160 THE RAVEN 



Anecdotes about him abound. Here is a sample of 

 one or two of them. One raven, kept near the 

 guard-house at Chatham, managed, more than once, 

 to "turn out," the guard, who thought they were 

 summoned by the sentinel on duty. Another, the 

 favourite of a regiment, of which I used to hear 

 much when I was young, would walk demurely on 

 to the parade-ground, take his place by the side of 

 the commanding officer, and, in defiance of military 

 discipline, repeat, with appropriate intonations, each 

 word of command. The stable-yard of a country 

 inn, in the olden time, a brewer's yard, in more recent 

 times, used to form an excellent "school for scandal" 

 for a pet raven, who would not only learn to imitate 

 all the sounds made by all the animals or birds 

 which frequented the spot, but would pick up 

 "stable language" or "brewing language" with a 

 somewhat objectionable facility. One raven, kept 

 at the " Elephant and Castle," when that famous 

 hostelry was the resort of four-horse coaches rather 

 than of omnibuses, would take his place in a out- 

 ward-bound coach, the observed of all observers, by 

 the side of a coachman who had won his heart, and 

 then return, in a homeward-bound coach, which he 

 met on the road, by the side of another favourite 

 Jehu. Another raven, kept at the "Old Bear" inn 



