CHAPTER VI.THE JOURNEY CONTINUED.
FOR the first time, Mr. Cascabel, the natural, the implacable
enemy of England, was about setting his foot
on an English possession. For the first time the sole of his
shoe would tread on British soil and be defiled with Anglo-Saxon
dust. Let the reader forgive us such very strong
language; most undoubtedly such was the somewhat ludicrous
form of expression under which the thought presented
itself to our showman's mind, so tenacious in its now unjustifiable
patriotic hatred.
And still, Columbia was not in Europe. It was no portion
of that group formed by England, Scotland and Wales
and bearing the special name of Great Britain. But it was
none the less British, just as India, Australia, New Zealand; and, as such, it was repulsive to Cæsar Cascabel.
British Columbia is a part of New Britain, one of the
most important colonies of the United Kingdom, comprising
as it does Nova Scotia, Upper and Lower Canada, as
well as the immense territories ceded to the Hudson Bay
Company. In width, it stretches from one ocean to the
other, from the coasts of the Pacific to those of the Atlantic. To the south it is bounded by the frontier of the United States, a line running from Washington Territory to the coast in the State of Maine.
Columbia was therefore, on all counts, English soil, and
the necessities of the journey left our travelers no chance of
avoiding it. When all was added up, it was only a matter
of six hundred miles to the southern extremity of Alaska, that is to say to the Russian possessions in Western America. Still, a trip of six hundred miles on “that hated soil,” although a mere nothing for the Fair Rambler with its record of untold mileage, was six hundred times too much, and Mr. Cascabel was determined to clear that distance in the shortest possible time.
Henceforth, no halting save for meals. No exercising
for the equilibrist or the gymnast, no more dancing, no
more wrestling. The Anglo-Saxons would have to go without
it. The Cascabels felt nothing but contempt for any
coin bearing the effigy of the queen. Better a paper dollar
than a silver crown or a gold sovereign!
Under these conditions, it will be understood that the
Fair Rambler carefully kept away from the villages and gave
a wide berth to the towns. If the game by the roadside
could supply the wants of the troupe, it would save them
from aiding the home trade of this abominable country.
Let it not be imagined that this attitude was but a kind
of theatrical pose on the part of Mr. Cascabel. No! It
was natural with him. This same philosopher, who had so
stoically borne the blow of his late misfortune, who had so
quickly recovered his usual merry temper after the robbery
in the Sierra Nevada, became gloomy and speechless as soon
as he stepped into New Britain. He trudged along with
downcast eyes and a scowling look, his cap drawn down to
his ears; and wicked were the glances he cast on the inoffensive
travelers who happened to cross his path. That he
was in no mood for jokes was plainly shown one day when
Sander drew on himself a severe rebuke for his ill-timed
mirth.
That day, sure enough, behold the youngster taking it
into his head to walk a good quarter of a mile, backwards, in front of the horses, with a thousand and one contortions and grimaces.
On his father's inquiring the reason of this mode of locomotion, which should be, to say the least, very fatiguing:
“Why, father! Aren't we going home backwards?” he
replied with a wink of his eye.
And all burst out with laughter—even Clovy, who thought
the answer was very funny,—unless it should turn out to be
very silly.
“Sander,” said Mr. Cascabel angrily, and with his stagey
air, “if ever again you indulge in such frolic at a time when
we are so little inclined to merriment, I'll pull your ears for
you, and stretch them to your very heels!”
“Well now, father—”
“Silence under arms! I forbid you to laugh in this
Englishmen's land!”
And no one now thought of smiling or showing his teeth
in the presence of the terrible boss, although his anti-Saxon
ideas were far from being shared to that extent.