372 THE STEAM EXCURSION. 



platise was universal, and never had the Tauntons suffered such 

 a complete defeat. Mrs. Taunton looked as philanthropic as one 

 of Mr. Barnett's " Salamanders." 



"Bravo ! Bravo I' ejaculated the captain ; " Bravo !" 



" Pretty ! isn't it, Sir?" inquired Mr. Samuel Briggs, with the air 

 of a self-satisfied showman. By-the-bye they were the first words he 

 had been heard to utter since he left Boswell-court the evening before. 



" De lightful!" returned the captain, with a flourish, and a mili- 

 tary cough ; " de lightful !" 



"Sweet instrument !" said an old gentleman with a bald-head, who 

 had been trying all the morning to look through a telescope, inside 

 the glass of which Mr. Hardy had fixed a large black wafer. 



"Did you ever hear a Portuguese tambourine?" inquired that jo- 

 cular individual. 



" Did you ever hear a tom-tom, Sir ? sternly inquired the captain, 

 who lost no opportunity of shewing off his travels, real or pretended. 



"A what?" asked Hardy, rather taken aback. 



" A tom-tom." 



'Never!" 



' Nor a gum-gum ?" 



' Never !" 



' What is a gum-gum ?" eagerly inquired several young ladies. 



' When I was in the East Indies," replied the captain, (here was a 

 discovery he had been in the East Indies !) " when I was in the 

 East Indies, I was once stopping several thousand miles up the 

 country, on a visit at the house of a very particular friend of mine, 

 Ram Chowdar Doss Azuph Al Bowlar a devilish pleasant fellow. 

 As we were enjoying our hookahs one evening in the cool ve- 

 randah, in front of his villa, we were rather surprised by the sudden 

 appearance of thirty-four of his kit-ma-gars (for he had rather a large 

 establishment there), accompanied by an equal number of Consumars, 

 approaching the house with a threatening aspect, and beating a tom- 

 tom. The Ram started up '' 



" The who ?" inquired the bald gentleman, intensely interested. 

 " The Ram Ram Chowdar " 



" Oh !" said the old gentleman, ' ' I beg your pardon ; it really 

 didn't occur to me ; pray go on." 



" Started up, and drew a pistol. ' Helves,' said he, ' my 



boy' he always called me, my boy ' Helves,' said he, ' do you hear 

 that tom-tom ?' * I do/ said I. His countenance, which before was 

 pale, assumed a most frightful appearance ; his whole visage was dis- 

 torted, and his frame shaken by violent emotions. ' Do you see that 

 gum-gum?' said he. ' No,' said I, staring about me. ' You don't ?' 

 said he. ' No, I'll be damned if I do/ said I ; ' and what's more, I 

 don't know what a gum-gum is,' said I. I really thought the man 

 would have dropped. He drew me aside, and with an expression of 

 agony I shall never forget, said in a low whisper " 



" Dinner's on the table, ladies," interrupted the steward's wife. 

 " Will you allow me ?" said the captain, immediately suiting the 

 action to the word, and escorting Miss Julia Briggs to the cabin, 

 with as much ease as if he had finished the story. 



