"I"ve sent them all!" the King cried in a tone of delight, on seeing Alice. "Did you happen to meet any soldiers, my dear, as you came through the wood?"
"Yes, I did," said Alice: "several thousand, I should think."
"Four thousand two hundred and seven, that"s the exact number," the King said, referring to his book. "I couldn"t send all the horses, you know, because two of them are wanted in the game. And I haven"t sent the two Messengers, either. They"re both gone to the town. Just look along the road, and tell me if you can see either of them."
"I see n.o.body on the road," said Alice.
"I only wish _I_ had such eyes," the King remarked in a fretful tone.
"To be able to see n.o.body! And at that distance, too! Why, it"s as much as _I_ can do to see real people, by this light!"
All this was lost on Alice, who was still looking intently along the road, shading her eyes with one hand. "I see somebody now!" she exclaimed at last. "But he"s coming very slowly--and what curious att.i.tudes he goes into!" (For the messenger kept skipping up and down, and wriggling like an eel, as he came along, with his great hands spread out like fans on each side.)
"Not at all," said the King. "He"s an Anglo-Saxon Messenger--and those are Anglo-Saxon att.i.tudes. He only does them when he"s happy. His name is Haigha." (He p.r.o.nounced it so as to rhyme with "mayor.")
"I love my love with an H," Alice couldn"t help beginning, "because he is Happy. I hate him with an H, because he is Hideous. I fed him with--with--with Ham-sandwiches and Hay. His name is Haigha, and he lives--"
"He lives on the Hill," the King remarked simply, without the least idea that he was joining in the game, while Alice was still hesitating for the name of a town beginning with H. "The other Messenger"s called Hatta. I must have TWO, you know--to come and go. One to come, and one to go."
"I beg your pardon?" said Alice.
"It isn"t respectable to beg," said the King.
"I only meant that I didn"t understand," said Alice. "Why one to come and one to go?"
"Didn"t I tell you?" the King repeated impatiently. "I must have Two--to fetch and carry. One to fetch, and one to carry."
At this moment the Messenger arrived: he was far too much out of breath to say a word, and could only wave his hands about, and make the most fearful faces at the poor King.
"This young lady loves you with an H," the King said, introducing Alice in the hope of turning off the Messenger"s attention from himself--but it was no use--the Anglo-Saxon att.i.tudes only got more extraordinary every moment, while the great eyes rolled wildly from side to side.
"You alarm me!" said the King. "I feel faint--Give me a ham sandwich!"
On which the Messenger, to Alice"s great amus.e.m.e.nt, opened a bag that hung round his neck, and handed a sandwich to the King, who devoured it greedily.
"Another sandwich!" said the King.
"There"s nothing but hay left now," the Messenger said, peeping into the bag.
"Hay, then," the King murmured in a faint whisper.
Alice was glad to see that it revived him a good deal. "There"s nothing like eating hay when you"re faint," he remarked to her, as he munched away.
"I should think throwing cold water over you would be better," Alice suggested: "or some sal-volatile."
"I didn"t say there was nothing BETTER," the King replied. "I said there was nothing LIKE it." Which Alice did not venture to deny.
"Who did you pa.s.s on the road?" the King went on, holding out his hand to the Messenger for some more hay.
"n.o.body," said the Messenger.
"Quite right," said the King: "this young lady saw him too. So of course n.o.body walks slower than you."
"I do my best," the Messenger said in a sulky tone. "I"m sure n.o.body walks much faster than I do!"
"He can"t do that," said the King, "or else he"d have been here first.
However, now you"ve got your breath, you may tell us what"s happened in the town."
"I"ll whisper it," said the Messenger, putting his hands to his mouth in the shape of a trumpet, and stooping so as to get close to the King"s ear. Alice was sorry for this, as she wanted to hear the news too.
However, instead of whispering, he simply shouted at the top of his voice "They"re at it again!"
"Do you call THAT a whisper?" cried the poor King, jumping up and shaking himself. "If you do such a thing again, I"ll have you b.u.t.tered!
It went through and through my head like an earthquake!"
"It would have to be a very tiny earthquake!" thought Alice. "Who are at it again?" she ventured to ask.
"Why the Lion and the Unicorn, of course," said the King.
"Fighting for the crown?"
"Yes, to be sure," said the King: "and the best of the joke is, that it"s MY crown all the while! Let"s run and see them." And they trotted off, Alice repeating to herself, as she ran, the words of the old song:--
"The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown: The Lion beat the Unicorn all round the town.
Some gave them white bread, some gave them brown; Some gave them plum-cake and drummed them out of town."
"Does--the one--that wins--get the crown?" she asked, as well as she could, for the run was putting her quite out of breath.
"Dear me, no!" said the King. "What an idea!"
"Would you--be good enough," Alice panted out, after running a little further, "to stop a minute--just to get--one"s breath again?"
"I"m GOOD enough," the King said, "only I"m not strong enough. You see, a minute goes by so fearfully quick. You might as well try to stop a Banders.n.a.t.c.h!"
Alice had no more breath for talking, so they trotted on in silence, till they came in sight of a great crowd, in the middle of which the Lion and Unicorn were fighting. They were in such a cloud of dust, that at first Alice could not make out which was which: but she soon managed to distinguish the Unicorn by his horn.
They placed themselves close to where Hatta, the other messenger, was standing watching the fight, with a cup of tea in one hand and a piece of bread-and-b.u.t.ter in the other.
"He"s only just out of prison, and he hadn"t finished his tea when he was sent in," Haigha whispered to Alice: "and they only give them oyster-sh.e.l.ls in there--so you see he"s very hungry and thirsty. How are you, dear child?" he went on, putting his arm affectionately round Hatta"s neck.
Hatta looked round and nodded, and went on with his bread and b.u.t.ter.
"Were you happy in prison, dear child?" said Haigha.
Hatta looked round once more, and this time a tear or two trickled down his cheek: but not a word would he say.
"Speak, can"t you!" Haigha cried impatiently. But Hatta only munched away, and drank some more tea.