or the latest negro witticism convulsing
the English visitors. But when the morrow
was two hours old, up rose our
whipper-in, Captain Elliott, and, with a face
transparent with good humour, he tried to
look stern, and despotically ordered us to
our beds. Said he: "Gentlemen, I reckon
you came down here to hunt, and you'll
have to be afoot mighty early, so I suggest
we varmoose this rauche and leave a smile
in the bottle for waking, as I conclude
you'll all want a 'reviver' before I get you
into your saddles."

The apartment which had been allotted
to the two M.P.'s, my comrade and myself,
was filled with the eddies of the raw morning
wind, and we had an Æolian harp
accompaniment to our slumbers. On the
hearth danced and blazed a hickory-wood
fire, snapping and cracking as it parted
with its warmth, and singing out its tiny
puffs of steam; but the thorough draught
on all sides beat back into the chimney the
struggling heat, and reduced the blaze into
nothing more than a night light to guide
us to our beds. Divesting ourselves of our
coats, we cast ourselves upon the mounds
of blankets, each having made the other
solemnly promise that during the insensibility
of sleep, no unfair attempt should be
made to purloin from his companion an
undue share of the warm covering. To
our misfortune, the next room had been
turned into a cockpit, where the young
game birds of the Petrel were caged for
the night, and from the time of our retiring
until almost dawn a hot naval engagement
was kept up, with fighting and struggling
for stolen pillows and filched coverlids.
But, avast there! let me look at home.
Taking advantage of my first slumber, my
comrade had raised himself gingerly, like a
midnight robber, and, discovering me to be
far gone in the land of dreams, deftly
unwound me from my blanket. Aroused by
the alarum of the whistling draughts, I
awoke to my wrongs, and, with a deep
spirit of revenge upon me, I in my turn
unrolled him, like a mummy, from his ill-
gotten swathing-clothes. Scarcely had I
performed this act of retributive justice,
than the four-poster in the opposite corner
began to groan and creak with the
premonitory symptoms of battle, and soon a voice
was heard protesting that it "wouldn't
stand it any longer," and insisting upon
the return of "that pillow." The restoration
of this article was accompanied by a
dull thud, which made the four-poster
tremble under its violence. Then, in the
indefinite glow of the dying embers, we
beheld the two shadowy forms of the
legislators contending for the prize. Scarcely
had all these quarrels ceased, and slumber
at last silenced the noisy crew, than Captain
Elliott entered the room, and tooted the
huntsman's reveil on a cow-horn. At first
he was received with dreamily-muttered
adjectives, which, failing to have any effect,
were followed by wide-awake entreaties for
another forty winks; and, finally, the
appeals being unsuccessful, various articles
within reach were hurled at the chanticleer
proclaiming the morn.

Seated on the sides of our couches,
sluggishly tugging at stubborn boots, all were
restored to animation when the black
servants entered the room, bringing with
them the American "eye opener," and
though bitter the draught, most grateful
and invigorating was it. Before long we
were seated at the breakfast-table, clearing
up by candle light the débris of yesterday's
banquet. Wild duck bones, devilled
in a perfect mound of cayenne—curried
terrapin and turtle, and well-seasoned
dishes that could excite a torpid liver,
quickly worked a cure on the shattered
nerves of the half-rested party. While
breakfasting, the horses were brought up
and tethered in front of the verandah.
As an especial favour and kindness to me,
as I at the time imagined, Captain Trenholm
had provided for my use a horse
of such superior quality that it had been
kept back in the stable for fear its high-
bred points might excite the jealousies
of the other guests. It was suggested
that instead of the horse coming to me I
should go to the horse. I found a fine,
handsome, but vicious-looking creature,
with a negro groom attempting to get
near it, but in reply to the coaxing exclamations
of "soho, soho," the brute only whisked his tail,
and stamped fretfully, sidling away with ears
thrown back and the white of the eye particularly
visible. I now discovered that this horse was the
rogue of the stable, and not the kind of
animal one would prefer to mount when
carrying a double-barrelled gun at half-
cock and galloping through a maze of
trees, on this first hunt in a South Carolina
forest. No sooner was I on his back
than he made a bolt from the stable
enclosure and took me in Saracenic fashion,
in a series of wide swoops, around the
clearing in which the log-house was built.
The rest of the cavalcade were mounted,
and some of our sailor friends watched my