BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 



incipient boon-companionship, but the conversa- 

 tion was not given time to expand with the 

 luxuriance of which it was doubtless capable. 

 The door of the cabin was opened, and Griffith 

 Roberts stood without, waiting for his lawful 

 five shillings, and, subsequently, the price of a 

 drink (which, in deference to our possible scruples, 

 was entitled " ginger-beer "). We bade him good- 

 bye without a pang. He is a good man, and 

 would be invaluable as hare for a paper-chase ; but 

 if we ever ascend Snowdon again — which Heaven 

 forfend — it will not be under his guidance. 



We stood at the door and watched him go 

 down and down through the lifeless twilight, till 

 the cold bit through and through our summer 

 coats and linen shirts, and a precept of early 

 youth rose menacingly in our minds : — 



" Whatever brawls disturb the street, 

 Wear flannel next your skin." 



What if we both developed influenza on the top 

 of Snowdon ! Some preservative was instantly 



H 



