How great the difference between the
two authors is, can best be appreciated by comparing the
description of the _gamin_ in _Marius_, with the following extracts
from HAUTGOUT'S portraiture of the BLOCKADE-RUNNER:--
"Yankeedom has a bird, and the crocodile has a bird. The
crocodile's bird is called the Trochilus. Yankeedom's bird is
called the blockade-runner. Yankeedom is the crocodile. The
blockade-runner is the Trochilus.
"Couple these two ideas--Yankeedom and the crocodile. They are
worth the coupling. The crocodile is asleep. He does not sleep on
both ears; he sleeps with one eye open; his jaws are also open.
Rows of teeth appear, sharped, fanged, pointed, murderous,
carnivorous, omnivorous. Some of the teeth are wanting: say a
dozen. Who knocked those teeth out? A demon. What demon?
Or perhaps an angel. What angel? The angel is secession: the
demon is rebellion. ORMUZD and AHRIMAN: BALDUR and LOKI:
the DEVIL and ST. DUNSTAN. So we go.
"The Trochilus picks the crocodile's teeth. Does the crocodile
object? Not he. He likes to have his teeth picked. It is good for
his health. It promotes his digestion. It is, on the whole, a
sanitary measure. 'Feed yourself,' he says,'my good Trochilus, on
the broken meats which lie between my grinders.
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