professional merits. How could they help being nervous as the eventful day approached? Nervous they assuredly were; but being sensible men, and much less muddle-headed men than they used to be, they settled their nerves with repeated doses of the sedative axiom that "nothing could hurt them as long as they stood by each other." They had imparted this feeling of confidence to their immediate friends; a feeling weakened, of course, as the circle to which it was communicated, widened outsiders-those who had never heard them practising, nor obtained, first hand, their opinion of themselves-were of course not a little troubled with misgiving, touching their first public exhibition. This misgiving flew like an endemic seizing upon, and paralyzing the most confident hearts in the waiting assembly, as soon as ever the envious east wind brought the first strain in advance from round the corner.

:

It was altogether a most doleful and disconcerted strain. Beyond all doubt these courageous souls were unmanned by some passing but serious fear. They huddled up to one another, recklessly trampling on and being trampled on by strange feet; introducing, by their jostling, very unexpected but always very melancholy variations in the harmony. Whence this confusion?

So have I seen the companies all gay, and yet grim, step out from trench mouth to breast the rampart's fire, in close file, with one heart, as one man; and when the grape has swept the ranks as the wind a threshing-floor, the instinct of true human brotherhood, the grand communion of a fear disciplined into heroism, draws close the gaping ranks-the mass less, but not less dense, still moving onward, now in deathly silence, now with bugle swelling to the clouds, and the dread hurrah of Britain's still unconquered sons. Even so, also, these men-reduced in numbers by circumstances over which they had no control, from twenty strong to bare eighteen-obeyed the precious instinct which changes fear into safety, treading on each other's toes, in hopes that their timidity might by compression be converted into bravery. In other, and less heroic language, two were absent. How came they to be absent? That's the question.

EPISODE NUMBER ONE.

Two were absent, and of these, one was that very one who, in his own freely confessed opinion, could least be spared. A somewhat feeble fifer was Mr. Felix Broth, if truth must be told; but still he was a man and a brother, both musically and teetotally, and could not well be spared. His absence was thoroughly explained and partly pardoned on the ground that on that auspicious day (0, dies Felix) it was probable that Mrs. B. would introduce into the world another member of the Band of Hope. For decency's sake, as a Friend of Home, and in a very different spirit from one whose conduct, on a like occasion, we shall have to chronicle presently, Mr. Felix was prohibited from all self-display. At that precise moment, he was musing in the little back parlour behind his neglected green grocery, and endeavouring, according to a natural law, to compensate for the expected addition to the sum of existence by mutilating and mortally bruising sleepy flies on the window-pane.

EPISODE NUMBER TWO.

THE other absentee was Simon, a man powerful on the triangle, and in great repute thereby throughout several streets. Being a worker in metals, he had really brought that very capable instrument to a pitch of power and sweetness not usually attributed to it. When armed with his instrument, he conscientiously believed himself unassailable by temptations; for of late he had studied the story of Saul and David's harp, till he was positive, à fortiori, that he could charm away evil spirits, come how or when they might. Alas, it is as true now as in the olden time: "a haughty spirit goeth before a fall," and a terrible fall poor Simon had of it.

The assembled band had waited a full hour for his coming on the previous night, and had come to the rather unwelcome conclusion that his conceit prevented him from

appearing, lest it should be thought he needed a good, long, last rehearsal as much as the rest. But by the hour of cockcrow in the morning, two zealous brethren had met according to arrangement, and had gone to hunt up the delinquent Triangle,—fearful lest something worse than a fit of vanity had befallen him. On inquiry at his own house, they were startled, and their fears rose to an uncontrollable height by the information that he had been absent the whole night. The motherly Bridget and the very dutiful children who were cowering round the half-lighted fire, were in too doleful a mood to suggest any plan of search, or even to hold out any hope of discovery. Unaided, then, by any hints from the persons who ought to have known best, the worthy couple fell at once from the point of misgiving into downright conviction that Simon had been entrapped by some of the numerous foes of his new manner of life. Frequent observations of public-house life enabled them to square their suspicions into shape, and experience, quick and trusty as instinct, directed their unwilling steps to the back yard of the "Bull Pup" public-house. At that early hour no one appeared to be moving on the premises; but on trying the latch they found the door leading to the tap-room give way, and stealthily entering, they saw the unhappy Simon stretched on the filthy, smoke-blackened settle, steeped in slumber, from which, to all appearance, even the most frightful dreams were unable to rouse him. Hard by, they knew of old, and if they had not known would now have felt quite sure of it, that the grim old landlord was in his den -snorting heavily in his apoplectic sleep. To cry out, or indeed to attempt anything beyond a succession of pinches and quietly powerful thumps on the sodden carcase of their friend, was dangerous in the extreme, and besides, they knew it would be useless. Retreat became necessary for holding a consultation, if not with a view to obtaining reinforcements, but in one heart, the heart of Bugle the tailor, there thrilled a magnanimous shame at the very thought of forsaking a comrade in distress. He would not go without an honest and even courageous effort; but no sooner did he give utterance in most sepulchral tones to the severe invective of

grief and indignation, than the fourfold surprise of a growl, a bark, a bite, and a ponderous blow, convinced him how wellmerited was the reputation enjoyed in common by the master and his four dogs, not one of whom could boast of more than one good eye-good chiefly in that that one eye was never more than one-half closed. A judicious retreat was now his only resource. The bravest of men are sometimes wise enough to hark back, when to advance would be folly rather than glory. But he maintained his fair fame unsullied,— fighting ever as he fled,—with his face to the foe, in some measure owing, no doubt, to his sensitive dislike to being bitten in the calves—the spare but precious calves in which he rejoiced greatly. Well escaped, he hurried to the arms of his impatient and anxious companions, only to substitute sorrow and disgust for the prevailing feeling of uneasiness. It fell upon their spirits as damp air falls upon the earth; and it was scarcely to be wondered at, all things considered, that they arrived at the starting-place rueful of face, disconsolate in heart, and pitiably out of tune altogether. lookers-on were smitten with a dull sympathy, too dull to change into active curiosity. They did not even miss the triangle-man, they only mourned for him as children by the grave side, gloomy enough, but all unconscious of their loss.

The

CHAPTER IV.

(RESUMED.)

SILENT expectation was now the mood of the crowd, and every eye was listlessly turned to the court-house whence all seemed to imagine the impulse to move would proceed. The door was opened-(both leaves), and underneath the portico and directly behind the bronze railings which tastefully united the massive columns, there burst upon the general view a broad white waistcoat, that looked in the distance like a water-lily; and forthwith from beneath that vest there boomed, with an extraordinary amount of echo from all parts of the quadrangle, the order to form and fall in. "To the

front with the banner," was the most specific command issued. The speaker stuttered a little, and to the common ear the words were unintelligible; but the sturdy bearers who had been in the whole secret beforehand, and had, consequently, been expecting those very words from the secretary's lips, did not wait for the complete order, but, knowing their duty, they did it at once.

The large floating flag of the association had been extended in breadth for the occasion by some lovely additional bordering of tawny-coloured flowers on a red ground, and as an act of reverence to the solemnity of the day, it now waved gracefully between two extremely tall blue supports. The device on the flag was wrought in elegant silver letters on a plain white ground; not a very distinct emblazonment, it is true, but that was of comparatively small importance as every individual present knew full well what the gay device was. As it was being borne sideways along the edge of the faint-hearted band of musicians, their listless eyes were raised at the instance of Bugle, who wished them to congratulate him on his recent handiwork, and the very sight of the old motto seemed to strike fire from the gazing eyes; and this was the case, for it enkindled a flame in every heart; new meaning flowed from the old motto, as if, until that moment, it never had possessed a meaning at all, or as if the lengthening or double mounting had given new meaning to the old truth, but, sure enough, the words did most appropriately express the resolution and intention then instantly formed by the indignant friends of the luckless Simon. "We come to rescue the fallen." It was the armorial inscription of the society. It had been so from the first, but now its fitness was felt anew, as it was chosen to be the watchword of the virtuously revengeful band. What the hastily matured plan was which brought back the light of pride and self-contentment to the eye as well as the necessary spirit to the performances, will presently appear. The procession formed six abreast because the number was so great that if they had walked two-and-two the banner would have been resting from its march before the little array of less pretending colours in the rear had been unfurled for the journey.