The Great Shadow by Arthur Conan Doyle Fiction Historical

<p><strong>How he put his fist through the oak-panel of the game-room door; how when Long Merridew was carrying the ball he caught up Merridew ball and all and ran swiftly past every opponent to the goal.</strong> It did not seem fit to us that such a one as he should trouble his head about spondees and dactyls or care to know who signed Magna Charta. When he said in open class that King Alfred was the man we little boys all felt that very likely it was so and that perhaps Jim knew more about it than the man who wrote the book.</p><p>Well it was this business of the burglar that drew his attention to me; for he patted me on my head and said that I was a spunky little devil which blew me out with pride for a week on end. For two years we were close friends for all the gap that the years had made between us and though in passion or in want of thought he did many a thing that galled me yet I loved him like a brother and wept as much as would have filled an ink bottle when at last he went off to Edinburgh to study his father's profession. Five years after that did I bide at Birtwhistle's and when I left I had become cock myself for I was as wiry and as tough as whalebone though I never ran to weight and sinew like my great predecessor. It was in Jubilee Year that I left Birtwhistle's and then for three years I stayed at home learning the ways of the cattle; but still the ships and the armies were wrestling and still the great shadow of Bonaparte lay across the country. How could I guess that I too should have a hand in lifting that shadow forever from our people?</p>