SEEKING SHELTER IN A NEGLIGE STATE. 



239 



A most ludicrous scare took place in camp that 

 night, that did not redound much to the credit or pluck 

 of any of the dramatis personcB engaged in it. I had 

 turned in early, and, as the night was warm, reclined 

 upon my cartel (suspended bed-frame), with n:. other 

 garments on than my shirt and nightcap. My lamp 

 was furnishing an unusually brilliant light, and I was 

 enjoying with rare gusto the adventures of Becky 

 Sharp in Brussels at the time when the battle of 

 Waterloo was being fought. My people were chatting 

 round the camp-fire in the utmost harmony. A few 

 minutes before, I thought that I heard the crack of a 

 waggon-whip in the distance ; now there was no 

 room for doubt, for it was distinctly to be recognized 

 much closer. " Trader or hunters," thought I, " so no 

 necessity for inconveniencing myself." Soon again, 

 " Slash, slash '' went the whip, and with the reports 

 came to my ears a volley of profane language. In 

 an instant after this was answered by yells from all 

 my people, and the angry barking of every dog. In 

 my pristine state of neglig^^ with the exception of 

 having shoved my feet into slippers, I sprang out. 

 Of course I was armed, for in this land one never 

 knows what necessity may occur, at any moment, for 

 the use of a weapon. Scarcely had I reached the 

 ground, when I became aware that almost all my 

 people were perched upon, or hanging on to the 

 waggons. But what had caused the scare ? A bush- 

 pig, disturbed by the approaching vehicle, had rushed 

 into our camp, when, becoming mobbed by the dogs, 

 the infuriated beast was charging at everything that 

 attracted its attention. Thus I was singled out as the 

 object of the wrath of the brute, so with one foot on 

 the hub of a wheel, and the left hand upon the back 

 rail, I ascended my conveyance's side faster than 

 ever I did before. Until perched aloft, where I must 

 have looked and certainly felt anything but picturesque 

 and good-tempered, I became conscious that the new 



