MR. SKULK. 
just the very thing. What capital fun, quite a romance, 
so we will just arrange, that until further notice, I 
will call myself, and others will call me, Mr. Skulk, 
a new arrival, prospecting for land, in light marching 
order, like a regular greenhorn, as he is lost his 
portemanteaux, and all his clothes, and has to write 
to Madras for more, although when they will be 
Rere, if ever at all, over these wretched roads, it 
is impossible to say. ” ever mind Mr. Skulk, never 
mind, wherever you go, you will always get a change, 
of raiment from your planting host, provided it fits 
y©u, or pro vided it is not not too small ; if too big, 
it can be managed, and as to appearance, that goes 
for nothing in the jungle, you know. And thus Mr. 
Skulk was fairly on the skulk, enjoyed himself ex- 
ceedingly, and making himself very agreeable : in fact, 
before very long, he could chose his own host, for 
he received numerous invitations to “come over and 
spend a few weeks ; there was a lot of fine forest 
in our district, which might perhaps suit him ! Never 
mind his missing clothes and boxes, they would give 
him a change,” and thus it so happened that Mr. 
Skulk took a change, v/henever he felt in the humour 
to make one, but somehow or another he never could 
get a piece of land to suit him ; he was particular : 
it was either too high or too low, too steep or too 
level, or when it Avas pointed out to him beyond 
the shadow of a doubt that it was neither the one 
nor the other, he wuuld make a day of it, to have 
a thorough and complete examination, a very search- 
ing one, and come back late in the evening A^ery 
much exhausted and disappointed, for it would not 
do, the soil did not come up to his ideas of what 
soil for coffee should be, and he was a judge, or 
at all events ought to be. His host then said, 
“Judge or no judge, I Avish I had the money to 
buy it. I’d risk it.” “My good friend,” says Mr. 
Skulk, “in return for your great kindness and hos- 
pitality to myself, I would cheerfully lend you the 
money, at a very low rate of interest, but I am 
quite sure the land is altogether unsuitable, and it 
Avould be about the most unkind thing I could do, 
and a poor return for your hospitality, to put you 
on the road to ruin.” Mr. Skulk had the “ gift of the 
gab ” and always settled every argument which 
seemed to be going against him, by excessHe talk- 
ing. He talked his adversary down, a very 
easy thing to do, when your adversary is a sensible 
man, because all sensible man feel and know it is 
no use arguing any point with your great talker, 
because his arguments are, as a rule, not reason and 
common-sense, but only talk. Perhaps, hoAA^ever, it 
