nd, hot! That chap has an eye
for punch; there's no mistaking an Irish fellow, Nature has endowed them
richly,--fine features and a beautiful absorbent system! That's the gift!
Just look at him, blowing up the fire,--isn't he a picture? Well, O'Mealey,
I was fretting that we hadn't you up at Torrijos; we were enjoying life
very respectably,--we established a little system of small tithes upon
fowl, sheep, pigs' heads, and wine skins that throve remarkably for the
time. Here's the lush! Put it down there, Mickey, in the middle; that's
right. Your health, Shaugh. O'Mealey, here's a troop to you; and in the
mean time I'll give you a chant:--

'Come, ye jovial souls, don't over the bowl be sleeping,
Nor let the grog go round like a cripple creeping;
If your care comes, up, in the liquor sink it,
Pass along the lush, I'm the boy can drink it.
Isn't that so, Mrs. Mary Callaghan?
Isn't that so, Mrs. Mary Callaghan?'

"Shaugh, my hearty, this begins to feel comfortable."

"Your man, O'Mealey, has a most judicious notion of punch for a small
party; and though one has prejudices about a table, chairs, and that sort
of thing, take my word for it, it's better than fighting the French, any
day."

"Well, Charley, it certainly did look quite awkward enough the other day
towards three o'clock, when the Legion fell back before that French column,
and broke the Guards behind them."

"Yes, you're quite right; but I think every one felt that the confusion was
but momentary,--the gallant Forty-eighth was up in an instant."

"Faith, I can answer for their alacrity!" said the doctor "I was making my
way to the rear with all convenient despatch, when an aide-de-camp called
out,--

"'Cavalry coming! Take care, Forty-eighth!'

"'Left face, wheel! Fall in there, fall in there!' I heard on every side,
and soon found myself standing in a square, with Sir Arthur himself and
Hill and the rest of them all around me.

"'Steady, men! Steady, now!' said Hill, as he rode around the ranks, while
we saw an awful column of cuirassiers forming on the rising ground to our
left.

"'Here they come!' said Sir Arthur, as the French came powdering along,
making the very earth tremble beneath them.

"My first thought was, 'The devils are mad, and they'll ride down into us,
before they know they're kilt!' And sure enough, smash into our first rank
they pitched, sabring and cutting all before them; when at last the word
'Fire