Tales out of school

by Frank R. Stockton

This young man was, as I have said, the only person among the Cabordmen who seemed to have his wits about him.

He conceived a plan of safety, and lost no time in putting it in execution.

The Cabordmen placed great confidence in him because of the excellence of his portraits, and so when he told them his plan—or that part of it which they were to carry out—they agreed to it at once.

What they were to do was very simple; each person was to take two days’ provision, and to clear out of the country, every man, woman, and child of them. They were to march away as fast as they could over the south border, and to stay there until they heard from Adar Ip. They were to take nothing with them but their two days’ provision and the clothes they wore, which were generally scanty, as the climate was mild, and were to leave their houses and fields, and everything just as they were at that time. Doors all open, and everything lying where it had been last used.

So up got every man, woman and child, took food for two days, and departed, leaving Adar Ip behind. They were all great walkers, being so accustomed to activity in the field, and before morning they had all passed out of sight over the south border of the land.

Then with his pot of white paint in one hand, and his brush in the other, went Adar Ip, at the first peep of day, to the grave-yards of the Cabordmen. There were three of these, not very far from the centre of their country, which was a small country as you may well imagine.

The Cabordmen, being very healthy, seldom died of any disease but old age; and there were not very many persons buried in the three grave yards. In the first, and largest, there were seventy-two graves; in the second, forty-one, and the third, a new one, only thirteen. The graves were all leveled and sodded over, so that the surface of the grave yard seemed like a beautiful lawn.

In one enclosure were the grandfathers, in another the grandmothers, and in the third the very old maids and bachelors who had died. There were no grave-stones or anything of the kind, but at the gate of each enclosure was a board, stating how many persons were buried therein. Every time it was necessary, which was very seldom, Adar Ip painted out the old number on the board and put in a new one.

When our young painter reached the first grave yard he quickly painted three ciphers after the figures on the board by the gate. Then running to the second enclosure he painted a three and two ciphers on that board, and on the third, he painted a six and a five and a four after the figures that were already there. Then he hurried away and hid himself.

In the course of the morning the Voldorite army reached the settlements of the Cabordmen. They did not stop long at the first houses, but hurried on, carefully looking out on every side for some sign of resistance from the people. But they saw no such sign, and they saw no people. This naturally surprised them very much. And the farther they went the more they were surprised.