212.Chapter Eighteen（13）

“goaway！”heshouted。***

theapehadspoken；therewasaburstoflaughterandhand-clapping。“goodoldsavage！hurrah，hurrah！”andthroughthebabelheheardcriesof：“whip，whip，thewhip！”

actingontheword’ssuggestion，heseizedthebunchofknottedcordsfromitsnailbehindthedoorandshookitathistormentors。

therewasayellofironicalapplause。

menacinglyheadvancedtowardsthem。awomancriedoutinfear。thelinewaveredatitsmostimmediatelythreatenedpoint，thenstiffenedagain，stoodfirm。theconsciousnessofbeinginoverwhelmingforcehadgiventhesesightseersacouragewhichthesavagehadnotexpectedofthem。takenaback，hehaltedandlookedround。

“whydon’tyouleavemealone？”therewasanalmostplaintivenoteinhisanger。

“haveafewmagnesium-saltedalmonds！”saidthemanwho，ifthesavageweretoadvance，wouldbethefirsttobeattacked。heheldoutapacket。“they’rereallyverygood，youknow，”headded，witharathernervoussmileofpropitation。“andthemagnesiumsaltswillhelptokeepyouyoung。”

thesavageignoredhisoffer。“whatdoyouwantwithme？”heasked，turningfromonegrinningfacetoanother。“whatdoyouwantwithme？”

“thewhip，”answeredahundredvoicesconfusedly。“dothewhippingstunt。let’sseethewhippingstunt。”

then，inunisonandonaslow，heavyrhythm，“we-want-thewhip，”shoutedagroupattheendoftheline。“we–want–thewhip。”

othersatoncetookupthecry，andthephrasewasrepeated，parrot-fashion，againandagain，withanever-growingvolumeofsound，until，bytheseventhoreighthreiteration，nootherwordwasbeingspoken。“we–want–thewhip。”