156 HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 



me of any further irritation at the discomforts of my 

 rude awakening, I began to laugh out loud as the 

 comical side of the situation struck me, and absolute 

 and intense amusement, to the exclusion of any 

 feeling of annoyance, was my condition for the rest 

 of my waking moments. 



Baths and basins were placed under the most pro- 

 minent leaks : some of the deepest pools of water were 

 mopped up with our sponges and towels, and we began 

 to consider what was best to be done for the remainder 

 of the night. Evidently the gutters had been stopped, 

 or were unequal to carrying away such an unusual 

 volume of water ; but the suggestion of rousing the ser- 

 vants, and sending them on to the roof was only made 

 to be rejected. Common humanity revolted at such 

 an idea, and while the deluge lasted the effect of 

 any such remedial measures could be only temporary. 

 My wife suggested that we should go downstairs 

 and camp in the drawing-room, but I moved an 

 amendment that we should remove the sheets and 

 sleep in blankets. I had heard the most dreadful 

 accounts of the danger of sleeping in damp sheets, and 

 I believe that my suggestion showed some glimmerings 

 of common sense. As I set to work to carry out my 

 plan, my wife remembered that there was a small 

 camp-bed in my dressing-room ; and going on a 

 voyage of discovery found that it was in a dry place, 

 and took refuge there for the remainder of the night, 

 while I rolled myself up in both blankets. For a 

 time I lay awake chuckling, and as I heard the drip, 

 drip of the water into the hip bath which had been 

 placed to catch it, I thought of some old story I had 

 heard of a mediaeval form of torture by letting a 



