n I can wot sort of a fix he's in, Will you read
it, Bill Bowls?"

"No, thankee," said Bill; "read it yerself, an' for any sake don't spell
the words if ye can help it."

Thus admonished, Tom began to read the following letter from his wild
brother, interrupting himself occasionally to explain and comment
thereon, and sometimes, despite the adjuration of Bill Bowls, to spell.
We give the letter in the writer's own words:--

"`My dear mother [it's to mother, d'ye see; he always writes to her, an'
she sends the letters to me],--My dear mother, here we are all alive and
kicking. My sweet wife is worth her weight in gold, though she does not
possess more of that precious metal than the wedding-ring on her
finger--more's the pity for we are sadly in want of it just now. The
baby, too, is splendid. Fat as a prize pig, capable of roaring like a
mad bull, and, it is said, uncommonly like his father. We all send our
kind love to you, and father, and Tom. By the way, where _is_ Tom? You
did not mention him in your last. I fear he is one of these roving
fellows whom the Scotch very appropriately style ne'er-do-weels. A bad
lot they are. Humph! you're one of 'em, Mister Sam, if ever there was,
an' my only hope of ye is that you've got some soft places in your
heart.'"

"Go on, Tom," said Ben Bolter; "don't cut in like that on the thread of
any man's story."

"Well," continued Riggles, reading with great difficulty, "Sam goes on
for to say--"

"`We thank you for your good wishes, and trust to be able to send you a
good account of our proceedings ere long. [You see Sam was always of a
cheery, hopeful natur, he was.] We have now been on the place fifteen
days, but have not yet begun the house, as we can get no money. Two
builders have, however, got the plans, and we are waiting for their
sp-s-p-i-f- oh! spiflication; why, wot can that be?'"

"It ain't spiflication, anyhow," said Bolter. "Spell it right through."

"Oh! I've got him, it's _specification_," cried Riggles; "well--"

"`Specification. Many things will cost more than we anticipated. We
had to turn the family out who had squatted here, at two days' notice,
as we could not afford to live at Kinmonday--that's the nearest town, I
s'pose. How they managed to live in the log cabin I do not know, as,
when it rained--and it has done so twice since we came, furiously--the
whole place was deluged, and we had to put an umbrella up in bed. We
have had the roo