Part 3 (1/2)
Mr. Scrawler, the author, who accompanied the s.h.i.+p, was very curious to know something of their history and origin. He ascertained that they learned English of a party of adventurers who once landed on their sh.o.r.e, many years before, and that the Huggermugger race had long inhabited the island. But he could learn nothing of their origin.
They looked very serious whenever this subject was mentioned. There was evidently a mystery about them, which they had particular reasons never to unfold. On all other subjects they were free and communicative. On this, they kept the strictest and most guarded silence.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
KOBBLETOZO ASTONISHES MR. SCRAWLER.
Now it chanced that some of the dwarfs I have spoken of, were not on the best of terms with the Huggermuggers. Kobboltozo was one of these.
And the only reason why he disliked them, as far as could be discovered, was that they were giants, and he (though a good deal larger than an ordinary sized man) was but a dwarf. He could never be as big as they were. He was like the frog that envied the ox, and his envy and hatred sometimes swelled him almost to bursting. All the favors that the Huggermuggers heaped upon him, had no effect in softening him. He would have been glad at almost any misfortune that could happen to them.
Now Kobboltozo was at the giant's house one day when Mr. Scrawler was asking questions of Huggermugger about his origin, and observed his disappointment at not being furnished with all the information he was so eager to obtain; for Mr. Scrawler calculated to make a book about the Huggermuggers and all their ancestors, which would sell. So while Mr. Scrawler was taking a stroll in the garden, Kobboltozo came up to him and told him he had something important to communicate to him.
They then retired behind some shrubbery, where Kobboltozo, taking a seat under the shade of a cabbage, and requesting Mr. Scrawler to do the same, looked around cautiously, and spoke as follows:--
”I perceive that you all are very eager to know something about the Huggermugger's origin and history. I think that I am almost the only one in this island besides them, who can gratify your curiosity in this matter. But you must solemnly promise to tell no one, least of all the giants, in what way you came to know what I am going to tell you, unless it be after you have left the island, for I dread Huggermugger's vengeance if he knows the story came from me.”
”I promise,” said Scrawler.
”Know then,” said Kobboltozo, ”that the ancestors of the Huggermuggers--the Huggers on the male side, and the Muggers on the female--were men smaller than me, the poor dwarf. Hundred of years ago they came to this island, directed hither by an old woman, a sort of witch, who told them that if they and their children, and their children's children, ate constantly of a particular kind of sh.e.l.l-fish, which was found in great abundance here, they would continue to increase in size, with each successive generation, until they became proportioned to all other growth on the island--till they became giants--such giants as the Huggermuggers. But that the last survivors of the race would meet with some great misfortune, if this secret should ever he told to more than one person out of the Huggermugger family. I have reasons for believing that Huggermugger and his wife are the last of their race; for all their ancestors and relations are dead, and they have no children, and are likely to have none. _Now there are two persons who have been told the secret. It was told to me, and I tell it to you_!”
As Kobboltozo ended, his face wore an almost fiendish expression of savage triumph, as if he had now settled the giants' fate forever.
”But,” said Scrawler, ”how came _you_ into possession of this tremendous secret; and, if true, why do you wish any harm to happen to the good Huggermuggers?”
”I hate them!” said the dwarf. ”They are rich--I am poor. They are big and well-formed--I am little and crooked. Why should not my race grow to be as shapely and as large as they; for _my_ ancestors were as good as theirs, and I have heard that they possessed the island before the Huggermuggers came into it? No! I am weary of the Huggermuggers. I have more right to the island than they. But they have grown by enchantment, while my race only grew to a certain size, and then we stopped and grew crooked. But the Huggermuggers, if there should be any more of them, will grow till they are like the trees of the forest.
”Then as to the way I discovered their mystery. I was taking home a pair of shoes for the giantess, and was just about to knock at the door, when I heard the giant and his wife talking. I crept softly up and listened. They have great voices--not difficult to hear _them_. They were talking about a secret door in the wall, and of something precious which was locked up within a little closet. As soon as their voices ceased, I knocked, and was let in. I a.s.sumed an appearance as if I had heard nothing, and they did not suspect me. I went and told Hammawhaxo, the carpenter--a friend of mine, and a dwarf like me. I knew he didn't like Huggermugger much. Hammawhaxo was employed at the time to repair the bottom of a door in the giant's house, where the rats had been gnawing. So he went one morning before the giants were up, and tapped all around the wainscoting of the walls with his hammer, till he found a hollow place, and a sliding panel, and inside the wall he discovered an old ma.n.u.script in the ancient Hugger language, in which was written the secret I have told you. And now we will see if the old fortune-teller's prophecy is to come true or not.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
MRS. HUGGERMUGGER GROWS THIN AND FADES AWAY.
Scrawler, though delighted to get hold of such a story to put into his book, could not help feeling a superst.i.tious fear that the prediction might be verified, and some misfortune before the good Huggermuggers.
It could not come from him or any of his friends, he was sure; for Zebedee Nabb.u.m's first idea of entrapping the giant was long since abandoned. If he was ever to be taken away from the island, it could only be by the force of persuasion, and he was sure that Huggermugger would not voluntarily leave his wife.
Scrawler only hinted then to Huggermugger, that he feared Kobboltozo was his enemy. But Huggermugger laughed, and said he knew the dwarf was crabbed and spiteful, but that he did not fear him. Huggermugger was not suspicious by nature, and it never came into his thoughts that Kobboltozo, or any other dwarf could have the least idea of his great secret.
Little Jacket came now frequently to the giant's house, where he became a great favorite. He had observed, for some days, that Mrs.
Huggermugger's spirits were not so buoyant as usual. She seldom laughed--she sometimes sat alone and sighed, and even wept. She ate very little of sh.e.l.l-fish--even her favorite frog had lost its relish.
She was growing thin--the once large, plump woman. Her husband, who really loved her, though his manner towards her was sometimes rough, was much concerned. He could not enjoy his lonely supper--he scarcely cared for his pipe. To divert his mind, he would sometimes linger on the sh.o.r.e, talking to the little men, as he called them. He would strip off this long boots and his clothes, and wade out into the sea to get a nearer view of the s.h.i.+p. He could get near enough to talk to them on board. ”How should you like to go with us,” said the little men, one day, ”and sail away to see new countries? We can show you a great deal that you haven't seen. If you went to America with us, you would be the greatest man there.”