Explore "The Jingo" by George Randolph Chester on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
War! There was a thrill about the very name which turned the king to gravity as he listened, at breakfast, to old Amyah's report of the night. That breakfast was the most exciting state function at which the king had presided in many years; for the Polecons, and Birrquay, and Grisophal, and Calamaz, and Dymp Haglee, and the other nobles who were loyal to him and had flocked to his support with their troops, came in to the early morning meal, and discussed strategy, worried that the king should take so little interest in the disposal of their forces.
Outside there was the tramp of many feet, the clank of antiquated armor, and the sound of tense voices, and while the king's heart was melted by the thought of all the love for him which it meant to have these men ready to face death in his defense, it was made mournful, too, by the thought that so many were ready to turn against him, and to kill, if need be, for so slight a reason; for after all, it was a pitifully small company which he entertained that morning.