A Match at Chickens 179 



bilities, so the only thing left was to mutter some- 

 thing about every gentleman being entitled to a 

 run for his money, and to assume a cheerfulness 

 not caused by a chunk of ice down one's spine. 



" Then it's a go — shake ! " exclaimed the 

 colonel, and he added, with truly majestic impres- 



siveness : " By suh ! we'll win ! I have never 



yet made a match of my own seeking and lost, 

 suh ! It's only a dinnah for six gentlemen and 

 a trifling side bit, but we'll win it. We'll show 

 them that an Englishman is game off his own 

 dunghill." 



The crafty old devil slewed an eye round to see 

 how the deliberately intended prod operated, then 

 he smiled like the white-headed old reprobate he 

 was. Some needful discussion followed, and suf- 

 fice it to say that an early start the following 

 morning was agreed upon. 



" How you gunned ? " he finally inquired, and 

 I assured him that the gun was all right, which 

 was true. 



" Go get it — I always attend to detail, suh," he 

 concluded. 



When the case was opened and the gun put 

 together and passed round for inspection, I could 

 almost have laughed. The other party to the 

 wager almost snatched at it, and it did not require 

 his sly wink to a friend, or his ill-concealed satis- 

 faction as he politely returned the gun, to tell that 



