rms of authority. His sense of importance had been increasing as the
evening went on, and from being a most innocently amusing man he had
become an obstinate and bibulous publican. He would have nothing to
say to Lambert and declared that getting to Oxford was our business and
that we ought to have thought about it before. The best thing to do
with such a man was to leave him to the remorse of the following
morning, but Lambert had an insane desire to talk and, I must admit, a
forcible way of talking. There seemed to be a reasonable chance of a
row, for Mr. Plumb wasn't without supporters who were as tired of us as
we were of them, but Jack Ward managed to get hold of the cow-doctor
and persuaded him to find some vehicle to help us on our way. As soon
as Mr. Plumb heard of this he declared that the cow-doctor was taking
the bread out of his mouth, but Ward told him if that was the case he
ought to have another drink, and after having it he became comatose and
unobstructive.

Finally we started from The Reindeer at eleven o'clock in a light
farm-cart, Ward and Dennison sitting on the seat with the driver, while
Collier, Lambert and I sat on the floor of the conveyance. Lambert,
when not singing Bacchanalian songs, complained of the indignity and
discomfort of this performance, but I, having taken the precaution of
propping myself against Collier, who was accustomed to being used as a
cushion and very kind about it, was more sleepy than uncomfortable.
Besides, men who begin to think of being dignified towards midnight are
a nuisance, so I told Lambert he was a speechless idiot, which
statement I found to be positively untrue.

We had reached the outskirts of Oxford, and even Lambert had passed
from the state of song and abuse to that of sleep, when the cart was
drawn up with such a jerk that my head collided with Collier's, and I
heard Ward say--

"Why, Bunny, what the blazes are you doing here at this time of night?"
and Bunny answered with no unnecessary length, "Walking."

"But why?" Ward said.

"Exercise. Any room for another pig in the bottom of that cart?"

"Jump up, quick," Ward answered, "it is a quarter to twelve, and jolly
lucky there is a moon or I should have missed you."

Bunny said that he was not going to hurry for any one, and wasted two
or three valuable minutes before we got him safely into the cart. He
was in an exceedingly bad temper, and it was only by dint of
innumerable questions tha