72 The Hunting Grounds 



" Yes ; out with it, Doctor !" cried W . " Don't 



mince matters, but give us a full account." 



"Husht your whisht, and I'll tell ye all about 

 it," replied the Doctor. " You must know that I 

 went to the bungalow about two hours after you left 

 camp, and that black gentleman of no sex, who had 

 evidently previously received his instructions, con- 

 ducted me at once into the centre room, where I 

 saw a figure, closely veiled in a chedder (cloth) which 

 concealed everything but a pair of sparkling eyes, 

 sitting tailor-fashion on a carpet, wi' two or three 

 decent-looking lasses attending her. 



" When I entered, and she saw who it was, she 

 waved her hand, inviting me very graciously to seat 

 myself near her, which I did. She sent the other 

 women away, and then, with a knowing wink, pulling 

 the cloth away from her face, passed me the hubble- 

 bubble she was smoking when I first went in. I found 

 her to be a guid * auld has-been? that is, the remains 

 of a fine woman, with a very pleasing and comfort- 

 able cast of countenance. As I was puffing away, 

 with my understandings twisted in such a knot that I 

 started the seams of my galligaskins, she kept smiling 

 and nodding in such a way at your humble servant, 

 that I fairly thought that I should ha' had to cut and 

 run, for she seemed to ha' made a dead set at me, so 

 I just told her I was a married man, wi' fourteen 

 sma* bairns at name; but even the prospect o' sae 



