en our shop shut up; and I saw him
there, sir,' Mr Tappertit replied, as he and his lieutenants took their
seats. 'How do YOU do?'

'Lively, master, lively,' said the fellow. 'Here's a new brother,
regularly put down in black and white by Muster Gashford; a credit to
the cause; one of the stick-at-nothing sort; one arter my own heart.
D'ye see him? Has he got the looks of a man that'll do, do you think?'
he cried, as he slapped Hugh on the back.

'Looks or no looks,' said Hugh, with a drunken flourish of his arm, 'I'm
the man you want. I hate the Papists, every one of 'em. They hate me and
I hate them. They do me all the harm they can, and I'll do them all the
harm I can. Hurrah!'

'Was there ever,' said Dennis, looking round the room, when the echo
of his boisterous voice bad died away; 'was there ever such a game boy!
Why, I mean to say, brothers, that if Muster Gashford had gone a hundred
mile and got together fifty men of the common run, they wouldn't have
been worth this one.'

The greater part of the company implicitly subscribed to this
opinion, and testified their faith in Hugh by nods and looks of great
significance. Mr Tappertit sat and contemplated him for a long time in
silence, as if he suspended his judgment; then drew a little nearer to
him, and eyed him over more carefully; then went close up to him, and
took him apart into a dark corner.

'I say,' he began, with a thoughtful brow, 'haven't I seen you before?'

'It's like you may,' said Hugh, in his careless way. 'I don't know;
shouldn't wonder.'

'No, but it's very easily settled,' returned Sim. 'Look at me. Did you
ever see ME before? You wouldn't be likely to forget it, you know, if
you ever did. Look at me. Don't be afraid; I won't do you any harm. Take
a good look--steady now.'

The encouraging way in which Mr Tappertit made this request, and
coupled it with an assurance that he needn't be frightened, amused Hugh
mightily--so much indeed, that he saw nothing at all of the small man
before him, through closing his eyes in a fit of hearty laughter, which
shook his great broad sides until they ached again.

'Come!' said Mr Tappertit, growing a little impatient under this
disrespectful treatment. 'Do you know me, feller?'

'Not I,' cried Hugh. 'Ha ha ha! Not I! But I should like to.'

'And yet I'd have wagered a seven-shilling piece,' said Mr Tappertit,
folding his arms, and confronting him with his legs wide apart and
firmly planted on th