288 WHAISPERS FROM FAIRYLAND. [vI.

 

foolscaps which children make for each other, and the
boots upon hisfeet, the toes of which turned up after the
fashion of a Chinaman’s shoes. Red he was in dress,
and as nearly red as possible in the colour of his face,
but whether that arose from natural causes or from
temporary irritation it was impossible to say off-hand.
He was choking with suppressed passion. His red
eyebrows frowned over his curious ruby eyes, his red
whiskers stood out as if each hair was in a rage, sepa-
rately, by itself, and his nose and cheeks shone like
the shell of a lobster as the light from the now kindled
fire fell upon them. He could scarcely have been
four feet high, and there was nothing very powerful
in his make, nor did he carry arms which might have
made him appear more formidable than his appearance
would have otherwise led you to suppose. But, for-
midable or not, there he stood, speechless and bursting
with rage, and the sight was really so ludicrous that
the traveller would scarcely have been able to restrain
himself from an immoderate fit of laughter if it had
not been that he still felt the force with which the toe
of the little Red man had been fundamentally applied
to himself. Assuming therefore, an angry tone, as
soon as he had sufficiently recovered from his surprise,
he thus addressed the new comer :—

‘How dare you behave in this aaah? Is this
the way you treat strangers in your country?) What
do you mean by this cowardly assault ?’

The eyes of the little Red man glared fearfully as
the traveller spoke these words, and as soon as they
were finished, he jumped at least half his own height
in the air with fury, and then replied as follows :—