Eccentricities mid Absence of Mind. 187 



' The Druid ' came nearer and was seen 

 gesticulating and flourishing the hat and 

 wideawake, and muttering aloud in a way 

 peculiar to himself, the man began to feel 

 more and more uneasy — in fact he was 

 thoroughly frightened — and wherever ' The 

 Druid ' miodit be groins' he thought to him- 

 self there could be no doubt as to where he 

 had come from, and acting upon this im- 

 pression he took to his heels. ' The Druid ' 

 shouted to him to stop, and kept calling out 

 ' I have something for you ;' but all in vain. 

 The man, entertaining no doubt now but that 

 he was being chased by some dangerous 

 escaped lunatic, hurried on as fast as his legs 

 would carry him. ' The Druid ' hotly 

 pursued him, and though running the faster 

 of the two half a mile had been covered 

 before he overtook the fugitive. There- 

 upon he threw his hat at the man and said, 

 1 There, you may take that and keep it, but 

 come along with me, I want you particularly. 

 It was just what the man particularly did not 

 want, so he dashed off again, but was so terri- 

 fied that he tripped and fell to the ground, 

 shouting ' Murder,' and no one being near, 



