I don’t mind telling you now that I was half afraid of the thing. It seemed to be quite absurd that so many grown men should be willing to kill each other for its ownership. One might imagine a baby crying for it, because babies always prefer the most disreputable wooden horse or dirtiest rag doll, but it made one’s hair tingle to think of war, and money, and good or bad fortune for goodness knows how many people, depending on the whereabouts of this eight-inch piece of tusk. Worst of all, I was beginning to believe in it. It seemed to squint at me in a chummy way with its wicked little eyes. Before I so much as heard of its existence or knew its name it brought me luck, just because it was lying in Schwartz’s portmanteau in the carriage. You will remember I touched Schwartz for five pounds in five minutes on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day I got fifty out of him, and now Prince John was ready to give me five thousand. I couldn’t help wondering if it would keep up the pace, and add another nought each day I held it.
And that made me feel rather horrid, so I stuffed it out of sight under the bolster, and said my prayers; then the creeps passed away, and I fell asleep.
There was a sunshiny frost when I awoke, and every tree and shrub in the garden was decked with sparkling gems. Evangeline seemed to be annoyed when I unlocked the door.
“Nice thing,” she said, “makin’ me bump me nose in that fashion!”
Dan came in with her, and I found that she had clattered along with the hot water without looking where she was going. Of course, the door didn’t yield as usual, so her head struck the panel.
Dan and I laughed, and Evangeline rubbed her nose with a black finger. Then we laughed some more, and Evangeline looked at herself in the glass.
“We’ll all be niggers in this house soon,” she declared in a rage, and slammed out.
“Well, what’s the game to-day?” said Dan, sitting on his tail.
“Nothing more than yesterday,” I answered.
“I told the parrot that, but the blessed bird is swinging on his perch and roaring something about another revolution.”