corps, who has been under
arrest since the 10th ult., for aiding and abetting the escape of
a convict, and taking part in a riot in the village of
Englebourn, in the county of Berks. The defense of the accused
was that he had a sentimental friendship for a certain Thomas
Brown, an undergraduate of St. Ambrose College, Oxford, &c. &c.;
and the sentence of the Court--'

"Hang it! It's no laughing matter. Many a fellow has been broken
for not making half such a fool of himself as I have done, coming
out here on this errand. I'll tell T. B. a bit of my mind as sure
as--

"Hullo! didn't I hear a shout? Only the wind, I believe. How it
does blow! One of these firs will be down, I expect, just now.
The storm will burst in a quarter of an hour. Here goes! I shall
ride down into the village, let what will come of it. Steady
now--steady. Stand still you old fool; can't you?"

"There, now I'm all right. Solomon said something about a beggar
on horseback. Was is Solomon, though? Never mind. He couldn't
ride. Never had a horse till he was grown up. But he said some
uncommon wise things about having to do with such friends as T.
B. So, Harry East, if you please, no more tomfoolery after
to-day. You've got a whole skin, and a lieutenant's commission to
make your way in the world with, and are troubled with no
particular crotchets yourself that need ever get you into
trouble. So just you keep clear of other people's. And if your
friends must be mending the world, and poor men's plastering, and
running their heads against stone walls, why, just you let go of
their coat tails."

So muttering and meditating, Harry East paused a moment after
mounting, to turn up the collar of the rough shooting-coat which
he was wearing, and button it up to the chin, before riding down
the hill, when, in the hurly-burly of the wind, a shout came
spinning past his ears, plain enough this time; he heard the gate
at the end of Englebourn lane down below him shut with a clang,
and saw two men running at full speed towards him, straight up
the hill.

"Oh! here you are at last," he said, as he watched them. "Well,
you don't lose your time now. Somebody must be after them. What's
he shouting and waving his hand for? Oh, I'm to bring the cavalry
supports down the slope, I suppose. Well, here goes; he has
brought off his pal the convict I see--

Says he, you've 'scaped from transportation
All upon the briny main;
So never give way to no tempta