74 THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 



rise to a great deal of mirth at their ex- 

 pense. 



As the dinner hour approached, and 

 the garments dried, good humour found 

 vent ; and as soon as we were seated at 

 the festive board, the sufferers permitted 

 themselves to laugh at their own misfor- 

 tunes ; and by the time a few glasses of 

 champagne had done their duty, all was 

 jollity, mirth, and frolic. 



If the day began disastrously, it ended 

 joyously, for a merrier set of fellows I 

 never pledged in a bumper. Such 

 speeches, such drinking of healths, and 

 such singing I never heard. Like a pru- 

 dent general, I slept under our host's roof 

 that night, as did my fellow-countrymen, 

 and a chosen few of his particular friends. 

 How the rest of our party reached their 

 homes, I am not prepared to say ; they 

 did manage it somehow or other ; but I 

 much fear, from the black looks I subse- 



