drakes of so much money?" inquired the irate Peter. 66 Drinking your speedy recovery to health," replied the earth-stopper. "I see through it all now," rejoined the razor-grinder, rising hastily from his seat; "you threw me that fall so that I might not be able to make my claim before it was too late." "No, no," said Mike, "don't chalk that slate." on my "But I will," cried Peter. "It's true, and you know it." 66 Why you've set your hackles up, man!" coolly responded the earth-stopper, filling the horn again from the stone bottle. "Wil't drink?" "Never with you again," rejoined Peter Parkins, 66 "You have your choice, then, to leave it alone," added Mike, emptying the cup himself. The razor-grinder strode to the entrance of the kennel, and, kicking the fagot from it, turned upon his heel and said, "Remember, I owe you a fall, and I'll pay ye before long." "Ha, ha," laughed Mike Crouch. ha, ha." "Ha, CHAPTER XIII. "Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note, And birds sit brooding in the snaw, Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot." THE petition of Job Sykes, frequently and fervently made, that the ice-bound chains of winter might speedily be broken, seemed in no likelihood to be acceded to with that speed which his ardent expectation led him to desire. Day followed day, and still the frost continued in all its unabated severity. In vain the huntsman sought information from the almanac containing every authentic information concerning the diurnal regulation of the weather, and which seemed as directly opposed to the truth as the poles are to each other. In vain he glanced at the old rusty weather-vane on the roof of the Hall, twenty times an hour, for a change in the wind. There it remained, fixed to the north-east, without the perceptible alteration of the hundredth part of a point. In vain he crept from his warm bed, in the dead and silent hour of the night, noiselessly as a mouse, so that he might not disturb the profound repose of his better half, to feel the corner of the damp towel suspended out of window, and learn from its horny crispness, or the reverse, whether his hopes were gaining strength, or his disappointment confirmation. Job, with praiseworthy patience, continued his tests; but there was a sameness about them, which amounted to monotony. "It's no use," said he one morning, closing the door of the outer court of the Kennel, "I'll not pray any more concerning this matter. The frost won't break, say what I will. The hounds are getting fleshy, the horses out of condition, and the season's running out with but twelve brace of masks to score. It's enough to make a man swear a little," continued the huntsman ; "but I won't." With this praiseworthy decision, Job took his way homewards, in gloom, but not in anger. It can scarcely be stated by what means, but it was generally known in the neighbourhood of the Hall, that there would be, what 66 was called, a snow frolic," on the large storepond in the park, on this particular morning. Many of the hardy "sons of the soil," being out of work from the inclemency of the season, resolved to take advantage of the opportunity for enjoyment, and at an early hour a motley crowd, of all ages, began to collect on and near the frozen sheet of water. |