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Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863

"Burlesques"


3. Capt. Macgillicuddy, B.N.I., . . Mr. Mulligatawny, B.C.S.,
Deputy-Assistant Vice Sub-Controller of the Boggleywollah Indigo
grounds, Ramgolly branch.

Macgillicuddy should have stuck to sword's-play, and he might have come
off in his second duel as well as in his first; as it was, the civilian
placed a ball and a part of Mac's gold repeater in his stomach. A
remarkable circumstance attended this shot, an account of which I sent
home to the "Philosophical Transactions:" the surgeon had extracted
the ball, and was going off, thinking that all was well, when the gold
repeater struck thirteen in poor Macgillicuddy's abdomen. I suppose that
the works must have been disarranged in some way by the bullet, for
the repeater was one of Barraud's, never known to fail before, and the
circumstance occurred at SEVEN o'clock.*
* So admirable are the performances of these watches, which
will stand in any climate, that I repeatedly heard poor
Macgillicuddy relate the following fact. The hours, as it
is known, count in Italy from one to twenty-four: the day
Mac landed at Naples his repeater rung the Italian hours,
from one to twenty-four; as soon as he crossed the Alps it
only sounded as usual.--G. O'G. G.
I could continue, almost ad infinitum, an account of the wars which this
Helen occasioned, but the above three specimens will, I should think,
satisfy the peaceful reader.


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