The
Boots Were Carefully Blackened And Polished, And Were Armed With Long
Spurs.
His trousers were the usual roomy pattern, containing sufficient
stuff to clothe a small family of English children; above
These
dark-blue bags he wore a kind of Jersey frock of thick silk fitting
tight to his figure; the junction between this purple-striped garment
and his waistband was concealed in the many windings of a long shawl
which passed several times round his centre; in this he wore a
German-silver-handled knife or dagger of pure Birmingham or Sheffield
origin. His figure was very perfect, and he was as thoroughly "set-up"
as though he had been in the hands of a drill-sergeant from his cradle.
He carried a long stick like the shaft of a lance, with which he could
poke a refractory mule, but which he always used when mounting by
resting one end upon the ground, and with the left hand upon the saddle
he ascended with the ease of a spiritualist "floating in the air." Iiani
was very polite to ladies, and he knew their ways. He seldom advanced
without an offering of some lovely flower or a small sprig of
sweetly-scented herb, which he invariably presented with a graceful bow
and a smile intended to represent a combination of humility, amiability,
gentility, and as many other "ilitys" as could be squeezed into his
expressive features. It is hardly necessary after this description to
say that Iiani was a very tall humbug, pleasant in manner when he had
his own way.
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