64 BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 



are united to him in a bond inferior only to 

 matrimony, as the interloper, of however long 

 standing, finds to his cost. 



" If you could get it anywhere else you wouldn't 

 come 'ere for it," said a shopkeeper in our hear- 

 ing, apostrophising the departing figure of a 

 casual purchaser. " I'm 'ere twenty-five years," 

 he went on, wiping the flies ofT a perspiring piece 

 of bacon with his pocket - handkerchief, " and 

 they 'ave as little likin' for me as the first day I 

 took down my shutters, because I'm English. Ah, 

 the Welsh stand together, they do, and they 'ate 

 the English. They're near, too — terrible near." 



It was no more than ten o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, and yet when we emerged from the shop, 

 a "Rehoboth" was sending a stentorian hymn 

 forth through the town, and the streets were full 

 of people hurrying to it. The tune was wild 

 and stately, and the minor phrases followed 

 each other unfaltering. We insensibly drew to- 

 wards the door, and listened while the slow 

 melody rose and dropped like a path in the 



