250 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



For a considerable time after we had retired to our 

 cots, the ball was kept up with unabated spirit upon 

 a piece of level sward beside the river. The whisky 

 appeared to affect the company differently, and indi- 

 vidual propensities were strikingly developed. Some 

 of the boys were particularly amative, and the rude 

 love-making we overheard at times amused us much ; 

 others betrayed a pugnacity of spirit which nothing 

 but the master*s propinquity repressed. By degrees 

 the company began to separate : the piper, whose notes 

 for the last half-hour had been exceedingly irregular, 

 now evinced unquestionable symptoms of his being 

 " done up.'' Instead of the lightsome and well-sustained 

 jig, strange and dolorous noises issued from the chanter,* 

 and, as one of the fair sex observed, who, by the way, 

 in passing, tumbled over the tent cords, — '' Martin 

 was totally smothered with spirits, and a body could no 

 more dance to his music than do the Patre o' pee to 

 acoronach at a wake." 



It was well that this failure in the orchestral depart- 

 ment brought the ball to a close, for at midnight the 

 rain began to fall, and towards morning it came down 

 in torrents. We were obliged to rise and slack the 

 tent-cords ; but the marquee was a double one, and 

 perfectly water-tight, and, as the cots were slung from 

 upright posts at least a foot from the ground, we suffered 

 no inconvenience from the rain, except the noise it made 

 in rattling on the tense canvas. This, however, we 



* The principal or finger-pipe of the set. 



