A CONNECTICUT YANKEE, By Twain, Part 8.
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE
IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT
by
MARK TWAIN
(Samuel L. Clemens)
Part 8.
CONTENTS:
| CHAPTER XXXVI. | AN ENCOUNTER IN THE DARK |
| CHAPTER XXXVII. | AN AWFUL PREDICAMENT |
| CHAPTER XXXVIII. | SIR LAUNCELOT AND KNIGHTS TO THE RESCUE |
| CHAPTER XXXIX. | THE YANKEE'S FIGHT WITH THE KNIGHTS |
| CHAPTER XL. | THREE YEARS LATER |
CHAPTER XXXVI
AN ENCOUNTER IN THE DARK
London—to a slave—was a sufficiently interesting place. It wasmerely a great big village; and mainly mud and thatch. The streetswere muddy, crooked, unpaved. The populace was an ever flockingand drifting swarm of rags, and splendors, of nodding plumes andshining armor. The king had a palace there; he saw the outsideof it. It made him sigh; yes, and swear a little, in a poorjuvenile sixth century way. We saw knights and grandees whomwe knew, but they didn't know us in our rags and dirt and rawwelts and bruises, and wouldn't have recognized us if we had hailedthem, nor stopped to answer, either, it being unlawful to speakwith slaves on a chain. Sandy passed within ten yards of me ona mule—hunting for me, I imagined. But the thing which cleanbroke my heart was something which happened in front of our oldbarrack in a square, while we were enduring the spectacle of a manbeing boiled to death in oil for counterfeiting pennies. It wasthe sight of a newsboy—and I couldn't get at him! Still, I hadone comfort—here was proof that Clarence was still alive andbanging away. I meant to be with him before long; the thought wasfull of cheer.