216 
NEWS AT THE VILLAGE. 
seemed thoroughly to enjoy it, gabbling and 
wagging their tails round the puddles 
in the barnyard, and every now and then 
making a waddling excursion down to the 
river-side. The children employed them¬ 
selves as well as they could in various in¬ 
door tasks and recreations; and Richard and 
Annie had a famous game of battledore and 
shuttlecock in the hall, wherein Annie was 
actually beaten without getting the least out 
of humour! Towards evening it cleared up 
a little, and Sidney drove down to the vil¬ 
lage in the little covered carriage to get the 
letters and to do some errands for his aunt. 
He found the post-office—the usual village 
exchange—full of men, all talking about the 
panther, or “ painter,” as some of them chose 
to call it; and it was with some difficulty 
that he made his way through and got his 
letters and papers from David Barton, who 
acted as clerk for his father. There was 
quite a parcel of them; and, as David was 
tying them up for Sidney’s convenience, he 
said,— 
“ They are all talking about the pan¬ 
ther-hunt, Sid. Don’t you wish you could 
go?” 
