Page 560 - ULYSSES

Ulysses

the seventeenth of the month as a solution equally
honourable for both contending parties. The readywitted
ninefooter’s suggestion at once appealed to all and was
unanimously accepted. Constable MacFadden was heartily

congratulated by all the F.O.T.E.I., several of whom were
bleeding profusely. Commendatore Beninobenone having
been extricated from underneath the presidential armchair,
it was explained by his legal adviser Avvocato Pagamimi
that the various articles secreted in his thirtytwo pockets
had been abstracted by him during the affray from the
pockets of his junior colleagues in the hope of bringing
them to their senses. The objects (which included several
hundred ladies’ and gentlemen’s gold and silver watches)
were promptly restored to their rightful owners and
general harmony reigned supreme.
Quietly, unassumingly Rumbold stepped on to the
scaffold in faultless morning dress and wearing his favourite
flower, the Gladiolus Cruentus. He announced his presence
by that gentle Rumboldian cough which so many have
tried (unsuccessfully) to imitate—short, painstaking yet
withal so characteristic of the man. The arrival of the
worldrenowned headsman was greeted by a roar of
acclamation from the huge concourse, the viceregal ladies
waving their handkerchiefs in their excitement while the

559 of 1305