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L.—— Hot Pancakes,

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L. — — Hot Pancakes, Ramble was the director of a railway com- pany, and Thumble had some business to transact with him. They were both bound from Birmingham to Oxford that night, and 80 decided that they could talk over their affairs in the train, an express which does the distance in two hours. > ( They accordingly discussed lighter topics over the anug dinner which they took to- gether at the hotel, and strutted into the station some five minutes before the start just in the humour to look at their business from a jolly point of view. Now as business is not jolly the point of view of men who have dined is pretty certain to be the wrong one -and as we British plume ourselves on doing much of our business after dinner, this may explain how railway directors in their jollity Soften come to queer decisions about us. Bat this is only a note in passing. Rumble and Thumble were not destined to do much business that evening. When they arrived on the platform the engine was get- ting up steam, the porters were hurrying to and fro, and it seemed to be a full train. Rumble and Thumble, trotting down the line of carrirges to look for a compartment in which they should be comparatively alone, were unable to find one, and the station- master, who, sighting Rumble, bustled up to touoh his hat and assist them in their search, was not more sueoessfnl—a result which gratified Rumble as a director, though it dis- appointed him as a man. At last a first-class compartment was peroeived,out of the window of which leaned a stolid man in a felt hat and with a brier-root pipe in his mouth. His arms were folded on the window-frame, and this is always suspicious. Rumble, olimbing on the footboard, glanced through the side pane, and saw that there was but one other man inside, who appeared to be sound asleep in a corner. He instantly laid his grasp on the door-handle. Exouse me, this is taken," expostulated the brier-root man rather eagerly. "Reserved?'' asked Rumble, with sudden |>oliteness. No but we should liketo keep it to our- selves." This impudenoe amazed and disgusted Rumble. He was a conscientious director, who set his faoe against all breaches of the by-laws on the part of the public. People who smoked in compartments not appointed for the purpose, ladies who introduced dogs into the carriages, were abominable to him but passengers who tried to usurp more places than they had paid for were his special abhorrence. "I am a director, sir," he said, severely; and the station-master cried, with still greater severity, This gentleman is a direotor." Thumble would have his word put in, too, but after a renewed protest from the brier-root man, the carriage door was wrenched open, Rumble and Thumble clam- bered in, and almost immediately the train moved off. Rumble and Thumble counted they had won a victory. They were in corner seats, and would be able to talk business; but first Rumble thought it would be fitting to address a temperanoe rebuke to the man who had endeavoured to keep him out, and this for the double reason that he was retaining his pipe alight, though not in a smoking carriage. He had scarcely uttered a syllable, however, before the transgressor, who had been bending his eyes anxiously on the face of his sleeping oompanion, turned, laid a finger on hia lips, and said, 11 lluah-h-h I" His appearance and manners were those of a confidential servant. He crept noiselessly down the carriage to where Rumble and Tumble were, and whispered- Excuse me, gentlemen, for trying to pre- vent your coming in, but that gentleman is mad, and I am taking him to an asylum. We did not reserve a whole compartment because of the expense, and because he is quiet enough when alone with me. But the society of strangers is apt to excite him; so if he awakens I entreat you to do whatever he may ask you, or else there'll be a row." At the self-same moment the sleeper did awake, The altercation about the seats and the oommotion of starting bad disturbed him. He gave a yawn not unlike a growl, and, as he unfolded himself from his reclining posi- tion, developed a stature more than six feet high. There seemed to be no end of him. His head almost touched the umbrella net, his countenance was swarthy and brutish, his eyes were small, but had a gleam in them like a wolf's, and his long arms were terminated by a pair of hands of monstrous size-brown, horny, and supple. This unprepossessing lunatic sat up, rubbed his eyes, and, noticing bis new feHow-passengers, grinned to them. The tongues of Rumble and Thumble clove to their palates. They were both fat men, and not oombative except on paper or in law courts, when people wanted to get money out of them. Bumble had a double chin, and his waistcoat stretched tight over his lower man like the skin of a drum. His eyes peered shyly over little paddings of flesh like small pincushions, and Thumble was in all points like him, except that he was too sizes smaller -Rumble being fito-foot-six or so and he five-foot-four. To say that these two smug gentlemen were horified at finding themselves in the company of a madman just when they had been dining, and wanted to settle busi- ness, is to use a weak term. Their digestion stopped, their dinner turned to hard brick insiae them, and their business oozed utterly out of their heads. Rumble resolved, with choking wrath, that he would insist on the lunatic's address as soon as the train stopped, and prosecute his relatives. Thumble mused that if he were molested nothing should deter him from bringing1 an action against the railway company, although his friend Rumble was a director of it, and both wondered with an apprehension too hideous for words how the madman would behave towards them. They were not kept long in doubt. The j lunatic eyed them rather affably than other- wise, and, when he had taken stock of them, left his seat, smiling, to shake their hands. How do you do?" he said. "You are going down to look at my estates?" Yes, my lord," interposed the servant: these gentlemen asked leave to travel with your lordship, and I thought you would allow them." What, is he a lord" whispered Humble to the servant. And this railway director felt his respect much increased for a lunatic who might also be a peer; indeed, he was prepared to find him not so very mad after ill. Yon must call him my lord, or else thre'll be a row," was the servant's answer. And at the same time the lunatic, having ihaken hands with Rumble and Thumble, taid: I don't object at all to your travelling with me, for you seem honest fellowg; but tell me your names." Rumble and Thumble iboth gave their names, adding my Icu-d," as directed, for they neither watted a row. Rumble and Thumble," repeated the lunatic. Well, I'll put you down on my visiting list; and now we'll have a game, What shall it be, Rumble? Do you know Frogs in the Pool Oh, not' Frogs in the Pool,' my lord," protested the servant, in evident alarm. C J will have 'Frogs in the Pool' oried the madman, raising his voice and glaring: ^hereupon he drew from his pockets a copy )f the Daily Telegraph and a glass sherry- flask with a cork stopper. Now come and sit opposite me, all three of you," he added. Rumble, you shall be pool, Thumble will be the cow, and my servant Jones will play the calf." For Heaven's sake do what he tells you, gentlemen," whispered Jones to the hesitatirtg director and his friend. And the two gentle- men, grimacing with pardonable uneasiness, took their seats facing the madman, and watched his doings. He bad torn up his Daily Telegraph, and was converting the paper into good-sized pellets. When he had manufactured twenty he stopped and removed the cork from his flask, asking Jones for a light. Jones struck a match, and the lunatic carefully charred the end of his oork. Then, with the pellets in the palm of one hand and the cork between the finger and thumb of the other, he said- ''Now we'll begin. You, Rumble, will open your mouth wide, and I shall take shots at it with these pellets. The pellets are frogs and your mouth is the pool. All the frogs that get into your mouth you'll swallow; those that fall on your lap or on the seat will be eaten by Thumble, who is cow and will bellow 4 JMoo-oo-o!' all the while those that drop on the floor will be for Jones the calf, who will have to bleat." A clammy perspiration broke out on the foreheads of Rumble and Thumble. The lunatic was quite olose to them, his hot breath and wild eyes almost touohed theirs as he gave his explanations, and those huge hands of his looked as if they could strangle both of them if they resisted. 'I hey felt an inclination to resist, but dared not. He meantime counted over his pellets, and cou- tinned Now about the scoring. I'll draw a circle round your lips and chin with the burned cork, Humble, and that will mark the boun- daries of the pool. Every pellet that falls within the circle or inside your mouth will count one to me, and those that miss will be scored to you three, If I lose I'll sing a song for you with my mouth full of tobacoo; if I win we'll have hot pancakes all round. We'll mark the points on your oheeks, Thumble." continued he, laughing; "they're pudgy oheeks, like dumplings, by George Having said this the lunatic stooped and laid a fist heavily on Rumble's ohest,approach. ing the burned cork to his nose. The shock of a galvanic battery could not have affected the unfortunate director more fearfully. He turned pale as a stone and trembled while the lunatic, intent on his work, drew a broad black circle of about a good inch in circumference over his upper lip and the highest fold of his double chin. Humble had not the courage to stir; but when the circle was traced he felt the indignity was too much to be borne. Thumble, for all his fears about himself, could not help smiling at the figure which Humble cut with his smudged face, and the lunatic laughed outright. Really, sir—my lord-this game is to-om- foolery," stuttered Rumble, indignantly, as he felt for his handkerchief; but the lunatic immediately ceased laughing, and scowled- What, have you got into the train on false pretences ? If I thought so I would fling you out on the line "No, my lord; the gentlemen will play all right," intervened the servant Jones in a flurry; and under his breath he repeated: For Heaven's sake, gentlemen, do as he tells you. He is like a mad bull when he gets into a passion." •' Wen, don't get making difficulties again," growled the lunatic, eyeing the now horrified Rumble with mistrust. li Take off your hat, sir, and rest your head on the back of the seat, and then open your mouth as wide as it will go. That's not wide enough. Yes, that will about do. Now we'll begin." The game began, and how describe it ? Jones, the servant, bleated with frenzy, and Thumble, by his directions, did likewise; it was even fine to hear the way in which Thumble bellowed Moo-oo-o! putting his whole soul in it, and keeping his eyes fixed. on the lunatic in abject fear of offending him. Rumble meantime, leaning back with his jaws agape, remained passive while the ] lunatic took shots at him. Every time a pellet fell into his mouth he was obliged —with what wry contortions Heaven knows —to swallow it, and the madman, with his burned cork, marked a line on Thumble's right cheek; when the pellets fell it was either Thumble or Jones who gulped them down, and then Thumble's left oheek received the scores. This delightful pastime lasted as far as Leamington, but the train did not stop; it sped on and on, the lunatic raising shrieks of laughter and throwing his pellets each time with greater force. At last the pellets were exhausted, and it turned out that Rumble had swallowed eleven pills of Daily Telegraph, and Thumble and Jones nine between them so the lunatic had by his rules won the game. He clapped his hands and yelled: I'm winner; now we'll have hot pancakes all round t" "No, my lord, not hot pancakes," prayed Jones, who had probably had a taste of the dainties before, and remembered them. 1; Yes, yes, hot panoakea," insisted the lunatic, with maniacal glee. Rumble, I'll slap your face, you'll pass the slap on to Thumble, Thumble to Jones, and Jones to me. We'll hit as bard and fast as we can till we've done eleven slaps, which is the number of my score. Now, look alive W-WHACK And before Rumble could even see what was coming he received on the cheek, and with all the might of the lunatic's brawny hand, a slap which seemed to loosen all his teeth in their sockets. Roaring with pain and fury, he jumped np but the lunatio was standing, too, and bawled, Slap Thumble Rumble, scarcely knowing what he did, slapped Thumble and Thumble, with a howl of anguish, passed the blow on to Jones, who, on trying to hit the maniac, as per conven- tion, received a kick in the stomach, which sent him to the other end of the carriage. W-WHACK! down came the slap a second time on Rumble's face, and was passed on, and then a third time but at the fourth deal the agony of the situation became unendu- rable. Rumble and Thumble, their oheeks red as steaks, consulted each other with the eye, and by common accord sprang together on the madman, yelping desperately to Jones to assist them. When, at ten o'clock, the train steamed into Oxford, woful cries were heard emerging from a first-class carriage, and the porters, on opening the door, descried three bruised and bleeding passengers sitting of a row on the body of a man, who wa* tearing up the drugget with his teeth. Their faces were battered out of all recognition, their noses were swollen to thrice their natural size, and their torn ooats and shirts were literally drenched in blood. It caused a pretty hubbub in the station the more so when Rumble and Thumble, on being extricated, took to reviling each other on the platfortn, and called each other pusillanimous curs. The truth is, for some can so or other, bad blood had arisen up between these two, and it has not been appeased jet. Thumble threatened the company with an action, and had to be paid off. Rumble wished to indict the madman's friends, but, on being menaced with a oross aotion for using "more violenoe than necessary" towards an afflicted man, desisted, and even disbursed money. On the whole, however, this little tiff proved beneficial to the 'community, for Rumble, disliking superfluous expense, had always dissuaded his company from establishing, effective communication between passengers and guard; but after his journey with the lunatic he thought better of it. His line it now provided with exoellent alarm bells, and whenever Director Rumble travels he takes care to be seated beneath one of them.- Illustrated Bits.

THE DELIGHTS OF LONDOiv.

_) THE DRAWBACKS OF PUBLICITY.

A REMARKABLE WILL.

---------Gounod's American…

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FUN AND FANCY.

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