"TAKE THAT, THEN." 225 



the shadow of which I was working with a draw- 

 knife), and thus had an excellent survey of the whole 

 scene. 



My friend had ordered this indolent and bloated 

 disciple of Soyer to expedite the packing of his 

 cooking apparatus, which he refused to do, at the 

 same time expressing disapproval of our general 

 conduct, and more particularly of our departure from 

 this favoured locality. Now Master Cookey's tongue 

 not only wagged freely, but when he was declaiming, 

 his arms were thrown about in a most threatening 

 manner to give emphasis to his elocution. Again 

 I heard him ordered to shut up, but this gentle 

 admonition was not received in the sense it was 

 intended. Quite the reverse, for his tongue became 

 more prolific of abuse and his arms more threatening 

 of action. I was almost commencing to think that 

 ''Chummy" was deferring the finale too long, more 

 especially as some of the mutineers who supported 

 the spokesman were already grinning in high delight 

 at one of the Basses being thus publicly defied, when 

 I heard my friend quietly hiss between his teeth, 

 "Take that, then." And he did take it, a good 

 straightforward hit right from the shoulder, which 



