his breath; and Schlorge glared at the Fractions with triumphant scorn
and continued,

"Like leaves of the forest when summer is green
Our beautiful Garden at sunset was seen;
Like leaves of the forest when autumn is flown,
You see it this morning all withered and strown."


As he finished this stanza Schlorge seemed to rise to twice his full
height (indeed, he seemed to Sara for a moment almost half as tall as
her waist) in his eloquent fury, as he continued:

"But we will lambast you, you straight-waisted pigs,
As sure as black's yellow and thistles is figs!
Yea, surer than squashes our vengeance we'll wreak;
If it isn't today, why, we'll do it next week!"



Sara had a distressed feeling that this was rather a weak ending, but
nobody else seemed to notice it; indeed, several of the Fractions were
so incensed at the bold threat that two or three of them called out,
"Shoot him at sunrise!" The Greatest Common Divisor, however, merely
gave him a savage and contemptuous glance over his tear-mug, as much
as to say that he would annihilate him when it was quite convenient.

In a few moments they were again entirely absorbed in their drinking
and carousing, and then Pirlaps cautiously touched Schlorge on the
arm. "Let's have a council of war," he said, in a very low voice,