passing his hands through his hair, and saying, "Ah! Hum!"and nodding with an air of grave foreboding.
Just as he crossed the threshold, he turned back, and put his head intothe room. "Have you ever noticed that your tongues are growingpointed?" he asked.
"No!" cried the children with alarm. "Are they?"
"If ever you find them becoming forked," said the gentleman in solemntones, "let me know."
With which he departed, gravely shaking his head.
In the afternoon the children attacked him again. "_Do_ tell us what'sthe matter with our tongues."
"You were snapping and squabbling just as usual this morning," said thehot-tempered gentleman.
"Well, we forgot," said Polly. "We don't mean anything, you know. Butnever mind that now, please. Tell us about our tongues. What is goingto happen to them?"
"I'm very much afraid," said the hot-tempered gentleman, in solemnmeasured tones, "that you are both of you--fast--going--to--the--"
"Dogs?" suggested Harry, who was learned in cant expressions.
"Dogs!" said the hot-tempered gentleman, driving his hands through hishair. "Bless your life, no! Nothing half so pleasant! (That is,unless all dogs were like Snap, which mercifully they are not.) No, mysad fear is, that you are both of you--rapidly--going--_to theSnap-Dragons_!"
And not another word would the hot-tempered gentleman say on thesubject.
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CHRISTMAS EVE.
In the course of a few hours Mr and Mrs Skratdj recovered theirequanimity. The punch was brewed in a jug, and tasted quite as good asusual. The evening was very lively. There were a Christmas-tree, Yulecakes, log, and candles, furmety, and snap-dragon after supper. Whenthe company was tired of the tree, and had gained an appetite by thehard exercise of stretching to high branches, blowing out "dangerous"tapers, and cutting ribbon and pack-thread in all directions, suppercame, with its welcome cakes and furmety and punch. And when furmetysomewhat palled upon the taste (and it must be admitted to boast moresentiment than flavour as a Christmas dish), the Yule candles were blownout and both the spirits and the palates of the party were stimulated bythe mysterious and pungent pleasures of snap-dragon.
Then, as the hot-tempered gentleman warmed his coat-tails at theYule-log, a grim smile stole over his features as he listened to thesounds in the room. In the darkness the blue flames leaped and danced,the raisins were snapped and snatched from hand to hand, scatteringfragments of flame hither and thither. The children shouted as thefiery sweetmeats burnt away the mawkish taste of the furmety. MrSkratdj cried that they were spoiling the carpet; Mrs Skratdjcomplained that he had spilled some brandy on her dress. Mr Skratdjretorted that she should not wear dresses so susceptible of damage inthe family circle. Mrs Skratdj recalled an old speech of Mr Skratdjon the subject of wearing one's nice things for the benefit of one'sfamily, and not reserving them for visitors. Mr Skratdj rememberedthat Mrs Skratdj's excuse for buying that particular dress when she didnot need it, was her intention of keeping it for the next year. Thechildren disputed as to the credit for courage and the amount of raisinsdue to each. Snap barked furiously at the flames; and the maids hustledeach other for good places in the doorway, and would not have allowedthe man-servant to see at all, but he looked over their heads.
"St! St! At it! At it!" chuckled the hot-tempered gentleman inundertones. And when he said this, it seemed as if the voices of Mrand Mrs Skratdj rose higher in matrimonial repartee, and the children'ssquabbles became louder, and the dog yelped as if he were mad, and themaids' contest was sharper; whilst the snap-dragon flames leaped up andup, and blue fire flew about the room like foam.
At last the raisins were finished, the flames were all but out, and thecompany withdrew to the drawing-room. Only Harry lingered.
"Come along, Harry," said the hot-tempered gentleman.
"Wait a minute," said Harry.
"You had better come," said the gentleman.
"Why?" said Harry.
"There's nothing to stop for. The raisins are eaten, the brandy isburnt out--"
"No, it's not," said Harry.
"Well, almost. It would be better if it were quite out. Now come.It's dangerous for a boy like you to be alone with the Snap-Dragonsto-night."
"Fiddle-sticks!" said Harry.
"Go your own way, then!" said the hot-tempered gentleman; and he bouncedout of the room, and Harry was left alone.
He crept up to the table, where one little pale blue flame flickered inthe snap-dragon dish.
"What a pity it should go out!" said Harry. At this moment the brandybottle on the side-board caught his eye.
"Just a little more," murmured Harry to himself; and he uncorked thebottle, and poured a little brandy on to the flame.
Now of course, as soon as the brandy touched the fire, all the brandy inthe bottle blazed up at once, and the bottle split to pieces; and it wasvery fortunate for Harry that he did not get seriously hurt. A littleof the hot brandy did get into his eyes, and made them smart, so that hehad to shut them for a few seconds.
But when he opened them again, what a sight he saw! All over the roomthe blue flames leaped and danced as they had leaped and danced in thesoup-plate with the raisins. And Harry saw that each successive flamewas the fold in the long body of a bright blue Dragon, which moved likethe body of a snake. And the room was full of these Dragons. In theface they were like the dragons one sees made of very old blue and whitechina; and they had forked tongues, like the tongues of serpents. Theywere most beautiful in colour, being sky-blue. Lobsters who have justchanged their coats are very handsome, but the violet and indigo of alobster's coat is nothing to the brilliant sky-blue of a Snap-Dragon.
How they leaped about! They were for ever leaping over each other, likeseals at play. But if it was "play" at all with them, it was of a veryrough kind; for as they jumped, they snapped and barked at each other,and their barking was like that of the barking Gnu in the ZoologicalGardens; and from time to time they tore the hair out of each other'sheads with their claws, and scattered it about the floor. And as itdropped it was like the flecks of flame people shake from their fingerswhen they are eating snap-dragon raisins.
Harry stood aghast.
"What fun!" said a voice close by him; and he saw that one of theDragons was lying near, and not joining in the game. He had lost one ofthe forks of his tongue by accident, and could not bark for awhile.
"I'm glad you think it funny," said Harry, "I don't."
"That's right. Snap away!" sneered the Dragon. "You're a perfecttreasure. They'll take you in with them the third round."
"Not those creatures?" cried Harry.
"Yes, those creatures. And if I hadn't lost my bark, I'd be the firstto lead you off," said the Dragon. "Oh, the game will exactly suityou."
"What is it, please?" Harry asked.
"You'd better not say `please' to the others," said the Dragon, "if youdon't want to have all your hair pulled out. The game is this. Youhave always to be jumping over somebody else, and you must either talkor bark. If anybody speaks to you, you must snap in return. I need notexplain what _snapping_ is. _You know_. If anyone by accident gives acivil answer, a claw-full of hair is torn out of his head to stimulatehis brain. Nothing can be funnier."
"I dare say it suits you capitally," said Harry; "but I'm sure weshouldn't like it. I mean men and women and children. It wouldn't dofor us at all."
"Wouldn't it?" said the Dragon. "You don't know how many human beingsdance with dragons on Christmas Eve. If we are kept going in a housetill after midnight, we can pull people out of their beds, and take themto dance in Vesuvius."
"Vesuvius!" cried Harry.
"Yes, Vesuvius. We come from Italy originally, you know. Our skins arethe colour of the Bay of Naples. We live on dried grapes and ardentspirits. We have glorious fun in the mountain sometimes. Oh! whatsnapping, and scratching, and tearing! Del
icious! There are times whenthe squabbling becomes too great, and Mother Mountain won't stand it,and spits us all out, and throws cinders after us. But this is only attimes. We had a charming meeting last year. So many human beings, andhow they _can_ snap! It was a choice party. So very select. We alwayshave plenty of saucy children, and servants. Husbands and wives too,and quite as many of the former as the latter, if not more. But besidesthese, we had two vestry-men, a country postmaster, who devoted histalents to insulting the public instead of to learning the postalregulations, three cabmen and two `fares,' two young shop-girls from
Snap-Dragons; Old Father Christmas Page 4
