AMBROTOX
AND
LIMPING DICK
BY OLIVER FLEMING
1920
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.—THE VISITOR'S SHADOW
CHAPTER II.—THE HEN WITH ONE CHICK
CHAPTER III.—"HUMMIN' BIRD'S WESKIT"
CHAPTER IV.—COFFEE
CHAPTER V.—AMBROTOX
CHAPTER VI.—AMARYLLIS
CHAPTER VII.—PERFUME
CHAPTER VIII.—THE SWINE THAT STANK
CHAPTER IX.—THE POLITICAL COVES
CHAPTER X.—THE GREEN FROCK
CHAPTER XI.—THE WINDOW
CHAPTER XII.—THE STAIRS
CHAPTER XIII.—THE KNIFE-THROWER
CHAPTER XIV.—PENNY PANSY
CHAPTER XV.—THE LIZARD
CHAPTER XVI.—"THE GOAT IN BOOTS"
CHAPTER XVII.—THE UNICORN
CHAPTER XVIII.—THE SERANG
CHAPTER XIX.—SAPPHIRE AND EMERALD
CHAPTER XX.—A ROPE OR SOMETHING
CHAPTER XXI.—THE BAAG-NOUK
CHAPTER XXII.—LORD LABRADOR
CHAPTER XXIII.—FALLING OUT
CHAPTER XXIV.—KUK-KUK-KUK-KATIE
CHAPTER XXV.—WAITERS
CHAPTER XXVI.—PRISONER AND ESCORT
CHAPTER XXVII.—AN INTERIM REPORT
AMBROTOX AND LIMPING DICK.
CHAPTER I.
THE VISITOR'S SHADOW.
Randal Bellamy's country house was a place of pleasant breakfasts. Fromthe dining room the outlook was delightful; grass, flowers and sunshine,with the host's easy charm, made it almost as easy for TheophilusCaldegard to drink his tea fresh, as for his daughter Amaryllis not tokeep her host, Sir Randal, waiting for his coffee.
This morning, while she waited for the two men, the girl, rememberingthat this was the eighteenth of June, was surprised by the ease withwhich the five weeks of her stay had slipped by; and she wondered,without anxiety, at what point the guest merges into the inmate.
"I can't live here for ever," she thought; "but as long as there's roomfor his test-tubes, and his dinner's good, dad thinks it's all right fora girl."
And, as if it was all right, she laughed—just in time for RandalBellamy to get full benefit of the pleasant sound.
"Laughing all alone?" he said.
"That's when the funny things happen," replied Amaryllis.
Bellamy looked down at her, as if asking a share in her merriment.
"After all, I don't know why I laughed," she said. "I was only thinkingit's five whole weeks since we came here, and——"
"And you want to go somewhere else?"
Amaryllis shook her head. "And it's gone like five days, I was going tosay."
She took her seat at the table and poured out his coffee. "I'm no