SEEKING SHELTER IN A NEGLIGE STATE. 239 



A most ludicrous scare took place in camp that 

 night, that did not redound much to the credit or pluck 

 of any of the dramatis persona engaged in it. I had 

 turned in early, and, as the night was warm, reclined 

 upon my cartel (suspended bed-frame), with no other 

 garments on than my shirt and nightcap. My lamp 

 was furnishing an unusually brilliant light, and I was 

 enjoying with rare gusto the adventures of Becky 

 Sharp in Brussels at the time when the battle of 

 Waterloo was being fought. My people were chatting 

 round the camp-fire in the utmost harmony. A few 

 minutes before, I thought that I heard the crack of a 

 waggon-whip in the distance ; now there was no 

 room for doubt, for it was distinctly to be recognized 

 much closer. " Trader or hunters," thought I, " so no 

 necessity for inconveniencing myself." Soon again, 

 " Slash, slash " went the whip, and with the reports 

 came to my ears a volley of profane language. In 

 an instant after this was answered by yells from all 

 my people, and the angry barking of every dog. In 

 my pristine state of neglige, with the exception of 

 having shoved my feet into slippers, I sprang out. 

 Of course I was armed, for in this land one never 

 knows what necessity may occur, at any moment, for 

 the use of a weapon. Scarcely had I reached the 

 ground, when I became aware that almost all my 

 people were perched upon, or hanging on to the 

 waggons. But what had caused the scare ? A bush- 

 pig, disturbed by the approaching vehicle, had rushed 

 into our camp, when, becoming mobbed by the dogs, 

 the infuriated beast was charging at everything that 

 attracted its attention. Thus I was singled out as the 

 object of the wrath of the brute, so with one foot on 

 the hub of a wheel, and the left hand upon the back 

 rail, I ascended my conveyance's side faster than 

 ever I did before. Until perched aloft, where I must 

 have looked and certainly feltanything butpicturesque 

 and good-tempered, I became conscious that the new 



