Revision of Irregular Verbs

Four men once dwelt in a foreign country. They dealt in cotton which they sold to
Europeans who wove it into cloth. People knew them as Peter, James, Terence and
Archibald. One day, an idea struck Peter and he told it to the others. As a result of the idea
which Peter begot, they all put their capital together and went into partnership. First they
bought a site, then they built a warehouse near the docks on part of it. Sometime after they
had done this, Peter spoke to the others. I have thought it over, he said, and my
meditations have brought it home to me that though up to now we have borne the
responsibilities of the firm jointly, the mistakes that one man has kept making have cost us a
lot. Archibalds carelessness has driven me to desperation. After he had explained his idea
further, the others caught what he meant but shrank from the solution he sought to impose.
But he won them round and they fell in with his idea. So they tore up the old deal of
partnership and drew up a new one. They split up their responsibilities equally and each
strove to make the new business pay and the firm throve for a while. But soon, they began
to have trouble with rats which ate the bales of cotton that the workmen had sewn up ready
for export. So they bought a cat, took it to the warehouse, shut it in and left it there. When it
tried to escape, they thrust it back. Each partner held shares in the cat, one leg to each
partner and they fed it by turns. Luckily it ate very little. One day they saw that the cat was
lame. A dog had bitten it or somebody had trodden on it and its leg was bleeding and had
swollen. On consulting their books, the partners found that the leg which the cat had hurt
was Terences. When Terence learnt this he took the cat into the office, put it on the floor,
knelt down, wound a rag soaked in oil round the leg and bound it carefully. The cat felt cold.
So it went by the fire where it lay down and slept. But it had crept too close and the bandage
soaked in oil caught fire. The cat awoke terror-stricken, sat up, flew into a panic, spun
round, ran into the warehouse and set the cotton bales on fire with it blazing leg. A strong
wind was blowing at the time, so that the fire spread and the whole warehouse burst into
flames. The fire brigade sped to the scene and hacked and hewed to get into the burning
building. But to no purpose. The building burnt too fast. Numberless rats fled from it, slid
into the water and swam away. The partners looked on helplessly and their blood almost
froze in their veins as they thought what their fate might have been if they had been caught

inside. The cat burst through the flames sprang into the street shook off the burning
bandage, and rid itself of the trouble. The partners caught and smote the cat which dug its
claws into them and broke loose. They flung stones at it. It stole off and hid. They sought it
out, found it and slew it. After they had slain the cat, the partners remembered again what
they had lost. They tore their hair, rent their garments, beat their breasts, wrung their hands
and shed tears of rage. Gradually, the first effects of the disaster wore off and they began to
think what to do. Suddenly, Peter hit on the solution of the problem of damages. He sent for
Terence. They met at their club. I have forgotten, said Peter that it was your leg which
did the damage. You must therefore pay us damages. At this Terence grew pale. Then he
knit his brows, ground his teeth and swung his stick menacingly. When Peter saw the
reception he got he was afraid to say anymore and retired hastily. He, James and Archy, met
and made their decision. They rang up a lawyer, for legal advice. Then they clad themselves
in their Sunday best and brought Terence before a judge. The judge lent their lawyer his
attention for a while but the latter spun out the argument to such a length, that in the end the
judge cut him short and chid him for wasting the time of the court. Then, he laid down the
law. Everybody hung on his words. Poor Terence clung to the hope of success like a
drowning man to a straw and he was justified, for the judge overrode the plaintiffs
contention. He had heard the arguments which the plaintiffs lawyer had strung out to such
inordinate length, he said. It was true that Terences leg had been on fire, he went on, but it
was also true that the other three legs had taken the flaming leg to the inflammable cotton
bales. Those three legs and their owners bore the burden of responsibility for the damage.
He therefore bade the three reimburse Terence for his loss. When Terence heard this, his
spirit rose, his face lit up and his heart leapt with joy as he drank in the judges words. The
plaintiffs flew into a rage and protested angrily, for the decision spelt ruin to them. But the
judge swept their protests aside and besought them to obey the law. After Terences former
associates had paid him off, they gave up the cotton trade and shod horses for a living
instead.