Explore "The Solid Muldoon" by Rudyard Kipling on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Did ye see John Malone, wid his shinin', brand-new hat? / Did ye see how he walked like a grand aristocrat? / There was flags an' banners wavin' high, an' dhress and shtyle were shown, / But the best av all the company was Misther John Malone. / _John Malone._
There had been a royal dog-fight in the ravine at the back of the rifle-butts, between Learoyd's _Jock_ and Ortheris's _Blue Rot_ -- both mongrel Rampur hounds, chiefly ribs and teeth. It lasted for twenty happy, howling minutes, and then _Blue Rot_ collapsed and Ortheris paid Learoyd three rupees, and we were all very thirsty. A dog-fight is a most heating entertainment, quite apart from the shouting, because Rampurs fight over a couple of acres of ground. Later, when the sound of belt-badges clicking against the necks of beer-bottles had died away, conversation drifted from dog to man-fights of all kinds. Humans resemble red-deer in some respects. Any talk of fighting seems to wake up a sort of imp in their breasts, and they bell one to the other, exactly like challenging bucks. This is noticeable even in men who consider themselves superior to Privates of the Line: it shows the Refining Influence of Civilisation and the March of Progress.