ON PIQUET 23 



of canine fears. Having, as it is supposed, kicked till he found 

 the landing-place'; clear, an angry voice from the kicker, it was 

 presumed, was directed towards the doors of suspected delin- 

 quents ; and the words, " if I knew," and " cowards," were dis- 

 tinguished by the side-split listeners, who were well aware that 

 the fun was not half over. The door of the bedroom then closed 

 with a bang, and the first note of a renewed strife was that 

 uttered by the choleric goat, who was up on his hind -legs 

 butting and baaing away like mad. The noise as of two com- 

 batants closing in a trial of strength was then heard, the bed- 

 room door was shortly reopened, and the goat was hurled down- 

 stairs. "Not all done yet," said the listeners, and a long 

 interval of quiet followed, broken only by an occasional step 

 about the room, as of a man undressing. It seemed then that a 

 tall form threw itself on the bed, and either with head or arms, 

 or both, swept the cock and hens from their quiet roost just 

 above the pillow. Cock, cock, cock, cock, cackle, cackle, cackle, 

 was then the cry, and the screams of the feathered intruders, 

 who were caught and flung out of the window, followed. 



The last reminiscence of the Guards arises from an order 

 that was issued for a piquet at Carlton House every night : it 

 marched in at dark, and out again at daylight no bed for the 

 officer, and no dinner. Now as nothing was to be done by 

 sitting up, and as our mess dinner on guard at St. James's was 

 a long way off to have a slice cut from, I think we might have 

 been cared for better. In command of one of these piquets, on 

 a dark winter's night, made doubly black by a thick fog from 

 the east, I was vigilantly going my rounds, accompanied by a 

 drummer with a lantern, a sergeant, and a file of men. The 

 light, such as it was, only made darkness visible, and afforded 

 no insight as to the road we were traversing. A sentry's 

 customary stamp was heard, and towards it we thought we 

 were making progress, when all of a sudden a most fearful crash 

 echoed through those sacred gardens, accompanied with a 

 rumbling sound for which I could not account. It surprised 

 us all, particularly the little drummer, who, raising the dim 



