,
now, I must be off."</p>
<p>"How are you to-day, old chap?" inquired
the Rat cheerfully, as he approached Toad's
bedside.</p>
<p>He had to wait some minutes for an answer.
At last a feeble voice replied, "Thank you so
much, dear Ratty! So good of you to inquire!
But first tell me how you are yourself, and the
excellent Mole?"</p>
<p>"O, <i>we're</i> all right," replied the Rat. "Mole,"
he added incautiously, "is going out for a run
round with Badger. They'll be out till luncheon
time, so you and I will spend a pleasant morning
together, and I'll do my best to amuse you.
Now jump up, there's a good fellow, and don't
lie moping there on a fine morning like this!"</p>
<p>"Dear, kind Rat," murmured Toad, "how
little you realise my condition, and how very
far I am from 'jumping up' now—if ever!
But do not trouble about me. I hate being a
burden to my friends, and I do not expect to be
one much longer. Indeed, I almost hope not."
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<SPAN name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"Well, I hope not, too," said the Rat heartily.
"You've been a fine bother to us all this time,
and I'm glad to hear it's going to stop. And
in weather like this, and the boating season
just beginning! It's too bad of you, Toad!
It isn't the trouble we mind, but you're making
us miss such an awful lot."</p>
<p>"I'm afraid it <i>is</i> the trouble you mind,
though," replied the Toad languidly. "I can
quite understand it. It's natural enough.
You're tired of bothering about me. I mustn't
ask you to do anything further. I'm a nuisance,
I know."</p>
<p>"You are, indeed," said the Rat. "But I
tell you, I'd take any trouble on earth for you,
if only you'd be a sensible animal."</p>
<p>"If I thought that, Ratty," murmured Toad,
more feebly than ever, "then I would beg you—for
the last time, probably—to step round
to the village as quickly as possible—even now
it may be too late—and fetch the doctor. But
don't you bother. It's only a trouble, and perhaps
we may as well let things take their course."</p>
<p>"Why, what do you want a doctor for?"
<!-- Page 155 --><span class="pagenum">
<SPAN name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</SPAN></span>
inquired the Rat, coming closer and examining
him. He certainly lay very still and flat, and his
voice was weaker and his manner much changed.</p>
<p>"Surely you have noticed of late—" murmured
Toad. "But, no—why should you?
Noticing things is only a trouble. To-morrow,
indeed, you may be saying to yourself, 'O, if
only I had noticed sooner! If only I had done
something!' But no; it's a trouble. Never
mind—forget that I asked."</p>
<p>"Look here, old man," said the Rat, beginning
to get rather alarmed, "of course I'll fetch
a doctor to you, if you really think you want
him. But you can hardly be bad enough for
that yet. Let's talk about something else."</p>
<p>"I fear, dear friend," said Toad, with a
sad smile, "that 'talk' can do little in a case
like this—or doctors either, for that matter;
still, one must grasp at the slightest straw. And,
by the way—while you are about it—I <i>hate</i>
to give you additional trouble, but I happen to
remember that you will pass the door—would
you mind at the same time asking the lawyer
to step up? It would be a convenience to me,
<!-- Page 156 --><span class="pagenum">
<SPAN name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</SPAN></span>
and there are moments—perhaps I should say
there is <i>a</i> moment—when one must face disagreeable
tasks, at whatever cost to exhausted
nature!"</p>
<p>"A lawyer! O, he must be really bad!" the
affrighted Rat said to himself, as he hurried
from the room, not forgetting, however, to lock
the door carefully behind him.</p>
<p>Outside, he stopped to consider. The other
two were far away, and he had no one to consult.</p>
<p>"It's best to be on the safe side," he said, on
reflection. "I've known Toad fancy himself
frightfully bad before, without the slightest reason;
but I've never heard him ask for a lawyer!
If there's nothing really the matter, the doctor
will tell him he's an old ass, and cheer him up;
and that will be something gained. I'd better
humour him and go; it won't take very long." So
he ran off to the village on his errand of mercy.</p>
<p>The Toad, who had hopped lightly out of
bed as soon as he heard the key turned in the
lock, watched him eagerly from the window till
he disappeared down the carriage-drive. Then,
laughing heartily, he dressed as quickly as possible
in the smartest suit he could lay hands on
<!-- Page 157 --><span class="pagenum">
<SPAN name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</SPAN></span>
at the moment, filled his pockets with cash
which he took from a small drawer in the
dressing-table, and next, knotting the sheets
from his bed together and tying one end of the
improvised rope round the central mullion of
the handsome Tudor window which formed such
a feature of his bedroom, he scrambled out, slid
lightly to the ground, and, taking the opposite
direction to the Rat, marched off light-heartedly,
whistling a merry tune.</p>
<p>It was a gloomy luncheon for Rat when the
Badger and the Mole at length returned, and
he had to face them at table with his pitiful and
unconvincing story. The Badger's caustic, not
to say brutal, remarks may be imagined, and
therefore passed over; but it was painful to
the Rat that even the Mole, though he took his
friend's side as far as possible, could not help
saying, "You've been a bit of a duffer this
time, Ratty! Toad, too, of all animals!"</p>
<p>"He did it awfully well," said the crestfallen
Rat.</p>
<p>"He did <i>you</i> awfully well!" rejoined the
<!-- Page 158 --><span class="pagenum">
<SPAN name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</SPAN></span>
Badger hotly. "However, talking won't mend
matters. He's got clear away for the time,
that's certain; and the worst of it is, he'll be
so conceited with what he'll think is his cleverness
that he may commit any folly. One comfort
is, we're free now, and needn't waste any
more of our precious time doing sentry-go. But
we'd better continue to sleep at Toad Hall for
a while longer. Toad may be brought back at
any moment—on a stretcher, or between two
policemen."</p>
<p>So spoke the Badger, not knowing what the
future held in store, or how much water, and
of how turbid a character, was to run under
bridges before Toad should sit at ease again in
his ancestral Hall.</p>
<hr />
<p>Meanwhile, Toad, gay and irresponsible, was
walking briskly along the high road, some miles
from home. At first he had taken by-paths,
and crossed many fields, and changed his course
several times, in case of pursuit; but now, feeling
by this time safe from recapture, and the
sun smiling brightly on him, and all Nature
<!-- Page 159 --><span class="pagenum">
<SPAN name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</SPAN></span>
joining in a chorus of approval to the song of
self-praise that his own heart was singing to
him, he almost danced along the road in his
satisfaction and conceit.</p>
<p>"Smart piece of work that!" he remarked to
himself chuckling. "Brain against brute force—and
brain came out on the top—as it's
bound to do. Poor old Ratty! My! won't he
catch it when the Badger gets back! A worthy
fellow, Ratty, with many good qualities, but
very little intelligence and absolutely no education.
I must take him in hand some day, and
see if I can make something of him."</p>
<p>Filled full of conceited thoughts such as these
he strode along, his head in the air, till he
reached a little town, where the sign of "The
Red Lion," swinging across the road half-way
down the main street, reminded him that he
had not breakfasted that day, and that he was
exceedingly hungry after his long walk. He
marched into the Inn, ordered the best luncheon
that could be provided at so short a notice,
and sat down to eat it in the coffee-room.</p>
<p>He was about half-way through his meal when
<!-- Page 160 --><span class="pagenum">
<SPAN name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</SPAN></span>
an only too familiar sound, approaching down
the street, made him start and fall a-trembling
all over. The poop-poop! drew nearer and
nearer, the car could be heard to turn into the
inn-yard and come to a stop, and Toad had to
hold on to the leg of the table to conceal his
over-mastering emotion. Presently the party
entered the coffee-room, hungry, talkative, and
gay, voluble on their experiences of the morning
and the merits of the chariot that had brought
them along so well. Toad listened eagerly, all
ears, for a time; at last he could stand it no
longer. He slipped out of the room quietly,
paid his bill at the bar, and as soon as he got
outside sauntered round quietly to the inn-yard.
"There cannot be any harm," he said to himself,
"in my only just <i>looking</i> at it!"</p>
<p>The car stood in the middle of the yard,
quite unattended, the stable-helps and other
hangers-on being all at their dinner. Toad
walked slowly round it, inspecting, criticising,
musing deeply.</p>
<p>"I wonder," he said to himself presently, "I
wonder if this sort of car <i>starts</i> easily?"
<!-- Page 161 --><span class="pagenum">
<SPAN name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>Next moment, hardly knowing how it came
about, he found he had hold of the handle and
was turning it. As the familiar sound broke
forth, the old passion seized on Toad and completely
mastered him, body and soul. As if in
a dream he found himself, somehow, seated in
the driver's seat; as if in a dream, he pulled the
lever and swung the car round the yard and
out through the archway; and, as if in a dream,
all sense of right and wrong, all fear of obvious
consequences, seemed temporarily suspended.
He increased his pace, and as the car devoured
the street and leapt forth on the high road
through the open country, he was only conscious
that he was Toad once more, Toad at
his best and highest, Toad the terror, the traffic-queller,
the Lord of the lone trail, before whom
all must give way or be smitten into nothingness
and everlasting night. He chanted as he flew,
and the car responded with sonorous drone; the
miles were eaten up under him as he sped he
knew not whither, fulfilling his instincts, living
his hour, reckless of what might come to him.</p>
<p><!-- Page 162 --><span class="pagenum">
<SPAN name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</SPAN></span></p>
<hr />
<p>"To my mind," observed the Chairman of
the Bench of Magistrates cheerfully, "the <i>only</i>
difficulty that presents itself in this otherwise
very clear case is, how we can possibly make
it sufficiently hot for the incorrigible rogue and
hardened ruffian whom we see cowering in the
dock before us. Let me see: he has been found
guilty, on the clearest evidence, first, of stealing
a valuable motor-car; secondly, of driving to
the public danger; and, thirdly, of gross impertinence
to the rural police. Mr. Clerk, will you
tell us, please, what is the very stiffest penalty
we can impose for each of these offences? Without,
of course, giving the prisoner the benefit of
any doubt, because there isn't any."</p>
<p>The Clerk scratched his nose with his pen.
"Some people would consider," he observed,
"that stealing the motor-car was the worst
offence; and so it is. But cheeking the police
undoubtedly carries the severest penalty; and
so it ought. Supposing you were to say twelve
months for the theft, which is mild; and three
years for the furious driving, which is lenient;
and fifteen years for the cheek, which was pretty
<!-- Page 163 --><span class="pagenum">
<SPAN name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</SPAN></span>
bad sort of cheek, judging by what we've
heard from the witness-box, even if you only
believe one-tenth part of what you heard, and
I never believe more myself—those figures,
if added together correctly, tot up to nineteen
years—"</p>
<p>"First-rate!" said the Chairman.</p>
<p>"—So you had better make it a round
twenty years and be on the safe side," concluded
the Clerk.</p>
<p>"An excellent suggestion!" said the Chairman
approvingly. "Prisoner! Pull yourself together
and try and stand up straight. It's
going to be twenty years for you this time.
And mind, if you appear before us again, upon
any charge whatever, we shall have to deal
with you very seriously!"</p>
<p>Then the brutal minions of the law fell upon
the hapless Toad; loaded him with chains, and
dragged him from the Court House, shrieking,
praying, protesting; across the market-place,
where the playful populace, always as severe
upon detected crime as they are sympathetic
and helpful when one is merely "wanted,"
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assailed him with jeers, carrots, and popular
catch-words; past hooting school children, their
innocent faces lit up with the pleasure they ever
derive from the sight of a gentleman in difficulties;
across the hollow-sounding drawbridge,
below the spiky portcullis, under the frowning
archway of the grim old castle, whose ancient
towers soared high overhead; past guardrooms
full of grinning soldiery off duty, past sentries
who coughed in a horrid, sarcastic way, because
that is as much as a sentry on his post dare do
to show his contempt and abhorrence of crime;
up time-worn winding stairs, past men-at-arms
in casquet and corselet of steel, darting threatening
looks through their vizards; across courtyards,
where mastiffs strained at their leash
and pawed the air to get at him; past ancient
warders, their halberds leant against the wall,
dozing over a pasty and a flagon of brown ale;
on and on, past the rack-chamber and the
thumbscrew-room, past the turning that led to
the private scaffold, till they reached the door of
the grimmest dungeon that lay in the heart of
the innermost keep. There at last they paused,
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where an ancient gaoler sat fingering a bunch
of mighty keys.</p>
<p><SPAN name="Page164pic" id="Page164pic"></SPAN></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus05.jpg" width-obs="420" height-obs="571" alt="Toad was a helpless prisoner in the remotest dungeon" title="Toad was a helpless prisoner in the remotest dungeon" /> <span class="caption">Toad was a helpless prisoner in the remotest dungeon</span></div>
<p>"Oddsbodikins!" said the sergeant of police,
taking off his helmet and wiping his forehead.
"Rouse thee, old loon, and take over from us
this vile Toad, a criminal of deepest guilt and
matchless artfulness and resource. Watch and
ward him with all thy skill; and mark thee
well, greybeard, should aught untoward befall,
thy old head shall answer for his—and a murrain
on both of them!"</p>
<p>The gaoler nodded grimly, laying his withered
hand on the shoulder of the miserable Toad.
The rusty key creaked in the lock, the great
door clanged behind them; and Toad was a
helpless prisoner in the remotest dungeon of the
best-guarded keep of the stoutest castle in all
the length and breadth of Merry England.</p>
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