," replied Mr
Rebble, with dignity, "and I cannot answer for his reasons."

"Humph! You can't, eh? You there in the dark barnacles," cried the
General, turning upon Mr Hasnip, "what have you to say?"

"That the boys must be severely punished, sir," said Mr Hasnip, who
looked quite startled.

"Punished! I should think so indeed. If I were not a magistrate, I'd
give the wretched young poachers a severe trouncing. How dare you,
eh?--how dare you, I say, come trespassing on my grounds and poaching my
rabbits?"

The only answer that I could find was, "I'm very sorry, sir. I did not
think; and I'll never do so any more;" but it seemed so ridiculous as I
thought it, that I held my tongue.

"Pretty scoundrels, 'pon my word!" cried the General. "Gentlemen's
sons, eh? nice gentlemen's sons. They've both got poacher written in
their face, and I can see what the end will be--transportation, or hung
for killing a keeper. That's it, eh, Hopley?"

"Well, sir," said Bob, giving us each a pitying look, "I wouldn't go
quite so far as that."

"No, because you are an easy-going fool. You let people rob me right
and left, and you'd stand still and let the young scoundrels shoot you.
There, take them away, the pair of them. You two, I mean--you
pedagogues. I'll come and see the Doctor myself to-morrow morning, and
I'll have those two fellows flogged--soundly flogged. Do you hear, you
boys?--flogged. How many rabbits have you got?"

"Only this one, sir," I said.

"What? You dare to tell me only one?"

"There was another, only Magglin put it in his pocket."

"Got a dozen hid somewhere," cried the General. "Where have you hid
them, you dog? Stuffed in some burrow, I suppose. Where are they,
sir?"

"I told you," I said sharply, for his doubt of my word made me feel hot
and angry. "We only caught those two. I shouldn't tell you a lie,
sir."

"Humph! Oh!" cried the old gentleman, looking at me searchingly, "you
wouldn't tell a lie about it, wouldn't you?"

"Of course not," I replied; "and we did not mean any harm, sir. We
thought it would be good fun to come and catch some rabbits."

"Oh, you did? Then I suppose it would be good fun to bring guns and
come and shoot my pheasants. Perhaps you'd like to do that, eh?"

"I should," said Mercer innocently.

"What!" roared the old gentleman. "Here, you two, take 'em both into
scholastic custody, and tell Dr Browne I'm coming in the morning to put
a stop to