too pleased at hearing his own clapper going, and too
full of whisky, to find him out."

"Let alone that I doubt whether he remembers more than about five
words of his native tongue himself," said Blake.

"The old boy got so excited that he went up stairs for his plaid
and dirk, and dressed himself up in them, apologising that he
could not appear in the full grab of old Gaul, in honor of his
new-found relative, as his daughter had cut up his old kilt for
'trews for the barnies' during his absence from home. Then they
took to more toddy and singing Scotch songs, till at eleven
o'clock they were standing on their chairs, right hands clasped,
each with one foot on the table, glasses in the other hands, the
toddy flying over the room as they swayed about roaring like
maniacs, what was it ?--oh, I have it:

'Wug-an-toorey all agree,
Wug-an-toorey, wug-an-toorey.'"

"He hasn't told you that he tried to join us, and tumbled over
the back of his chair into the dirty-plate basket."

"A libel! a libel!" shouted Drysdale; "the leg of my chair broke,
and I stepped down gracefully and safely, and when I looked up
and saw what a tottery performance it was, I concluded to give
them a wide berth. It would be no joke to have old Murdock topple
over on to you. I left them 'wug-an-tooreying,' and went out to
look after the trap, which was ordered to be at the door at
half-past ten. I found Murdock's ostler very drunk, but sober
compared with that rascally help whom we had been fools enough to
take with us. They had got the trap out and the horses in, but
that old rascal Satan was standing so quiet that I suspected
something wrong. Sure enough, when I came to look, they had him
up to the cheek on one side of his mouth, and third bar on the
other, his belly-band buckled across his back, and no kicking
strap. The old brute was chuckling to himself what he would do
with us as soon as we had started in that trim. It took half an
hour getting all right, as I was the only one able to do
anything."

"Yes, you would have said so," said Blake, "if you had seen him
trying to put Jack up behind. He made six shots with the old dog,
and dropped him about on his head and the broad of his back as if
he had been a bundle of ells."

"The fact is, that that rascally ostler had made poor old Jack
drunk too," explained Drysdale, "and he wouldn't be lifted
straight. However we got off at last, and hadn't gone a mile
before the help (who was m