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Stored away somewhere in my befuddled brain, I might have had an answer to that. But I thought it was time to come back to my overarching theme.
‘And that’s why I am going to conquer the world,’ I concluded. ‘To prevent such horrible things from ever happening again!’
‘My going to a ball with a young lady? That is why you intend to conquer the world?’
‘Yes! And to end the oppression of womanhood, of course, and the sad lack of solid chocolate and beer in the pig ears of an average English girl. These are all grave injustices which it is my duty to put to rights!’
‘No doubt. Now, if you could just take a few more steps… There’s the coach, over there.’ And indeed, he was steering me towards a blurry, vaguely coach-like form. ‘Soon, we'll be with Karim, and you can tell him all about how you want to conquer the world.’
‘Do you think he would help?’
‘I’m certain he would.’
‘Napoleon and Alexander the Great will, you know. I think I saw them with the dancing piggies, inside the pub.’
‘Of course you did. They’ll help you, and they’ll help me put you into the chaise, and we will drive away to somewhere where we can make plans for world domination.’
‘Spiffing!’
‘Yes, Mr Linton. Very… “spiffing”, indeed.’
We were about halfway to the chaise now. My eyes had gotten used to the darkness outside the pub by now, and I could see the fuzzy figure of Karim advancing towards us.
‘Were you successful, Sahib?’
A muscle in Mr Ambrose’s temple twitched. ‘No, I was not.’ He shot me a look. ‘But we still know where we have to go next.’
‘Forgive me, Sahib, I do not understand…’
‘And I’m not in the mood to explain right now! We’re leaving.’
‘Of course, Sahib. As you command.’
I would have to learn that commanding tone, I thought, if I was going to conquer the world. Maybe Mr Ambrose could teach me…
Karim was just about to start back towards the chaise, when he suddenly tensed and held up his hand. Mr Ambrose froze, and I stumbled right into him, getting a mouthful of his jacket collar.
‘Mpf! Wtf ftif?’
‘Silence!’ Karim hissed. ‘I could have sworn…’
He cut off as, suddenly, men appeared out of the darkness around us in a semicircle. There was a glint of sharp metal in the gloom.
‘Look what we’ve got here,’ said a sneering voice out of the shadows. ‘We’ve been looking for you, gents.’
Fighting Spirit
One of the men stepped forward. Or maybe two or three. It was all kind of blurry to me. But there was something sharp glinting in his/their hand(s), I could see that much. The sight sent a cold chill through me which, for now, brought me back to earth. For the first time, I realized these men might possibly not be here to join the little yellow piggies in their dance routine. But what else could they be here for?
The man with the knife smiled at Mr Ambrose, who was still wearing Warren’s dirty jacket and cap.
‘Hm. Can’t say I can see what’s so special about you. Can you, men?’
There was a round of guffaws from the other dark shapes. Even my befuddled brain realized - the man who had spoken was the leader. The others were his henchmen. And they were all carrying knives. Bloody heck! They hadn’t come to slaughter the dancing yellow piggies, had they? If so, I would defend them with my last breath!
‘You look like something that’s crawled out of the gutter, apart from that pretty face of yours,’ the man spat. ‘Well, pretty boy, I think you’ve stepped on the toes of some high and mighty people hereabouts. We was told by some posh bloke you needed a reminder of who was in charge.’
Mr Ambrose regarded the other man as if he were a cockroach not worth stepping on. Ha! He apparently wasn’t pleased that they had come to kill the dancing piggies, either. My heart went out to him with a warmth that I didn’t know it possessed for any man. He would save the cute little yellow ones, I was sure!
