LOVE OF MISCHIEF 167 



had not. The bank, on this occasion, paid com- 

 pound interest on the deposit. 



One of my own tame ravens, a native of 

 Raven Tarn, had the run of a stable-yard, of a 

 garden, and of a field in fact, pretty well also of 

 the whole of the adjoining village of Stafford ; 

 and no small boy, home for the holidays, for the 

 first time, from school, could prove a greater imp 

 of mischief than he. He led the pigeons, the 

 ducks, and the hens of the stable-yard a sad life ; 

 but he gave the cocks a wide berth, except when 

 they were busy fighting, and then he would attack 

 them, in safety and with perfect impartiality, from 

 the rear. When a favourite cat was walking 

 demurely and daintily across the yard, Jacob, 

 with a few quiet sidelong hops, would come up 

 behind his head on one side, as always, when 

 meditating mischief would give her a sharp nip in 

 the tail, and testify his delight at the panic he had 

 created by a loud croak. He had private stores 

 everywhere of sticks, bones, buttons, nails, thimbles, 

 and even halfpence, some of which were not dis- 

 covered till after his death, and then chiefly by 

 his namesake, and successor, and residuary legatee. 

 If you ever noticed him putting on a particularly 

 nonchalant air, you might be quite sure he had 



