together in an immense crowd, spreading over
a space of about twenty-seven feet square. One
of their most eloquent orators (and a valiant
warrior enough, besides, though hardly so good
at any other weapon as he was with his tongue)
climbed upon a toadstool, and, from that ele-
vated position, addressed the multitude. His
sentiments were pretty much as follows; or, at
all events, something like this was probably the
upshot of his speech: --

"Tall Pygmies and mighty little men! You
and all of us have seen what a public calamity
has been brought to pass, and what an insult has
here been offered to the majesty of our nation.
Yonder lies Antaeus, our great friend and brother,
slain, within our territory, by a miscreant who
took him at disadvantage, and fought him (if
fighting it can be called) in a way that neither
man, nor Giant, nor Pygmy ever dreamed of
fighting, until this hour. And, adding a grievous
contumely to the wrong already done us, the
miscreant has now fallen asleep as quietly as
if nothing were to be dreaded from our wrath!
It behooves you, fellow-countrymen, to consider
in what aspect we shall stand before the world,

[[97]]

p096 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p097w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p098

v?