; he even wanted
to banish him, but I interfered. I said he would be useful to work the weather,
and attend to small matters like that, and I would give him a lift now and then
when his poor little parlor-magic soured on him. There wasn't a rag of his tower
left, but I had the government rebuild it for him, and advised him to take
boarders; but he was too high-toned for that. And as for being grateful, he
never even said thank-you. He was a rather hard lot, take him how you might; but
then you couldn't fairly expect a man to be sweet that had been set back so.
 

                                   Chapter 8

                                    The Boss

To be vested with enormous authority is a fine thing; but to have the on-looking
world consent to it is a finer. The tower-episode solidified my power, and made
it impregnable. If any were perchance disposed to be jealous and critical before
that, they experienced a change of heart, now. There was not any one in the
kingdom who would have considered it good judgment to meddle with my matters.
    I was fast getting adjusted to my situation and circumstances. For a time, I
used to wake up, mornings, and smile at my dream, and listen for the Colt's
factory-whistle; but that sort of thing played itself out, gradually, and at
last I was fully able to realize that I was actually living in the sixth
century, and in Arthur's court, not a lunatic asylum. After that, I was just as
much at home in that century as I could have been in any other; and as for
preference, I wouldn't have traded it for the twentieth. Look at the
opportunities here for a man of knowledge, brains, pluck and enterprise to sail
in and grow up with the country. The grandest field that ever was; and all my
own; not a competitor nor the shadow of a competitor; not a man who wasn't a
baby to me in acquirements and capacities: whereas, what would I amount to in
the twentieth century? I should be foreman of a factory, that is about all; and
could drag a seine down street any day and catch a hundred better men than
myself.
    What a jump I had made! I couldn't keep from thinking about it, and
contemplating it, just as one does who has struck oil. There was nothing back of
me that could approach it, unless it might be Joseph's case;
