1829. ] the Cambridge Coachman. 27 
« «Go on!’ exclaimed a score of voices ;—‘ go on!’ 
« © J heard—I heard—just what, I suppose, you did—the wind and 
the rain, with several smart claps of thunder.’ 
« «Ts that all?’ said the disappointed guests, in chorus. 
« « No—it is not all” replied Frank; “for I saw a dozen ghosts, or 
more, and very good fellows they are—to those who know how to 
manage them. But there’s the rub; if a man wants the heart to treat 
them as he ought to do, he’s sure to get the worst of the bargain ; but 
only let him come up roundly to them, and give them as good as they 
bring, and then see if they don’t mend their manners! ’Gad ! they grow 
as supple as an old glove, and as ready to the hand. Credite experto— 
trust the evidence of the silver tankard ! 
« © And did the ghosts give you that precious silver tankard ?’ asked 
mine host. 
« « Ay, that did they,’ replied Frank, ‘ and full of wine, to boot— 
such as does not come out of the cellars of the Red Lion. Only smell 
to the cup ; you, who have been lord of the spigot for twenty years and 
upwards, may guess what sort of liquor has been in it.’ 
« Mine host sniffed at the goblet with the air of a comoisseur, and 
found the odour so much to his fancy, that, holding the cup to his mouth, 
with the bottom of it turned to the ceiling, and his head thrown back, he 
endeavoured to extract still farther evidence from the few drops that 
might yet be lingering in it. ’ 
_ «© Body o’ me!’ he exclaimed, < this has a relish with it! I would 
I knew where to find a cellar of the like,’or, at least, the butt from 
which this was drawn.’ 
«« You may do that, and better, if you will, replied Frank ; ‘ you 
have only to pass the night, as I did, alone in the Prior’s Gallery—take a 
stout heart with you—and, when the ghosts shew themselves, don’t stand 
shilly-shally, but call and order lustily about you, like a rich traveller at 
a country tavern.’ 
« «J have a pretty good notion of what that is,’ said mine host ; ‘ and, 
body o’ me! if no more is needed to gain a butt of wine, I am the very 
man for them. I wish, though, I could be quite certain there was no 
bones-breaking like to come of it.’ 
«© Judge for yourself,’ said Frank, cutting a caper like a ballet-master. 
« Does that, think you, look as if my limbs were other than whole ?—or 
could aman with broken bones do this ?’— 
« And with one bound he cleared a pile of forms, that were heaped up 
at the end of the room between him and the window. 
«© All very well,’ replied mine host—‘ marvellous well in its way ; 
but, somehow or another, I can’t get it out of my head that you area 
wag, Master Watson, and would like nothing better than putting me in 
the way of getting a bloody coxcomb.’ 
« «That's all the fruit of a bad conscience, mine host; you meant 
_ mischief to me when you tempted me into the business, and now you 
think I want to return the compliment. But be of better faith, man ; I 
can easily forgive your intention, when the result has been no worse than 
the gift of a silver tankard. Don’t, however, let me persuade you into 
it against your own liking ; it’s nothing to me whether you drink wine 
or water,—only I'll thank you for my wager, the twenty crowns that 
you staked last night against my guinea.’ 
“ The landlord, who would willingly have forgotten the whole affair, 
E 2 
