240 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



honester disposition to drink fair. No coquetry about 

 filling ; no remonstrances touching " heeltaps and 

 skylights ; " — round went the bottle, until the juice 

 of the grape appeared too cold a fluid for such mercurial 

 souls, and a general call for a more potent liquid was 

 given and obeyed. 



Now came " the sweet hour i' the night," and old 

 Care might, if he pleased, have " hanged himself in 

 his own garters." The Priest, whose voice must once 

 have been remarkably fine, and who certainly never 

 impaired it much by ** hallooing psalms," sang national 

 melodies, or joined the Colonel and my cousin in glees 

 and catches, which, as Wamba says, were not ** ill-sung." 

 *' Fast and furious " the mirth proceeded, while, *' every 

 pause between," clouds of tobacco rose like a mist- 

 wreath, and overspread the company with a canopy of 

 vapour. 



For my own part, every prudential resolution 

 vanished with the first catch ; and it was not till a certain 

 unsteadiness of vision discovered that I had reached that 

 felicitous state when no twelve honest men, upon oath, 

 would certify my sobriety, that I mustered courage to 

 retreat. I felt that, had I remained much longer, I 

 was likely to become hors de combat ; and, lighting 

 a cigar, left the cabin to breathe the fresh air, which long 

 since had been superseded in the banqueting-room by 

 an atmosphere of genuine cannastre. 



It was a mild, calm, dark night, and such a one feels 

 delicious in the hills. Two or three solitary stars were 

 feebly twinkling in the sky, though, were the truth told, 

 probably there was but one. I took the pathway leading 

 to the river, and sat down upon the banks, to *' blow 

 my cloud " in solitude. I was not, however, permitted 



