276 THE EASTERN HUNTERS. 



Norman. "Gaelic words, and your voice and 

 execution, Mac, would be a combination of sounds 

 which would turn the very beer. I know some- 

 thing of your pipe. ' Vox et praeterea nihil/ And 

 a most damnable bad one, too." 



" Here goes," ejaculated Mackenzie, as he began 

 to chant through his nose in the gruffest and most 

 unmusical of voices. 



" Pax, pax ' " cried Norman, putting his hands to 

 his ears. 



" No Latin," was the rejoinder. " Say, peace, and 

 apologise ; and then perhaps I may postpone the 

 rest." 



" Peace, then ; I freely apologise. Put some more 

 sugar in the mug, though I fear it will be spoilt. 

 Oh ! Mac, where did you acquire such inhuman 

 sounds \ " 



"Never mind. Though as far as the Gaelic 

 words are concerned, I consider them far more 

 human than yours. They must be so, for I spoke 

 in a living, you in a dead language, which I hope 

 you will carefully bury for the future." 



During the evening a man came in from Mun- 

 gaum, with the information that a family of tigers 

 had taken up their quarters in one of the rivers, in 

 some part of which they were in the daily habit of 

 lying, and that Manajee earnestly entreated the 



