ubtable horseman; and with a
glance of conscious success directed round the room at his anticipating
companions, he dashed spurs into the sides of his steed. The animal thus
urged, apparently terrified with the uproar that assailed his ears, and
hardly knowing, in the singularity of the situation, what was required
of him, exhibited symptoms of terror and uneasiness. His rider, however,
was not to be deterred from his purpose, and bringing him up to the edge
of the table, again administered the spurs at the same time that he
raised him to the leap; while the horse, frightened by the excited
throng around him, and having his metal thoroughly aroused, made one
bound, more than adequate to take him clear of the table. The rider not
anticipating so lofty a spring, and incautiously omitting to take due
precaution in the suddenness of his exaltation, allowed his head to come
in violent contact with the ceiling; which stunning him, and causing
him, in his attempt to recover himself, to suddenly draw up his reins,
had the effect of swerving his horse from his balance, and brought the
pair down amidst the symbols of the late revel. While they lay stretched
on the floor, surrounded by the ruins of the table and the fragments of
glass, both bleeding and bruised, the landlord made his appearance; and
after removing the astonished quadruped to more congenial quarters, the
frolicsome and sportive inebriates separated for the night.

The thoughts of the young men, as they retired to rest, after having
been the silent spectators of the late scene, may well be imagined; such
to them was entirely new, and the disgust which it gave rise to in the
mind of John was fully equalled by the contempt engendered in that of
William; though, it must be confessed, when the contemplation of the
event passed through the latter's brain, he could not refrain from
indulging in a laugh at the ridiculous appearance of the actors, and
from feeling amused at the humiliating termination of the vain gasconade
of the pompous and conceited principal, who became a self-immolated
victim to his own vanity. The only object that excited one spark of
William's pity or sympathy, was the poor deluded horse. With these
reflections, and an occasional outbreak of reminiscent cachinnations on
the part of the junior, the brothers dropt off to sleep, tired with the
day's journey and the events of the night.

CHAPTER III.

"The fiend's alarm began; a hollow sound