_] Sensation among
the audience!
SCOPS
The same who has defeated the most famous champions--the White Pile.
And as this victor in Flemish and English encounters wears at his heels,
for the defter dispatching of his enemy, two razors fastened there by
the ingenuity of man, by tomorrow night Chantecler will be dead, and his
eyes picked out of their sockets.
THE SCREECH-OWL
[_Enthusiastically._] We will go and gloat over his corpse!
THE GRAND-DUKE
[_Risen to his full height, formidable._] And his comb, which looked
above his forehead like an incarnate bit of scarlet dawn, we will take
his comb,--our dearest dream at length fulfilled!--and we will eat it!
ALL
[_With a yell, which ends in their ferocious cackling and rocking._] And
we will eat it,--eat it, ha, ha!
THE GRAND-DUKE
[_Spreading his wings._] Hush! [_Dead silence._]
SCOPS
And after that--
THE BLACKBIRD
[_Hopping._] It's quite a tidy proposition as it stands--
SCOPS
What?
THE BLACKBIRD
Your scheme! By Jingo, if I were the sort of bird to take things
solemnly, I would go straight to the Cock and tell him. But I will do
nothing of the sort. [_He concludes, with four little hops._] For I
know--that all this--will turn out--beautifully!
SCOPS
[_Ironically._] Beautifully indeed! [_He continues in growing
excitement._] And after that, if those absurd Cocks of far-fetched
breeds have not by to-morrow evening gone back to their cages, we will
eat them all, no longer good for anything!
THE GRAND-DUKE
[_In his neighbour's ear.
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