S'

[Tinkerbell]

The fat man drew a big knife from his belt and flourished it about his head.
"S'blood!" he ejaculated, fiercely.
"S'bananas!" cried Beni, in a terrible voice.
??

[Raymott]

The fat man drew a big knife from his belt and flourished it about his head.
"S'blood!" he ejaculated, fiercely.
"S'bananas!" cried Beni, in a terrible voice.
??

It's a contraction of "God's blood!", a blasphemous oath.
Another common form, at least in AusE is "Struth!".

[emsr2d2]

It's a contraction of "God's blood!", a blasphemous oath.
Another common form, at least in AusE is "Struth!".

Indeed it is! I can only assume that the response "S'bananas" is supposed to be sarcastic!

[Tinkerbell]

Thank Raymott and Emsr2d2

[BobK]

It's a contraction of "God's blood!", a blasphemous oath.
Another common form, at least in AusE is "Struth!".

Other s/z imprecations are "'s Death" and "zounds" (a well-disguised abbreviation of 'God's wounds').

b

PS Perhaps the Chagos Islands were once called the 'Zounds Islands' - that's a Portuguese joke.

[Tinkerbell]

what about s'wonderful?

[emsr2d2]

what about s'wonderful?

That's just a contraction of "It's wonderful".