34 



How I Became a Sportsman, 



tough job we had set ourselves. The coat was 

 woolly and tough, the scissors were blunt, the 

 light was bad, our fingers got sore, and we 

 very soon heartily repented having begun our 

 undertaking ; but having made a beginning 

 (of course we did all the easy parts first), we 

 were bound to get his coat off somehow. We 

 did at last get some of it off, and it was 

 certainly somehow ; and when the cook came 

 down, long before it was daylight, great was 

 her consternation to see what we were at, and 

 what a mess we had made ; but, like a good- 

 natured soul as she was, set to work to help us, 

 and when daylight at length arrived, a pretty 

 figure the animal cut. We had not touched 

 his head or his legs, and where we had been 

 at work, in some places it was quite bare, and 

 in others there were large strips of snotched 

 hair, making him look something like a very 

 badly-prepared zebra. But we had to clear 

 out, as it was getting near breakfast-time ; so 

 we concluded that we would get old Tom to 

 finish him, after which he gave him a most 

 vigorous singeing, and he then looked some- 

 what more presentable. 



My father tried to be very angry with us. 



