Vulgar words in The Aztec Treasure-House (Page 1)
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~ ~ ~ Sentence 178 ~ ~ ~
Suddenly, in the midst of the music, there sounded--and this sound unmistakably came from the hotel court-yard--the prodigious braying of an ass; and accompanying this came the soft sound of bare feet hurrying away down the passage from near my door.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 181 ~ ~ ~
Almost directly beneath me stood a small gray ass, a very delicately shaped and perfect little animal, with a coat of most extraordinary length and fuzziness, and with ears of a truly prodigious size.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 207 ~ ~ ~
His capital was the ass--so wise an ass that he had named him El Sabio.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 237 ~ ~ ~
That El Sabio could be anything but a part of the contract seemed never to cross Pablo's mind; and so presently our terms were concluded, and I found myself occupying the responsible relation of master to a mouth-organ playing boy and an extraordinarily wise ass.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 587 ~ ~ ~
He listened, in a sleepily approving way, to Rayburn's practical comment, and then, giving a prodigious yawn, added, on his own account: "Yes, that's about the size of it.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 957 ~ ~ ~
That's about the size of it.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,014 ~ ~ ~
I'm sorry I called Jack Mullins, or whatever his name is, such a lot of cuss-word names.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,030 ~ ~ ~
"You know, señor, that he is a very small ass."
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,036 ~ ~ ~
And you say that you have perceived that he is a very small ass.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,294 ~ ~ ~
"It's pretty hard lines on that jackass," said Young, "leaving him behind down there.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,310 ~ ~ ~
"But he is so little and so light an ass, señor," Pablo urged, "that surely, all of us pulling together, we could pull him up by the ropes, even as the other things have been pulled up; surely, surely, señor, that would be an easy thing for four men to do--and I also can pull at the ropes, señor, almost as well as any man."
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,421 ~ ~ ~
Pablo was cast by this mischance into a veritable frenzy of fright; and we were most seriously frightened also--not only because the destruction of the poor ass was imminent, but because of the danger which menaced ourselves.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,432 ~ ~ ~
And he so piteously besought us to give El Sabio one good drink that we passed the water-keg and the bucket across, and permitted the poor ass to drink half of our stock of water without debate of the sacrifice.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,448 ~ ~ ~
I sank down on the rock as weak with terror as the poor ass had been; and like him I drank greedily of water, and panted for a while, and at last found my courage coming back to me.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,731 ~ ~ ~
Truly, there is no sound more terrifying to those who are strangers to it than the braying of an ass; therefore, I was not at all surprised that a very considerable part of the crowd incontinently took to its heels; and I needed no better evidence of the bravery of the guardsmen who composed our escort than the steadiness with which they faced about in readiness to meet whatever danger might come forth from the gap in the mountain in the wake of this great roaring.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,857 ~ ~ ~
"About the size of it is," he said, "that we've knocked the false work right from under everything that these folks have been building for the whole thousand years that they have been living here; and what they've built isn't strong enough to stand alone.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,938 ~ ~ ~
When I was a boy, th' one thing that used t' keep me quiet in church was hearin' our minister read that story about Balaam and _his_ burro; but I never thought then that I'd actually ketch up with a live ass that was in the prophesyin' line of business for itself--or had prophecies made about it, which is pretty much the same thing.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,942 ~ ~ ~
"In that case it took the combined arguments of an ass and an angel to convince Balaam that he was off about his location, and was running his lines all wrong; but, unless we count in Pablo, El Sabio is playing a lone hand; and I'm sure that the Colonel's not fooling us about this prophecy business, either.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 2,164 ~ ~ ~
That we all were like to be done to death by this barbarous theocrat we did not for a moment doubt; but it was plain enough that every motive of self-interest must prompt him to put Pablo and the poor ass most summarily out of the way.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 2,883 ~ ~ ~
[Illustration: EL SABIO'S DEFIANCE] By some miracle--a very happy miracle for those whom the poor ass most naturally regarded as his tormentors--El Sabio's nimble heels had until this moment lashed the air harmlessly; but just as the last step downward was accomplished he let out both of his hind-legs together, and with such precision that both of his hoofs struck a remarkably tall priest who had taken a very active part in persecuting him.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 2,885 ~ ~ ~
Doubtless this outburst of violence served but to increase El Sabio's terror, for he straightway gave so strong a plunge that he fairly broke away from the men who were holding him; and then he bent all his energies to working such destruction as never was worked by one single ass since the very beginning of the world!
~ ~ ~ Sentence 2,899 ~ ~ ~
Three cheers for th' jackass!
~ ~ ~ Sentence 2,917 ~ ~ ~
Therefore they were but too glad to yield to Pablo's burning eagerness to get to the poor ass; and when he called for aid to carry the exhausted creature out from the amphitheatre, and so away from among the dead and wounded and from the dreadful smell of blood, Young and I promptly were pushed forward and ordered to perform this piece of work that even the bravest of them shrunk from undertaking.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,431 ~ ~ ~
Some o' the stuff in here's worth havin'--th' gold mugs an' boxes, an' that old gold bow-gun that you're so busted about--but what does th' whole of it amount to, anyway, when you come t' divide it up among four men an' a jackass?
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,432 ~ ~ ~
I guess even th' jackass ud turn up his nose at it if he knowed what a lot more there was that was t' be had just for grabbin' it an' packin' it along.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,433 ~ ~ ~
It's somethin', I s'pose, that we've pulled through without losin' our hair; but we _have_ pulled through all right, an' now we want t' make this business pay; an' unless we go for that gold this business won't 'a' paid worth a cuss--an' instead o' comin' out on top we'll be left th' very worst kind!"
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,452 ~ ~ ~
These pots full of arrow-heads an' such stuff was only one of his little jokes, showin' that he must 'a' been a good-natured, comical old cuss, th' kind I always did like, anyway.