art guardian of the portal, into a far corner of the room, and
disclosed to the astonished gaze of the assembled Elephantines, the
forms of three individuals, to them unknown. The action of the
Higholdboy, who first recovered his senses and his presence of mind, is
worthy of remembrance. Keeping both eyes fixed upon one of the
intruders, he deliberately drank the contents of his tumbler, and then,
taking a cool aim, he threw the glass-ware at him. This act of the
Higholdboy was regarded as an announcement, by implication, that
crockery and glass-ware could be used on the present occasion
offensively, and accordingly the other members followed the example of
their chief. For a few minutes the destruction of property was great,
and the more so, as, whenever a tumbler, plate, bottle, or any other
similar missile fell to the floor unfractured, one of the three
intruding parties would stamp on it with one of his feet, and pulverize
it instanter. When the crockery was all disposed of, the assault was
renewed with lemons, crackers, bologna sausages, and whatever
projectiles remained, and the chairs and tables would have undoubtedly
followed suit, had not the precaution previously taken, of chaining them
up, precluded the possibility of their being used for this purpose. The
result of this peculiar reception of the intruding parties was the
temporary demolition of one, who had been hit over the head with the
lemon-squeezer, and knocked down in the corner behind the chair of the
Higholdboy. The second person had rolled himself up in a heap as well as
he could, drew his head into his coat, and seemed resigned to whatever
might be his fate. The third, however, made no resistance whatever, but
rushed into one corner, turned his face to the wall, in which position
he sustained for five minutes a brilliant cannonade of lemons, Boston
crackers, with an occasional bomb in the shape of a nut-cracker and
doughnut, for which affectionate tokens of respect he was indebted to
the kindness of Van Dam, who bestowed upon him his undivided attention.

At the moment when the utter defeat of the invaders was shown to be a
fixed fact, Johnny Cake reentered the room. He saw the confusion which
was everywhere apparent, and his first inquiry was as to the cause.
Before he had been answered his eyes caught a sight of the party in the
corner, who had ventured to turn his face around.

"Here," said Johnny, "you've got one of my railroad party, whose
ad