THE POWER OF LANGUAGE. 10 



I ever saw, and, brandishnig liis gun, and screaming 

 witli anger, let out a sort of language pronounced as 

 I spell it — "Touchee nion ami! lia! who Got for 

 dam sa}^ ? Touchee mon ami ! mon I )ieu ! You sare 

 — who vat vos it, you sare ? [To the foreman^] You 

 tooche mon ami, T shootee a vous, an blow you 

 a hello!" This was attended with such an appear- 

 ance of frenzy, tliat I am convinced the foreman and 

 his labourers all looked on themselves as good as dead. 

 At last t\\Qj came into tlie field where I ^\'as; and 

 their shots — for they still beat on, and fired at every 

 thing, in or out of distance — rattled into my elm-tree, 

 and once or twice I hid my face behind its stem to av( >id 

 being hit, dreading, too, ever}- moment that Claxton 

 would see me, when, for fun, he would have been sure, 

 even at the risk of spoiling the day, to have pulled mo 

 into it. However, no one saw me ; and my brother, 

 faiding that the fray was nearly over, set to work 

 beating the last field very closely ; the foreman and 

 his pony cutting across him, and, withoiit actually 

 touching him, impeding his way. Presently the poor 

 pony got such a kick on the girths, from. my brother, 

 as sent him swerving for twenty yards, and very 

 nearly spilt his rider. The lane w^as then gained, and 

 the sportsmen crossed into our manor. In the lane, 

 and close to my ambush, the foreman ordered two of 

 his men to follow the offenders, wlio would soon, he said, 

 be taken to l»y us, and learn, if possilile, their names. 

 The coast clear, I left my tree, and waiting till the 

 sportsmen were hidden by a hedge, I pounced on the 

 farmer's two men, very angry with them for the tres- 

 pass, and ver}^ deaf to all explanation ; raising my voice, 

 to let my brother know his pursuers were stopped, and 

 to give him and Claxton an opportunity of plausible 



