to the satisfaction of all
concerned, they adjourned from the sidewalk to a beer-shop, where they
washed their faces, pinned up the rents in their pantaloons, and got the
jams out of their hats, as well as they could upon so short a notice.
They then found their way to the club-room, held a council, and without
a great deal of deliberation, it was resolved, every man for himself:

That, to prevent the future possibility of all the members of the club
having black eyes at the same time, the members would, from this time
forth, pursue their investigations singly, or in pairs--the optical
adornment of a single person being bearable, but for all the club to be
simultaneously thus affected, was a phenomenon not down in the bills.

The club then adjourned for convalescence.

FIRST EVENING WITH THE CLUB.

"Dogs bark."--SHAKESPEARE.

As soon as the members of the Elephant Club had recovered their normal
appearance, each issued forth alone to catch further glimpses of the
colossal quadruped of the metropolis. Each was assiduous in pursuing his
investigations, and all manifested a spirit of self-denial worthy of
martyrs in the cause of scientific research. The quantity of bad liquors
they drank in forming new acquaintances, it were useless to estimate;
the horrible cigars they smoked with those acquaintances are beyond
computation, and yet they never flagged for a moment. After a few days,
thus passed, the Higholdboy thought it time the club should hear the
reports of its members. He, accordingly, put up on the bulletin a
notice, stating that he expected the attendance of every member on a
certain evening.

The evening came, and with it came the members. The weather was
sufficiently warm to admit of the windows being up, and a fine, cooling
draught of air passed through the apartment. The gentlemen filled their
pipes and proceeded to take it easy. Mr. Dropper hung himself upon two
chairs; Boggs stretched himself upon a sofa; Van Dam took off his coat,
rolled it up for a pillow, and laid himself out on the floor.
Quackenbush put an easy-chair by the door, and seated himself there to
act as sentinel. Mr. Spout, the Higholdboy, moved his official chair up
to one of the windows, turned the back upon his fellow-members, seated
himself, raised his feet to the window-casing, and said that, with his
eyes looking out between the toes of his boots upon the tiles and
chimney-pots, it could not be said he had seen any disorder