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King Pest: A Tale Containing an Allegory by Edgar Allan Poe · Audiobooks & Scary Stories

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  Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this reading, which comes from a
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  Speaker 1: work in the public domain, King Pest, a tale containing
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  Speaker 1: an allegory dot be why Edgar Allan Poe the gods
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  Speaker 1: do bear and will allow in kings the things which
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  Speaker 1: they abhor. In Rascal Routes Buckhurst's Tragedy of Farex and Porrex,
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  Speaker 1: about twelve o'clock one night in the month of October,
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  Speaker 1: and during the chivalrous reign of the Third Edward, two
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  Speaker 1: seamen belonging to the crew of the Free and Easy,
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  Speaker 1: a trading schooner, plying between Sluis and the Thames, and
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  Speaker 1: then at anchor in that river, were much astonished to
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  Speaker 1: find themselves seated in the tap room of an ale
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  Speaker 1: house in the parish of Saint Andrew's, London, which ale
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  Speaker 1: house bore for sign the portraiture of a jolly tar.
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  Speaker 1: The room, although ill contrived, smoke, blackened, low pitched, and
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  Speaker 1: in every other respect agreeing with the general character of
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  Speaker 1: such places at the period, was nevertheless, in the opinion
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  Speaker 1: of the grotesque groups scattered here and there within, it
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  Speaker 1: sufficiently well adapted to its purpose. Of these groups are
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  Speaker 1: two seam informed. I think the most interesting, if not
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  Speaker 1: the most conspicuous, The one who appeared to be the elder,
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  Speaker 1: and whom his companion addressed by the characteristic appellation of legs,
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  Speaker 1: was at the same time much the taller of the two.
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  Speaker 1: He might have measured six feet and a half, and
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  Speaker 1: an habitual stoop in the shoulders seemed to have been
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  Speaker 1: the necessary consequence of an altitude so enormous. Superfluities in
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  Speaker 1: height were, however, more than accounted for by deficiencies in
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  Speaker 1: other respects. He was exceedingly thin, and might, as his
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  Speaker 1: associates asserted, have answered, when drunk for a pennant at
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  Speaker 1: the mast head, or when sober, have served for a
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  Speaker 1: jib boom. But these jests and others of a similar
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  Speaker 1: nature had evidently produced at no time any effect upon
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  Speaker 1: the cachinatory muscles of the tar, With high cheek bones,
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  Speaker 1: a large hawk nose, retreating chin fallen under jaw, and
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  Speaker 1: huge protruding white eyes. The expression of his countenance, although
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  Speaker 1: tinged with a species of dogged indifference to matters and
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  Speaker 1: things in general, was not the less utterly solemn and serious.
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  Speaker 1: Beyond all attempts at imitation or description, the younger seaman
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  Speaker 1: was in all outward appearance the converse of his companion,
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  Speaker 1: His stature could not have exceeded four feet. A pair
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  Speaker 1: of stumpy bow legs supported his squat, unwieldy figure, while
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  Speaker 1: his unusually short and thick arms, with no ordinary fists
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  Speaker 1: at their extremities, swung off, dangling from his sides like
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  Speaker 1: the fins of a sea turtle. Small eyes of no
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  Speaker 1: particular color twinkled far back in his head. His nose
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  Speaker 1: remained buried in the mass of flesh which enveloped his round,
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  Speaker 1: full and purple face, and his thick upper lip rested
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  Speaker 1: upon the still thicker one beneath. With an air of
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  Speaker 1: complacent self satisfaction, much heightened by the owner's habit of
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  Speaker 1: licking them at intervals. He evidently regarded his tall shipmate
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  Speaker 1: with a feeling half wondrous, half quizzical, and stared up
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  Speaker 1: occasionally in his face as the red setting sun stares
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  Speaker 1: up at the crags of ben Nevis. Various and eventful, however,
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  Speaker 1: had been the peregrinations of the worthy couple in and
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  Speaker 1: about the different tap houses of the neighborhood during the
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  Speaker 1: earlier hours of the night. Funds, even the most ample,
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  Speaker 1: are not always everlasting and it was with empty pockets
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  Speaker 1: our friends had ventured upon the present hostelry. At the
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  Speaker 1: precise period then, when this history properly commences, Legs and
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  Speaker 1: his fellow Hugh Tarpaullen, sat each with both elbows resting
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  Speaker 1: upon the large oaken table in the middle of the floor,
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  Speaker 1: and with a hand upon either cheek. They were eyeing
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  Speaker 1: from behind a huge flagon of unpaid for humming stuff
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  Speaker 1: the portentous words no chalk, which, to their indignation and astonishment,
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  Speaker 1: were scored over the doorway by means of that very
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  Speaker 1: mineral whose presence they purported to deny. Not that the
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  Speaker 1: gift of deciphering written characters, a gift among the commonalty
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  Speaker 1: of that day considered little less cabalistical than the art
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  Speaker 1: of inditing, could in strict justice have been laid to
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  Speaker 1: the charge of either disciple of the sea. But there was,
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  Speaker 1: to say the truth, a certain twist in the formation
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  Speaker 1: of the letters, an indescribable lee lurch about the whole,
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  Speaker 1: which foreboded, in the opinion of both seamen, a long
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  Speaker 1: run of dirty weather, and determined them at once. In
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  Speaker 1: the allegorical words of Legs himself to pump Ship Clew
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  Speaker 1: up all sail and scud before the wind. Having accordingly
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  Speaker 1: disposed of what remained of the ale and looped up
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  Speaker 1: the points of their short doublets, they finally made a
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  Speaker 1: bolt for the street, although Tarpaulin rolled twice into the fireplace,
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  Speaker 1: mistaking it for the door. Yet their escape was at
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  Speaker 1: length happily effected, and half after twelve o'clock found our
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  Speaker 1: heroes ripe for mischief and running for life down a
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  Speaker 1: dark alley in the direction of Saint Andrew's Stair, hotly
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  Speaker 1: pursued by the landlady of the Jolly Tar. At the
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  Speaker 1: epoch of this eventful tale, and periodically for many years
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  Speaker 1: before and after, all England, but more especially the metropolis
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  Speaker 1: resounded with the fearful cry of plague. The city was
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  Speaker 1: in a great measure depopulated, and in those horrible regions
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  Speaker 1: in the vicinity of the Thames, where amid the dark,
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  Speaker 1: narrow and filthy lanes and alleys, the demon of disease
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  Speaker 1: was supposed to have had his nativity, awe, terror and
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  Speaker 1: superstition were alone to be found stalking abroad. By authority
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  Speaker 1: of the king, such districts were placed under ban, and
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  Speaker 1: all persons forbidden under pain of death to intrude upon
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  Speaker 1: their dismal solitude. Yet neither the mandate of the monarch,
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  Speaker 1: nor the huge barriers erected at the entrances of the streets,
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  Speaker 1: nor the prospect of that loathsome death, which with almost
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  Speaker 1: absolute certainty overwhelmed the wretch, whom no peril could deter from.
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  Speaker 1: The adventure prevented the unfurnished and untenanted dwellings from being
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  Speaker 1: stripped by the hand of knightly wrappin of every article,
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  Speaker 1: such as iron, brass or lead work, which could in
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  Speaker 1: any manner be turned to a profitable account. Above all,
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  Speaker 1: it was usually found upon the annual winter opening of
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  Speaker 1: the barriers that locks, bolts and secret cellars had proved
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  Speaker 1: but slender protection to those rich stores of wines and liquors, which,
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  Speaker 1: in consideration of the risk and trouble of removal, many
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  Speaker 1: of the numerous dealers having shops in the neighborhood had
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  Speaker 1: consented to trust during the period of exile to so
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  Speaker 1: insufficient a security. But there were very few of the
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  Speaker 1: terror stricken people who attributed these doings to the agency
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  Speaker 1: of human hands. Pest spirits, plague goblins, and fever demons
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  Speaker 1: were the popular imps of mischief and tales so blood
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  Speaker 1: chilling were hourly told that the whole mass of forbidden
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  Speaker 1: buildings was at length enveloped in terror as in a shroud,
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  Speaker 1: and the plunder himself was often scared away by the
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  Speaker 1: horrors his own depreciations had created, leaving the entire vast
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  Speaker 1: circuit of prohibited district to gloom, silence, pestilence, and death.
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  Speaker 1: It was by one of the terrific barriers already mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: and which indicated the region beyond to be under the
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  Speaker 1: pest ban, that, in scrambling down an hour belly legs
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  Speaker 1: and the worthy huge tarpollen found their progress suddenly impeded.
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  Speaker 1: To return was out of the question, and no time
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  Speaker 1: was to be lost, as their pursuers were close upon
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  Speaker 1: their heels with thoroughbred seamen. To clamber up the roughly
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  Speaker 1: fashioned plank work was a trifle, and maddened with the
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  Speaker 1: twofold excitement of exercise and liquor, they leaped unhesitatingly down
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  Speaker 1: within the enclosure, and holding on their drunken course with
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  Speaker 1: shouts and yellings, were soon bewildered in its noisome and
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  Speaker 1: intricate recesses had they not indeed been intoxicated beyond moral sense.
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  Speaker 1: Their reeling footsteps must have been palsied by the horrors
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  Speaker 1: of their situation. The air was cold and misty, the
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  Speaker 1: paving stones, loosened from their beds, lay in wild disorder.
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  Speaker 1: Amid the tall, rank grass which sprang up around the
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  Speaker 1: feet and ankles. Fallen houses choked up the streets, the
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  Speaker 1: most fetid and poisonous smells everywhere prevailed, And by the
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  Speaker 1: aid of that ghastly light which even at midnight never
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  Speaker 1: fails to emanate from a vapory and pestilential atmosphere, might
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  Speaker 1: be discerned lying in the by paths and alleys, or
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  Speaker 1: rotting in the windowless habitations, the carcass of many a
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  Speaker 1: nocturnal plunder arrested by the hand of the plague in
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  Speaker 1: the very perpetration of his robbery. But it lay not
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  Speaker 1: in the power of images, or sensations, or impediments such
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  Speaker 1: as these to stay the course of men, who, naturally brave,
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  Speaker 1: and at that time especially brim full of courage and
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  Speaker 1: of humming stuff, would have reeled as straight as their
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  Speaker 1: condition might have permitted, undauntedly into the very jaws of death.
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  Speaker 1: Onward still onward stalked the grim legs, making the desolate
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  Speaker 1: solemnity echo and re echo with yells like the terrific
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  Speaker 1: war whoop of the Indian And onward, still onward, rolled
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  Speaker 1: the dumpy terpowen, hanging on to the doublet of his
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  Speaker 1: more active companion, and far surpassing the latter's most strenuous
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  Speaker 1: exertions in the way of vocal music by bull roarings
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  Speaker 1: in basso from the profundity of his stentorian lungs. They
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  Speaker 1: had now evidently reached the stronghold of the pestilence. Their way.
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  Speaker 1: At every step or plunge grew more noisome and more horrible,
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  Speaker 1: the paths more narrow and more intricate. Huge stones and
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  Speaker 1: beams falling momently from the decaying roofs above them, gave evidence,
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  Speaker 1: by their sullen and heavy descent, of the vast height
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  Speaker 1: of the surrounding houses. And while actual exertion became necessary
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  Speaker 1: to force a passage through frequent heaps of rubbish, it
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  Speaker 1: was by no means seldom that the hand fell upon
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  Speaker 1: a skeleton or rested upon a more fleshly corpse. Suddenly,
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  Speaker 1: as the seamen stumbled against the entrance of a tall
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  Speaker 1: and ghastly looking building. A yell more than usually shrill
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  Speaker 1: from the throat of the excited legs was replied to
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  Speaker 1: from within in a rapid succession of wild, laughter like
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  Speaker 1: and fiendish shrieks. Nothing daunted at sounds which of such
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  Speaker 1: a nature, at such a time and in such a place,
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  Speaker 1: might have curdled the very blood and hearts less irrevocably
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  Speaker 1: on fire. The drunken couple rushed headlong against the door,
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  Speaker 1: burst it open, and staggered into the midst of things
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  Speaker 1: with a volley of curses. The room within which they
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  Speaker 1: found themselves proved to be the shop of an undertaker,
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  Speaker 1: But an open trap door in a corner of the
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  Speaker 1: floor near the entrance looked down upon a long range
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  Speaker 1: of wine cellars, whose depths, the occasional sound of bursting
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  Speaker 1: bottles proclaimed to be well stored with their appropriate contents.
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  Speaker 1: In the middle of the room stood a table, in
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  Speaker 1: the center of which again arose a huge tub of
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  Speaker 1: what appeared to be punch bottles of various wines and cordials,
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  Speaker 1: together with jugs, pitchers, and flagons of every shape and
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  Speaker 1: quality were scattered profusely upon the board around it upon
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  Speaker 1: coffin trestles was seated a company of six. This company,
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  Speaker 1: I will endeavor to delineate one by one, fronting the entrance,
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  Speaker 1: and elevated a little above his companions, sat a personage
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  Speaker 1: who appeared to be the president of the table. His
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  Speaker 1: stature was gaunt and tall, and legs was confounded to
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  Speaker 1: behold in him a figure more emaciated than himself. His
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  Speaker 1: face was as yellow as saffron, but no feature, excepting
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  Speaker 1: one alone, was sufficiently marked to merit a particular description.
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  Speaker 1: This one consisted in a forehead so unusually and hideously
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  Speaker 1: lofty as to have the appearance of a bonnet or
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  Speaker 1: crown of flesh superadded upon the natural head. His mouth
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  Speaker 1: was puckered and dimpled into an expression of ghastly affability,
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  Speaker 1: and his eyes, as indeed the eyes of all at table,
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  Speaker 1: were glazed over with the fumes of intoxication. This gentleman
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  Speaker 1: was clothed from head to foot in a richly embroidered
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  Speaker 1: black silk velvet pall wrapped negligently around his form after
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  Speaker 1: the fashion of a Spanish cloak. His head was stuck
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  Speaker 1: full of sable hearse plumes, which he nodded to and
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  Speaker 1: fro with a jaunty and knowing air, and in his
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  Speaker 1: right hand he held a huge human thigh bone, with
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  Speaker 1: which he appeared to have been just knocking down some
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  Speaker 1: member of the company for a song. Opposite him, and
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  Speaker 1: with her back to the door, was a lady of
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  Speaker 1: no with the less extraordinary character. Although quite as tall
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  Speaker 1: as the person just described, she had no right to
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  Speaker 1: complain of his unnatural emaciation. She was evidently in the
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  Speaker 1: last stage of a dropsy, and her figure resembled nearly
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  Speaker 1: that of the huge puncheon of october beer, which stood
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  Speaker 1: with the head driven in close by her side, in
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  Speaker 1: a corner of the chamber. Her face was exceedingly round,
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  Speaker 1: red and full, and the same peculiarity, or rather one
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  Speaker 1: of peculiarity, attached itself to her countenance, which I before
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  Speaker 1: mentioned in the case of the President, that is to say,
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  Speaker 1: only one feature of her face was sufficiently distinguished to
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  Speaker 1: need a separate characterization. Indeed, the acute Tarpaulin immediately observed
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  Speaker 1: that the same remark might have applied to each individual
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: person of the party, every one of whom seemed to
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  Speaker 1: possess a monopoly of some particular portion of physiognomy with
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  Speaker 1: the lady in question. This portion proved to be the
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: mouth commencing at the right ear. It swept with a
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  Speaker 1: terrific chasm to the left the short pendance which she
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  Speaker 1: wore in either oracle, continually bobbing into the aperture. She made, however,
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  Speaker 1: every exertion to keep her mouth closed and look dignified
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  Speaker 1: in a dress consisting of a newly starched and iron shroud,
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  Speaker 1: coming up close under her chin, with a crimp lad
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  Speaker 1: ruffle of cambric muslin. At her right hand sat a
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  Speaker 1: diminutive young lady, whom she appeared to patronize. This delicate
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  Speaker 1: little creature, in the trembling of her wasted fingers, in
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  Speaker 1: the livid hue of her lips, and in the slight,
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  Speaker 1: hectic spot which tinged her otherwise leaden complexion, gave evident
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  Speaker 1: indications of a galloping consumption. An air of extreme oa
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  Speaker 1: tun however, pervaded her whole appearance. She wore in a
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  Speaker 1: graceful and degage manner, a large and beautiful winding sheet
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  Speaker 1: of the finest India lawn. Her hair hung in ringlets
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  Speaker 1: over her neck. A soft smile played about her mouth,
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  Speaker 1: but her nose, extremely long, thin, sinuous, flexible, and pimpled,
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  Speaker 1: hung down far below her under lip, and in spite
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  Speaker 1: of the delicate manner in which she now and then
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  Speaker 1: moved it to one side or the other with her tongue,
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  Speaker 1: gave to her countenance a somewhat equivocal expression over against her.
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  Speaker 1: And upon the left of the dropsical lady was seated
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  Speaker 1: a little puffy, wheezing and gouty old man, whose cheeks
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  Speaker 1: reposed upon the shoulders of their owner like two huge
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: bladders of a porteau wine. With his arms folded and
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  Speaker 1: with one bandaged leg deposited upon the table, he seemed
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  Speaker 1: to think himself entitled to some consideration. He evidently prided
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  Speaker 1: himself much upon every inch of his personal appearance, but
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  Speaker 1: took more especial delight in calling attention to his gaudy
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  Speaker 1: colored surtout. This to say, the truth must have cost
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  Speaker 1: him no little money, and was made to fit him
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  Speaker 1: exceedingly well, being fashioned from one of the curiously embroidered
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  Speaker 1: silken covers appertaining to those glorious escutcheons which in England
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  Speaker 1: and elsewhere are customarily hung up in some conspicuous place
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  Speaker 1: upon the dwellings of departed aristocracy. Next to him, and
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  Speaker 1: at the right hand of the president, was a gentleman
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  Speaker 1: in long white hose and cotton drawers. His frame shook
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  Speaker 1: in a ridiculous manner with a fit of what Tarpaulin
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  Speaker 1: called the horrors. His jaws, which had been newly shaved,
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  Speaker 1: were tightly tied up by a bandage of muslin, and
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  Speaker 1: his arms, being fastened in a similar way at the wrists,
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  Speaker 1: prevented him from helping himself too freely to the liquors
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  Speaker 1: upon the table, a precaution rendered necessary, in the opinion
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  Speaker 1: of Legs, by the peculiarly sottish and wine bibbing cast
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  Speaker 1: of his visage. A pair of prodigious ears, nevertheless, which
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  Speaker 1: it was no doubt found impossible to confine, towered away
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  Speaker 1: into the atmosphere of the apartment, and were occasionally pricked
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  Speaker 1: up in a spasm at the sound of the drawing
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  Speaker 1: of a cork. Fronting him. Sixthly, and lastly was situated
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  Speaker 1: a singularly stiff looking personage, who, being afflicted with paralysis, must,
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  Speaker 1: to speak seriously, have felt very ill at ease in
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: his unaccommodating habiliments. He was habited somewhat uniquely in a
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: new and handsome mahogany coffin, its top or head piece
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  Speaker 1: press upon the skull of the wearer and extended over
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  Speaker 1: it in the fashion of a hood, giving to the
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  Speaker 1: entire face and air of indescribable interest. Armholes had been
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  Speaker 1: cut in the sides for the sake not more of
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  Speaker 1: elegance than of convenience. But the dress nevertheless prevented its
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  Speaker 1: proprietor from sitting as erect as his associates. And as
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  Speaker 1: he lay reclining against his trestle at an angle of
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  Speaker 1: forty five degrees, a pair of huge goggle eyes rolled
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  Speaker 1: up their awful whites towards the ceiling in absolute amazement
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  Speaker 1: at their own enormity. Before each of the party lay
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  Speaker 1: a portion of a skull, which was used as a
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  Speaker 1: drinking cup. Overhead, was suspended a human skeleton by means
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  Speaker 1: of a rope tied round one of the legs and
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: fastened to a ring in the ceiling. The other limb,
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  Speaker 1: confined by no such fetter, stuck off from the body
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  Speaker 1: at right angles, causing the whole loose and rattling frame
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  Speaker 1: to dangle and twirl about at the caprice of every
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: occasional puff of wind which found its way into the apartment.
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  Speaker 1: In the cranium of this hideous thing lay quantity of
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  Speaker 1: a gar knighted charcoal, which threw a fitful but vivid
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  Speaker 1: light over the entire scene, while coffins and other wares
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  Speaker 1: appertaining to the shop of an undertaker were piled high
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  Speaker 1: up around the room and against the windows, preventing any
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  Speaker 1: ray from escaping into the street. At sight of this
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary assembly, and of their still more extraordinary paraphernalia, our
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  Speaker 1: two seamen did not conduct themselves with that degree of
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  Speaker 1: decorum which might have been expected. Legs, leaning against the
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  Speaker 1: wall near which he happened to be standing, dropped his
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  Speaker 1: lower jaw still lower than usual, and spread open his
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  Speaker 1: eyes to their fullest extent, while Hugh Tarpallen, stooping down
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  Speaker 1: so as to bring his nose upon a level with
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  Speaker 1: the table, and spreading out a palm upon either knee,
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  Speaker 1: burst into a long, loud, an obstreperous roar of very
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  Speaker 1: ill timed and immoderate laughter. Without, however, taking offense at
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  Speaker 1: behavior so excessively rude, the tall President smiled very graciously
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: upon the intruders nodded to them in a dignified manner,
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  Speaker 1: with his head of sable plumes and horising, took each
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  Speaker 1: by an arm, and led him to a seat which
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  Speaker 1: some others of the company had placed in the meantime
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  Speaker 1: for his accommodation. Legs, to all this offered not the
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  Speaker 1: slightest resistance, but sat down as he was directed, while
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  Speaker 1: the gallant hue, removing his coffin trestle from its station
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  Speaker 1: near the head of the table, to the vicinity of
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: the little consumptive lady in the winding sheet, plumped down
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: by her side in high glee, and pouring out a
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: skull of red wine, quafted to their better acquaintance. But
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: at this presumption the stiff gentleman in a coffin seemed
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: exceedingly nettled, and serious consequences might have ensued had not
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: the President, wrapping upon the table with his truncheon, diverted
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: the attention of all present to the following speech. It
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: becomes our duty upon the present happy occasion. A vast there,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: interrupted Legs, looking very serious, A vast there a bit,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: I say, and tell us who the devil ye all are,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: and what business ye have here? Rigged off like the
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: foul fiends, and swilling the snug blue ruin stowed away
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: from for the winter by my honest shipmate, Will Wimble
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: the Undertaker. At this unpardonable piece of ill breeding, all
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: the original company have started to their feet and uttered
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: the same rapid succession of wild, fiendish shrieks which have
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: before caught the attention of the seamen. The President, however,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: was the first to recover his composure, and, at length,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: turning to legs, with great dignity, recommenced most willingly. Will
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: we gratify any reasonable curiosity on the part of guests
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: so illustrious unbidden though they be, know then that in
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: these dominions I am monarch, and here rule with undivided
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: empire under the title of King pest. The first this apartment,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: which you no doubt profanely supposed to be the shop
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: of Will Wimble the Undertaker, a man whom we know not,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: and whose Plebeian appellation has never before this night thwarted
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: our royal ears. This apartment, I say, is the dais
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Chamber of our palace, devoted to the councils of our kingdom,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: and to other sacred and lofty purposes. The noble lady
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: who sits opposite is Queen Pest our serene Consort. The
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: other exalted personages whom you behold are all of our family,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: and where the insignia of the Blood Royal under the
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: respective titles of His Grace, the arch Duke Pestiferous, his Grace,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the Duke pest Ilential, his Grace, the Duke tempest and
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: her Serene Highness the Archduchess Annipest. As regards continued, he
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: your demand of the business upon which we sit here
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: in council, we might be pardoned for replying that it
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: concerns and concerns alone our own private and regal interest,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and is in no manner important to any other than ourself.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: But in consideration of those rights to which, as guests
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: and strangers, you may feel yourselves entitled, we will furthermore
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: explain that we are here this night prepared by deep
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: research and accurate investigation to examine, analyze, and thoroughly determine
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: the indefinable spirit, the incomprehensible qualities and nature of those
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: inestimable treasures of the Palate, the wines, alesh and liqueurs
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: of this goodly metropolis, by so doing to advance not
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: more our own designs than the true welfare of that
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: unearthly sovereign whose reign is over us, all whose dominions
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: are unlimited, and whose name is death dot, whose name
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: is Davy jones ejaculated Tarpaulin, helping the lady by his
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: side to a skull of liqueur, and pouring out a
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: second for himself. Profane varlet, said the President, now turning
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: his attention to the worthy hue, profane and execrable wretch,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: we have said that, in consideration of those rights which
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: even in thy filthy person we feel no inclination to violate,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: we have condescended to make reply to thy rude and
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: unseasonable inquiries. We nevertheless, for your unhallowed intrusion upon our councils,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: believe it our duty to molt thee and thy companion
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: in each a gallon of black strap, Having imbibed which
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: to the prosperity of our kingdom, at a single draft,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: and upon your bended knees, ye shall be forthwith free
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: either to proceed upon your way, or I remain and
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: be admitted to the privileges of our table, according to
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: your respective and individual pleasures. It would be a matter
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: of utter impossibility, replied Legs, whom the assumptions and dignity
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: of King Pest the first had evidently inspired some feelings
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: of respect, and who arose and steadied himself by the
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: table as he spoke. It would please your Majesty be
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: a matter of utter impossibility to stow away in might
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: hold even one fourth part of the same liquor which
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: your Majesty has just mentioned, to say nothing of the
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: stuffs placed on board in the forenoon by way of ballast,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: and not to mention the various alesh and Liqueur's ship
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: this evening at different seaports. I have at present a
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: full cargo of humming stuff, taken in and duly paid
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: for it the sign of the jolly tar. You will, therefore, please,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: your Majesty, be so good as to take the will
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: for the deed. For by no manner of means either
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: can I or will I swallow another drop, least of
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: all a drop of that villainous bilge water that answers
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: to the name of black Strap. That interrupted Turpaulin astonished
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: not more at the length of his companion's speech than
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: at the nature of his refusal, belay that you lubber,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and I say, legs, none of your palaver. My hull
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: is still light, although I confess you yourself seem to
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: be a little top heavy. And as for the matter
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: of your share of the cargo, why rather than raise
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: a squall, I would find stowage room for it myself.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: But this proceeding interposed the President is by no means
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: in accordance with the terms of the malt or sentence,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: which is in its nature median, and not to be
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: altered or recalled. The conditions we have imposed must be
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: fulfilled to the letter, and that without a moment's hesitation.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: In failure of which fulfillment, we decree that you do
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: here be tied neck and heels together, and duly drowned
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: as rebels in yon hogshead of October beer. A sentence,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: a sentence, a righteous and just sentence, a glorious decree,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: a most worthy and upright and holy condemnation, shouted the
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: pest family altogether. The king elevated his forehead into innumerable wrinkles.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: The gouty little old man puffed like a pair of bellows.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: The lady of the winding sheet waved her nose to
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: and fro. The gentleman in the cotton drawers pricked up
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: his ears. She of the shroud gasped like a dying fish,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: and he of the coffin looked stiff and rolled up
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: his eyes. Ag ag ag chuckled turpaullen without heeding the
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: general excitation. Ag ag ag ag ag ag ag ag
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: ag I was saying, said he I was saying, when
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: mister King Pest poked in his marlin spike, that as
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: for the matter of two or three gallons more or
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: less of black strap, it was a trifle to a
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: tight sea boat like myself, not overstowed. But when it
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: comes to drinking the health of the devil, whom God
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: a soils e, and going down upon my marrow bones
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: to his ill favored majesty there, whom I know as
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: well as I know myself to be a sinner, to
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: be nobody in the whole world. But Tim Hurligerly, the
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: stage player, why it's quite another guess, sort of a thing,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: and utterly an altogether passed my comprehension. He was not
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: allowed to finish this speech in tranquility at the name
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Tim Hurligerly the whole assembly leaped from their name seats.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Treason shouted his majesty, King Pest the first Treason, said
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: the little man with the gout, Treason screened the Archduchess
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: an a pest, Treason muttered, the gentleman, with his jaws
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: tied up, Treason growled, he of the coffin Treason. Treason
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: shrieked her majesty of the mouth, and, seizing by the
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: hinder part of his breeches, the unfortunate tarpaulin, who had
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: just commenced pouring out for himself a skull of liqueur,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: she lifted him high into the air and let him
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: fall without ceremony, into the huge open puncheon of his
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: beloved ale. Bobbing up and down for a few seconds
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: like an apple in a bowl of toddy, he at
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: length finally disappeared amid the whirlpool of foam, which, in
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: the already effervescent liquor his struggles easily succeeded in creating.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Not tamely, however, did the tall seamen behold the discomfiture
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: of his companion. Jostling King pessed through the open trap.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: The valiant legs slammed the door down upon him with
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: an oath, and strode towards the center of the room.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Here tearing down the skeleton which swung over the table,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: he laid it about him with so much energy and
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: good will, that as the last glimpses of light died
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: away within the apartment, he succeeded in knocking out the
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: brains of the little gentleman with the gout rushing. Then,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: with all his force against the fatal hogshead full of
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: october Ale and Hugh Tarpallen, he rolled it over and
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: over in an instant outburst, a deluge of liquor so fierce,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: so impetuous, so overwhelming, that the room was flooded from
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: wall to wall. The loaded table was overturned, the trestles
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: were thrown upon their backs, the tub of punch into
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: the fireplace, and the ladies into hysterics. Piles of death
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: furniture floundered about, Jugs, pitchers and carboys mingled promiscuously in
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: the melee, and wicker flagons encountered desperately with bottles of junk.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: The man with the horrors was drowned upon the spot.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: The little stiff gentleman floated off in his coffin, and
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: the victorious legs seizing by the waist. The fat lady
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: in the shroud rushed out with her into the street
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: and made a bee line for the Free and Easy,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: followed under easy sail by the redoubtable Hue Tarpaulin, who,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: having sneezed three or four times, panted and puffed after
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: him with the Archduchess annipest