vitation, the reader may be sure; and in
less than ten minutes the dish was as clear as a table that had been
swept by harpies. As this work is intended for one in which truth is
rigidly respected, I shall avow that I do not remember any cultivation
of sentiment which gave me half so much satisfaction as that short and
hurried repast. I look back to it, even now, as to the very beau ideal
of a dinner! Its fault was in the quantity, and not in quality.

I gazed greedily about for more. Just then, I caught a glimpse of a face
that seemed looking at me with melancholy reproach. The truth flashed
upon me in a flood of horrible remorse. Rushing upon Noah like a tiger,
I seized him by the throat, and cried, in a voice of despair:

"Cannibal! what hast thou done?"

"Loosen your grip, Sir John--we do not relish these hugs at Stunin'tun."

"Wretch! thou hast made me the participator of thy crime! We have eaten
Brigadier Downright."

"Loosen, Sir John, or human natur' will rebel."

"Monster! give up thy unholy repast--dost not see a million reproaches
in the eyes of the innocent victim of thy insatiable appetites?"

"Cast off, Sir John, cast off, while we are friends, I care not if I
have swallowed all the brigadiers in Leaplow--off hands!"

"Never, monster! until thou disgorgest thy unholy meal!"

Noah could endure no more; but, seizing me by the throat, on the
retaliating principle, I soon had some such sensations as one would
be apt to feel if his gullet were in a vice. I shall not attempt to
describe very minutely the miracle that followed. Hanging ought to be
an effectual remedy for many delusions; for, in my case, the bowstring
I was under certainly did wonders in a very short time. Gradually the
whole scene changed. First came a mist, then a vertigo; and finally, as
the captain relaxed his hold, objects appeared in new forms, and instead
of being in our lodgings in Bivouac, I found myself in my old apartment
in the Rue de Rivoli, Paris.

"King!" exclaimed Noah, who stood before me, red in the face with
exertion; "this is no boy's play, and if it's to be repeated, I shall
use a lashing! Where would be the harm, Sir John, if a man had eaten a
monkey?"

Astonishment kept me mute. Every object, just as I had left it the
morning we started for London, on our way to Leaphigh, was there. A
table, in the centre of the room, was covered with sheets of paper
closely written over, which, on examination, I found contained