T A where holy hogs, with golden collars round "I had always remarked that Dick had a "Do you think one could get inside?' he "Would one get safe back, I mean?' said "A party to which I belonged were getting the boat ready one day, and I was brushing my best jacket over the bulwark when Dick Spanker came to me, and said, 'Tom, can you lend me a few cash?' without windows, with a Chinaman at the door beating a little drum. As we came nearer, Dick knew him to be his old acquaintance, Loo Chin. What sort of a pidgeon is this you have got?' said he, running up to him (pidgeon is the Chinaman's word for business). 66 6 Calling people to the play,' said Loo Chin. "Be certain it is,' said the Chinaman. "The Chinamen had n't left me much, but I knew Dick was going with us, and might want a trifle; so, having some in my pocket (Master Harry, it was the only loan ever I regretted), I gave him the half, and we start"With no doubt,' said the Chinaman ed. The day was spent, as usual, strolling bolting down the ship's side into his own through the town, and being called Fanquis. trading-junk, on the bulwarks of which he We bought water-melons and some arrack balanced himself for a minute, made a queer not much, for all hands were sober. The time motion with his yellow hands, as if to tie up of return was drawing near, when we got into something in a bundle, gave a short wicked a new street, and saw a great wooden-house laugh, and dived below among his goods. I meant to keep a watch on Loo Chin after that; but whether it was his ill-success with the yellow jacket, or the coming of an American ship, that kept him from the Rattlesnake, we saw no more of the Chinaman. However, all hands were river-sick by this time, and a public meeting was held on the forecastle, to petition Captain Paget for leave to go on shore. The boatswain's mate, who had been the son of a schoolmaster, and once saw his father sign a petition to Parliament against the hearth-tax, drew up our memorial in the same form which he said was the thing furthest off mutiny, and commenced, May it plase your Honorable Cabin.' Captain Paget favorably considered our petition, as he did all the complaints of his men; but to keep the Chinamen's minds at rest, we were allowed to go only in parties of a dozen strong, every man taking his turn, with strict orders not to lose sight of each other, and to return to the ship an hour before the shutting of Canton gates, which took place at sunset. We gave three cheers that astonished the boat-town when the captain told us all that in a speech from the quarter-deck. The boatswain's mate said, if we had been in a Christian country, it should be printed in the newspapers; but the part that inade most impression on us, was what the captain said in his wind-up-that he hoped we would justify the confidence our officers placed in us, by a prudent and orderly course of conduct, as became British seamen. "The captain was not entirely mistaken in that hope. We took a general resolution to behave well; even Dick looked settled; and for some time, the parties came and went without disturbance, strict to orders, and punctual to time. We saw the Company's I don't know, and there's too many of you,' said Loo Chin; and he fell to his drum faster than ever. "Come along, Dick,' said I, not liking the fellow's look; it's time we were homeward bound.' "Dick did come; and we had got on a few steps, when, glancing back, I saw Loo Chin making signs to him. Just then, there came a great sound of gongs and bagpipes, which, they say, is the height of Chinese music, and down the street ran a crowd, making all sorts of noise for joy, because they were taking home a bride shut up in a covered chair like a great hoy, painted blue. We ranged ourselves along the wall, to let them pass quietly, and the capers they cut took my attention completely; but when all was over, and we had marched almost to the river, Dick Spanker was nowhere to be seen. We could not go to the ship without him, and a terrible search we had for the street. By the time it was found, the playhouse was as full as it could hold, with bands of men at the door-who drew knives and clubs, and roared at us as we tried to get in- but Loo Chin wasn't among them. If very our cutlasses had n't been left in the Rattle-smoking fellows, who knew the place, and snake, I'm not sure that the captain's orders would have me to see a Chinese play. I thought to keep peace at all hazards would have been of the old story at Canton, but they said it obeyed; but unarmed as we were, there was was uncommon curious, and Chinamen abroad no chance. The crowd was thickening about have no such hatred to strangers as at home. us every minute; the bars with which they The playhouse stood in an unpaved street, close the streets were getting ready; we called narrow and very dark, with old Spanish houses, on Dick with all the strength of our voices, which the Chinese had got hold of, and set up but got no answer; and as the gates would be their shops and trades in. It was like the one shut in another minute, we had a strong run I had seen at Canton-wooden and windowfor it to our boat. Of course, the captain was less- but full of the Chinamen, standing told the moment we got on board. He sent thick and close round a railed space in the the first-lieutenant up in the cutter by day- middle, lighted by great torches, with a trapbreak, to make a report to the governor. That door in it, by which all the wonders came up. great Chinaman promised that Dick would be I can't say what the play was about, though I inquired for throughout the province; but the and my comrades got places quite near the end of all was, that nothing of our messmate rail. There was a man with a tame lion; was seen or heard of after. another with two serpents twined about his arms; and last of all, the glory of the house, a great dragon, which the Chinamen said could talk all the tongues in the world, and had been brought from Pekin. It came up like a huge crocodile, only covered with a hairy skin. It had a long tail, a pair of fiery eyes that seemed fur sunk in its head, and a mouth with great tusks in it. There was a boy on its back, and the performance consisted in his riding round the stage in a very gaudy dress, with a large China cup on his head, full of tea, of which a grain was n't to be spilled. The dragon went round twice, and the cup kept steady, to the Chinamen's great delight; but, by way of gaining more applause, the boy began to strike it with a bamboo to hasten the motion. At the "Captain Paget inquired, threatened, and demanded leave to search the playhouse; but the party he sent for that purpose-I was one of them- were taken to the street; shown the spot where the house had stood; told that the players had taken it with them on their journey to the northern provinces, which they made once a year, all theatres in China being movable; and also that no stranger would be admitted to a Chinese playhouse. Loo Chin's whereabouts nobody knew; and the captain at length concluded that Dick had gone with him to see some bargain or other, got into a quarrel, and perhaps met with foul play. Gradually we all became of that opinion; but no one cared for going on shore again; and as the time of the Rattlesnake's cruise shortly ex-first blow, the creature stopped, and, to my pired, we sailed home to Chatham. There it was found out that the ship wanted sundry repairs; her hands were accordingly drafted off to different vessels, and I, with some score of comrades, sent on board the Thunderer. "There is no use in going over all that happened there; but the service wasn't so easy as it had been in the Rattlesnake-we had fighting in the Mediterranean, fever at Fernando Po, and a storm in the Western Pacific, that made us glad to run into Manilla. The Spanish governor there held fast by King Ferdinand; and as England's armies were doing some tight work for him in Spain, Manilla was a friendly port for an English vessel. I remember it was just three years since we sailed from Canton actions, fevers, and drafts had n't left one of the Rattlesnake's men on board the Thunderer but myself. The new messmates wern't quite up to the old; and though our captain was a good officer, he had a spice of pride in him that taught the whole ship their distance. There were no meetings in the forecastle, no petitioning of his Honorable Cabin, I can tell you; but going on shore was no trouble at Manilla. "It is a dirty town, and the worst part of it is the Chinese quarter. I had strolled in there one evening with three comrades, quiet amazement, began in a smothered, snuffling voice, to swear hard in good English. The boy struck it again, and it tried to throw him. He kept his seat wonderfully; but the dragon kicked and plunged, flinging its feet about, and trying to turn over. Strange paddles the feet were, covered with the same hairy skin to the toes; but somehow it had got split on one of them, and through the rent I saw, as the torch-light fell on it, a great thumb marked with a double x in blue below the nail. The next minute its rider had got the dragon hauled near enough the trap-door, and with some help from below, he rode it down. I did n't stay five seconds after in the house. My comrades laughed at my story; but I flew to the ship, craved to see our captain, and told him all about it. The proud, cold man bade me go to my duty, and he would inquire into the matter. Next morning, an officer did go on shore, but the Chinamen's governor said it was all a mistake, and sent a present of imperial tea to the captain. We sailed for Acapulco three days after. The hands on board sometimes made jokes to themselves about the grog being too strong for me at Manilla; but, Master Harry, I'll never believe that that swearing dragon was not my lost messmate!" PART II. CHAPTER V. THE next morning, Bagot, who was, when in the country, a tolerably early riser, issued forth from the house before breakfast, on his way to the stables. The sun had been up two hours before, and was now looking warmly over some tall drooping-ash-trees on to the southern entrance. Bagot stood and basked for a minute there. all her wiles and attempts at mollification on the previous evening. Bagot caught Kitty by the chin, as she started at his footstep, and attempted to make off; and, holding the chin between his finger and thumb, he stood looking at her simpering face, not saying anything to her at first, by reason of his continuing to retain his cigar between his teeth, while his lips separated in an approving smile. "Baggage!" quoth the colonel, presIt was a fresh, still morning. There had ently, taking his left hand from his coatbeen a shower in the night, and a rustling pocket, and removing the obstructive cigar might be heard amid the grass of the lawn, without relinquishing his hold of the chin as of drops penetrating. Thrushes were pip- with the right—" how the deuce d' ye think ing busily in the shrubbery, May-flies were men are to do their work with that handsome on the wing amid the grass, butterflies hov- saucy face of yours looking at them? Can't ered above the old-fashioned flowers, heart's-you let the fellows alone for five minutes ease, stocks, lilacs, and gillyflowers, whose together?-ha, slut!" mingled fragrance came fresh and cool upon the sense. Bagot contributed his mite to the general perfume by smoking a cigar, and exhaling with the smoke an odor of brandy; for he was very shaky in the morning until he got his dram, and would sometimes cut his chin dreadfully in shaving. The beauty of the morning was in great measure thrown away upon Bagot. He knew no more about the witchery of the soft blue sky than Peter Bell. The verdure that gave him most pleasure, next to that of the racecourse, was the green cloth of the billiardtablo. The voice of the marker calling, "Red plays on yellow," was more musical to him than the carol of all the thrushes that ever piped. He stood there in the sunlight like a nightlamp that had been left unextinguished, murky and red, in the eye of golden and scented morning. Indeed, sir, I don't want no fellows," said Miss Fillett, primly; "I merely kim to look at the horses." "Horses!" roared Bagot, with a laugh; " you never looked at a horse in your life if he had n't a man on his back -you know you did n't. By the by, I saw you yesterday at the fair, Kitty- here's a fairing for yousomething to buy ribbons with.' Kitty dropt a curtsey as she pocketed the brace of half-crowns. "How does your mistress pass the time now?" asked Bagot. "What's the new dodge? Is she chemical, or botanical, or geological, or what?" We've been a little astromical lately," said Miss Fillett. "But my lady's a deal more lively now since the two young ladies kim. They 're always together. "Always together!" thought Bagot; "that won't do. How am I ever to get in a word if she always has these others at her elbow to back her up? That won't do at all;" (then aloud), "What are the young ladies like, Kitty?" Ile glanced around him as he stood smoking, with his hands in his flapped skirt-pockets-looked upward at the brick front of the house, with its projecting turrets, its deep diamond-paned, stone-framed windows, and balustraded parapet-looked around at the Very nice young ladies," said Kitty. thick shrubbery, where the uppermost laurel-" Miss Payne gave me a beautiful silk dress leaves glanced yellow amid their dark-green, last week, as good as new; and, o'-Wednesglossy brethren, as the morning light slanted day, Miss Rosa in and followed some outward-bound rooks Harry Noble and a boy were busy here "Hang your dresses!" quoth Bagot; "I did n't ask what they'd given you, but what they were like. Have they got any fun in em ?" Oh!" (calling after Kitty) "tell her ladyship that, with her permission, I'll have the honor of breakfasting with her." The stable was not so well filled now as it had been in Sir Joseph's days. Bagot cared little for hunting. Stalls labelled "Valiant," Coverley, ""Bob," and "Bullfrog," were vacant, and the place of those hunters knew them no more. But the brown carriagehorses, Duke and Dandy, still stood side by side; Lady Lee's gray thoroughbred, Diana, turned her broad front and taper muzzle to look at the comer, and several others were ranged beyond. Noble was polishing some harness, and a boy near was removing a bucket from a stall, where he had been washing the feet of a brown cob. "Who's that?" inquired Bagot of Noble, pointing at the boy. "The gardener's son, sir," said Noble, pausing in his occupation to touch his cap; "he's been here these three weeks." Lift that near hind-leg, boy," said Bagot, pointing at the cob. The boy obeyed. "D'ye call that dry?" said the colonel. "Don't you know it's enough to give greasy heels to a horse to leave him in that way, you careless young villain? Now look you," pursued the colonel sternly, but quite calmly, "I'm a good deal about the stables, and if ever I see you leave a horse that way again, I'll lick your life, out. How 's her ladyship's mare, Noble ?" "Wants a light hand, eh?" said the colonel. "Yes, sir," said 'Noble, "I should say she 'd go well with a lady." "Put the saddle on her and bring her out," said Bagot, casting away the end of his cigar. I'll try her now. It wants half an hour to breakfast." Lady Lee and her friends assembled at the usual hour in the breakfast room. "We must wait for Colonel Leo," said her ladyship; "he is going to join us this morning." Why wasn't he at dinner, yesterday?" inquired Rosa. "You must n't expect to see much of him," said Lady Lee; "that is, unless you are anxious for gentlemen's society, and tell him so." "And if we are," said Orelia putting out her lip, "what would he be among so many?" "His coming down to the Heronry never makes much difference to me," said Lady Lee. "The colonel cares as little for flowers and literature as I do for race-horses and Cuba cigars, so that we have n't much in common. But here he comes. Bagot entered with his usual swaggering bow and betting-ring courtesy. 66 "Ladies, I salute you," said Bagot, putting his fingers to his lips and waving them in the air, as a salutation general. Bagot tinselled over his natural groundwork of coarse humor "She's a little sore in the mouth, from the with scraps of theatrical politeness, when in boy taking her out with a twisted snaffle," ladies' society. Gad," he continued, as he said Noble, "but she 'll be all right to-mor- drew a chair to the breakfast-table, "I'm rerow. The boy's getting on-he 'll do better minded at this moment of a nunnery I once soon, sir," said Noble, good-naturedly, seeing visited in Spain; the lady abbess was young, the colonel's eye fixed fiercely on the boy. and not unlike Hester- but, by Jove, the "He'd better," said the colonel, grimly. nuns could n't boast so much beauty among "I'll put a twisted snaffle in his mouth." the whole sisterhood as I see before me" (bowAnd here I may remark that Bagot, in his ing to Orelia and Rosa, with his hand on his care and affection for that noble animal, the left waistcoat-pocket). "Luckily, I miss horse, regarded stable-boys generally as a here, too, the dolefulness of aspect that charrace of Yahoos, upon whom any neglect acterized the poor things.' towards the superior creature they tended was to be instantly visited with unsparing severity. Accordingly, this morning saw the commencement of a series of precepts, threats, and veterinary aphorisms, which continued during Bagot's stay, and nearly drove the unfortunate boy out of his senses, but which, it is justice to add, had the effect of improving the economy of the stable wonderfully. "And this is the filly, eh!" said Bagot, strolling up to a loose-box, and looking at a well-bred, handsome, somewhat leggy bay, that stood therein. "How does she go?" "Rather hot and fidgety," said Noble, "but her paces first-rate, sir. Canters like an armchair, and walks fast, when you can get her to walk." "Dear me?" said the sympathetic Rosa, why did they look unhappy?" Probably for the love of Heaven," said Orelia sarcastically. "Yes, the elderly ones, my dear Miss Payne; but the young ones, probably, for the love of man," returned Bagot, with a nod and a chuckle. "Ah! young ladies, 't is the same all the world over; you may shut yourselves up in convents or in country houses, but you can't keep out the small boy with wings he's about somewhere at this moment, I've no doubt," lifting the lid of the mustard-pot, as if he expected to find a Cupid hidden there, but it was only to make his devilled bone & little hotter. "You'll hardly believe us," said Lady Lee," when we tell you that the subject of love has scarcely once been mentioned among us." "God bless me !-how silent you must have been!" said the facetious colonel. "But that's wrong; you should always tell one another your love secrets; bottled affection is apt to turn sour. "Now what can you know of the tender passion, colonel ?" said Lady Lee;" and yet, my dears, you hear how he philosophizes about it, as if he were really acquainted with the sentiment." CHAPTER VI. The detachment of dragoons stationed in Doddington was assembled at a dismounted parade that morning, to listen to an oration from the commanding officer, Major Tindal. Other people were assembled there besides the troops. The yard of the principal hotel, where the parade was held, was thronged with admiring spectators. A week's familiarity with the cavalry had by no means bred contempt in the minds of the inhabitants of Doddington. Their hearts still thrilled to the Bagot reddened. He always suspected her sound of the stable-trumpet; at the march of ladyship of feeling for him a disdain which the squadron through the streets, on its way she did not care to conceal, and which, per- to exercise, customers were neglected and haps, really did exist, though the display of it business at a stand-still, until the last horsewas unintentional. It oozed out so uncon-tail had disappeared round the corner of the sciously to herself, that, in a less clever per- Butter-market; and soldiers, appearing singly son than her ladyship, he would probably in the town, became each the nucleus of a have failed to notice it; but believing that small reverential crowd, swelling in magnishe possessed satirical power, and feeling that tude like a snowball as it advanced. Their there was no great congeniality between spurs, their mustaches, the stripes of their them, he frequently detected a latent dispar- trousers, were objects with the sight of which agement in speeches which, coming from any the populace found it impossible to satiate one else, he would have taken either in a itself. playful or a literal sense. So, after a minute's Accordingly, the troops were now the centro silence, during which he was struggling with of a large circle, formed by apprentices who choler, which he felt it would be unprofitable had deserted their trades; master-workmen, to exhibit, he changed the subject. who, coming to look for them with fell intent, "I'm sorry to find you 've left off riding had forgotten their wrath, and "those who lately, Hester," said he. "Diana is getting came to scold remained to see;" servant as fut as a Sinithfield prize pig, and I wonder maids, who, running out on errands, with inyou 're not just the same. What exercise do junctions to be quick, had heard the trumpet, you take?" and been drawn as by magical power within "We walk," said Lady Lee," and drive." its influence; ostlers and waiters, utterly “Walk and drive!" quoth Bagot. "Wo-reckless of their duty towards their neighbor; men crawl like spavined snails along the ter- truant schoolboys in corduroys, with Latin race, and get into a carriage that goes as easy grammars, geographies, and books of arithas an arm-chair, and call that exercise. Rid-metic slung at their backs, and whose pockets ing is the only thing to keep ladies in health and condition. Besides, there are lots of places worth seeing around here too far to walk to, and inaccessible to a carriage; but how pleasant it would be to ride there!" "But Orelia and Rosa have never ridden in their lives," said Lady Lee. "Time they should begin," answered Bagot. "I've been trying the bay filly this morning, and I'm convinced she would carry Miss Payne (who, I'm sure, has capital nerve) to admiration. I'm going over to Doddington to-day to see Tindal, the major of the dragoons there, an old friend of mine, and I'll ask him to let his rough-rider come over and give your young friends a lesson. What d'ye say to that, young ladies?" Both Rosa and Orelia were charmed at the prospect, and began to think Colonel Lee a very pleasant person. So it was agreed they should all drive over to Doddington, where the ladies had some shopping to do, and that the colonel should then arrange with the major about their riding lessons. CCCCLXXIII. LIVING AGE. VOL. I. 44 bulged with tops and green apples; young milliners, all curls and titter and blush; and paupers receiving out-door relief, who, quitting the spots where they usually basked away their time, like lazaroni, came up, some with crutches, some without, and having a blind inan in their company, to satisfy their military ardor. The major came slowly on parade, his hands crossed behind him, his spurs and scabbard clanking, his face stern. The crowd made a larger circle, and some little boys fled from his path- one or two, who stumbled in their haste, not pausing to rise again, but grovelling out of reach upon their hands and knees, expecting nothing else than to be immediately decapitated or run through the body. The spectators were prepared for anything of a martial nature, and when he called the parade in a short sharp voice to Attention," they half-expected to see him draw his sword, and go through the cuts and guards a proceeding, which, far from appearing singular to them, would greatly have |