174 TROPIC DAYS 



admirable and dutiful, the result was disastrous. The 

 boy got a paralysing blow on the small of the back, and 

 flopped down. Up jumped Dilly Boy, and the gin 

 raced after him, murderously^ inclined to the crab. 

 Half her blows were misses and the other half seriously 

 embarrassed her husband, as his tumbles testified. She 

 belaboured him impartially and with perverted good- 

 will from shoulder to heel, for she aimed invariably at 

 the crab, and where is the woman who ever hit where 

 she designed? The crab was merel}' tickling; the 

 faithful spouse, with the tenderest motives, was cruelly 

 beating her lord and master to disablement, and it can 

 scarcely be credited that the echo of his remarks has 

 yet subsided. In his fervour the boy made an exception- 

 ally vicious threat against the gin, and in response she 

 missed him and hit the crab. Under such forceful 

 compulsion the crab parted with its claw. It was 

 ponderous and toothed, be it remembered, and well and 

 truly locked, and retained its grip. The target being 

 smaller, the aims of the gin went more and more astray. 

 The back of the boy, owing to the incessant misses of 

 the waddy, changed from brown to purple, and a red 

 ribbon wavered down his thigh. Still he ran, and the 

 devoted gin coursed after him with the energy of a 

 half-back, the fur}' of a disappointed politician, and the 

 riot of three-dozen cockatoos scared from a corn-field. 

 Almost worn out, the boy sprang round, and, seizing 

 the waddy, began to chastise the gin, whose screams 

 blended with his unwholesome threats. But the claws 

 held on — not like grim death; they were grim death. 

 Every second blow was directed aft — one blow forward, 

 which generally severely disagreed with the gin; one 

 blow astern, which afforded neither mental relief nor 

 physical comfort. The gin fled from the infuriated boy ; 

 the boy from the fearsome rehc of the crab, and called 



