St Nicholas [serial] . ough one of them with the crown in his ran hither and thither through the crowd,while the bread was burning in the oven at home,the soup boiling over on the stove, the babytumbling into the fire, or,scarcely worse, upsettingthe crock of length night drew onapace, and yet never asign of the drummer. The crowd thinned fromaround the town-house, and by the time the greatclock in the assembly-room pointed to nine, thehour at which every good burgher commonlysought repose, the good men winked and blinkedin the candle-light like so many owls. But a
St Nicholas [serial] . ough one of them with the crown in his ran hither and thither through the crowd,while the bread was burning in the oven at home,the soup boiling over on the stove, the babytumbling into the fire, or,scarcely worse, upsettingthe crock of length night drew onapace, and yet never asign of the drummer. The crowd thinned fromaround the town-house, and by the time the greatclock in the assembly-room pointed to nine, thehour at which every good burgher commonlysought repose, the good men winked and blinkedin the candle-light like so many owls. But a sound suddenly broke on the ear! The mayor was almost in a doze, but at thatsound a glitter of life awoke in his leaden eye. Hestarted and clutched the arm of his chair convul-sively, as did each and every one of the towncouncil clutch his. The sound was heard again : It was—yes, it wasthe squealing of a pig—A STRAY PIG. The mayor, than whom none ever loved a pigbetter, writhed in his chair, as did all the council-. POOR PIGGY LED THE WAY. ie mayor held clutched tightly in his fat, puffy men, squirming in an agony, their duty callingttle hand, stood in the center of a table, at the them to watch the crown, their inclination drawing ead of which the mayor was perched upon a high,VOL. IV.—47. them to the stray pig. 722 DRUMMER FRITZ AND HIS EXPLOITS. [September., Again the pig squealed- this time a continuous,long drawn-out squeal, as though some one wereendeavoring to capture him by means of the handlewhich nature has so kindly provided. The mayorsface turned cherry red with excitement, while greatdrops of perspiration rolled bead-like down hispink forehead. One more squeal and he would stand it nolonger. Gentlemen of the council, cried he, slidingoff his chair to his feet, I am taken suddenly sick—deathly sick. Guard the crown, gentlemen,while I am gone, like loyal subjects. There is thekey. And without further ado he threw the keydown upon the table and rushed out of t
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