106 SIMPSON, MYSELF AND THE PERSONAGE. 



Rudder could not have made me do it. I 

 should have fought to the last eyelash. But for 

 the personage — why, certainly, with pleasure ! 



It was a great treat to watch those two men 

 play. What a curious contrast! The Personage 

 would take his cigarrito between the fingers of his 

 left hand, poise the wooden ball in the palm of his 

 right hand, strike a startling, statuesque attitude, 

 and then, with a sudden spring that sent the long 

 red sash swinging against his yellow breeches, and 

 brought the huge silver spurs of his tall boots 

 banging against the floor, he would hurl the ball 

 down the alley. Then he would pose like Hamlet 

 when he says, " To be or not to be," and wait to 

 see the result. 



Rudder, on the other hand, rolled into range 

 with a slovenly waddle and discharged his missile 

 without further ado. Whish-sh-sh-sht, bumpety- 

 bump-bump-bump, whir-r-r-r, crash ! Down would 

 go the nine-pins — never less than six — gener- 

 ally all nine ! But with the Personage it was 

 not so. Had he been drinking augadente — who 

 knows ? 



I picked up nine-pins for fully an hour. 

 From time to time I saw a pained look in the 

 Personage's proud face, for the Personage was 

 playing a losing game. 



