468 
HOW THE TONGOUSE EIGHT BEARS. 
way and tell liim to come on. If he moves off instead 
of fighting, they throw stones at him to make him angry, 
and then when he rushes up to hug they receive him bn 
one knee, with the butt of the knife braced against the 
ground, and the point ready for his heart. I suppose that 
sounds strange too, but its true” 
‘‘You are quizzing us, Mr. Freighburg," remarked one 
of the party, dryly. 
He glanced quickly at the speaker, and said, earnestly, • 
“I assure you, upon my honour, that I am only telling 
joM facts. Voila M. the Governor’s aide: ask him.” 
“Well, I beg pardon,” replied the doubter, with a 
smile that started the old fellow’s tongue as loose as 
ever. “Give us some more: it’s quite edifying,” 
“Yes, but I take ‘twenty drops’ first. Smoking is dry 
work, and, when you come to talk too, it’s parching.” 
Tie knocked the ashes from his I>ipe, laid it on the table, 
and, as usual, filled all of the glasses. I, having already 
burned my throat with his modest “twenty drops,” got the 
start of the party by complaining of a sick headache — 
which I really had — and begged to be excused from join- 
ing. Some offered one excuse, some another, and others 
manfully reached for their glasses, but with the air of 
martyrs. He cast a most reproachful glance at us who 
had doolined, emptied his glass, refilled his pipe, and con- 
tinued. 
But before I proceed any further I must add a word in 
regard to the “butter-drinking feat” of the Tongouse. I 
published it some time since in a Philadelphia weekly 
paper, and shortl}^ after met an old acquaintance, — a 
