I:VI;RY MAN ins OWN LAMP-POST ! 209 



whoso use I could not understand, " what will you do 

 with those engines'?" 



" You do not comprehend 1 " answered Mr. Eustace. 

 " Try, my dear sir, if you can guess what I intend to 

 do with these lanterns, without my explaining myself 

 further." 



Uttering these words, the good farmer placed on his 

 Greek cap one of the tw r o lanterns, and fastened under 

 his chin the two straps appended to it. And my friend 

 James, imitating his father, as all children do, covered 

 his head with the other, to the great delight of the far- 

 mer's dame, who laughed heartily, as she looked at the 

 droll physiognomies of her husband and son. 



I was no longer able to preserve my own gravity, and 

 abandoned myself to the most immoderate merriment. 



" Good, good," cried the farmer, " all this is fair ; but 

 at dark to-night you will not laugh, I am certain. You 

 do not understand ; so much the worse for you. This 

 shall be your punishment, and I will tell you nothing 

 respecting it." 



As the reader will suppose, I was sensible of this 

 reproach, and recovering myself at once, I swallowed my 

 last cup of tea, and seized my double-barrelled gun, which 

 was suspended, along with Mr. Eustace's, to a pair of 

 magnificent antlers. 



" Let us start," said I, taking a courteous leave of the 

 mistress of the house, and embracing my friend James ; 

 and I set out, while the farmer informed his wife that she 

 AV;IS not to expect our return before midnight, or rather 

 before one or two in the morning. 



Mr. Eustace's house, situated in a valley watered by an 

 offshoot of Big Wolf Lake, surrounded by time-old cedars, 



(414) H 



