286 A YEAE OF LIBERTY ; OR, 



The missing setter had gnawed his fetters and levanted. This 

 was bad enough ; but, unfortunately, I have sometimes an awful 

 inclination to laugh at unseasonable occasions, and the funeral 

 oration, pronounced immediately after by my disconsolate friend, 

 proved irresistible. 



' He's gone ; the like of him is not to be found under the canopy. 

 I never will see him again ! Never ! Oh, never ! " 



The poor Major's fury was too great for words, and in solemn 

 silence we jolted on through the rain and the darkness. Once 

 already on this luckless night we had been capsized into the bog, yet 

 the lips of the insulted warrior were hermetically sealed. Once more 

 we were sprawling in the swamp, and then those awful portals were 

 for an instant unclosed. 



" The villain will be hanged some day, that's a comfort ; but oh, 

 murther ! I never will see him gain ! Never ! Never ! " 



CHAPTER XL. 



The Last Act The Inny in order Disinterested Advice The Major distin- 

 guishes himself Grand Total Homewards De mortuis The wind up 

 Vale. 



The curtain rises for the last act of our domestic drama. Over the 

 dripping and cheerless mountains raves the boisterous winter wind. 

 The rain ceased at midnight ; the glass is getting up, and the Inny, 

 according to my host's prediction, is in condition for this, the closing 

 day of the season. From the energy and industry displayed on the 

 previous evening, the preparations seemed more suitable to the 

 commencement than to the close of a campaign. Two new trebles 

 and twice that number of single casting lines were made, a dozen 

 flies fabricated, and the rod and wheel which had seen so much 

 service were carefully inspected and pronounced in good working 



