84 MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS. 



pass bj at the time, and hearing a great deal of growling 

 and noise among the hounds, I stepped in, and there was 

 Mr. Tom in the midst, surveying them with much 

 apparent satisfaction. " What the deuce are you about 

 with the hounds, Tom ?" T said, " and how dare you set 

 them all by the ears in this manner; you are drunk!" 

 "No, Sir, I'm not;" said Tom, "I only wanted to see 

 how they would look together ;" and he began to grin 

 idiotically, " Now, Tom," I said, " drunk you are ; tell 

 me where you have been, and go home, for here you 

 shall not stay another moment." " I aint drunk," re- 

 peated Tom, " and know what I am about very well." 

 ^* Then," I said, " we'll soon prove that beyond dispute ;" 

 so I gave him a gentle push, and down Tom went to 

 grass without delay. " Come, Sir," said Tom, " I won't 

 stand that." ** No," T said, " that's clear enough, you 

 can't stand it, and that was only a push that a boy of ten 

 years old would have stood ; but," I said, " look out now 

 for squalls, for I'll repeat the dose if you don't tell me at 

 once where you have been making yourself drunk in this 

 shameful manner in the middle of the day." Putting 

 my fists up, Tom did not require any more forcible 

 arguments of this sort, but said at once, " Well, Sir, I 

 won't deny it any longer, I am drunk ;" and he then told 

 me the story about the gentlemen taking him to the inn, 

 and plying him with brandy and water. " Well, Tom," 

 I said, " there is some excuse for you, and I think the 

 gentlemen, as you call them, much more culpable. Go 

 home, and go to bed, and if you take a cooling draught 

 which I will send you, nothing more shall be said this 

 time at least. " 



Tom, although only under-whip, was quite as old and 



