"
Badcock with his flute made trees--
Has it ever struck you sir, that Orpheus possibly found the gift of
Apollo a confounded nuisance; that he must have longed at times to
get rid of his attendant beasts and compose in private? Even so it
was with Badcock.
"That infernal _mufro_ chivvied us up the road to Calvi and into the
very arms of a Genoese picket. The soldiers arrested us--there was
no need to arrest the _mufro_, for he trotted at our heels--and
marched us to the citadel, into the presence of the commandant.
To the commandant (acting, as I thought, upon a happy inspiration) I
at once offered the beast in exchange for our liberty. I was met
with the reply that, as between rarities, he would make no invidious
distinctions, but preferred to keep the three of us; and moreover
that the _mufro_ (which had already put a sergeant and two private
soldiers out of action) appeared amenable only to the strains of Mr.
Badcock's flute. . . . And this was a fact, Cavalier. At first, and
excusably, I had supposed the brute's behaviour to express aversion;
until, observing that he waited for the conclusion of a piece before
butting at Mr.
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