Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-02-05


/ them there. and took possession Of certain
positions to the right, and took possession oi
other positions to the left. and held some OF
his men in reserve. and put others IN the
advance. and fixed up tents for hospitals, ana
r,t H. nortable bridges to the front, and by
dinne--time everything was ready Tor the
,-rond attack. even to the slight intrench-
fnent. necessary to protect portions OF the
army from the giants missiles Alter
hurried dinner the grand charge was sounded,
and the soldiers rushed forward. and they
brideed the ditch. and crossed the bridges,
and stormed the walls, and waved their flags,
and shouted 81. Victory l' and Jumped down
into the inside and found written there
CONE FOR PR0yIsIoNs-BAcKs SOON
You had better believe that when King
Gantalor saw tht, he was angry. For a half
hour or SO, very angry that he did not know
what 70 do with himself. but then he cooled
down. and remembering that Derido would
certainly keep his word and come back. he
drew of his men, and resolved to attack the
giant as soon as he should get back, and
nothing was 10 be allowed to prevent.
When Derido got tolerebly near the fort,
he saw that it had been attacked, and sup
when he found it empty, he thought he had
better rest a little; and so he did not reach
his fort until after dark, when the king and
all his forces had gone to bed.
Before daylight the next morning, Ganta
lor had his men all in position, and whenthe
giant awoke and stood up Gantalor shouted
to him - Look out there We're going to
begin No more f0oling now Bridges to the
front Stormers, forward, march Spearmen,
ready. aim, fire
And instantly the men with the portable
bridges ran down to the ditch. and the storm
ing parties followed them, and the spearmen
sent their weapons flying through the air.
Then the men with bows aimed their arrows
at the giant, and those with catapults sent
rocks whiHins round his head, and he felt
like q boy in a hornets nest.
He had hardly expected they would COM
mencc SO soon. and did not know what to do.
AZ f5r really fighting them, he had determed
not 70 do that. or he could have drawn his
great sword, and chopped the whole army up
fine. in about three quarters Of an hour. The
stones. and arrows. and spears came thicker
and thicker Numbers Of soldiers had cross
ed the ditch, and were already on top of the
walls, and they could take such good aim
from their new positions, that several missiles
had already struck Derido in the face. \
spear hit him on the side of the nose.
o.. There '' he cried e. lf that nasty thing
had gone in my eve, It would have made me
mad
lie had provided himself with no ammunI-
ton whatever, and now that the fighting was
getting % be at such close quarters. he lo1S-
cd for something with which to defend him
self He was big that it was Of no use 70
try and get behind anything As he looked
around. he saw his pickle jars, and, break
inr number Of them, he commenced hurl-
ing handfuls of pickles at his assallants-
When pickle hit man in the face, the
man howled. / can tell Won and, for while
Derido kept the enemy back with these sour
missiles But thousand iars OF pickles viii
not last a giant long when he uses them IN
that way, and the supply was soon exhausted
ed And now the soldiers were coming in on
all sides. Gantalor was on the walls. shout
ing 20 his men and waving his sword above
his head. and Derido was hit by something
OF other every moment. and as the men were
nearer. the hits were harder. There was
nothing for him to throw but great hard
things, which might kill people and So,
making a very wry face. Derido ran to the
rear-wall, made skip right over it and the
ditch and evacuated the fort.
What shout the soldiers then set up
Gantalor waved hi- hat and his sword, and
If he had had more hands, be would have
waved his coat and his boots. and he shouted
Victory victory
- And an the soldiers shouted - Victory
81 Il
20 great, that every man in the army rushed
pell-me'l into the fort, even the reserve corps
and those left in charge Of the hospital-tents.
As for the giant, he sat down on the ground
outside, and picked the arrows out Of his
clothes
When the enthusiasm had had somewhat
subsided. Gantalor ordered the seventeen bar
rels OF flour to be piled up, end to end, until
they made high column, and then he got
on the top Of them, and summoned the giant
to deliver himself up.
'' Not to-day, if you please, said Derido
e. I've only changed my base Now then,
he cried. /" Just let me see any Of you fellows
come out Of that fort You re all my pri-
soners. every man of you 90 And he jumped
up. and drew his sword, and commenced lush
ing around the outside Of the ditch, chop
ping his sword into the ground, and whirling
it over his head in such a terrible way, that
Gantalor got down off the four-barrels in a
hurry, and the soldiers crouched down be
hind the walls, as close as they could get.
Not one Of them would have dared 70 climb
over the walls while that terrible giant was
slashing his great sword about in that way.
When Derido got tired Of this exercise, he
sat down near the fort and began throwing
great stones across it. Just grazing the tops Of
the walls. As all the stones went clear over
they hurt nobody. but If any one had been on
top Of the walls, it would have been forthat
person The giant was a good shot with a
stone or young rock, and every now and then
he made one iust scratch the top of the earth
works, causing the dirt and gravel to fly like
hailstones.
Gantalor and his army began 10 think that
they had got themselves into a bad box. 1t
was impossible to get over those walls (there
was no entrance-way) while that giant was
hurling stone after stone in that style, and all
their stores, and provisions, and spare arms
were outside, in the camp.
The -iant amused himself in this way for
quite a long time, but at last, while turning
round, and reaching hack for big stone, he
he saw a man on horseback riding toward
him as fast as he could come. As soon a.
the man reached him, be handed Derido
great bag, filed with the pieces that were
left of the Princess's dresses.
The moment the giant saw the pieces in
the bag he sprang to his feet, ierked out Of
hls pocket great white handkerchief. as
biz as the mainsaI Of ship. and sticking
his sword into it, be waved it round his head
shouting at the top Of his voice,
- surrender | surrender -
Gantalor and his men stood up in amaze
ment at the strange sight of the giant sur
rendering Just when he had the best of..thern;
but they were still more amazed when Deri-
do stepped over the wall, right into their
midst. and shouted to the king while still
frantically waving his white flag over his
head
=. 30 home, Gantalor, and marry your
nripcess Give her my love. and tell her to
teach YOU the value of peaceful life. If
there are any battles to be fought, let me
know, and III do your fighting for you. As
for you soldiers, you can have my provisions; ;
shan't need them. I'm going home. The
wars over"
With these words he jumped over the
walls. and strobe of home as fast as he could
90. his white flag still huttering over his
shoulder.
Gantalor looked after him few minutes.
and then said
% IF there is lunatic asylum in the coun-
try big enough, that giant ought to be put
in it -
Then he gave orders to pack up and march
home. As he was watching the men break
up their camp, he said
a war with the giant has one good thing
about it. Look at those hoepital-tents; they
haven't been needed at all.