WARWICK WOODLANDS. 55 



wns sort o' tired out — so Waxskia, in he goes into the 

 thick, and Archer arter him, and up the old crick side-- 

 thinkin, you see, that we was goin up, where you and I 

 walked yesterday — but not a bit of it; we never thought 

 of no such thing, not we! We sot ourselves down under- 

 neath the haystacks, and made ourselves two good stiff 

 horns of toddy; and cooled otf there, all in the ohade, as 

 slick as silk. 



"Well, arter we'd been there quite a piece, bang! we 

 hears, in the very thick of the swamp — bang! bang!- -and 

 then I heerd Harry. Archer roar out 'mark ! mark ! — Tom, 

 mark ! — you fat old rascal,' — and sure enough, right where 

 I should have been, if I'd been a doin right, out came two 

 woodcock — big ones — they looked like hens, and I kind o' 

 thought it was a shame, so I got up to go to them, and 

 called McTavish to go with me; but torights, jest as he 

 was gitting up, a heap of critters comes all chasiu up, 

 scart by a dog, I reckon, kickin their darned heels up, and 

 bellowin like mad — and there was one young bull nmongst 

 them, quite a lump of a bull now I tell you; and the bull 

 he came up pretty nigh to us, and stood, and stawmped, 

 and sort o' snorted, as if he didn't know right what he 

 would be arter, and McTavish, he gits up, and turns right 

 round with his back to the critter; he got a bit of a round 

 jacket on, and he stoops down till his head came right 

 atween his legs, kind o' straddlin like, so that the bull 

 could see nothing of him but his t'other eend, and his 

 head right under it, chin uppermost, with his big black 

 whiskers, looking as fierce as all h — 11, and fievite.v; well! 

 the bull he stawmped agin, and pawed, and bellowed, and 

 I was in hopes, I swon, that he would have hooked him ; 

 but just then McTavish, starts to run, "going along as I 

 have told you, hind eend foremost — ho-oo went the bull, 

 a-hoo-oo, and off he starts like a strick, with his tail stret 

 on eend, and his eyes starin, and all the critters arter him, 

 and then they kind o' circled round — and all stood still 

 and stared — and stawmped, 'till he got nigh to them, and 

 then they all stricks off agin ; and so they went on — runnin 

 and then standin still, — and so they went on the hull of 

 an hour, I'll be bound; and I lay there upon my back 

 laughin 'till I was stiff and sore all over; and then came' 

 Waxskin and all Archer, wrathy as h — 11 and swearin' — 

 Lord how they did swear! 



