r officer
present; "we must settle this important matter. Four persons in each
room is as many as they can possibly contain, the remainder must abide
by the lot which falls to them. Two in the stable where the old horse
now lives, two in the cow-shed, two in the tumble-down barn, and two in
the large stable, where the mules and donkeys have till lately held
their revels."

This last edifice was in tolerable repair, and, provided its four-legged
inhabitants were turned out, we considered would make a very tolerable
abode. One after the other of us drew lots. Lieutenant Manby of the
Minerva found himself the occupier of the shed with the old horse, and I
was beginning to hope that I might obtain a berth in the house, when, lo
and behold! I found that I was destined to share my abode with him. He
was, as everybody who knew him would agree, a first-rate excellent
fellow, so with regard to my human companion I had reason to consider
myself fortunate; but the old horse, with the thermometer often at a
hundred, was a considerable drawback to any comfort we might hope to
find in our abode. Our landlord probably suspected that we should turn
him out, so the very first night that we retired to our new abode the
fellow made his appearance and told us to remove him at our peril.

"But the horse may eat us!" urged Manby.

"More likely that you will eat the horse," answered the Frenchman, who
was a bit of a naturalist. "He is graminivorous; you are carnivorous.
He can't eat you, but you can him."

"He may bite, though!" I suggested.

"No, he has no teeth; he is too old for that," replied the Frenchman,
laughing.

"Ah! but his odour; that isn't pleasant to delicate olfactories," I
observed humbly.

"Oh, that's nothing when you are accustomed to it," replied the tyrant,
grinning from ear to ear. "You are too particular. Just let him take
his side of the building, and do you take the other, and you will be
completely at your ease."

As it was useless arguing with so pertinacious a disputant we were
compelled humbly to submit. The horse had one stall--we took possession
of the other. To make ourselves as comfortable as circumstances would
allow, we collected all the hay and straw and reeds, so as to form a
thick layer of dry materials between our bodies and the damp ground--for
damp it was, in spite of the heat of the climate. It was too late in
the day for us to attempt more, and, weary in mind and body, we climb