286 THE BISTOKY OF 



"Bill didn't stop for further explanations, but rushed 

 for his horse and wagon, and was n't seen in the city but 

 once afterwards, for a long- time. He was then closely 

 muffled up, and had both his ears stopped up with cotton- 

 batting, lest he might possibly hear some one say Shang- 

 hae ! , 



•'A few weeks afterwards, while passing near his resi- 

 ience, I halted, and dropped in upon him for an hour ; 

 and, after a while, I ventured to touch upon the merits 

 and beauties of the different breeds of poultry : — but 

 I discovered, at once, that there was a wildness about 

 Bill's eyes, and therefore ceased to allude to this usu- 

 ally interesting 'rural' subject, as Bill exclaimed,' implor- 

 ingly, 



" ' Don't hit me, old boy, now I 'm down ! That chicken 

 dinne?' has tievet- yet digested!'" 



Thus " passed away " one of the handsomest pairs of 

 domestic fowls ever seen in this part of the country, and 

 which were well known, by all the fanciers around me, 

 as tip-top specimens of the then lauded race of Shang- 

 haes. 



This result proved rather an expensive dinner for Mr. 



M s ; but, while it served for an excellent lesson to him 



(as well as to many of his friends who chanced to hear of 

 what the Major called " this capital joke "), he had the 



